This Morning in Pictures

August 8, 2013 by WoolyMama

Well, it’s not oppressively sunny and brutal, but it’s pretty humid and yucky out. The sheep aren’t doing too badly with it, but they’re still not totally comfortable.

I tried to do a little garden weeding and maintenance, but as you can see, it’s kind of a losing battle.

But the sunflowers are doing well anyway. From what I can tell, the sweet potatoes seem to be thriving as well. Hooray for small miracles!

Miss Adelaide is getting into the habit of getting stuck in the fence every morning. Even though she has two giant tanks of fresh water easily accessible to her, she wants that water in the blue tub outside the fence.

Pretty much sums up goats.

Sweet Caramel. Who is actually not so sweet anymore. She’s decided she doesn’t like people.

The infamous Milkshakes.

Lovely Miss Hannah.

Darling Isobel.

Martin. As you can see, the Angora goats are looking forward to their fall shearing.

Georgia.

Well hello, there!

Cassie.

Alabama, hanging out in one of his favorite snoozin’ spots.

They are all ready for this wet, muddy summer to be over. I can’t really blame them. I’m kind of ready, too. Their hooves grow ridiculously fast when it’s like this and it’s difficult to keep on top of when you don’t want to constantly round them up and stress them out in the heat.

Plus once it’s cooler and shade isn’t such an absolute necessity at all times, we can pen them into a smaller section and blanket the field with more grass seed.

For now let’s hope that what is left of summer doesn’t come back and smack with with any record heatwaves, shall we?

Beach Weekend 2013

August 5, 2013 by WoolyMama

Another beach weekend, come and gone! It’s amazing how you can look forward to something for so long and then have it be over in the blink of an eye.

We had lovely weather for the most part; a bit of rain in the evenings but nothing that interfered with lounging by the ocean. It’s wonderfully lucky that the ocean is close enough that we can drive there in just a few hours.

Sometimes it’s hard not to sit and stare at the ocean for hours; it’s peaceful and relaxing watching the waves come in and the boats go out.

First Landing State Park

We’re an adventurous group, though, so we did manage to take some time away from relaxing to take part in various fun activities. Our first morning out we went for a Stand-Up Paddle Boarding tour. It was our second year doing it and this time our guide was was incredibly enthusiastic and engaged with our surroundings. He showed us all the oysters and barnacles on the shore line and piers and pulled up a crab pot full of blue crab to let us see what they look like.

He took us into a lovely little cove where the water was calmer and showed us how to do yoga on our paddle boards in the water.

I tried a few poses (mostly child pose, table, cat and downward dog) but he wowed us by doing a headstand. On his paddle board. In the water. Without falling off.

I know. Amazing.

Of course my friend Diana did us all even prouder later when she rode the Slingshot at the amusement park. It’s basically a reverse bungee jump that shoots you 200 feet in the air. She’s pretty brave, that one.

Mostly, though we did what we enjoy doing every year: spending time together at the beach.

I’m not big on getting colored by the sun (I’m pretty fair skinned and skin cancer is more of a threat than I think most people realize), so I love that we always rent huge umbrellas and create ourselves a shade fortress from which to enjoy the ocean breeze. I had a book with me but honestly I barely looked at it. I was either involved in conversation or napping. Or looking forward to steamed clams for dinner.

Laura and Margie

Diana, Theresa, Jessie.

I really needed this recharge; summer is fading fast and before we know it school and related activities will be upon us again. Let’s squeeze every drop of summer goodness we can get!

Lonsdale Dress

July 30, 2013 by WoolyMama

Yay me! I finished another dress, and just in time for the beach! (since I bought the fabric especially for its “beachy” look)

This time it was my first attempt making Sewaholic’s Lonsdale Dress.

The fabric is Michael Miller’s “Shore Thing Kelp” in green.

I have to say, I love that whole collection.

I am really, really happy with how it turned out.

I only had two problems when putting the dress together: the zipper was faulty and broke after I installed it completely. There were a lot of curse words. I then pulled it out and put in a new one. This time I was pissed off, though, so I did a sloppier job and therefor you can see the zipper this time. Whereas the broken zipper had been sewn in beautifully. Of course.

Then, when I was working on the hem I busted a needle on my serger. Totally my fault, but still. Very frustrating. Lesson: don’t sew while pissed off.

This dress is coming to the beach with me this weekend, for sure!

QUILT!!!

July 28, 2013 by WoolyMama

I finally finished a quilt!

I started this quilt at least a year ago as a way to use up all of my cherished (and discontinued) Heather Ross scraps.

It has probably the crappiest binding and top quilting of any quilt ever, but I don’t care.

I wanted it to be a summer quilt, and I finished it in the summer. While there is still summer left in which to enjoy it.

The backing fabric is a king sized sheet from Walmart. I couldn’t believe I found one that matched so well.

This was my first attempt using the free-hand quilting foot for my machine. I’ve got an even-feed foot now as well, so I’ll be trying that out next.

Finished quilt!

Squee!!!!

Gardens Gone Haywire

July 22, 2013 by WoolyMama

So, my gardens. Not gonna lie.

They look pretty bad this year. I know I say that every year. Last year it was the bugs. The year before it was the unrelenting sun and lack of good rains. This year, it was TOO much rain.

Of course, the last two years I still managed bumper crops of nearly everything I planted.

I knew we were in trouble a few weeks back. The squash leaves were yellowing at an alarming rate and the soil in the new back garden was staying pretty soggy. The weeds were growing at such a rate that I could pull them all and have to do it again almost immediately.

