Corn Harvest is Complete!

They finished combining corn last night!  I think some still has to be hauled to town, but the combine gets to rest.  As does Willow!  I'm pretty sure she searched the harvested fields for any ears they missed - I sent the last one she brought in out the door with the farmer this morning.  My yard is littered with corn debris...........we're calling it the "Scattered" look!

A week ago on Tuesday, my mom and her friend Shelly came down and we went to Joyce's Fabrics in Pilot Grove.  She is selling out and fabric was $1 a yard if you took the whole piece.  We had such a good time digging through to find the "treasures".  Here is what the back of my car looked like at the end...............that's about 400 yards of fabric!

I listened/watched Jackson's game on Friday night........another win!  I also finished my pumpkin quilt.  

 On Saturday I attended a Guild Fest in Sedalia.  We heard 3 fabulous speakers, heard some great stories, and saw lots of amazing quilts.  I took some photos of the quilts hanging around the room that intrigued me............

Cute puppies!

A really nice sampler.........  and a dinosaur (ok, I was channeling Sarah when I took this photo!).

A twisted kitty......

Now, this one I really liked......

The above intrigued me...........and well, everyone needs a purple cow!

Need to wrap this up because piano lessons begin soon.  Tis the season...........my dining room table is sporting a pile of Halloween music, and an even larger pile of Christmas music (yes, just like Walmart, I am seasonally confused!).

Christi

Good Morning and Happy Birthday!

 First off, I want to say Happy Birthday to my cousin, Pam, an avid reader of my blog!  She thinks that the unprecedented number of blogs this month was her birthday gift and I'm just going to go on letting her think that.  (Actually, I made a Labor Day Resolution which is sort of like a New Year's resolution but made on Labor Day, to exercise more, eat less, and blog more.  So, 1 out of 3 ain't bad!  We'll try a Columbus Day Resolution on the other two and if that doesn't work, there's always Veterans Day.)

So, Pam, here is your birthday smile from Willow!

The big news from the quilting room is that my guild CHALLENGE project is finished!!!  It's a good thing because it is due at next week's meeting.  I can't show you a picture until after that.  BUT, I also finally got this project off the longarm last night.  

Yes, Flea Market Mix had been residing there for a month!  I was using it to try out lots of different quilt designs, so I spent in inordinate amount of time thinking about and planning each block.  Here are some close-ups..........

And I love looking at the back!  You can really see all of the quilting designs.  There are mistakes, but none you can see from a galloping horse, so I'm just not going to worry about them.  I do have to say that I am looking forward to loading something and just doing an all over edge to edge pattern again.  I plan to get the binding (scrappy) started this evening.

And for those who are wondering how harvest is going, well, the hubster took a spill off the combine last Wednesday while cleaning the windshield.  I'm not going to enlarge these photos because I know he doesn't want me to show them.  (I'm only doing it because I know he's too busy to read my blog right now.)  So this was last Wednesday.

And this was this morning............

Oh, and the tractor used to pull the grain cart broke down.  I was informed that it was MY tractor.  Notice how it's only my tractor when it's broke down?

And Willow is slowly recovering from the shock of her cornfield being gone........get it?  Shock of Cornfield?  Too Corny for you?  

She even got a bath yesterday to get the smell of cornstalks out of her fur.  Here she is sunbathing afterwards.  

Pretty sure she turned over halfway through to get things evenly done.

Christi

Harvest!

We got home late Saturday afternoon, and Willow was thrilled to see us.  

Cici was thrilled to see that Willow was being made to stay outside since she had dirty paws!

On Saturday, we attended a performance of Menopause, the Musical at the New Theatre.  It was hysterically funny.  This was my selfie before the start of the performance.  It's a dinner theatre and the food was delicious.  

On Monday, Willow's world came crashing down with the start of harvest.  Suddenly, her natural fence was gone as was her supply of corn stalks to bring up to the deck with ears of corn to chew on.  

I took a combine ride after work.  Last year, Willow rode with us.  This year David proclaimed there wasn't room in the cab of the combine for all 3 of us.  The harvest was difficult on her.  She moped on the window seat after I got home from work, gazing out at the empty field.  Where did all her corn go?

 It may take her a few days to recover and get used to her new world.  So sad.

Christi

Football Weekend!

We got to see Jackson's game IN PERSON!  Friday night saw us at Des Moines Christian High School.  Jackson is (the second from the right in the white jersey) one of the 4 captains this year.  

