Windmills and Weathervanes

County Fair

2009-07-15T08:54:00.000-07:00

Ok, I want to know where my summer's gone? It's less than two weeks to County Fair and my children have exactly zip - zilch - nada done in the way of projects for 4-H. Where's my daughter's beautiful (and completed) quilt?! Why, she's made four blocks - out of like twenty something! And her batting project, where she was going to compare different battings? Well, those are still all in the box. Let's not even talk about my son - he kind of gave up on everything but his cattle this summer. Oh well, I guess I need to let go of the "perfect" mother thing and keep remembering "it is what it is" - my new favorite phrase!

Since we're talking about kids and 4-H today, here's a recent shot of my three hooligans:

Aren't they just adorable?! I can't believe how big they are getting. Must be all that food they're inhaling this summer. At least I hope they're inhaling it cuz my grocery bill is phenomenal. Otherwise I'm just eating it all and that's really not good - at least for my butt!

I'll leave you with a shot hubby took earlier this spring. The cow is my son's show heifer from last year and that's her calf. You can see our house in the background and the farm a little behind our house. Home sweet home.

What do you mean I don't do anything!?

2009-07-14T08:33:00.001-07:00

Last night, we're sitting outside at Culver's enjoying a lovely (definition: I didn't have to cook it) alfresco dinner, and my mother innocently asks me what's going on tomorrow. My WONDERFUL (said with heavy sarscasm) hubby snorts and starts laughing. What is it with men?? If I'm not out working on the farm somewhere with him, then I'm "not doing anything"!! Let's not talk about the cooking, the cleaning, the clothes washing, and all the hundred million errands that need to be done to make things go around here. All those are "nothing", I guess!! Think I'll just go sew, or read a book, or knit. Maybe then I'll feel a little better. Of course, those definitely fall under the heading of "nothing", but then again maybe I don't care LOL!! And then I'll have something to show next time I actually decide to post. Yeah, that's a plan. See ya later!

I'm so good it's scary!

2009-02-12T06:48:00.000-08:00

I really can't believe this, but I've actually finished three (yeah, count 'em, three!!) projects this week. I've already shared my two little valentine's projects with you, so here's a picture of the newest finish - a cute little table topper. I was in a birthday block swap on the Kansas Troubles Quilt Addicts list last year. The birthday girls got to pick their colors, but it was maker's choice for the blocks. So I've got all these beautiful red, green and tan blocks here. Now, I'm not a real fan of sampler quilts, so I decided to do something different with the blocks. The block that happened to be on the top of the pile was staring at me yesterday, willing me to do something with it. I decided it would make a fabulous center for a cute table topper. The blocks I used around the corners were leftovers from another project and just happened to be 4" finished, which worked perfectly with my 12" finished block. Now all I had to come up with were the center blocks, which I decided would be perfect with flying geese. So all I had to make were the flying geese units, then sew it all together and some quick quilting in the ditch. Put on a red binding and Voila!! done!! Start to finish - less than one day. I may donate this to an auction on Saturday night for our local beef producers, but then again I may not - I'm becoming quite attached to it already. Maybe I'll have to make something out of another block (or two or three) - stay tuned LOL!!

Have a great day - mine will be filled with bookwork, errands, and hopefully some sewing later today.

Two finishes!!

2009-02-10T07:57:00.000-08:00

I promised pictures of two projects I was working on and here they are! (I'm just so darned excited cuz I actually finished something LOL!)

This is a stitchery block I did eons ago and just had lying around, unfinished. Well, I spyed it on Sunday and decided to grab it and finish it. The borders are just scraps from my scrap jar - I pieced both side borders because I liked the look. I just put them on log cabin style, zipped around the edge of the stitchery portion with my walking foot and put on the binding. Done!! I may decide to do some tea dying on it, not sure at this point. I'm just glad to have such a cute little wall hanging in my kitchen.

Next up is a table runner for Valentine's Day. I bought the kit for this runner last year at my LQS and just never made it up. I believe the fabric is Sandy Gervais' line from last year and the pattern is an adaptation of the Framed 4 Patch pattern in the Little Charmers II pattern from Anka's Treasures. The original runner in the pattern consists of the of just the framed 4 patch you see in the middle of my runner, and it has pointed ends. My LQS owner took the pattern and added setting triangles on the ends and an inner and outer border to make it rectangular. Very cute for Valentine's. Below is a close up of the fabrics used in the runner.

