July Happenings

I cannot believe we are at the end of July.  This month was a busy month but still seemed to fly by!  I spent the weekends out hunting deals at the Flea Markets, spent a Monday serving jury duty and ended that week celebrating my 50th birthday, spun like a crazy woman during the Tour de Fleece on Ravelry, and got my quilt pieces cut for my Grinch Halloween Quilt... along with working my day job.  It was a blast!

Here is the disassembled Grinch quilt.  It will be paper pieced.  Paper piecing?  Haven't done that for a while.  I actually had to watch a YouTube video to refresh my memory.  Paper piecing is one of my favorite ways to quilt.  I cannot wait to begin the assembling process, but the piecing was put on hold while I spun for the Tour de Fleece...

Tour de Fleece took its tole on all of us.  As you can see, a few ladies couldn't handle the pace. lol  Lots and lots of wool spinning.  It is my favorite event on Ravelry!  

Luckily, I took my birthday off from work and made a long weekend of spinning.  The Shepherdess and I spent the morning of my birthday going to a quilt shop, coffee shop for lunch, and an antique shop to round up the trip.  The following week, I did a little hunting on the internet and found a gentleman on Ebay selling sewing parts.  I inquired about a stitch dial for my 3/4 size Kenmore 158.1030.  (It is the niftiest little sewing machine but arrived to my home with a broken dial.)  He had one!!  He not only sold it to me but took photos on how to install it.  What a great seller!   Big thanks to Scott and five stars to his seller store found under Flapicker.  :)

I think it will do its maiden voyage piecing the Grinch quilt.  It is so light and portable.  If you can find one, I highly recommend the style.

August is right around the corner.  So much to do and so little time! ;)

An Easter Surprise!

I already had a post ready for Easter, but the Easter bunny had other things in mind for us and our ewe Lego.  She birthed two beautiful lambs in the wee morning hours.  Liam and I had to check them out.  They are really pooped out in this photo and were only semi dry.   Quite a stir for the barnyard on this gorgeous Easter day. 

 

Lego is such a terrific Mom.  This is the second Easter in a row that the flock was blessed with healthy twins.  The smallest of the two is a little girl and is next to Lego in this photo.  She is completely black and has tiny little tight curls.  To honor the day, she has been given the name Lily.

Here is a photo of her twin brother.  He has some odd white markings on his face... Kinda makes him look like X-Men's Wolverine.  Don't you think?  LOL   Keeping in the "L" names and inspired by the season, his name will be Leif.  I know this photo makes him look big, but he is so small... Our little Spring Leif.  :)

Luke the Llama was humming intermittently while I was there.  He gets nervous like a new father.  He does not want anyone getting these little ones excited.  Here is a photo of him sniffing Lily to make sure she is okay after I touched her head.  He kept edging me away from the pen.  The little lambs are not even remotely frightened of his big face in front of theirs.  It is so amazing how Luke bonds to his flock and with each lamb at birth.  They are all his family...  Such loyalty and an inspiration to witness.

 

 

Happy Easter!

Allow Me to Introduce You All to Davey

This year is flying by so fast!  Getting use to a full time work schedule has been more of a challenge than I thought.  With the onset of cold weather to keep me indoors, I look forward to working on some art projects and blogging a whole lot more. :)  

 

So much has happened over the past months.  Our pet Snoopy, the adopted humane society rat, passed away. :(    It brought about a void in our lives.   (His story can be read here.)    But that was soon filled by the arrival of Davey.  He is a white and champagne colored rat that was purchased as a wee baby from Petco.  The salesman was relieved to know that he was not going to be snake bait.   Farmerboy was a little nervous about handling him too much, since his first rat was a biter.  So, I spent many hours taming this little guy.  He has the sweetest temperament.                 

 

 

Unfortunately, raising a pet can sometimes have its challenges.  After almost two weeks of cohabitation, he broke out in scabs... All Over.   After reading volumes on the subject, I stopped feeding him his beloved yogurt drops (which were Snoopy's favorite treats as well), since rats have been known to have dairy allergies.   After a matter of days, his skin cleared up... Amazing!   I have him on healthy snack foods now.  He loves baby carrots and dehydrated bananas.   No cheese for this little guy! :)  

Welcome to the family Davey!