Around the Homestead

WIPocalypse

2012-02-08T21:32:00.004-06:00

Running a bit late on my 2nd WIPocalypse post!! I've been doing a fair bit of stitching still.. so here's what I've got done.
The picture above is one that I took before I started working on this again. I should be doing that with all the WIP's so I can track how far they are coming, but this is the only one I've done it to so far. Below is where I am on it right now. This is from my 2011 Crazy Challenge projects.

And below is 'His Name Is Jesus' freebie found here. I got the 'u and s' in Jesus done and 'of Jacob' in the lower left corner done. This is on 28 ct over one, so it is more stitching than it looks like:) This is a project I started almost 2 years ago.

This is an update on my HAED. Before it was less than 1in sq, and now it is almost 2in sq. Just over 1600 stitches done so far!!!

And here are a couple that I finished. This is 'He's a Flake' from LHN. This is from my 2012 Crazy Challenge.

And this one is also from my 2012 Crazy Challenge. This is January Wordplay from With thy Needle and Thread. I love this series and am hoping to do all 12 of them at some point. Really trying NOT to start any new ones this year (except maybe a small one or two for exchange projects). But I did go ahead and order the Feb Wordplay, so we will see if I can hold off or not:)

That is it for this month, I don't think I did too bad:) Hoping to get lots more done for my next post!!!

January's TUSAL

2012-01-23T20:33:00.005-06:00

Well this is my first TUSAL post: Totally Useless SAL!! This is where you keep all your floss 'trash', broken needles and tiny scraps of fabric and place them in a pretty jar. Yep, totally useless:) I picked out a pretty green glass jar, but it is pretty small, so I'm not sure if I'll make it the whole year with this jar, but I still really like it:)
You can also see that I'm coming along with my January Wordplay too!! I'm hoping to finish it up tomorrow:) That'll be my 4th finish for the month!!!

Aspirations/Resolutions/Challenges #2

2012-01-20T11:01:00.002-06:00

Oops, forgot to continue these:) How's that for getting off-track rather fast!! LOL First off, I did add a weight-loss ticker at the bottom of my blog, so I can keep track in a public way of my progress.

My second goal for the year is to read more. I looked and looked all over blog land for a reading/book challenge that I thought would work for me - and goodness there are TONS of reading/book challenges out there. However, since I really want to focus on weight loss and stitching, I didn't want a challenge that was too much or very restrictive. Most of the ones I found either had you reading 50+ books or had you reading a certain type of book (ie, young adult, mystery, horror, etc). I even found one that had you read 50 new (new to you anyway) books and watch 50 movies that you've never seen in a year. I like the movie idea, but that would mean about 1 book a week. If I didn't want to stitch so much I could do that, but it would take up a good deal of my free time.

SO, in the end I joined GOODREADS and set my own goal of 12 books in a year. I thought this would be VERY easy, however I'm only half way through my first books, so I guess this will be at least slightly challenging:) The only rule I put on myself is that I can only count books that I am reading for me. See, I read and read books as part of our homeschooling. We do read alouds for our Bible/religious studies (like missionary tales and stories of historical figures and their religious beliefs, etc), for our history studies (some of the same as biblical studies, also historical fiction, biographies, etc) and a couple here and there just for fun that we are interested in. We go through several books each month for our schooling. Those won't count for this challenge. I do usually really like what we are reading, but it isn't for me. SO while some of my books will be from my dd's 'library', only the ones that I choose to read for my own entertainment will count for this challenge:) And she actually has several that I'm wanting to read. (NOTE: my dd is a book-hoarder:) She has a teenie-tiny room, but has around 250 books in it, which she has organized into categories (mystery, animals, fantasy, etc) and is presently cataloging into and excel spreadsheet alphabetically by title. At least it gives her practice typing and alphabetizing:).

I have one (maybe two depending on how I decide to go after it) more 'aspirations' for the year that I'll blog about soon. I am also real close to getting another stitchy project done and am hoping to be able to post a pic by the end of next week!! :)

Jan 13th, 14th and 15th projects

2012-01-16T08:03:00.004-06:00

Well, I got a bit behind with the blogging end of things, but I did keep up on the stitching side:) So here is what I chose for my final projects...
This is the new stocking from Blackbird. I received this chart all kitted up from my SIL (Marianne Meyer of Midnight Stitching) for Christmas and I love it!! Hoping I'll get a chance real soon to finish this one up quickly:)

This is 'Squirrel' from JBW. Another quick stitch just as soon as I can work it in. I changed the colors some, not sure how I feel about my selection though. May have to make some revisions, we will see.And my last project is Summer Ornie from Prairie Schooler. I now have all 4 of these started and am excited to have the whole set!!

I have already started thinking about my new starts for next year as I'm going to try and not start anything new beyond the 30+ WIPs/UFOs that I already have started and I'm finding new ones that I'd like to do!! :) Oh, my I think this has become a sickness!! LOL Maybe if I get most of the 30 done this year I'll try my hand at the Ultimate Crazy Challenge next year (a new project for EVERY day of Jan). Hmm, or maybe not:)

Jan 12th Project

2012-01-12T23:02:00.002-06:00

My project for today is Oh, Christmas Tree from With thy Needle and Thread. I really like charts that make into something other than just a picture to be framed and hung on the wall. I have only actually had one project framed ever (and it wasn't even me that had it done. My wonderfuly SIL had it done for me for a birthday). So I usually lean toward projects that can be made into pin cushions, small projects that can fit into a tuck, ornies and things like this that will be sewn into a snowman pouch:) So another project started and only 3 more projects left and then I will start working really hard to get these all done!!

Another Giveaway

2012-01-12T16:14:00.003-06:00

Heather of Heather's Stitching Story is running a really great giveaway for anyone who love CCN's and LHN's charts. Happy Stitching and Good Luck!! :)

Jan 11th Project

2012-01-11T21:23:00.003-06:00

Today's project is from Barbara Ana's Designs and is called Thanksgiving Biscornu. I love making biscornus (sp?) because I get to hand-stitch them together and don't have to frame them or use a sewing machine to finish them up!! I can use a sewing machine, but I very quickly get frustrated with it:) I much prefer when I can hand sew something together!!

I just barely got a start on this one as I am trying really hard to get some older projects finished off. I am challenging myself to finish 30 projects this year. That is going to be a huge challenge as I think I only did 13 in 2011 and maybe 17 in 2010. I'm doing well right now though as I have 3 done so far for 2012. But I usually hit a major slump in late spring and last year I didn't get back into stitching until mid fall, though I usually start to rebound by late summer. Reverse seasonal depression? Not sure it's that serious, but it happens every year. More likely just major burn-out:) Either way I'm hoping to get lots done before that and maybe I can come out somewhere near this goal by the end of the year. A good deal of what I started this year are pretty small and easy, so that will help a lot!! :) We will just have to see.

Jan 10th Project

2012-01-10T23:29:00.003-06:00

Real quick tonight as I am very ready for bed:) This is one of the 2 charts from Autumn Spendor by With Thy Needle and Thread. Love the colors in this one and will be sticking to the recomended threads. I am doing this one on 32ct Summer Khaki. Should be another quick and easy one.

Other Aspirations/Resolutions/Challenges #1

2012-01-10T16:27:00.003-06:00

Contrary to how it has looked on my blog lately, I do have a life outside of stitching:) Actually I only stitch around a 1/2 hour to maybe an hour a day. I would like to stitch lots more than that, but well, I do have a family, though a rather small one, and they don't find my stitching nearly as important as I do!! LOL

So I thought I would list the 3 other things that I aspire to accomplish this year in order to give myself some kind of accountablity. I am planning on posting one per day (though it might not be consecutive days). If anyone wants to join me on any of these, or ask me from time to time how I am doing (or if I am still doing;) any of these things, please feel welcome.

First things first. I NEED to lose some weight. I am a bit over 100 lbs over my ideal weight (and I'm not talking super model skinny ideal weight, but just a healthy weight for me). So my goal for this year is to lose 1 lb a week. I think that is doable and if I stick to it I will be half way to my final goal in a year. Not bad considering how long I have been overweight and even 50lbs gone would do my body a world of good.

My action plan at this point is...

1. Exercise -

I have the Wii Fit, bought a year ago and hardly used:)

I just bought 'Extreme Makeover Weight Loss Edition' workout video - sadly I thought I could skip level one, but umm, it kicked my hiney!! :) So right now my goal for this is to keep working at level one until I can move up to level 2.

I'm not sure yet, but I may join our YMCA club. It is 25 min away from home though, so I'd only use it when my dd is in gymnastics or swim class, and maybe on Saturdays when I'm in town to do the shopping, but that is 2-3 days a week and most of that time I'm just sitting there anyway.

During the spring and fall I can ride my bike and take walks down our dirt road, but we have really cold winters and really hot summers, so right now I'll stick to indoor workouts.

2.Diet -

Hmm, well, I'll get back to you on that:) We are trying to eat more fruit and veggies and no fried foods, and have been doing that for a while. So keeping with that and cutting my portions down some.

3. Record Keeping

Keeping track of what I eat and when I eat it. Maybe this will help with the diet end of it.

Keeping track of weekly weigh ins - posting monthly weigh-ins on my blog.

4. Rewards:)

I'll have to come up with these as I go, but so far...

10 lb reward - New pair of jeans:) Which I really need anyway, but I'm going to wait until I reach this goal.

20lb reward - Haircut and style. I rarely get my hair cut and done up, so this will be a real treat:)

Well, that is all for this post. Will post another 'Aspiration/Resolution/Challenge' in a day or two.

WIPocalypse

2012-01-09T23:40:00.003-06:00

My first offical WIPocalypse post!!! The goal for WIPocalypse is to finish as many WIPs and UFO's as possible throughout the year. These can be ones that you've had around for many, many years all the way to new ones you just started. Then we are to post pics of any finishes and all progress we make each full moon. So this is what I have to show off for this month...
This one is NOT finished. Despite my best intentions of finishing this one off today so I could brag about another one done, it just didn't happen. Too many interuptions happened instead. But this is progress and I am still hoping to finish it off tomorrow. This is one of my new starts for this year, so if you scoll down a bit you can see my start on it.
This is an older WIP (I thought it was from last year's Jan 15, but it was from before that). This is Blessed is the Meek from Little House Needleworks' Saltbox Scripture series. I'm super excited that I finished this one as I only have one more to go in this series and they will all be done. I'll post a pic of all of them together when the last one gets done.

And this one is another one from this year's Jan 15 (so scoll down some and you'll see my start on this one as well). Really happy to get this done as it is always nice to finish a couple off when you are starting so many of them:)

Well, that is all for this WIPocalypse post, hoping for many more to show off next time!! :)

Jan 8th and 9th Projects

2012-01-09T23:26:00.004-06:00

This is getting to be a habit:) Though this time it had more to do with having a busy weekend and just being too wiped out to get on the internet at night than doing too much stitching. As you can see below, not much stitching actually got done:)
For my Jan 8th project I choose Winter Ornie from Prairie Schooler (this can only be found in the 2006 JCS Ornie Mag issue). I am doing this on 32 ct Lambswool with suggested threads. I have the charts for all the rest of these and am hoping to get them all done this year!!!

This one is Margaret Harris from Blackbird Designs and can be found in the Honeysuckle Manor book. I changed just about everything for this one. The recomended threads were all silks and while I'd like to someday try them out, I haven't done so yet because of cost. I also changed fabric to 32ct Antique Copper. In addition I am going to change the year, town name and even redesign the house somewhat as well. I want this one to reflect our present house and the township we reside in.

I only got the moon stitched on this one as I was really trying to get another project finished so I could show it off on my WIPocalypse post, but sadly it still didn't get finished, so I could only show my progress, but I aim to finish it tomorrow for sure:)

Well, until tomorrow, my stitchy friends (which, really is in about 23 min!! :).

