Happy Palace Hobby Farm

The Hot Mess Express

But we really weren’t!

It’s day 8 (or 9) at Base Camp and I am OVER being sick with flu/rona. This year for Christmas everyone in the family that didn’t have the world-wide plague last year, had it this year. So far only Cowgirl has lost taste. Which is why I’m saying I have the FLU!

Back in November, the girls and I went on a high adventure. We took a road trip to New Mexico! It was 10 days on the road and we had a wonderful time. I never expected to enjoy New Mexico as much as I did. It is so beautiful! We started with our first night in St. Louis, MO, so I could see the arch. Our hotel was right across the subway from Busch Stadium (or whatever they call it these days). Cowgirl did NOT enjoy the trolley ride up the arch – flashbacks to the awful rollercoaster ride with her fellow cowgirls. Then it was off to Gentry, AR, to visit my college friend, Paula, and her husband and “the Moms”. We did a walk-through/drive-through animal safari – a very curious camel held up our drive, and a mama deer had a baby just for us! Then a home-cooked, southern dinner and lots of laughs. We had a delicious brunch the next morning before heading off to Pawhuska, OK, and The Pioneer Woman Mercantile. It was all decked out for Christmas and we had a good time picking out Christmas gifts and souvenirs. After Pawhuska, we mozied on over Oklahoma City for a 2 day stay.

It was good to be back in OKC again! Oh, the memories. We shopped at Tenner’s again and Little Bird kept running around in hats and boots, but never bought any. She did embarrass Cowgirl in front of a cute Cowboy by trying on the hats backwards. Of course, we bought clothes, and visited street murals that the Little Bird wanted to see. We went to the bombing memorial again, and I have to say that it hit me harder this time. I’m not sure why, but it was even more sobering. Oklahoma City was a nice respite before we headed into terra incognita. None of us had ever been further west than Oklahoma when driving, so the Texas panhandle was uncharted waters. We were setting sail! I’d never seen cotton fields before and they were harvesting when we drove through. I wanted to stop and get some cotton from the side of the road – but the mean drivers kept on going! But we did have a good time oohing and aahing over things we’d never seen. The girls were keen to see wildlife on our trip, but mostly we saw wild-dead. Starting with armadillos on the highway. Little Bird wanted to see a fox, or a snake, or a tarantula. The fox I was okay with – snakes and tarantulas??? NO THANK YOU! We drove straight through from OKC to Taos, NM to stay in a little camper named Thelma. But first we had to see the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge. Of which I have NO pictures because the girls haven’t sent them to me. I left my phone in the car because I was tired and having a bit of a hissy fit. Mature, I know. It was pretty impressive and the sunset was drop-your-jaw GORGEOUS! I do have that picture that I got Cowgirl to send to me. A local reminded us that New Mexico is called The Land of Enchantment. We couldn’t agree more. We spent a very cold night in the desert in Thelma. Little Bird and I had some heat, but the front heater wasn’t working and Cowgirl got just a bit cold. She got up the next morning and painted the sunrise even though her paints kept freezing and she had to come in to thaw them out. It was a great start to our grand adventure.

Yes, Present the Pig came on our adventure.

From Taos we drove down to Santa Fe to spend 3 days in a gorgeous Airbnb that Little Bird had found. We shopped and ate at fancy restaurants and cafes. We visited two beautiful churches in Santa Fe. St. Loritta’s Chapel, a beautiful, gothic church with an amazing spiral staircase to the choir loft, and a simple chapel, the San Miquel Church. The chapel is the oldest church building in the United States. It was built in 1610. We did an excursion to Albuquerque to go to an organic lavender farm and have dinner at Los Poblanos. Of all the amazing food we ate on this trip, that was the best by far. I had their seasonal soup and it was divine. The entree was good, but very rich, and then dessert. Carmel apple something with spiced ice cream and oh dear. We ate outside (it was cold) under a heater and watched the sunset on the mountains. On our last day we visited the Georgia O’Keefe museum – the whole reason Little Bird wanted to make the trip. We all wished it had been bigger and told more about her life. It was still neat to see her pictures and how the dessert influenced her later art.

