Almost time....

Tomorrow at this time, I'll be on a chartered bus and headed south to Houston. Since I've never had this opportunity and don't know quite what to expect I'm going with high expectations and my credit card!

My roommate has never gone either, and after she called me last night I told DH it was going to be like two country-girls hitting the big town!

It's going to be a 8 to 9 hour drive so my bag is going to have some embroidery work, a book, and some headache medicine. I can visualize needing all three but not for sure of the order.

I'm hoping to come home with inspiration. Have a feeling it might be overwhelming, but I'm willing for that to happen.

Comfortable shoes, digital camera, cell phone, credit card, and a change of underwear. What else does a gal need?!

Travis' T-Shirt quilt

Linda talked about making t-shirt quilts and thought I'd show the one I made. It was made about a year ago, but it's still a favorite of mine.

Having closets full of t-shirts, I now wish I would've even saved more of the favorite ones worn over the years.

This was made for our oldest son Travis. The oldest shirt was worn when he was just a toddler, thru soccer, baseball, you-name-it interests that he absorbed thru the years. The backing is a strip from a set of sheets I saved (yes, I save LOTS of things--just wait....) and it worked perfect to match the collection on the front. I honestly wished I would've bought stock in NIKE because we had a collection before MichaelJordon made the apparrel popular.

It's hard to see in the pictures, but I even saved the tags off of the t-shirts. On the Nike block, there's a small white label that I included in the top upper-left seam. Left it flopping, just like a regular label would stick out of the back of your shirt. There are several of these all over the t-shirt.

I have to include pictures of the night I gave it to him. We were at a stock show in OKCity in a motel room and he couldn't imagine me not giving him his present at the restaurant. A big quilt wasn't something I wanted him to rake over dinner plates.

And last but not least is the label. I always have trouble with what to say on the labels, but this one was easy. At first I thought it might embarass him, but DIL tells me that he gets the quilt out and has to show off the label too. ...and yes those were his. Probably something only a Mom could get away with.

I even got a "you did good Mom" from him after this. He had never seen a t-shirt quilt, but I bet 20 of his closest friends have now!

Life on the Farm

I was asked several questions in the last post and will try to answer them.

No, the cows are not dairy cows. We don't produce milk, we produce meat. Please don't stand (or set) there and say "yuck". Most of Americans eat meat products on a daily basis. Whether it's beef, chicken, pork or turkey please be aware of where your meat is coming from! I won't use this as a soap-box ....but, YOU asked!

Since I'm a fourth generation farmer, it's natural that we promote what we raise. I'm not going to stand here and say only eat American-raised beef and grains, but I am going to say to make sure what you put in your mouth comes from a known source. If it's imported, is it up to the standards that you're familiar with? Be PICKY!

Okay...to make this a positive post, I dug out some children friendly pictures. We raised three boys on the farm. I've given the oldest boy his photo album already, so I'm short on pictures of him. You'll see more of the other two.
When we first bought our current house, I was pregnant with Troy. I wanted to stay home (DH worked in town), so we got the bright idea to raise bottle calves. We even had two milk cows at one time.....when did I ever have time to sleep? One summer the boys and I raised close to 100 bottle calves. Lots of bottles and lots of mixing milk. The most ever at one time was 35 calves.

When the vet started calling me and asking ME about how to doctor calves.....needless to say, we had a pretty good record of success with baby calves. Like I said, I was raised on the farm and I didn't want the opportunity of having all of this in front of the boys and them being in town at a babysitter.

This small farm has raised it all: rabbits (no, we didn't eat them), chickens, turkeys,sheep, pigs and calves. My kids have witness life, death, sickness and loads of dirt and fun. No, this life isn't for everybody but it's all I know....it's the way I was raised. Raising our own food and canning for winter was something they witnessed firsthand. It's not always the most economical, but I wanted them to learn where their food came from. I wanted them to appreciate what being a "Steward of God's Earth" really meant. I wanted them to know what a strawberry was really suppose to taste like--what smut on fresh corn looked like--how an animal relies on them to live--what it's like to get up in the middle of the night and witness birthing baby pigs. I wanted them to know what the saying "dancing like a chicken with his head cut off"...well, you get my point. We do have windmill here on the farm. It's not pumping water, but it makes a good decoration and conversation piece. I don't know how many more years it will stand up, but I'm protecting it for right now. The old barn needs to come down. It was built in the '20's and is in horrible shape. The materials used weren't the best and the years haven't been kind.

