Monthly Archives: April 2017
These locks are now on a screen drying and I’m hoping for time later this week to start carding them.
Your “happiness” dose.A good day includes pretty flowers
I took one of our daughters shopping with me today and because a good day calls for pretty flowers, we came home with these pretty plants to grace our front yard. And while we were at C0stco, she found some shirts she liked.
We visited another three stores and came home with a few groceries as well.
And these hydrangea came home with me. Now I must find them a permanent home in the ground as they will become large.
These bleeding hearts have popped back to life and will soon take over the entire corner and will need staking as well.
Spring must be ready to appear as the azaleas are also blooming. Then why is it still so cool outside?
We didn’t grow worms last year and the year before, they didn’t make it through the winter, so this year we are starting over. Their castings are so good for the garden. We picked these up on our morning excursion
After lunch I skirted two more of the fleeces. This one is a very pretty silver. Look at the lovely crimp!.
And this lovely brown is now soaking to clean.
Recap of yardage used this year.
Used this Week: Apr 28 9.0 yards
Used year to Date 89.00 yards
Goal: 300.00 yards
Yards to goal: 211.00 yards
Added this Week: 0.00 yards
Added Year to Date: 13.00 yards
New Yards to quilt goal: 223.00 yards
Net Used 2017 77.00 yards used by the end of the 1st third of the year, is a bit behind, but I can live with that.
Monster trucks and dentist
Monster trucks finished at 48 x 54″ and will be a great boy quilt. I’ll put it aside until just the right boy happens along for this quilt. I have cut out the backing for the Jinny Beyer wall hanging and that’s as far as I got before I had to go to the dentist.
Routine cleanings just aren’t routine anymore. That took nearly 2 hours and then there was traffic to contend with on the way home. So this is today’s limit.
The trash has been hauled from the barn and there are now lights in the barn. It’s great that some things get done without my direct supervision. That is today’s wrap.
One Monthly Goal
Today I can link up my Spidron finish to this One monthly goal which encourages us to keep working on ufos: http://www.elmstreetquilts.com/2017/04/one-monthly-goal-april-finish.html.
Planned and changes
Well, I had planned to quilt the braided quilt top,
but couldn’t decide on a design. And I planned to put the binding on the monster truck quilt, but that also went astray. 
Instead, the plumber was here, working on the barn and we ended up removing many things from the barn which are now on the disposal pile which is supposed to leave tomorrow. The middle of the barn looks pretty good. The table holds the fleeces that I still have to skirt. And there are lights sitting there which will be installed tomorrow.
I think all these cabinets are leaving tomorrow.
After that a neighbor, Franna, came and taught me about skirting a fleece. I didn’t have a clue what was involved. I had been told that it just meant taking off the poopy parts. Not so. We picked out as much vegetation as we could (that takes a long time, if sheep have not had coats) and we checked for breaks in the fiber as well.
Here is a Cormo/Shetland cross fleece on which we worked, picking out much vegetation and other stuff. 2 fleeces took us about 3 hours.
You can see here that it has a nice crimp to it – and also a bit of vegetation left. A good wash, combing or carding, then spinning and knitting or crochet and it will be a beautiful garment someday. It is soft and has good shine to it
And here is your sheep fix today – of the yearling ewes that will be next years mothers.
Pilgrim geese/ Monster truck quilted
These shy little Pilgrim geese are 3 days old and currently living in the bathroom off the sewing studio. In the next few weeks, they will be joined with another pair.
The monster truck is quilted and now waiting to be trimmed and bound. It also will go through the washing machine to get the rest of the blood out. Does that happen to you? And it was just a pin!
It might have been finished but was interrupted by a trip to the nursing home to visit a neighbor, who is looking better and in good spirits. I took her the hummingbird quilt which has been languishing at her house waiting for her return. She was very happy with it.
Pasture and barn clean up
My helper and I spent time cleaning more junk out of the barn and out of the pasture. This work will continue for awhile as the prior owner was a “collector” and many things such as pots with dirt and chicken fencing that has been crushed to the ground have to be cleaned out of the pasture, along with heavy blackberry vines. We are still cleaning items out of the barn as well.
Look how forlorn sheep looks having lost her coat. I ordered a few coats today and when we see how they fit, will order more.
Here is Ava with a coat we dug up. Isn’t she a princess? She likes the coat and was very willing to let me put it on her.
I finished this table runner that I was testing – that I can’t show you until October. So I put it away after taking this photo of the back so you can see the backing and possibly the quilting.
Shearing day = tiny sheep
The shearers were hard at work today,
adding 13 bags of wool to sort and decide what how to handle. I think three fleeces are only going to be good for felting as there is some breakage when the ewes gave birth. I thought there was a photo of sheep without wool, but I must have been too tired to get that one….maybe tomorrow. All adult sheep now have their annual inoculations and all babies are tagged. There are two adults who lost their tags and we will retag them asap. Right now, they are a bit jumpy.
Beyer wall hanging
Another flimsy – the Jenny Beyer wall hanging is now ready to be quilted. This means I really need to use the quilting machine next week if I’m to get any finishes this month.
Today was a beautiful day and I did get the grocery shopping and laundry done as well. Sunday, we are scheduled for the rest of the shearing. And today our big (200# plus) ram moved to a new home. He will have 60 acres to roam with many females. I hope he’s happy. He was becoming dangerous to humans here. Still he was handsome and I will miss him.
Monster trucksflimsy and sheep
