A quilting I went.

I was surprised to learn that when the N. Houston post office collapsed on 9/19 from the heavy rains in that area it would affect my area too.  Apparently due to budget cuts Brazos County closed their sorting and distribution center some time ago and all our mail goes through the N. Houston PO.  Oh man that's not good. We got our first bit of mail on 9/27 and it continues to trickle in but very sporadic.  Best part of that is it had my paycheck in it. Double YAY.

There was almost a mishap coming back down the driveway through the cows and Jerry. I managed to drop the mail and Jerry was hoping it was something to so he ducked down to check it out but I beat him to the envelopes. I might have had to call the boss and say the Donkey ate my check instead of saying the Dog. But I was a tad faster than Jerry. Thankfully.

David went and sent me these pictures from our neighbors across the road. Jamie and her husband Dendy killed a young Rattlesnake just outside their back door. NOOO! Where's the momma? YIKES. And then he tells me we had a copperhead out by the front gate on the road. I thought maybe he'd run over it but it was kinda dark at 5:30am. So all week I kept looking for that damn thing to come out of the grass.

I'm sorry but I hate spiders and snakes. And yes I know I live in the country but it don't mean I can't hate and fear them.

So  I worked a few hours the first days of October and packed for my Quilt retreat. It's so hard to decide what to take and how many projects to pack to work on. I'm always overly ambitious with how many projects I pack.  I actually had 2 retreats I was going to attend this time. Crazy me.
I was invited to to attend a mini retreat at RR Retreats in LaGrange and then the retreat I organized.

So Friday afternoon rolled around and I headed out to LaGrange to RR Retreats.





It was supposed to be a Black/White retreat but about 5 of us still needed to finish and get help from Margie, the retreat owner on our Center medallions for our Round Robins.  Two of the girls present were going to be on my team of 5 ladies. We were meeting for the first time. Very nice ladies and fun.  Margie is on our team and 3-4 others. The woman loves Round Robins obviously.  It was nice to hear her brag about The Reluctant Rounds our team from 2017-18.

She told all of the 17-19 ladies present at this mini retreat that our quilt we worked on for her was the best ever. It was proportional and beautiful. Of course she drilled it in our heads to gradually increase the size of each border and not start off big.
Kudo's Reluctant Robins we did good. 
While at Margie's I met some new and very talented ladies. Then I figured why this one gal looked so familiar. Her daughter played water polo with Pamela in High School and at Texas A&M. Small world.
I have to show this quilting on one of Margie's quilts. It is awesome and it was even more awesome when I found out Lisa did it free hand. No digital or panograph! Free Hand. Wow.

 


She showed me some of her other work and I was just as wow'ed

I am so impressed with the detail.  Lisa runs her own quilting company called My Quilting Fairy. Cute name too.  She's located in Katy.

This is Margie the Retreat owner and the host of this mini retreat. She's working hard to help each of us that wanted help with our book for the round robin. The book provides information as to what we like, what fabrics to use the most or just a little of, how big we'd like it to be and it also lets the ladies who will be adding a border on our quilts what we don't want.  I guess I should have taken a picture of the page for an example.


Margie is the Queen of Round Robins. She will be participating in 3-4 at the same time. Wow. I don't know how she does it.  She's my mentor for round robin activity and border building.




Here's what was being created at the mini retreat. Not black and white but wow creativity and talent was shining.



 This quilt I believe was being worked on by Kim. She's in my round robin group.








This quilt is being made by a beginner quilter named Jeanie. It's her daughter that played water polo with mine.







Now I've managed to forget the name of the gal making this sweet quilt.  It's sew sweet looking. I want to say her name was Karen but I'm not sure. Bad Me.

 And this quilt (Yellow Brick Road pattern) is being made by Charlotte, another beginner quilter. It's looking really good. She is one of the few who actually worked on a black and white quilt theme.

On Sunday 10/6 it was time for me to head out to Kountz, Texas for the retreat I had organized. I looked at Google Maps and it was supposed to be a 3 1/2 hour drive but it didn't know I'd get stuck behind people who would drive 45-55 in a 70 mph area on two different roads. These people were really trying my patience but it didn't matter. I couldn't  pass either because of oncoming traffic or the no passing zone. Ugh I couldn't win.  I had to call the girls and tell them I wouldn't be at the restaurant on time.
It actually took 4 1/2 hours.

About a month before our retreat one of the girls asked about doing a challenge. I said sure like what?
So Donna Lynn suggested we each make/decorate a Witches Hat and wear it to the restaurant when we meet up on Sunday 10/6. I sent the email and everyone was in.
I got to the restaurant before everyone left. As I walked in this older guy and his family were walking out. I had to laugh because he literally stared me down but walked as far to the left of me as he could. I wish I could have pulled my camera out and taken a picture of his expression.

