Wed - April 2, 2008

Up and running

I wish the title above was in reference to the market gardens, but we're still waiting for those first seeds to sprout out there...but actually our computers were down. E bought and installed a new router tonight and voila - we're live again. So, news.

Baby C finally had a growth spurt and passed her birth weight, so we're good to go on that front - a relief, especially not having to go for our weekly weigh-ins at the doctor's office. My dad is home and recovering pretty well, slogging through the massive antibiotic doses of his H. pylori treatment, and he and Gi are spending the day together tomorrow. Planting is coming along, though E and I both are anxious to get everything in the ground NOW. Our replacement pullets are coming in two weeks, so E is starting to pull together the hoop house, get the batteries charged for the electro-net, and gather supplies to build a second hoop house. We will be housing about 50 hens per pasture/hoop house combo this year, and will see how that goes. We had some issues with productivity compared to the birds we kept in the barn and attached yard last year, but we'll try the solar lights we started late last year and keep our fingers crossed. The fruit trees are pruned, but the asparagus and rhubarb beds need to be cleaned out before everything starts sprouting up and the grape vines need to be attached to new arbors. The to-do list is always a mile long around here....

While the girls sleep I've been sewing (quilts for the etsy shop we'll be stocking soon) and making projects for swap-bot....

Posted at 11:10 PM     Read More  

Thu - March 27, 2008

D.O.N.E.

And just in time, as I'm itching to start on a new quilt, or two, or three.... A few posts back, I wrote about how I only had a few little loose bits and pieces to fix after washing my last quilt...this time around - success! Generous quarter inch seam allowances and actually giving up on using miniscule bits of fabric paid off! There are a few times I stitched through the whole quilt when finishing off the binding, most likely due to sewing while too tired or while herding a toddler, and a few pinkish spots where the batik scraps I used turned out not to be pre-washed and bled into the res of the block they were in, but all in all, it held up perfectly through a thorough wash and dry cycle. Hooray!

Out in the garden we've hit a 2 kid stride of getting one bed turned over and planted each night while the other person wrangles the girls. Monday: beets, 1/2 bulls blood and 1/2 touchstone gold. Tuesday: Snow peas, dwarf gray sugar. Wednesday: Scallions, white and red sets. If it doesn't rain tonight, the next bed is Shell peas, Caseolode. And watering....I haven't watered anything in, since rain has been forecast all week. Still to go into that side of the garden, radishes, carrots, and mesclun: mixed leaf lettuce, arugula, dino kale, and mizuna.

Posted at 06:04 AM     Read More  

Tue - March 18, 2008

Done!

Whew... when you're making a quilt with 5" blocks instead of the "usual" larger ones it takes a LOT of blocks to make a baby quilt. I was making the 5" blocks for the dear baby jane project and sort of got on a roll, hence the tiny blocks throughout this quilt. The sashing will be khaki just like Georgia's and there will be a border of the batik flowers (the very last, last bits of that wonderful tablecloth bought on clearance from Ten Thousand Villages ) instead of the applique flowers on Gi's. I think she'll like it....

Posted at 06:35 PM     Read More  

Mon - March 10, 2008

Redwork Table Runner & Gi's "Big Girl" Quilt

This is a gift for my mom that Georgia and I have been working on this week - inspired by red work embroidery, and a favorite piece of red flannel that was retired from the closet. As with all my projects,it received a none-too-gentle wash and tumble dry last night and came out relatively unscathed. A few minutes with needle and thread reinforced two parts of the binding, but compared to previous projects I think I finally can see the day when those last minute reinforcements may be a thing of the past!

On the sewing table now: a baby quilt/wall hanging for the nursery - it will have a matching valence and also match Gi's "big girl" quilt, so that when the girls share a room everything works nicely together (the commercial nursery set will be looking for a hew home on e-bay). I'm not sure if I ever posted pics of her big girl quilt...lots of deep pinks and maroons along with khaki sashing and backing, with a few appliqued flowers from the same deep maroon batik fabric (I used a zig zag stich and fusible web for those, and so far it's holding up well). The 15 squares in this quilt were all made as part of Sew Mama Sew's Quilt Along month. Not sure what hormones made me switch gears into a full time seamstress, but I'm enjoying myself...

Posted at 10:45 AM     Read More  

Fri - February 8, 2008

Almost there....

The quilt and the kid are both almost ready to go. The quilt needs a binding, which I'll work on while I try to recuperate from my sore throat tomorrow. My mom and dad are coming over and we'll haul out Georgia's old crib (she loves her new toddler bed) which has seen much, much better days and set up the new crib my dad bought in the nursery. If Gi gets antsy to sleep in a crib once the baby comes, she can always crash in that one or the pack n play. Her room is way too crowded now to keep the old crib just in case...

8 more days of work, and then a pre-op appointment at the hospital.... in case you missed it, #2 is coming out via scheduled c-section, so hopefully lots less drama then last time and a slightly faster recovery (since it'll be the surgery alone, instead of emergency surgery following 15 crazy hours of natural labor). I would have tried a VBAC, but I just can't risk a uterine rupture, not with everything else my poor innards have been through the past two and a half years.

