A corn maze is great fun for every age. Our grandsons decided the best way to make sure we were out before dark was to always take the left road. Since there were no dead ends, it worked. We made the circle by always leaning to the left and arrived back where we started.
Corn maze fact: Did you know that the farmer plants the corn, then when it is about a foot high, he takes a rototiller through it to make a pattern for the maze? Today, one maze was a shark and the other was a seahorse.
After the corn maze, we had to decide what to do next. Many activities were for younger children
The boys decided to pick out some pumpkins instead of the other activities available. This pumpkin was 84#. Of course, they took several small ones and another three that were medium size for the front door. The grandparents came home with fresh Brussels sprouts on the stem.
And since I know you’ve been patiently waiting to see this finished quilt top, and it is now published in the “The Quilt Pattern Magazine” , I’d like to present CELEBRATION
You are welcome to go to their website and get the pattern.
a
a
a
This little house with a detached garage on 4 acres with it’s own well and septic tank,
this 36 x 48 horse barn,
and this hoop house are what have been taking so much of my time lately. The property adjoins ours. The owners were not in good enough health to keep things up, therefore there is a lot of work to be done as you can easily see. After a lot of negotiating and biting our tongues, we signed the papers today and will take possession either on Monday or Tuesday, when the sale is recorded by the county. We have a potential tenant (I have had to check out as well as one can), who with his wife is excited about doing the yard work and painting. They will only rent the house, not the land, barn, or hoop house. The barn and land are for the sheep. The plan is to put the garden that is currently on the steep hill, between the barn which is on the lower side of the trees and the hoop house. It is much flatter and will be so much easier to garden. So there are more garden boxes going in this winter. And probably less quilting as well.
Another hour of sewing and bit by bit, the quilt is progressing.
z
I made a brief visit to the Sew Fun program this morning and found:
This shirt is from the LoriAnne pattern, with a cowl made to cover the neckline. What a unique way to change a look!
These quilts made from foundation piecing and Mylar Stars books. Neither were extremely exciting.
Sew Fun had the usual purses and pressing mats, pillows, and even a purse organizer, but I think more thought should have gone into this program. I think the program chair may be running out of ideas, or maybe it is just difficult to keep coming up with new things to sell us.
I left early and got some quotes on lumber prices to fix the stalls in the barn and a few groceries and was back home by lunch.
AND THEN, after lunch, I took some “me time” The weather was so beautiful and it will soon be winter, my soul needed to be nourished by just sitting in the sun enjoying the gorgeous view. Do you ever do that? Just be quiet, sit, and enjoy. I think I will do it more often. Why am I always in such a rush to get things done that I don’t take time to enjoy the little things?
The rest of the day was spent cleaning a freezer and doing credit checks on a potential tenant. Tomorrow we will take the money to the attorney and the following day, the papers should be signed. And then, the real work begins, getting the house ready to live in again.
s
s
This 16 patch quilt is finished and ready to toss in the washer and dryer. I like to do that with each quilt so there are no surprises to the recipient. This quilt measures 52 x 63″ and I’ve used the darker green on the back which is the same as the binding.
I’m so far behind in my schedule making. Usually by now, I have October on paper. But not this year. Perhaps it was because we did so much more outside. I would like to complete 2 quilts a month as well as some doll clothes and embroidery. I guess it’s time to put pen to paper.
Ram, Ram! Do you know why a male sheep is called a “ram”. The above photo should give you a good idea. One would think their heads are made of steel. If the shepherd is not very careful, the ram could see him/her as competition and injure or even kill the shepherd. Astro and his girls have been moved to a different pasture without buildings and with lots of hot wire. They will have to sleep under the cedars either until he is out of rut or until I sell him, depending on my patience.
More ram? Yes, the quilting machine must have had communication with the above ram. It practiced ramming on this fabric. There must have been a tiny spot where the foot was able to get under the fabric at an intersection.
