County Fair

Ok, I want to know where my summer's gone? It's less than two weeks to County Fair and my children have exactly zip - zilch - nada done in the way of projects for 4-H. Where's my daughter's beautiful (and completed) quilt?! Why, she's made four blocks - out of like twenty something! And her batting project, where she was going to compare different battings? Well, those are still all in the box. Let's not even talk about my son - he kind of gave up on everything but his cattle this summer. Oh well, I guess I need to let go of the "perfect" mother thing and keep remembering "it is what it is" - my new favorite phrase!

Since we're talking about kids and 4-H today, here's a recent shot of my three hooligans:

Aren't they just adorable?! I can't believe how big they are getting. Must be all that food they're inhaling this summer. At least I hope they're inhaling it cuz my grocery bill is phenomenal. Otherwise I'm just eating it all and that's really not good - at least for my butt!

I'll leave you with a shot hubby took earlier this spring. The cow is my son's show heifer from last year and that's her calf. You can see our house in the background and the farm a little behind our house. Home sweet home.

What do you mean I don't do anything!?

Last night, we're sitting outside at Culver's enjoying a lovely (definition: I didn't have to cook it) alfresco dinner, and my mother innocently asks me what's going on tomorrow. My WONDERFUL (said with heavy sarscasm) hubby snorts and starts laughing. What is it with men?? If I'm not out working on the farm somewhere with him, then I'm "not doing anything"!! Let's not talk about the cooking, the cleaning, the clothes washing, and all the hundred million errands that need to be done to make things go around here. All those are "nothing", I guess!! Think I'll just go sew, or read a book, or knit. Maybe then I'll feel a little better. Of course, those definitely fall under the heading of "nothing", but then again maybe I don't care LOL!! And then I'll have something to show next time I actually decide to post. Yeah, that's a plan. See ya later!

I'm so good it's scary!

I really can't believe this, but I've actually finished three (yeah, count 'em, three!!) projects this week. I've already shared my two little valentine's projects with you, so here's a picture of the newest finish - a cute little table topper. I was in a birthday block swap on the Kansas Troubles Quilt Addicts list last year. The birthday girls got to pick their colors, but it was maker's choice for the blocks. So I've got all these beautiful red, green and tan blocks here. Now, I'm not a real fan of sampler quilts, so I decided to do something different with the blocks. The block that happened to be on the top of the pile was staring at me yesterday, willing me to do something with it. I decided it would make a fabulous center for a cute table topper. The blocks I used around the corners were leftovers from another project and just happened to be 4" finished, which worked perfectly with my 12" finished block. Now all I had to come up with were the center blocks, which I decided would be perfect with flying geese. So all I had to make were the flying geese units, then sew it all together and some quick quilting in the ditch. Put on a red binding and Voila!! done!! Start to finish - less than one day. I may donate this to an auction on Saturday night for our local beef producers, but then again I may not - I'm becoming quite attached to it already. Maybe I'll have to make something out of another block (or two or three) - stay tuned LOL!!

Have a great day - mine will be filled with bookwork, errands, and hopefully some sewing later today.

Two finishes!!

I promised pictures of two projects I was working on and here they are! (I'm just so darned excited cuz I actually finished something LOL!)

This is a stitchery block I did eons ago and just had lying around, unfinished. Well, I spyed it on Sunday and decided to grab it and finish it. The borders are just scraps from my scrap jar - I pieced both side borders because I liked the look. I just put them on log cabin style, zipped around the edge of the stitchery portion with my walking foot and put on the binding. Done!! I may decide to do some tea dying on it, not sure at this point. I'm just glad to have such a cute little wall hanging in my kitchen.

Next up is a table runner for Valentine's Day. I bought the kit for this runner last year at my LQS and just never made it up. I believe the fabric is Sandy Gervais' line from last year and the pattern is an adaptation of the Framed 4 Patch pattern in the Little Charmers II pattern from Anka's Treasures. The original runner in the pattern consists of the of just the framed 4 patch you see in the middle of my runner, and it has pointed ends. My LQS owner took the pattern and added setting triangles on the ends and an inner and outer border to make it rectangular. Very cute for Valentine's. Below is a close up of the fabrics used in the runner.

Last night I got to go a mitten knitting class at a shop in town. I really love the Fiddlehead mittens you can see on Ravelry (if you're on there) or on the Hello Yarn website and decided I had better learn how to make a basic mitten first before attempting these. Aren't they just too scrumptious??!! Anyhow, back to my class - it was actually combined with open knitting time, so there were a variety of projects being worked on and I learned so much - not just about my mittens - but about other knitting obstacles I'm facing and also about how important it is to stretch. The instructor gave us a handout on stretches we can use to help fight muscle fatigue when knitting - very cool! Hopefully I'll have some finished mittens to share soon. I also think I'm going to purchase the pass this shop sells which entitles you to six sessions (must be used within a year's time) of help on any project you're working on. Maybe I'll finally get some of these stalled projects done on off the needles.

Well, that's it for now. Today I have to return some books to the library, pick up some books I reserved there, and go buy something (not sure what yet) to donate for a live auction at our county's beef banquet on Saturday night. Right now I'm thinking either of putting together a family fun basket or DH just suggested some nice wind chimes (it's dang windy here today). So we'll see what I find when I venture out. Have a great day!

Some quick little fun!