We left Santa Fe and headed for Las Cruces in southern New Mexico stopping to take in the sunset at Dripping Rocks. We stayed at another Airbnb for one night before heading to White Sands. There we were, 8 cities, 8 states away from home and I finally woke up feeling relaxed – just in time to start the two day drive home. It was all so worth it. White Sands was just a miraculous experience. No water, not really sand. It’s a huge gypsum flat. Just amazing. Unfortunately, Cowgirl was having a lupus issue at White Sands, so she had to stay in the car while Little Bird and I wandered around the hard packed gypsum.

After White Sands, we had to reluctantly turn our little car toward the north and home. We decided to stop in Roswell, NM, on the way home and buy souvenirs for the men-folk. I’m not sure why I didn’t take pictures in UFO city. I do remember being disappointed that Alamogordo was an armpit of a place. Just before leaving New Mexico, we got stopped by a train and Cowgirl and I jumped out and looked for railroad spikes to bring home to Farm Boy. We found 15! We stayed in Amarillo, TX, that night. Next morning after a detour to Cadillac Ranch – don’t waste your gas – we sped east to Pine Bluff, AR, to see Paula’s oldest daughter. And then one long, long, drive home through Memphis and Nashville and Cincinnati. And it was snowing when the Hot Mess Express got home. What a wonderful time with my girls. I really wish we had done it sooner. Of course, we want to do it again lol!

Just Where We’re At Right Now

I wish I could come back from my absence and write a witty post, or a blow-by-funny-blow story, or tell you about the adventures of cleaning my house – piles of dog/cat fur that look like small animals, anyone? Or a terrific DIMS project. But it’s just not in me right now. After months of watching my Cowgirl struggle to function and running test after test that came back normal, we are now very close to a diagnosis. It looks like Lupus has bitten my high-energy doer and has put her on her backside.

As hard as it has been for her, it has been a real struggle for me as well. We each have a weight to pull to make our business work and we each have chores in the house and on the farm that need to be done. When I’ve had to carry the weight of the business and the house, it has gotten depressing. Draining. Irritating. Frustrating. Annoying. Anger-inducing. I’ve ridden the whole roller coaster. And I’ve been 97.5% good about keeping it in because it’s not her fault. She certainly didn’t ASK for an autoimmune disease.

So, we look for the silver-linings where ever we can find them. She has an amazing counsellor who has guided her through so much in the last 3 years – the emotional/mental breakdown, the physical breakdown, the emotional healing process, and now this. And she’s a little stressed about starting a new college next Monday (because, y’know, a little thing like lupus isn’t going to stop her from becoming a farmer and living her dreams). We also have fabulous pastors who are literal spiritual parents to our whole family. They have guided us through so much over the last 10 years. We’d be lost without their prayers and support. And even though our beautiful rescue horse is just hanging out in the pasture and not being trained at the moment, Cowgirl has been able to finally ride her bareback – a long-time dream come true!

And not that our schedule needed anything added to it, but I went back to the work for the trucking company this month. The wife is having breast cancer surgery and they asked if I was available part time. Of course I said yes, because they are amazing friends (and they love my kids) and I would do anything I can to help them. Cowgirl and I had already talked when we first found out and decided that if they needed me, I would be available. So, off I go every day to help my friends.

The Crazy BumbleBee business has been slow with Cowgirl unable to go to shows and me being responsible for the the house full-time and procrastinating/lazy the other half of the time, we haven’t gotten as much done as we had hoped. I did take the month of June off to really celebrate Farm Boy graduating and me retiring from homeschool teaching. Then July just ran away from me. Cowgirl is knitting again, so those wonderful wool hats will be showing up on the website before too long.

On a much more light-hearted note:

Now that I have too, too much on my plate, we are heading into Christmas crafting season – always, always, last minute with me!! Have I ever told you about the year I did a month’s worth of sewing for Christmas gifts in the 7 days before Christmas? I’ve worked very hard not to ever do THAT again! I did get this done though and I love it!

