Okay... I'm in! Farmers Wife Quilt -Along

Attic Windows #1

Churn Dash #20

Big Dipper #6

I have owned this book for quite some time. Recently, with all the activity surrounding this quilt and the quilt-along group on Flickr... I had that little extra push that I needed to start this project. Granted, I am behind... like I have made three blocks and the goal is to make 2 a week and the group is on week 11. I think I can catch up to the group. The fabric I am using is all dots. I have been collecting them, thinking I was going to make an applique quilt with my little growing stash. But the Farmers Wife is calling me.

PS I broke my CD last summer. Another reason I didn't start sooner. I called the publisher a couple weeks ago and they sent me a new CD... for FREE!

Thank you!

Garden before and after plus a huge tomato

May 2011

today

today

I was out in my garden today and I thought I would update the progress of my little annual patch I planted. As you can see in the May photo, not much is there. The flowers were struggling to grow in our cold spring. But summer is here now and the flower bed is bursting with color.

1 1/2 pound tomato

Next up is my HUGE tomato. This one is going onto my plate tonight. I will share this with Mr. Farmer in a caprese salad. I love this time of year. Our meals are so local... lettuce, pea pods, beans, cukes, tomatoes, herbs, berries, cherries. Tomorrow I am going to Castle Rock to pick up the butchered hog Mr. Farmer bought at the 4H livestock auction. Yeah! He also purchased chickens and a turkey. Mr. Farmer wants me to fix the turkey for a meal during the wheat harvest. Yummy! Turkey and all the fixin's.

Life on a working farm...

The farming life has got the best of me. My days have run into one another... I just hope a can wash my hair on a regular basis.

 

First thing, Happy belated  Birthday to  my baby girl.

Not such a baby anymore. She claims she is in her mid-twenties. Whatever. 

And my other baby came home for five days. So nice to see her. That was the best $$$ I have spent recently... for her plane ticket. It is not cheap to fly at the last minute but it saved her from having to drive 10 hours one way, by her self.

And Mr. Farmer sold his car.

 

 He bought this back in the early '90's from an elderly neighbor. Her Dad bought this car new in 1954 and died shortly after. Her Mom continued to drive this car until her passing in 1977. Then Karen could not part with the car and the memories. It sat in her husband's shop until Mr. Farmer spotted it. Karen felt that she could part with the car. So... it came to live in our garage. Mr. Farmer worked on the wiring and had some body work completed. Mr. Farmer thought about selling it at different times... like to pay for the girl's braces. But he couldn't part with the car. And it moved with us and sat in our lean- to and barn for years. Another neighbor recently asked if Mr. Farmer would be willing to sell the car and he agreed. Now Ethel belongs to someone else. I will miss seeing her. I never rode in her. But I did get to pull her to compression start her engine. I feel so close to her.

Ethel's Stats

1954 Ford Customline

four door

15,884 original miles

Mr. Farmer will be looking for a new hobby at the end of harvest.

mutton chops

Mr. Farmer

Our daughter recently hosted  her second  White Trash Bash and Mr. Farmer and I got dolled up to attend. I hate mutton chops but he insisted. We arrived in style too! We hopped into our Kenworth truck and had the horn blaring upon arrival. It is funny to see how people dress up. My s-i-l dressed as Dolly Parton and several young men had too-short jean shorts. We played games like dizzy bat, beer pong and corn hole.

This is my b-i-l and my niece. I think she even had some hay in her hair. We ate too much food and drank cheap beer and tequila. TOO MUCH FUN! Thank you Megan, you are a great hostess.

It's almost tomato time!

mid- May

2 months later

My Oh My! How our tomatoes have grown! We have fruit and it won't be long until it is ripe. We put this hoop house in to avoid the weather issues we have experienced the last few years. I am thankful we did all this work. The soil here is sandy so we amended it with aged manure; now it is like crumbly cake. We also put in drip irrigation; one strip down each side of the tomato plants. We water every other day and close the sides at night to retain the heat. The tomatoes LOVE the conditions. I also have basil, cukes, peppers and flowers at the far end. I can already taste caprese salad... yum.

Black Butte Ranch Quilt Show

I was asked to loan some of my finished quilts to the new Black Butte Ranch Quilt Show. The show is scheduled for the same weekend as the famous Sisters Quilt Show, July 9th. I pulled out a variety of quilts that I hope represent my work. All of them were machine quilted on Gene, the Machine... who is my new love.
This first quilt is called 'Nellie Jane' and is made of reproduction fabrics. I bought the pattern, by Carol Hopkins Designs. I quilted the top with fans. I love the 'old' look of this quilt.


The second quilt is from the book 'Vintage Journey' by Jo Morton. I used my stash of scraps for this top. I quilted this using a pantograph in the center and swags in the outer border.




