Quilting race

I really thought I would have to be back to work in the field by now, but Mother Nature is giving me some extra sewing time!

Last Friday I went outside to do some yard work but the weather changed and chased me inside.  Since I couldn't be outside, I opted for finishing up the piecing on the quilt that I worked on a few weeks ago at Stitchin' Chicks retreat.

This is the quilt top partially laid out on the floor.

This is half of the top sewn together.

Sewing the rows together.

One of the quilt blocks.....

and the other to make up the Double Irish Chain.

And, as soon as that was finished up, I pulled out another project that I cut and made samples of two winters ago.  It's time to get this one out of the box and on to a bed!  I'm quite sure I will not have time to finish this before my little Colt tractor calls me to work, but I should be able to get a few leaves, or at least parts of leaves put together.

This is the last fall quilt for the "season quilt series".  I would save the most time consuming and difficult for last!  Usually I do the hardest one first, then the rest seem like a breeze, but this time I reversed the process.  It's going to be so pretty when it is done.  Stay tuned......

Maple leaf blocks and chain blocks.  Beth says you always need to make up sample blocks before you cut everything, just to make sure the cutting instructions are correct.

Here are all my bags of parts and pieces!

I've started piecing the stem portion of the leaf together.  It's the most time consuming of that particular block.

I like to have several quilts cut and ready to sew.  That way once I finish a one project, I just pick up the next box and off I go on the next one!  I'm not even going to admit however, how many are cut and waiting!  It's more than two but less than ten!!!

Clean cars

This past Friday morning, Reynald and I had to be in Spokane.   Alicia took the opportunity to change the snow tires to summer tires on her Theo, the SHO car and our Gretta once we returned.  She also washed all three!  Youth is such a joy!!

The SHO car which Alicia drives to work most days, clean and shiny.

Theo gets a thorough wash as well.  Reynald showed up in time to help!

Gretta got a bit of a face lift this winter.  Someone backed in to her in a parking lot in Spokane and did some minor damage.  We had that repaired, and another boo boo or two fixed.  She looks like a new car!

tree removal

Yesterday we drove some heavy equipment to Alicia's place to remove some trees that have been on our list of things to do for YEARS!!!  My parents talked about removing these trees 30 years ago and now it has happened!  And, there are more on the list, but the really big ones are beyond our skill set.  For now, the pile that we made north of her house will be all that we accomplish this spring.

First we pulled a failing flowering crab and an almost dead sweet cherry tree.  I tried to pull those last year with Kenny, the loader tractor and could not get them out.  This spring we brought Colt to do the job!

Reynald, Scott the scarecrow and Alicia.

Scott will need to have a wardrobe update for the coming garden season.

Next on the removal list were the arborvitae shrubs.  

One gone, seven more to go!

I pulled the shrubs out with Colt, and drug them out to the field and then Reynald used Kenny to put them on to a quickly growing, eventual burn pile.

Alicia hooked the chain to the arborvitae and then to the tractor.

Here's what it looks like with all those shaggy shrubs removed.  

Next Reynald and Kenny cleaned up the burn pile from last year!  Alicia was able to burn most of the pile last week, but there were some stumps and random branches left.  Reynald hauled those to the new burn pile.  Alicia's garden space just increased!  The squash vines will be growing across the road this summer!!!

Alicia has ordered a few fruit trees and plans to plant those in the area where we removed the juniper trees north of the equipment shed. 

There were five juniper trees planted on the north side of the equipment shed.  They needed to go away.....

Again, we hooked a chain to the tree, Colt pulled and drug the tree to the ever increasing in size, burn pile!

Here I am waiting for Reynald and Kenny to push the trees in to a somewhat tidy pile. 

Kenny worked hard today.

This looks so much better.  Still some work to do to get the site ready for the fruit trees, but the big job is finished.  We haven't seen this side of the shed for 40 years!

March afternoon

Friday afternoon I went outside to prune a few roses.  The sky was so dramatic.  Blue skies and puffy white clouds in the northern skies, and dark stormy clouds to the south.  I managed to get five roses pruned before the wind picked up and the rain started.  This is typical spring weather for our area.  It is one of the reasons we  must have a "Plan B".  It's also one of the reasons I love being a farmer.  It is rare that one day is the same as the next. 

A few images of the afternoon clouds before I retreated to my sewing room to finish one quilt and immediately start another while the rain fell and the wind blew!!!

Because of the interesting lighting due to the clouds,  I thought the contrast between the sky and the fields was striking.

This dark cloud eventually made it's way over us and dropped some rain, which is always welcome!

This is a different view of the farm than I usually take.  

The wheat has come through the winter fairly well.  We had several water runoff events, though our fields show very little erosion.  We believe that one of the reasons is that we have such high residue on our fields.  Also our wheat plants are happy and have a large root mass under the soil to hold water and prevent erosion.  

This shows that the tips of the wheat plant suffered some minor winter damage.  

Charlie and Baxter are never far away when I am outside.  There is so much for them to investigate! 

Charlie is always on the lookout for something interesting.

The chickens provide constant entertainment for Charlie and Baxter!

Terrier vs. rooster.  Good thing there is a fence between the two of them!

It was warm enough before the clouds rolled in for the honey bees to be out flying.  I'm so thrilled that they have made it through the winter!  I'm keeping food in front of them until something blooms in the yard.  

Reyanld and Alicia have been busily working getting everything ready for spring field work.  They are almost ready to declare "we're ready"! 

Sunday afternoon drive

The afternoon temperatures rose to the mid 50's yesterday so Reynald got out the jeep and we took a drive to look at our fields.  (Condolences to east coast readers as I just heard that yet another Nor'easter is headed your way...ugh!)

Daylight savings time kicks my butt but I have to say, that I really enjoyed being outside late in to the day, as the sun was setting, pruning a few roses.  My body will adjust in a week or so.....

We love this little jeep.  His name is TJ.

Driving down our lane.

The crops look great.  This is our friend and neighbor, Les' farmstead.  The wide draw was one that Reynald remodeled last spring.  We've had several large water run off events this winter, yet this ditch did not wash our, which pleased us greatly.

On one of the back roads there was a huge herd of deer grazing on the winter wheat.  We counted at least 30, but there could have been more. 

When we got home I dug some carrots, which need to get out of the ground in the next week or so.  They are like candy.  I will be sending some east to David and Roni and David's parents this week.  I found that quite a few fit in a large, flat rate mailing box and they arrive in two or three days and the kids say they are still fresh and fine.

The Lenten Rose is blooming, appropriate for this time of the year.  It's always the first thing to bloom in my yard.

I decided to prune a few roses while the sun was still up.  You can see by the last image, that the sun was setting before I finished my goal, casting a beautiful orange glow to the yard.

A few rose bushes before pruning......

and after.

The glow of the late afternoon sun.