Baking & Sewing

I had such a nice, quiet night at home last night. Todd had fire practice, so it was just the kids and I. I even made homemade bread (no bread machine) that came out awesome. I got the recipe off of http://childreninthecorn.blogspot.com/ - the daily bread recipe and it was so quick and tastes so yummy. I started around 7 last night, and pulled 2 loaves of bread out of the oven at 10:15 or so:

Of course, by that time Todd was home and we had to try it right away. I baked it a little too long, but I'll know next time to watch it better. Yummy, yummy. It's an easy recipe that I could work on dishes from dinner, sewing or kids homework while it was rising and baking.

I also made sure these 2 table runners were ready to go for my Mom. We've had these patterns for years, I just had never gotten to them. She is going to do the handsewing on the binding - that has to be my least favorite part of quilting:

I love making table runners - they are so quick!! And if you don't like the colors when you are done, you aren't out a whole lot of supplies, like you would be on a quilt top.

I also started to cut out Tyler's firetruck quilt. Hopefully it will go together easy - he is anxious to have a new quilt on his bed

It's still freezing cold here, but it's up in the 20's at least during the day. I feel bad for Todd's hunting dogs, out in the cold, but I really don't want 3 dogs running wild through my house - so they get extra straw on these cold nights in their houses.

Have a wonderful day everyone!!

January 22, 2008

Have I mentioned that we also have 2 horses? Soon to be 3? I showed Paint horses on the central Ohio circuit for a number of years, until having kids, but have hung onto my last show horse, a now 15 year old mare (YIKES!!! She cannot possibly be that old) and her 1/2 sister, a 8 year old breeding stock paint mare. My old show, Shamy, was the greatest - she was trained for bridleless western pleasure, and basically is a get on, go down the rail do the work kind of horse.
Jessie is into riding horses big time. . . .

Well, my parents had a brief vision of raising Paint horses, but when the bottom fell out of the market (so to speak) they were left with a cute yearling mare:

Who is maybe(?) going to come to our house to be Jessie’s future horse. I know, I am insane for thinking young horse, very young rider . . .but the thing is, Shamy will not be around for forever to babysit her. And while Shamy has many wonderful traits and qualities (bomb proof really does come to mind), she is an extremely rough horse to ride in a western pleasure lope. So I’m thinking, that at 35, I could possibly put some time in on this young horse for a few years, let Jessie show Shamy walk-trot for a few years, and maybe, just maybe, this filly and Jessie will click eventually.

Hard to believe we have finally gotten a little bit of snow on the ground here. The cows aren’t minding it, the horses and dogs don’t mind, and the kids sure do love the snow.
I’ve been toying with a quilt pattern for Tyler’s bed, using this fabric:

and alternating 9 patch blocks from the solid fabrics with solid blocks out of the firetruck fabric. Todd is a volunteer firefighter, and Tyler is so into anything firetruck/firefighter related. Tyler keeps asking about "his quilt," having seen the flip flop one I did for Jessie, so I really ought to get working on it very quickly. I had hoped to keep it back for his April birthday, but that may not happen.

January 17, 2008

I’ve been slowly but surely working my way through this tablerunner:

I’ve had the top done for a few months now, but needed to decide on quilting it. I have always quilted "in the ditch" and for this one, broke out of my usual mode and did a meander pattern all over. I think I like the meander quilting - on this one it went very quick. It took me 2 nights to sew the binding on, as we were watching a mini-series on TV and I couldn’t do both at once.

Tyler had to go outside "hunting bunnies" right when we got home from work/daycare. Hunting is very big in our family - I always say it is the mad exodus to Pennsylvania the weekend after Thanksgiving when Todd, his father, brother, brother-in-law, and nephews pack up for 4 or 5 days and go. But, it puts meat on our table all winter, in addition to beef and pork, and helps to control the deer population. Tyler cannot wait until he is old enough to go but in the meantime, he pretends with his play gun. Of course, while he was tramping through the woods, he had bunnies running every which way (Todd lost count at 13). Why don’t they run like that when Todd and his friends actually take the dog out to hunt? Even at 4, Tyler is very conscientious about gun safety, and such a careful little person. But that is good for his future as a hunter, as gun safety is extremely important.

Jessie had cheerleading practice last night - the elementary school kids get to practice with the varsity squad for 4 nights, and then cheer at one of the Varsity basketball games. Such a klutz she is (she cannot walk and chew gum at the same time without tripping) but she so enjoys it. She is anxiously waiting for spring soccer to start up here in another 6 weeks. She has tried gymnastics, tball and soccer, and we think the soccer just might stick. Her favorite position is goalie, but since she can run, she gets put everywhere. She's #10.

I could really get into being a "soccer mom" - although I will never be able to drive a mini-van, as our driveway drifts too much in the winter with any amount of snow, and being a 1/4 mile long, we need 4 wheel drive, but I'll be the soccer mom in the Durango. Tyler also played, but he is young enough that it was more just running around for him.

I hope everyone has a wonderful day in bloggerland!!

Kris

Everyday Things

I've been steadily working on my Sunbonnet Sue quilt. After much obsessing, I am quilting it as quickly and simply as possible - stitch in the ditch around everything, nothing fancy for now. I want to be able to SEE the quilting marks my great-grandmother put in the top, not cover them up with more stitching. My mother gave me the facts that this quilt was pieced in 1947-1950, one was done for my mother, and a Sunbonnet Sam one was made for her cousin.