Jan 6th and 7th Projects

2012-01-07T22:55:00.006-06:00

I've been so busy stitching that I didn't even get to posting anything yesterday:) I really like my day 6 project!! In fact I almost decided to finish it today (day 7) instead of starting a new one, but I was a good girl and left this one alone to start the new one:) This is Bountiful Stars from Blackbird Design's Patriotic July stocking booklet. I changed the colors because I didn't like the 'red' they used which looked more pink to me and didn't make me think 'Patriotic'. It's coming along really quickly and I can't wait to make it into a little stocking!!

This one is 'Blessed are the Peacemakers' from Little House Needlework's Saltbox Scriptures series. I have finshed the other 3 of these and am really excited to finish this one off and then decide how I want to display them. I've thought of framing them and hanging them one at a time during the corresponding season, or making a cube out of all 4 of them and turning it to the corresponding season OR making a small wall hanging quilt out of all of them to hang year round:) Just not sure yet. I changed a couple colors in this one too. I really didn't like the purple with the other fall colors and so changed that to red instead, I am also using a deeper orange than it calls for and I also changed the brown a little, though only because I didn't have the color it called for, but it is really close.

I have 2 finishes (so far) that I will show off on Monday durning my WIPocalypse post. So exciting that I actually getting some stitching finished:)

Jan 5th Project

2012-01-06T00:04:00.003-06:00

I had a nice, easy stitch planned for today as I knew I would be heading into town for the afternoon. I still thought I could finish this one today though. No such luck!!! I ended up having some problems with the blackwork and had to take it out and start over. I'm sure I'll get this one done tomorrow though:) This is a freebie card from Prairie Schooler that I am doing on 32 ct lambswool. Like I said, it's a nice, easy stitch and I'm enjoying it very much:)

Jan 4 Project

2012-01-04T23:00:00.005-06:00

My 4th project is a freebie that I found while looking around the web one day. Unfortunately I have completely forgotten where I found it. Usually the printed page will say on the bottom of it what the website is, but this doesn't say anything at all. I do know it was a non-English blog, but other than that, really couldn't tell you where I got this now. Sadly it wasn't even that long ago that I printed this off. What does that say about my memory? :)

Anyway, I'm also doing this one for my dd, she loves cats of all kinds. I am stitching this over one on 28 ct white fabric.

Jan 3 Project

2012-01-03T23:09:00.003-06:00

My 3rd Crazy Project is a Little House Needleworks ornie called 'He's a Flake'. I'm doing this on 32ct Twilight Blue linen which is just a bit bluer and a bit darker than the dove linen that it calls for. I didn't work on it much today as I am really close to being done with an older WIP (from last year's Crazy Challenge) and am really hoping to get it done in the next couple of days:) So I will probably focus on it and only just start the next couple until the WIP is done.

Jan 2 Project

2012-01-02T23:26:00.002-06:00

My project for Jan 2 is January Word Play from With thy Needle and Thread. I'm doing this on 32ct Summer Khaki with most of the called for floss colors. I love this series, though I will be making few changes to a couple of them as I go. I want to do the whole set, but want to change things like the witch in Oct since we don't celebrate halloween, and santa in December's since we've never celebrated Christmas with santa. I have several other designs from With thy Needle and I don't think it'll be hard to sub in a little here and there. This one is going pretty fast and I hope to finish this one off this month:)

Jan Challenge - Day 1

2012-01-02T00:03:00.002-06:00

My 1st project for the month is a HUGE one:) This is my first HAED and I can already tell that it's going to take me a long time to finish it. I'm doing this one for my dd who really loves tigers. It's being done over one on 32ct ant. white linen. That tiny little square is less than an inch sq and already I've stitched 455 stitches in it!! :)

Great Giveaway!!

2012-01-01T11:50:00.002-06:00

I found a really generous stitchy giveaway in blog-land today. It is on CrafyMoo's blog and she is giving away some really nice charts, fabric, and even a $20 gift certificate to 123 Stitch!! Now that's my kind of prize:)

A couple of finished projects!!!

2011-12-19T12:21:00.004-06:00

I am on a roll!! I guess seeing how much stitchy type work I have in front of me for the next year really lit a fire under me, because I have just been stitching like crazy:)

I got 'Christmas Wishes' by Beehive Needleworks done a couple days ago. I actually just started this one the end of Nov or beginning of Dec because one of my stitchy groups started a 'Deer SAL' for the month and I had this on hand:) Otherwise it would have probably become one of my 2012 Crazy Stitching projects. I chose a darker fabric for this and instead of making french knot berries around the boarder I chose to make x's over one with 2 threads. It looks almost the same and kept me from pulling my hair out!! :)
I finished LK's Work,Pray,Trust early this morning. I changed the floss colors on this one, but only so that I could use what I had. I used very similar colors, just not exact. I had been carrying this one around with me in my purse to do while I wasn't at home because it was such a nice small project and fit well:)
I was wrong about the Friday Night Sew In being every Friday night this month. It seems like the next one isn't until Jan 20th. I am going to try and keep sewing on Friday's though because it tends to be the only way I get any sewing done:) I thought I'd go back to working on the small quilt that I had started, but I may work on making these two stitchy projects into something. I know that I want Christmas Wishes to become a pouch that I can put greenery and berries into and hang up for Christmas. Not sure what I want to do with 'Work, Pray, Trust' yet. I had wanted it to be a bookmark, but I think it may be a little too wide for that. I will have to think on it for a few days.

I can already mark off 'Work, Pray, Trust' from my 2012 WIP list and am hoping to be able to mark off another one or two before the end of the year. It would be great to have just under 20 WIPs!!! LOL

Well, I'm off to eat lunch and then have a wrapping 'party' with my dd. Then maybe I'll get to do a little stitching as well:)

2011-12-17T07:10:00.006-06:00

I actually got something done yesterday!! Well, almost done, I didn't finish the project, but at least I got it started:)

Here is a pic of the mess I started with. I was trying to make some bird ornies. I got the free pattern for it here.

And here is my 'helper'. He was trying to make sure the birds didn't fly away (and my scissors, pincushion, tape measure, etc) :) Lots of help!!

This is as far as I got. I only had a little over an hour to get everything out, work on it and clean things back up. Would be great if I had a sewing/craft room, but the living room has to be it for now, so some of my time gets spent just getting set up and cleaned up afterward. That's okay though since all I have left is a little stuffing and sewing the tails closed. Should get that done this weekend and I'll post a pic of the finished piece then.
And here is the link to the finished project on the origanal blog.
Now to get back to my stitching:)

FNSI

2011-12-13T10:12:00.002-06:00

Well, I didn't get to this last Friday as my hubby took dd and I out to dinner that night and then we did some grocery shopping. By the time we got home, I just didn't care about sewing anymore:) I'm thinking that I will probably need this to be more of a 'Friday afternoon sew in' instead of it being at night. When hubby gets home, it's family time and I usually don't get much else done.

These are usually scheduled for once a month (I believe the blog says the 3rd Friday of the month). However, with the Christmas holiday upon us, they have decided to do it every week (I think). So I'm going to give it another try this Friday. Still won't be able to do it at night, as my dd has youth group so we won't be home. Hopefully I'll find time during the day. I was going to work on a small quilt, and I still may, but I'm just about finished with a small stitching project that I'd like to make into a pouch to hold greenery. And I have a pattern to make some really cute little bird ornies that I would like to do. So I'm not sure what I'll work on.

I have just about gotten my Crazy Challenge pieces figured out now. I still need two projects, but I usually do a little stitching shopping just after Christmas and I think my SIL is getting me something stitchy as well, so I'll see what I can add to my list:) I also will need to get a few supplies to kit up a few of the ones I have so they will all be ready. I think this is my favorite part of the SAL!!!

New Challenges/Wips/ SALs. Oh, My!!!

2011-12-08T11:12:00.003-06:00

Well, I'm officially off my rocker:) I signed up for several new challenges and SALs, and there is NO WAY I can finish all of them, but it is fun anyway. And I don't want my stitching to turn into work, it needs to stay fun:)

Here is what I've signed up for:

The 2012 Crazy Stitching Challenge!! I wasn't sure I wanted to do this one as I didn't finish most of what I started last year:) However, as I was digging into what I never did start from last year (I still have 7 that are new and kitted) and several more that are ornie size that I'd like to do, I figure that I can go ahead and get them started.(This is set up as a Yahoo group this year).

The WIPocalyps SAL:) Okay this one is really needed!! Basically the rules are to post an update of all WIP progress made for the year and post a pic on my blog on every full moon. For this one, I hope to get a lot done.

The LHN ornie SAL. I have several of the LHN ornies that I've wanted to do, so this will work along-side the Crazy Challenge.

TUSAL - which stands for 'Totally Useless SAL'. This one is easy and fun:) I just have to collect my extra threads, pieces of fabric cuttings and broken needles into a glass jar and put a pic up on my blog on every new moon (not to be confused with the full moon:).

Friday Night Sew In - I'd also like to do this as well. I have lots of other sewing that I actually NEED to work on:) Looks like there is one of these scheduled for tomorrow, so I will try to work on a small quilt that I've been putting off.

I will no doubt have a SAL or two (or three) on the Yahoo stitching boards that I follow as well.

I have a little prep work to do before all this starts. I have 8 projects that I need to pick out, buy, and/or kit up for the Crazy Challenge. I also want to do a little clean up and rearranging of my sideboard on this blog to keep everything organized. So there will be lots and lots of posts in the near future of all my stitching. Now to get to work:)

Monday Blessings 9/26/11

2011-09-26T12:26:00.003-05:00

I've been writing some of these on paper, so the numbers don't match up to what I had been doing before on the blog. I'll get them together at some point and have the numbering right:)

17. A sink full of dirty dishes. Shows that I've been able to feed my family and that I've been busy with more important things (like spending time with them) than to clean those dishes:)

18. Beautiful weather, so that my dd can get her wiggles out in the wide open instead of the small inclosed!!!

19. Kitty friends. Close compainions for my only child:)

20. A creative mind in my dd that never stops coming up with the next 'big idea'.

Back to blogging?

2011-09-26T09:55:00.002-05:00

It's been a long time!! I tend to turn into an introvert during the summer. All the school-year activities blessedly come to an end and I just want to hide for a while:) I don't even get much stitching done during the summer. Anyway, we are now a month and a half back into the school year and the activities are in full swing and I'm ready for the winter break already!!! :)

So with all the other business around here, I thought I'd give blogging a try again and we'll see how it goes. A little update about our lives...

-Garden flopped this year. I'm not real good about taking care of it anyway, and with the lack of rain this year and the extreem heat, not much got done with it. In fact we haven't even pulled it out yet. It's still just a enormous weed patch:)

-DD started 7th grade this year and we can both feel the effects of a longer and a little harder school day!!!

-I volunteered for more than I think I can handle this year, LOL!! :) I am now the community leader for dd's 4-H club and also volunteered to help with the Secret Sister group that her home school group does. It's fun though and I think if I can just get through the next month with 4-H then then amount of work for it will lessen too.

-Cats, cats and more cats!!! We had several more batches of kittens born this summer, sadly not all of them lived. However one batch, whos momma ran off when they were about 3 weeks old, did make it and they are our favorites. They really think I'm their momma:) They are around 4 months old now, so are taking care of themselves, but come running to me when I'm outside and will play around my feet (and try climbing my legs, which is fine if I'm wearing jeans, not so much when I have a skirt on!!!). Here is a pic of most of them, though my babies aren't in this one (they hadn't been let out of the barn yet).

Hoping to put up some pics of the little bit of stitching that I did get to in the next day or two. Maybe someone still reads here? :)

Animal Babies

2011-04-22T13:34:00.006-05:00

We finally got the last of our animal babies for this spring!!! The only other animal we might get are calves, but it isn't looking promising right now. The cattle market is crazy high right now, and it just doesn't make any sence to raise up our own when we can buy grass fed beef for about $3.00lb. Usually we can do our own for less, but not sure about that right now.

