Tuesday, April 30, 2013

The Rancher's Daughter Quilt Along

I'm still not able to post pictures, and I'm not getting a response from Blogger,
so I'm going to have to dig in and see what is going on.
I will save this week's block for next week, and hopefully it will all be straightened out by then.
Sorry!


Monday, April 29, 2013

The Rancher's Daughter Quilt Along (Nancy's Block) Week 17

 For some reason Blogger is not letting me upload pics!
:(

I will try tomorrow!

Cutting Instructions:
A Cut (12) 1½" X 1½" Squares (White)
B Cut (8) 1½" X 1½" Squares (Red Print)
C Cut (4) 1½" X 1½" Squares (Yellow Print)
D Cut (1) 1½" X 1½" Squares (Red/White Print)
E Cut (2) 1" X 6" Grn/Wht Stripe (You will trim this to fit length)
   Cut (2) 1" X 6" (")      (You will trim this to fit length)
F Cut (2) 3/4" X 7" Red (You will trim this to fit length)
   Cut (2) 3/4" X 7" Red (You will trim this to fit length)

Monday, April 22, 2013

The Rancher's Daughter Quilt Along (Twisted Friendship Block Tutorial) Week16


Good Morning Everyone!

I'm doing a happy dance over here.
My girlfriend is flying in to see me today and we are headed down to Paducah
for the quilt show!

(Ha! Gotcha!! Now it's 9:36 p.m. my time and this blog post still isn't done! I'm gonna have to blame it on Nancy! We were out gallivanting around, walking down by the Cumberland River where the deer were grazing....you know...doin' what girlfriends do!)

But now, down to business....
I thought I'd tell you about my young friend that helped me rescue my pig
when we were kids.
Her name was Angie.
She was red headed full of freckles, and oh how I loved my friend.
She was in the 'popular' group at school, so to speak,
on the swim team, smart, smart, smart, etc.

We were inseparable. Never had a fight.
But one day in the 7th grade, she told me she never wanted to speak to me again.
Now she spent almost every weekend at the ranch with us,
went to church with us, was truly part of our family,
so this was devastating for me.

I tried to ask her why and she just said she didn't want to speak to me.

So I was pretty miserable the rest of my junior high years.
Walked around like I had a 'mark' on me.
Of course I was too young to understand it probably didn't have
anything to do with me, but that something else was going on in her life.

In our  high school years she moved to Iowa so that made things easier for me.
But one day after I was married, years later,
my then husband was working down at the Thermal, CA  airport and wastelling me about another employee named Hans Green.
I told him to ask him if he had a sister named Angie.
He did!!
And one night while he was talking to him, I asked if Angie would get on the phone.
Imagine my surprise when she did.
She talked like nothing ever happened. I just let it be, still wondering what happened,
all those years ago.

A few years after that, I heard that she committed suicide. It hit me below the gut. You know how we always wonder if there was something we could have done.
And not until just a month ago did I find out 'why'. If there is ever truly a 'why' to suicide.
She found out she had a brain tumor. Her dad was a doctor and they knew what was 'ahead' so to speak.

So here I am 50 years old, and finally a little light shines on to some
devastating event in childhood.

 I am dedicating to this block to her. Angie. Angie Green!


Cutting Instructions
A Cut (8) 1½" X 1½" Squares (Green/White Print)
B Cut (16) 1½ X 1½ Squares (White Print)
C Cut (12) 1½" X 1½" Squares (Yellow Check)
D Cut (1) 2½" X 2½" Square (Red Focal Print)
E Cut (8) 1½" X 1½" Squares (Red Tone on Tone)

Make 4 C/B HST Units
 Make 4 E/C HST Units

Make 4 B/E HST Units
Layout Block

  Wherever you can, stitch 2 squares together:
 Sew units together:
 Complete block:
 Ahh....still made it under the deadline....

Hope everyone has a fantastic week!

Hugs and Love,
 

Friday, April 19, 2013

Our Soldier Boy is home...

I'm praising the Lord this morning. Our soldier returned home safe and sound last night from deployment!

With a humble heart...


Tuesday, April 16, 2013

The Rancher's Daughter Quilt Along Wilbursena Block


Oh Thank You my dear, dear Quilting Buddies!
Your understanding touched my heart!

I hate to be the kind of person that says I'm going to do something,
and then not come through!

So here we go!

I thought the title of the block might just peek your interest!
This story happens to be about a pig.
A pig named Wilbur....
until we found out 'he' was a 'girl'!
And thus....sena was added to his/her name!

But first, I'm going to give you the instructions on how to make this.
It's a pretty easy one!

Cutting Instructions

A        Cut (12) 1½" X 1½"  Squares (Green)
B        Cut (10) 1½" X 1½" Squares (Red Print)
C        Cut (6) 1½" X 2½" Rectangles (White-Green Print)
           Cut (2) 3½" X 1½" Rectangles (White-Green Print)
Sew the (4) A/B HST's together
  Layout the block:
Sew the (2) 4 Patches together A/B's
 Construct the (2) 4 patches that include the A/B Hst's
 Now I completed this block in two sections.
The next picture shows the first section being done,
and from there in the second portion I will show you how I did it.
 Sew the 4 Patches to the rectangle beneath it:
And then sew the rectangle to the left of that unit:
Do the same in reverse with the second half:
 Stitch these two units together:
And there you have it:
 Now for the story!
I was about 11 years old when one Saturday,
my best friend and I headed down to the barn in the early 
morning light and heard all of this squealing.
We went straight to where it was coming from.
The pig pen.
There was one little tiny baby runt of a pig
in the pen with it's mama who was trying to kill it.
Apparently she'd eaten the others.
Yeah...I've heard that pigs do that.