The next quilt is from a book by Fig Tree Quilts, 'Hearth & Home Quilts.' I am very fond of basket quilts and I am liking turquoise, orange and yellow together.




The last quilt is a pattern from Primitive Pieces by Lynda called 'Auntie Bean's Stalks.' I took the pattern piece to a local glass shop, The Wright Brothers, and they cut a Plexiglas template for me. This made cutting the triangles a breeze!

Looking at these photos, it is obvious  I like scrap quilts. If you have the chance to visit the Sisters area for the quilt show, I hope you also visit Black Butte Ranch and see their display.

Bedroom before and after

before

after

after

This is my oldest daughter's bedroom in our 1942 farmhouse. Wild isn't it! As a gift for her sweet sixteen, I painted her walls and bought new bedding. (Did you see that!... I bought bedding. A quilter buying bedding! Just about broke my heart.) After college, when she officially moved out, I couldn't wait to open up a paint can and get to work. The room was converting into a guest room/ quilt storage room. I painted it a beautiful green color and moved our bedroom furniture in place. I like the new room. I am debating painting the oak furniture. I love painted furniture and I am tired of the oak color of wood. Maybe this summer, after harvest.
   This same daughter likes to sleep in this room when she is home as the bed mattress is a new memory foam type and it is VERY comfortable. And you can see, I have have not completed the window treatments. I am not sure what I want.

Cute little baby quilt

I recently made this cute and simple baby quilt for a precious newborn. Her parents went to collage with my oldest daughter. The pattern is from the Kim Brackett book 'Scrap-basket Surprises'. I love this book! The patterns use 2 1/2" strips of fabric, also known as a jelly roll. I used a collection of fat quarters for this little jewel.

A quilt for Mr. Farmer

After 27 years of marriage and numerous quilts, I realized I have never made a quilt for my husband. So I immediately went to work on a quilt. I made this last September for Mr. Farmer's 50th birthday. And since I had challenged myself to use my stash and no new fabric purchases in 2010... I gathered my collection of plaids and a manly cowboy print as my focal fabric. The pattern is called Feed Sacks from the book 'Scrap-basket Surprises' by Kim Brackett. This quilt came together quickly and I had it sandwiched and ready to machine quilt in a matter of days.

Mr. Farmer likes his quilt. I witnessed him wrapped up in the layers this past winter. And the cats enjoy napping on this quilt. Not to sure if I like kitty fur on a quilt.

Time in the garden

I was blessed with two days in a row with decent weather and I worked my tail off! Mr. Farmer and I are hosting a wedding reception in 11 days and I wanted the yard to look its best. This spring, I removed almost all of the plants from this large bed, as I had weeds invading the perennials. I did leave the rose bushes, peony and a few other large plants. I stocked the bed with annuals and a pretty, purple trellis. This is what the bed looked like when I was done planting. I can't wait for the little guys to grow and flower. I know they won't be blooming for the wedding reception but it sure looks better than a weed patch.

This big boy was no help in the flower bed. Frank is a new addition to our animal family. He found us this past winter and he never left. He knows a good thing when he sees it. He really is not an outdoor kitty. He prefers to be inside...sleeping and eating. I have never witnessed him get excited at a bird or a bug. I am not really sure about Frank's story, but we like him and he likes us.

A treasure from the greenhouse.

Mr. Farmer has an obsession with strawberries and growing them in the greenhouse. Never mind that we have a two acre field outside our door. He wants fruit earlier! So, we have three- 5 gallon buckets with strawberry plants and a handful of ripe fruit. I picked these today for a snack. I did share a couple with Mr. Farmer and one of our employees. And the rest... well, I ate them and they were very good. Like a taste of summer.

Tomorrow, we will be planting peppers, cukes and flowers in our hoop house. And the tomatoes we planted weeks ago are starting to bloom. I am glad we put in the hoop house. It is pleasant to work under cover and out of the rain. I even used the space to paint a  plant trellis. Hey, it was warm and dry inside.

Who doesn't like pie?

I spent some quality time making two pies yesterday. I had a meeting to attend and pie has been scientifically proven to smooth over difficult meetings. I made a marionberry pie and a cherry- raspberry pie.

 
For the filling:
6 cups of fruit (3 cups sour pie cherries, 3 cups raspberries)
1 cup of sugar
6 Tab. instant tapioca
1 Tab. butter
1-2 Tab. raw sugar

Place the fruit in a large bowl. In a small bowl, mix the sugar and the tapioca. Sprinkle the sugar mixture over the fruit and gently toss together. Pour into the bottom of a 9 in. pie plate lined with crust. Break butter into small pieces and dot on top of fruit. Top with top crust and sprinkle with raw sugar. Bake at 400° for 15 minutes. Reduce temperature to 350° and bake for another 45- 60minutes. A pie is done when the filling is bubbling. Allow to cool for 4-5 hours. Enjoy!