These girls are for my dd's 4-H project. The two on the outside are Kikos while the middle one is a Boar goat. All are in the meat goat class. Sadly the middle one died last week. We only had it a little less than two weeks and the last couple days we noticed that she wasn't eating as much and was laying down more than the others. She had a little bit of a clear runny nose, but they all did in the morning, and that was all that I could tell that was wrong. Until her last day, when her nose looked gunky and she had a bit of a cough. So I called the vet who wanted me to bring her in, but the trip did her in and by the time we got there, she had died. The vet said it was fast acting pneumonia.

Dd was really upset, but that is part of raising animals, so we just go on. We started watching the other two really carefully and sure enough, they had it too. So they both got shots (actually I've given them both two shot now, and they seem a lot better, so hopefully we have this beat). I really hate giving animals shots!!! I've had to do it with sheep (we had a long time ago), calves and now goats. But the goats are the worst because they cry and scream!!! Makes me feel horrible, but I know they need it, so I guess I have to do it.These little ones are Rhode Island Reds and we have a mixture of male and female. Around 25 in all. I was only going to buy female this year, but then made the mistake of reading about how chicken that you buy at the store are usually raised and slaughtered (though I know there are exeptions) and well, now we are planning to send some of the males off to be slaughtered locally so we can have chicken meat in the freezer:) We'll keep a couple of the males so that we can raise more babies later on.

And these are the first born of the spring kittens. They are 6 weeks old today!!! They were born in the barn wall, but we got them out a couple weeks ago and put them in this box. Momma is still kinda taking care of them, so we started feeding them just a little and giving them water. However, they are already starting to excape the box, so hopefully momma will keep an eye out for them so they don't get lost:) Yes, one of them has a yucky eye that just won't get better. Another one had a yucky eye too, but it cleared up. I may have to call the vet to see about some eye drops if it doesn't clear up soon. UPDATE: They are now out of the box and thankfully their momma is watching over them:)

And this batch was just born on Monday. I really didn't think this momma would take care of them at all as this is her first batch, she was hand raised (her momma disapeared when she was 2 weeks old), and she is under a year old. We haven't had good luck with the really young mommas, but she hasn't hardly left these kitten alone and is being a really good momma!!! And I'm so happy too, because so many of our cats are gray and white, but she has one down in that pile that is almost all orange with just a bit of white:)

There was one more batch of kittens, but they didn't make it. This was that momma's 2nd batch and she hasn't been interested in taking care of them yet. She's kind of a runty cat, so I'm wondering if that isn't the problem. She did start out pretty good as she at least birthed them all in one place this time, but then didn't feed them for more than a day or two. We usually try to keep them alive (though other than the 3 that were two weeks old we've never been able to get them to live). This batch was in part of the barn wall that we couldn't get to though, so sadly they all died (which they probably would have anyway, but we like to at least try).

Well, I think that is all of the new animal news around here for a while. They are all sure cute, but going to keep us a bit busy!!!

I hope to have a small spring-time stitchy finish to show off by the end of this weekend, so I'll update with some pics then:) And we are hoping to get most of the garden in this weekend, so I may have a few pics of that too. Busy, busy around here!! :)

Update and some finishes

2011-03-25T13:17:00.006-05:00

Wow it's been a long time since I've been on here. I was doing so good too:) We've been super busy getting ready for spring and the addition of young'ins around here and that has taken up some of my computer time, that and I've been busy stitching!! In the next few week I should have some pics to post on the young'ins coming, but for now I will post on the stitching that has gotten done. This first one I actually finished stitching it in Dec 2010, but I never posted about it because I wanted to finish it into this very cute bunny first. I didn't get around to sewing up the bunny until now though. The ears gave me some trouble and I'm still not real happy with them and I think the ribbon needs to be aged a little as it seems too bright for this bunny, but all in all I really like him:) This is my first spring finish for this year and I hope to do several more. This one was the last of my Valentine's stitching I did for this year. I'm not usually into Valentine's, but thought the house could us a little color and trying to get away from the winter themes in hope of warmer weather:) This one was a freebie from The Stitcherhood, I stitched this on 35ct WDW Chestnut and I stitched with one thread over two. It took me about 3hours 45 min. And finally (and thankfully this one is at least part of my Crazy Challenge!!), I finished stitching the ABC Pinkeep Bird also designed by With thy Needle and Thread. I didn't finish this one off the way the instructions said to because I didn't have an old oil can, but I like it as an ornie better anyway. I stitched this over one on 28ct something:) Not sure now what the fabric was other than the count. This one took me 5 hours and 15 min. Well, I hope in the next few days to have an update on my 'Sarah Tobias' project and also the Nora Corbett Fairy, they are really coming along. And maybe by next week I'll have some new babies to show off as well!! I'm pretty excited about that:)

A bit late

2011-02-15T11:50:00.002-06:00

I was hoping to get this finished by Valentine's Day, but just barely missed it:) Got it done early this morning though, then surged around the edges and stuck it in this 'tuck'. I know I really didn't 'NEED' another project to work on but after seeing this one done up on a blog, I just HAD to have it!!! LOL This is a primitivebettys freebie found on the side of her website here.
I did this on 32 ct Jobelan 'Sandcastle' and used CC's Muddy Puddle and Red Current. It took me around 4 1/2 hours to stitch it.
I hope everyone had a 'Sweet Valentine's Day'.

Lots of stitching and sewing

2011-02-11T08:58:00.002-06:00

I've been keeping myself busy this past week. I finally have sewn up a couple of small designs that I've finished stitching and started and finished one that wasn't part of the 15 day challenge:)

This one is 'Cranberry Deer' from Beehive Needleworks. This one took me 7 hours to stitch. I added my initials and the year on the back, I am trying to do that with most of my pieces this year. The chart called for this to be turned into a pinkeep, but I thought it would be nice as an ornie, so that's what I've done with it:)
This one is my new start that I stitched up for a Valentine's SAL on a stitchy board. It is a freebie from Kissy Cross that you can find here...
She has lots of really nice freebies, and this is the second time I've stitched this one up. The first time it was for an exchange and I really wanted to do it again for myself. Well, here I am!!! This one took me 8hours and 15 min to stitch up.

This one is my favorite of all that I've finished this year. This is Small Tokens from BBD and it took me 10 hours 45 min to stitch this. I filled part of this with crushed walnut hulls and also polyfill as well. I couldn't figure out how to stitch the lace to all sides and get the corners right, so I just put the lace on the top and bottom. I'm really happy how this turned out!!!

Here they are all together. One of my goals for this year was not only to stitch more, but also to do something with what I stitched. I usually stitch something up and then place it in a baggie and forget about it. So far this year though, I've stitched up 4 things and finished them into something as well:) 4 for 4 isn't bad at all!!!

I also got brave and did a little baking. I used to bake a lot, but after going gluten free, well I can't get things to turn out nearly as easily and I just gave up for a while. I've found a few websites and blogs that have started getting me back into baking, and though it is really different than before, I'm starting to produce a few edible things. These are biscuits (and I say this because when my dh came in he though they were cookies;). They are really pretty good right out of the oven, though they turn into little hard rocks if I put them in the fridge:) All in all, pretty good though.

Well, I'm working right now on a WIP from 2010 in the Saltbox Scripture series (LHN) as I figure I should be getting some of those done too!!! :) Not sure I'll finish it before going back to my 15 challenge pieces, but at least it will be some progress on it.

Found a Great Givaway

2011-02-03T09:23:00.002-06:00

I don't usually do the giveaways on sites that I don't know, but this one is too good to pass up. SO as part of the requirements, I'm to advertise this giveaway on my blog:), so if you'd like to see the goodies that is up for grabs, please go to ....
http://natalysneedle.blogspot.com

She's also got lots of neat pics of her stitching, so have a look around while you're at it!!!

A Stitchy update

2011-02-02T10:58:00.003-06:00

I haven't been posting much because I've been busy stitching!!! I am trying to get a rotation schedule to work for me and I think I just about have it. Since I am trying to keep track of how long these pieces are taking me to stitch, I've decided to work on each piece for at least 5 hours before moving on to another project. This way I spend enough time on the project to make it look like I've gotten somewhere with it, but not so much time that I get tired of it. Now I've already broken my rule a couple times, but mostly it's working for me:)

First off I have my Sarah Tobias (BBD) to show off. This was one of my first projects that I started and I really love it:) As of this pic I've put in 9 hours on this (yes, I'm a really slow stitcher!!). I should have put a pair of scissors or something to show how small this is (over one on 32ct), it is turning out great!!!
This is my progress after 5 hours of work on Peony Fairy (Nora Corbett). I'm not enjoying this one as much, but it is a really different project for me, so it will be nice to have a challenge:)

And I got 'Small Tokens' (BBD) done!!! This project took 10hours 45min to complete. Hoping to get this one stitched up into a pincushion this weekend!! Will show pics when that is completed. So far this is one of my favorites that I choose to work on. I'm really excited that BBD seems to be a designer that I really love to stitch. This is my 2nd project that I've finished of theirs.

And I'm really excited to say that I found more GAST 'Mulberry' in my stash of threads (it was kitted with another project, but there's enough to share with two projects!!!). SO I started working on 'Cranberry Deer' (Beehive Needleworks) again and am hoping to have that done by tomorrow!!! That will be my 3rd Crazy Stitching Challenge finish!!! Not too bad:)

I haven't started any more new ones to this month and I'm thinking that other than a Valentine's Day start that I'm planning for this Friday (one of the stitching boards I'm on is doing a Valentine's SAL), that will be all the new starts for the month. Maybe next month I'll start a couple more new ones:).

Well, I'm off to get some housework done and maybe I'll get to do a little stitching as well. Have a great day.

Monday Blessings 1-31-11

2011-01-31T21:35:00.004-06:00

At the rate that I'm going with this, it's going to take me the rest of my life to write down 1000 gifts:) Oh, but what a great thing to have written down so that I can look back and remember!!!

So here are a few that I've come up with this week...

9. Hints of Spring - what wonderfully beautiful weather we had the end of last week and some of this weekend. Makes me think of getting the garden in and ordering new chicks:)

10. Winter storms - that remind us that winter is still here and that force us to slow down and give us an excuse to snuggle under the blankets with our 'not-so-little-ones'. :)

11. Indoor play time that remembers making forts in the frontroom (even ones big enough for this momma to climb into).

12. Warm, cuddly, miss-matched socks on my pre-teen:)

Well, 4 a week seems to be a theme so far, so I'll stop there. I do have a few pics of stitchy progress to show soon, maybe we'll be snowed in tomorrow and I'll get a few minutes to do that. I would have liked to have had some sewing progress to show as well, but I never did get around to doing any of that. The 'offical' Friday Night Sew-In group only checks in once a month, but I was hoping to make a habbit of sitting down with the sewing machine every Friday. Will try again this week and see what happens:)

Have a wonderful night!!!

Monday Blessings

2011-01-24T09:47:00.003-06:00

I forgot to do this last Monday, but after reading a little over at this blog, I'm ready to get back at it:) So here is my list of what I'm thankful for today....

5. Dh - who goes to a job that he just can't stand (nothing wrong with the job, just one that completely goes against his nature and personality) so we can be comfortable and so I can stay home and raise, and teach and love our dd.

6. His job. I hate to complain that he hates his job since so many don't have one and so many of dh's co-worker's have lost theirs. While it isn't for him and he'd love to change, we know how futunate we are for him to have it at all.

7. This home. We have a small house (under 700 sq ft). It's tight, but well built. It needs work (and lots of it:), but it's bones are good. We also have 10 acres, a nice size barn/shop and a very small mortgage. If he does lose his job, we are okay, not good, but we'll probably make it.

8. For family visits. That give me a kick in the hind-in to clean this small mess of a house:) Hopefull to have a housefull this coming weekend. With so little space things tend to get stacked in every availible corner we have (and closets, top of the fridge, counters, cabnets, etc...) so this week my goal is to clean, declutter some and try to at least find the surface space on some of these things:) Still not sure where people will sit, but I'm sure we'll figure it out!!!

Think this is all for today. I should be keeping notes through the week so I'll have something ready for Monday Blessings:) Maybe I'll get to that this week.

