Tag Archives: Sewing

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September!!!!

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I am so happy to be able to say that!  This marks the first day of my favorite time of the year.  It’s when I am always at my happiest and the weather at my most favorite.  Before long we’ll see the leaves turning and the air will be crisp and there will be soup and bread and cookies going non – stop in my kitchen.  It also means Halloween is around the corner – and we looooove Halloween here.  If I can get my act together and get organized enough I may try and throw a Halloween party.

There are lots of projects going on here right now as I make my final push before home school starts next Tuesday (any my birthday on Wednesday, woohoo!).  There are dresses and shirts and sweaters started for all the girls.  I am actually even running out of fabric!  Imagine that!!!!  I’ll need to start buying more!

Among the finished projects are these:

I  made each of the girls a shirt with one of our animals on it.  Oona got Finnigan as a newborn.  Neve got one with Jasper cat and Emily’s has Big Jim the rooster.

Each girl also got a pair of these baggy black linen capris with lace trim, from the book Carefree Clothes for Girls by Junko Okawa.

I also finished another yoga suit for Oona.  I am really thinking I am going to work out a way to make this pattern for adults as well, since it looks so incredibly comfortable and flattering!

Unfortunately it has been way too hot to do much work outside.  We’ve gotten some good swim time in since there’s been no rain, but I am hoping to get some yardwork done before too long.  My raised garden beds need some weeding.  The good news is my acorn squash is doing well…….AND the arugula I planted in the spring has re-sprouted and is growing in again!  Hooray for September!

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Birthday Weekend

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This weekend was bookended by two birthdays – Emily’s and my brother Caleb’s.

Emily turned 11 on Friday (and saying that just kills me) and spent the day swimming and enjoying a visit with her BFF Jasmine.  Those two were in kindergarten together and took an immediate liking to each other.  Jasmine even convinced her father and step mother to name her youngest sister Emily!

Emily & Jasmine at birthday number…..6?  7?  I can’t recall.

I am still working on Emily’s petticoat skirt – I don’t think there’s enough chiffon for it, even though I ordered the 8 yards called for in the pattern.  We’ll have to see how short I am and then I’ll be ordering more.

Emily’s always been my kindred spirit.  She’s artistic,sensitive, emotional, an animal lover, and a knitter.

Not that I haven’t had my trying times with her.  She was the only one of my children who decided that the solid matter in her diaper made a great paint for her crib and the walls.  She’s also the only one of my children to ever sleep in a crib.

Emily made us grateful for modern medicine in a way we never thought we would be.  When she was 5, she came down with a severe case of pneumonia / empyema that required a lengthy hospital stay and two surgeries.  She still bears the scars from the drainage tubes that were attached to her for almost a week.

Emily also taught us to be better listeners.  After a few weeks of telling us in a casual and funny  way that she had rocks in her ears (Hey!  I have rocks in my ears!!!)  she went to the doctor for a bout of fever / nausea where the doctor discovered that she did, in fact, have a small rock in one of her ears.

Emily is our chicken whisperer.  No one takes it harder than her when one of them is sick or injured, and no one is able to commune with them the way she can.  One of our hens used to ride on her shoulder!  Of course, all of the chicken wrangling and sensitivity have translated into a vow of vegetarianism.  She hasn’t eaten chicken in almost a year and gave up all other meats this spring.  While it’s not always easy to accommodate in this family of meat – eaters, she manages well and has our full support. Part of homeschooling her this year will involve teaching her how to prepare vegetarian meals that will fulfill her nutritional needs.

Then there is my brother, for whom I can somehow find no embarrassing childhood pictures at the moment.  He’s 7 years younger than me and our relationship has not always been easy.  We had some spectacular fights.  Picture an incredibly clever, quick witted 6 year old who knows all of your buttons (oh wait…..I have a couple of those now….).

He’s still incredibly clever and quick – witted.  He’s also one of the funniest people I know.  He sings like a rock star and has way more artistic talent than I could ever dream of.

Stories and jokes he tells me always make me laugh, even months later.  Sometimes no one else gets our humor, but that’s ok.  We’ve grown into siblings that get each other and that has made all the difference.  I love that whenever my kids do something weird, geeky or off – beat I can always say Your uncle KB would be so proud!!!

Happy birthday to two of my favoritest people.  I love you both.


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Quilts and Pies, Oh My!

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Ok, here’s a random, jumbled post for you.

I made a cherry pie last night with two jars of morello cherries I got from Trader Joe’s a few weeks ago.  It was spectacular, if I do say so myself, and there is a very good reason for that:  I tried a new crust.

