Participation please...

I sent a submission to a little contest:

The theme this week is Farm Quilts. I've lived on a farm for all but about 6 months of my 40+ years, so defining "Farm Quilts" may be different for me than anybody else.

This is my submission picture:

It's a whole clothesline of string quilts. It shows the old barn, the combine header, the concrete stock tank, the old shop, and the closest town about 8 miles away. If this isn't farm-rural living... I'm sure there are lots of purdy quilts that have animals and barns ON the quilt, but this picture is what first came to my mind. All I ask is that you VOTE for me if you think I need a nice little gift from the Fat Quarter Shop.

Been Busy

We've had the coldest spring on record and more rain than we're use to getting. The wheat fields are georgous and we're hoping for a good crop. Praying that the fungus, bugs and hail don't decide to come in--it's great being a farmer!

This little girl has also kept me busy. Rachel only lives 1/2 mile from me and I see her almost every day...who could resist?! The quilt she's setting in front of is blocks embroidered by her Great Grandma Yoder and put together and quilted by her Mom.

The chair she's setting in belonged to her Great Grandma Rachel. I look at her with amazement every day knowing that she came into this world so tiny.

Yes, I have been sewing and actually got some things back from the quilter.

This is a star pattern from Kaye Woods class that I recently took. The gal setting next to me just happened to be a longarmer and I think I've made a new best quilting friend. She does wonderful work and lives about a mile from my oldest son in Edmond.

We're leaving for Canton, TX the middle of this week and going to spend a couple of days at the First Monday Trade Days. I always come home with a few treasures.

It's March..and it's still cold.

It's so foggy this morning that I could barely see out of the windshield on my drive to work. Thankfully the deer know to stay home on days like this.

It's St. Patrick's Day. They always say everybody's irish on March 17th. My oldest son was suppose to be born on this day, but choose to come two days early. He's now 28...how can that be since I'm only 32?!

I remember being in 3rd grade and if you DID NOT have on green you had to stand in front of the class so you could be embarassed. Being the non-conformist that I am...I've never worn green on March 17th again. Not a drop of Irish in these veins. Where do they get these customs anyway?

My grandpa always said you had to have your potatoes planted on this day and if it would dry up, I'd get out and work in the garden. It's been so wet here that it's impossible to get your hands dirty. I'm SO ready.

I took three quilts to the quilter last weekend. It'll be nice to have something finished.

Cuteness

Can you stand a little cuteness..no, not the two old people in the photo but the purdy little girls that we're holding.

Makes me want to go home and move everything UP three feet!

On the Design Wall

This is a BQ quilt from Maple Island Quilt Designs--the main quilt squares are 6 1/2". and is a very easy quilt to make. During the ice storm, the neighbors (who happen to also be my DS-DIL-GD) stayed with us because they were without power for a week. Since some of us still had to go to work, she worked on this.
The one missing is on the floor!

It's all made out of western prints and is going to have two borders put around it.

I think she did a good job..now, if she's just show back up so we could sew all of those blocks together it would be another finished project!

One Year

One year ago, Miss Mia came into our lives.

We recently celebrated her first birthday--during all the ice storm. She's a precious little girl and I'm so thankful that she lives close enough that we can be a big part of her life.

She's a long-legged, very independent, bundle of sugar and loves her Granny SO much!

Snow

I've seen many snow pictures over the past week, so thought I'd include some of mine. I do NOT want the 30" that Amy is getting or the 100" that Jeanne has gotten this season. I'll set here and gripe and complain about ours and just hope it goes away soon.

And what do you do on days after the cows have all been fed? The guys get to nap...and Janice and I head to the sewing room!

Suppose to be almost 50 degrees today! WooHoo...hopefully some of this white stuff will be gone, so then we can go feed in the mud!!

I've been Nominated!

I don't blog for the awards, I actually haven't figured out sometimes why I keep doing this and finding the time to do it! But...I've been nominated for an Okie Blog Award. Nominated in the "Best Rural Blog" category. There are some good blogs here, so if you happen to be a fellow reader from Okieland, a vote from you would be appreciated.

