Monthly Archives: June 2019
Here is a photo of the outside garden boxes. Onions in front, with squash and corn at the other end. The next two boxes are potatoes and the 4th box has beets, peas, green and yellow beans. Each box if 4′ x 32′.
The upper hoop house has sweet potatoes (experimenting) and tomatoes fill the other half. There are some unhappy banana plants on the potting bench and some citrus that are recovering from sunburn.
On the left the empty spaces are harvested greens, then purple Chinese cabbage, a green bok choy, carrots, radishes, salad onions, lettuce seeds, and the raised part at the end is strawberries. On the right, the cabbage and celery got burned due to my misunderstanding of the on and off buttons and we had a hot day and the fans were off. They are starting to recover. There are some healthy weeds at the far end and up front chives, harvested “cut and come again” lettuce and parsley.
The hanging basket has tomatoes, another experiment, while there are red, orange, and green peppers below. There are beets and broccoli at the far end. On the right, the cucumbers didn’t make it, so have some squash in the back and some melons in front There is another box on the far right which is not yet filled with new dirt and a box across the back from which we have harvested some garlic. The garlic is only okay, so will find a new location next year.
The upper hoop house, outside boxes and two of the lower hoop house boxes are new this year and we started late. Hopefully next year, I will be able to start planting at the proper time.
I find early mornings I am most productive, so I’ve been getting up and spinning until it is time to go to the barn and release the animals for the day. Then I spin when I have little spaces of time throughout the day. It never seems like I’m getting anywhere, but then the day comes and I’m ready to ply what I’ve spun. This week was spent plying. 
Today I finished plying the last of the Merino burgundy (lower photo is real color) and washed these hanks, then hung them out to dry. This amount of wool represents a huge amount of spinning hours. I am hoping I have enough of the burgundy for a cardigan for myself. After it is dry, I will rewind it and see how much yardage there is.
Now that this is done, I feel free to start working with some wool from this years lambs. Today, I washed a small amount and now need to card and spin it. So maybe sometime this fall, I will have something to show. With this wool, I may make something small, like a scarf so I have something done from my sheep.
“Knock out” is the name of this pattern for this quilt, which I tested for http://www.quiltpatternmagazine.com/. I loved how easy it was to put together and will definitely make another. The size is 55″ square – just perfect for wrapping oneself while watching TV or reading. Now to have my quilting machine serviced and get this quilted before winter.
My neighbor came over twice this week and we put ads up for some of the fleeces. Several were shipped out yesterday. We have absolutely gorgeous fleeces, so I think we will sell out this year.
WOW! I’m sorry for neglecting this blog so long. I started this quilt a year ago and put it on the quilting machine early June. I had plenty of time to get if quilted for a gift, but it didn’t happen.
First, I lost power and had to find the pattern again and set it up to fit as I was in the middle of a row.
After that, the computer on the quilting machine died and I had to get an upgrade as that one was no longer supported. When that arrived, I had the machine serviced and the new computer adjusted.
Then I had to have the technician return as the program was not behaving correctly. Even now, the thread wants to keep jumping out of the tension disc.
Then I ran out of the correct color of thread. I bought more of the thread the end of February and tried to avoid going into the studio because this quilt just kept looking at me very accusingly.
The only sewing accomplished this winter was mending sheep coats.
Finally, enough is enough, and in order to get over this mental block, I took myself in hand and finished the quilt. I had issues with thread jumping out of the tension disc and took the quilting out each time it did that and started over. However, it is quilted. As soon as I took it off the frame, I squared it up and bound it. It is now on the way to its new home, and at last, the studio is once again calling my name.