Birthdays and Metro Rings!

* Quilt content at the bottom of this post...

I hate when I can't sleep and I have to get up at 5am.  It sure makes a long day.  So I figured I would post since I was up anyway. 

 Today...Friday is Richard's birthday!!!!  I thank the Lord everyday for putting us together.  He is a wonderful husband, father, Christian, and my best friend.  He turns 43!  :)  He is a jack-of-all-trades and such a handy guy to have around, but that is not the only reason I keep him around.  LOL!  I love him.  

I was sitting here looking through some old photos and they bring back so many memories...like this one of Richard and Ole Jim.  If you don't remember, Ole Jim was my precious mule that I lost a few years ago.  Giggle...I promise his head was not this big, it was just the angle of the photo.  

Little Hunter on Ole Jim.  I still have his cowboy boots.  He wore them constantly and I would have to wait until he fell asleep to take them off.  

Another one of Richard from several years ago.  This was an every night occurrence in the recliner...Hunter, Richard, Jazz, and Smokey.

Now on to some quilt stuff...

A dear sweet friend of mine sent me a pattern and ruler.  Let me tell you, I love it and I think it will be very addictive!  The ruler and pattern is from Sew Kind Of Wonderful.  You will have to look over her website.  There are so many patterns of hers that I would love to make.  I don't think I have ever really tried curved piecing until now and she has wonderful tutorials that make it look so simple.  

The pattern that I have is the Metro Rings, which is a Double Wedding Ring pattern.  I can't wait to get started on it!  I need to finish up my zig-zag quilt first but I couldn't help but try out the ruler on a tablerunner pattern that was included to teach you how to use the ruler.  

Here are a couple of the pieces that I have for the tablerunner, but I now have those sewn together and a few more ready too.  

I keep trying to think of what I have to do this weekend because I would really love to buckle down and SEW these!  LOL!  
Kristie

Missing Ole Jim...

Well my belly is full and I am miserable! But that is how it goes during Thanksgiving! We had a nice dinner at my mom's with the family. My dear sister did most of the cooking. I felt so bad, I thought we had planned on doing most of it early this morning and have dinner at 4pm. She started getting nervous, I guess, this was her first big dinner to cook. She stayed up until 3am this morning cooking! When I went out there this morning she had the turkey in the oven and most everything already done! All I had to do was the dressing and the potatoes. She did a wonderful job and I am very proud of her.

My brother and his family came for dinner too, so that made it really nice. Of course we all catered to mom. She wasn't feeling the best but tried not to say anything. We all tried to make sure that the kids did not bump her shoulder but you could tell she was happy to have the grandkids there.

So after dinner I came back home and got a little restless. Did a little bit of sewing but nothing major. I'm restless but too tired to do much. I can't really show the big photo of this project until after Christmas but this will be a gift. Can't wait to get it finished and quilted.
Even though I have had a wonderful Thanksgiving with the family, I'm still a little sad. This has been on my mind all day. If you have read my blog for a while you will remember my precious old mule, JIM. He passed away last Thanksgiving.

I miss him so much! He was my big baby. If you remember most of the time we didn't even have him in a fence, he just wandered around the farm, yard and anywhere he wanted to go. He loved Honeycomb cereal, animal crackers and Chicken McNugget Happy Meals! Yep, he loved to eat that stuff. People would laugh at me for feeding him that stuff but he loved it. I will never forget that wonderful old mule. I can remember several years ago, I went through a really bad depression and all I wanted to do was cry and stay home. I would sit outside in the yard in a chair and he would stand or lay down beside me and I would pet or brush him and tell him all of my troubles. It was almost like he understood everything I was telling him. I know he didn't really but I do think that he sensed that something was wrong and it made me feel better that he was there with me. I would stay out there for hours.

I rode him all over this country here. He was my trusty ride! There was no place that we wouldn't go. He was also trained to work, we used him to pull logs to the sawmill and pull beams to the house spot when we started building. He loved to work and seemed to feel very proud to do it. I miss him very much and he is buried in a very special spot here on our farm. I also have put back one of his mule shoes to hang over the front door on my new house when we get it finished. He will never be forgotten. It is funny how an animal has that much of an impact on someone but everyone loved him from miles around.

Okay, enough crying, Hunter is starting to ask me what is wrong...

I will probably head on to bed soon, I have alot to do for the weekend. We are having Thanksgiving dinner with Richard's family on Saturday. And I need to get some quilting done before Christmas gets here.

Sadness and Sewing

I'll be honest, I feel like poo! I have cried so much over my mule that my eyes are so swollen and my head just hurts. I was more attached to him than any other animal that I have ever had in my entire life. I know that life goes on and I guess I knew deep down that he would not make it through the Winter, but I just wasn't ready to let him go. Thank you all so much for all your kind words over his passing. I'm sorry I have not responded to your comments, but every time that I think about him, it just makes me cry. We are all just crushed. We have received so many phone calls from people in the community that has said "we just wanted to call and say that we are sorry for your loss and that he will be greatly missed" You would think he was human! :) Ole Jim was very well known in this area and people just loved him. But I do thank God that he lived to the ripe old age of 28!

Here it is 2:20am and Andrew just got home! :( I know it is very late for a 16 yr old to be out, but he went down to the Coon Club and they had a night hunt. I trust him and he is with some very responsible adults when he does this. So anyway, while I have been waiting for him, I have been sewing...

I started working on Bonnie's mystery! I have the first 2 steps finished! Now I am waiting for Step 3 to be released!
After Hunter fell asleep, I got out this yardage and sewed a simple black border around it. I hope to get it quilted before Christmas. He loves Star Wars! I think I bought this fabric at the flea market last year for nearly nothing.

Here is Donkey, he passed out early! He is all cozy in a cardboard box! Donkey and Smokey have been getting lots of extra lovings lately. We have lost so many animals here on the farm over the past few weeks! And to make it worse....Andrew lost all of his chickens in the past 3 days!!! Some kind of sickness with them, he told me what it was called but I forgot the name.

So unless I am forgetting something here is the loss count. Ida and Jasper the Yorkie, Major the beagle, Ole Jim the mule and 26 chickens!!!! :( Our little farm is dwindling away to nothing!

Oh, I almost forgot! I got Madison's big BRIGHT Peace Sign Quilt quilted! Now I just have to finish the binding!!!! You can't see the quilting in the photo but it is a simple stipple.

I'm off to bed! Here it is 2:35am and I am tired! Andrew is back and now I can go to bed!

Kristie

Ole Jim.....is gone.

After dinner my Thankgiving just went down hill....As bad as I hate to say it, Ole Jim passed away last night at approxmately 8:40pm. We were all right by his side for several hours before he passed.

A very nice friend of ours brought his backhoe up and buried him for us this morning. He is buried in his favorite spot. Our hearts are broke from the loss of this sweet old mule. He was so tame that we didn't even have to keep him in a fence, he just ran loose on the farm.

My boys are still having a rough time, they have lost so many animals within the past few weeks. This farm will never be the same without him...he was a legend for miles around.

Kristie