2014
07/16

Category:
Life
quilts

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Stars of Honor BOM

P1020016 fit for a hero

All the interior blocks are now finished and I’m guessing she will have us do the star  points and rectangles next time.    But I’m liking how it has gone together.     It will easily be finished by Thanksgiving which is the goal.

Again I took time to practice spinning, but can you tell me why is it when we have longer, sunnier days, it seems I get less done.   Oh, wait, it must be because my body thinks it’s vacation time.   And then again, perhaps it is because we went grocery shopping and to the chiropractor.   That does eat into time.  Or shall I blame it on this Fitbit that wants me to walk 10,000 steps daily.

And the bad news is that one of the neighbor’s house was broken into sometime between 8:30 and 2.   She has dogs and a locked gate.   I guess whoever could see the dogs are locked in the back yard.   Perhaps the most immediate neighbors didn’t notice any barking – that is if the dogs did bark.     That doesn’t make me feel  better.  I have big dogs, but they bark enough off and on at coyotes that I’m reasonably sure my neighbors on either side would not come running to see at what they were barking..

 

2014
07/15

Category:
Life
quilts

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Stars of Honor July

It was an equipment failure day.   I just brought my quilting machine back from the local store that cleaned it.   When I turned it on, the computer didn’t work.   Not their problem, they didn’t work on the computer (even though the computer was attached while they had it)     So after talking to the repair man at the company, we removed the computer portions and sent it to him in Utah.     But all of the trying to get it to work, doing what they said etc., took us several hours.  We  will see what the repair man at headquarters thinks went wrong.

 P1020015 stars of honor JUly

This one little block is my accomplishment for today.  Tomorrow (hopefully) I will get the other three done to show you.

And I nearly forgot to send you to this site, which I think is marvelous with the videos and instructions.  http://thecrochetcrowd.com/stitch-cation/

2014
07/14

Category:
Foods
Garden
Knitting

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July socks 2

ou

P1020013 purple socks strat

I’m not sure what pattern I want to use on the stripped socks that I started yesterday, so I put them aside and started these purple ones instead.   As you can see, I’ll have to be a speed demon to get them done by the end of the month and since there is gardening and watering to do,  they probably won’t get finished this month.   But then, I did get a cowl done this month, so maybe that counts as 1/2 a pair of socks.

P1020006 omatoes

These are from the volunteer tomatoes that I left in the greenhouse.  This is a 2 gallon container, half full.   I swore I would not keep anymore volunteers, but I’m about to relent and maybe keep 6 plants.   They are so much earlier than the other tomatoes.

P1020008 elephant garlic

I bought a clove of Elephant garlic at the grocery store and saved 6  pieces to plant (outside)   It did so well,  I plant to put in even more this year.  I’ll save back from these plants.

P1020009 reg garlic

This normal looking garlic grouping has both some red and some white.   I’m thinking I bought a small package of it for planting.   But that was last fall and my mental computer fails me.

P1020010 garlic starts

These little things are on the side of the normal garlic.   Do you know, can I just plant them and expect garlic next year from them or are they seed and take two years.     Maybe I should look that one  up.  OK   looked that up and yes, I can plant it, but somewhere that it will have two years to grow.  So that might be among other plants since the garlic does give off odor of which many bugs are not fond.

P1020011 cabbage

I put cabbage in the greenhouse  this spring.    My guess is that it was too warm in there for it as it didn’t grow well.   So these are rather cute little “personal” sized cabbages.   Next year after I get it started, I’ll put it out in the garden and put slug bait around it daily.   Slugs got all the broccoli that I put out this year.   But then I only put the bait out on a weekly basis and it rained profusely.

P1020012 lettuce

The lettuce is needing to be replanted this week in a different spot as it has become leggy with other plants shading it too much.  So I’ll plant it where I took the cabbage out.

   I could show you the raspberries, but I’m afraid the didn’t even hit the bowl.   They were directly consumed.     I like these plants that produce year after year without replanting.

2014
07/13

Category:
Knitting
spinning

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July socks

P1020003 red etc striped sodks

It’s  nearly the middle of the month and I am just starting this month’s socks.   I’m hoping to get them finished.

P1020005 spinning

Spinning practice has been taking a fair amount of time

P1020001 alpaca in pond

And I should show you how our livestock wash their own fleece – lol – we still have to wash it after shearing

 

asd

 

 

2014
07/12

Category:
farming

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Summer and chick update

P1010990 suinflowers

Summer has come!   And in full force with 90 degree weather, which we usually don’t get until August.   The report is that the heat will stay around for awhile.   And that means lots of watering.   But I’m not complaining.

P1010980 bantam w baby

She doesn’t know, nor does the chick that she’s the foster mother.  And it really doesn’t matter.    She and the other mother have been sharing duties and doing a terrific job with this little one.  It’s been too warm during the day for little one to want to be under mom, but she stays very close and both moms are very protective.