Last night I got to go a mitten knitting class at a shop in town. I really love the Fiddlehead mittens you can see on Ravelry (if you're on there) or on the Hello Yarn website and decided I had better learn how to make a basic mitten first before attempting these. Aren't they just too scrumptious??!! Anyhow, back to my class - it was actually combined with open knitting time, so there were a variety of projects being worked on and I learned so much - not just about my mittens - but about other knitting obstacles I'm facing and also about how important it is to stretch. The instructor gave us a handout on stretches we can use to help fight muscle fatigue when knitting - very cool! Hopefully I'll have some finished mittens to share soon. I also think I'm going to purchase the pass this shop sells which entitles you to six sessions (must be used within a year's time) of help on any project you're working on. Maybe I'll finally get some of these stalled projects done on off the needles.

Well, that's it for now. Today I have to return some books to the library, pick up some books I reserved there, and go buy something (not sure what yet) to donate for a live auction at our county's beef banquet on Saturday night. Right now I'm thinking either of putting together a family fun basket or DH just suggested some nice wind chimes (it's dang windy here today). So we'll see what I find when I venture out. Have a great day!

Some quick little fun!

2009-02-08T09:48:00.000-08:00

I saw this today on Michelle's blog - thought it was fun, so I'm sharing it here. The rules are easy - just copy and paste the list and bold the items that you've done. So here goes:
1. Started your own blog 2. Slept under the stars 3. Played in a band 4. Visited Hawaii 5. Watched a meteor shower 6. Given more than you can afford to charity 7. Been to Disneyland (actually Disneyworld, but I think that counts!) 8. Climbed a mountain 9. Held a praying mantis 10. Sang a solo (in my car) 11. Bungee jumped 12. Visited Paris 13. Watched a lightning storm at sea. 14. Taught yourself an art from scratch 15. Adopted a child 16. Had food poisoning 17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty 18. Grown your own vegetables 19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France 20. Slept on an overnight train 21. Had a pillow fight 22. Hitch hiked 23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill 24. Built a snow fort 25. Held a lamb 26. Gone skinny dipping 27. Run a Marathon 28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice 29. Seen a total eclipse 30. Watched a sunrise or sunset 31. Hit a home run 32. Been on a cruise 33. Seen Niagara Falls in person 34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors (no, but I'd like to) 35. Seen an Amish community 36. Taught yourself a new language 37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied 38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person 39. Gone rock climbing 40. Seen Michelangelo’s David 41. Sung karaoke 42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt 43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant 44. Visited Africa 45. Walked on a beach by moonlight 46. Been transported in an ambulance 47. Had your portrait painted 48. Gone deep sea fishing 49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person 50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris 51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling (snorkling is awesome!) 52. Kissed in the rain 53. Played in the mud 54. Gone to a drive-in theater 55. Been in a movie 56. Visited the Great Wall of China 57. Started a business 58. Taken a martial arts class 59. Visited Russia 60. Served at a soup kitchen 61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies (bought them LOL) 62. Gone whale watching (been dolphin watching, though) 63. Got flowers for no reason 4. Donated blood, platelets or plasma 65. Gone sky diving (ABOSLUTELY NOT) 66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp 67. Bounced a check 68. Flown in a helicopter 69. Saved a favorite childhood toy 70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial 71. Eaten Caviar 72. Pieced a quilt 73. Stood in Times Square 74. Toured the Everglades 75. Been fired from a job 76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London 77. Broken a bone 78. Been a passenger on a motorcycle 79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person 80. Published a book 81. Visited the Vatican 82. Bought a brand new car 83. Walked in Jerusalem 84. Had your picture in the newspaper 85. Kissed a stranger at midnight on New Year’s Eve 86. Visited the White House 87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating - 88.Had chickenpox 89. Saved someone’s life 90. Sat on a jury 91. Met someone famous 92. Joined a book club 93. Got a tattoo 94. Had a baby 95. Seen the Alamo in person 96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake 97. Been involved in a law suit 98. Owned a cell phone 99. Been stung by a bee

Well, there ya go - guess I've done a bunch LOL!! My dad used to own a helicopter and now he owns a motorcycle (actually it's one of those trikes), so that's how I've ridden in those. The pieced a quilt entry - well, duh, I'm a quilter. I've also done quite a bit of traveling - been to France and England and Scotland twice, and Australia and New Zealand once, as well as done some traveling here in the US - of course, most of this was BK (before kids!!) but every once in a while I can persuade DH that we need to get away. Hope everyone has a great day - I'll have some pictures to share tomorrow I hope of two projects that are just about done.

OK, where did January go? - and a donkey!