Friday Night sew-in Progress and pics

2011-01-22T16:59:00.004-06:00

I actually did it!! I sat down with my sewing machine and only thought of throwing it out the window once or twice:) I can't blame the sewing machine. I have a older model Bernina, pretty close to the exact model my High School sewing classes had, which I love because at least I know how to use it!! Not that I can remember that far back very well, LOL. And it is a pretty simple machine, I'm sure it does more than I know or could figure out, or would ever use, but the basic forward and backward is very easy to do:) This isn't actually MY machine, as I'm borrowing it from my mother-in-law, but I've been 'borrowing' it from her for almost 10 years now.

I started sewing mid-day, figuring that I would get more done and be less frustrated if I spread out the work through-out the day. The first thing I worked on is a pattern for one of my cross stitch projects. This is from 'With Thy Needle and Thread' called Hoppin Along Sampler. I finished stitching this one around the beginning of Dec and had wanted to sew it up into this cute little bunny right away, but didn't get to it. I got the bunny body done, it's eyes and nose sewn up and the ears sewn together and cut out and was about ready to scream, so I put it nicely away before someone got hurt!!! :)

Before... After... I went and bought what I needed for the wiskers today but forgot to pick up the ribbon I will need for around her neck, so I'll still need to get that. I also don't have any blush for the insides of the ears or the cheeks, but I'm sure I'll find someone who does.

After a little break and searching for a little chocolate, I got out my patchwork quilt that I started just before Christmas. I had two rows of 15 squares done before... And after a little work and two chocolates later, I now have 4 rows of 15 squares each:) I would have worked on this a little longer, but I needed to cut out some more squares, and my stitching was calling my name, so I worked on that for a bit. All in all I think I had a very seccessful first sewing night and am excited to do this again next week!!!

I should also have stitchy finish to show off later this week that will probably become my sewing project for next Friday in order to sew it up into a pin cushion:)

Friday Night Sew In

2011-01-18T22:55:00.003-06:00

Not sure what I'm thinking with joining in on something else, but this may just be what I need to get some sewing (non-cross-stitch) projects finished. I'm one who will start a sewing project, but I quickly get frustrated with it and then give up. I have a cross stitch project right now that needs sewn into a bunny (the stitching part is done, now the sewing machine part needs to happen:), and a small quilt that I started that I'd like to get done as well. We will see:) This starts this Friday, 1/21/11, and if you would like to sign up go to .... http://handmadebyheidi.blogspot.com/2011/01/january-friday-night-sew-in-signups.html

Should have pics on Saturday to show what I worked on Friday evening/night!!!

A Late Day 15

2011-01-18T09:21:00.004-06:00

I did start my day 15 project on the correct day, but only got about 5 stitches in before falling over into bed. Usually I do most of my stitching in the early morning hours after my dh leaves for work (around 3:30 am) and stitch for a while until I can't keep my eyes open any longer and then I go back to bed. However, as the week progresses, I usually am getting more and more run down, and by Saturday I just couldn't even stay awake a few min after dh left for work. So I thought, "I will stitch some on it when I get up." But I had to get ready to go to my parents house with dd. I planned then to stitch at my parents house, however my little neice and nephew were there (I really like playing with the 'littles' :) and mom needed a little housework help (she had a minor surgery and isn't yet up to her usually energy). Then the plan was to stitch when I got home, but after a visit to the in-laws, some shopping with dh and then the drive home, it was time to fix a quick dinner and then off to bed:) I did get those few stitches in before I went to bed, but only just!!!

So what did I work on? This project is from Black Bird Designs (a designer that I have loved for a while now, but haven't done many project from) and is called 'Summer House Pincushion.' I have changed the colors on it and am loving how it is turning out!!! I'm stitching this on 30 ct WDW Mocha and using CC's 'Blue Moon' and 'Cocoa Bean'. I have a bit more done on it than what is shown in the pic, but had better light when I took the pic than I do now, so I'll just leave this pic up for now and put an update later when I get more done.

When I finally put 'Summer House' away, I got 'Cranberry Deer' back out thinking I could finish is real fast. Unfortunatly, I realized too late that I don't have enough of GAST 'Mulberry' to finish the project. I can finish the inside design, and then use something else for the border though, and I think I'm going to do that, though I'm not sure what I'll use just yet. Or I can wait until I can get back to my LNS and get another of the mulberry, though it may not match and my LNS is over an hour away. HMMM, will have to pull out what I have and see what I can do with it.

That is all for now, hope to have some progress pics to show soon!!!

Day 12, 13 and 14 of Stitching Challenge

2011-01-14T19:51:00.006-06:00

Time to update on my Stitchy Challenge progress. I had a couple days that I just didn't feel like getting on the computer much, I thought I'd just do a few at one time:)

This is my day 12 project and is Liberty Tree by M Designs. This project can be found in the July/August 2010 issue of Just Cross Stitch mag (this is also the ornie preview issue). I am doing this project over one on 32 ct Jobelan Sandcastle (my FAVORITE fabric:) and am using WDW Lancaster Red for the thread.
This project is an old freebie (and I can not for the life of me remember where and when I got it) from Little River Designs called 'Just Add Snow'. I am stitching this on 18 ct. light blue aida and I did change almost all of the thread colors. I had started this one long ago and was going to add it to my WIP's projects, but noticed that over time it had gotten stained, and I just couldn't look past that, so I'm starting it new all over again:)

And lastly, for my Day 14 project, this is Cranberry Deer Pinkeep from Beehive Needleworks. This is another designer that I hadn't stitched from before, and it is going really well. I'm stitching this on 32ct Natural Raw Linen using GAST 'Mulberry' as my fiber. I was hoping to get a little more of this done today, Oh well:)

That is all for tonight. Tomorrow is offically the last day of this challenge and I think I'm going to stop with tomorrow too, even though I have more new starts ready. I'm going to take the rest of this month to work on some of the new projects I've started in the last couple weeks and then begin February with another round of new starts and also post some of my older WIPs. It's just going to drive me nuts if I can't get back to some of these projects soon, so this will give me the chance to do so. I have several more new projects to start next month that I really want to get to as well, so that will give me something to look forward to for February!!! :) So until tomorrow, hope you all have a restful night's sleep (and for those of you for whom it's already Saturday, I hope you have a lovely day!!!).

January Crazy Challenge - Day 11

2011-01-11T21:16:00.003-06:00

Real quick post tonight, as I 'm just ready for bed:) Today I started ABC Pinkeep Bird from With Thy Needle and Thread. This is over one (yes those letters and such are as small as they look!!!) on what I *think* is some kind of 28 ct fabric:) I really have no idea what this fabric is. I had a couple pieces of it, but it wasn't labeled (I usually do pretty good at labeling the fabrics), so I have forgotten what it is. I think this one will be another quick stitch. I'm not planning on sitting the bird upon an oil can as I don't have one and I think it looks a little uncomfortable for the bird;), so I think I'll just attach a string an make it into an ornament.
That's all for tonight. Dd and I have Awana tomorrow night, so hopefully I'll get my start for tomorrow posted early, otherwise I'll probably wait until Thursday:0) Have a great night!!!

Stitchy Challenge update - Day 9 and 10

2011-01-10T21:32:00.003-06:00

This weekend ended up being much busier than I had expected, so I did get some stitching done (though not much).

Sunday my dd's 4-H group had what they call '4-H Sunday' where one family from the group hosts the group at their church for the morning services and then we have a meal and our meeting at the church afterward. It was really nice, but went long into the afternoon, so I hardly got any stitching done yesterday at all. I did start Prairie Schooler's 'Harvest Time' book 93 that I'm doing over 1 on 28 Jobelan antique white. This is the same scene as the Christmas one I'm doing from Prairie Schooler, only this one is for Autumn. Someone told me there is a spring/summer one too, but I haven't seen it yet (will have to try and find that one too!!!).
This is the one that I started today. I expected to get more stitching done on this, however I took some Nyquil last night and never did wake completely up from that today. Ended up taking a nap at 'lunch time' too, but still didn't feel right. Of course, I'm nice and awake now as I need to head to bed, LOL. I am feeling better now too, so I guess it was worth having a foggy headed day:)
This is 'Love One Another' from LHN and I'm stitching this on 32 ct. natural linen.

I'm getting to where I'm questioning whether I should do 23 new starts this month or not:) I'm really wanting to get back to stitching some that I've already started. Maybe 15 new ones this month and then 15 (new and older) ones next month? Not sure yet, guess we will see:)

One Thousand Gifts

2011-01-10T14:56:00.004-06:00

Here is something new (for me) that I found today while looking around at different blogs. This blog is the sweetest ever, I just love her sence of peace and the comforting way she 'talks'. So I thought I would start blogging my own 'Monday blessings' and see if after a while, I too, could come up with 1000 blessings:)

1. Snow - even though I really dislike the cold, we really needed the moisture. Now the wheat fields and pasture land that surrounds us will get the moisture they so desperately need.

2. Snow :) Okay, this is two fold, because while I don't like it, my dd LOVES it. She is out in it for the second time today, and no, school isn't getting done as much as I'd like, well, tomorrow will be too cold for her to be out in it, and we can make up the couple things we didn't get to today:)

3. Homeschooling. Goes back to the last one:) While we do have a list of what needs done everyday, we also have some wiggle room for days like today when the white fluffy stuff outside calls her name. And on the first days of warm spring and on the last days of lovely autumn. Not only do we get to learn together, but we have the time and flexabilty to enjoy all that comes our way:) (And while some kids got the whole day off, we still did get some schooling in:).

4. Cats. One batch of kittens that was born early this summer just got their first peek at snow this morning. It was really funny!!! First they tried to attack it, then realized that their paws were cold and wet and tried shaking them off with every step they took!! :)

Now that I try and think of daily blessings, I could list lots and lots:) I guess this will be all for now though. I will have another post this evening for my stitching.

Crazy Stitching Challenge Days 7 and 8

2011-01-08T23:37:00.005-06:00

Sorry for the absence yesterday and most of today (if I type really fast, I'll just squeek this in today - Jan 8th:). So really quick I'll post what my projects for yesterday and today were and hopefully I'll have time to post tomorrow too - another busy day tomorrow, but then it quiets down around here for a few days:)

Yesterday I closed my eyes and fumbled around in my basket and I pulled out Country Sampler 'Seek Goodness' Pinkeep Drum by Stacy Nash Primitives. Stacy is another designer that I've never stitched, but have wanted to for a while. I love this design and it is really quick and easy with it being all one color and DMC at that. I am stitching this on 32 ct raw linen.
And for today I pulled out Flower and Bird Sewing Roll from Chessie and Me. I found this chart in the clearance bin at my LNS and couldn't decide if I wanted it or not. I didn't like the white fabric the model what stitched on, but figured that for the price (and an extra 15% off as the store was having a sale) that I would just get it and stitch it later if I decided that I wanted to. Well, after shopping and leaving the store with my SIL, Marianne Meyer of Midnight Stitching, she started thinking of flosses and fabrics and on and on until we ended up back at the store with me buying what I needed for this chart:) She is so BAD!!! So, now it is part of my crazy challenge and I think I'm really going to like this one!!! I am using the threads the chart calls for, but am using 30ct WDW 'Straw' for the fabric.

