Got Fabric?

What do you do when you go to a garage sale and they have sacks of fabric...and fabric...and fabric.  AND, if you buy more than one sack (BIG BLACK TRASH SACKS) it's only $3?!

Well..if you're me, you buy it all!  My pooor DIL had to help me haul it all home.

I knew the lady had a cat in the house...icky stink....but, little did I know the cat wasn't doing it's job so she had mice.  THANKFULLY, there wasn't damage to the fabric but it did all need a nice wash job.

And folded, and folded and folded. 

Most of it was yardages...more than one yard, sometimes the whole bolt.  But, there is probably one tub full of smaller pieces that are going to be cut into strips and blocks.

I had NO idea I needed a section on my shelves for "fruit" fabric?!  Who would've thought?  But, this has made me think that my sewing room needs organized and straightened up.  I don't want my kids selling my fabric by the trash sack!

Yes, I have a housecat!

It's SO nice to have friends.  This darling little/big playhouse was given to me.  The girls love it!

Trip to the Barn

I don't always take my camera to the barn when I do chores, but it was so calm and peaceful (and 50 degrees), and the sun was so pretty.

I went out to feed the chickens and of course I always have a few tag alongs.  Orangie is always chasing the chickens--why they don't chase him is beyond me.  He's a good Watch-Cat!

The barn cats and of course Rusty always have to come see what I'm doing.  I think they're looking for a handout.  None of them are deprived of food for sure.

The "Girls" also are nosey as to who is in the barn yard as they come in to get a drink.  Aren't they pretty?  I'm trying to talk the guys into saving a few of these for mama cows.  We've had such a rough summer, we need to add to our herd.

I get an average of 15 eggs a day and with 17 hens that's a pretty good average.  What I want to know is WHO is still laying the miniature egg?!  It eats the same, but it's so tiny.

Will leave you with this last picture of my egg basket.  Somebody tried to tell me it was for golf balls.  Guess this is my kinds of golf balls!

Slow sewing progress...

I've had some wonderful interruptions, so my Bonnie Orca Bay quilt isn't coming together at warp speed.

How can I go to the sewing room when I have little people in my living room!

I have all of the parts made, it's just a matter of putting them altogether.  Here is a portion of what I do have:

The red door really makes the reds stand out.  The first strip I put together made my eyes tired..it's a BUSY quilt, but the more I put together it tones down a little (or at least I'm telling myself that)!.

Guess who's Back?!

  After some prodding from some very sweet friends, I've decided to come back and post.  I have caught the crud from my Granddaughter, and have some busy Christmas days ahead but I promise to come back and post some really boring stories about life out here on the plains!

Thanks to you who asked about me....you know who you are.  I do appreciate it.

Summer Project

I actually started this quilt right after Christmas when the couple first accounced they were getting married.  Spring brings calving season, lots of road-travel for work, then comes harvest and to get a quilt ready is sometimes a big undertaking --okay, enough excuses.  The truth is that sometimes I'm just slow!

This was taken outside on the north side of the house when the wind was gusting over 30mph. 

 Had to move toys out of the way to get this one...imagine that?!

You'll recognize the pattern as Bonnie Hunter's Many-Trips pattern.  How can you go wrong with it?!

Dean and Trent fighting the wind to get a picture of it outside for me.

One of the back.  No, you can't see it too close, but I ordered this fabric from Fabric.com and was real happy with it.  Had to piece it and had maybe an 8x11" scrap left.  WooHoo!

I have to say that the whole quilt top came from my stash!  It's lots of left-overs and pieces that I've been saving.  Farm/cowboy/barbed wire/paisley/plaid/cow/wheat/tractor fabric.  One of the ladies at the wedding shower said it looked like a farm-quilt...duh!  The groom and bride are both involved in farming, and since it came from a farm-wife...she was definitely right!

Rachel showing that the quilt is kid-friendly.  Has her horse ready too!

I think people have learned that if they want a quilt...they better tell me WAY ahead of time, or it's gonna be late getting there.  This quilt was given away Saturday..and I finished it THREE whole days ahead of time.  SO proud of myself! 

OH..did I mention it was quilted by ME on my Nolting! 