I saw this today on Michelle's blog - thought it was fun, so I'm sharing it here. The rules are easy - just copy and paste the list and bold the items that you've done. So here goes:
1. Started your own blog 2. Slept under the stars 3. Played in a band 4. Visited Hawaii 5. Watched a meteor shower 6. Given more than you can afford to charity 7. Been to Disneyland (actually Disneyworld, but I think that counts!) 8. Climbed a mountain 9. Held a praying mantis 10. Sang a solo (in my car) 11. Bungee jumped 12. Visited Paris 13. Watched a lightning storm at sea. 14. Taught yourself an art from scratch 15. Adopted a child 16. Had food poisoning 17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty 18. Grown your own vegetables 19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France 20. Slept on an overnight train 21. Had a pillow fight 22. Hitch hiked 23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill 24. Built a snow fort 25. Held a lamb 26. Gone skinny dipping 27. Run a Marathon 28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice 29. Seen a total eclipse 30. Watched a sunrise or sunset 31. Hit a home run 32. Been on a cruise 33. Seen Niagara Falls in person 34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors (no, but I'd like to) 35. Seen an Amish community 36. Taught yourself a new language 37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied 38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person 39. Gone rock climbing 40. Seen Michelangelo’s David 41. Sung karaoke 42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt 43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant 44. Visited Africa 45. Walked on a beach by moonlight 46. Been transported in an ambulance 47. Had your portrait painted 48. Gone deep sea fishing 49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person 50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris 51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling (snorkling is awesome!) 52. Kissed in the rain 53. Played in the mud 54. Gone to a drive-in theater 55. Been in a movie 56. Visited the Great Wall of China 57. Started a business 58. Taken a martial arts class 59. Visited Russia 60. Served at a soup kitchen 61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies (bought them LOL) 62. Gone whale watching (been dolphin watching, though) 63. Got flowers for no reason 4. Donated blood, platelets or plasma 65. Gone sky diving (ABOSLUTELY NOT) 66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp 67. Bounced a check 68. Flown in a helicopter 69. Saved a favorite childhood toy 70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial 71. Eaten Caviar 72. Pieced a quilt 73. Stood in Times Square 74. Toured the Everglades 75. Been fired from a job 76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London 77. Broken a bone 78. Been a passenger on a motorcycle 79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person 80. Published a book 81. Visited the Vatican 82. Bought a brand new car 83. Walked in Jerusalem 84. Had your picture in the newspaper 85. Kissed a stranger at midnight on New Year’s Eve 86. Visited the White House 87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating - 88.Had chickenpox 89. Saved someone’s life 90. Sat on a jury 91. Met someone famous 92. Joined a book club 93. Got a tattoo 94. Had a baby 95. Seen the Alamo in person 96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake 97. Been involved in a law suit 98. Owned a cell phone 99. Been stung by a bee

Well, there ya go - guess I've done a bunch LOL!! My dad used to own a helicopter and now he owns a motorcycle (actually it's one of those trikes), so that's how I've ridden in those. The pieced a quilt entry - well, duh, I'm a quilter. I've also done quite a bit of traveling - been to France and England and Scotland twice, and Australia and New Zealand once, as well as done some traveling here in the US - of course, most of this was BK (before kids!!) but every once in a while I can persuade DH that we need to get away. Hope everyone has a great day - I'll have some pictures to share tomorrow I hope of two projects that are just about done.

OK, where did January go? - and a donkey!

What I want to know is how it got to be February already?? I mean, come on, it seems these days that all I have to do is blink and several weeks fly by. At least I have been getting something accomplished. I have been bitten by the knitting bug again, hard!! I say again because I am one of those "on again, off again" kind of knitters. And it seems that I only really want to knit in the wintertime. But then a couple of weeks ago, someone on one of my lists mentioned Ravelry and I went to check it out. If you have any interest at all in knitting, go join this cool site. Anything to do at all with knitting is on there. My favorite part is where I can enter in a pattern or a yarn and see what other people have made - really inspirational!

Anyhow, since I've been knitting, I've finished a felted booga bag that's been hanging around way too long in an unfinished state. I've also made my daughter a winter hat - all that it needs now is the brim. The pattern I used is in the book "Stitch and Bitch Nation". I will try to talk her into modeling it when I get the brim finished.

Ok, now on to the donkey. I know that part of the title got your interest, didn't it? Well, this blog is about anything to do with faming too. I realize there hasn't been alot of that content on here lately, but now you'll get it - in spades! Don't say I didn't warn you!

This is Lucy. She's a mammoth donkey, which I guess (from what I've read on the web, anyhow) makes her kind of special. According to one site, there are most probably fewer than 5000 mammoth donkeys in the world. In the pic above she's getting to know our horses, who were extremely curious about her. She, on the other hand, could really have cared less.

Is this not just the dang cutest little donkey ever? These pictures were taken at the farm where we bought Lucy - they're neighbors of ours and have quite a few donkeys.

I'm sure you're wondering why the heck did you get a donkey? Well, since we show cattle, that means teaching alot of cattle how to respect a halter. For the most part we try to do this when they are younger, which means smaller, which means less chance of getting hurt. Some cattle break to halter really easy and some take quite a bit more work. DH had back surgery just a little over a year ago and has decided that he needs to be a little kinder to himself. That's where Lucy comes in - we will tie the calves to her and let her break them. The nice thing about a donkey is that when she wants to move, the calf will have no choice but to go with her and when she doesn't want to move, the calf will have no choice but to stay put. Saves DH's back - and she's just really fun too.

Well, I'd better go - I'm working on a valentine's day runner that is all layered and ready to quilt, so I'm trying to finish that this weekend. Hopefully I'll have some pics to share by Monday. Have a great evening.