it’s not a golden egg

Yesterday, either Pip or Priscilla laid her first egg – which is also sort of my first (goose) egg. So even if this isn’t golden, it’s pretty darn special. Our geese are Pilgrim geese which are listed in critical status on the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy and I hope to do my small part in expanding their numbers.

Are you asking why it’s dirty? If you’re going to incubate eggs, you must not wash them first. Waterfowl lay their eggs on the ground without the benefit of making a nest (my ducks will actually bury their eggs in the straw bedding, no matter how dirty it is). Obviously I wash any eggs that we’re going to eat or sell.

I started Hooked Rabbit Pincushion last week and have picked away at it in the evening, but it’s not getting anywhere very fast, as you can see. The swirly fill between the rabbit and the diamond border is to blame. I don’t do swirls very well.

So I’ve set it aside today to pick up Primitive 6 by Dames of the Needle. How’s that for a catchy title? LOL. I picked this little darling up during the sale at Wydham Needleworks. Unfortunately most of the rest of my order wasn’t in stock (ABC Stitch, I love your system and wish all ONS would implement it!). Most sadly, the tiny “America” chart by The Goode Huswife was gone … I really wanted that for Independence day. But this is a cutie and shouldn’t take me too long.

This wrinkly thing is my take-along project. The filling is endless and brainless, so I stuff the project bag into whatever other bag I’m taking when I head off someplace and put in 20 minutes here or there. Eventually, it’ll be done. The colors are much nicer IRL but every picture I’ve taken of this, the colors look flat.

I’ve saved the best for last. On Saturday, the mailman delivered a little surprise for me from BeckySC that I was not expecting. In her card, she said she’d found this at a little shop and thought of me. I LOVE it and it’s hanging in the kitchen near the big poster of a Plymouth Barred Rock rooster. Becky, you’re so sweet. It was wonderful to feel spoiled and special. Thank you!!

And that’s about it from me for today. I’m sorry to neglect blogging a bit, but it’s a busy time of year (as opposed to all the other busy times of year, LOL!) and although I’m not around as much, you can rest assured that I’m having a grand time. I hope you are, too!

furry friday

Our poor Nick was up through the night vomiting, and although he has no fever and insists he feels fine, I kept him home from school. As you can see, Flip has wasted no time in grabbing a warm lap nap.

I managed to do a little stitching yesterday evening. This wonderful WIP is, I think, the first full-size design I did myself. It’s dedicated to a most wonderful woman who has, sadly, passed on. When I finally finish this design, I’m giving it to her daughter Donna, who was like a sister to me. I call this the ES Spot Sampler.

Last night I confessed to Niek that I’d ordered some fertile Barnevelder eggs to hatch out in our incubator. To say he was not impressed doesn’t really do justice to his response. But I’ve been thinking a lot about how I want to “do” chickens and made the decision to go with rare, heritage breeds in an attempt to promote the breeds and perhaps make them more popular. There are enough Rhode Island Reds and White Leghorns – let’s save some of the marginalized breeds before they’re lost. I guess you could compare it to growing heritage vegetables in your garden instead of simply choosing the ones that are the most resistant. Anyway, I’m sticking with my Blue Lace Red Wyandottes because they are not only a rare breed, but a wonderfully friendly and gentle bird. I’ll breed the ones I have, and perhaps pick up a few extras from a not-so-local farmer in the spring (if I can sneak them by Niek, LOL). I’m breeding the Barred Rocks I have this spring to sell chicks, but I won’t add any to what I already have. I’ll phase out the Barred Rocks, Buff Orpingtons and Black Australorps over time – I really like the Australorps, and would suggest them to anyone as a good layer and a docile bird. And I’ll start a new flock of Barnevelders, a Dutch chicken bred in a town that Max & I lived in when he was a toddler. I’m starting with fertilized eggs because the chicks are nearly impossible to obtain (although My Pet Chicken has some stock starting at $8/chick). They’re a large, friendly bird that bears harsh winters well and that still has some broody tendencies left, meaning I might get some mama birds who’ll hatch future eggs instead of necessitating the incubator. (Broodiness and general maternal instincts have been bred out of modern birds to increase egg production and produce birds that are simply easier to manage.) I have some fun pics of baby Max investigating the Barnvelders when we lived there, but they’re on my other PC and I haven’t yet backed up my old files onto the new laptop, so here are some stock pictures of the breed for anyone who is interested. New adventures to look forward to this spring!

