I’m sitting here looking out the window and thinking that I like gray whimpy days. The days where I don’t need to water because at some point within this 24 hour section, it will rain enough to fill water buckets. There is no outside garden to water. And yet, the rain spells are far enough apart that I can feed the animals without getting wet. Often these days have a spell of sunshine as well. Todays gray prediction says the rain will start at 10 tonight So though we don’t expect sun today, it will be dry during chore time and we can enjoy a toasty fire. And our forecast has rain the next 10 days which can really mean anything from real rain all day to whimpy days with rain only while I’m sleeping. Yes, gray, whimpy days can be very good.
Bowl cozies
https://craftwarehouse.com/sew-this-soup-bowl-cozy-free-pattern/
It’s time to think of gifts and here is another idea. Today I selected fabrics for the microwavable bowl cozies,(https://craftwarehouse.com/sew-this-soup-bowl-cozy-free-pattern/ I’ll be making). Of course, I was really getting my act together and had chosen and cut out the fabrics when I realized that a trip to JoAnn’s was in order. Fortunately I had 2 60% off coupons, one for 50% off and a 25% off entire order. Plus I was using a gift card, so my little excursion was inexpensive. If you are making these to put into the microwave, it is imperative that every item you use is 100% cotton to avoid a fire. Many battings have “scrim” on them which helps it to hold together, but it can also catch fire in the microwave. If you are using the cozies only when you take the food out of the microwave, you can get by with that. But since these will be gifts and my DH always heats his soup with the bowl in one of these, I play safe and pay the extra for this batting. (If you click on the red, the website for the cozies should pop up).
These bowl cozies take 2 – 10″ squares of coordinating fabric plus the batting. The pattern is on the website. Enjoy making them. I’d love to see a photo.
Remember the list I wanted to accomplish in November. Now that it is Nov 10, I have finished one of the projects and started 2 more. I’d better get more serious since there are 20 items on the list you saw, but more that weren’t on that list.
Challenges
This day was full of challenges. First the weather with very gray skies and a real downpour, then the dentist which is not my favorite thing. Oh, and yes, I missed the exit off the interchange half an hour away coming home. I’m not familiar with that exit and I get lost very easily. So I turned on my phone GPS and it insisted on sending me to Canada. I had entered the house address correct, but hadn’t put in the city and state. So that took me about 45 minutes to get all figured out. What a relief it was to get on a familiar road again. That essentially ate my day. I fed the animals, then us and came to the studio to collect my wits.
These are the two little pea pods made today. As you can see they are not perfectly the same size and that is because there is room for trimming if the edges didn’t exactly meet when folded. Ideas for use: paperclips, USB sticks, half dozen cookies (in plastic wrap), knitting markers, chapstick, small package of tissue. I’m sure you will come up with many more ideas. I will make 10-12 as I like to have them on hand because one never knows when a small gift will be needed. And Christmas is coming. If I have a small gift, this is the perfect wrap.
Dentist and zippers
An hour drive to the dentist, an hour to clean the teeth and an hour back. Plus I get to repeat it tomorrow since they had a cancellation and I have a small cavity.
By the time I returned home, the rain was coming down. That seemed like a great time to start on my gift making. I pulled out the long zippers that I like to buy when a store is having a close out – the same zippers that I rarely have a use for but can’t resist a 50 cent sale. 
This Lazy girl Sweetpea pattern calls for a 16″ or longer zipper for each little bag. I now have 10 cut out and ready to assemble. For me choosing the fabrics often takes more time than I think it should. I’m all ready now to make these next sewing time.
New series
It was a busy, but not profitable day. However, I did want to let you know that a new free documentary series started today that you might enjoy watching. The website is www.Christrevealed.com. If you are a Christian or have any interest, this documentary is from a historical viewpoint.
Sheep help us live better longer
I told DH, we need the sheep to help us live better and longer. They will help us because we will have to go outside each day and take care of them. 
That is true, we do have to get fresh air each day while we do the minimum maintenance. But one can’t always do the minimum and today, was cold and sunny and this stall was really calling my name as the hay was getting too deep to easily open the door.
So 3 hours and 18 full wheelbarrow loads later, the stall is clean of hay and ready to start over. This photo was of the half way point. Tonight, I’m not sure if the sheep will help us go to the grave earlier or help us live longer. They certainly give me exercise. There was a lot of twisting involved in getting the pitchfork loaded and into the wheelbarrow and then I dumped the contents in mole town which gave me balance exercise. But I do love the sheep.
Tomorrow, I will do a walk through on the rental and go to the farm store for a few supplies. The sheep will get fed and watered, but I have no plans for stall cleaning, though there are still 3 to go. The body changes over the years – have you noticed – and it resents doing what it could easily do just a very few years ago. I should have kept up instead of taking a vacation from physical work.
Work: Dump, Broccoli Soup, Kiwi
Work: We managed to get two loads to the dump today even though it snowed. Construction seems to leave extra unusable pieces around as well as the fact that we don’t have garbage service here. So a load of each was removed today.
And the tanks are now in the ground, waiting for the lids to get finished and the dirt to be put back over the top of them. Progress is progress, even when slow.
And because it snowed, it seemed appropriate to have a thick broccoli soup
Kiwi, the parrot, is enjoying extra special attention, of which he never seems to get enough.
This quilt with the hummingbirds was a 90th birthday gift made for a neighbor, who never had the opportunity to use it. She went into the hospital on her birthday and sadly did not recover. So I took the original label off and now it can go to someone in need.
So this weekend included a bit of this and that which is now done. However removing the quilt label is the only one that was on my check list.
November 2017 goals
In order to get much of anything done, I need a list of written goals. Then if I don’t achieve them all, that’s okay, because I still have achieved more than I would have without the list.
November 2017 goals are:
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Continue with gym
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Make apple butter
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Add more quilting to the “Twinkling snowman” quilt to make it hang right and put a hanger in it.
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Find an execute a HIA (Hatched in Africa) project
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Take label off Hummingbird quilt and repair binding
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Finish Sunbonnet Sue #3 quilt for Elm Street’s OMG project
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Make bowl cozies for gifts
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Make 4 American girl dresses
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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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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
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Find 3 recipes for Thanksgiving dinner
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Clean and rent the house next door
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There may be from 10-20 items that get squeezed in here
October mug rugs and dozer work
I made 2 of these mug rugs experimenting with how they are done. The designs are from Julia’s needle work. My daughter and her friend both have cats and ride their bikes a lot, so they will enjoy them.
And finally the dozer, the sand, and the contractor are all here and the dozer work begins. The tanks go underground and then will be covered. The propane and water tanks were to be completely buried by the end of August. I will be so happy to get it done. They are now saying by the weekend, they will have it done. I have learned now to believe contractors.
End of October projects
It has been a good month, a very good month.
I finished the end of October projects by getting these socks done and
embroidering these guest towels with cute little Hatched in Africa ladybugs. They were a free download several years ago and I needed something quick and easy to gift.
I did get 19 of the 28 items done that I had on a list for the month plus much more work outside that wasn’t on the list. So I’m a happy person. The items that didn’t get finished will go onto the next month’s list. I finished a quilt and some embroidery that was gifted. I took care of paper messes and finished some wall hangings and I took a short vacation – all in one month.
Today was beautiful and I spent it using muscles that I didn’t even know existed. But hay is coming this week and I needed to have areas cleaned for it. Hopefully I will finish that tomorrow. What is left, I need help doing.