2009-02-07T14:56:00.000-08:00

What I want to know is how it got to be February already?? I mean, come on, it seems these days that all I have to do is blink and several weeks fly by. At least I have been getting something accomplished. I have been bitten by the knitting bug again, hard!! I say again because I am one of those "on again, off again" kind of knitters. And it seems that I only really want to knit in the wintertime. But then a couple of weeks ago, someone on one of my lists mentioned Ravelry and I went to check it out. If you have any interest at all in knitting, go join this cool site. Anything to do at all with knitting is on there. My favorite part is where I can enter in a pattern or a yarn and see what other people have made - really inspirational!

Anyhow, since I've been knitting, I've finished a felted booga bag that's been hanging around way too long in an unfinished state. I've also made my daughter a winter hat - all that it needs now is the brim. The pattern I used is in the book "Stitch and Bitch Nation". I will try to talk her into modeling it when I get the brim finished.

Ok, now on to the donkey. I know that part of the title got your interest, didn't it? Well, this blog is about anything to do with faming too. I realize there hasn't been alot of that content on here lately, but now you'll get it - in spades! Don't say I didn't warn you!

This is Lucy. She's a mammoth donkey, which I guess (from what I've read on the web, anyhow) makes her kind of special. According to one site, there are most probably fewer than 5000 mammoth donkeys in the world. In the pic above she's getting to know our horses, who were extremely curious about her. She, on the other hand, could really have cared less.

Is this not just the dang cutest little donkey ever? These pictures were taken at the farm where we bought Lucy - they're neighbors of ours and have quite a few donkeys.

I'm sure you're wondering why the heck did you get a donkey? Well, since we show cattle, that means teaching alot of cattle how to respect a halter. For the most part we try to do this when they are younger, which means smaller, which means less chance of getting hurt. Some cattle break to halter really easy and some take quite a bit more work. DH had back surgery just a little over a year ago and has decided that he needs to be a little kinder to himself. That's where Lucy comes in - we will tie the calves to her and let her break them. The nice thing about a donkey is that when she wants to move, the calf will have no choice but to go with her and when she doesn't want to move, the calf will have no choice but to stay put. Saves DH's back - and she's just really fun too.

Well, I'd better go - I'm working on a valentine's day runner that is all layered and ready to quilt, so I'm trying to finish that this weekend. Hopefully I'll have some pics to share by Monday. Have a great evening.

I got an Award!!

2008-12-16T15:56:00.000-08:00

OMG, I can't believe it!! Pam over at Antique or Not gave me an award for being a follower of her blog. I guess I need to pay more attention to my comments LOL!! So, anywho, here's the rules:

1. Please put the Marie Antoinette picture on your blog.
2. Place a link to the person from whom you received the award.
3. Nominate at least 7 or more blogs.
4. Put the links of those blogs on your blog.
5. Leave a message on their blogs to tell them.

Okey dokey, so there's Marie's pretty pic - check. Already put a link to Pam at the beginning of the post - check. Nominate 7 or more blogs - ok, big breath, here goes nuttin' -

Heidi at Hen and Chicks
Heather at Trends and Traditions
Karen at My Yellow Farmhouse
Libby at A Simple Girl
Judy at Quilting with Ragdolls
Tammy at Ginger Patches
Carol at Brown Quilts

There's a whole lot more where those came from - it seems my list of blog faves keeps growing. But these gals ought to keep any blog lover busy for a while. So the links are here - check. Now I just need to go leave them a message. I'll do that as soon as I'm done here.

Ok, now I did promise some decorating pics.

This is the Christmas tree in our living room. This is supposed to be the nice, color coordinated tree that everyone ohhs and ahhs over when they visit. And they pretty much do. Of course, this year, I just told the kids to decorate it any old way, so they did. Hence the glob of beads and ribbon in about the middle. But hey, all I had to do was put the thing up and get the lights on, so I'm thinking they did a pretty nice job.

Well, my wonderful middle kidlet (who turns 11 day after tomorrow) is sitting here decreeing that I need to get off the computer so she can get on to do "homework" (yeah, sure, looking at YouTube is homework LOL) so I better leave for now. Have a great day!

Snow fun

2008-12-14T19:19:00.000-08:00

Wow!! Two posts in two days, I think that's a new record for me. This morning my youngest kidlet came and asked if he could borrow a carrot for the nose of his snowman. I said sure, thinking that one cute snowman in the front yard would be fun. Well, I ended up with six (yep, count 'em, six) snowmen in my front yard.