The free pattern is by Caroline at http://sewcanshe.com I love her patterns and have downloaded so many of them! I will be making more of these cute gift bags for sure. Figuring out who to give them to is going to be a challenge!

I really do miss blogging about whatever happens to be in my head and travel down to my fingers. The world is a very crazy place right now and there is so much to get angry about, or worry about, or be fearful about. But I’m fixing my eyes on Jesus and letting Him handle the stuff that’s too big for me anyway.

And That’s What’s Happening on the Hobby Farm!

Time is Flying

I don’t like how time flies. One minute it was January and snowing and the next it was 80 degrees and then it was freezing overnight and now it’s May. May y’all! And my anniversary. Geesh, last week we thought we were so grown up and getting married and boom it’s 29 years later. Wow. I don’t know what tradition is for a 29th wedding anniversary, but I got a coffee table. The first coffee table I’ve had in all of those 29 years. The top lifts up to make a nice desk for eating or working on the laptop.

And the poor table is already being over run by clutter! Story of my life folks.

Mr. Fix-It isn’t big on celebrations, so I bought the table and he bought parts to fix up his car. Yep, that’s how we roll around here 😀 We did go out for ice cream and a little walk in the park this evening.

In the month since I last chatted with you, my Farm Boy turned 18 and Little Bird’s French Fry turned, well, a year older 😉 I took Farm Boy to the local archery place for a private lesson and he now has another expensive hobby. Mr. Fix-It is looking at what it will take to put up a building for the smithy.

I have been crafting when I haven’t been working on polos for The Crazy BumbleBee. I’ve always thought sewing was my jam, but lately when I’ve picked up the glue gun and paint brushes, I’ve gotten such a glow inside.

Little Bird and I went shopping during Farm Boy’s most recent blacksmith class and I found this adorable chair. She’s wonderful to shop with. She says things like, “Does it make you happy? Then you should buy it!” So I did.

Now that it is officially May, Cowgirl is beginning the frantic process of planting the garden. We’ve had late freezes that may have gotten our apples – we should know this week, but the potatoes in the ground are good. I planted 4 more raspberry bushes since last year’s all died. I have a couple to transplant away from the blueberries and I will do that this week. I’m sure I’ll be pressed into transplant duty at some point as both Cowgirl and Farm Boy have a haying job this summer and first cutting is coming up in a couple of weeks. And once May has flown by, Farm Boy will be graduating and our homeschool adventure will come to a close. Finally, after 17 years, Mama gets to graduate!

And That’s What’s Happening on the Hobby Farm!

I’ve Been Seriously AWOL Again

Hi Blogosphere, I’m so sorry! I guess I got carried away with all of the snow we had and just lost track of time. That and sewing. I’ve tried to keep some pictures of my various DIMS projects – and the car that Farm Boy put into a snow bank 😀 :D. We have a foster calf for Mistletoe and new baby lambs! Yep, it’s Springtime around here all right.

L to R: Missed a shift! The sledding pile; DIMS for a gift;
Winchester; Lily; Remington;
(Annie) Oakley; DIMS for me; Mozart showing off his spoiled life.

We have another set of twins that look just like Remington and Oakley and we named them Steele and Flint. Pippen did a good job for his first season – we got four ewes and one ram. Wouldn’t you know, the year we decide to name the sheep after guns and we get girls. Sweet little white Steele is the only boy.

While I was playing hooky from my blog, the girls and I went to Cleveland. I’ll do a separate post with some pictures from that. We had a great time just us girls.

I did get that pegboard painted in the sewing room. It’s still not decorated except for a calendar. I had visions of a pinterest-worthy board, but it’s going to be a mess of printed PDF patterns and things I need out of the way. I am going to hang my Crazy BumbleBee sewing room cross-stitch, but that will go on a nail driven into the furring strip – that picture is precious!

We also got a good start on the root cellar! The hole is dug, some sand and gravel put down, a couple of rows of blocks mortared in – and then it rained, and it flooded. Back to the drawing board for Mr. Fix-It, our family engineer. In the end it is going to be so good to have a place to store our fruits and vegetables. The outside will be landscaped and if all goes well will look like a Hobbit Hole! If all does not go well, it will look like an ivy-covered mess!

