Better than a Cat?

Well the laptop is back from the shop so I can finally post with pictures.

All day the hawks that guard our house have been flying around and talking to each other, just a bit ago I was able to get this photo of one of them........

They are not usually this close to the house, but I wondered if they finally realized that there are chickens in the yard (safely enclosed) or if they are taking care of the mice that are probably loving the chicken feed that I drop!  I'm thinking how great it is if they take care of the mice population in the yard, I have still yet to figure out the benefit of mice???

I have finally planted the potted rhubarb plants that I bought more than two years ago, here they are in their new home.

Soon they will be joined by the newest plants that I bought last week, they just need a few more weeks inside as they were potted less than a month ago.

They are currently residing on my dining table, don't you have fresh rhubarb growing on your table, LOL?

In case you thought I had given up quilting, not a chance!  Yesterday hubby and I went to NINE of the 34 quilt shops participating in Maine Shop Hop 2011, we planned out a nice route, we drove up to Belfast and drove down the coast to Freeport with a few stops inland.  Today I went to one shop that was only about 30 minutes from my house and we are hoping to visit a few more in the next few days, the hop will end on the last day of April.  My goal this year is to visit 15 shops and next year I will try to start earlier in the month and maybe get to all of them! 

Here are the squares that were given at each stop, there is a pattern given on the website that we can use them in.........

Here are a few goodies that the individual shops decided to give (most of the places gave candy, but it didn't make the picture)........

I decided that I would work on collecting '30s reproduction fabrics while I was Shop Hopping, how did I do???

Of course I found a few other goodies, but for the most part we had a beautiful day, it was a little too foggy to take photos if I had they would have been beautiful.  It was nice to take a drive in the beautiful state that I call home, I often forget how nice it really is here especially in the historic coastal towns like Rockland, Bath, and Wiscasett. 

Last but certainly not least, I keep those who have lost so much in the terrible weather that has happened in the past week, especially yesterday's tornadoes.  May God bless you and keep you safe.

Puttering and a Giveaway

I know I mentioned that I would have a post with photos soon, well our laptop is in for repairs and that is the computer that I use to "do the photo stuff".  I might get hubby to play with this computer and maybe I can get photos onto this one, that would be awesome.  So for the moment you have to put up with just my words.

Not a whole lot going on in the quilting department, I have puttered outside a little, we just got two loads of "gold compost" delivered......I spent a little time stacking some of the wood that we got after all the other wood was stacked and/or brought inside.  In the coming months we will continue to get the side yard ready for the garden area (that we will have next year) as well as preparing for placing the new coop and yard area.  We have 3-4 trees that we need to cut, limb, split and stack so we will have more sunlight for the garden.  I wonder if it will look anything like the picture I have in my mind, LOL!

Enough gabbing about my yard and onto the wonderful giveaway from Amy at Homestead Revival, I just recently found her blog and was so excited when I saw that she was having this giveaway!  It consists of four books and is called the Homemade Living Series.....Keeping Bees, Home Dairy, Canning & Preserving and last but certainly not least Keeping Chickens.   So hop on over and tell her I sent you (no it doesn't get me extra chances)!



Hope you have a great week!

Puttering Around

I'm still here, been working on the coop, being lazy, and working on the spring bunny punch needle.  I have also been doing some reading, thinking about what changes I will make to the yard, and hoping to gradually make a few other changes or should I say organizing/purging ..........time will tell.  Hubby has been telling me what needs to be done in the yard before I can do what I want so that of course takes some wind out of my sail.  I'm not always patient, but I know he is right (just don't tell him, lol) and it will work better if I take it one step at a time.

I'll try to get a post with photos soon, just reading my ramblings is probably not very exciting.  Hope you are enjoying a beautiful day. 

Procrastination Doesn't Pay

See the cute dog on the base of the lovely birdbath..........

It is a dog just like this one.........

(Peggy the above photo is just for you, since I can't send you snow I dug out a "snowy photo" from earlier this year.)

My sons thought it would make a great birthday gift, son #2 dropped it off and set it up on the porch.  Well here's where the procrastination comes into play, it rained earlier today and filled the basin with water, then this  "cute" dog.............

..............decided that he wanted to drink from it, that is when I said "gee I really need to move that", but I didn't do it immediately!   Later in the afternoon while having a "fun" time doing paperwork with the windows open enjoying the beautiful spring afternoon I heard the sound of breaking pottery.  Low and behold I am now regretting not taking a moment to move the bath out of reach! 

I didn't take any photos before I glued the many broken pieces but here is what it looks like now.........

  Thank heavens for this wonderful product, the photo is a little blurry, it's Gorilla Super Glue ..........

 it doesn't look quite as nice as it did before the break, but it's all in one piece and should hold up.  Tomorrow I will set the top back on the base and see how it holds up. 

How Much Would You Bid?