There’s work today, and an overdue lunch with my Mom, so I don’t think too much stitching activity will happen. It’s hard to believe how fast this Challenge has gone. I’ve really enjoyed it, and am looking forward to dedicating part of each month to these WIPs until they are finished.

we’re up to no good around here!

We enjoyed a lovely snowstorm yesterday, compliments of Mother Nature, and everyone (except poor Niek) got the day off. I haven’t measured, but the snow comes up to my knees. Nick and Rowen stayed out playing for so long that they had to defrost in a warm bath with plenty of hot cocoa to make sure they thawed both inside and out.

I had started that big, exciting WIP I told you about, but the charting I’d done was on my PC, so when the kids wanted to watch a movie from NetFlix (which streams through my laptop), I had to set it aside with only this tiny bit done.

Niek came out for a few minutes to see what was going on. Nothing good, I can assure you! We’re a rowdy crowd and our new kitties fit right into the mayhem and chaos. Spin tries to keep us in line by peering down the stairs, but no one pays him any mind. I for one would like to know what Twist was whispering in Niek’s ear!

After things calmed down a bit, I got out a different project and set to work on it. The fiddly bricks are time-consuming, but the elegant house will be a lovely addition to my long-abandoned NRR (began ages ago with the Me, Myself, and I NRR group).

There was a delay getting the buses out, but the kids are now back at school and I’m back in the kitchen for the moment. The husband of a good friend has been diagnosed with cancer and they have to drive 2+ hours each way, five days a week, for treatment. A bunch of us have gotten together to cook for them during the six-week treatment period and I am Thursday’s Chef. Tonight we’re having cassoulet, Chateau-Chaos style. It smells heavenly in here. I only wish there was time enough to make some bread to go with it.

And then, back to stitching for a bit. I wonder what I’ll get up to today! Wishing you a great day, however you choose to fill it!

no sand

… as in, no sand in the hourglass. Wednesday Tuesday (thanks, Dianne!) got a little busier than I could keep up with, despite my attempt to perceive time passing at a more moderate pace. (It’s all a matter of how we perceive the passage of time, right? I mean, we all get the same 24 hours in a day.) Anyway, my Wednesday meeting got bumped to Tuesday and I had already planned to clean the chicken coop on Tuesday, so of course I decided to do both. In addition, the kids have sports that afternoon and I whip around town for a couple of hours in my white van doing an excellent impersonation of a soccer mom. In short, stitching moments were not to be had during the day and I spent my sliver of free time in the evening plotting out what I wanted to stitch on my fab UFO project. Pictures tomorrow. Really.

despite a double header

… very little stitching was done yesterday.

I started with this, a design of my own, because the over-one verse requires either good daylight or my magnifier (which is a bugger to use in the living room because of the appalling lack of outlets).

As you can see precious little was done – thanks largely to the interruption of the neighbors’ wolf-hybrid/Malamute beast running loose AGAIN. As usual, it made itself at home running up and down our property – but this time, our own dogs were out … and the dog doo quickly hit the fan. Thankfully it was Niek walking our dogs – anyone else would’ve been unable to contain Rigby (at nearly 80 lbs) and Lola (only around 45 lbs but full of energy) as they struggled to protect their territory from the intruder. And also to be thankful for, the chickens were in their coop – believe it or not, this dog has already killed numerous chickens in the neighborhood, yet no legal action has been taken!  Less thankfully, I ran out screaming and shouting at the dog to get away from our dogs and it turned its attentions on me. Yikes. I wasn’t thinking clearly; I just wanted Niek to get our dogs inside where they’d be safe. (And honestly, I was mad as blazes to see it threatening our own animals.) When I burst on the scene, the dog went from being mildly aggressive to downright scary and once I was back inside, I didn’t really dare go out again till I know the owners had been contacted and had taken it home. I’m writing a letter to the animal control officer, who will use it in a court case, but he said there’s really nothing that can be done. So am I supposed to wait till the dog attacks the chickens, one of my dogs, or one of my kids??