I asked Mr. Fix-It to leave the A-frame brace on the deck when they’re done (with some trimming on the right side) because I love the look of it. We need to stain the deck again this summer and then I’ll paint that A-frame as part of the landscaping for our Hobbit Hole. The earth will have to be sloped out from the front, but no one likes to mow around the deck anyway, so we might as well put dirt and plants there. Cowgirl is finding lots of big rocks in the new garden, so I’m thinking a bit of a rock garden and some creeping Phlox on the left by the stairs since that will be the steepest. And when this project is finally done, I can put up the lattice behind the blueberries and rig a net to keep the chickens out of the mulch – those birds!!

And That’s What’s Happening on the Hobby Farm.

Trying to Relax for a Hot Minute

Sorry it’s been a couple of weeks. I actually had notes for a post for last week, but then I spent most of Saturday and Sunday playing in my sewing room and time got away from me. Today I’ve tried to rest and relax a bit rather than tackle the to-do list I wrote this morning. It is the Sabbath and my body needs some down town (I know my brain sure does).

Last weekend I made this cute box to hold my sponge paint brushes

Yeppers, it started life as a take out box – not a used one! I received a gift in it and just kept the box because, hey, it could be cute to craft with!

And I painted this little Scottie dog I named Scissors. I’m not sure when I fell in love with the Scottie dog motif, but that little black dog gets me every time!

I thought I had a scissors charm to put on his collar but I haven’t been able to find it. I have a tiny button, but I think it’s too small.

The furring strips are finally up in the sewing room and Mr. Fix-It said the crew and I can use our own skills to get the pegboard up. That will happen tomorrow and then I can hopefully get it painted around my “work” sewing.

We’ve had some snow around here at long last and we woke up to a foggy/frosty morning. Just loved the icy glow on my forsythia bush. Sorry about the window screen; I wasn’t going out on the deck in my slippers 😀

This past week I’ve been working – almost all of my scheduled hours 😮 to get Cowgirl ready for a show. Of course, a new fleece order came while I was working away. And she got cleaned out a bit over the weekend, so I’m sure there will be more in the mail ahead of our next show. I did enquire about a booth at a local antique/craft store. I’m on the waiting list, so we’ll see if anything comes of it. I do have a dog coat ready to go and hopefully can get it done and delivered this week. Can’t wait to see promo pics of the coat on a very, very pretty Aussie!

Despite being very busy with school last week, Cowgirl picked up her paintbrush and whipped out this beauty. she said it’s not a self-portrait, but I’m not so sure.

I finally undecorated the Christmas tree. I know, I know, it’s February!! I just kept putting it off and waiting for all of the water in the tree stand to evaporate – it still hasn’t and we last watered the tree before Christmas! I’m very pricked and prickled, but it’s done. I’ll have Farm Boy toss it out tonight – or tomorrow. I’m NOT looking forward to picking all of those dead needles out of the carpet. Maybe if Mr. Fix-It had to do that, he wouldn’t have insisted on carpet – a move he’s regretting now that one of the dogs is stress pooping on the carpet. Oh, well. Just like little kids, clean up the mess and move on.

Well, we’re hunkering down for hopefully some more snow mid-week and then the polar vortex will hit us with a vengeance. Stay warm y’all. And in honor of my cousin who lived in Tampa for many years – Go Bucs!

And That’s What’s Happening on the Hobby Farm.

A New and Expensive Week

We had a very busy week around here. I barely got any sewing done for the business because the world conspired against my plans 🙂 Despite that, Cowgirl had a really successful show. She even had the vending fee waved because the arena was short staffed and asked her to run the show pen gate. Woohoo!

On Monday Cowgirl ran to the next county to get roosters from her counsellor. Someone had given M’s daughter some chicks last August and she told Cowgirl they were all roosters. So she went to get them because we can at least butcher them if they’re as mean as she said. We bartered a whole chicken from the freezer and some eggs. Two Brahma rooster came home, Cowgirl felt the others were really hens. Oh my gosh, these things are huge! They’re also beautiful.

