Farm
The farm had a decent year this year, the only major weather event was that it was dry. That means hay prices are really high and Ryan is scrambling to find some that's not ridiculous.
We also had a major hailstorm in June like nothing we've seen before. It was like someone was firing a machine gun against the side of the house. Between the house and barn it did about $40,000 worth of damage and we're still working on getting that fixed (insurance covered it). It even dented the metal roof of the house, which is supposed to be able to handle "class 4 hail" (whatever that means). Here's a picture of my lilies right after the storm:
But our beef and chicken are still awesome and I can occasionally convince Ryan that we can eat some of it instead of selling it all! ;-)
Quilts
I have still made time for quilting because it's vital to my well-being to do so!
I made this one for a fundraiser for my son's school, if you look at the quilting it is a "deconstructed pocketwatch". It is about 40" x 50" or so
My modern quilt guild issued a paint chip challenge, which is where you draw three paint chip colors out of a hat and have to design a quilt using those colors (we could add white and black). So here is what I designed, which I really like but Ryan is not a fan. It is a modern take on waves crashing on a rocky beach, like the ones you find in the NW, like in Oregon. It is smaller, about 3 feet square.
There was also a Riley Blake challenge, which is where they sent me some fabrics to make a quilt out of. I liked the fabrics, but this quilt ended up way too busy. It's very small, about 30" square. It needed more places for they eye to "rest".
I was blessed with a new nephew this year, so I made him an I-spy quilt. This one is about 50 x 60".
This one might have been my favorite quilt this year. I made it to benefit the United Way at work and a co-worker bought it. It's a decent sized wall-hanging, about 45x55".
This one is a pattern from Gudrun Erla using her strip ruler. I intended it for our bed originally, but Ryan said it was too busy so I finished it differently and gave it to my stepdad. It is queen sized.
I also made another little baby quilt with boats on it, but it doesn't have a destination. There's a strip of minky fabric down the center that is super soft.
This last quilt was created for my main quilt guild challenge, which was called "Pretty Pink Petals." The quilt had to be 30"x40", have a pieced background, have applique, and have pink flowers. So this is my quilt "Pretty Pink Pedals." Ha!
Another member of my household also finished her first real quilt! She did most of the work, including the rotary cutting (closely supervised), piecing, and all of the quilting! So so proud!
Family
So that brings us to family goings-on.
Z loves Lego, and here he's playing with them at the science center.
Ryan and I went to Sunset at the Vineyard at Penoach Winery several times over the summer; it's probably my favorite Friday night activity!
This was also the first year I took Z to family camp with us, which he thoroughly enjoyed.
And of course we saw the eclipse. We drove down to the middle of nowhere Missouri to watch it in the line of totality, and it was 100% worth the 4-hour drive!
And I have two big kids in school, with their obligatory "first day" picture:
H loves being a farm girl more and more each day. She's started collecting eggs with daddy sometimes and here she is being a quintessential farm girl, including night gown and muck boots.
Here are the kids at halloween. I had Mario and Wonder Woman. I made Mario's overalls, but the Wonder Woman dress was purchased (I made the bracers).
Lastly, the biggest impact on family life was that Ryan decided to run for the Iowa House of Representatives in Des Moines. He announced in August and hasn't hit high gear quite yet for campaigning, but has been working on some of the behind-the-scenes framework and attending lots of local meetings and events.
We hope you have a great new year, I look forward to what 2018 will bring!
