Sunday Quilt Inspiration: F A R M

Farmhouse style seems to be one of the styles of 2018 so let's see how that may have inspired quilts.

Some quilts are farm quilts because they depict farms; others, no matter how modern, are inspired by the plain farm style of old. 

Boy's Tractor Quilt ~~ a finish!

 As you know, I haul my Bernina on vacation. Since we travel in a small camper with only Cotton, our Maltese, and the two of us, it's safe enough, and it gives me a diversion when Richard gets cranky on the road or there's a little downtime. 

Anyhoo, I participated in AmandaJean Nyberg's QAL last month and loved it. While I was cutting out fabric, I decided to cut out enough of the blue scraps to make a kit for another quilt to take on the road. Of course, having followed the pattern with the first one, I needed to "make it my own" for the second one. 

In a nutshell I cut some of the red fabric into rectangles the same size of the finished blue blocks. Sewing was simply alternating blocks with a total of five rows.

Simple and quick and almost finished by the time we got to my sister's house. Jeanne and Alan have a pretty place in the middle of nowhere. Uh, actually in the middle of a neighbor's fields. We met these fun neighbors when Alan barbequed the best ribs ever. What a great night!

Oops, so anyway, before we left, I finished the little top and took it out for a photo session in Jeanne's yard/Rod's field. Isn't this piece of old equipment and the wheat a perfect setting? I've never seen so many acres of field in one viewing. It's just lovely and lonesome and beautiful. 

Before closing, I'll leave you with some of my favorite photos from our very short stay in Minot, North Dakota.

Richard acting like he owns "this big boy."

Long horns--the menfolk talked about these a lot!
You'd think they had driven them rawhide from Texas on horseback.

Canola--as in canola oil in a month or so

Flax--as in linen fabric and flax seed oil (it's being harvested
 in Idaho now so perhaps in ND soon)

Hay fields

Epic discussion no doubt--Richard on left, Alan on right 

Both common sights in Louisiana, but I saw the hay stacks and grain bins very differently in North Dakota. Knowing how much they are needed in the winter and feeling the power of that big open space where there are so few people to help, I appreciated the work of storing up for the winter ever so much more. And I thanked God that there are still people who are willing to work hard and risk everything to feed the rest of us. 

Newfangled Farming -- A Video

My husband played on his tractor Saturday. His parents planted a few Irish potatoes in our garden, and Richard used the tractor and the old digger to get them out of the ground--most of the potatoes had been dug earlier, one hill at a time. Richard rarely gets on the tractor anymore because it's very rough and hurts his back, but to help his parents....

I found it all rather funny because, well, watch the video. It's only 50 seconds long but it will give you an idea of how farming was done 40 or so years ago. 

That noise! It's not Richard. The tractor is older than he is and squeaks just a bit more. This is the way we do things around here still. Sometimes.

Yes, really 40 years. I know because the tractor and digger have been in the family for the 37 years that Richard and I have been married. They were used extensively when Richard's dad farmed 60 or so acres of sweet potatoes annually. This means they have put some hours in the fields around our home.

The picture on the right shows the rows after the potatoes were dug. 

All of this tractor work for two baskets of new potatoes. Oh, and let's not forget the joy of riding your tractor for five minutes!

Goats, Grandchildren and Grades

How fun is this picture?  Richard was moving animals around because, well, sometimes he just has to do that sort of thing.  So after moving the momma goat to a new pasture, he caught the baby and brought her in so I could see her.  

She is pretty cute.  She's dark brown with a couple of white spots and some black spots that even everything out.  The little granddaughters have named her Disney--guess where they have all been recently.

She is also very curious and inventive.  She decided to check out Casey (Dusti's horse) and jumped into an empty trough to get closer.  They must have decided to get along, because after smelling on each other for a while, Casey just stood there and let Disney hop and jump and make a general fool of herself trying to reach up high enough to get a better look.

Already our days are hitting 90 degrees, so it's getting difficult to do anything outside.  I've had too much sewing and grading to do anyway.  Since school starts back on Monday, I'm spending more time grading than sewing.  We have only a few weeks of school left including EOC testing.  We're ready, but you can wish us luck anyway.

A Bit of Farm Life

I got home a little earlier than usual today, even though I stayed after school to try to clean up my desk.  It’s very difficult to keep up with the paperwork.  However, since it was still daylight and Rich was out feeding the animals, I decided to go see what they are looking like these days.