OPPS, looks like I just missed getting this post in on time:( hehehe. I guess today, Jan 9th now:), will have to be a two post day. Though the next post will have to wait for normal human hours!!! Off to bed now, good-night:)

Crazy Jan Challenge - Day 6

2011-01-06T20:52:00.003-06:00

I'm so glad I decided to finish the fob yesterday because this challenge was starting to get to me. So many starts and not getting back to stitching on any of the ones I've started yet. But after finishing that little bitty one, I'm feeling much better about it all and am having fun again:)

Today I reached in my basket and pulled this one out (actually, I was looking for this one:). This is Small Token from BBD and I'm stitching it on 32ct Jobelan 'Sandcastle', which is my favorite fabric:) So very soft and I love the color dye on it. I got a bit more time to stitch today than usual because my dd had gymnastics today, so I always take a small project with me to work on while I'm watching her work:) I'm thinking that this is now my favorite project!!!
I'm off to bed, still fighting this cold/bug/whatever it is. Really it's not very bad, just a little annoying and making me feel a bit run down. I don't have anything I'm really wanting to stitch on tomorrow, so I'll just grab out of the basket and surprise myself (I'm pretty forgetful, so this isn't hard to do:) LOL

Stitchy Challenge day 4 and 5

2011-01-05T16:24:00.002-06:00

Sorry about not posting yesterday. I did start a new project and got some stitching done on it, but by the time evening rolled around, I just wasn't feeling well enough to stay up and post pics. I had a bad head ache, a cough, and congestion. But I'm doing much better now:) thank goodness for Mucinex and Vit C/Echinacea drops!!! Still have a bit of congestions, but it's all pretty much gone:)

I started 'Acorn Fob' by Chessie and Me yesterday, and as you can see I also finished it!!! Actually I finished it today, wouldn't even start a new one today until I had this one finished, and I LOVE IT!!! This was a 'freebie' handed out to group members of a stitching group at a get-together. I tried looking for a website, hoping I could give you a link to the freebie, but couldn't even find a website for Chessie and Me at all:( Anyway, I stitched this on 32ct Lambswool that I coffee stained. The chart called for silk threads, but I don't have any, so I used DMC instead.
This is the same project before I finished it into a fob. I did add the year to the side with my initials as well.

And this is my start for today. It is Winter Band Sampler from LHN. I am doing this one on 30ct natural raw linen and I changed all the DMC threads that it called for to various overdyed threads (if you'd like to know what I used, let me know:). I think this one will be a pretty quick project.

Well, this is all I'm going to get done today. We are having an early dinner and then dd and I go off to Awana where she had class and I do crafts with the youngest class (3-5 year old 'Cubbies'). It's a lot of fun, but I'm usually pretty worn out afterwards:) Until tomorrow...

Day 3 of Stitching Challenge

2011-01-03T20:59:00.003-06:00

I had meant to post a pic yesterday of not only what I stitched, but also a pic of what the project should look like when I'm done with it:) Not sure how I missed that one, but here is a pic of Prairie Schooler's "All Hearts Come Home". My camera is not doing well on close up pics, I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong, but this pic was the least fuzzy of the 10 or so my dh and I tried taking:) And this is what I picked out of my stitching basket for today. This is Pumpkin Hollow Farms from Little House Needleworks and I'm stitching this one on 32 ct Sandcastle. I'm only planning on stitching the top half of this design. My LNS has one done like that and I really like it:) I'm changing a few colors by adding a bit more color to the tree leaves and using a darker orange for the pumpkins. I did have more stitching time today, but still didn't get much done as I kept having to fix silly little mistakes I was making. Clearly I wasn't focusing any better than my camera, LOL :)

And just to add something a little different, here are our two puppy dogs:) Okay, they aren't puppies, but they are our big babies!!! Their names are Gracie (yellow lab) and Titus (brown lab).

I'm planning to pick a smaller project to start tomorrow and see how much I can get done on it. I have a couple projects in there that may only take a day or two if I really focus on them and it would feel nice to get one at least close to done:) I am also hoping to get a few min to stitch some more on Sarah Tobias. So far that one is my favorite!! :) Okay, until tomorrow...

Jan Challenge - Day 2

2011-01-02T22:16:00.001-06:00

Day 2 of this month's challenge turned out to be harder to find time to stitch. With dh going back to work tomorrow and my trying to get things organized for that (laundry, lunch things made up and started to get packed, etc.), and wanting to hang out with him and dd all together, stitching didn't take priority today:) That's okay though, as dh is back on overtime again, and that means more stitching time.

So today I reached in my stitching basket and pulled this one out. This is from Prairie Schooler book #86 - At Christmas All Hearts Go Home. I am doing this over one on 28ct antique white fabric. Those trees are VERY teeny tiny:) Sorry about the crappy pic, it is pretty dark in my house at night:0)
I also worked just a bit on BBD's Sarah Tobias, but didn't get much done on it. Maybe there will be enough change on it by the end of the week to show an update on it.
Well, it will be an early day tomorrow so I'm off to bed, but will be back tomorrow with Day 3 of January's Crazy Challenge:) Have a good night!!!

January Crazy Stitching Challenge

2011-01-01T21:33:00.001-06:00

Nope, I haven't forgotten about this. I've just been busy stitching:) I have two projects for today because two different stitching groups had a January 1st challenge. This first one is 'Peony' and is my first Nora Corbett design to stitch. I've always wanted to stitch one of her fairies and just needed someone who would want the finished product. Well, my dd really loves bright colors and she really liked this one, so here I am stitching it:) I'm doing this one on 32ct antique white fabric and that little bit of stitching at the bottom of the pic is all that I got done so far today.
This one I've been waiting to do for some time now. I am stitching it on 32 ct cream Belfast, lightly overdyed with coffee. I am working this over one. My plan is to make this into a pouch to carry scissors, tape measure, needles, etc.

Because I have a really hard time following directions;0) and because I went a little nuts with this challenge, I will be posting a project for every day this month. Some of the ones at the end of the month will be projects that I had previously started, but most of them (I believe 23 of them) are new starts:) I have no idea how many I can actually finish in a year, but I figured, since I already owned most of the charts I will be starting, that it couldn't hurt to go ahead and start them!!!

That's all for today, I'll have a new project to post about tomorrow:)

Christmas Time is Near

2010-12-19T04:28:00.000-06:00

We are just under one week out till Christmas Day!!! We actually had our family get-together with my inlaws today and it was a really nice time. I even got stitching stash and a gc for our needlework store!!! Can't beat that:)

I did get a few ornies done/done, as in not only stitched, but sewn/glued into actual ornies:) Pretty good for me. So this is the first batch for this year. One for my sil, one for my mil and two for me!!! Hopefully in the next few days I will get the next batch of ornies all sewn up.
And this is my Christmas tree. Dd was all excited to get this up and then it took a week with it up before I could get her to decorate it, and we've only turned the lights on a couple time, LOL. Oh, well:) We really wanted to get a new tree this year, but just can't bring ourselves to spend the money on something that is up (and in our way:) for one month a year.

And finally, here is a pic of my 15 new year projects (actually this is only 14 new ones and several WIPs and UFOs). Need to pick one more out and get it ready - though now that I got 2 new projects for Christmas, I may need to do a couple more than the 15:) Hmmm, wonder about doing a new project for every day of the month, LOL!!! Okay, maybe not:0) I will start listing the projects (both new and old) as I show them on my blog. Will be trying to get on here everyday until I go through all the projects and then posting at least twice a month on my progress. I am trying to finish at least one of my WIPs up until then now that I have all my ornies stitched up for the year.

I will be going to my LNS for their end of the year sale in a week or so and I will post pics of whatever I end up getting from that:)

Daybook Entry 12/8/10

2010-12-08T09:28:00.000-06:00

Been a LONG time since I've done this, so here it goes...

Outside my window-Last time I posted this I said it was too hot, now I'm thinking too cold!!! LOL I'm one who doesn't like the heat or the cold, so I'm pretty hard to please when it comes to the weather. Actually we haven't had it too bad yet, only a few days so far when the high was around freezing or just under. Nothing like last winter (or at least not yet), so I won't complain... right now;)

I'm thinking - mostly about Christmas and the 'get-togethers' that are coming up. Also thinking about some friends of mine that are going through a really hard time and trying to see if there is anything I can do to help them out.

Out in the garden - Well, not much going on in the garden this time of year. *We* (and by this I mean dh:) did get the garden cleaned up but it still needs tilled a time or two yet before spring. I would also like to get the area around the front porch cleaned up as it has been a while and we have some dead weeds and toys and cardboard boxes (?), and some etc. Really need to get that cleaned up before it snows and then I can't find it all!! : )

In the kitchen - Not much going on there either. Dh has really gotten into cooking (grilling) and is doing most of the cooking for us now. I'm not sure I even remember how to cook (not sure I care to ever remember either:). He has done everything from fahitas to pizza to baked beans to grilled fruit deserts, and he had dd even grilled cookies a couple of weeks ago that turned out great!!! It does help that he has a nice propane grill and a nice pellet smoker grill too:) The last thing that was in my oven was fabric that I was coffee dying!! :)

Creativity this week- Unlike the other catagories in this post, I do have lots going on in this one!!! I am almost always working on something. I am working like crazy to get some ornies done for Christmas, just got one done yesterday in fact. Though I can't post a pic of that one, it is for someone that just might peek in on my blog, I'll post a pic after our Christmas get together. I also started a small lap quilt a few days ago. We have a total of 3 people in this house, and a total of about 3 blankets:) So when a certain young monkey of a girl spills her dinner on my blanket, then we only have 2 clean ones:) I guess I could go out and buy some more blankets, but this is more fun!! I'm also really excited to get started on my 15 new stitching projects!! I think so far the hardest part of that challenge is to wait until it starts!!!

In the barn - We really have dwindled down the number of animals we have out here. We got rid of the chickens last summer (?), and a few months ago took the cows in to slaughter. So now we only have the dogs (2), the cats (8), and the guinea pig. Dd is wanting to do bucket calf for 4-H this year, so we'll be getting a couple more calves around the beginning of the year, and we are all really wanting chickens again, so are planning on those sometime around early spring. That should help raise our animal numbers back up again:0)

What I'm reading - Nothing for me right now. Dd and I have been going through some missionary stories lately though. One of them took us only 2 days to get through:) It was really good, about the missionary Ida Scudder (1870-1960, missionary to India). So reading those and a few other things for her school (science and history).

Okay, so two posts in a week!!! I'm doing so good:) hehehe

It's been a long time:)

2010-12-06T16:06:00.000-06:00

Well, I never did promise that I would be good at keeping up with blogging (or anything else for that matter, you should see my laundry pile!!! :) However, I am going to try to do this once again. I'm pretty sure no one reads here anyway, but even if not, it is fun to go back and read what I have written and it makes me feel that I have actually accomplished something to go back and see pics of my stitching and other things.

So I have a few pieces to show off. I'm pretty sure I've finished a few other small ones as well, but I can't remember now (SEE? I should be doing this more often, if for no other reason than to help me remember what I have done!! :) hehehe.

These will all be made into ornaments as gifts for Christmas. Once I get them all sewn up, I'll put another pic on here. This first one is from Brittercup. I did this one for an exchange, but did another just like it (though half the size) for my dd as she really likes it too. She has a mini tree for her room and so the ornie needed to be really small.
This one is from Blackbird Designs and can be found in the 2009 ornie issue of JCS mag. I'm pretty sure I'm keeping this one for myself:) Oh, and I hand-dyed the fabric on this one and the next one!! The fabric looks different in these two pics, but it is really the same color and both look closer to the first pic IRL.

And this one is by The Victoria Sampler - Designs by Cathy Jean. I started this one thinking it was for me, but after my mil saw it, and said she really liked it, it became hers. Now, I am thinking I need to stitch this one again for me:).

I am also signing up to do a internet stitching challange. The challange is to start a new project everyday for 15 days, starting Jan 1st and blog about those projects over the course of the year, until they are finished. I WILL FAIL this challenge (at least the last half of it, I do have 15 projects to start), but it will be fun anyway. I have already picked out my 15 charts and have most of them kitted up (though I need a few fibers and fabric for a couple of the projects). I will need to wait until our LNS has their sale at the end of the year to get the few things that I need, but I am almost ready as it is. I think I will also add my older WIPs to the list as well, so that they don't become lost and forgotten!! After counting the WIPs I already have (and that I still would like to stitch. I have several that I just don't like anymore), I will be adding 8 more projects to the 15 new ones:) Well, like I said, I WILL FAIL, but that is okay, I really like stitching:)

Daybook Entry for 6/23/10

2010-06-23T09:42:00.000-05:00

It's been a while since I've done one of these, soooo....

