Iron Quilter II..."Oh My Lovely Stars"

Edit again yall!!!!!

well, now they have gone back and added it to vote on facebook too. lol..

Here is the link:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.705136326172320.1073741831.174183745934250&type=1

At this point I hope yall just get to see the projects. Anyway have fun.

xo jan

Mine is way down now close to the bottom!lol.....

 Edit!!!!!!!!! Hey yall. Well Missouri Star Quilt company has changed the rules for voting to Google +. The rules said it was going to be on Facebook for the top 25 by counting likes, then some other means for the finals. I don't know why they changed it and I am not sure if you have to be on Google+ in order to vote. It is a shame that they took this route because there are ALOT of awesome projects that were entered and no one knows where to go to see the projects. So here is the link:

https://plus.google.com/photos/+Missouriquiltcompany/albums/5952742715082642513?gpsrc=gplp0&partnerid=gplp0

Plus there are no names or anything with the photos - (mine is toward the top) but you can vote on as many as you would like and as often this week as you would like ( at least that is what the rules first said) But have fun. There are really some beautiful projects entered and worth the extra trouble to see them. Have a great day! xo jan

Hey yall! Well I just barely got my quilt finished in time to enter the "Iron Quilter II at Missouri Star Quilt Company! Entries had to be submitted by midnight tonight. The secret ingredient for this years Iron Quilter is "Lovely" by Debbie Beaves for RJR fabrics. Yall know how much I love pansies!

I named this quilt "Oh My Lovely Stars"! It measures 68x68" square. I used 128 "Lovely" charms, 16 white charms, 128 2 7/8" squares all for the star blocks. The inner border is 3'' and the outer border is "Purple Pansy " from the Lovely line and measures 5". It was so nice to finally have some sewing machine time.

I didn't have much time for quilting, so I did a simple stitch in the ditch and quilted around the stars.
This was a really fun quilt to make. Missouri Star Quilt Company is hosting the Iron Quilter II challenge and voting will begin December 1st on a special facebook page that they will be setting up . There are some awesome prizes up for grabs. A Babylock Rachel sewing machine valued at $800.00, $500.00 quilters cash from Missouri Star!, $500.00 fabric bundle from RJR fabrics, A $500 gift basket from Clover, A Madeira Cotona Thread chest valued at $165.00 and Hobbs Quilt batting!!!! Yall it's a pretty impressive list of prizes. I am not very active on facebook so I don't think I will get into the top 25, but Jenny from Missouri Star Quilt Company does possess 3 "saves" so I am keeping my fingers crossed!

Either way, this quilt was so fun to make. I love pansies and I love purple and I know a very sweet older couple that will be receiving this little quilt to brighten up their sofa! They have known my husband and his family for many years.
 Also, this is my 99th blog post! I promised a giveaway on my 100th blog post which will hopefully  be coming up in a few days so be sure to drop back by for that! We have been busy hammering up corn for the cows, feeding hay, working on some fence and trying to keep waterhoses that we use to water the cows from freezing up every night. Since we lost the 30 acres that we used to lease for pasture we have to feed and water alot more. We are slowly working on clearing some new pasture but have a long way to go before it will be ready for the cows. So in the meantime we feed and water ALOT!!!!!
 Thank yall for stopping by! I hope you enjoyed seeing my "Oh My Lovely Stars" quilt. I have quite a few charms left and may just have to make a smaller version of this quilt for myself! I will see yall in a few days! Until then, enjoy every minute of every day and welcome in December, ( where did November go?).  I'll be thinking about ya!
xo jan

Woe is me yall and upcoming giveaway!

Hey yall! I guess I should say that "Woe was me"! Besides the normal crazy busy happenings around the farm, my computer decided to just quit responding! Yep - it's just been sittin here like a knot on a log! But hurrah ! I finally got it fixed. I think :o. Keepin my fingers crossed. Plus it had not one, not two but three viruses. I just do not understand when you have virus protection installed and up to date how your computer can still get sick. But those suckers are gone now too. So hopefully everything will get back to normal around here now.
 We finally finished picking corn! I am so happy about that. We are actually a week or so early. Many years we have been picking corn right through Thanksgiving, so I am glad we were able to get it picked before the bad weather starting moving in. It was a very good harvest too so plenty of food for the cows and chickens this winter and we have some really good corn for seed.

 I have been using up some leftover and single skein yarn. I am making a bed runner for our bed to keep our feet nice and warm. And that bright green ball is the fruit from an Osage Orange tree. It is about the size of a softball and just as heavy. You do not want to stand under one of these trees on a windy day! These ARE NOT edible. The cows will eat them but sometimes may choke so I do not let them have them either. They have a very pleasant citrus smell. Granny always cut them in half and laid them around the foundation of the house outside. She said it kept bugs away. I don't know about that but they sure do smell good and make a beautiful tree. They are very hard, but you can chop one up and run it through your garbage disposal and it makes it smell really fresh. And a bowl of them sitting around just look and smell festive!

 I also finished and mailed my 1"hexie flowers for my swap partner this month in the Inchy Hexagon Flower Swap. These are so fun to make.

 And our "I Love Lucy International Bee" got started this month. November's Queen is Susan of sue mac seeds and she chose yellow, gray and black for her colors. I am not used to using these colors but I love how this block turned out. I hope she likes it. 