They are cute and funny.  The chicken’s feathers are beginning to fill in again and the pigs: well, they look like pigs. They are really enjoying the old mustard and turnips that Rich tossed away.  When he can sell everything, he brings it home for feed.   The chickens, goats and rabbits were the only ones to feast on the greens, but now that we have two pigs, it’s getting to be a free-for-all. Because it’s getting colder here, especially at night, Rich is trying to fatten up all the animals so they can stay warm.  I wonder if I can use that excuse?  J

 

Happy Farming,

Mary

Barn Quilt Beginnings

What a busy day we’ve had: first a princess party for a four-year old grand-daughter, lunch here, visits to the in-laws for Rich’s mom’s birthday, finally a nap and some sewing.  Yay!

When I was able to get into the studio, I decided to check on the progress of the Mayeux Barn that I’m supposed to be making for a customer.  It’s coming along quite slowly, but I knew it would.  It takes lots of prepping since I have to make the pattern first.  

Thank goodness I still have my old overhead machine.  Every classroom now has a SMART board, so transparencies are obsolete, except in my studio.  But I like old school.  There are some advantages.  For example, I am able to get to know the barn better because I draw it out so many times—first on the transparency, then on the large sheet of paper, and finally on the individual pattern pieces.  I check measurements every step of the way, especially on this barn because I want the two sides of the barn to match.  

There are some nice advantages to having up-to-date electronics, too, though.  While in Houston, I pulled up a couple of photos of the barn to be able to choose fabrics.  It was nice to buy fabrics based on an actual picture instead of the picture in my head (which sometimes is not the same).  The Cherrywood fabrics that I chose are beautiful and rich.  I decided to choose a few extra so that I’d be able to make some design decisions. 

I’m pleased with the outcome so far, but gee, there’s lots and lots to do.  I hope that having a three day weekend will give me something more to show.

Happy quilting,

Mary

Marcotte Farms: Sweet Potatoes

Yesterday afternoon I went out to the farm with Richard and snapped a few photos of the sweet potato rows that he'd opened. He and a few other men went out early this morning, as they have every morning for the last week or so, to pick the potatoes off the ground.

We love sweet potatoes and yams and, though they are not the same, people do often use the terms interchangeably.  Sweet potatoes are delicious, can be cooked in a variety of ways, and are nutritious.  (See nutritional info at the end of this post.)

Although Rich has only two acres planted, the crop is looking pretty nice.  We will be eating lots of sweet potatoes in a couple of weeks.  Sweet potatoes need time to cure fully--they dehydrate a bit, the skin thickens and the starches turn to sugar, making them sweeter.  Of course, curing sweet potatoes (Ipomoea batatas) is not absolutely necessary, and they can be eaten right out the field: they're just not as tasty and will not bake.  If you have "green," or fresh sweet potatoes that have not been cured, you need to peel and cut them, then boil them like you would other root vegetables.

Picking potatoes is hot, heavy, dirty work.  (Yes, I've helped, but that was long ago.) The men carry crates out and pick through each cluster of potatoes choosing the better ones first and leaving the second grade potatoes behind.  Once the potatoes are all in wooden crates, they are taken to the storage shed and stacked up until they're sold.  They are left unwashed to cure in storage. When ready for sale, we take them out to wash and regrade, then put them in cardboard boxes.  The wooden crates are stored in the shed to reuse.

How to bake:

When you get your potatoes, wash them well and remove any blemishes or stems with a small peeler.  Leave the skin on and slather on the butter.  Butter, margarine, or your favorite oil (you choose but be generous) will help keep the juices inside the root, add flavor, and help to release the peelings when the baking is done.  Place the veggies in a shallow pan lined with foil and bake at 350 degrees for about an hour or so.  The baking time will vary depending on the size of the potato and how well it's been cured.  Potatoes that are small in diameter will bake much faster than those that are big.  I generally begin checking them after an hour.  A gentle squeeze will tell you how soft they are but you can also prick one with a fork.  When they're really soft and squishy, remove them.  If necessary let the bigger ones bake a little longer. 

When I cook a big pan of potatoes, I take out the smallest ones and spread out the others so the heat can around them better.  I also use my convection oven since it speeds up the baking, but I've baked lots in the regular oven, and either one works well.

Need sweet potatoes?  Email me, I think we can hook you up! 

For more information, click on the links below: 

NUTRITION INFORMATION from U.S. Dept. of Agriculture

1 medium sweet potato counts as 1 cup in the 

MyPyramid.gov Vegetable Group. For a 2,000-

calorie diet, the daily recommendation 

is about 2 ½ cups of vegetables. 

1 medium sweet potato provides more than a 

day’s worth of vitamin A and 35% of the daily 

recommended amount of vitamin C.

Nutrition information from nutritiondata.com

Fats 0g

Cholestrol 0g

Sodium 73mg

Total Carbohydrates 27g

Fiber 4g

Sugar 6g

Protein 2g