The Rancher's Daughter Quilt Along (Week 24) Work, Work, Work Block

Boy howdy am I am having a time tonight, getting this post done!

 

I left my good camera in my Auntie's car in Idaho, and it was supposed

to be here by FedEx today ...but didn't come.

So I've been trying to transfer pics from this new fangled phone of mine!

Brother!!

So as of now, I have 5 different 'draft' posts going....

with one pic in each...

and can't figure out how to transfer them.

How can a 'Smart' phone...

make one feel so very, very DUMB!!

I was determined to get The Rancher's Daughter post done today!

On Time!

Ha!

I will tell you why I call this block, "Work, Work, Work!"

I ended up at the Pain Clinic today.

Yea...it's something I don't like to talk about.

I have some severe back issues that have taken me off the 'show' road this last year,

and the time has come where I am going to have to do something about it.

So I'm sitting there waiting for the doc.

Wondering what 'story' to tell for today's block.

And the memory of the time I broke my knuckle came back to me.

I was probably around 13.

I was at home.

Just waiting to go to Wednesday night Bible Study.

The phone rang.

And rang, and rang...and rang.

Nobody would answer it.

So I came flying out of my room,

ran into the guest room where 'a' phone was

and somehow hit my knuckle just right on the huge wooden door,

breaking it.

I look down and my 4th finger is sticking out at a 90 degree angle underneath my pinkie finger.

Mercy, did I cry.

Mom came running.

Took me to the ER...

The Rancher took the rest of the family to church.

Now we didn't miss church for anything!

So I was feeling pretty special.

I felt even more special when the doc said I couldn't do anything for awhile,

until I healed up.

He had bound my hand all up nice and tidy,

and with glee, the next morning at the breakfast table,

I told the mean 'ole Rancher that I couldn't do any work for awhile.

Note: Remember the post about The Rancher believing in WORK!

"Hmmm..." the Rancher contemplates...

"Looks to me like you still have one good hand...

I want you to go grab a hose, and water all the trees around the house."

We're talking 50 TREES!!

I couldn't believe my ears!!

Yep....I watered the trees.

That 'ole Rancher man!

Did he ever teach us to 'Grin and Bear It'!!

Yep...upside down!

Okay...block time.

Cutting Instructions

(A) Cut 9  2½" X 2½" Squares (Red)

(B) Cut (9) 2½" X 2½" Squares (Yellow)

Make (9) A/B Half Square Triangles using the two fabrics.

Line up block as in diagram.

Stitch horizontal rows together.

Stitch Vertical rows together. 

 

So there you have it.

Pain and all....

I still managed to get it done!

That ole man of mine, gave me a gift back then...

although I sure didn't look at it that way as a kid.

I don't know where I would be today, if I hadn't learned to just keep on going,

through adversity and all.

Keep on...keeping on my friends!!

With Love and Affection...

The Rancher's Daughter (Week 23) The Cheatin' Block

The Rancher's Daughter is making bread today...

Now I know you are wondering about the name of this new block!

Well, when I walked back into my studio after getting home, I found the drawings for 3 easy blocks I designed for while I was away.

Of course....I forgot to take them with me...

but it kind of feels like cheatin'...

I'm not vacationing...

I should be working on a more detailed block.

So while I was thinking about this, I remembered the one time I got caught cheating in high school.

Yep me!

I was a junior in history class.

One of my cohorts didn't want to write his essay on the country he chose,

I didn't want to draw the map for my country,

so we came up with a plan.

I'd do his essay...

he'd do my map.

How did we get caught?

He spelled ASIA wrong on both maps!!!

Go figure!

I was choosing the wrong guys even back then.

I was thinking back to that time and how I felt so intimidated to 'draw' anything.

If someone would have told me that years from then, people

would be paying me for my work,

I would have thought it a cruel joke.

Life sure does get interesting.

The best part of this story...

that same teacher hired me on as his class assistant the next year in his history class.

Never could figure out why!

Okay so here's the EASY block!

And I have to confess...

you wouldn't believe how much ripping out I had to do on this one.

I've had an easier time with the more intense blocks.

I guess that's what I get for trying to slide by.

 

Draw out block: Cut Pieces

Cutting Instructions:

(A) Cut (9) 2½ X 2½" Squares

 (B) Cut (6) 2½" X 2½" Squares

Make (6) A/B Half Square Triangles

Layout block and stitch rows together vertically:

Stitch rows together horizontally:

And there you have it! 