Quinn enjoying the leftovers in the garden

It’s not the best picture, but it was really cold on the deck in my slippers. This is the smaller of the two roostesr that we named Harley and Quinn. The first morning one of our Rhode Island Red hens took Harley to the woodshed until he ran and hid behind the nest boxes! Oh, it was hysterical. And of course, Cooper had a goose sized hissy fit over these newcomers. They wasted no time doing what roosters are supposed to do, so we are very hopeful for fertile eggs to put under our next broody!

On Tuesday we trouped off to take the recycling in, get gas in the car and van and extra gas cans (’cause you never know), and stop by TSC to pick up a few things. Those few things included a chicken plucker ($$$) for the next round of meat birds, a solar fence charger ($$) so we can set up pasture space for the sheep as well as the meat birds in their poultry net. A fence tester ($) so that Cowgirl will stop using Farm Boy to test the strength of the electric – sisters can be brutal lol. While we’re there, Mr. Fix-It called and said, “Hey, can you drive into the city and look at this car for Farm Boy?” Um, we’re busy. He wasn’t amused, since he’s been working 10 hour days, coming home and finding the house the usual disaster – I’ve been TRYING to work! Tuesday night we went to look at the car, a 2003 Toyota Corolla that is too clean to join this family. And we bought it. ($$$$)

Wednesday was more of the same. I tried to work; took Farm Boy to his outdoor class; and picked up his car. He’s actually excited about driving now. I will freely admit, that is one FUN car to drive! I haven’t liked driving a car since Mr. Fix-It bought me a small SUV in 1998. Cowgirl’s Accord is a sweet drive, I will admit it, but that Corolla is a BLAST!

Thursday we bought hay ($$$). Not only can Cowgirl drive the rig and back it like a pro, she loaded 98 bales of hay as tight as a drum. 2 bales in the back of the truck. I was really impressed. And then bless her heart, she went to pick up my pegboard and furring strips at Lowe’s (while I did the dishes we had all ignored all week).

Mr. Fix-It got a mushroom kit from Little Bird for Christma,s and this week he had fresh mushrooms! He was so excited. I sliced up mushroom on his sandwiches for a couple of days. It’s the simple things in life.

Saturday had Mr. Fix-It and Farm Boy working on a very leaky faucet in the barn. This is the main faucet that we use every day to water the animals. It was pouring out of the spout and when we turned off the spout, it started spitting out of the back of the handle! The guys tore into it early in the morning. The end result is that the last time Mr. Fix-It had fixed it (Cowgirl forced the handle when it was frozen), the little rubber plunger on the end had stayed in the bottom of the pipe. We had all the parts we needed laying around to fix the faucet, but they had to get that rubber stopper out of the 5 foot hole in the ground. So, Farm Boy welded a screw to a narrow pipe and they put it down the hole then used a hand drill to screw into the rubber plunger and forcefully pulled it out! Boy my blacksmith comes in handy :D. Farm Boy described it as a homemade harpoon.

And That’s What’s Happening on the Hobby Farm.

What? September?

Are you freaking kidding me? I haven’t posted since September?!? Gosh, I’m sorry. In my defense, the last year of homeschool started, Sept-Nov is birthday & anniversary time, and Christmas is that time of year when I try to pack a year’s worth of crafting and sewing into one month. There’s my defense, but it’s not a good excuse.

Cowgirl and I decided to dedicate the first week of January to gutting and re-organizing the sewing room/office. Well, I got a head start on New Year’s Day and we’re still not quite finished. I ordered a 4×8 foot pegboard for one of the walls and it’s ready for pick-up at Lowe’s, but we are actually getting snow in Central Ohio! so it’s too wet to bring the pegboard home ~ sigh. (Also means the captain’s bed I gave my friend is still in my front hallway).

How about a few pictures of the mess we made —

First, we wrecked the place. And I am not kidding.