As of today, all of the squash has died with the exception of the cucumbers, which are doing surprisingly well.

The corn has also done well and is starting to tassel:

The sweet potato vines are also looking well. The blue, red and yukon potatoes are at status unknown right now. Probably they are dead. The above – ground portion was eaten into oblivion by potato beetles.

The basil is faring moderately well. The tomato plants are all doing well save for the pests that have claimed one of the plants.

I can tell you one thing that is doing very, very well, though, and it is something I didnt’ even plant. It came in the form of volunteer seeds in the compost we brought from Susan’s.

These lovely sunflowers are my consolation prize for my lackluster food growth.

Honestly I could have probably saved a lot of the vegetable plants – at least the ones that were done in by pests. I just took on too much all at once this season and couldn’t keep up with it all. Honestly, I have over a thousand square feet of gardens to keep up with.

Lesson accepted, but probably ignored in the future.

For now I am tending to what there is that is salvageable, and planning to put the pigs in the garden this fall to root it all up and fertilize it for next year.

One day I will have a productive, fruitful, successful vegetable patch!

Another Day, Another Dress

July 18, 2013 by WoolyMama

I can’t believe i am posting pictures of myself TWO DAYS IN A ROW.

I am so not the kind of photogenic that this requires.

Oh well. You’ll have to suffer my awkwardness to see the dress.

It’s a pattern I’ve made before but am not crazy about. As in, the finished product is good, but I have to work with next to no instructions and do some heavy altering. Last time it came out too long, so this time I cut it shorter. Too short, as it turns out. But, as it is a summer dress it’s not too terrible.

The fabric is Moda that I got at my local fabric store.

Just about an inch longer and slightly looser in the skirt and it would be perfection.

I’m pretty happy with my zipper installation, though. Except for a small bit at the top, you can’t see it at all. Practice, practice.

I had enough fabric left to make a simple A – Line skirt. It’s on the machine now, waiting for finishing. I also cut strips to make some bias tape with it for various projects. If I could have bought this fabric by the bolt, I would have. The yardage I got was clearly not enough for everything I want to do with it!

Yummy Tiramisu!

July 17, 2013 by WoolyMama

A few months back I bought a pattern from Cake Patterns for a dress called “Tiramisu”.

I envisioned a comfortable red dress for summer, and trolled Fabric.com for a good buy on some cotton knits.

I found a color called “Rust” that looked nice online, but when it came ended up being more purpley than red.

But, it felt so nice and soft that even though it was a decidedly more fall color than summer, I decided to forge ahead with it anyway.

And I am SO. GLAD. that I did!

You’ll have to excuse the crappy pictures; I was playing with the self timer on my camera and fighting the fact that there is not one decent place outside to tale pictures where there’s not unsightly overgrowth everywhere (stupid rainy summer).

Also, Susan’s not here to be sure I get some flattering and high quality garment shots, so we’ll just have to deal with what we get.

Also, excuse the dumb look on my face. Like I said, I was still playing with the timer, and I wasn’t sure it had set.

Or we can all just face the fact that I don’t like posing for pictures. Not because it isn’t fun, but because I am no good with facial expressions. In fact, I am pretty sure I have This Condition.

Side View. Complete with camera glare and thread all over my shoulder!

I have not finished the hem yet as per the instructions on the pattern to wear it a bit first and let the fabric fall and settle a bit. I also had to take in the size a LOT.

I don’t use knit fabrics a ton, and my first instinct is to generally cut a bit larger than my size, just in case. With this one, I measured myself and cut to that size, but there was an insane amount of positive ease in this fabric so it ended up hanging on my frame awkwardly. It’s also a bit heavier weight fabric than I was hoping for, but in combination with the color I think it will be outstanding for fall. I really want to make more in black, grey and pumpkin color as well as a nice teal if I can get it in a tissue weight. It’s a great pattern, and now that I have it down to proper size, it’s very flattering and majorly comfortable. It was also pretty darn easy to put together.

There you have it.

Now go make your own!

Martha!

June 28, 2013 by WoolyMama

For those of you that don’t follow me on Facebook, I have a quick brag I want to share.

My best friend Susan is in July’s issue of Martha Stewart Living!

The photographer came down to Virginia a few months ago and spent a day with us taking some stunning photographs of Susan and the farm. I hope at some point Susan will be able to get her hands on some of the photos, because, well. Stunning.

Get yourself a copy of the July issue now and read all about Susan and Juniper Moon Farm!

Difficult Days

June 11, 2013 by WoolyMama

Today we were forced to say goodbye to our darling little Beatrix.

She had a bit of diarrhea the last two days, and despite treating her with everything we could, she had passed on when I went to check this morning.

Losing animals is always difficult; it’s especially hard because since we only had two lambs this year we got to know both of them well, and spent a lot of time with them.

I have a call in to the vet to be sure there was nothing else going on I may have missed. Darby and Amelia are doing wonderfully – they are still penned out in front of the house on grass and I am loathe to put them back out in the field now. Since there is no grass back there yet it has gotten very muddy with the heavy rains, and I worry that may have contributed to Beatrix’s decline. Amelia is also still very skinny despite the grass and grain, and I fear she shouldn’t go back to a hay – only diet at this point.

I pray everyone else stays healthy and the heat and mud don’t become more of a problem for anyone. I have been out to the field four times a day to check on everyone, and I am having to fight the urge to just stay out there all day now. But, having me fret over them constantly won’t help, either. These things happen despite our best intentions and care.