Outside my window.... It's HOT!!! Even in the mornings, which I didn't expect this early in the summer. This is pretty normal for August, but not June. I guess after such a cold winter we had it coming:) We did buy dd a new stock tank to swim in . She loves the water had been 'swimming' in an old cast iron bathtub that the in-laws had laying around, but she can't hardly move in it. So we moved her up in the 'pool' dept:) She is loving it and I have even gotten in there with her once. It had been a long time since I've swam in a stock tank!!!

I'm thinking....Well for a while after school was out I tried thinking as little as possible:) I haven't even looked through curriculum for next year yet even though I bought it 3 weeks ago. Usually I only wait about a week, if that, and am then digging through it all. Too much going on I guess, but I do feel as if I'm almost ready to tackle it. Really it's not very hard as all the lesson plans are done for me (THANK GOODNESS!!!) but I do like to have an idea what will be coming up and to loosely plan for at least the first couple weeks.

Out in the garden...It needs tilled, but the rows of veggies are mostly weeded (except the okra, still need to do that row), which is a HUGE improvement over the past few years:) We have tomatoes, lots of peppers, green beans and okra. Yes, a big scale down from what we've tried doing in the past (though the whole garden is planted, so while we didn't do the veriety that we've tried in the past, we have the same volume of plants:).

In the kitchen....I've been working on canning some, though not from our garden yet. My father-in-law loves to grow a big garden, though he and mil eat very little of it. Instead they seem to give most of it away. Works for me!!! So we've already gotten lots of peas (my dd loves to shell peas:), green beans, cucumbers, onions and potatoes:) And I didn't have to plant, weed or pick a single bit of it, LOL. We ate peas until we were sick of them, so I have 3 batches in the freezer. We're not sick of the green beans yet, but I had too many to use, so I've canned 5 quarts of them and have more in the fridge that we need to use tonight.

I'm also back to working on GF cooking. It's too hot to work on baking very much, so I'm thinking of playing with flatbreads. I started looking for recipies and it's kind of fun to find that each area of our world has their own verson of a flatbread. There is the popular pancakes (which I made this morning) and tortillas which I am most familar with. And I've had pita bread before, though very rarely. So those are a few that I might try, but I also want to look into chapita, naan, paratha etc, of India and see if any of these will work for me too:) Pizza crust and focaccia are also considered flat breads, but I have to stick to those without yeast and as I said, I also don't want to turn on the over if possible:0)

Creativity this week....Mostly working on things with dd. 4-H county fair is coming up pretty soon and she has several projects that need working on:) She wants to take 4 entries for Foods, 4 entries for Arts and Crafts, 4 entries for Photography, and 4-5 entries for Gardening/Plant Science. HMMM, we better get busy:)

My reading indulgences....I have a couple books that I'm reading through, one quickly and one a bit slower. The slower one is 'One Million Arrows' by Julie Ferwerda and is about how to raise our children to live their lives for GOD. It's been good so far, just a little slower of a read for me as I want to absorb it instead of just skimming. The other book is 'Boys Without Names' by Kashmira Sheth. It is about a family in India that has to move to the big city, looses the father and then out of desperation the oldest boy goes looking for work only to be sold into slavery. It is really good and though not a true story, it is based on what really goes on there everyday. I started this 300+ pg book yesterday and am 2/3rds of the way done with it:) That is why I won't do a post about how my house looks now, cause I've been busy with other things:) hehehe

Okay, I've made this long enough now, so I better go and actually work on my mess of a house;)

Animal update

2010-06-03T10:20:00.000-05:00

Thought I would give an update on our animals around here:) Here is the only kitten that survived the first round of kitty litters (round #2 is soon to come). We had 4 born (2 different momma cats) but one momma wouldn't take care of her's so we didn't get very many this spring. My dd brought this one inside to me as I was cleaning out this table, so I stuck him in there and he really seemed to like it:) We gave him this 'seal' toy which he really likes, you have to keep your fingers back or he'll get them too:)
Here is a couple pics of our boys. I'm not sure how this happened, but a couple weeks ago my dd was playing outside and called us out to see this. Seems like he was playing with the bucket and got it stuck on his head, LOL. Took my dh a while before the bull calf let him get close enough to pull it off it's head:) It was pretty funny as the calf was rubbing the bucket all over the ground trying to get it off:) The other guys didn't seemed bothered by it at all. hehehe

We also got rid of our chickens. It was kind of sad as we really liked having them here, but they were pulling up our garden and as they kept eating things they shouldn't, we weren't eating their eggs anymore either (we gave the eggs to the cats). Next time we will pen them in, hopefully 'chicken tractor' style so they can still eat naturally but not be so 'free' ranged. This will help us to know where the eggs are too, instead of having a year long easter egg hunt:)

Next week I hope to post an update to our garden. Since dh is doing a good deal of it this year, it is weed free enough to post pics:)

Daybook Entry for 4-30-10

2010-04-30T10:50:00.000-05:00

Outside my window... Cloudy, cool and wet. But we've needed the moisture. Last night some storms went through and we had some hail with it. One of our dogs does not handle storms very well and at about midnight she (our 75 lb. yellow lab) jumped into bed with my dd:) Dd was a little surprise, hehehe. I finally had to shut all the bedroom doors to keep her out as she just would not stay still and quiet. The other dog (about 80 lb chocolate lab) did just fine and would have slept through the whole thing if the other dog would have stayed calm:)

I'm thinking...about getting our garden in. We finally went and bought our plants last weekend, but haven't gotten them in the ground yet, and after the storm last night, I'm glad we hadn't. It's time though so hopefully the garden spots will dry out enough to allow us to get some planting done.

In the kitchen...I really need to try to make some gf bread again. I tried 3 different times in one day a couple weeks ago and each time failed!!! I used to make our whole wheat bread, but this is so different from wheat/yeast breads and I just need to keep trying. I REALLY want a sandwich:) Guess I know what I'll be doing this weekend, besides the garden;)

Creativity this week included... Worked a little on the crocheted bag but mostly worked on a stitched bookmark for dd's 'Secret Sister'. I'll post a pic soon as we will be giving it to her today and dd gets to find out who her 'secret sister' is today.

My reading indulgences... I've begun to read through the Bible following a one year plan. I'm doing pretty well so far, but I mostly skimmed Genisis as I've been through it by myself twice in the last 2 years and once with dd for school, so I pretty much knew it:) I am also reading a V.C. Andrews book from the library. I haven't read any of her books for years (probably about 10 years). It's okay, but a little weird.

Around the house... It's a mess, again, or still, not sure anymore;0) DD and I have been gone so much this week that only the most necessary things have gotten done (like enough dishes to eat off of and enough clothes to wear). She has had 2 skating parties - one for Awana, one for Enrichement class, had her Awana program, a play date with friends, gymnastics/library day, and today her homeschool group has their last 'Secret Sister' party. Hopefully we'll be home this weekend:) Next week is much better as Awana is done for the year, no parties, etc. Just gymnastics and a 4-H meeting.

Project updates

2010-04-20T10:52:00.000-05:00

Got a few minutes by myself right now. DD is just about done with school and so she is taking a break outside right now:) So I thought I would finally update with some of the projects I've been working on lately.

Here is a pic of our Passover table. The cute little lamb in the middle is to represent the 'Passover Lamb' since we've never cooked or eaten lamb before, we used this instead:) We kept things very simple, just mostly going over symbolism of things from the first Passover and how Jesus became our 'Passover Lamb'. (and yes, that is a big map on the wall:) We have a small house, so our living room is our dining room is our school room, is our computer room... you get the picture:).
Here are the scarves that I did. I really love the yarn (100% cotton), and how it had all the colors twisted together. They were really simple and quick to do, too:0)

Here is a little bigger project I've been working on off and on for a while. These are pieces of what will go together to make a blanket. Most of it will be brown with strips of cream and green. This is the softest yarn I have ever felt too, it will be so cozy once it is done.

I started this just playing with the extra yarn I had from one of the scarves, not knowing if it would work or not. I think it just might though. I'm making a back like this front and the red will form the bottom and sides to give the bag depth. I'll post a pic when it is done, if it works;).

I still want to do a post on our animals soon and I have a couple cross stitch projects that I've been working on that I'll post about once I get them finished. Oh, and pretty soon we've got to get the garden in so I'll post about that soon too (if we do much this year, we are trying to take it a bit slower in hopes that *I* don't get overwhelmed with it and just give up. Like last year, and the year before :).

Daybook Entry for 3-29-10

2010-03-29T10:41:00.000-05:00

Time for another 'Daybook Entry' :) This does seem to help me post more. I never have anything big to share on here so this lets me share little things all at once.

Outside my window... It is beautiful today!!! Even this morning during animal chores, I only needed a sweater. I LOVE SPRING!!!!

I'm thinking... About Passover today. Tonight starts the beginning of Passover and we are doing a Passover dinner and going to read the symbolism of the first Passover vs. what Jesus did for us on the cross. Really excited about this:) This will be the first time we do Passover (it is part of dd's school curriculum with the study of Old Testament times) but after reading a lot on it, I'm hoping it can become a new tradition for us.

I am thankful for... Jesus. I don't usually talk about my faith much, but I need to. In not doing so I'm showing my family, friends and others that I don't really value it much. This needs to be what is on my tongue most all the time, not just when it comes up. I truly want to put Christ first in my life.

In my kitchen... Going to be doing some cooking and cleaning today. In the Bible, leaven is used to sybolize sin and for Passover the Jewish people clean out their homes of all leaven (yeast, baking powder and soda). While we (as Christians) believe that Jesus now cleans us of our sin, I thought we'd use this as a 'hands on' way to show getting rid of our sins. It'll be a good excuse to buy fresh 'leaven' in about a week and to get my cabnets clean:)

Creativity this week included... Mostly crochet. I finished my mom's scarf (just in time for spring!!! LOL) I forgot to get a pic of it done though. I also made another scarf in the same pattern, but different yarn and am working on another in a different pattern and yarn. Should be able to get this last one done tomorrow and I'll take pics soon:)

My reading indulgences... Still about Passover mostly. I really don't read a whole lot for myself, mostly because we read so much for dd's schooling. We almost always have a book on tape going in the car (this helps when most car rides are at least 20-30 mins long). We are finishing up 'Rainbow Garden' by Patricia St. John - all of her children's books in this series are wonderful:). We are also reading on the ancient Greeks, mythology and their gods/godesses. And we have daily Bible reading as well. I think dd is actually in the middle of reading two different books for herself as well:)

Around the house... Vast difference from the last post;) It is a mess and I have a lot to do today to get ready for tonight's dinner. I need to at least find the dining table, LOL!!! Probably will need to clean the kitchen some so I can make the dinner;) Okay, so time to get off of here, I guess :)

Hopefully I'll have some pics (if I remember) of tonight's Passover dinner and some of the scarves, and maybe it's time to do an update on all the animals out here as we have some that have grown and some that are new:)

Have a wonderful day!!!

Some pics (and a SNAKE!!!)

2010-03-24T07:31:00.003-05:00

Well, I am finally getting to posting some pics (and at the end is an explanation of WHY I am actually getting to this). This is what I've been up to the last couple of weeks...

This one is of my limited embordery scissor collection. I've had more scissors than these, but I loose them pretty quickly:) And look Marianne...I've still got the ones you gave me for Christmas!!! LOL Actually I keep pretty good track of those being that they are my favorite:) Notice that they are all 'wearing' their 'fobs'. I have NO idea why they are called scissor fobs, but I guess that is what the pretty beading is called:) The top one on the right side (the green and blue one) was made by Monique of 'My Mark Designs' and I won it through a give-away she had on Facebook. It is really, very pretty and goes with my 'Rose Tudor' scissors perfectly. The rest, I made and I love working with the pretty beads to make up things to match my scissors. The one on the bottom left hand side actually goes on the zipper of my purse. It doesn't have scissors that it belongs to (YET anyway;). This one is a project that I started at the beginning of the year. A 'new year' project:) I'm about half way on it and it is another part of the 'Saltbox Scripture' series from Little House Needleworks. This one is "Blessed are the Merciful".

