A quick post..............

Spent time today moving furniture around to accommodate the Christmas tree, of course I had to clean each area before putting something new into it!  My chair was moved to the space where Midnight's bed usually is, so he figured he would just take over my bed...........

Earlier this year my mom gave me my grandmother's vintage 1977 ceramic Christmas tree along with the white glitter "snow" blanket, today I cleaned it and put it out.

 

Hope you are enjoying your week.



A Puttering Kind of Day...............

Today the temps were unseasonably warm  and drizzly so after running a few errands I decided to do some cooking. 

Cabbage Stew was simmering on the stove top..................

 

 

 

I had a bunch of these sitting on the counter waiting to be used up.............

 

 

Thanks to Julie at Dog Trot Farm for introducing me to this wonderful cookbook, I was able to find a recipe for 'Delicious Banana Cake' along with a recipe for 'Lemon Butter Frosting' that also contained mashed bananas.................

 

My copy is gently used and contains notes next to some of the recipes as well as a few "spills" letting me know what pages were used more frequently.  While the cake is not the "prettiest" I can say that it is tasty. 

 

Here are a few of the projects I have been working on in the past few months................

 

Another rag quilt, this one made with Moda Primo Flannels (the one in my last post was made with homespun fabric),  I added batting between the layers to give it  more weight.  I will enjoy curling up under this quilt during the cold winter days!

 

I am also working on a stitchery called 'Christmas Wish' by Gail Pan, there are a total of nine stitched blocks..........

 

Here are the fabrics that will be used when I put it all together, if you want to see a photo of the completed project you can visit Footprints Quilt Shoppe, March 8, 2012 post by clicking on the highlighted name. 

 

One last little project from Primitive Gatherings is 'Primitive Pinwheels'..................

  



 

 

 

Thanks for stopping by, in my next post I will be sharing photos of  my cozy sewing corner.



Almost Three Months................

It's been almost three months since my last post, I really don't have a good excuse.  I have been busy but not THAT busy, I think it's a mix of busy and lazy! 

I have gotten lots of sewing done, moved out of my sewing room to a cozy corner in the dining area, brought in the winter wood, cleaned out the garden and cozied up the chicken coop since I last posted.

Danvers carrots harvested from the garden......... 

 

 

A rag quilt made as a gift................... 

 



I will get out the camera and get to posting photos of where I relocated my sewing area after my son moved back home.  Thankfully I was able to locate a gently used Koala cabinet for a bargain price, allowing me to have a great place to sew while using minimal room in my dining area.   

Hoping to get some Christmas decorating done early so I can truly enjoy the season, I only have a few major gifts to purchase along with stocking stuffers.  In the coming week I should be able to get the bulk of it done and then................I can PLAY during the month of December!

Some Goodies for My Stash

On Friday while reading a local weekly newspaper I found an ad for a yard sale that had "quilt shop quality fabrics", so on Saturday morning my husband and I headed out to see what we could find.  Here's what I brought home..............

 Inside the boxes...................

Most of the pieces were either yard or 1/2 yard cuts and in some cases there were many pieces from various lines of fabric or they were grouped together with other complementary colors.

 

 There was even a yard of this "Domestic Diva" fabric, LOL!


Here's what I've been working on, it's called Rustic Bouquet designed by Sarah Maxwell and Delores Smith, I found the pattern in the Jan/Feb 2012 McCall's Quilting.  I just need to finish stitching the wool flowers and leaves and then it will be a completed "flimsy".

Off to get some chores done, hope you have a wonderful day!

An August Finish...............

Earlier this month Terry at Terry's Treasures posted about a scrappy quilt she would be working on and invited her blog friends to join along.  She was planning on making two blocks a month starting in August, I was in the mood to play so I started cutting up my scraps and voila here are the first two finished blocks, a few days early!

If you like mine take a moment to stop and visit Terry by clicking the above link and you can join along.

The Garden

This.....................

Is now this...........................

The morning glories should be blooming any day!

A closer look at some of the treats................

