Category Archive: Life
Office Depot called my name today. I had not yet purchased my calendars and appointment book for this coming year. So calendars and 4 notebooks later, I left. I usually purchase them in September or October. I don’t know how this all sneaked up on me. Do you know how little of this year is left? Well, it is done.
This afternoon, I chose and cut large squares for the Spool Souffle quilt – a new quilt, that I plan to make the first part of the year. My plan is to cut out about 5 quilts for the first half of the year and go from there. Usually that’s about when it is time to start the garden. Of course there are other projects as well, but these will be totally new projects.Bowl cozies done
The bowl cozies are done. I love the variety of colors. And that means I can cross the third item off my December check list. I’m working on the sheep registrations and we now have an ad up for the rental – though I’m not sure people really want to move this time of year. Maybe tomorrow I can advertise my sergers. It might be a good time to sell them as well as my Featherweight sewing machines in which I’m really not interested. It feels as though I am moving along on the list this month.
Accounts
Today I spent most of the day organizing receipts into notebooks. I was just that far behind. Now I can start putting entering them into Quicken. That would take the rest of the week and I don’t think I can take that much accounting, so I will intersperse with some easy sewing. My goal is to get all the accounts caught up before the end of the year so tax time won’t be so stressful.
And while I was doing this, John was making another feeder for the sheep and a young energetic fellow was weed whacking the fence line. There is also a tree to take off the fence (wind) and many branches, so he will be back in two weeks to help some more.
Hay delivered
Yesterday – 10 Tons of hay delivered. This should keep us until spring fills the pastures with grasses once again.
I was shivering cold at the end of these 3 hours. And I so appreciated the folks that helped get the hay off the truck and stacked into the barn. This should take us into the spring when the pastures green up again. When the truck left, I quickly went to get a few weekend groceries and then stayed in the house trying to get warm.
The following hat is very easy to make and has the pattern for several sizes. I’m hoping to get 2-3 made for myself for this winter.
This big outdoor dog may want to live a cat’s life. That’s a room heater he is lying in front of. When he went to the door, he poked his nose out, looked at me like “you’re kidding, it’s freezing out there”. I persuaded him that he would be happier out there. This same dog loves playing in snow.
Bowl cozies, scraps, and puppy
The bowls are now ready to top stitch. However, I’m have to get the light above the sewing machine replaced first. It seems the ballast is bad.
The cotton scraps are all finished though I will admit that the “large” pieces that went into the color buckets were getting smaller as the day grew longer.
Daisy is and will be a puppy for another year. We are lucky she found an egg carton to destroy. Even though she has bones, she still loves to shred anything she can find. We know that and we are the adults(?) here, so if it gets chewed, we have ourselves to blame.
Yes, I did big damage at Costco and will not be going again this year. But we have dog food and dog treats and sheep treats, and even some people food. You didn’t know Costco sold sheep food? That’s because you might not know how much they love the little animal cookies.
Scraps, scraps, scraps
Scraps, scraps, scraps – after a day and a half of cutting, I am 2/3 done. This smaller box is still waiting its turn.
These are what these squares look like all cut into usable pieces (I cut 2.5, 3, 3.5, 4, 4.5, 5 and 6″ squares) and
these are the larger pieces, but not big enough to put with the fat quarters as well as lengths from bindings etc. These bins are all overflowing and remember I still have a box to do. I have no idea how many quilts can be made with all these, but it will be several. I feel as if I should invite you over to play in my sandbox – well scrap box, and we could make some very pretty quilts.
Cutting gives me lots of reflection time. I remember the quilts made from the fabrics, and sometimes I think about the scraps of my life and how they have come together with Master Quiltmaker in charge. And yes, there are still pieces for which to find a special use.
Tomorrow is Costco time. The dogs are wanting treats and the DH would like a few things as well.
SCRAPS
Today I tackled the three overflowing boxes of scraps. Two are empty now and one of them the scraps are cut or in some other way put away to use. The second box has a pile of ironed scraps waiting for me to make the cuts and third box is patiently waiting. I’d love to show you, but the phone and the computer are not talking to each other today.
December 2017 list
The garlic is in the ground! Yay!
December 2017 list
This looks like a lot, but some of the items are here to remind me to get others to do them – like the hay and the feeders.
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Elm Street’s OMG project — bowl cozies -
Make HIA project – critter baby items
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test quilt due Jan 8
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Make sweet pea pods for gifts
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Make some Bendy bags
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Sell Imagine serger
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Sell Ovation serger
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Get hay delivered in barn
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get sheep registrations sent in
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Sell 4 Shetland rams
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Sell 3 fleeces
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Ready 3 lambing jugs
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Put salt tubs up
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Build 5 more sheep feeders
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Get small house rented
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get up to date on EQ lessons
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sign up with new gym coach
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make American girl dresses
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Bonnie Hunter mystery up to date
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check and replace sheep coats
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plant garlic
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make sheep chute
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mud control in front of lower barn
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update accounts
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Fill in farm forms for taxes
Today didn’t happen
Today didn’t happen in my book. Does that happen to you? You get to the end of the day without ever getting to the things you had planned.
This morning, after breakfast, I had an eye doctor appointment. We went from there to the bank to get a paper notarized, then to the Office Depot to get 4 copies make and to the post office to get it mailed off.
We got home about 1 and paid the fellow who occasionally washes our windows as he was in the process, fed the ram lambs and DH wanted to eat at Panera’s. (Does that say something about my cooking?) We went there and came home in time to feed the sheep. And it was sundown and time to leave our daily lives for some rest time.
The day is gone and I barely had time to blink. This is why I need to make lists and work on them all week.
November is also gone and the list I had made;
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Continue with gym
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Make apple butter done
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Add more quilting to the “Twinkling snowman” quilt to make it hang right and put a hanger in it. done
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Find an execute a HIA (Hatched in Africa) project done
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Take label off Hummingbird quilt and repair binding done
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Finish Sunbonnet Sue #3 quilt for Elm Street’s OMG project done
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Make bowl cozies for gifts 8 done and more started
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Make 4 American girl dress
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Make sweet pea pods for gifts 6 done and more started
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Make some Bendy bags
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Sell Imagine serger
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Sell Ovation serger
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Get hay delivered in barn
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Sell 6 Shetland rams
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Ready 3-4 lambing jugs
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Put salt tubs up
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Build winter sheep feeders one of 5 done and works
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Find 3 recipes for Thanksgiving dinner done
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Clean and rent the house next door all cleaned now to run ads
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There may be from 10-20 items that get squeezed in here
6 out of 20 is better than nothing and there were 4 other projects that I made headway on. I’m happy with that for the month. I will continue with the list during December and add OMG and HIA projects. I calculated my yardage used this year and have used 111 yards of fabric. Since I only used a third of my goal, I think that should add 2 more years to my life span to get a chance to use the rest of it, don’t you?
HIA challenge and a feeder
These were my HIA challenge (Hatched in Africa). We use one of their designs monthly. These are their “velvet birds set 3” It’s not seen on the photos but after embroidered, one cuts some of the threads so they pop up like velvet. They are really cute.
This 8 foot feeder is perfect to feed 6 sheep with much less waste. They don’t like to eat food they’ve been trampling any more than we do. This allows them to keep it for food instead of bedding. I was so happy to get this made and will have more done soon.
These snow people look so happy hanging for the holidays and twinkling away.’