One easy, cheatin' block!!

The bread is coming out of the oven,

so time to open up the homemade peach jam,

and break out  a slab of butter...

Toodles My Lovely Friends,

The Rancher's Daughter Quilt Along (Week 22) An Amazing Birthday Gift

Happy Monday Everyone!!

I'm in transit on my way home to Nashville after  being away for 1 whole month.
My flight booked me into Las Vegas for 2 nights,
so I'm staying with my 'bestie'!
Miss Nancy!

She picked me up at the airport,
and when she saw how exhausted I was,
she put me to bed,
while she made a delicious healthy supper,
tomato and onion salad from her garden,
roasted squash from the garden too,
and grilled wild salmon,
before drawing me a bath loaded with detoxing
goodies!

I slept like a baby.
She was my angel....as always!

 Well Girls....
The Rancher's Daughter
had another birthday.
(July 6th)
And what a birthday it was!

The amazing gift??

My 12th grand baby was born bright and early that day.
My daughter was scheduled for a C-Section and convinced
her doctor to come in on Saturday to do it.

I was so touched!!

Now daddy didn't want to go in for the ordeal, so I was blessed to see
Little Baby McCoy James Fisher
be born into the world.

(When I get home, I will post pics! Promise!)

I have an easy block for you today.
I was proud of myself for even getting one done,
with all the 'life' that has been happening!
I have so much to share about my trip.

The ole Guitar Man got me a laptop for my bday,
so I'm really hoping this will help me to blog more, 
and keep up with others blogs too!

Cutting Instructions
A Cut (12) 1 ½" X 1½" Squares (Red and White Polka Dot)
  Cut(4) 2 ½" X 2½" Squares (Red and White Polka Dot)
       Cut (4) 1½" X 2½" Rectangles (Red and White Polka Dot)

B Cut (8) 1½" X 1½" Squares (Red Print)

C Cut (4) 2½" X 2½" Squares (Green Print)

Confession:
I was almost through with the block, before I realized that the camera I was using (my son's) didn't have a memory card in it!
Nice John'aLee! Nice!!

So to say the least, there aren't detailed pics on this one.
So sorry, my friends so sorry.

Make (8) A/B Half Square Triangles

Make (4) A/C Half Square Triangles

Lay out block and sew rows together horizontally and then vertically.

And there you have it!!

I'm just waiting for my brother and sister in law to pick me up for lunch here in Las Vegas.
Yeah....that ole bro ...  I've been telling stories on!!

Oodles of Toodles....

The Ranchre's Daughter Quilt Along (Week 21) Lady of the Lake

The Rancher's Daughter at work...

I didn't realize my son was snapping pics of me while I worked today in his work studio!
So here I am, determined to get another block out for you ladies.
 

Lady of the Lake

I had some 'sidekick' help today too...

Little Miss Em coloring in my sketch for me.

She also threaded the needle for me too,

since I couldn't find my glasses...

And little sis...

was in the background making her own block...

So this was the perfect block for my story today.

When the Rancher designed his cattle ranch from scratch,

him being from Kentucky,

he wanted a lake with an  old covered bridge over it 

that actually creaked when you went over it.

Yep...he figured out how to make it do that.

One night the boy who had won my heart

was serenading me out there in the canoe...

so romantic.

Dark, stars above,

him singing and playing love songs on his guitar.

All of a sudden it looked like 2 huge white sea monsters stood up out

of the water howling....

It was that dear brother of mine and his friend shirtless!

The boy said he almost started using that guitar as a paddle to get us out of there...

until he realized the joke was on us!

Cutting Instructions:

A     Cut (1) 4½ X 4½ Square (Red)

            Cut (20) 1½ X 1½" Squares (Red)

 B       Cut (1) 4½" X 4½"  Square (Red)

             Cut (20) 1½" X 1½" Squares (Red)

Make 20 A/B Half Square Triangle Units

(Not 12 like I did here!)

Sew side rows together making sure all Half Square Units are positioned the way they are supposed to be:

Sew side rows on first:

Complete Block:

And here's a few other pics:

Thanks for being so patient ya'll!

I'll write another post again as soon as I can about my birthday and the new gran dbaby!

Toodles....

 

The Rancher's Daughter Quilt Along (Oh Brother....go jump off a cliff....) Week 20

Week 20!

That means 20 blocks!!

