Randomness... Fire Circle and Horse

With all those pallets of rocks we got last year, we have been continuously using them on our property.  

While Jeremy was here, we finally (almost) finished our fire circle.  It is outside our backdoor, near our patio.  We loving being able to take sticks, branches and trees that have fallen on the property and put in it.  I think it is 12 feet across - HUGE!  Large enough to handle our tree trash and family s'more cookouts when we all get together.   :-)

The reason I say 'almost' finished... see the bottom left hand corner topsy turvey?  

Yeah, it doesn't work for me.  We are going to have to work on it, but do you see how many rocks are in this fire circle?

 No one felt like getting it *right* that day.  We will do it another day.  I still like it, don't you?


Do you remember me telling you how big Steph's horse, Clyde, is?  My hubby is 6'2" and here he is working with Clyde.  Now you have something to compare this 'little' guy to.  Yes, he is huge!

And he is a love... He has a terrific, curious and fun personality.  And just look at his brown/blue eyes!

Steph and Todd are working on the last of the fence/gates on their property to bring their horses home.  They should be at their place in this next two weeks.  We are going to miss them, but we know they need to be near the girls.  Instead of being sad about them leaving and moving 2.5 miles away, we have something coming to take over their huge pasture here...

CATTLE!!  

Coming soon - in November!

And I think they will be 'expecting' when they come... which means babies in the spring!  How handy to have in-laws we can buy cattle from!

Always something fun to look forward to on the farm.  :-)


I just realized, my blogs are automatically e-mailed to some people who may not even be the least bit interested in it any more.  If you are not, can you let me know so I can quit boring you with my ramblings?  

Marcus Got A Quilt, Too!

I made both of the boys a lap quilt to use while watching tv.  I posted Aedan's a few days ago, now you get to see Marcus' quilt!  

These guys are growing so fast!  Marcus is 12 and Aedan is 9!!

I think they both loved their quilts.  I know Aedan's is a little kiddish for him, but he is only using it for watching tv.  I have big  plans for making quilts for their beds later.  We shall see what I come up with.

Later, gator!

Don't Panic Everyone!

I tried updating my blog and "tagging" the posts.  Somehow I tagged several hundred posts fine, but a few reposted somehow - from years ago even!  

We are not moving!

We do not have a nice, new little nest egg of money! 

And we do not have 5 new kittens dumped on our property again. 

Yet.

And the shop is quite full of crap, so that neat clean picture?  Yeah, forget that too!



But, I am glad at least ONE person reads my blog!

*waving*. Hi, Shari!



Now pardon me while I try to figure out what I did wrong...

You Just Know...

When you pray about things and ask for direction, you just know when God has given His blessings. 

When we were living in Singapore and things were so difficult for both Steve and I, I prayed for God to give us a direction in life - and to make it obvious because I am kinda dense that way.  God (and Steve's boss) sent us back to the states to wait in limbo for his next permanent assignment.  But it made me patiently wait for what His intentions were.  I continued to pray for what His will was and again, explained though He knew it, I would love for it to be very obvious that it was what He wanted us to do. 

In God's time, Steve got the job offer in Tulsa - where we have wanted to go back to since we moved away to Oklahoma 33 years ago!  The news came in exactly to the day 33 years AFTER we had been transferred to Louisiana.  How much more obvious could it be? 

Last week, I opened our bank statement to see we had a significant amount of money deposited into our checking account that we had no idea where it had come from.  Steve checked it out and found out it was a bonus for his work and more than he had ever thought he would get.  How much more obvious can it be?

Today we got some unexpected good news - a bit of more extra money we were not expecting.  Reimbursement for something we never expected to get back!  Again it will come in so handy with the moving process and not expected... not even a little bit!  How much more obvious can it be?

I have no doubt this is what God wants us to do.  So many things just falling into place, so many blessings being dumped in our laps - and it is obviously sent to us by Him.

Today while I was sitting in the camper, God sent me some visitors.  I have had mourning doves, Canadian geese, killdeer and starlings - all God's creatures.  I am not alone here - I am surrounded by His love and His blessings.

One Little, Two Little, Three Little...

Kitties, four little, five little... six little...

WHAT ARE PEOPLE THINKING??

I get so furious with people!  We live in the country - WAY off the main road, but we have to go up to the main road to check mail, etc.

Busy, Busy, Busy!

I have been so busy!  Taking care of critters, fighting ticks... what a horrible chore!  I am determined I will persevere and win the battle with them.  I get so darned mad when I think of how long it must have taken our little doggy go have gotten that way.  She was horrible.  I have to vacuum 2 times a day, bathe her once a day, and I have put stuff on her neck.  Today I will dip her and see how that works for us.  I have never seen this many ticks in my life.  Such a sad shame.