For years I have only used the pie crust recipe handed down for generations in my husband’s family.  And I was very happy with it.  But then I saw the latest post over at Smitten Kitchen and thought that her crust just looked……irresistible.

So I tried it.  And good lord, it is the best crust I have tasted in my entire life, I kid you not.  I urge you all to try it immediately!

Other than pie – making I have been doing woefully little because of the massive heat wave we have been experiencing.  The animals are unhappy, I am unhappy….it’s just beastly out there.  Fortunately I have plenty of shade for them and I hooked up a misting attachment so they can get some moisture on them to cool off.  Tomorrow is supposed to be about 100, so wish us luck with that.

Mostly I have been sitting in the A/C working on handquilting.

I started this….two years ago?  Anyway it’s easy and doesn’t require much effort, which is good because seriously I just need a hammock to hang out in and take lots of long, summer afternoon naps.  That’s all I want do do right now.

How about you?  How are you beating the heat?

If you’re looking for good reading I highly recommend The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and its sequels.

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Still Playin’ Around

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I’m still having fun with my camera.  I haven’t discovered half of what it can do yet, but I can’t help taking pictures of everything around me.  Which means there’s about a milli0n pictures of the cats, the kids, etc.

Like this one of Sushi, who has recently taken up sleeping on Neve and nibbling on her nose, fingers and toes all night long.  This makes Neve very grumpy and she has decided that Sushi must be dreaming about eating sausages all night.

There’s many more of Jasper cat because he loves all the attention and enjoys posing for pictures.

Oona begs to have her picture taken and it’s hard to get one of her acting naturally rather than making funny faces or contorting into some weird position that she thinks is hilarious.

Most of the picture – taking has been happening inside because it’s only 10 bajillion degrees outside and the humidity is so bad it’s like walking into a sauna.  Maddie and I got fed up waiting for the excavation of the pool site to be completed so we headed out with gloves and shovels to get the ball rolling ……

but it was just way too hot and we were miserable.  I think we lasted maybe 20 minutes and got next to nothing accomplished other than drenching ourselves in sweat.  Where can we find some good, reliable, cheap labor around here??????

So, we still have no pool.  And because of this, and despite the heat, I keep telling myself that summer hasn’t really started yet.  We’ve had no days of swimming and nights of s’more roasting, no firefly catching, no picnics out on the deck, nada.  Hopefully we’ll get there before August.  Maddie goes back to school on the 9th and she’ll be really upset if the pool isn’t done by then.

I’ve been working on some frou-frou chiffon petticoat skirts for the girls, and let me just say…it has to be the worst sewing project in the world.  I detest it.  Yet I seem to be getting better at it at least as it drags on.  Pictures to follow soon.

I have done no knitting, despite wanting to very much.

BUT.

I did make an acquisition relating to all things wonderful and fiber – related.  I’ve gained part custody of this:

My friend Kim’s loom!!!!  She’ s had it hanging around for years, but lately it’s just been gathering dust.  So for now I get to try my hand at weaving until she is ready to get back to working on it.  Not that I really need anymore projects, but how could I resist??????

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Livin’ in the (Craft) Projects

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I elected to forgo house cleaning for the weekend to get some projects finished instead.  My house is sticky and filthy…..but I won’t be throwing my weekly hissy fit about it until later.  I am forcing myself to ignore it so I can enjoy myself for once.

Saturday morning I got up extra early (ok…..8 am.  But to be fair I had stayed awake until 2:30 the previous night) to take delivery of a big bale of hay from the nicest people ever.  Then I returned to a nice quiet kitchen (older girls were in their bedrooms, Oona and Paul were still asleep) brewed a cup of coffee and made sour cream pancakes from the Pioneer Woman Cookbook. I added some blueberries and they were quite yummy.  I even had some time to listen to some Norah Jones and Paul Simon on my iPod before everyone came down to eat. All Saturdays should start off like that.  And end like this:

I finished one of my WIPs from Alabama Chanin (all of her stuff makes me drool……..I want to make every single project in many different colorways and I challenge you to not want to go right out and buy 800 lbs of cotton jersey once you look at her site).   This skirt is from the first book, The Alabama Stitch Book. The under fabric is pink and the top fabric I dyed to be a light grey.  The contrast stitching is in a cream color.