I've been busy quilting and binding the Java quilt for a silent auction fundraiser.  The proceeds will help defray the cost of sending the students, that won gold at the state SkillsUSA, to the national competition in Kansas City.  My youngest son will be attending again this year. 

I already had the Java Quilt top finished I quilted it this week and just finished binding it this morning.  I put it in a basket with a coffee mug, flavored coffee and a great book.

The nursery where my son works donated the pottery flower pot, I just added some seed packets, gloves, two gardening magazines and some tools to make this a fun choice. 

So would you bid on either of these, which one............I love them both so it would be a hard choice, LOL. 

It was a BEAUTIFUL spring day today so I spent some time outside with hubby insulating the new coop, we are planning on working on it some more tomorrow afternoon.  I will post photos when there is noticeable progress to share. 

Rudy and his girls enjoying the warm spring afternoon.......

Tour of the Interior

 The weather is warming up and we are planning on making a few improvements to the new coop before Rudy and the girls take up residence in their new home (and hopefully a few new friends).  Tomorrow we will make a materials list and then once we gather the materials we will begin.  Here are the pictures that I took of the inside of the new chicken coop.........

The nesting box, yippee I won't have to lift the whole roof to get the eggs!

The back wall with a roost, we will be insulating the interior and covering it with thin plywood so it will be nice and cozy for our cold Maine winters.

A real working window for ventilation during the summertime, hmmmmm wonder if I could make some cute curtains, LOL.. 

Here is a close up of the nesting area, right now it is one big area but we will partition it to make 3 separate areas, hopefully this will keep the chickens from sleeping in this area and help to keep the eggs clean.

This is the side wall, the "square" is the door for the chickens to get outside to their yard.

Other changes we are planning on making, adding another window for ventilation in the summer, putting wire in front of the window(s) to better secure the interior, we are also going to wire it for electricity in case I want a light or fan.  Hubby has a few things he would like to do to "dress up" the outside and I would like to paint the trim to match the house.  Of course we are also going to build a completely enclosed outside yard that will attach to the side of the coop, it will have a door for me to go into the yard to keep it clean.  The top of the enclosed yard will have some type of roof (probably some metal roofing) to provide shade in the summer and keep snow out of the yard in the winter.  Hopefully we will have this completed  in the next two weeks. 

Stay tuned for updated photos as we go along.

Are You Game...........

Yesterday I received a package in the mail from Terry, it was the PIF that she made for me, I signed up to participate and this is what she made for me, this lovely runner........

She also included two fat quarters that are happily sitting with my other fat quarters waiting for their turn!  Thank you very much Terry, the colors are just perfect!  I love having homemade things around my house especially if they were made by others, just makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside, LOL.

Now I need three of my blog friends to sign up, here is how it works.........I will make a homemade gift for the three of you and then in turn you will have to make something for three others (and so on and so on), you will have a year to make your gifts, the only other requirement is that you have an active blog.  Please respond on my blog and be sure that I can reach you to get your contact information. 

Have a wonderful day!

UPDATE:  I have three friends that have signed up for PIF, thank you. 

New BOM & a New Skill

Friday's snow meant that I had to wait an extra day to pick up my new Block of the Month.......Tonga Rhapsoday designed by Wing and a Prayer. 

This will be the first quilt I have ever done with batiks, I really love the colors!

When I read  the directions I realized that I had to paper piece four of the sections, I was concerned because I have never done it before.....well thanks to the Internet and the two quilting "bibles" that I have I was able to figure it out!  As a matter of fact I'm excited because I will be able to try some of the blocks in The Civil War Love Letter Quilt book that I bought last summer! 

This afternoon I finished up block 1 of Tonga Rhapsody........

I am going to behave and NOT sign up for any new BOM for a while, I have lots of projects that are WIPs and many more that I would like to make.  Especially since I now have a new skill that I will have to practice sometime soon!

Green and White

FOR THE GREEN:

I finally finished Green Piece......well I thought I had until I took the folded quilt back into my sewing room and saw the "flange" fabric hanging on the ladder.  Well I wasn't happy but I have decided that I will NOT be putting it on.......if I were to add this flange I would have to take off the outer border so I could attach it.  What would you do if it were your quilt?? 

I hung it on my clothes line to get photos, the photos are not the best because of the angle of the line.  I will take better photos when I get it quilted, I will be taking it to the quilt shop to get that done, it really needs "special" quilting around the applique blocks. 

The colors are really much nicer than these photos are showing.

Now to the WHITE...........

This is what it looks like outside my windows this morning, it is very wet heavy snow that may change to rain later..........the words "power outages" are being mentioned on the news also!  I have made sure that things are in order in case we do have an outage, we are fortunate enough to have a generator but I still don't run everything with the generator......but I know it could run my sewing machine, LOL!  Before today things were looking up in the snow melting department, this is certainly going to slow that down.  I do realize that I am blessed to be warm and safe during storms like this but I still have to grumble a little.

Have a wonderful day, wherever you are, whatever your weather!