Posted at 11:21 PM     Read More  

Mon - January 28, 2008

Back in Business

I'm slowly returning to my sewing table - the other day I finished a crochet hook case for A that I had been working on, and tonight I put together the pincushion from "Last Minute Patchwork Gifts" to get back in the swing of things. Now I have a bunch of strips for a stacked coin quilt I've had in my head for a while cut out and ready to go on the ironing board... I still have most of a blue cotton sheet from the spider-man blanket I made for a birthday party Gi was invited to, and lots of blue and green scraps in my fabric stash. I'm getting more comfortable with leaving large areas un-patchworked now that I'm better at machine quilting, but need to get a little more confidence before I tackle the birdbox quilts AJ has made, which I absolutely adore.

Off to sew - anything but watching GW!

Posted at 08:40 PM     Read More  

Mon - October 15, 2007

Wrapping Things Up

As the busiest season on the farm winds down, we've managed to wrap up quite a few projects. The back yard is a whole different place, and Gi loves running on her new lawn. It remains to be seen if the sod we laid will make it through the winter, but thanks to the almost daily rain, it looks great right now. This weekend E put back up the backyard fence and today he put back up the fence for the side yard where the dogs hang out. He still needs to install the big gate we bought at the feed store, but that should go up easily, and then he'll be able to mow back there with the lawn tractor.



I spent one last weekend finishing up the cityscape quilt for K, and brought it to her baby shower on Sunday. Next on the sewing agenda is fixing a few of Gi's toys and taking a clothes sewing class at the new quilt shop in town later this month. I was happy with the way the latest quilt turned out - it was the first I ever did entirely by machine. Not as meditative as the hand quilting I usually do, and certainly less portable, but it certainly came together quickly, which was rewarding in and of itself.



We did a sweep of the garden and harvested a bunch of tomatoes and beans, which are canned and in the pantry now. It's almost full - a sure sign that winter is on its way. Next year I hope we have more jams and jellies in there - our grape vines took off this year after two years of constant transplanting, so we'll hopefully have fruit next season. The winter squash have all been harvested and the shelves are filled with plenty of acorn squash - the vines did wonderfully, even though we planted them in late August. We'll definitely be growing this variety next year - I think it was "Table Queen", though I'm not sure what variety the random yellow ones were. Off to put someone small to bed - I'll try to remember to snap some pics of the backyard tomorrow.

Posted at 10:50 PM     Read More  

Sun - July 29, 2007

And the winner is....

For the fair this year, I entered canned veggies, some beeswax, a sewing project, and a decorated cake. Since the baking competition is by far the most competitive, I spent a few nights making tons of marzipan veggies for a "farmstand cake".... there's an Alton Brown carrot cake under all that icing. :)

E went by the tent last night and we won! Here are all our entries - three first place, one second, and one third. Not bad!

Posted at 11:57 AM     Read More  

Sun - February 18, 2007

Cleaning up my sewing room: a running commentary

1. I have more then enough blue and green patchwork bits to make a little boy crazy quilt....the map of the world idea will have to wait.
2. The top of my all-time-favorite hippie sun-dress from high school is miraculously intact - that will be hemmed to become a tank top shortly, assuming my post-baby chest still fits into it. :)
3. A random piece from some elaborate long forgotten lingerie -why?
4. I must have gotten it into my head to make sock monkeys years ago...four very colorful singleton socks - even a baby one - added to the sock monster box.
5. A sock monster would be a great addition to the boy-baby quilt when I present it to baby-boy's mama!
6. Am I brave enough to make some plain muslin the backing for the quilt? - I found a piece large enough, maybe. If I used my colorful variegated thread it might be pretty.
7. I have a ton of red and brown I haven't used - next quilt maybe?
8. Should I make more tote bags for the March farmer's market? I don't know....they didn't sell very well last year.... I could always display baby quilts to make our stall more colorful and put a "Available for sale" sign up, now that I'm getting better at them, maybe a "special orders welcome!"
9. I need to make A her knitting bag stat....I'll use that for quilt breaks :)
10. My koi fabrics would work in a red/brown quilt....
11. I still have bits n' pieces from when Ashley, Eva and I made dog coats for Harri and Isabella...Oh, they were cute, but large dogs don't particularly like coats - I remember Bella being scared to death the whole time she had hers on, and Harri rolling his around in the mud.
12. There, that's better - I can see my room again!

Posted at 09:27 PM     Read More  

Tue - January 2, 2007

Happy New Year :)

Our unexpected "gift" to ourselves today was a new fence charger - the old one got swamped with all the rain we've had and conked out, which the pigs picked up on immediately, Allis taking a leisurely stroll down to the poultry barn. E fashioned a much more watertight apparatus out of an old honey super, so hopefully this charger will last more then a year.

We've been posting lots of "stuff" from the basement on freecycle, and hopefully the bedroom set that's sitting out in the garage will be gone soon as well. Now that we have room in the basement, we'll stat to organize and purge some more - our basement is enormous, and has served as a dumping ground for outgrown baby equipment for months now. We're saving all the baby clothes and equipment for when our family gets bigger, but it needs to be in some semblance of order, as well as ready for seed starting in March.