Here is a pic of a scarf I've been working on forever!!! I made my mom a blue scarf for Christmas and she really liked it. Said it was the first scarf she's had that didn't cause static, so she wanted another, but pink this time. Well, since I'm still learning how to crochet (I just used double crochet stitch in the first one) I thought I'd try something different. I've tried a couple different ways and I pulled them all out. They were okay, but just not what I wanted. So I'm now doing one row with double crochet and the next with triple crochet. It is finally working for me!!! :)
Here is the surprize I found this morning!!! My early morning routine is to get up with dh a little after 4:00 to make his breakfast/lunch and see him off. Then I stitch/crochet for a short while and then go back to bed. When I got to my room, this guy/gal was climbing out of a (rather large) hole in our wall. I didn't think to get a pic then (as I was freaking out!!!). But after he/she crawled back through the wall (hissing at me the whole time) and I called my dh and started looking in the basement to see if it went there, I did manage to calm down enough to get a picture. Our basement is one of those that you don't like to spend much time in and we've had to pull out most of the sheetrock because of mold, so that's why it is such a mess. Aparently that is exactly what this guy/gal likes!!! Well, I couldn't just leave it there, so I grabbed a couple broom handles (that my dd likes to play with - no broom, just the long handles;), and pulled it down into a trash can and put a box on it. I knew that wouldn't hold him though, so I put it into a cooler....

Do you think this will hold him? LOL :) I know they are pretty strong though, so I keep going down and checking to make sure it is still in there (I did unplug the drain hole in the cooler so it would have air). I have looked on-line and I think it is either a Kansas Glossy or a Western Rat Snake. Couldn't tell the difference between the two and wasn't going to open up the cooler to get a closer look. I know it isn't poisonous. It was trying to mimic a rattler, but I got a good look at its tail and there isn't anything there:)

Well, you now know why I couldn't go back to sleep (and why I may NEVER be able to go back to sleep!!!) and so I was up to put a new post on here!!! :)

It's already 8:00am here now anyway, so I guess it doesn't matter anymore that I couldn't go back to bed;0) I hope everyone is having a great day. Time to get something done for the day!!!

Daybook Entry for 3-19-10

2010-03-19T13:28:00.000-05:00

Okay, I'm going to try something new for me in an effort to actually end up posting once in a while:) I stole this off of someone's else's blog and she called it 'Daybook Entry'. Not sure what I'll call it yet, but an update is an update, right? :)

Outside my window...It is cloudy and cold again. In for a snowstorm tonight and tomorrow, hopefully that will be it for the year!!!

I'm thinking...That I need to get off the computer and actually get something done today.

I am thankful for... The weather the last couple of days. It was beautiful yesterday!!!

In my kitchen...Not as messy as usual;) I do need to finish up the dishes and maybe try (again) to make some gf bread. I've not had much luck with that yet.

Creativity this week included...Cross stitching, as usual, and some crocheting. Working on an exchange for a stitching group on the cross-stitch and working on a blanket for us with the crocheting. Pics to come.

I am going...to our LNS tomorrow!!! At least I will be if the weather holds out.

My reading indulgences...Mostly reading on Passover right now as that is coming up soon. Also started reading another Amish fiction series.

Around the house...Not too bad. Spent most of yesterday cleaning. Need to finish up a few things, but it is realitively clean. The house is never clutter free though as it is so small and not enough room for what we have, but it is what we have:)

Well, enough for now. I'm hoping to do one of these once a week and may have a picture post once a week as well to help with keeping up:) We will see.

Updated pics

2009-12-07T08:42:00.000-06:00

Finally getting around to putting up the pics from the last post:) Here are a couple pieces I've been working on. I love the bird, though I did change several of the colors to ones I liked better.

This one was done as a Christmas ornament exchange. I think this is the first ornie that I've finished and I like how it turned out. If it hadn't been such a pain in the hiney to stitch (it was stitched on 32 ct, over one) I might think about making another for me:)

Here is a pic of my crocheting basket. Just various beginner projects, none of which I have finished.

This is the colonial style dress I made as a play dress/costume for dd. It is a little wrinkly here and it turned out too big on her, but it is cute and worked for her 'enrichment' class dress up day. This was quite a project for me as I hadn't made more than a skirt since high school (and then I had a teacher to tell me what the pattern meant:) Other than the zipper (which I could go back and fix, but won't) it turned out pretty good.

Lastly, this is one of our new cows. We have four, but I couldn't get them all to pose for a picture at one time:) This one was the closest and the best picture. They all have slightly different markings, but are pretty much the same. This one is named 'Spot' (for the spot on his rump). There is another that has a spot on his rump too, but has a black face and there-fore is named 'Black Face'. Another has a pure black back and is named (wait for it, we are so cleaver with naming cows;), 'Black Back'. And the last is named 'T-Bone', first because we are mean and second, because he has a big white 'T' mark on his back. We only name them because we need a way to tell them apart when they are little and get sick (that way we know which ones to watch and which ones need meds). We don't have enough to go to the trouble of tagging yet, so for now naming them will work:)

Nothing much new going on around here other than getting ready for Christmas. I am actually going to get Christmas cards sent out this year and got new pics of dd too:) I am also stitching some ornies for gifts and something for dd too, though she doesn't know about that yet.

Hope everyone is staying warm (we AREN'T!!!) and having a good holiday season:)

Been a long time:)

2009-11-09T17:14:00.000-06:00

Okay, I know I said I'd do better and blog more;) I usually am waiting until I have pics to share before I write and well, I'm not good with remembering to take pics, and so I don't post.

Today, however, I'm going to just write a post with no pics so that I will at least get an update on here.

I've been busy, busy here lately, but for the next couple of weeks it looks like things are slowing down, which I really like:) I'm very much a 'home-body' and so lots of running makes me a little crazy:)

I've been sewing (a costume/play dress) for my dd, running to lots of activities for her, learning to crochet, doing a bit of stitching and looking at all the fun Christmas crafts I *might* get around to doing at some point. We also have taken our Jersey bulls in for slaughter and have 4 new (about 3 weeks old) Holstein bulls. They are really cute and I will get a pic soon before they get too big. I had forgotten how much work the little ones take though, as they get sick pretty easily when they are that young and aren't with their mommas. Between making sure they are all happy and well and bucket feeding a couple times a day (not to mention the 'clean-up' they require), they alone keep us busy.

I've also started helping out at our Awana meetings in the 'Cubbies' group (they are all the 3 and 4 year olds, and are so very cute:). That has been a lot of fun and as I'm already at the church with dd, it helps the time go by quicker too. Our Awana meeting is about 20 min away from home (as it just about everything else:), so it doesn't work out for me to come back home during the meeting. And this is much more fun anyway:)

Hopefully I can get some pics taken of some of the projects I've been working on and can then post them soon. No promises though:) hehehe

Wet!!!

2009-09-11T08:25:00.000-05:00

We got a little rain a couple of days ago:) We really needed the rain but it seems like we either get nothing, or a LOT. We got a little over 3 inches and this is what it does to our place...
The above picture is of our river, I mean drive way. This isn't as bad as we've had it, but it's pretty close. All the water from the farmer's fields to the south and west of us (and maybe a river to the south of us, but we think it's too far away to be where this is coming from) flows through our place on its way to a river to the north of us. We know it's connected to a river somewhere because we get fish and crayfish left over after the flooding.

This pic is of our front pasture just to the north of the drive way (which is also still in the pic). About 2 acres of fast flowing 'lake'. Below you can see that at least the duck is happy about our new landscape:)

Yep, that's one happy duck!!!

Our drive way is now fairly dry with just a couple puddles left and the front pasture is mostly just extremely muddy, though some water is still flowing through. I actually like having the flooding (our house is safe, so I don't have to worry about that), because we have ducks (other than ours) and other water birds come to visit. And dd loves to look for the fish and crayfish and whatever else she can find in the water. She just wears her mud boots and stomps around in the water. We make her wear the mud boots because we don't know what is running off the fields (and we don't let her in the water at all if the fields have been sprayed within a couple days before the flooding).

I still need to post about some sewing and stitching I have been working on. As soon as I get that small quilt done and the small stitching project I am working on done, I'll post those:)

Progress

2009-09-02T11:52:00.000-05:00

I think I've decided that, like gardening, I am horrible at blogging:) I have gotten some things out of my garden this year, which is an improvement over last year, but it is still very over grown with weeds (which is why you won't get a picture of the garden, hehehe). Here is a picture of the tomatoes and some volunteer sunflowers I picked yesterday. It is great that the sunflowers take care of themselves (and re-seed themselves) because I think I've proven time and time again that I cannot keep flowers alive!!!
I arranged the sunflowers with some 'wild flowers' I found during my morning walk. I think they turned out nice:) In the back ground of the picture is our dog 'Gracie'. She is a bit spoiled and lazy:)

I also have a new pic of our 'boys'. WOW have they gotten big (at least for Jersey bulls) and mean (normal for Jersey bulls). We are just about ready to send them off to be 'processed'. I thought that would be hard on me as when they were little I bottle fed them and petted them. However, the older and bigger and more aggressive they become, the more ready I am to have them gone, hrmm, in the freezer:)

I hope to have some progress pictures on stitching and maybe a small wall quilt to show off next time. I'm trying to get a few things made and ready to start up an Etsy shop. We'll see how much time I have though:)

New life

2009-06-29T13:52:00.001-05:00

We'll I think we finally have new kittens for this year. I've posted before how my cats have all been letting their kittens die off, and I think that is still happening, but I finally have a momma cat taking care of a couple of her kittens:) We found several more that hadn't made it, but momma cat did take care of these two. And they are so cute:) I had to move them that first day as she had them under a tractor that was outside and clouds were moving in. I took the kittens and momma cat to the barn and set up a box for them. This way they stay dry and momma is closer to her food and water and can leave the kittens where they'd stay safe.

I never thought I'd say we'd want more kittens after last spring, but it just doesn't seem like summer without new little ones running around. So far these two are it for this year, much improved from the 21 kittens we had born last year!!!

These are much more welcomed out here:) These two hens shared a nest of eggs, and are now sharing the chicks as well. They had 7, but one died. After we moved them to this caged in coop I went to throw out the leftover eggs and noticed one was cheeping. So I kept it in a box with hot water bottles and about 1 1/2 days later, it hatched:) I then gave it a couple days and put it in with the hens and other chicks and they all took to eachother.

This was another hen that was sitting as well. I didn't know what to expect from her as I didn't know how old the eggs she was sitting on was (our hens are REALLY free range and I don't always know where they are laying at). I noticed the hen making some noises this morning and so I checked and sure enough, there were little heads peeking out. I counted 3 or 4 before asking dh if he thought we should leave her be for another day or two, or go ahead and move them today. He said to let her sit for a little longer to make sure they are all hatched this time;) I decided to pick her up to see how many she had and I counted 10 heads!!! After I took this picture I went over to the nest and another one was hatching so she's really going to have her feathers full;)

It is so great to have new life all around us:) I love watching the chicks learn to peck the ground and flutter around. And who doesn't love a little kitten (hmmm, don't ask my dh - who is sick and tired of having cats around;0).

A Stitchy Post:)

2009-05-28T10:21:00.000-05:00

It's been a while since I've posted and I thought (okay it was requested:) that I'd give a little bit of an update. This will be the first in a couple of posts that I hope to get up within the next couple of days.

I've been stitching up a storm this past several weeks. This one is for a Quaker exchange I am doing. I still need to make it into something before the end of June for it to be ready. I think the hedgehog is really cute:)
This one I started about a month ago and then haven't done anything more with it. It is called "Bless Our Home" and is by Country Cottage Needleworks.

I have been mostly working on this one and like it so much that I ordered the other 3 in the set:) This is the spring section of "Saltbox Scriptures" from Little House Needleworks. I will post an update when I get it done.