 And I have started a project for the Missouri Star Quilt Company Iron Quilter II. Several weeks ago I purchased some charm packs of "Lovely" by RJR Fabrics because I love pansies so much. Well "Lovely" is the secret ingredient in this years Iron Quilter Challenge. I decided on a scrappy star quilt but entries have to be in by November 30th. I have 3 blocks made :(   Soooooo I dunno if I can finish in time or not. Maybe since the corn is in I can find some extra time to work on it.
Since the computer has been down I feel I have missed out on so much that I want to go back to catch up on. 
Also, yall I wrote my first blog post back in February of this year. This is my 98th post. So, I am getting close to my 100th blog post. I really just don't know where the time has gone. So much has happened here and around the farm over these last few months. So I think I will celebrate with a giveaway on my 100th post. I have a couple of ideas and will be back in a few days with the 100th post and giveaway information. 
Now I would love to extend a very warm welcome to two of my newest friends and followers:
Ivani at arteemcasa and kesch! Welcome to the farm ladies! I am so glad to have yall plowing along with us!

Yall, this was what greeted us as we got back from the corn fields the last day. An amazing sunset over the barn that has the corn cribs. This picture is how my little point and shoot took it. It was so vibrant with reds and pinks and purples. A glorious way to end the harvest!  See yall in a few days!
xo jan

Whew!

Hey yall!
 The last two weeks have flown by. I hope that yall had a great Halloween. Things have been extremely busy around the farm.That handsome farmer hubby dude had to work on Halloween. And I spent the evening helping this big guy come into the world:

 He is his mamas first calf and was rather large. She will be three in December so she is plenty old enough to have a calf but she required some help. So I spent the evening behind the hay barn in the edge of the woods in the drizzle and cool weather waiting for her to let me help. And of course I couldnt get her to go to the barn where it was nice and dry. I thought I was going to have to resort to pulling him out with my tractor, but finally managed to help her get him out with a double rope. He has very broad shoulders. At first she didn't want to get up and I was really worried. I kept popping her with my gloves and the rope. She finally got on her feet and started cleaning the big guy up. I know it sounds mean to scare her onto her feet, but the sooner a cow gets up, the better off she and her calf will be. And this character is going to have horns. I refuse to name him Devil even though he was born on Halloween and will have horns. I need to think of a good name for him. Any suggestions?
   I left a note and a candy bowl on the porch for any would be Trick or Treaters. I know we had at least one family because they left us two caramel apples. We usually don't get many visitors on Halloween anyway. There are several Fall festivals and Harvest festivals at the different churchs and around town that most people take their children too. I haven't gotten to go to any of those yet. I love to go see all the pumpkins.
And at the risk of being really repetative, we spent several days back in the hayfield!

 But that did give me time to work on my next Lucy Boston Block while hubby was loading the hay. Then we had to start the process of trying to rearrange the hay barn so it would hold 400 rolls of hay where we normally put 300 rolls of hay.
So we stacked:

And restacked:

And stacked some more:

Until we finally got most of it into the haybarn:

This is a very good problem to have!
Plus we have been cutting and stacking alot of wood. I do not use the chain saws. I usually just help stack or run the splitter if its working and let my hubby roll the logs under it. A few weeks ago we started removing a very large Oak tree that dropped a large limb on our neighbors mothers house last winter. I was really glad we got it down. We piled up the largest pieces of the trunk.

Mississippi runs and hops up there every time we go past it. I guess she has alot better view from up there.
I also finished up a ripple scarf that just so happens to match my tractor! hehe..

Yep I will be styling in the corn field!

And yall, my baby peeps are 9 weeks old and look how big!

They are just so sweet and I think there are at least three roosters.

The one on the left is definitely a rooster and the one on the right is a hen.

And of course Double trouble are being their usual getting into trouble selves and following me everywhere I go.

Pigging out on some dandelions.

And best of all, our "I Love Lucy Bee" started November 1st. Susan from Sue Mac Seeds is our Queen for November and she has chosen some gorgeous colors! Here is her first block in progress.

I love her color choices and fussy cutting. If you have a moment I would love for you to stop by and visit her blog and let her know what you think about her first Lucy Boston. And I have been digging through my stash and found a couple of possiblilities:

I love "Pillow fort' from in My Room, (foreground) but not sure about the other fabrics yet. I would like to find a darker gray and I really like the black swirls. This Bee is really starting off to be so much fun and a challenge! We have two spots open if anyone would like to join in. If so just send me an email.

 And finally, I have spent a few minutes piecing a back for my "Pumpkins Gone Wild" quilt:

Yep - Halloween is over, but I think it will still be pretty for fall and Thanksgiving, if I ever get it finished! Yall it can be so frustrating not having time to sew. Since we lost that 30 acre pasture that we have leased for the last 18 years, we have been clearing some trees to get ready to put up some fence and sow grass. But all that takes time. So we are already feeding hay and feed. Plus we had a pond on that 18 acres that we no longer have, so I am spending 1 to 2 hours watering the cows twice a day! It just hasn't left me much time for blogging, visiting or sewing (unless its portable). So I apologize once again if I have missed a few of your blog posts or emails. Hopefully things will get better around here soon. We are getting ready to start picking corn too. We have already had a couple of hard frosts so the next free day or three or four  we will pick corn. I usually haul wagons back and forth from the corn fields. I love harvest. It is hard work, but also rewarding. And it makes me really happy to see that smile on my hubbys face when we are pulling wagon after wagon of corn from the fields. Between all the wonderful hay this year and the corn crop that we will hopefully get in, the cows ought to have plenty to eat this winter.

And yall these guys are sure worth it!

I sure hope yall have a great week. Enjoy this beautiful harvest time of year wherever you are.

Know that I will be thinking about yall as I plow around the farm.

And

Please help me welcome two of my newest friends and followers:

Leila at http://sewnbyleila.blogspot.com

and

Ana at http://anamarpatch.blogspot.com/

Welcome to the farm ladies. Feel free to grab a tractor from the sidebar and plow along with us!

Happy fall yall!

xo jan