I have been moving stuff from one place to another... we seem to do a lot of that.  We cannot just move it one time or two times, we have to move it four or five times!  UGH!  When we moved here, we moved stuff in, then we moved stuff to the shop, then we moved stuff from the shop to here there and everywhere.  Now some of the stuff was in the garage and I wanted my garage back so I moved it to the lean-to.  Once we get the shop finished, we will move it from the lean-to to the shop again.  Oy!

It is all exciting though - in no time, we will have a place for everything and everything in its place!  I have a little garden workshop area already set up in the lean-to area!  It has a work bench and everything!  Can you tell I am excited??  Pictures to come soon.  We have so much 'stuff' in the lean-to, it will take a bit of time to organize.  I have plans for it though  ;-)

And I am pooped.

We're FINISHED!

 After many long months of working on transforming the barn into a shop, we have done it!

Do you remember what we started with?

We started with a barn cat:

Who was in a barn:

We added concrete:

And walls:

Finding My "Happy Place"

Today is a day I would like to forget and move on.  I have truly had a day that has left me in turmoil and topsy turvied my life.  I have no idea how it began, but let's just say it needs to end.

Everyone knows my love is Steve.  He is going through some tough times right now; nothing I feel like I can share with a soul, and because I cannot share it tears me up inside and out.  I lash out and those who love me and I cannot for the life of me seem to stop.

Something Special About Aedan's Lap Quilt...

It looks like him!  :-)

Yes, I will make him a 'big boy' quilt, but this is his lap quilt so he will always know how much I love him.  We will cuddle every single day.

Serioulsy, isn't he cute?

Wonder who he looks like?

 

Yeah, I think he has a little of his mommy tucked in there, too!


Did I tell you that Jeremy and his family came out here for 12 days??  WHOOT!  More on that coming now that I have my blog making me smile again!

They Like Each Other

I think.

They cuddle.

Yes, she is ours.  Her name is Missy.  

Or BC.  BC for Bad Cat.

Steve calls her DC. 

I won't elaborate on his name for her.  

Use your imagination.

Here I Go Again...

My blog background changed.  I hate it.  

I lost my old one because that person I got it from quit paying their bill.  It looked like *I* had quit.  

I am an Einstein... I didn't realize that was what was going on... so I paid everyone and their dog to get it back up. THEN I realized it wasn't ME it was HER!  *sigh*

Then I used a generic background that blogger offered me.

Did I say that I hated it?

I changed it.  Again.  I still hated it.

So I ignored my blog.  I hated going to it.  It is ugly.  Bad ugly.  But I don't know what I want on it now!

So many times I refer to it for other things that have happened though...  I WANT MY BLOG!  I want my OLD blog back!  

Now I have no idea who I got it from so I have no way of going back. 

I just changed it again to another crappy background.  Yeah, I hate it as well.

But I am going to keep on working on getting it up and running, making me happy again.  You will likely see many changes over the next few days/weeks.  Just ignore them.  It might take me a bit to make me smile again, but it is gonna happen!

I love posting!  I love being able to go back and see where my life has taken me.  I love hearing other people comment on things they  have read on my blog.  And I love referring to it when I want to show a picture of my chicken coop, or my garden, or my daughter's horse, or my granddaugher's dress, or my grandson's visit.

So I am going back.  

Sit back and watch.

It might be amusing.

And I will blog.  

Again.  

Yes, I know, this is getting old.  

To both of us.

Good Morning!

It is a RACE day - got sooo much to do and so little energy/time to do it!


But yesterday was AWESOME!  Raelee and I are working on fair projects.  This is what she got done yesterday:

What are the quilt blocks going to be you say?  Just you wait and see - it is worth the wait though!  

She should be done early next week - only 'cause granny is lolly gagging.  She is doing a wonderful job on all her projects though!


Did I say we had a new cat to match our not-so-old dog?

Steve said he does NOT want a cat... yeah, right.  Look who has the cat on his lap!  Lol...

Her name is Cuddles.  Raelee named her.  Cuddles is just happy to have a place called home.  She likes not dodging cars and getting tossed out of the town library!  We do love her already.  She entertains us.  Princess Cost a Lot (our old cat) is not amused though.  

Not.  At.  All.  

Silly cats.

Say some prayers for my aunt and uncle in Hawaii - and all the people on the islands.  They are going to be hit by 2 hurricanes.  Ugh.  I will be saying lots of prayers for them.  Hawaii is a wonderful place to visit - but how to you evacuate when hurricanes come in?  Exactly.  You don't.  Hang on and hang in there Aunt Jacque and Uncle Van!  Sending more prayers your way.


Off to run my errands!  Have a terrific day.  :-)  

And pray, please?

Our New Kitty (Maybe)

Our new kitty may be out numbered... just sayin'...

And we are not yet sure if she is our new kitty.  Someone is trying to claim her but they have stood me up.  Ask how long I am going to play this game...