I know it's not the greatest pic, and it's kind of hard to see the one on the far left, but there are six of them - one for each of us and the dog (who, ironically, is supposed to be the biggest one on the far right. I say ironically because we have a corgi, who while somewhat overweight, is still very, shall we say, vertically challenged LOL!!) You can even see the carrot nose on the snowman on the far right if you look closely. I just had to share these guys cuz I think they are so darned cute.

I was going to share some pics of the Christmas decorations here, but since blogger and my pictures are not playing nice (might have something to do with the weather too), I'll just save those for another day. Hope everyone stays warm!

My New Stocking!!

2008-12-13T09:44:00.001-08:00

First off, Happy Birthday to me!! I know it's a day late, but I was really busy yesterday. We aren't celebrating birthdays officially until next Sunday, the 21st, since I'm not the only birthday girl this month (DS turned 13 last Tuesday, DD will turn 11 next Thursday, and my youngest DS will turn 8 on Jan. 8). So I wanted to have something to open on my birthday. Enter, the stocking swap from one of the best groups on the internet, primitivefolkartquilting. My package from my buddy arrived earlier this week, so I showed ALOT of restraint and saved it to open on my birthday.

Here's a pic of all the wonderful goodies Debbie sent me. I just love the stocking and the little punch needle mittens are too cute - they even feature cows!! I can't think of a better way to start out my birthday than to open such a fabulous package. Thank you to Debbie!

The rest of the day was busy, as usual, but DH did take me to a movie - Australia. What a stunning movie! The scenery was just beautiful, it had cattle, and there was plenty of eye candy (I kept mopping up my drool over Hugh Jackman's character - WOW!) So, it was pretty nice day. Hope everyone else had a great day.

So Sad

2008-10-10T13:54:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone. Sorry I've been non-existant for a while. It's just that our computer crashed - as in REALLY, REALLY crashed. It's been in the computer hospital since Monday (and it happened last Saturday) and I was just informed that my hard drive is locked up tighter than a drum. The only option is to send it to a company in the Cities and for $1500 - $1800 they will retrieve what they can. OH BOY (insert big sigh and lots of tears here). The biggest thing I want off that hard drive is my pictures. I just downloaded a ton of them last week in anticipation of my middle kidlet's trip with her grandparents. SOOOO, now they're all gone - every last one. Hubs and I are still talking about it - but I just don't think we can justify the cost. So, folks, the moral of the story here is back up, back up, back up EVERYTHING!!! I know I've heard others say this and thought I'll do it next week or whatever. Well, guess what, now I don't have next week. So go do it now!!

On a lighter note, we're starting to get ready to go to a cattle show next weekend. Since this particular show is 4 days long and it's not during a fair, there's very limited food available (read one over-priced vendor!), so us moms make lots of different yummy things to bring along to warm up in our crockpots or fry in the portable fry pan. Right now I'm making a party mix recipe that is new to me (found it in the Primitive Christmas book by Primitive Gatherings). I'll let you know if it's good or not.

Also, since my 'puter was in the hospital this week, it left all sorts of time for quilting. I actually finished a wall size (48x60) quilt for Christmas. Of course, I can't share pics right now since a) I don't have a 'puter (I'm borrowing hubs' laptop right now) and b) middle kidlet has my camera somewhere between Denver and Santa Fe at the moment. Sooo, when I get my camera back, and my computer back, and I'm actually home and not at a cattle show, I'll share some pics. I think it turned out really great.

That's all for me today. Just wanted to give a shout out and let everyone know that I hadn't fallen off the face of the earth, just into a huge hole :-)

Hugs,
Amy

Busted!!

2008-10-01T08:30:00.000-07:00

Hi all! I got outed by Karen. I was giving her a bad time about not posting, but shame on me, I'm even worse than she was LOL!! Anyhow, she inspired me to do some cleaning and tweaking of my fall decorating so I could share with all of you.

The first picture is of the beautiful cupboard I have in my living room. I purchased this at our annual Gold Rush antique show quite a number of years ago. I remember seeing and wanting it so bad, but it was over $1000. I walked away, but called DH and after some wrangling, he ok'd it and I practically ran back to the booth. No sooner had I told the dealer I would take it, than someone else walked in and wanted to buy it. Talk about a close call!!! The second picture is taken at the foot of my steps, in my entry way. The crock is brand new (to me) - I just bought it about a week and a half ago at Gold Rush. Same dealer as the cupboard, in fact! They actually had a 6 gallon crock just like it, but again, I walked away and thought about it. By the time I came back, that one was gone. I still bought this little beauty, though. Like I told my friend that day, my theory when it comes to antiquing is, if it's meant to be, it'll be there when I get back. I just gotta see lots of stuff before I decide for sure what I want.