In the chicken yard, I am sorry to say that earlier this summer one of my original hens passed away.  I think she was broken hearted, the day we gave "Rudy" away she started acting differently and less than a week later she was gone.  I also added four new hens and a new younger man named  "George"  (previous owners thought he was a she), the pecking order has been established and egg production is back to normal.   

Here's George when he first arrived at the end of June.............

Here he is now..............

He has recently started to crow, sounds a little crackly but improving daily, LOL!  I am planning on expanding the yard later this summer and building another smaller coop as a back up, in case I need to separate the hens for a spell or if I ever decide to try hatching eggs from my hens.

Hoping to update what's going on in the quilting room soon.................

An Over-Achiever in the Yard

This morning I found this in the egg box!

I couldn't believe the size, it is 3" from end to end and 6 1/2" around the middle.  I only know that it was from one of the Ameraucana hens.  I tried to set it in an extra large carton and it only sets on the top of the slot.  I will be interested to see if it has a double yoke...........

Midnight found himself a nice cool spot to plant himself this morning,

We had thunderstorms late yesterday afternoon and took away the humidity, it is a beautiful Sunday afternoon.  Time to go outside and enjoy the rest of the day.







Chickens, Roosters, and a Garden.........

Here's what has been keeping me busy.
The loam pile is now spread and the new home to these lovely additions.........................

Not the best picture, but you get the idea, I currently have tomatoes, onions, green beans, carrots, pumpkins, butternut squash, summer squash, broccoli, cabbage, radishes, green onions, picklers and some flowers around the edges!  I am taking notes, and suspect this area will be a work in progress for a few years, as a matter of fact the garden will get larger next year, but I had to start somewhere!

I added some herbs to the small garden area I used last year thanks to a fellow quilting friend.

The grapes are doing well, I planted some tansy under them hoping that would help with the Japanese beetles (they are in the background of the photo above).  My rhubarb is also happy, I have been picking some, but since several of the plants are still only a year old I need to be careful not to over pick.  I am also excited that I have asparagus, can't wait to harvest in the coming years, I think I will probably add several more plants in the spring.

There have been a few changes in the chicken yard as well, we added four new girls, they are 5 month old Golden Comets..................

I decided that I needed to find Rudy a new home, he was wonderful with his "two" girls, but not very nice to the other hens, this meant that I was unable to open the door between the two yards and limited the yard area.  You are handsome Rudy, hope you like the girls at your new home................

My husband and I thought it would be a good idea to find a young rooster that would "grow up" and like all the girls so we found this five month old barred rock rooster, his name is George.  The people we got him from said he was starting to crow, haven't heard him yet, as a matter of fact one of our sons is wondering if he might be a she, time will tell.  Right now there's a lot of "hen pecking" going on, but we figured that it would be better to have all the chaos at once since it will probably cause a few days of less eggs, better to have that happen once instead of twice.  Here's George hiding from the girls, it is so difficult to allow nature to follow its course but in the long run it will be worth it (I hope).  I have to admit that this morning I decided to give George a bit of a break and put him and the youngest girls, "the Comets" in a pen by themselves so the would be less stressed today, the temps are in the 90's. 

Hoping to share what I've been up to in the sewing room soon, here's a hint The Farmer's Wife and hand piecing!

Some Birthday Goodies

This month I celebrated a birthday, here are a few goodies I received..........

Large Candle Mat made special for me with chickens.

Inside this little bag are all the "ingredients" to make a Gee's Bend quilt, something I've been wanting to make for a while now.

Here's a photo of the fabrics.

I also received some other wonderful treats, some fat quarters of fabric, a kit to make some potholders.  Thank you to my wonderful friends for the above mentioned gifts, you know who you are and I really appreciate your thoughtfulness. 

Earlier this spring I found an ad on craigslist for a quilt kit, it was for Tonga Nature by Wing and A Prayer, the price $75, (it's a 96x106 quilt), it is certainly a great deal as this kit would sell for over $200.  I messaged the woman and after speaking with her we picked a day to meet and now I have this kit waiting patiently for it's turn.........

All the fabrics to make the quilt top.

Off to work on more of my Farmer's wife blocks, read, or maybe take a little nap!