The Denim Quilt

I have always liked quilts. Probably because of Mom, who introduced me to them because she has always loved quilts.
When I was seven Mom and my (then teen-age,) older sister went to a series of quilting classes that were being offered in our little town. They met some really sweet ladies there, who became friends long after the classes were over.
So every week they would come home with a new quilting style to make into a block. I remember watching my sister ironing painstakingly as she turned the edges under on an applique. I think it was a star pattern, but the fabrics were autumn colors, with leaves on them. It made me think that the applique was more of a odd shaped leaf itself, in the fall.
I wanted to do some too, so Mom set me up with a nine-patch. Mom gave me my choice of fabrics and I cut them into squares. Then I sewed them together.
I wasn't allowed to use the machine, Mom was extra careful about that since having her eldest run the needle through her fingernail. So I was kept to hand-stitching. I remember working on them curled up on the couch. By the time I was finished with the block I was tired of the idea. One was all there was to be!
Mom has always been the saver type, from buttons off of worn out clothes to the un-worn portions of denim skirts, jumpers and jeans. All these pieces of denim gathered into an apple-box, and were intended to be used someday.
When we moved here all the boxes and crates of saved things came with us, and by the time the whole move was over Mom's patience with all the 'stuff' was wearing thin. So, she threatened to throw out the box of denim.
I was shocked. We'd been collecting those pieces for a long time, and to think of throwing it all away was horrifying.
"What if we made it into something?" I asked. Mom said that would be fine, but she had too many other things going on to take the time.
So Abi and I resolved to make it into a quilt for our tall father, who has trouble with blankets not being long enough for him. We figured that even if it didn't turn out very pretty, (as this was our first try,) he wouldn't complain.
We sorted out the denim by size, and then brain-stormed up a plan. It would be a bit of a crazy quilt, since a few of our pieces would only lend themselves to that, and besides Dad likes crazy quilts. The middle we patterned with a grid like look, nine-patch and four-patch, with a nearly solid block for each corner. We put the crazy pieces along the sides.
We used an old blanket as batting, and backed it with a gray plaid flannel.
We made it to measure six feet by nine, with six blocks down and four across. This way our blocks would be taking full advantage of the size of pieces that we had, and we would not be doing too much time consuming piecing per inch.
It still took a lot of time, and getting it completely together was the hardest part. I did the final quilting just on the Singer, and had a little trouble with running into wrinkles no matter how carefully I smoothed and pinned it. Luckily, just like we figured, Dad didn't mind.
We had kept it sort of as a surprise, and gave it to him in the spring. Even though he had often walked right through when we had everything piled on the dining table, (and were trying to be careful,) he was surprised, (not being the really observant type!)
It has been on his bed ever since.

So this is how it ended up. I like the sturdy way it turned out and will probably do it again when I get the chance. But it does take a long while to save up that much denim!

2007 Clay Center Show

So, to catch up on a few things.
We have had our goats since the fall before Abigail was born, (when I was six-turning-seven,) so we have done a lot of things with our goats, as you can imagine. Going with the herd up into the forest-covered mountain for most of the day, picking service berries that grew along the railroad tracks, holding baby goat races. All of which taught us another aspect of life, and was as much fun as any child can handle!
But we had never gone to a goat show.
So when we moved to Nebraska we looked around and decided to go to the Tumbleweed Classic, put on by the Nebraska Dairy Goat Association, in Clay Center. (Which is about half-way across the state, so it was still a good piece.)
With all the things that were still in progress with getting the farm renovated, it was a tight squeeze, but Abi and I worked extra hard, and put in some very late nights, and got everything done to go for the weekend.
The NDGA folks are super nice and made us feel so welcome, as did all the folks who came from all over the surrounding states. Having pushed so hard to get everything done, I was seriously sleep-deprived, but we had fun anyhow!
Here's what I put on the Signet Dairy Goats site;

Showing in showmanship photos.


We have always wanted to be able to show our goats, but our previous very remote location worked against it. Now that we have relocated to McCook, we have been able to have a few more opportunities for that. So last year we went to our first show, the Tumbleweed Classic in Clay Center.

Had a lot of fun, won several ribbons, and met Nebraska goat folks.

Abi is hooked, I'm afraid she might become a goat show fanatic.

Elizabeth surprised everybody, and herself, by being placed first in adult showmanship. The fact that there was only one other competitor didn't alter the surprise for her at all.


[End web post.]

So there they are, the 'goatists' of the family. My good little sister and I.
Argentina, the yearling doe I took in showmanship, behaved very nicely for that class, and then when it was time for her own class, she went bonkers. Fidgeted, refused to stand still, made a complete nuisance of herself. But she is a gorgeous girl!
Abi's showmanship choice, Bellarus, displayed a similar pattern. Maybe they could only handle behaving themselves for one class, and two was too much! (We sold Bella that same fall, and she was shown in the Furnas County Fair last fall, winning the Championship ribbon for her owner's boy, Caleb.)

So we came home with our ribbons, and slowly recovered our sleep! The goats were also very glad to get back, they do not seem to apreciate being disrupted.
But it was a lot of fun, and we met a lot of, (far-flung,) fellow goat folks, ...and Abigail wanted to do it again.
So we did... but that is another post.