I am very pleased with how it turned out.  It fits perfectly. Plus being that it is made of pure cotton jersey, it is also quite comfortable.  Once it was complete I decided that instead of working on the chiffon tutus I have planned for the girls (for Neve’s birthday next week) or the Noro Silk Scarf or Oona’s sweater I wanted to start right in on another Alabama project, this one a tank top  from the second book, Alabama Studio Style. So far I am enjoying it immensely, and here is a sneak peak at it:

Relief appliques.  Am totally in love.  The only snag is that I need some light brown embroidery floss to edge the painted – on stencil bits that don’t get appliqued.  I swear I have every other color of it known to man. But not brown.  Do I drive half an hour and battle Charlottesville traffic to get some more or do I work on other things today instead?  Dilemmas, dilemmas.

P.S. We are up to 4 baby chickens that have now hatched.  Six eggs left.

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Over-run with Goings – On

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First the big news:  Truffles the hen, who has been sitting on a cache of eggs (which keeps getting added to by her pushy peers who keep bullying their way into her nest and laying more eggs on top of her), has hatched a little baby chicken.

I am really hoping it’s a girl.  I am on the fence about the whole situation, honestly.  On the one hand, it’s pretty cool hatching your own baby chicks, and the kids are way fascinated by the whole thing.  It’s a spectacular learning opportunity and it makes me happy that my kids will grow up understanding where food comes from, where baby animals come from and how they are cared for from day one.  (btw: her back feathers are missing because before she went broody she was the roosters’ favorite hen)

On the other hand.

I have WAY.  too.  many.  chickens.

Getting fresh eggs every day is a pretty great thing, and when you get enough to share, it’s even better.  I picked fresh arugula and lettuce out of the garden the other morning and carried it into the  house along with 6 fresh, warm eggs.  I felt like a real farmer for the first time (I know…..I’ve been a real farmer for awhile now, but somehow I’ve always kept of felt more like a “wanna be”).

But we have plenty of laying girls.  Plus the babies we bought last month – Magpie and Penny.  There are nine – that’s NINE – more eggs under Truffles right now, and you just know half will be roos, so they will have to be re-homed or eaten, right off the bat (no I don’t have anything against eating them per se – it’s great to have fresh free – range chicken.  I just don’t think I can bring myself to kill them).

Chickens are fun, funny, friendly when properly raised,  entertaining, they eat lots of bugs, and they destroy everything in their path.  DESTROY. The reason that the animal pen has no grass in it has nothing to do with the goats or the llama.  It’s the chickens.

See how they dig down and tear up all the hay and grass to get  into the dirt?

Plus they poo indiscriminately.  It’s everywhere.  The coop, the water trough, you name it.  A dozen chickens?  No problem.  A few dozen?  That becomes a much more dirty situation.  It’s something I will have to ponder and work with until we can get around to expanding the fence out.

As for my boys, they couldn’t be better.

Well, maybe they wouldn’t quite agree with that, since Susie came over today and helped me put the castrating bands on them.  I went yesterday to Tractor Supply and bought the tool and bands (how many people get to say they spent their afternoons shopping for a castrating tool? I’m just sayin’) and today she showed me how to use it.

They took it just fine and were off jumping and playing again in no time.

I went out this afternoon to get some pictures of them, which is never easy since they are both so very snuggly.  Whenever I go out there, this happens:

They crawl into my lap and lay down.

They’re like little puppies with horns.  I won’t be de – horning them.  It’s just completely unnecessary for us to do so.

Milkshakes is happy for it – it gives her a break from their constant wanting to nurse.

She’s getting antsy to get out and do some more weeding.  I haven’t had a chance the last few days due to all the rain we’ve gotten.  The garden is loving it, though.  Everything I planted out back – the potatoes, butternut squash and corn – are all coming up nicely.

I also got some sewing done since we were all stuck indoors.  I finally finished Neve’s Easter dress.  The pattern is Jump Rope Dress from Oliver & S.  It took me forever to get started on it but it sewed up pretty fast.

I used Heather Bailey’s  Nicey Jane fabric.

Yes I know it’s an awful picture.  My campaign to convince my husband I need a real camera has so far been a failure (I’d really love a Canon Eos Digital SLR – something that takes great pictures without constant adjusting and re-setting and blah blah blah) .  I’ve tried the whole “a blog is only as good as the pictures on it” approach, but he didn’t buy it.  I even tried to guilt him by reminding him how many people I know who are neither artists nor bloggers who have waaaay better cameras than me.  He responded by saying  real artists like me don’t generally  have money for things like a good camera anyway.

Rats.