It was supposed to be a good game, and it was since they won 55-0.  The other team had a few players on the injured list which might have contributed the the lopsided score, but Greene County was playing really well.  So, you want Jackson's stats, don't you?  He had 8 carries as a running back with 4 touchdowns, and 4 catches as a receiver.  He tied his older brother, Carter's, 4 touchdowns on the same field from 2 years ago.  We were sitting behind a nice couple from the other team and my sister asked them which player was theirs.  They pointed him out and said he was only starting because their team had so many injuries.  I said, "In case you hadn't figured it out, her kid is #15, Jackson Morton."  Their response, "WE KNOW."  Pretty sure they are glad there aren't any more Mortons to come through the football program.

Of course, we had to have "after the game, dripping with sweat" photos.  Why is it he only wants to put his arm around you when he is dripping with sweat?

He played hard.....note the blood on the uniform!  Not sure if it belongs to him or not.

And the ripped jersey...............

And the cute girlfriend..........

And the proud parents...........

So that was the beginning of football weekend.  We concluded it watching the Chief's game (deep sigh at the loss) on Sunday evening.  Cici and I watched in the basement while I sewed on Lizzy, the 201.

Cici was expressing her dislike at how the game was going.

 We'll hope for better from the Chief's next weekend and more of the same from the Greene County Rams.

Christi

Annual Corn Field Date Night

 We had our annual date night visiting all the cornfields last night.  No, we didn't let Willow drive.  I can still remember doing this with her last year, and I could easily carry her and plop her on the tailgate of the truck while we counted kernels and shelled corn to test the moisture.  This year, she ran wild through all the fields.

Willow was thrilled with the whole experience.  The hubs was happy with the lower than expected moisture content, but a little disappointed in the size of the ears of corn.  He also showed me the 5 gallon bucket of ears of corn that Willow has harvested.  He's been collecting them to run through the combine............every kernel counts!

Willow had been disappointed with me on Tuesday because I went directly from work to the quilt guild work day and meeting.  No play time for Willow!  We were working on items for our bazaar at the quilt show in Arrow Rock in October.  I was able to finish 3 sets of coasters and about 15 hot pad/trivets (with a little help from my friend Pam).  

I didn't have anything for Show and Tell at the meeting, but several others did.  This is Karen's X quilt.

And her table runner from Kansas Troubles fabrics.

 

And another from Karen...........

This is Carol's snowflake quilt.......

And a quilt panel she picked up on her trip to Kenya.  The back has a fuzzy animal print.

Beth showed this bright panel she had done...........

Mary shared her Flock Together quilt......

And her Bull's Eye quilt............

And this was Georganne's Winter wall hanging which still needed the binding.  It's a wool applique.

I'm hoping to spend a little time at the longarm today...........before piano lessons start.  We're looking forward to the weekend.  A football game in Iowa a show at the New Theatre are on the agenda.  Then corn harvest will start in earnest on Monday.  Last year, I carried Willow with me into the combine for a ride.  That definitely won't be happening this year.  She loves to ride though, so Porky, one of the truck drivers, may have to adopt her as a riding companion.  We'll see how it goes.

Christi

Tails from the Cutting Table

 Since I'm still waiting on that yard of fabric to come for my pumpkin quilt, I decided it was time to drag out another UFO to work on................

No, it's not a cattails quilt.

Cici likes to make sure I'm really paying attention when I'm cutting fabric.  You have to time your cut just right, in between tail swishes!

I dug out my Village quilt, this one being done in Christmas fabrics.  The background fabric is black with stars, so it's a nighttime village, and every house has a chimney for Santa.

Here are 74 Christmas house blocks.............only need 58 more to reach the required number of 132!

The blocks are really fun to sew together.  The struggle is the cutting, and not just because of Cici's tail.  I have this huge tub of Christmas fabrics and when I pull them all out onto the cutting table, it just gets overwhelming.  You can even see that I have stacked some of the larger pieces on a different table by the sewing machine.  I'm trying to use up the small scraps and leave the larger pieces.  But the scraps just seem to be multiplying!  

You may remember my first Village quilt..............I didn't make as many houses as the pattern said, and added some tree blocks into it and a pieced border.  That quilt has now been gifted to a cousin in Minnesota.

I also prepped the binding for a couple of things and the backing for the Quadrangle quilt to piece while I'm waiting on fabric to arrive.

Oh, and somehow, I forgot this Halloween wall hanging...................  Stack of Jacks!

It will go back to the quilt show this year as it won the viewer's choice for small quilts 2 years ago.

It's piano day.  Three down, eight to go!  Music is in the air!

Christi