Farming.....Tractor Work and Bottle Calves

I spent the weekend getting my

Farm Chores done...

No gentle hum of a sewing machine...

Just the ROAR of a tractor!

I am mowing the pastures here @ home...

I am mowing the weeds down before they

can go to seed and spread.

Straight ahead is our little red barn

and beyond that is our house.

We have one of the trailers hooked up,

we are shipping out yearling cattle tomorrow.

The cowboy built this barn in 1989.

Our children spent their childhood 

playing in here.

It has been shelter for our horses over the years.

I have raised hundreds of bottle calves in here.

Now it is home to our two bottles babies...

The cowboy put up electric fence today

and made the bottle calves a little pasture from

a section of our yard, just outside the barn.

They love it!

There was lots of running and bucking!

They especially love their new rubbing tree!

Now that the work is all done,

I am gone sewing today with my local

quilt group @ the Quilt Palace.

CLICK BELOW to view the bottle calves

CLICK HERE:  to see My Quilts

May Your Bobbin Always Be Full,

LuAnn Kessi

Silhouette Quilt Top......pieced

I have been discharging lots of 

dark hand dyes this summer...

I put a few up on the design wall and came

up with this composition that appeals to me...

I pieced it together today...

It is the size of a large lap quilt.

Close Up view of Discharge Work:

Now....what to put on the back?

Hollyhocks growing alongside the guest house:

They are nearly as tall as the house...

Summer would not be summer

without a patch of hollyhocks in the yard!

They are so simple to grow...

drought tolerant, I never water them, ever...

They re-seed themselves.

I have them mulched with hazelnut shells

so I never ever do any weeding in this bed.

Hollyhocks....the perfect flower

While I was taking photos of the flowers...

These two cuties kept peeping at me!

Their nest must be nearby and they don't

want me anywhere around it.

White Crowned Sparrow

CLICK HERE to view all of my discharge posts

CLICK HERE:  to see My Quilts

May Your Bobbin Always Be Full,

LuAnn Kessi

Farm Life.....Summer 2017

Many of you enjoy the Farming part of this

Quilter's Life...

Here is an update to what is going

on here @ the Farm

The turkey vultures having a solar bath

on the fence posts are a constant source

of daily entertainment for us

as we travel around doing our chores.

Turkey Vulture feathers are gorgeous!

CLICK HERE to view my turkey vulture video

The cow and calf pairs are on summer pasture.

The calves are really growing.

The calves will be weaned in November

at 8 months of age.

The bottle calves here @ home are doing great!

The orphaned twin calf Number 25 

is 4 months old and quite a hunk!

His bottle mate is a holstein calf from the dairy

who is now 2 months old.

I start and end each day with these 2 little guys.

They really liven up our barn here @ home.

Life in the hay fields continues...

300 round bales so far...

We have 2 more hay fields to bale up

before we can call it quits...

Once the fields are all baled up it is time

to load up the bales on big, long trailers

and haul them to 5 different barns

for winter storage.

Down below I have included a video of

the goats, the bottle calves and hay fields...

enjoy!

CLICK HERE:  to see My Quilts

May Your Bobbin Always Be Full,

LuAnn Kessi

Whole Cloth Chickadee Quilt.....DONE

This is my last day of machine quilting

on the Chickadee Whole Cloth Quilt...

I am in the third phase of quilting...

The Fill Work

I keep my paper design up on the wall (right)

so that I can view it while I am at the

Sweet 16

The center is quilted with triple lines.

I also scribble stitched around chickadee

to enhance the writing.

I also triple line stitched in the curved areas

All I have left to do are the 4 triangle areas...

Here is the BEFORE photo of the triangle...

Here is the AFTER photo of the triangle.

The machine quilting is DONE!

I used blue pen to mark the design lines.

I did not use ruler work.

This is all quilted free hand.

I ran in the house and soaked this in the tub

to remove all the blue pen:

Not a trace of blue ink anywhere...

 It is now ready for a binding, 

hanging sleeve and label.

This is entered in an exhibit this summer called...

Quilting Makes the Quilt

Many Thanks to Lisa Calle

for her inspiration and instruction

in whole cloth quilting.

The hydrangea in front of the house are

just beginning to bloom...

They really grab your attention!

CLICK HERE to view ALL Whole Cloth posts

CLICK HERE:  to see My Quilts

May Your Bobbin Always Be Full,

LuAnn Kessi