So, I hope I answered your questions. Yes, we eat what we raise and if you come to supper I'll cook you a hamburger. It probably is from a cow from our farm or if it's a sausage-burger it may of been pampered at a stock-show. May sound cruel, but it's a part of farm life. Our phiosophy is that we can either eat what we raise or go buy it at the grocery story. I'm just picky enough that I want to know that what I'm eating was raised with the quality of care we give.

Hoping that this week brings you some quilty-time because I'm sure as heck not getting any!

Hallelujah Chorus in the Backyard

Once a year we get to listen to a choir. No, it's not the usual beautiful choir you think of at church but it's an unending hymn of Mooooooooooomama. We bring our weaning calves to a pen/lot very close to the house to wean them away from their Mamas.

If you are even in eyeshot of them, they start the singing. If you go out there to visit with them, they're right beside you. Yes, such wild-beasts

we have!...

not. The mamas (who are in a field several miles away of ear-shot) aren't even the least bit worried that their calves are gone. They're actually all bred and will have another calf next spring.

I also included a picture of Troy with one of his bottle babies. There are two of these spoiled-rotton creatures who can always find their way to the front of the crowd for a head-rubbin'.

Quiet-farm life?

Not during weaning season for sure! I call it 73 chances to get your jeans licked on.

AND....your boots better be clean 'fore you come back into the house....

Fifteen years my friend

This is Trudi and a young version of Troy.

She came into our lives as a present for our boyz and was a member of our household for almost 15 years.

She could bark and keep all of the cats cleared off of the back porch or keep a steady beat while the kids played outside.

I could fill lots of photo albums with all the pictures I have of her. She always had to be in the middle of whatever you were doing and for sure kept the kitchen floor spotless!

I know pets aren't in our lives forever, but this one has been around a long time.

She loved it when I sewed because she always claimed it as a new sleeping blanket. It was a big joke with the boys that Trudi always went with us because everything we wore had Trudi-hair on it.

I had to tell Trudi goodbye last week. When a pet like her is a part of your life, it's really hard.

Her beautiful hair was embedded with strings from my last homespun project as I wrapped her fraile thin body up for the last time. She left my heart heavy but my sewing buddy will always be remembered.

Goodbye Trudi

Ribbons Won

Had a good time at the fair. Troy took three pigs and won two ribbons. Overall the school won more places (ribbons) than last year, so we have to say the show was a success. It would be great to say we got one in the premium sale (where the big money is), but we (the whole school) didn't get there. That's alright...the kids had fun and enjoy going so it's worth it.

There was also some nice quilts at the fair. It's always fun to go to be inspired. Last year it was a bullseye quilt that I saw that made me finally decide to make mine. Who knows what I'll start next because of what was seen. There are still three unfinished projects laying in my living room that are going to be finished first!

Visited three fabric shops while in Tulsa and found the backing fabric I needed for my bricks and stepping stones fabric. Surprised myself and bought something totally different than what I went in looking for. Also went looking for some fabric for another project but gave up on that idea. Proves that you should buy enough fabric for the WHOLE project.

Got to visit my niece whom I hadn't seen in several months. I'm gonna be a Great-Aunt! Don't I look great?

AND...bought myself a new pair of NewBalance shoes...NOW..I'm ready for HOUSTON!

Probably the most important purchase was a new cell phone...so nice to have one that works! Middle son said that if I wouldn't cuss so much, I wouldn't need to wash the dirty words outta it. Yeah, right.....

The washer is calling....why is it that when you're only gone for a couple of days you're always behind.

BTW---somebody asked me about my windmill. Yes, we have a working one here on the farm and have several on other places. They're a pain to maintain, but they still remind me of old-times.

Going to the Fair!

Every year 'bout this time, we head north-east on the turnpike to the Tulsa State Fair. Since we have a very-active ag-student in our presence, we'll spend a few days up there.

I usually get a few inspiring pictures of the quilt display and sometimes get to visit Material Girls. This year my traveling companion (aka husband) is going to be itching to get back home to swath and bale hay before the freeze visits, so my quilting visits may be cut short.

I am packing my embroidery work so hopefully I'll get a lot of it done. Good idea, but we'll see how it flies. I've already printed out a map of the stops I'm going to request, so there may not be too many minutes setting. I've got swatches of some fabric that I'm going on a hunt for too. That's what I get for not buying enough when I was shopping the first time. Three Hancock's in one town!....how do those Tulsa girls survive?!

Last year it rained and rained, but this year we're having record hot temps. Guess that's Oklahoma for ya! Everybody have a good week.

I've made some changes to the scene...anybody notice?!