We are starting to think gardening at our house, both of the vegetable and flower varieties. Last summer, Todd put in a water garden for me as a Mother's Day present. I love it. They are so simple to put in - he used the skidloader to dig out the hole, we ordered a starter kit off of ebay, put the liners in, filled it with water and voila - a POND. He even made me the neatest "boardwalk" as we put it in the yard where there was a pretty steep hill so you can sit there and watch the fish play. Of course, we buy 6 fish total, and the greenhouse assures us they won't reproduce, and even if they do, the bigger ones will eat the young - NOT!! We had 13 babies alive and kicking as of the end of October - if they make it through the winter we will have fish everywhere. So this is leading to the discusssion this winter that we need another pond for the fish overflow.

Isn't my husband the greatest? Tyler and him spent one Sunday morning hauling rocks. All in all, they started Friday night, and we finished it up Sunday right after lunch with the mulch.

I will admit, water gardens are just as easy to care for as my regular flower beds, and in some cases, even easier (no weeding involved!!).

More flower pictures:

I don't have any pictures of my rather large garden . . . .weed patch . . . .veggies, but we are planning to be a little more organized this year. We are thinking what we want to plant, what we will actually use, and what we want to try. Apple trees and peach trees may make the cut this year - with 20 acres, we certainly have space for a few!!

History Lesson

I've been working on pin basting the quilt that apparently my Great-Grandmother pieced in 1947-1950's. It was funny, really. I've washed that quilt top several times, run it through my dryer, hung it on the line in the summer time, wadded it up, thrown it in a trunk - and it's still in such good shape. The fabric is fragile, but holding together amazingly well. So last night I get out my cutting table, fasten the backing down, smooth the batting over it, put the quilt top on and . . . .

I can still see my great grandmother's stencil marks on MOST of the blocks. She marked her quilt tops with every day pencils, and the markings are still there. Faint, to be sure, but you can quite clearly see the flower design she had planned to use.

Todd doesn't get too excited about my sewing projects, other than he will offer encouragement and help out when the going gets rough (like on the Raggedy Ann hair). But last night, he got a flashlight and we looked all over this quilt and you could see very faint markings in the borders (the pale yellow fabric helps the pencil blend in). Originally, I was going to just do some simple quilting designs (stitch in the ditch around the blocks) but now. . . .I am wondering if I shouldn't try to duplicate what she had started. Of course, this is leading on a search (perhaps fruitless) of what quilting motiff would it have been exactly, and how in the world do I go about duplicating it?

On the farm front, no babies yet. Our Christmas calf is getting playful. We've enjoyed several days this week in the mid 60's, now its back down to 30's.

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!! I know I will, because I will be home with my husband and kids. . .

First Addition to the Farm

It has actually been very relaxing going back to work this year - 2 young kids at home during the day sure makes for lots of messes over the holidays. But I must admit there are days I’d rather be at home.

This is our newest addition to our farm - he is actually 2 weeks old, born on December 22nd, 2007. I know, a little out of season for cattle, but his mama (Snowball) belongs to a friend of ours who needed a place to keep 3 cows (yes, bad picture, but I was messing with the settings on my camera - I'll have to take a better one when it's sunny and not raining :):

I must admit though, our cow herd is a lot more colorful with these Brittish Whites mixed in with all of our Maine/Angus cross cows:

This is only a small portion of our cows - they all did not want to group together. Currently we have 8 cows (of our own), 3 brittish whites of a friends, a registered Maine bull, and 4 yearling calves for replacement heifers or meat.

My current quilty project is this quilt:

It was pieced by my great-grandmother 50+ years ago for my mother when she was born. It has sat in someone’s attic for the last 40 years or so (including mine) and I have decided to finally finish it. I’ve been working in the evenings on pin basting it - it was pieced using a Singer featherweight, so I don’t feel too bad planning to machine quilt it. I had originally thought (in a brief moment of insanity) to use it on my daughter’s bed - but wisdom prevailed.

I have also been spending some time making bar soap and laundry soap. Yes, we live in the 21st century, but my daughter has horrible eczema, and all soaps (including Dreft and Tide Free and Clear) cause her to break out within hours with a bleeding, itchy rash. Amazingly enough, the only soaps that work are homemade, as we know exactly what goes into them - or doesn’t go into them (I can’t even use fragrance oils). So I’m back to pioneer days making laundry soap and bar soap. I must admit, the work is definitely worth it when you see her eczema clear up after just 2 baths/showers with the homemade soap!!

Isn’t life wonderful???

2008 Resolutions

Hi again!! It has been an amazingly hectic 2 weeks for us, but hopefully things will settle down now. Between finishing Jessie’s quilt (below), her party, and finishing up what Christmas gifts I was making, it was crazy!!

I did get everything finished though, although my DH & I were up until 11:00 Christmas Eve sewing a wig on a 36" raggedy ann doll I made for my wonderful little niece. I should have never followed the pattern when sewing on the wig, and after the 3rd failed attempt - I gave up and did it my way.

We had a wonderful Christmas, the kids enjoyed all of their presents, and now I can look towards the New Year. The one hopefully fun thing I decided to do is open up an Etsy.com shop - JKKCraftworks. I’ll be selling jewelry and quilted items, mainly bags, table runners, wall hangings and pillows. We’ll see how it goes.

I have come up with some "sewing goals" for 2008:

1. Do 12 quilted projects this year (whether they be quilts, pillows, table runners);
2. Not 1 quilt will be just plain squares (which I am guilty of as they are so quick);
3. Finish up all of my WIP’s from the last 10 years (since before kids);
4. Not buy too much more fabric, until I finish everything I have started (this may well be impossible, but I’ll try);
5. Attempt a photo quilt for my grandmother for next Christmas of all the family;
6. Find some way to organize my "stash".

I did not get as much sewing done while I was off for almost 2 weeks as I had hoped to - but this past weekend I did get 4 table runners quilted, a lap quilt made, and a chicken done. I love the chicken, I just need to put his eyes on, and am toying with selling them in my Etsy shop.

That’s all for now - have a wonderful New Year’s