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Good Stuff

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Ok, y’all know how much I love Susan over at Juniper Moon Farm. Not only is she my hero for doing what I want to be doing (um, raising sheep and goats and making yarn?  Hello!!!) , but she is also one of the best people you’ll ever meet.

Today, she and her assistant Maggie, along with numerous other friends and helpers, staged a fun – filled day of Sheep Shearing, eating, spinning and knitting.  Who the heck needs MD Sheep & Wool???Well, lots of us do, but that’s besides the point.

I brought blueberry cobbler.  Good thing I made two batches, because I was so overwhelmed with the incredible food everyone else brought that I never even made it to dessert.  (I know, I am as shocked as you!!!!)

They started out shearing the angora goats.

Then came Ernie the sheep.  He is massive.  Huge.  Unbelievably ginormous.  You can certainly see him from space.

And petite little Emily the Shearer is totally badass hauling that 300 lb sheep around like a ragdoll.

Despite his size, he was rather compliant.

Post – haircut.  Still huge……but decidedly less – so.

With all the action going on around him this little lamb (Rushworth, or “Mr. Tiny”) enjoyed a quiet snack with his mama.  If you follow Susie’s blog at all you’ll recognize him as the touch- and – go preemie from this past week, and you’ll be happy to see he is nursing on his own.

Can I please, please puh-leeeeeeeze have this as my backyard?????  Talk about the most serene, happiness – inducing scene imaginable. Happy, healthy sheep grazing a fresh pasture.

This is what happens when Neve gets the camera. I have to say…..I think I may hire her to take all future food pictures for this blog.

And though Hattie just might kill me for posting it, this also happens:

Hattie drove up from Charlottesville and rode along with us for the fun.  Despite how close with live to each other we don’t see each other very often, so it was a good day for it.

We stayed for quite awhile but the kids were getting restless and my head was threatening a migraine, so as much as I did not want to ever leave, we left late afternoon, while most of the visitors had migrated indoors into the living room and were very cozily spinning and knitting and joking around having a great time.  I was very sad to leave that scene!

Fortunately Paul has Oona out for a short car trip this evening and for the first time in far too long I have a chance to sit and relax and I think I will work on a striped scarf (with some scrumptious Noro Silk Garden yarn) (and maybe catch up on some brain – rotting South Park or Deadliest Catch on Hulu)  instead of the many other things I should work on.

But first!!!

I have opened my etsy shop at last.  I have several flannel tote bags listed that I made this past week.

Some with sheep,

Some with chicks.

I really need to make some llama ones.  But not ones with bad haircuts, I promise.

I’ll be adding to the shop on and off as I am able, so check it out!!!!!

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My Happy Place

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There are adorable baby goats, blooming flowers, chicken eggs in the laying baskets and a box load of fabric waiting to be sewn up.  Life’s good.

My lettuce, arugula and snow peas are coming along swimmingly.  This week I’ll till out the back garden and put in the corn and potatoes (I’m also thinking some butternut squash is in order, considering it freezes well and I looove it).  I’ve got lots of herbs and tomatoes started inside waiting to go out, and we’re going to enclose a spot out front where we’ve got strawberries and rhubarb.  I need to keep those hungry deer from mowing it all down!!!  (Is it too late to plant some asparagus in there???)

My peonies are about to burst.  I can’t wait!  Peonies and lilacs are my favorite flowers.  I have a small lilac bush but it has never bloomed – I am not sure we have the right climate for them.  Up in New York there were massive lilac bushes and trees all over – it was always the best time of year for me when they were in bloom.

I couldn’t help but pick up a marigold pot for the front porch.  I think next time I will grab a few of those Martha Washington type marigolds – they’re lovely.

The past weekend we were busy showing off the adorable twins!  They are so cuddly I can’t even stand it.

They’re doing fantastically well, and Milkshakes is a natural at the mommy thing.

Yes, that’s leopard – print fleece they’re wearing.  I needed to make them little jackets since it’s still been getting rather chilly at night, and this was all I had.  It’s left over from Maddie’s Halloween costume circa 2000.   Check out Frodo’s ears – airplane ears!  That’s how I tell them apart.  Finn’s ears are floppier, but Frodo keeps his out straight all the time.

See?  Airplane ears.

Jerry does this all day.  He’s dying of curiosity.  He hasnt’ been allowed in with them yet because he doesn’t like having the door closed behind him.  I’ve been holding the little guys up for him to sniff at so he can get to know them, and he love love loves them.  He sniffs and nuzzles and smiles……and I suspect he thinks they’re his babies.