We shall see.

Hello Sunshine! Step Brazillion - But Almost There!

Hello Sunshine! is back from the quilter... Now to bind it.

Isn't it beautiful??

Off to work on our Quilts of Valor today.  Will be there all day working with other girls on our quilts.

 
While getting ready for Quilts of Valor I saw another project in the works... 

But you are forbidden to look at the projects in the storage tubs in the background.  QUICK!  Close your eyes!

You didn't, did you?

Another One Bites the Dust!

This is why I don't blog!  I don't do anything except visit my chickens and sew quilts!

I had a pile of blocks leftover from my Hello Sunshine! quilt - I guess I was thinking I would sew a king sized quilt - and actually sewed a queen size.  I was looking at them the day before yesterday trying to figure out what I was going to do with all those leftover blocks.  I counted them and figured I had enough to make another lap quilt with a few alterations.  So.. I started sewing them together and this is what I finished with at the end of the day:

 

Not bad for a 'leftover' quilt, is it?  I kinda like it!  A lot!

Remember those 'jelly roll' quilts?  Sharon made one with another jelly roll she had.  She brought it over to show me and she said she hates it right now, but I showed her some batik to bind it with and I think it is going to be gorgeous!  Can't wait to show you this finished product!  Here it is now:

What am I working on next?  Well, several quilts, but the one I am really trying to focus on is a Quilt of Valor (or two) to donate.  Here are the beginnings - all donated fabrics:

 

But first, the garden calls...

I am fire roasting tomatoes this morning for sauces; spaghetti, lasagne and tomato sauce:

 

And after that, I get to go pick up Hello Sunshine! from the quilter!  

ASK me if I am excited!  

I dare ya!

Tah DAH!

Remember that jelly roll quilt I showed you in the last post?  I finished it!  From beginning to end it is all me;  I did the piecing, the quilting, the binding and it is FINISHED!  

TAH DAH!

Ok, my hands do not work well - we all know that - my left one in particular.  So here is my quilting; it might be jerky and uneven, but it is fine with me - I did it and I love it.  AND it is my first ever!  I will get better, right?

While I was doing the first one my friend, Sharon, was watching while working on a quilt herself - not a jelly roll quilt... and I think she enjoyed seeing mine come together.  When Sharon got home she dug through her pile of quilting loot and came back a few days later with a fabulous JELLY ROLL.  We decided we would do our jelly roll quilts at the same time. They are super cool and easy to make and take no thought at all!  I LOVE how they come out so RANDOM.  

Here is my finished second top - still gotta quilt it, but I have the top finished: 

And here is Sharon's very first one - and I assure you, not her last:

Aren't they terrific??  

If you ever wanted to start a quilt, HERE is the place to start.  You can co a lap quilt in a day!  You will love the results - I promise!  It is nothing like the old boring thing of sewing clothes.  

Quilts take your breath away.  Your first breath goes when you touch the fabric.  Another breath or two or three as you cut the fabric.  You loose another one or two as you are sewing the fabric.  You gasp when you see the finished quilt top.  Then you get it quilted and you nearly hyperventilate from excitement!  Finally, after your binding is on, you put it on your bed, cuddle under it and sigh.  

You sigh because it is yours.  

And you sigh because you are already thinking of the next one you will make.

Make.  A.  Quilt.

It will make you smile.

Quick, Easy and Fun!

My daughter-in-law, Cheyenne, gave me two "jelly rolls" for my quilt making a couple of years ago for Christmas.  Yesterday, I didn't feel like working on the quilt I had going, so I decided to pull out the jelly rolls.  There wasn't enough in one to make a quilt, so I decided to combine the two and make a lap quilt.  

I had seen this video a while back about taking the pieces of fabric and sewing them end to end.  So I started this lap quilt doing that.  When I finished the end to ends, I sewed the two ends side by side and kept repeating this process until I was finished.  This part of the quilt top, with me lolly gagging, visiting with Steve, snoozing and sewing took me about 3 hours total!  The best part about it - it was not a planned quilt, so I had no preconceived idea what it was going to look like! 

I still need to add the border and quilt it - or maybe I will just 'tie' it.  It will make a wonderful lap quilt for my living room.  It was an easy, fun quilt to work on - gonna have to do this again 'cause I love it!  It reminds me of quilts granny Daisy made.  She used a lot of random pieces of fabric and made us awesome quilts.  I still treasure them to this day.  I have worn those out - so this one will take the place of a Granny Daisy quilt.

Thank you, Cheyenne for providing the 'jelly rolls'.  Your gonna love this one when you come to visit!  

Confused as to how it was made?  

Watch THIS!


Hey, Cheyenne, I am super excited about your visit!  Can we sew a quilt together?
 

My Middle Young Chickens are Laying Eggs!

Wanna see how fun they are?