It's amazing to me when you take a project and just work at it little by little,

even 1 hour a week,

eventually....

it gets done!

And if you never would have dug in....

you wouldn't have the finished project piece!

Now last week, I told a story on my brother.

I have more!

Two that come to mind.

Our ranch house was set up with our kids bedrooms and 2 guest rooms all at one wing of the house.

Kind of like servants quarters ya know....Ha!

Mom and Dad's room was way at the other end of the house.

Which made prime real estate for big brother to rule the roost on our end.

One night, mom came running out of her room frantic, she heard us girls screaming!

She first goes into the kitchen, and finds big brother...

reading his bible no less.

"What is going on?" Mom pleads

Big brother says, "I don't know mom, I'm just sitting here reading my bible.)

As we got into bed, he'd emptied boxes of scrunched crackers into our bed!

Yeah right...reading his bible!

Another thing he was notorious for:

Whenever we had boyfriends coming to take us out, he hung our bras and panties from all the small chandeliers

that hung down the hallway where our bedrooms fanned off from.

So any of you have any 'big brother' stories out there to share??

This week's block is a good 'ole star block.

Cutting Instructions

A Cut (36) 1½" X 1½" Squares (Red - Off White Polka Dot)

B Cut (16) 1½" X 1½" Squares (Green Print)

C Cut (8) 1½" X 1½" Squares (Red Print

D Cut (1) 2½" X 2½" Square (Red Print)

Make 16 A/B Half Square Triangles

Make 8 A/C Half Squares Triangles

Whoops....need 8 more Green ones:

Lay out block:

For Center Block:

Draw a line  diagonally down each 1½ X 1½ Side Squares and stitch on line.

Sew Row 1 and Row 2 squares together all the way down.

Continue with Rows 3 and 4

and Rows 5 and 6

Now sew rows together horizontally:

Wala...finished!!

Hope you all enjoyed!

The Rancher's Daughter Quilt Along Week 19 (Oh Brother Where Art Thou?) Block Tutorial)

Happy Good Morning Monday to all my Quilting Buddies out there today!!

Are you ready for another block??

I'm sure  you all are caught up

and waiting with abated breath!! 

So let's get to work!

I will tell you the story at the end...

Cutting Instructions:

A Cut (24) 1½" X 1½" Squares (Off White)

B Cut (9) 1½" X 1½"  Squares( Red and Off White Polka Dot)

C Cut (9) 1½" X 1½" Squares(Red)

 D Cut (9) 1½" X 1½" Squares(Green)

 E Cut (9) 1½" X 1½" Squares(Yellow)

 Make  (6) A/B Half Square Triangles

Make  (6) A/C Half Square Triangles

Make  (6) A/D Half Square Triangles 

Make  (6) A/E Half Squares Triangles

Layout Block:

Sew Rows 1 and 2 together,

Sew Rows 3 and 4 together,

Sew Rows 5 and 6 together:

Can you see my mistake here?

If you don't cut your sewing apart, and just lay Row 3/4 on top of Row 1/2 and pin it, they stay nicely together and don't get twisted!

Sew Row 1/2 unit to Row 3/4 unit,

Sew Row 3/4 unit to Row 5/6 unit:

See my mistake yet?? I still hadn't!

Aha...caught the mistake:

Rip out!

Resew!

Sew all 3 sets of rows together:

 And one more block done!!

Okay, here's the scoop!

There were 3 girls and 1 boy in our family.

Yep, he was the oldest and a pain in the patootie!

One day The Rancher and his wife, had to go out of town,

and left big brother in charge.

(First mistake in my opinion!)

But he was 18, responsible, smart, level headed....

wait a minute...

this is my brother we're talking about!

(Love you Ted!)

He didn't think us girls were treating him right,

so he took one of dad's gun's out of the gun case,

(made sure we were watching)

went outside where we couldn't see him,

and fired a shot!

                                       Us girls came running out of the house

scared out of our wits.

He was laying all funny on the ground.

We started bawling, fawning over him,

telling him we were so sorry,

and that he was the best brother in the world.

He gets up...after his faking and says,

"Thought so!"

Now we were madder than hell at him!!

 Ahhhh....big brothers!

I'm going to leave with a picture of my little helper this week.

Grandma got to keep him for 2 nights while mama and daddy went out of town!

 

Baby Kash amongst The Rancher's Daughter Quilt  blocks!

Happy, Happy Quilting!!