I am fortunate. I took the piece and the quilting out to this point. These are small pieces and it took me awhile to get the quilting out and will take time to put a new piece in by hand. Since I don’t want to move it, it is something I will do to save this quilt. Some people have quilting machines rip their fabric at places not as easily repaired. This type of thing makes me want to roll my eyes, when someone says “but don’t you quilt by computer?”. Yes, I do, but I still am right there. This could have been much more major if I hadn’t been. A computer driven machine just means there is more work involved because first it has to be programmed and then watched to make sure it behaves.
Goal #1: The hoop house is nearly weeded (one more aisle to go) and lettuce has been planted for the next round. Most of the spent plants are out. It looks almost bare. But the big sweet potato plants are trying to make up for all that
Goal #2. Then we tackled the job of moving sheep into different groups so the girls would get bred with the guys we chose. Fortunately the ram Shetland sheep have horns which help us to be able to grab them. So my helper made a door in the fence and a divider between the two sides of the night area, and we separated Zillow and put him in with Juliette (a Quessant sheep) and her daughters. The new Shetland sheep coming will go in with them. Then new ram, Stormy, will go into the area where Zillow was. Oh happy day, no one will be breeding his relatives. There are still the three Cormos which DH would like me to sell. I will put that on my must do list. Such a toss up caused by breeding time!
Then moving on, I found a sew along project to share with you. It is a bear patch quilt in 4 different sizes from SEW FRESH QUILTS. I’ll be making mine in the crib size which is 47 x 47″. The page (click the red word) is for the introduction and fabric selection. The bear paws are half square triangles which means they will be easy. Yes, I will be making it – just a matter of when I can get started.
Goal #3: The next quilt is now mounted and waiting for me to quilt.
Your turn: I have a question for you. I started the blog to encourage myself to get more done. I find now that I’d really like to be more help and encouragement to you? Would you like to be able to make a list of what you plan to accomplish this week/month? Would you like more information on how I do something – anything related to homesteading would be in this list? Or do we need an exercise encouragement or weight or what? I really need your imput into this to be able to have a better blog and not waste your time. Maybe I can find out how to make a poll. Does anyone of you readers know how to do that? Have a good day and we’ll meet again soon.
Since tomorrow is the day to post our knitting this week, it is time to show that some progress has been made. These were started mid August, so my goal will be to finish them by the end of September. Since I’m on the foot, I should be able to achieve that (pending interruptions in the schedule)
This is what I wrote yesterday. “So tomorrow’s goals are to finish weeding the hoop house, make bread, pick apples, and finish the quilt and to make applesauce” . So who thinks that actually happened? Instead, this is what happened.
The olive bread and rolls were made and another sponge is started. The apples, hoop house and quilt were untouched. They go on tomorrow’s list.
Instead, today the 9 huge zucchini called to me, and I made 18 cups of relish,
30 patties from a recipe my sister sent me. Most of these are going into the freezer. There is a large kettle of grated zucchini in the refrigerator that I will cook into soup for the weekend and 16 cups of grated zucchini is now in the freezer. There are only 2 very small zucchini left and they will go into a salad. There will be no more zucchini this year as I pulled the plants.
These peppers
and these carrots, along with some previously picked onions were part of today’s ingredients. I did can 7 pints of applesauce out of previously picked apples.
This was a lovely small sugar pumpkin until the chickens found it. They also enjoy doing this to carrots and beets. So we just plant enough for both of us.
Tonight I get to crawl into nice clean sheets to dream about the new adventures awaiting me tomorrow.
Then we picked corn, green beans, beets, and carrots with which to play tomorrow. And we must not forget to pick the apples before the raccoons and deer get to them.
Before making the applesauce, clean your jars and have them ready. I ran mine through the dishwasher.
They parked the sheep in the furthest barn. So we did a LOT of walking. It turns out the sheep I’m getting in October are offspring of this shepherdess’ flock. I was asking about the sheep wool on some of the sheep she had there when I learned that she is breeding for qualities I am seeking.
These little cuties were in the outside children’s area of the petting zoo. The children have rides that take them through a “farm”.
I love what this woman has done with flying geese. No, I will not be doing one anytime soon, but I did enjoy seeing it.