I sorted and sorted and sorted. We also went through our storage shelves and I was forced to make decisions about all of the busy-work papers I’d kept from their brief foray into formal education. It was fun to look at memories when they were so small. So far, I’ve made 4 40-gal bags packed full of trash. An entire van load of cardboard and glass candle jars went for recycling. 3 IKEA blue tote bags and 6 regular tote/shopping bags all went to the local Mennonite thrift store. Yes, I gave away fabric and patterns and odd craft things and stuff I stashed away after we gave a baby shower for friends – 5 years ago. I still have Cowgirl’s bike to donate, and a broken desk, destroyed spinning wheel, old, weak what-not, and tons of papers to be burned. We did manage to clear out at least 3 more storage shelves for the business. I’d like for Cowgirl and Farm Boy to build at least one more set for me, to better group the things I want to keep from the kids growing up.

We got things workable this past week and did a little bit of polo work. Not as much work as I was hoping for. We have the first show of the year coming up this next weekend and quite a bit of fabric waiting for me.

Wow, that unpainted portion of the wall looks nasty. My original sewing room ended about 3 blocks before the paint stopped. I guess we’ll need to do some wall painting this summer.

One of the things we had a lot of fun with (well, I did anyway. Cowgirl wanted to kill me) was getting my fabric stash onto cards and filed in cubbies so that I know what I have.

The best part is, this isn’t even all of it!

I think I bought about 35 pieces of foam core at The Dollar Tree that Cowgirl cut into pieces to wrap the fabric. Maybe that’s why she wasn’t so happy with me? Anyway, she thinks I’ve been banished from buying more fabric. Ha Ha Ha! I rescue fabric. I’m a hero!

Well, if all goes right this week, I might have pictures of the pegboard wall up. I’m thinking I’ll have Cowgirl paint our logo on it before we start to hang things. She started painting again in October and oh, it has done my soul good to see her back in her old hobbies. She’s playing and writing music again, too. And exercising horses for a couple of people. My reining rider is now learning to ride an eventing/dressage horse!

And That’s What’s Happening on the Hobby Farm.

Ruminating

Sorry for the little time off, things have been hectic and bland around here (yes, crazy and boring at the same time). I really think the atmosphere in our country is getting to me. All of the negativity and division and chaos. It’s easy to let it all slip in if I’m not uber-vigilant at keeping my spiritual guard up. I’ve also had some family stresses going on and all things combined are making me a little blue.

I was doing some reflecting this morning – not on the pond, but in the prayer house – and thinking about goals and dreams and plans. I have some tough questions to ask myself and the kids. Things we need to ponder as they are thinking about their futures and I’m looking at a new season in my life when Farm Boy graduates next Spring.

What are we doing each and every day to further our dream/goal/business?
Are we working toward it or just dreaming about it?
Are we avoiding tasks in order to avoid failing at our dream?
Are we making a plan? Do we even know how to make a plan and break it into steps?
What is holding us back from executing our plan?

I’m pretty guilty in the above list. Lately I’ve been struggling just to identify my real dream/goal/business. Do I want to be a blogger who sews or a sewer who blogs? I’ve always said my dream is to work in my sewing room all day. So, do I want to sew? I love to write; do I want to blog? What do I really want to do with myself in the next season of my life? (Besides be a Nana, but that’s a little bit out of my hands). I guess, I’d have to say I’m just dreaming about my goals/plans. I don’t make myself go down to my “happy place” every day and work on something. I’m lazy. I’m unmotivated.

The first two combined bring me to number 3 – fear of failure. This has always been a struggle. I’ve never been the most confident in my ability to go after something I want. That’s where Cowgirl is so good for me. She’s so inspiring. She just does stuff (when she’s not asleep on the floor because she over-worked outside this morning and got sweaty and chilled ~ sigh). She’s not afraid to jump into the middle of something and just figure it out as she goes. I’ve always been a little too afraid to reach out – never had someone who believed in my dreams and encouraged me, pushed me to go after them. Even in college, I avoided classes I knew would be hard, and convinced myself that math and science were just things I could never wrap my brain around. Now, I’m afraid to reach out for my sewing dreams, my writing dreams, because I lack the personal confidence to just go for it. So, yep, I avoid tasks because I’m afraid I’ll fall flat on my face.