So we ran and grabbed a huge shovel that we used for 
mucking out the stalls and a rake.
Leaned over the pen and worked and worked to get that 
little thing away from it's mother.

Success!
I now was mama to a baby pig.
I raised it in my bathtub.
No one would venture into my room.
Can't imagine why?

On show and tell day in the sixth grade, I talked my mom into bringing it down to school, just for that hour.
She did. Not only that she kept up my 2 hour feedings when I was in school too.
Oh that Rancher's wife.

Little Wilbursena grew and grew.
She was like a dog.
Followed us all around.
Drank root beer from a can.

The day came when dear ole Rancher man said
"It was time!"

"But Dad!!"

He informed the butcher.

The butcher went out to do his deed.

Stood there with his shot gun.
And low and behold couldn't pull the trigger!
He went and told that ole man of mine that hes was going to have
to get someone else to do it!

Ha to you dear ole dad!!

Another time I will tell you the story about my best friend who was there with me that day.
She ended up committing suicide.
But that's for another day.

By the way, baby Kash got his food in time.
Grandma Bear was so exhausted, she borrowed pj's,
stayed the night and came home early this morning,
to get this post done for you all!

Thanks again for your understanding!

Happy Tuesday to everyone!
                    

Monday, April 15, 2013

The Rancher's Daughter Quilt Along Wilbursena Block Tutorial


Sorry I am so late today!
I was workihng away on the block when I  received a call
from baby Kash's mama
almost in tears....
 
There were no stores in town with baby's formula,
and he was out!
He has to have an organic sensitive stomach can....
so I ran to Baby's R Us here, picked him up a couple of cans
and headed down to Clarksville ...
an hour and a half away!
 
 
I'm trying to load this on her laptop and I can't figure out her set up.
So I will be posting about the block tomorrow.
 
So sorry!
Please forgive!
 
See ya tomorrow....
 
 
 



Monday, April 8, 2013

The Rancher's Daughter Quilt Along Ribbon Block Tutorial Week 14



This is how far we've come ladies!
I do have some extra churn dash blocks up there, so don't be alarmed!

 Mercy,
it's been crazy around here!

The roofers were here today, and to have to sit in the studio,
create a block and blog about it has truly tested my patience!!

The Guitar Man is coming in Wednesday, so I'm trying to get all of my work done,
so I can spend some time with him too.

No rest for the wicked...I must be oh so wicked!

So please forgive me for not having a story today,
just a block.

The Ribbon Block
 Cutting Instructions

A Cut (36) 1½ X 1½ Squares (Red/White Polka Dot)
B Cut (32) 1½ X 1½ Squares (Red Print)

Make 32 A/B Half Square Triangles

Then position them following the key:
 Sew Rows 1 and 2 together
Rows 3 and 4 together
Rows 5 and 6 together:
Now sew these three sets together.
 And then the final seams...
 I'd love to hear about all of your progress!

And in closing....
I've been doing a lot of this lately too...
 


















                                                              And finally a smile!!

Happy Stitching My Good Buddies!

Monday, April 1, 2013

The Rancher's Daughter Quilt Along (Dirty Dishes Block 13 Tutorial)

The Rancher's Daughter Quilt Along
Dirty Dishes Block 13

Sorry for posting so late today my friends...
Between helping to take care of baby Kash while daddy is deployed...
Can't get this to position right...but had to show you baby playing in Grandma's scraps...


And also doing my job, Ken's job, taking care of everything at home all by my little 'ole self,
I am getting soooo behind!!

I want to thank you all too so much for taking the time to comment.
Your comments keep me inspired more than you know.
I will get around to answering them this week.

Okay...enough of the pity party....
Now for this week's block.

It's a pretty easy one!

 I called it Dirty Dishes, because for some reason,
I was thinking this week about the time when we were kids
and The Rancher found a dirty glass in the cupboard.
The Punishment?
We had to take every dish out of every cupboard and rewash it!!
Can you believe that?
Cruelty.
But it worked....he never found a dirty dish again.

I even used this once on my own kids!
Kinda funny, how it doesn't seem so cruel when you can't get your own kids to do the dishes right!

Cutting Instructions:

A (4) 1½ X 2½ Rectangles  Red/White Polka Dot
(16) 1½ X 1½ Squares Red/White Polka Dot

B (4) 1½ X 1½ Squares Red Polka Dot

C (16) 1½ X 1½ Squares Green Print  
(4) 1½ X 1½ Squares Green Print

D (1) 2½ X 2½ Squares Red Print

Make 16 A/C Half Square Triangle Units
 Using Key,
layout HST's with other cut pieces:
Sew together in rows horizontally:
Sew rows together vertically:
 And there you have it!

Thanks again so much for following along.
Don't forget to upload your pics to our Flickr account too!

Have a wonderful week!