News From the Ranch (and Studio)

April 2026 edition

It’s Spring . . . kinda. It’s going back and forth between hot and cold right now. We’ll have a day when it’s 87 outside, then the next day we have a freeze warning. One day we’ll be under a tornado watch, and two days later, it’s snowing again. It’s hard on the animals. They start trying to shed their winter coats, only to need them back again! So rude. But they all seem to be doing OK in spite of it.

Yesterday was Ranger’s birthday!!! He’s NINE years old. It makes me wanna cry. How can my little boy be so old already? He used to follow me everywhere, helping with chores and bossing everything:

Now, he still follows me, and still bosses everything, but he has to stay with the herd. The destruction would be real, if I turned him loose! And he’s this big now:

He would love to still be living indoors, but since he’s relegated to outdoor living, he fancies himself a pony. He’d much rather hang out with the horses than the other goats. They are so beneath him.

Of course, I fixed him a birthday treat, as if he doesn’t get treats year-round. This year he got a bowl of grapes and carrots. The boy will NOT share! I love him so much.

But mainly, I’m popping on to show you what I’ve been working on in the studio lately. It’s been a struggle. You see, I made this rule for myself:

You must completely finish TEN projects before you can start another new one.

Truthfully, it should be more than that, but the agony is almost too much to bear. I haven’t started anything new all year, except a donation quilt for my guild’s challenge that has to be done on time.

Here’s where it gets difficult: The rule is not just to finish things, but my total UFO list number must drop by TEN. So I’ve actually finished about 14 things, but the list isn’t down by ten projects yet, so I’m still working on the last couple. When you clean out old tubs, you find projects that weren’t on the list, and the list grows anyway! And when you’re really wanting to finish a project, why does binding seem so slow?

Here are a couple projects I’ve finished recently, plus a few tops I’ve finished that can’t be counted as finished until they’re actually quilted, bound, and labeled.

First up, a baby quilt for donation, made from leftover squares our guild gathered up for a sew day a couple years ago. I’m throwing it in the washer later today, so it will be all clean and snuggly and ready to be loved.

This homespun Log Cabin quilt that I made to try and use up the last of my homespun stash. I still have one more homespun quilt to get quilted, and I’m happy to say that all my homespun is now gone!

This Potting Shed quilt I made for My Cowboy. I had a pile of what looked like salesmen’s samples of homespun tucked in a drawer for years, and then along came the perfect pattern!

I’ve had the top done for over a year, and finally got it quilted. I chose this cowboy print for the backing for him. So far, he’s been using it with the backing side up!

In the interest of finishing things, I’ve downsized several projects to be smaller than I originally intended. One was my Snowballs quilt. I had big plans to make this queen-sized — what was I thinking??? I gathered up the parts I had finished and came up with a layout I could put them into so I could call it done. I had just enough blocks to make this:

It turned out to be the cutest baby-sized quilt! And I photographed it upside down. The whole time I was working on it before, I thought it was gonna be super ugly, but now that it’s done, I actually like it quite a lot! Now, to get it quilted.

But I DO have my backing and binding ready. That’s a habit I got into years ago: before I put a top into the to-be-quilted pile, I prepare a backing for it and make the binding. That way, no matter how long it lays, I’m not stymied at that point when I’m ready to really finish it. My future self always thanks me!

And here’s another oldie . . . I finally finished hand piecing all the blocks for my Daredevils quilt.

This was started years ago in a quilt-along of Barbara Brackman’s. The blocks were challenging blocks meant to be hand pieced, so that’s why it took me so long. But the top is finally done. It’s made from all vintage fabrics from my vintage fabric stash. I bought a vintage sheet for the backing, and the last bit will be getting it quilted and bound. (And yes, I have the binding made!)

So there’s my latest studio news. I have many, many more projects in the works, so there’s plenty of fodder for future posts around here, so stay tuned! If you don’t want to miss any of the News From the Ranch, you can . . .

Thanks for visiting!