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,

New Baby

Hey Ya'll!

I have a brand new A/C unit going in today,

and seeing that it is hot, I'm not even going to attempt to sit at the sewing machine.

I will post a new block tomorrow for The Rancher's Daughter Quilt Along!

What a nightmare this A/C thing has been.

Now $3,000 later...maybe, just maybe....

I will know what it's like to be cool again!

So here's the baby pics!

Little baby McCoy James Fisher.

We all took bids on what his weight was going to be....

and I guessed 7lbs 12oz!

They call her Dr John'aLee...

The night before the C-Section my darling son-in-law informed me that 'I' was going to be the one going in for the surgery with Ashley, not him! I found out later that for their first child, he looked over the blue curtain and saw her insides being moved aside, the baby blue in the sack being put on her tummy, etc. No wonder!!  I have to say, it was my first time to be in on a surgery that wasn't my own! Unforgettable!

And here's Daddy Fisher!

 

I can't believe I didn't get a pic of Ashley off my phone.

I'm learning how to use this new fangled thing...

called a Smart Phone...

and am finding out just how 'smart' I am!

Ha!

Toodle Loo until tomorrow....

 

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...Daughter's Playing Hooky...

So have you ever tried to go on vacation...

and still worked??

Yeah...that doesn't work out too well.

But it is what I am trying to do!

Last Monday, Tory, her hubby and baby dropped me off at the airport...

 I flew into Denver...

stayed the night with my folks,

who took me out to the Outback for my birthday dinner

and handed me a new Galaxy 3 Samsung phone

for a 'prezie'.

Schweeeeeeeeet!

18 hours later they dropped me back off at the airport where I

flew into Bismark ND where the ole 

man who I hadn't seen in SIX months...

was waiting...

 Now that was a sweet moment!!

Onto my daughter Brooke's house...

where it was parade time,

Museum time with  the child who turned me into a grandma...

Doctor appointments, suicide rides down pool slides,

all the good stuff ya know...

Then the Guitar Man and I loaded up this grandson of ours

and headed down south to Boise...

where another whole brood awaited...

Daughter #2 is bringing grand baby #12

into the world,

hopefully this Saturday...

on my 51st Birthday!!!

We have to be at the hospital at 5:30 in the morning

for the scheduled C-Section.

And here she is with her precious little family:

All day long,

I've been trying to get at my daughter's sewing machine

to make this week's block.

But it is 

"Grandma this, and Grandma that,

Mom this and Mom that!"

I am lovin' every minute of it,

so please forgive me for the next few weeks while I am down here.

I'm going to help Ashley out for a few weeks to get her on her feet

after the surgery and help to take care of little baby

McCoy James Fisher.

 

I am going to do my best to get some blocks posted.

Maybe...just maybe I will get up before the household wakes 

in the morning...

Toodles my Understanding Guys and Gals!

 

Whoopsie!!

Oh my....

Monday...where are you...

 did you go?

I was frantically running around trying to get out the door for a 4 week trip!

I will write more when I get to a computer. My Kindle isn't letting me spell words correctly. 

I will tell you that I haven't seen that ole Guitar Man of mine for Six months...and I fly into Bismark at 12:30 today to be gobbled up by him!!

A NEW Mystery Block of the Month being offered by John'aLee

Really....

I've been working on things...

 A new Mystery House Block of the Month quilt!

I've been designing the blocks for this quilt for over a year now.
It's going to be in pinks, blacks, whites, greens with a touch of yellow!

Whatcha think??

You can reserve space over at my blog for a $10.00 sign up fee.
The BOM starts September 2013 and will be $29.99 each month for 10 months.
No extra border fees at the end. The whole price of the quilt is divided up evenly between the months.
Click HERE!! ...to sign up.

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!