It's really easy to find all the girlsWitches. LOL  These 10 little Witches are very creative.

 Here's pictures of the individual hats.   We had the retreat owners judge the hats. They were really good.     They had some tough choices but they did it.

*Vickie's hat won the Best in the Mini Group

Jane's Hat

I just realized I'm missing a picture of the 3rd hat. I tried cropping a picture of Sandy Y. but that didn't work. It came out blurry when I cropped and enlarged. 

Donna Lynn's Hat

Kim's Hat

 I got honorable mention for my Fall theme. I have to give my daughter credit for picking out the decor and I had to put it on the hat. One of the gals that worked at the retreat actually bought my hat. Wow!  Pretty awesome. Didn't expect that.

                 

All the hats look like they came out of a magazine. Lots of creativity and time.

Pat's Hat

This hat even had flashing lights. Too Cool.

Diana's Hat won Best Over All

Laural's Hat won Most Creative

Kim even brought her own transportation.  LOL She came from Albuquerque, NM to join us. And we're glad she did.

We had another first timer with us. Laural came all the way from Littleton, CO. Again glad she did.

Here's the whole group of little witches. We had 2 mortals among us. LOL.  They planned on participating but ran out of time and that's okay.       Next time. Just glad they had time to join us at retreat.       

 Thanks to Donna Lynn for coming up with this challenge. It was fun.
We tried another new venue called Stone Creek Lodge in Kountz, TX and we really loved it. Great food and plenty of left overs for us to eat later. The layout was great. They even had a Quilt Store on site that we shop in our jammies if we wanted to. Not to mention the ladies who ran the place were very friendly and helpful.
Oh I guess there was only one bone I have with Dani..... She gave me a couple of suggestions of where to eat and the one I picked didn't have their liquor license and we couldn't have a margarita to start retreat off with. LOL Just kidding. I did mean to give Dani a bad time about that and forgot.
This was our work room. Big and spacious.

 And this is where had our meals.

 The surrounding area outside was really nice too.

 

I made the ladies each a stiletto to use when sewing. I hadn't glued them yet in this picture.  Sometimes I can be creative.

 Here's a few pictures of the talent and creative ladies I surround myself with. 

Donna Lynn's

Sandy Y. paper piecing

 Diana made a Crown Royal Quilt. She was working on this at her first retreat with us back in October 2018. She almost had it pretty much finished then but the finishing touches on it at this retreat. It is so colorful.
 

Donna Lynn's finish

I forgot who's panel this is.      

Sandy Y

 And this is what the floor looks like up close. I scared the heck out of everyone when I slipped out of my chair and fell on the floor. Jarred my back but surprisely never got a headache.  My trick for the first night at retreat. Geez.
 

Kim's almost finished here.

Pat's panel finish

I forgot another one. Didn't keep track of everyone's progress apparently.  Love the quilt. 

 Kim and Donna Lynn are helping Connie with the layout and sizing on her quilt.
There might have been some tomfoolery going on. Kim didn't realize someone had been putting strips of fabric in her hair.
 
My daughter Pamela bought some special cute cookies from a nursing friend of hers for me to share with my quilting buddies.

Donna Lynn & Kim

 





The retreat venue is also used as a wedding venue so sometimes there are men present too. Sandy captured the picture on the main bathroom door.  Since we had no men in our group we were able to use that restroom also. There was a total of 4 showers and 5 restrooms for us. Great sign.

I believe this was Pat's

Here's a few more quilt shots.

Judy's Walk About pattern progress.
I'm in the process of making one like this now.
Judy showed me a trick to make those half square triangles faster after I Had already cut 24 of individually. I'll be using her method next time most definitely.

A work in progress for Jane on the right and not sure who's the one on the left belongs too.

This is  some of the fabric I was using to make a baby quilt. Can't show the completed top in case the recipient reads this post. Finished it though and sent it home with my quilter Donna Lynn to quilt it. Again my color expert daughter helped pick out the fabric. She's good at it.

 
 Even though the retreat had a quilt shop we still made a quick trip to a shop in Silsbee called The Vintage Owl. They had racks of fabric at 60% off and this display of red checked, trucks and barns. I was so temped to buy some but I didn't. So much eye candy.

Fabric, patterns, novelties, kits oh my.

Our time went by too quickly. Before we were ready it was time to pack up and head out.
On my way home I stopped off at my Mom's for a quick visit. The drive home went much smoother.

David had gotten off work early that day so he was home waiting for me.

Well that's it for now.

Until next blog post ...   