And finally, after a full year of working on this one.... IT IS DONE!!! I need to look for a frame for it and put on the buttons, but other than that, it is done. I am suprised that I still really like this one;) I got it for my birthday in 2008 and finished it ON my birthday in 2009.

Well that is all for stitching. I have some updates on my garden and what I've been learning about herbs to write about later this week:)

New discoveries:)

2009-04-21T15:25:00.000-05:00

I have, for a while now, wondered what kind of weeds we have growing around the place. I know that a lot of 'weeds' end up being useful herbs and wanted to see if we had anything useful growing around here. However, I really didn't know where to start to find out what these plants were, so this spring I've gone around and started tasting anything that looked like it might be edible (don't worry, I do know what the poison ivy, oak and such look like:). I know dandelion leaves are edible, so I started there. They are pretty bitter, but I think they should be cooked. I've tried a few others as well, but still don't know what they are.

Today my dd brought me a 'weed' and asked what I thought it was. The cats were eating it, and that is why she noticed it. So I smelled it and it smells like mint. I looked for a while on the Internet and found that it is either cat mint or catnip. Some sites say it's the same thing and some say they are a bit different. Both are from the mint family and perfectly safe for humans. Now to dig some of it up to put it in the garden so it is officially an herb and not a weed:)
I also saw the birds that I look for each spring. They don't stick around here long, but are really pretty and as we have very few trees, we don't get a lot of the pretty, colorful birds around here. Mostly we get prairie birds which sing beautifully, but don't have much color to them. I also looked these up and found them to be Yellow headed blackbirds. Not an original name:) And they are LOUD!!!

Here is our last discovery. I found this little one's momma while she was giving birth. She dropped her baby and walked away. I tried to get the momma to take some interest, but she had already let the first born die and didn't want to be anywhere near this one. I knew we couldn't keep it alive, but the other cats were a little too interested in the baby (which when wet and brand new looked much too like a dead mouse or rat), so I brought it in. Yes, the poor thing died, but we gave it love and care for as long as we could:( The poor little thing was so ugly that it was cute:)

That is all for now. I have several more pics of 'weeds' that I want to research to see if they are anything useful, I'll post what I find:)

Some stitching

2009-04-02T09:28:00.000-05:00

I'm finally getting around to posting about the stitching I've been doing:)

This first one is just getting started. It is from Brittercup and will have a horse and a kitty on it. I'm doing this one for my dd, as she loves both horses and cats.

This one is getting pretty close to done. It is by Little House Needleworks called 'Heart of America.' I have been working on this since last June, so it's taking a while, but I just love it:)

I'm only working on this one on and off. I found this sampler at www.gazette94.blogspot.com and really like the red and white look. I'm doing this on 28 ct over one so it won't be as big.

This one I just started and finished. I love doing small projects that I can get done quickly. This one will be sent off as an exchange. Now my dd wants this one too:)

All turned out well after the storm. All the animals ended up safe and sound. Would you believe that we are getting snow AGAIN today?!?!? It isn't to amount to anything though, however the last snow isn't all melted yet. We do have the moisture we were needing though, so that really is all that matters.

More weather pics

2009-03-28T11:09:00.001-05:00

Here are some more pics from the storm. I am thinking we are about done with it now. We have been lucky as a good deal of people are without electricity and we still have ours. The animals are fine and after a recount in the light this morning, it looks like we are only missing one chicken. She may still be in the barn, so I think we are okay.

These are not our cows. They belong to the man that owns the pasture surrounding us. They are okay, but looked misserable when I went out this morning. Poor things don't have any shelter at all out there.

Well, now on to clean up. You can see how high the snow is up to the shop. Dh is going to dig that out so he can get to the tractor and then he has to dig the blade out. Hopefully he doesn't get the tractor stuck before he can get to the blade. We are completely snowed in right now. I have no idea what the roads are like, but by the time we have our driveway cleared they should at least have major highways pretty good. Not that we are going anywhere. We are staying home!!!

Crazy Weather

2009-03-28T08:21:00.000-05:00

We have had some crazy weather since yesterday!!! I took a few pics out our one window that we can see out of, and I'll take some more later when the snow finally stops.

This one is toward our lean-to. You can see that the inside is almost filled up with snow. I'm thinking that drift is about 5ft tall.

Can't tell much from here. Behind the trailor is the stock tank. Can't see it? That's because it is completely under snow now:) We are going to have to dig out the water spiket too to give the animals their water.

And here are our cars. They aren't going anywhere for a while. Our shop has snow up to the big door handles, so we have to dig the shop/barn out so we can get the tractor out to start moving snow around.

Not sure how the animals are doing. Everyone exept 3 chickens are where they should be. Either in the barn or coop. I went to put chickens away last night and only 12 of the 19 were in the coop. We found 4 more of them, half frozen wondering around and put them in the coop. They couldn't see over the snow drifts to find the coop!!! Couldn't find 3 of them, so I'm hoping they were hiding in the barn or in the lean-to.

Will put more pics on later when it stops snowing:)

Hope everyone is safe and warm.

Garden fun:)

2009-03-10T11:20:00.000-05:00

I kept hoping to get a bit more done before posting, but I relized that there is still much to do before I'm going to be ready to plant, so I thought I would give an update for what we are doing. I've been wanting to play around with raised beds for a few years now, however it cost more to plant a raised bed than just directly in the ground, so we've never done it. This year we came up with the idea of using cinder blocks, so they will last and not draw termites being that this one is so close to the house. I am planning on putting my lettuce, carrots and herbs in this one. I'll be able to cover it on the cooler nights easier than if it were in our big garden bed too:)

Here is most of the cinder blocks with one of our cats finding the plastic wrapping quite entertaining:)

And here is our start on it, with more cats checking to see if it is level and straight (and if any mice are hiding in the holes:).

And here it is finished. It did take a lot longer to put together than I expected. I had not thought of the time it would take to level and square it. Actually, had it been up to me, I wouldn't have bothered, but those kind of things drive dh crazy:) So it is very level and square to the house, nice and perfect (until I go and plant in it that is).

No, it doesn't have dirt in it yet. This is the beginning of the things that still needs done before I can plant. You see, dh wanted a flatbed for his truck, and so far it has been far nicer than a regular bed for him, but it doesn't work for hauling dirt and such;) So he needed to get wood to build sides that will go off and on the bed. Then he decided that it would be great to have a sprinkler system for this raised bed, which he is right, but now we need sprinkler heads:) Then we need to go to his parents and get dirt. THEN we need to build an encloser for the chickens and not allow them to be so FREE (do you see the one in the pic trying to find something to eat?). But before we can cage in the chickens I have to clean a large area around the chicken coop so they have a nice place to be.....THEN we will need to get some T-posts (thankfully we have the fencing we need) so we can build the enclosure. I'm getting tired just thinking about it!!! At that point I'll be able to plant:)

But since I couldn't wait, I went ahead and started some seeds inside. They never do well inside, but I had to give it a try again anyway:) I planted these (ground cherries and sunberries) a little over a week ago and nothing has come up yet, but I'll keep waiting for a while. This is the 3rd year I've tried the ground cherries (they should be a little sweeter than a tomato, but in the same family), and if they don't grow this year, I'm giving up on them until I have a green house. The sunberries (just a bit larger than a pea, taste comparable to a blueberry), are new to me this year, we'll see if anything happens.

Hopefully in the next year or two I'll get my green house. We have some of the materials we want to use for it, but haven't had time to work on it. Most things we grow can be started outdoors, so it won't matter much anyway:)

I'll have a stitchy post in a few days:)

This and that:)

2009-02-25T16:10:00.000-06:00

I have a bit of this and that to share today:)

First off is some stitching I've been doing. This is my spring bunny and the whole reason I needed a spring colored tuck. I have a red tuck that works for everyother season/holiday, but this one needed one of its own:)

Next is a beginning pic of my garden. Nothing going on here yet, but it does look better than it did a few days ago. My dh plowed this spot up and tilled it for me and now it looks nice and pretty. I don't know if you can see them, but there are a few chickens digging around in there looking for all sorts of yummy bugs for their dinner. If only they'd leave the worms:)

And lastly a pic of our boys. These are Jersey bull calves (how old do they have to be before they are not 'calves' anymore?). They are still very friendly and love to have their horns and ears scratched. We try real hard not to get too attached, so we don't have names for them other than 'dinner'. ;) They are obviously NOT doing their job of eating and getting fat right now, LOL!! Just a couple of lazy boys.

A stitchy post

2009-02-17T06:05:00.000-06:00

Lots of stitching going on around here!!! First off, a gift. A friend saw my gardening plans and decided that I needed a 'good luck with the garden' gift:) So she made me a carrot pin. Isn't it the cutest thing? Monique (who made this) is the designer for My Mark Design. You can visit her blog at http://mymarkdesigns.wordpress.com/ and she has a link to all her very cute designs on her blog.

And this is where I put it, at least for now. I won't keep it there when I'm gardening though. Like all other things in my life, I tend to get messy when I garden:) I don't want to get my pin dirty, but for now it looks cute on my gardening hat.

This is a very bad pic of a project I am working on for me. We don't have much natural lighting in my house, so pics don't turn out very well. This is one I started in the beginning of January. I have been doing other projects in between working on this one, so it's going slow, but it is finally looking like I'm getting somewhere with it:)

And lastly, a tuck. I've been needing a spring colored one and couldn't find one that was already made that I liked the fabric, so I made my own. It needs a little help:) I should have got one corner punched out better and one of the straps it a little off, but all in all, I'm happy with how it turned out.

Happy Stitching:)

Happy Mail Day!!!

2009-02-09T15:43:00.000-06:00

I had a good mail day!!! My garden seeds came today, minus the green bean seeds, they should be here soon. This is what came...

I also had a good mail day on Saturday. I had ordered a cross-stitch chart by Blackbird designs call 'Thank You, Sarah Tobias' and it came too:)

I love 'good mail' days:)

Goal for my garden

2009-02-04T15:09:00.000-06:00

I just joined the 'Freedom Harvest Challenge' at freedomgardens.org

I'm really hoping that this helps keep me focused on our goals for in the garden this year. Since we moved to our 10 acres our goal has been to grow/raise/process as much of our food as possible. We are raising chickens (so far only for eggs as we have been too 'chicken' to slaughter any of them ourselves - we let the coyotes to that for us - YIKES), and we have 2 bull cavles that we'll take in for slaughter and processing when they are big enough. I did pretty well in the garden the first year, but last year I did really badly, planting more weed seeds than veggie seeds:(

So this year our plan is to expand our garden by more than twice the origanal size (I'll measure it when we get it all plotted out) and I am also wanting a couple 4x4 raised beds for salad greens and herbs. I figure the raised beds will be easier to cover when it is too cold or too hot. We would like to add some fruit trees/bushes as well, but so far haven't gotten to any of that. I did get my seeds ordered though. We order all of our seed from seedsavers.org because all of their seeds are heirloom and if I ever get around to it I'd also like to start saving seeds from my garden to use from one year to the next. One thing at a time though:)

I ordered....

green beans, broccoli, carrots, ground cherries, cucumber, cantaloupe, okra, peas, zucchini, pumpkin, spinach, watermelon, basil, chives, cilantro, cauliflower, sunberry, and several varieties of lettuce. I will buy potatoes, onion sets, tomato and pepper plants locally. I just can't keep tomato and pepper plants alive when growing from seed and I have a place where I can get heirloom tomato plants locally, but not the peppers. It'll have to do.

Anything else I've missed?
I'll be keeping an update here of my progress in the garden/kitchen.

A little about me

2009-02-03T15:51:00.000-06:00

I am new to blogging and hope to be able to keep up with this:)

My dh, dd and I live on 10 acres with our 2 dogs, 20 chickens, 150 thousand cats (not really:), 2 bull calves, a guinea pig and a fish. I love to cross-stitch, garden (veggies), read and homeschool my dd.

I am also hoping to start stitching up some ornaments and other things to sell on esty. I'll post a link to that as soon as I get it going.

That's all for now:)