A close up of my new crock - I just love it!!

This particular little grouping is in my living room right by the bottom of the steps. I would like to find some flowers for the pitcher, but other than that I'm good with it.

These two pics are of the piano in my living room, all decked out for fall.

Well, now that you've all keeled over in shock that I've actually posted, I'll let you go on your merry way (and I promise to post more!! LOL)

Have a great fall day!

What I've Been Doing All Summer

2008-09-08T06:47:00.000-07:00

OK- so if you've visited my blog lately, you've seen that I haven't posted in a veeerrrryyy looonngg time!! LOL I'm such a bad blogger!! I guess you could say I've kind of been busy. So, here, in a very brief nutshell, I will catch you up with what I've been doing.

First off, in June our mare FINALLY had her foal - the cutest little filly you ever did see. Of course, we had been watching her and watching her. I would even walk down to the barn in the middle of the night and check on her. NOTHING!! I was getting ready to take the two older kidlets to a cattle show in Iowa, so hubs decided that she should go out to pasture since we'd be gone. Well, guess what, the morning we woke up to leave, hubs looks out the window and yells "There's a baby out there!!". That big stinker had her baby out in the pasture. I think she was just waiting until she could go outside and have it - anyhow, every thing was fine and Chloe is now a new member of the herd (which numbers 7 now - but we won't talk about that LOL!!)

So after all that excitement, I took the two older kidlets to Iowa for the North Central Regional Simmental Show. Fun was had by all and the oldest kidlet actually placed sixth in the jr (under 15 yo) public speaking contest - cool!! Then middle kidlet and I booked home for the wedding of two dear friends. So glad to see them finally tie the knot!

A couple weeks later we headed up north for the summer show for the state Charolais association (do you see a theme here?? cattle show after cattle show - no wonder the summer streaked by!!) As always, a really great time catching up with old friends and meeting new ones - here are some pics of the day:

This is middle kidlet showing her heifer, Tasha. She's come a long way in her showing skills just this summer and is really starting to have fun.

Here's hubs and oldest kidlet mugging for the photographer!!

Here's youngest kidlet showing for one of his first times. He was so thrilled to finally be out there and he even won his very own show stick!! He's so proud of it!

This is Murph. As you can see, I think we tired him out LOL!! Poor calf was just wiped out by the end of the day, kind of like the kidlets!!

And our great white chariot!! You can see some of the cattle in the background - thanks goodness it was a nice day since we were all outside.

Shortly after our fun weekend, it was time for county fair and then time for state fair. I'll share more pics of those fun (but exhausting weeks) shortly - then it will be on to our regulary scheduled program of quilting, decorating (for fall!!) and with farm life and cattle peppered in. Thanks for visiting!

Quilt Give-Away

2008-03-14T09:39:00.000-07:00

Hi All!
Go check out Old Red Barn Co - she's giving away a fantastic quilt. Sign up and say I referred you - she will give out extra entries for me (and add her info to your blog - then you get extra entries too!!)

Have a great day!
Amy

TA DA!!

2008-03-02T12:34:00.001-08:00

Bet you've all been wondering what I've been working on - then again, maybe you haven't - but I've been busy sewing up a storm. Back in early February I swapped out a ton of nine patch blocks from a swap on the Jo Morton list. I was trying to figure out what I would do with my blocks. I counted them - there were 75 3" finished nine patches. What to do? Then one evening I was browsing through one of Kim Diehl's books, Simple Traditions. (I love Kim's books - check them out if you've never seen them!!) Her Garden Patch pattern caught my eye - it uses nine patches, and I thought it would be easy enough to alter the pattern to use my size of nine patches. Well, serendipity, it uses 3" finished nine patches. Yahoo!! So I started counting how many I would need. Serendipity again - it uses exactly 75 nine patches, which was how many I had (Of course, I have since learned that I can't count and have 77 nine patches, but I will use the two extras on the label on the back.) So here's a couple pictures of the completed center of the quilt - now I need to add the inner border, and then start on the applique border. I'm just so happy with how this quilt is turning out - and I'm using all Jo Morton's fabrics, so they just all blend so wonderfully!!
Well, I need to go - hope you enjoy seeing what I've been up to!
Cheers!

Hello from the great white north

2008-02-25T13:05:00.000-08:00

Hi! I decided to give this blogging thing a whirl - now I just have to figure it out, so bear with me. Right now I'm going to go sew some more and as soon as my more technologically savvy kids get home, I'll post some pics of what I'm working on right now.