Yes, they are 'rubber' eggs the first few times they lay.
Soon they will be perfect teeny hard shelled eggs.  
Then they become bigger little hard shelled eggs.  
Next they become small hard shelled eggs.  
And finally, the eggs are normal size.
Or extra large eggs.

Usually this all happens within a week.  

These will be normal sized 'large' eggs.
They will be hard shelled.
Each chicken will lay nearly every day.

Now you know why there is a saying "madder than a wet hen!"

Any woman having a kid every day would be 'madder than a wet hen'.

I am a wealth of useless information.  

I got it from my son.  ;-)

Even as a Child...

I was lucky.  Yes, I had a rough childhood, but I did have people in it that cared.  One of those people was my Aunt Janie, my Uncle Danny's wife.  Uncle Danny was daddy's brother and Aunt Janie was his first wife. 

Aunt Janie always sent the most wonderful gifts for birthdays and holidays.  I don't think I ever thought I was worthy enough to get them, but I sure did love them.  She sent a tambourine, a little lime green German grandfather clock, stuffed animals and purses.  We don't have any of that stuff left anymore, but I sure wish I did.  Unfortunately, things that meant the world to me were used as punishment and discarded when I didn't meet expectations.  It broke my heart to see them disappear, but it happened.  The memories are still there though - they couldn't be taken.


Here is a picture of me on the left and my little sister, Liz, on the right.  Liz is holding a yellow cat Aunt Janie made for her: 

It was those gifts and many other things that made her so special.

I don't remember how old I was when I went to their place in New Mexico, but I was in 7th grade.  Aunt Janie took it upon herself to teach me how to sew during that summer.  I had never had anyone actually devote time to teaching me anything - after all, I was supposed to KNOW how to do things!  I think she had taken home economics in college - but I am not sure what gave me that idea.  However, she started at the beginning of sewing by teaching me the very basics; reading patterns, what the tools were, how to embroidery, how to use the sewing machine and then we started on straight stitches.  It was also Aunt Janie who taught me how to rip my not-so-straight stitches out! 

That summer I sewed a throw pillow, a dress, several pairs of jeans (remember 1976 was the bicentennial?  It was just a couple of years away - there was plenty of patriotic material.  I chose a bright flag type fabric for my jeans - and she let me!).  I sewed some blouses and some jammers.  Oh my gosh, did I love the art of sewing!  I learned so much that summer!

One of the things Aunt Janie was a stickler about was doing the job properly.  I learned how to sew a zipper in by doing it over and over until it was correct.  At some point she told me that the back of a garment should look just as pretty as the front of a garment.  I never understood why, but betcha by golly it was done correctly - and it passed front and back inspections - or I went back to the 'drawing board'; seam ripper in hand.

As I sew these quilts, in the back of my head, Aunt Janie still talks to me. She guides my sewing steps just as sure as she was standing there behind me.  I still do things exactly as she taught me; I still check my stitches for being straight and I still make sure the back of the garments look just as pretty as the front:

Uncle Danny and her had divorced years ago.  They lived so far away from us and we seldom saw them prior to their divorce.  But long before they divorced, for whatever reason, dad took my siblings and I out there and left me when he came home.  Thank God for that summer.  Sadly, I was never taught us to write thank you notes so she never got one for all her hard work of teaching me how to sew and her continuous dedication of sending gifts. 

I never felt comfortable contacting Aunt Janie.  I am not sure why... my upbringing always let me believe I was not worthy of being remembered so maybe that was the reason... and I always felt funny that I had not called her in all these years - so why should I call 'now'?  I did ask about her every time I saw their children.  Heck, I even asked my Uncle Danny (who stayed friends with her until the end) how she was doing.  I tried to keep up with her, but I never could 'make' myself contact her.  Aunt Janie passed away 4 years ago.  I was devastated - even though I never saw or heard from her  - or contacted her myself.

I think of her often and I wish I had made the decision to call her and tell her how much she meant to me and my life.  Because of her and Uncle Danny, I felt 'worthy'; they gave me hope, I looked forward to occasionally seeing them and I looked up to them.  Their love flowed through to us.  They were the few parts of my life that gave me solid ground.


So, my dear Aunt Janie? 

I have no idea where I got this picture, but I am glad I do have it - it is a treasured part of my photo collection; lovingly placed under My photos/genealogy/family name/aunts and uncles.  I can easily find you and 'remember' your loving smile.

This is for you.  I hope you can see my perfect "Hello Sunshine!" quilt and its perfect backing.  It is because of you that I sew - and it is because of you that I feel so darned accomplished when I finish a project.

I loved you and yes, I miss you, even though I lost touch with you.  

You were one special lady.

You believed in me.  

Thank you!

Remember Our Flower Garden?

I thought I would show you how it is progressing... 

We sure do love it!  What do you think?  

I rarely hear from anyone... but I would love to.