2012 Preschool Field Trip

Well, I said I would post a little bit  about the field trip we had out here at Lone Mountain Ranch.  As I mentioned last year, my son's preschool and us decided to make this field trip an annual event.

We were told that this years field trip topped 2011's.  Most of everything was similar, first a walking tour of the shop, working facility, observatory, and the old jail out here. 

Then onto a hay ride where we drove the kids to the hay barn, calving barn and up to the bull pens.  However, this year we had a newly born calf that the kids got to pet, Logan not only led his horse Rocket around for everyone to see, this time (with the parent's permission) Logan led Rocket around with his classmates taking turns riding him.  Instead of pouring grain out of the grain truck into a bucket for them to see, we let them climb the ladder to the grain trailer and peek inside (20 tons of grain!) 

Another new addition this year, we actually made it out to the farm portion of the ranch. 

Unfortunatley, this is the only photo I got!  You can view more of last year's field trip here.

It had snowed a few days before the field trip, but luckily the New Mexico sun dried everything up just in time!

Now, how to outdo 2013?!

7th WIP of 2012

It's Wednesday - how are all of your works in progress coming?

My son's bucket hat is coming along - slowly.  I was hoping to have it done by now, but you know how it is.  Sometimes life just takes over! ;)

Living on a ranch, there is not a lot of opportunity to "dress up."  A few people say that dressing the way I do (jeans, boots, button up shirt) is my style.  Well...not exactly.  I do enjoy wearing dresses and skirts however, the only time I have a chance to wear them is if we go to town to run errands. 

I bought this fabric (Maya by Leah Duncan for Anthology Fabrics) to make myself a summer skirt.  {Eek!}  Anyone know of any good patterns?

Quilt/Bind:

Log cabin quilt

No progress:
Beatrix Potter quilt (finding fabric)
Barn quilt
Skill Builder Sampler
Husband's shirt
Felt Christmas ornaments
Bottled Rainbow quilt
Winterwoods ABC Cross Stitch
Colorbrick quilt

In progress:
Logan's hat
Granny square quilt

Stats:

New projects: 1
Completed projects: 0
No progress: 9
In progress: 2

Linking up to Freshly Pieced.

Remodeling - Part 1

I don't think I have mentioned it here, but late last summer the owners of the ranch asked my husband and I if we would like to move into their old house.  They had just completed building their dream home out here.

The house is bigger than the one we currently occupy, but since the owners were only out here a few months out of the year, there were some needed adjustments to make it a full time home.

It took us a while to get going on it due to lack of time (it's a working cattle ranch so all things cattle related is first priority!)

The first thing we did was rip up all the carpet and look at the surprise we found underneath - the original hard wood floors!

Sewing area or living room?

This house has one full bathroom and one half.  So far, the full bathroom is the only one that has been worked on.  The walls were covered in green and black tile - sooo not my taste - we ripped them out.

The closet to one of the bedrooms was on the same wall as part of the bathroom. We ripped out the closet to make the bathroom slightly bigger.

One of the reasons why I decided to move over here is sitting there on the left hand side - I love that oven!  LOTS more counter space than my current kitchen.  Right now our little microwave and my coffee pot take up all of my kitchen counter.

Laundry room/mud room - would like to replace the floor.  If I can squeeze a stool or bench in here somewhere, I am.  Our current laundry room/mud room is a little small so muddy boots end up walking through the house instead of being taken off (not a happy camper with this, particularly right after I have mopped the floors!)

The below shot is looking from the sewing room/living room (first picture) - I haven't decided which side will be which yet.  It's really one extremely large room with that arch way separating them.

Back yard.  More work to be done here as well.  Can't you just see summer parties out here?  I want to string some garden lights and add one/two more tables and more seating areas. 

There are more rooms to explore which I will post in part 2 - along with what little progress we have been making!

6th WIP of 2012

Hey there!  Thanks for stopping by.  This week's works in progress are as follows:
New projects:
I picked up this Winterwoods ABC Cross Stitch Sampler kit from Rosy Little Things.  All the varegated embroidery floss, I seperated during our power outage last Tuesday.  With names such as Loden, Bull Frog, Swamp Water; had me guessing, but I got it figured out!  I actually was quite amused by the floss names in this.

There is something about samplers that draw me to them.  Not sure why.  Perhaps it is dreaming about girls hundreds of years ago sitting around with a hot cup of tea and working on a sampler for a special friend or family member. 

Bucket hats have got to be one of the best hats for kids in the summer.  My little guy has outgrown his so I decided to make him a new one.  He chose Peak Hour by Kellie Wulfsohn as his hat fabric in the green palette.

Photo: Hawthorne Threads

I have had these Art Gallery fabrics for quite a while.  I finally decided that Rachel's Colorbrick quilt a long might just be perfect for these.  I think this quilt will be mine.  Most of the quilts I make end up being gifts for others (as is the case with most of us quilters.)



I have 24 granny square blocks done now.  My plan is to make a queen size quilt with these so I will need 32 more blocks.  Getting into a good rhythm with them.

 

Quilt/Bind:

Log cabin quilt

No progress:
Beatrix Potter quilt (finding fabric)
Barn quilt
Skill Builder Sampler
Husband's shirt
Felt Christmas ornaments
Bottled Rainbow quilt

Stats:

New projects: 3
Completed projects: 0
No progress: 7

 

Grab a cup of coffee or tea and hop on over to Lee's blog for other great works in progress!

Settling Down...For Now

Well, we survived!  The past week was hectic and fun all at the same time. 

Our cousin, Rudy, flew in on Tuesday for a couple of weeks to work out here on the ranch.  Meanwhile we had 7 inches of snow and lost power.

My garden

Thursday we had Logan's preschool out here for their annual field trip.  I made treats for the class again.  This time they were hay bails.  My plan was to tie licorice around to look like bailing twine, but it didn't quite work out as planned.  (I'll have more on the field trip in another post.)

Parent/Teacher conference on Friday.  Then it was off to one of Logan's classmates houses on Saturday to dye Easter eggs. 

Easter Sunday was nice and relaxing.  Rudy and I went horseback riding together, I got a few more granny square blocks done and replaced a zipper on one of Rudy's pants (my first time replacing a zipper.) 

Today it is back to our usual daily grind.  How was everyone elses weeks?

Whew!

I wish that I could say "whew" was due to a big chunk of sewing being done; but it has to do with the start of a very, very busy week.  The only "free" (where I am not carting kids to and from school, doing hosuehold chores, and tackling the pile of paperwork in the ranch office) is Monday.

Granny Square progress has been slow going.  Still need to trim my blocks!



We had company today.  This morning while I was cleaning and food prepping (so that when the time came all I had to do was throw everything in the oven), my little ones decided they wanted to go riding - this of course caused me to stop everything and snap pictures.

Is there a future jockey in little Ms Pea?

It is so nice when we get a chance to just hang out with friends, since we are always busy out here with something.  Especially these days with it being calving season.

Logan and his friend.

I plan on setting some time for a little sewing and blogging this week (it's the only way I'll keep my sanity!) Now to get some rest for the week ahead!