Nope No Way

AW HELL NO!  Sunday 9/22 David was out mowing the back pasture trying to rid it of milkweed and encourage more grass to grow. As he mowed  next to the pond this ugly guy swam up to the water's edge.  It swam up every time he rounded the pond. David of course was sitting high on the tractor but this is not a friendly guy.
He needs to disappear.

I won't be walking down there near the pond any time soon.

The property does look good all mowed.

Another Jerry video wanting his attention. Which he got and then I went in to get carrots and came back out. He was happy then.







What was I thinking?! My friend and retreat owner Margie at RR Retreats in LaGrange has asked me a couple of times to do another Round Robin and with moving, unpacking, general Rock'n K stuff and now working I had been saying no but she caught me in a weak moment and I said 'Yes'.
So I happy to see this pattern last year and thought mmm perfect for another round robin quilt. So I wanted to do one. I need a Christmas quilt for the Texas Room so I grabbed the pattern. I should know better because I'm not that great at applique but it is what it is.

It's coming out pretty good so far. It's sewn down but it is fused except the lantern. I need to make his nose yet and decide on buttons for his eyes, mouth, vest and tummy or embroidery his stick arms on.   Just notice the front rim of the hat looks out of proportion. mmm I guess I better fix that. Dang it. I have to finish up this week.Plus I have to get my stuff packed for quilt retreat. I'm ready to see my quilty friends and hang with them for a few days.
We have fun and we're productive too. So much to do before I leave.

I recently drove into Houston to get my book club fix. We just finished reading the book "Nine Perfect Strangers" by Liane Moriarty. Over all everyone liked the book. The characters did tend to frustrate me being so judgmental but as I was informed we're all judgmental we just don't express

and we're not characters in a book. The made me laugh out loud, it made me cry and it make think what the hell?.  It's about 9 strangers who went to Spa for physical and spiritual healing, lose some weight, get in better shape and rejuvenation over all. They were surprised when all their phones, snacks, and beverages were confiscated and told they could not talk or make eye contact for 5 days. Whoa. I asked in my book club blog.... Could you go without phone, contact with outside world, conversation or eye contact for 5 days. And wine? LOL Okay so I don't drink wine every day but sometimes I feel like but don't. LOL It was a fun evening but then I had to drive home. I got home about 11:30pm and surprisingly I was still wide awake. I love my Bookie friends. We always have fun.

Saturday (9-28) David came in from outside and asked if I wanted to run a couple errands with him and I said sure. He need somethings from Walmart and from Tractor Supply. It was our quality time together. LOL

On our way home we took the back roads and went by this house that we've been watching as they build and landscape it.  Wow this house and property is beautiful. They have over 12 large magnolias planted at the front entrance and down the side of property.Pictures don't do the house and property justice. 

Don't get me wrong our house and property is beautiful too and I have no intentions to move from it. It's killing David to not work on the landscaping but it will all come in time. He can't do it all at once.

That evening I tried a new recipe. I made Chaffle's to use has hamburger buns.  These were good.  We got to eat a hamburger with a bun. It satisfied my desire for bread and it is so easy.  And to go with our blue cheese burger I made broccoli and cheese tots.  Not exactly potatoes but it satisfied  craving.                                            It's 1 egg mixed with 1/2 cup of mozzarella cheese. I pulled out the waffle maker to make. I added some jalapeno's to the mixture.  Now you could make as a breakfast waffle by adding blue berries, cinnamon and maybe some vanilla.   I need to get some sugar free syrup then I'll try it. I saw a couple other variations of making the chaffle but this was the recipe I us .

On Sunday I finished a decorated witches hat. One of the quilt retreat gals said we should have a witch hat decorating a witches hat and wear it when we meet up this Sunday at the restaurant before we drive out to retreat. The small town of Lumberton may wonder what the heck is going on when 12 ladies walk in with witch hats on.  

It came out pretty good I think. I can't wait to see what the other girls did.

  And I also worked on making stilettos for my girls coming to retreat. I just needed to glue the beads on. For my first attempt at making it wasn't too bad..

That's All Folks

Until next blog post...“Oh the places you’ll go.” ~Dr. Seuss

Yee Haw Buckaroos - Head'em up Move'em out Rawhide and a BBQ

At 7am Saturday 9/14 the rodeo began. Okay not a real rodeo but we had 2 cowboys and 4 dogs rounding up our 14 cows to move them into a smaller pasture and isolate our 3 bulls and 1 steer. A nursing friend of Pamela's husband Rusty came over  with his Dad in law to help David.  All this will be easier once we get another cross fence and our pens and chutes built. Hopefully they'll start this Friday along with another fence at the base of the property.  The guys really had to work at it. The cows just weren't cooperating.