Best Rural Blog
Another Chance Ranch
Blog Oklahoma
USBrit Gal in the USA
Muskogee Politco
OklaCookiemaker Quilts
Straight Shooter
The Pioneer Woman
The Prairie Maid
The Redneck Diva
Turtle Rock Farm Blog

Snow,snow,snow,snow,snow

Another four inches of snow. Where does this stuff come from? Can somebody not shut the north door to keep this stuff outta here? Geez!

I keep reminding myself that it'll melt and it'll be moisture. The wheat needs it, the hay pastures need it. It all turns to mud. Hey, at least we didn't get ICE this time! Yeah, there's something to get excited about.

Stay warm.

Sunshine

The sun is out today...well, I know it's out every day but it's the first time we've seen it in a week! Sunshine is good for the soul.

This snowstorm has done a number on the community. A lot of folks still don't have power. We were lucky to only be out two days. There are several neighbors going on a week with generators running. It was sad to have to come to work just to be warm.

Speakin' of neighbors, middle son and his family have been staying with us because of no power. I'm glad we have room for them and have enjoyed Rachel being at the house. She's grown a new tooth and has learned to crawl this week. She's such a joy to be around. And..it's so nice to come home from work and supper is already cooked! Can they stay fulltime? DIL even does laundry! I could get use to this.

And..we've been doing a lot of sewing. I'll have a new picture for Monday's design wall....hopfully. It might even be a FINISHED project!

Stay warm.

No Power

We don't have electricity at the house..just generators. The roads are slick with 2" of ice and then 4" of snow. We didn't get quite the storm that they predicted..thank goodness, but it still put us at a standstill. A lot of SW Oklahoma is without power, so we're not alone.

I'm working most of today to get payroll done and then going home to get some things done before it gets dark and cold-er.

Everybody stay warm and I'll try to post some pictures when I can. Have I mentioned that I hate snow?

There's a storm comin'

First of all...if I haven't mentioned it before..I HATE SNOW! I'm not a cold weather person at all. If it weren't for the cattle, I'd pack up and move FAR south. I'm sure the gov't agency I work for would hold my job open for me until I got warm.


Snow and Ice Storm Timeline
by Tim Ballisty , on Jan 27, 2010 8:27 am ET
Yesterday - we set the stage for the approaching southern winter storm with an explanation of the weather factors involved.
Today, let's give you a timeline of events.First off, winter storm watches and warnings and heavy snow warnings are posted from the Four Corners eastward to western Tennessee and western Kentucky.
The storm is already in progress over the Four Corners with heaping amounts of mountain snow just beginning to fall over the various mountains of Utah, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico.
The action, however, doesn't really begin until Wednesday night.Snow will really begin to come down over the northern and central mountains of New Mexico.A mix of sleet and freezing rain will then spread east into eastern New Mexico and the panhadles of Texas and Oklahoma late tonight.
By Thursday morning, that mix will then begin to changeover to all snow as subfreezing air saturates all levels of the atmosphere.

Significant accumulations of snow are anticipated in this area.

If you live in an area that gets snow all the time..I'M SORRY. I didn't grow up with the white stuff and Okies get real stupid when the roads get slick. My car has a monitor on it for temperature and road conditions, and I swear it says "stupid go home" when the roads are slick. Of course nobody but me sees it, but I do what it says!

Everybody be careful...and if you live east of me..this is a warning that it's comin' your way. If it's the least bit slick, I'm keeping my hiney at home and in the sewing room. I'm just hoping that we don't lose power. They're predicting 2" of ice...and the electricity won't stay on with that kind of weight on the lines.

Design Wall

Judy wants us to show what's up on our design wall at the start of each week. Sometimes the design wall has the same thing for weeks at a time, but thought I'd show what's currently up there.