Second harvest

We were done with harvest almost as fast as we started.  I would've uploaded these a couple of weeks ago...but Blogger had issues with me and my pictures.  From what I've read on other's blogs..I'm not the only one it doesn't like.

The bin is almost full on the combine here.  Setting inside the combine, the only way you know when it's full is the annoying beeper that goes off. 

Troy and his Dad eating an early supper waiting on Trent to finish filling up.  Lunch/supper outside...with the bugs, the flies and the dirt.  Typical for this time of year.

Emptying into the semi which Troy gets to drive to town.  Harvest was so slow that nobody needed me except to bring food to the field.

A view from the other side of the semi.  This truck holds about 600 bushels of grain.

 I rode for awhile...since they wouldn't let me drive...and you can get a better view of good vs. thin wheat.   Why a combine has a windshield wiper is beyond my comprehension. 

This is the first year we've used this new header.  It has a conveyer belt that takes the cut stalks up into the combine.  I just know anything that falls on it better be ready to get chewed up.

Harvest lasted maybe 8 days this year.  The wheat is sold and the money is already spent at the bank.  We now have another crop, milo, planted.  Some of it is under irrigation so we can control the rain!

Gift in the mail!

I received my 12x12mini quilt from the swap that I participated in and boy was I surprised to find a package addressed on the outside from Argentina, but inside the pkg was a bag that said MADE in TAIWAN!  Ok...I have a funny sense of humor, and I know things are shipped to all countries but I found this funny!

This was my prize.  This is georgous and I'm so proud to have an Argentina made quilt in my home. Celia at Patchwork Infinito  sent a real treasure.  Really love the colors...

Even the back is pretty.

I also received a gift of tea...how did Celia know I loved hot-tea?!  I made this the next morning and it's some VERY-VERY strong tea!

I had to have one of the engineers here tell me what it said!

But then, I really want to know how she knew what I looked like, because she included a doll that looks just like me! Beedy-eyes and fuzzy hair...just like me!

I really want to thank Victoria at Bumble Beans, Inc. for having this swap.  The world is really a smaller place when we share our quilting!  I now have a friend in Argentina...and she does some magnificient sewing.

First Wheat Harvest

About a month ago we finally decided that some of our wheat wasn't going to produce grain.  When you have 1700 acres of wheat...and you need a paycheck...you gotta figure out something to do with it.  So, we put tractor and swather to the fields that were the worst and knocked it down .

The wheat is cut and put into rows and then made into big round hay bales.This photo shows a green strip--a terrace where the snow layed in the channel for a few days.  Just those few days of moisture would've made a big difference in getting a wheat crop...but it didn't happen to the whole field.

One field of bales.  We have FOUR of these fields.  Some of the hay we will sell and the rest we'll save to feed our own cattle. 

Would've been a lot more profitable for the grain to be hauled to the elevator in town.  Oh well...there's always next year!

what happened to...

Does anybody remember Laurie Ann that use to post as Quilting Rush?  She had a dog named Roogrr.

Tornado Alley

I've had a few email (and call) and ask if I was alright.  The tornadoes/storms seem to get to our county and split like they're receiving direction from Moses. They must be allergic to us.  I'm glad we didn't have the storms, but we also haven't received any rain.

Wheat harvest should start in the next few days, and we're hoping for just enough grain to save for next year's planting.  The drought we've been going through has really made it a hard year...but there's always next year, right?!

I could post a video of a tornado that was about a mile from the farm where I grew up, but it's got too much commentary on it.  There's been so much devastation in our country, I'm ready for some calm.  I hope this is a healing summer for all of us.

She liked it!

My swap partner actually liked what I sent her!  I know I have a strange sense of design and color humor, but somebody actually liked something I made!  If we see it in her birdcage, we'll know what she REALLY thinks of it! haha

Go visit Stacey --she has some really pretty quilts on her blog.

She Sews

In-between all of the other stuff going on I have done a little sewing.  Little is the key word:  12"x12" "something from nothing"  that I participated in for Victoria's Swap
I haven't participated in anything like this for awhile, so thought I'd give it a shot.
I can't say where this is going, but it's already in the mail.  Hope she likes it!