A co-worker offered us a new-to-us wood-stove so we're very excited about that possibility. We'll have to enlarge the hearth a bit, but we'll talk to the local wood-stove store and see how much that will cost. It'll probably be a project for this coming fall, so we can save up some money. It's a large one, with a nice big cooking area too!

An explanation of the pics above: Georgia has figured out that sticking her fingers up her nose is a sure fire way to get a laugh, and immediately "assumes the position" the minute anyone takes out a camera - the series above were her Aunt Kerry's efforts to got a non- nose-picking shot.

Posted at 06:47 PM     Read More  

Mon - January 1, 2007

Handmade Holiday, 2006

Not everything was homemade this holiday, but I spent a lot more time at the sewing machine and stove then last year - next year we'll make even more of our holiday gifts.

* sock monsters
* stuffed snake
christmas cookies
* peanut brittle
* knitting bag
* messenger bag
bee ornament for E - a clue to his package of bees that's arriving in April
* photo albums (made on kodak gallery) for grandparents and great-grandmas
jams, canned this summer
challah and irish soda bread

* first time projects

Posted at 10:23 PM     Read More  

Tue - December 19, 2006

She? He? Lives

I think sock-monster making may be addictive, and in a strange coincidence, Jenny's got her husband hooked too.... I finished the first suggested project in the book - but I think he/she still needs some duds to wear as well. And as requested, a pic of the cornflake wreaths - they're basically glorified rice krispie treats - easy as pie. Melt marshmallows (I like the microwave for that), add cornflakes and green food coloring, wait till they won't burn your skin off, shape into wreaths, and press on red hots before they're totally dry. On the cookie agenda tonight were gingerbread cut-outs - this recipe called for 1/4 cup fresh grated ginger - I hope they're not TOO spicy. I'll go all out on decorating those tomorrow - I like to have a few super-decorated cookies in each tin. Now I'm off to bed (to start another sock monster!)

Posted at 11:24 PM     Read More  

Fri - November 5, 2004

Tue - July 6, 2004

As requested :)

The next bug I think will be either a beetle or a pillbug... the antenna don't show up too well from a distance but I kinda like the subtle detail. The middle section will be a big strip of tiny strips I did for a bigger quilt that I just didn't like once I laid it all out, it was just too random color-wise - the blocks here pull from those same center strip fabrics, and I'll quilt down the stripey strip with leaves and flowers - think it should tie together well!

Goat pics and house/homestead tour (good idea!) will be coming along shortly. E had a bad day today, not doing as well as he had wanted to on a practice bar exam, so he worked the bees to try to beat the funk he was feeling, and then he and I cut the rest of the boards for the goat shed. Hopefully he can take a break with me tomorrow and drill those onto the frame. then comes shingles and painting - it's a tight fit for those little friends of ours, but at least it'll be cozy! They like the tent we have over half of their pen on these summer nights, but once fall comes I think they'll be glad for it. Today was a bit cooler at work - halleluiah! and when the kids found out I was Quaker (amazing how passionate 5h graders are about their religious convictions over snack time) their comments were"Oh, just like the oatmeal guy!" and "You should sell this and have a picture of YOURSELF in funny clothes and call it Quaker Butter" (we made butter this AM after we milked Rose)

Another day, another farm chore :) and trying to cheer E up a little...

Posted at 11:30 PM     Read More  

Thu - May 27, 2004

Regime Change...

Form my little office lair I've been hearing rumblings from below in the kitchen about a new system E and S and D have set up... (D and his sister S are both staying with us now - probably till late August - full house :) Since I'm the mistress of the kitchen (and fiercely guard that position, thank you very much) they have dishwashing duty. They each picked a magnet and seem to have some kind of rotation system where you do a load and move your magnet to the back of the line,..

Unfortunately, only E had a magnet he actually was fond of - a Columbia Records one I gave him a while back, and D especially was stuck with one from Crif Dog revolving around the many possible genitalia hot dog innuendos out there... So I set to work with some printouts and magnet tape to make some much more appropriate magnets for our two new "tenant farmers" ...

In other news, if I lose another entry I'm gonna scream. Honestly, it's all been human error - I'm burnt on school by the time I get home, but I'll try to be more careful... We just got back from Super Size Me - really good in many ways, but definitely fat phobic to the extreme... I'm glad we saw it, regardless. And now I just realized we left my car at mama's - did I mention I'm burnt? Ah well... D and E just said they'd go get it for me, Hugs guys!

Good reads on the nightstand - the house has been rolling around over "My New Filing System is Unstoppable" (earlier book of the same guy who wrote "Get Your War On"), a new to me Dykes to Watch Out For , and I just finished a graphic account by a Palestinian survivor of an honor killing - it's called "Burned Alive" and was worthwhile - her English (or the translation - I believe she learned French when she fled to Europe) isn't great so the writing can be choppy, but the horror and perpetuation of that whole cultural system really shine through - showing one of the reasons it's so hard to stop the practice.

Finished that, and I'm starting "Stiff" which mama gave me - I think I'll like it. OK, off to read :)

Posted at 10:59 PM     Read More