Am I making a plan? Breaking it down into steps – doable bite-size pieces? Nope. Nada. Back to the fear factor, I think. I can write down a goal, I can research how to do this and how to do that, but I really struggle to break down a task into it’s bite-size components. (Which is really funny when you think about how many years worth of school schedules I have put together for three students over the course of the last 17 years!) Somehow, making that master plan, that “business plan” or “mission statement” is overwhelming. And scary. Maybe because the business plan isn’t art and there is a wrong way. Or maybe, I’m just NOT motivated enough. Not goal oriented, type-A personality enough? I don’t know. Serious things to consider if I’m really serious about creating a business for myself.

Executing the plan that I haven’t made? I am the queen of making charts and curriculum plans and not implementing them. And I think that comes back to being goal-oriented and motivated. To me, the fun part has always been making the plan. Maybe my real goal should be curriculum planning for the Moms that hate to make schedules! (I have actually considered doing this from time-to-time. I could charge a premium for the service).

I don’t know where this particular time of reflection will take me. I still long to lose myself in the sewing room and just make stuff. It really is my happy place to be playing with fabric and thread, yarn and glue sticks. But, I also think it’s important for me at this stage of my life to look deeper into my fear of failure and what is holding me back from chasing the pile of dreams that have always been there.

And That’s What’s Reflecting on the Pond

Some Time in The Sewing Room

At long last I was able to spend some serious time in the sewing room working on me stuff. And this past Sunday I literally spent the entire day in my happy place – creating. I was trying a basket pattern that I want to use for Christmas presents, and I am really happy with this pattern and can’t wait to try it out with different fabrics. My demo turned out so cute and since Cowgirl couldn’t find the mistake I made, she said I could give it to my dear friend V when I see her this week. 🙂 Win!

I LOVE how this turned out. I used this tutorial

I had a bit of a brain dump during prayer Saturday night (I know, I was a bit confused when my focused prayer turned to my brain emptying itself of all kinds of weird stuff), and had a pillow idea jump to the light bulb and click on. So, I had to give it a try. I had a coloring page with a cowboy boot – that I printed ages ago to use on a craft for Cowgirl but haven’t done – so I used that as a template. I had to piece the backing and then it was too narrow, so I had to add strips to the top and sides and when it was still too narrow, I added a second side strip. In rough finish, it now measures 21.5 inches and is too big to make into a pillow for use in my house. Soooooo, I will make a wall-hanging to go in my Americana entryway. Win #2!

I have been super disappointed in the fall decor I’ve been finding. Everyone skips over Apple Season and goes straight to pumpkin spice. Don’t get me wrong, sometime soon I will break out the spice and start adding it to my coffee, but September is for apples! I guess it comes from growing up in apple country in Michigan. Fall and fall decor should feature apples. After a lengthy search on Pinterest, I finally found two crafts I thought looked mature enough – most of them were for little kids, sigh – to actually use in my house. And a free printable that I need to find a picture frame for. Yesterday I was able to get one craft done (with my own modifications of course – I used cinnamon sticks for stems instead of making a ribbon hanger) and it turned out so cute, I made one extra for a different friend. Now I need to get more green buttons so I can make them for everyone! Win#3!

Are these not the cutest? Tutorial from craftideas

And I got started on the second apple craft. I’m hoping to get to it today, but I need to get to school right now and then I have those dratted house chores to get done. (ETA: It’s now Thursday and I haven’t gotten back to that second craft – or the house chores 😀 😀 😀 )

Cowgirl is making our first cheese of the season and I’m collecting pictures to share with you later this week.

And that’s what’s happening on the homestead!

Pippen’s Scurs

He lost a scur!

The one day we put the boys out in the pasture over the weekend and Pippen broke off a scur. My cute little faun is half hornless! Cowgirl assured me it will grow back, but in the meantime he’s a little lop-headed 😀 Fortunately, it did break off above the bloodline, so it wasn’t a messy injury. He just looks so wrong now. It’s okay, Pippen, 24 days until you get to visit the ladies!

And That’s What’s Happening on the Hobby Farm!