But they aren’t, are they?  And so I shall tell you a tale…a tale of their father’s true identity…a tale which only those of you I’ve spoken with in person have heard.

With apologies to certain uncles, aunts and cousins……

Way back when I entered the Goat Giveaway that Susie was sponsoring, people started realizing that when I said I love animals and I want a farm , I wasn’t just talking out my back end…I meant it.  Some of those people got to thinking.  Thinking about a goat they had that had worn out his welcome.

So it happened that when I did not win the goats I got a call from a dear relative of Paul’s informing me that I had won one beautiful purebred Saanen billy goatwho was no longer being cared for the way he deserved.  A loving, friendly but lonely guy who would love to come live in the country where there would be chickens and a llama and kids to play with him and nurture him.  I had heard that he had found himself in some mischief recently (due to his lonliness); he had a penchant for breaking into the house and following Paul’s uncle around the kitchen.  I found it charmingly hialrious, this image of David standing at his kitchen stove, then, upon hearing some strange noise behind him, turning to discover Hunter the goat standing there, chewing his cud, watching the cooking happen.  Sure, I would take this loveable but lonely guy. I had acquired Milkshakes from a local farm and figured they’d keep each other happy.

This is what went down.

We got home from Mexico on a Tuesday night, right around dark.  We had driven all day after picking the kids up in New York and I was beat.  Hunter was expected sometime that evening and Paul planned to wait up.

Around 1 o’clock in the morning, the truck pulls up, the back is opened, and from the way Paul tells it…this wild – eyed, stinky as all – get – out BEAST emerges from the darkness.  We estimate this guy weighed around 250 lbs.  Hunter immediately went to work chasing Jerry and Milkshakes all around.

In the morning I woke up to signs posted over every door stating that none of the kids should be let near Hunter without an adult.  Hmm…well that’s curious, I thought.  I soon discovered that this loveable lonely guy also had a thing for butting.  Hard.

I couldn’t feed the other animals without nearly getting knocked down.  Emily was terrified to go in the pen to take care of the chickens.  Milkshakes sported a look that made me want to bring her in the house with me, and Jerry stayed as far away as he could at all times. Hunter seemed unconcerned by all of this, happily chewing on the electric fencing wires!!

He lasted two days before I found a lovely woman in a neighboring town who raised purebred Saanen females but had been searching for an affordable male.  I happily gave him to her.  He went to a small dairy farm with 12 females to mate.

So there you have it – the story of how this stinky guy fathered this cute little guy and his brother.

And I am glad he did.

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Glad That’s Over

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Thankfully everything’s been fairly quiet since our misadventure with Jerry.  The fence is fixed and after seeing the chickens get zapped a few times Jerry has regained his respect for it.  Have you ever seen a llama smile? Just get an electrified fence, add one chicken, wait for the pained squawking and witness the hilarious grin it elicits on your llama’s face.  I swear he was laughing at that poor bird.  I haven’t seen anything that funny in a long, long while. I needed that laugh, let me tell you.  And I feel sorry for anyone who spoke to me that day – I was an hysterical mess.  I am sure more than one person thought I was off my rocker, but having an animal get loose like that is something akin to losing a toddler.

Meanwhile, since our goat baby situation continues to drag on and on…..we brought home some babies of a different kind.

Two Silver Laced Wyandotte girls.  We got them from Chicken World – a home and garden center the next town over.  The best part is that they’re guaranteed to be hens or we can exchange them.  I am really, really hoping that won’t be necessary for once. These two girls are being called Penny and Magpie.

Emily is over the moon to have little peeps again.  She just loves them.  We tend to pick on her for it, but it’s also kind of cute that she always has to handle all the chickens.   At home she makes it a point to catch and “baby” each and every chicken at least once a day.  When we were at Susie’s I was drooling over the goats and sheep, Neve was running around with the dogs, and Emily was all about chasing the chickens.  She’s our chicken girl.

I’ve been sewing up a mad storm and loving every second of it.  I’ll share my fruits with y’all soon enough…but not just yet.

I’m also hoping Milkshakes hurries things up already before she bursts.  I want a baby goat already!

For now Ill be happy with lamb.  Cake, that is.

My brother’s lovely girlfriend (hi Eleanor!!!) gave me this great 3D cake mold for Christmas and I finally got the chance to use it.  I could barely get it frosted and covered in coconut before it got devoured, otherwise I might’ve “staged it” a little nicer.  Next time I’d like to try to use some marzipan for the eyes and a little pink nose.