Then there was Jerry who we pinned up in his feeding pen. He was unhappy that he wasn't out there protecting his girls and boys.

Once they got the bulls separated they had to load 2 in the trailer so David could deliver them to their new owner.   And the oldest of the 3, the black bull was totally pissed.  He was lifting the small coral that David and I put together the day before off the ground and he was determined to tear up the trailer once they got him in. He is being traded with another Dexter owner for a new bull. Our 3 older bulls were trying to mate with their momma's and we didn't want that to happen so now we have Ferdinand. He's trying but the girls aren't having any of that.  We do still have the calf born in April but he's still little so he's not a threat. At least for now.

Then there was T-Bone the steer. He is all alone in the coral. Well unless you count my neighbors cows that came up to check what all the commotion was about.  Our cows look miniature compared to our neighbors beefmasters. We feed him twice a day with some pellets. We've been told strictly grass fed cows aren't to every one's taste so we've stated the new feeding program.  Our plan is to fatten up T-Bone and take him to the processor in late October.  Who would have thunk it.... Us raising cows.  We sold 2 and traded 1 for another. We are now down to 12 cows and of course Mr Jerry.  I stayed out as long as I could to watch but I had a charity Bingo and BBQ to go to in Houston.

I got dressed and headed to Pamela's to pick her up. We were heading to Houston for my sorority's annual Children's Miracle Network fundraiser. Phi Mu has been one of the largest donors to CMN. I won one of the bingo games and my prize was a gift card to El Tiempo Mexican Restaurant. Fun and oh so yummy.  Not sure when we'll use but it won't go to waste.  And I won one of the silent auction items. A package from Bernhardt Winery for wine tasting and tour for me and Pamela with a few friends. We've been trying to go there for months and never have time to stop by.  

Kathy brought her husband Mark. She couldn't leave him at home it was his birthday. So we took pictures and put him in the middle.

We were at Pappas BBQ out on Hwy 59. They didn't scrimp on the servings and it was all really good. The brisket, chicken and sausage were juicy, tender and full of flavor.


None of us ever dreamed we'd live on a farm in the country except for maybe Kathy. She always had that thought that she wanted to get out of the city.

 It was a fun afternoon with Sorority sisters, close friends and my daughter.
We ran into traffic and construction on every turn going home and we hit rain. It rains on us every time we go into Houston. It took us forever to get home.
David had texted and we told him when we'd be home according to google maps. Our plan was to try another new place to eat for dinner.
We went to the New Baden General Store for dinner. Steak was our menu choice. Pretty Dang good. Seasoned and cooked just right on the grill. mmm mmm good.
Last Thursday 9/19 I went out to feed T-Bone and decided to snap some pictures. He came right up next to me and got a little curious and got real close so very slowly I reached out and touched his nose and in a split second he jumped back..
Today as I fed him I just stood there talking to him but never tried to touch him. He was really close but I'll wait for another day and try to pet him again.





Jerry saw me coming and ran into his pen.  LOL
I told him he didn't have to be in there. If he'll wait until I finish feeding T-Bone I'd give him some attention and go get carrots.








In the next pasture our young momma cow that gave birth in April in a hail storm has finally come into Motherhood. She's actually loving on her calf. I think we should name her Hailey and the little bull Stormer. This is one the first tender moments she has shown. After 5 months it's about time.




Jerry came out of his pen and came to the gate wanting my attention. With or without carrots.
He loves getting neck rubs.

He was unhappy when I walked away and stuck his head through the gate. I was worried he'd get stuck but he just slide out as easy as he slide through.

 We have this big pile of dirt that David ordered but with everything he has to do he hasn't distributed the dirt and now it has a ton of morning glories grown all over it. It's actually very pretty.

I was even brave enough to try and get some close ups of the big bumble bees. They were busy busy.
 
This is our new guy. We've talked about naming him Ferdinand.  He's a pretty good size. He acts like he wants attention but backs up as you reach out.

My God Child is getting married next month and moving to Indiana. So far and so cold in the winter. She asked Pamela and I to go to lunch. Couldn't say 'no'.  This may be the last time we'll be able to get together like this.
On Friday the 20th we picked her up in Cypress and headed to  Town Lake Center to try the Union Kitchen. So many choices and we watched as the waiters brought out plates of food to the tables around us. Wow everything looked and smelled so good.
When we finished eating and getting ready to leave the sky opened up. Really rain. They're getting all this rain and we can't get any. We sat there for another hour before we went out and just as I snapped this picture....Here came the rain again.  We ran Michelle home and headed home and more rain.  I tell you every time we go to Houston we get caught in rain.

It was a great afternoon.

Until next blog.. There is Peace and Tranquility to be found in the Country.