Oh, yes, I had the best laid plans. I was going to finish the lamb quilt and start the quilting on the machine. However, without warning, we had a major windstorm 
. Really major and we were without power for 2 days. I spent much of the last two days tending the fire, cooking here, and sitting in front of it. We were so thankful when power returned. We were technically okay and could have survived longer, just too spoiled to want to camp in the middle of winter. But now we have POWER and are very thankful, having just relearned how wonderful it is.
So today, I finished the front of this quilt which is now waiting for quilting, backing and binding. It was done on the embroidery machine, which is a technique useful for someone who doesn’t really know how to quilt, but I found it more cumbersome.
When I make this quilt again, I will embroider the pieces flat and put them together and then quilt it. I think it makes a cute baby quilt. It measures 38 x 42″.
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.
Fencing:
Today was a supervising and “go for” day. I had two young men show up to help me which was terrific as I could use the help, one for fencing and one to work in the barn. Here is a photo of the perimeter fence that should be completed soon. It is a work of art. As you can see, it is nice and straight and the angle and corner posts are sunk in concrete. However, while he was working on this, Lacey thought she should check and see how secure the existing fence is. She found that the chain link side which we share with neighbors had no hot wire – just fencing. She worked at getting under that until she succeeded. Therefore added to our day was going after more hot wire and insulators and getting them installed. Apparently keeping the sheep safe is not a big enough job for her. All of our perimeter fencing will be hot.
A lot of the added pasture is open and will support a good number of sheep during the summer. Cross fencing will happen later as needed. The building about mid photo, is our house across the pasture.
Stall walls:
The other young man worked inside the barn, cutting and putting up the stall walls. As you can see there was a run to the store for lumber which will be the doors. I am so pleased that we were able to accomplish this much today. Next weekend, I’m hoping he will come, make the doors, and hang them.
Embroidery:
After all of this was accomplished, I was able to come in and work in the studio for a couple hours. These blocks will eventually be the centers of a churn dash quilt.
And I promised the church I’d try to get at least one quilt done to help with the homeless men that try to stay a bit warmer up next to the church doors. Hopefully tomorrow, after gym, I’ll get to work on that project. I understand there are several men who could each use a quilt, but I am only one person, so do what I can.
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The label is on and the quilt is on its way to a new home. I did something a bit differently this time. Do you see where the pocket is just above her name? I placed one of each fabric in that pocket, then sewed it shut. It there is ever a tear or something needs replacing, there is a scrap of each of the fabrics in that pocket. And as usual, the quilt was washed and dried before sending off, because I would rather have problems show up before the quilt is gifted.
After shipping this quilt, we fertilized and watered both the big garden and the hoophouse, both of which seem to take a long time, but the weather was perfect for working outside. We fertilize weekly and the new seedlings need lots of extra water, especially when the week promises to be hot.
We are already enjoying eating some of our produce. For lunch we had a salad of Chinese cabbage and the other half will be used in stir fry.
I am so pleased with the way this little dress turned out. It may be my “go-to” dress for these dolls. I can see many different dresses in different fabrics and even adding sleeves.
Bill’s new project for the day was making the “Anderson’s split pea” soup recipe. He is learning where items are kept and being an engineer means he follows the recipe exactly. lol
