Fall quilt retreat

 A week ago, The Stitchin' Chicks gathered at the barn to roost for the weekend for our fall quilt retreat.  We were a smaller group this time, as several chicks had other commitments but they all promise to be back in the spring.

As always, we had a great time.  Several projects were started, some old projects finished up, even a few new projects started AND finished before we swept up the barn and turned off the lights!  We are a diverse group, project wise, with some using sewing machines, some doing hand stitching, some using a crochet hook or knitting needles, and some using colored pencils to create our own unique works of art.

Photos will be much the same as past quilting retreat posts, but I can't help but put up a few images of our happy group and the fun we have together.

Sunrise Saturday morning.   Proof that is was going to be a good day!

A typical scene!

Cheryl googled "quilt retreat party favors" and found this cute idea!  

!

Baxter often found the commotion to be too much and would escape to some of his favorite sleeping spots.

JoAnn is making a lap quilt from scraps from previous projects.

Here's a sample of what she is doing.

And another sample.  It's going to be terrific.

Cheryl had fun putting together this red and black and white wall hanging.  She got the top all pieced and ready to quilt!

This is Cheryl's new toy.  A Singer feather weight sewing machine.  They are coveted among the quilting crowd!

This is one of JoAnn's creations.  It is so beautiful.

Here's a closer look.  She took a class on using different machine stitches to enhance your project.  

An even closer look so show the different stitches that she used to applique the fabric pieces.  It was really something you could spend a lot of time looking at.

Grandma Jo came with a mission to finish a few projects! Betty is in the background talking to Therese!

Kathy and Brenda spent time stitching and visiting.  (Reynald usually calls it stitchin' and bitchin' but they weren't doing any bitchin' because it was quilt retreat weekend and it's all about happy stuff!)

Brenda, our resident embroidery and cross stitch expert, always has something beautiful that she is working on. 

Kathy is working on this fun red work piece.  She came close to finishing the stitching part.  Now she just has to figure out what to do with all those darling red snowment.

Therese finds solace in her art work.  

Sometimes she takes the most simple scene and puts it on to paper and you realize that the things you look at every day have such beauty.

When you look at her work, if feels like you could walk right in to the painting.  The colors and the feel of her work make the image come alive before your eyes.  I can't say enough about her amazing talent.

She was just starting a new piece.  I can't even begin to understand how her brain works to create these amazing pencil art images.

Nan worked with her brother to design this wall lap quilt for their other brother and his wife.  Another, "I don't understand how you do that" project.  It's really wonderful.

Beth and Margaret talking about a quilt piecing short cut!

Margaret and I worked to make this quilt top for her son Anthony.  THEN, Margaret came up with a creative idea for the back of this quilt, which I didn't get a picture of, but will when it comes back from the quilter!  

Sometimes we need to call in the maintenance man to help fix things!

And here's great grandma Nancy with our newest chick!  Emily brought her daughter Hesstyn Grace to meet us old hens!  Hesstyn was born on October 25 and she's a little doll.

Four generations!  Great grandma Nancy, her daughter Beth, Sarah (who will be adding a baby rooster to our group in March!!!!!) and Emily and baby Hesstyn.

Each retreat is different and I can't say that I have a favorite.  This one was quiet and laid back.  Fall retreat is often like that.  The season lends itself to a more relaxed pace.  At Sunday morning breakfast, we set the date for Spring retreat.  By the time that rolls around, the days will be getting longer again, the earth will be coming back to life and the Stitchin' Chicks will gather once again in the barn to put together a few more projects before most of us lay down our needles and sewing machines and turn our thoughts towards more outdoor centered activities.

Later Fall Field Work

Reynald is doing some "landscaping" with a bulldozer and the grader and I am working on running the subsoiler.  Both projects take patience.  There is no rushing with either operation.  Here's what I look at every day.  I'll try to get a few photos of Reynald's project before he finishes so you can see what he is up to!

Every day I fuel my tractor.  It's a good time for the tractor to warm up before starting in on a long day of hard work.

So these round wheels, called coulters, slice the soil, so that the shank behind will go in to the ground a bit easier.  The shank is going in to the ground about 14" deep.  The round wheels behind slightly pack down the ridge left by the shank.

And this is what I look at all day long!  

No work today in the fields.  It rained almost an inch last night!  No one is complaining!  It's so wonderful to have the soil replenished with the much needed moisture.

We used the break to do a little transit work where Reynald is landscaping.  Sure enough, his eye is true and he has leveled and graded the land so that the water will run in a very slight depression, hopefully without cutting a new ditch.  He's spent so much time this past week working on this project.  It will take most of the upcoming week to finish, but it will all be worth the time and the effort when it's finished,

Tools of the trade.  Reynald rented a wonderful D5 Caterpillar bulldozer which he loves and wants to keep.  In the background you can see Gertie the Grader, which belongs to our farm.

This shows a little bit about what he is doing.  You can see the ditch behind, yet to be repaired.

And this is what it looks like when he is finished with the repair work.  

At the end of two of the really deep ditches, is this dam that my dad put in years ago, because the land that we farm is below this dam.  The land that is being repaired, is above this dam.  

Today we made the dam a little bit higher with these boards.  The cement is still in good repair, we just wanted to add to it a little bit.

A different ditch that Reynald has fixed, than the one pictured above.  

And this is a different view of the ditch repair.  You can see more work has been done, with a side ditch that comes in to the big ditch, and a rocky side hill that he pushed some extra soil on to, so that we can farm through it.

All this work will make this field more efficient to farm and hopefully more productive.  Doing this kind of work requires skill that not every farmer posses,  I'm very happy doing my fall field project, while Reynald works on this one!  He hopes to finish by the end of this week, weather permitting.

A Perfect Fall Farm Day

We've had some much needed rain fall this month, above average rain fall in fact.  It is so welcome after many months of minimal moisture.  Friday the sun came out and it was so pretty outside.  The soil was wet, the air fresh and crisp, a perfect fall day.

I tried my best to work at cleaning up the yard.  I kept getting distracted by the beauty of the season and had to stop and snap photos more than once.  I have not had a killing frost yet, so most things are still blooming brightly.  It's late in the season for so much color from the annual flowers.  The tree leaves are turning.  That combined with the bright colors from the flower beds, made for some stunning visual stimuli.

The sweet cherry trees are dropping their leaves first.

The leaf color against the green grass was striking.

Baxter and chickens and a rose bush with leaves turning color

Mini pumpkins in the window box by the front door.

Mums in a pot.

I cut down the clematis this summer and it has re-grown and is blooming again!

Baxter is always on the look out for mice, which are abundant.  Love this purple mum!

Still lots blooming in the flower beds.

The wedding arbor will be staying in the pasture as a permanent fixture.  It was particularly pretty today with the yellow aspen behind.

The sky was so stunning against the green pasture, yellow quaking aspens and red shop.

Been working on getting the wedding mums planted.  I still have quite a few left to do!

Baxter keeping watch in the pasture.

And to top of the perfect fall day, a perfect fall sunset!