Today I continue my quest in creating and posting one block a day of the fabulous That Town And Country Quilt by the lovely Susan-Claire Mayfield. This is day three hundred and sixty-two of that project.

This quilt block shows a fancy dark green tractor. It has a large back wheel and a smaller front wheel. There's a black smoke stack the same color as the wheels on the side and extending above the cab. There is a large white headlight on the front of the tractor (we're viewing it from the side) and a large cab with a light yellow tinted window. The smoke stack has white pen on it to show it's sheen. There are two white buttons in the axles of the wheels, one larger than the other. To finish it off in pen there's a small step below the chassis to help you into the tractor's cabin. — Click To Enlarge

Ollie loves this tractor.

Now in his late sixties, he has dreamed of a tractor like this his whole life. He looks forward to every day he spends in it.

He was a little boy when he watched his dad plow the last field with a plow and mule. That’s when they bought the first tractor.

Just a bare-bones tractor with no cab, no windshield, no power steering, and brakes you had to stand on to make it stop. It was the most beautiful thing they’d ever seen. It was the first time he ever saw his dad, Lars, cry.

The work that the first tractor could do!

Lars could plow fields in half the time. He increased his holdings 10 times over after that first tractor came.

There were, of course, other tractors. All stripped-down models that did the job and nothing fancy. Ollie would look at tractor calendars like other guys looked at swimsuit editions.

Finally, he could do it! He could buy that fancy tractor.

It has air conditioning and heat! Cup holders and shock absorbers on the ADJUSTABLE seat. Even defrost and wipers for the windows and stereo!

Ollie is trying to figure out how he can never have to leave his tractor. His wife of 40 years is jealous and suspects he’s murmuring the tractor’s name in his sleep.

Ollie has decided that if he were to die in that tractor seat, he would die a happy man.