I'm still debating if this spiderweb needs a black border before the red one or not. I gave up on the blue border, so that's no longer up there. The red is actually a small red plaid. I had plans on making more spiders, but the red/black stars is actually some (very) old Christmas fabric and this is as far as I could stretch it.

I've worked on this one long enough. It needs to be finished, so I can go onto my Kaye Wood blocks.

Me and Kaye Wood

First I must say...Kaye is so sweet. She's one of those to-the-point talkers...she tells you what to do and this is the way to do it...I'm kinda that way and like other's who are too.

She told me several times tht I was so very tall, and I told her that she was just vertically challenged. She reminded me of my Mom..she raised 5 of her own..and you could tell in the way she gave directions that she ran a good house.

I also met the sweetest gal who sat next to me. We shared fabric, lunch and stories. She lives in the same town as my oldest, and has a longarm. We've already planned getting together again. I actually found somebody else who can sew and talk as fast as me!

The star on the left is one that I made (it needs pressing and trimming) and the one on the right is Kerry's (the other gal's). It gave a good picture of how fabric really makes a difference in the pattern. I have enough fabric to finish mine into a small quilt and this is definitely one I'll make several of. There are a couple of her patterns that I can teach now..and already have two classes lined up.

The other class I took was a bobbin embroidery class with Cindy Losekamp. She's in the picture on the very left. The class was from 5 to 8pm, and it took every bit of that time to finish the little bags we're holding. I love this technique and have always wanted somebody to show me how to do it. Cindy was very patient in helping us with the machines.

Here is my finished bag. Some put handles on theirs, but I left them off to make it more of a clutch to fit in my over-sized purse. it's a technique that I know I'll do more of.

The quilt show..where the quilts actually were showed..was a bit of a disappointment to me. The show itself was put on by an outside company so a lot of local quilters didn't want to enter. I do have some pictures that I'll post later.

Milo harvest is calling my name!

Tomorrow...

Tomorrow at this time, I'll be up to my eyeballs in instructions during the Kay Wood Certification Class at the OKCity Winter Quilt show. We usually have a coating of ice this time of year, so I'm thankfull that the weather is cooperating.

I'm also taking a Bobbin Embroidery class which is very hard to explain, but for some reason my warped mind gets it.

Since I've been spending my quilty time finishing up some projects, I'll be all set to start something new.

Wish me luck...I think it'll be fun to get out and do something that isn't cow or work related.

Difference in a Year

Last year Rachel spent her first Christmas in an incubator where it's a perfect temperature. This year she had a roomfull of people lovin' all over her and a pile of presents to open.

Yes, we are truly blessed with this feisty little girl. (more Birthday and Christmas pics to come)

Two quilts

Yes, she sews! I have actually been very busy this past few months making and giving away quilts. Since these two were suppose to be graduation (as in last May) gifts....guess I'm behind with everything.



I have no idea what the pattern is for this one, but it was made during a snow storm...maybe a year or two ago, but was never finished.


This is a Bonnie

pattern and was very easy to make. It is a HUGE quilt...floor to 8' ceiling....and was very hard to give away. But, it was given to a boy that will love it and that is what I make quilts for. Why is it that I never take good pictures of the quilts that I give away?

We interrupt the silence....

Has it really been 3 months since I've posted? Don't think I've left the county too many times in that amount of time either. Life has just been busy--just like everybody else and this blog takes a backseat. There are a few out there that have kept up with me, so we'll see how many actually notice that I'm back!

We had quite a blizzard on Christmas Eve.

Rusty spent most of the time inside the house after he took a tromp out thru the snow. He is good at holding the rug down in my kitchen. The cats are all begging for breakfast Christmas morning.

If you've followed me very long, you've seen lots of pictures of this windmill and barn. It's still a great way to show the seasons.

We had a record low last night, and I'm sure it's colder north of here. You can keep it 'cause this warm-weather lover is ready for summer.

I definitely have lots of pictures to catch up, so hope you see you again sooner next time.

Here Kitty-Kitty

We're such a lovey kitty.