 

as

 

2014
07/11

Category:
Life

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Water!

P1010989 well work

When we moved here and had our well drilled, we were “out in the country”.    The driller we hired to drill the well, hit a great underground water source and all was going super.   Then some developers decided they would build many houses near us – and I mean well over a thousand.   They are still building.   All those homes need water, so they drilled, either 8 or 10 large community wells.   And all those wells take water.    This slowed us down from 35 gallons a minute to insufficient water to even water our greenhouse all at once.

 The man who services our water treatment system told us that we should either have a new well drilled, or get a 1000 gallon storage tank.   So while I was gone to my class, Bill had the well pump men came out to see if they could coax more water from the existing well.  While they worked, I prayed that God would supply us with water.    I not only asked for water, but abundant water.    Today they finished their work and we have ABUNDANT WATER.   We need 10 gallons per minute to service our fire system, but have 25.  And it appears to be much cleaner coming out of the ground than what we had before.  What a GOD!

We weren’t completely without water while they worked as the neighbors let us hook up a hose to their barn for the three days the work was being done.   It felt somewhat like camping in that we tried to use as little as possible.  So now the dishwasher is going and the greenhouse is getting watered.   Next will be the laundry and watering the outside gardens.

As we were discussing this at breakfast this morning, we realized again how blessed we are to live in a country where we have clean running water.   We are thrilled to help fund wells for those who don’t have this privilege.

 

 

as

2014
07/10

Category:
Knitting

COMMENTS:
2 Comments »

Project finished

P1010988 cozy cowl green

This is the green cowl that had many starts.   I had to pay attention to the cable of course, but since these were new techniques, it took me a bit to understand that I was knitting everything up to near the top, then releasing one stitch to ravel all the way down to create the “holey” look.   It will look better after being blocked, but that won’t happen right away as the cowl won’t be needed in 80 degree weather.

P1010985 green cowl folded

 This shows the color accurately.   Turned down, it  hugs the neck better.

2014
07/09

Category:
Foods
spinning

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Class day 3 and home again

IMG_0466 Judith M teaching

Not only did Judith have an abundance of information to pass on to us, but her classes were an explosion of color.   And of course some came to live with me.    Right in the middle of this photos is one of the pieces that followed me – the ones that have green, yellow,  red, and purple.    These two pieces are supposed to turn into a pair of socks.   I brought home much more fiber and have a lot of homework to do!

After our last class, we toured a small cottage industry.   Barry and his wife, Linda, custom card for  clients.   They wash and dye it and then do the processing.

IMG_0488 picked fabric

  This is where the fluff is thrown after the picker attacks it

IMG_0476 carding machine

Then it goes through the carder

 IMG_0472 carding machine

You can see some of his assortment on the wall to the left of the carder.

And then it was home again.   It is so much easier to spin without one’s normal interruptions.

P1010972 thieves in raspberries

See the thieves in the raspberry patch?   Actually I didn’t have time to pick before I left so they came and picked.

P1010976  7-9 tomatoes and raspberries

This is what I picked today.  About 2 cups of raspberries and at least that many tomatoes.   It’s really difficult to say how many when one is popping them in the mouth as they are picked.

 

2014
07/07

Category:
Life

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Port Townsend day 2

     iphone 392

Here we are in class, trying to learn more than we can even absorb in one day,  with the most beautiful scenery outside.          We are on a peninsula in NW Washington State, on the upper Northeast side.   Here are some snapshots facing south (Mt. Rainier was visible in the middle of the second photo, but too far away for the camera)

iphone 409

iphone 393

iphone 385

 

 

2014
07/06

Category:
farming
spinning

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Spinning class with Judith MacKenzie

Before I left today Kati and Zach came over for a bite of lunch and to pick the raspberries.  And Bill found that one of the hens sought to hide her eggs in the chives while another hid hers under a small row-boat being stored there.   Another likes a rabbit box down near the other chickens, two hens lay theirs in the cat bed, and wonder of wonder,  3 actually lay their eggs where they are supposed to lay them.  It is a great hide and seek game we have here.

No photos tonight since I forgot to bring the cord that downloads them.   Maybe tomorrow I can find the Iphone cord in the car and take some photos with that camera.    Port Townsend is right on the tip of the peninsula   so we look across the water and I’ll check tomorrow but I’m thinking maybe we can see Canada  It was a gorgeous  drive up here with the sun shining brightly. (80 degree weather)

In our room was a gift bag of lovely sample fibers from different companies advertising their fiber.   They are such yummy pieces.

After a meet and greet time, with plenty of snacks, we met in the classroom.  We first learned how to take apart our spinners and clean them.   There are parts to clean that I didn’t know existed.   Interesting and easy to clean.    Then Judith the teacher gave us each a pack of roving we can spin at our leisure and helped any of us who could use some with the sample fiber she had there.    Tomorrow she will provide the fibers as she guides us through the different tasks.