Later in the day, after things had settled down, Rowen had her first Girl Scouts meeting and I agreed to stay with her. Knowing I couldn’t stand an hour of idleness and that stitching over-one wouldn’t be possible, I brought my Early Maine Pincushion along and put in a few stitches. Very few, actually – but that’s better than none, right? I’m doing this on one of Vikki Clayton’s unevenweaves using her silks. Love it!

So far this morning, I’ve already mucked out the large room in the chicken barn and I have a business meeting coming up, but I hope to put in a little activity with something or another. I’m teasing – I have a great project pulled out that I’m really quite excited to work on, but you’ll have to wait till tomorrow to see if I’m at all successful.

The sun is out and it is an absolutely gorgeous day. I hope you’re smiling and doing something you enjoy!

god permits industrious angels afternoons to play

(by Emily Dickinson)

I enjoyed an afternoon of stitching yesterday. Although this might not seem like a lot of progress, you’ll have to remember that the color choices took nearly as long as the actual stitching. (Let’s face it – I’m slow!) I do enjoy this project, and the materials – linen from Vikki Clayton and silks from The Thread Gatherer – are sheer delight.

I’m not sure what I’m going to grab from the WIP/UFO pile today. Truth be told, the pile is getting pretty small. I have discovered that I have a lot more kitted up than I would have ever believed (my old UFOs were packed up with my kits … in ignoring one, I’d forgotten the other, LOL!).

And the idea has been flickering around in my mind that as much as I’ve enjoyed this challenge, perhaps I will dedicate the first 10 days or so of each month to a brief WIP Challenge. It would be sad for these projects to disappear up on the WIP shelf again, wouldn’t it?

Here’s hoping your Monday is a fine one and that like the angels, you get a chance to play!

i <3 sundays

I wasn’t feeling too spiffing yesterday and I think that makes this Sunday feel even better than usual – but I love Sunday no matter what. It’s usually a strictly-family day and although we don’t actually do much, I like to think that we’re filling ourselves up with that intangible family-feeling that may become scarce as the kids get older. Today we’re watching Scooby Doo, playing games, doing puzzles, cuddling kittens, playing piano, blogging, and probably a few other things.

I have a little stitching to share, too. First off, here’s where I wound up with my extra day on Noah, by CHS. I started one of the birds and got a few lengths of floss into the (never-ending) coat.

My project for yesterday was Tree of Life by Moira Blackburn. Gorgeous design that I bought kitted up from, I believe, Criss Cross Row. I’m not keen on the 32 ct Sand linen, but then again, I wouldn’t want the linen to draw attention away from the design, so I’m sticking to the Sand. (Couldn’t fit this one into a collage frame.)

When I was pulling out today’s Challenge Piece, I originally intended to return to my sadly-neglected HoHRH … but I looked at how very little I’ve done and at the linen I’d chosen and I began to doubt. I like the color of the linen (it’s Parkway, by Silkweaver) but I think it’s 28 count … meaning the finished piece is going to be like a wall mural. Do I continue, or do I start over on a higher-count linen? What’s your vote?

As a second choice project for today, I’ve pulled out a tombstone angel of my own design. She’s funky. It’s slow going as I’m chosing the shading of the silks as I go – that means I need decent daylight and a fair amount of peace from the Chaos Crew. So really, it is the right project for today. Here’s where I’m starting … I wonder where I’ll be ending.

That’s Flip’s foot in the photo. He says it’s only fair to show the rest of him.

And thank you all for your good wishes for my BIL. He is home now, and although he’ll need a follow-up visit or two, he’s on the road to recovery.

short & sweet

As I’d suspected, my stitching time yesterday was very brief. I managed to get a little bit done on Noah’s beard and I stitched the second bee-bug. Hopefully, I’ll have another chance during this 15 Day Challenge to return to this piece because I love it and would really like to have it as a 2011 finish.

Today’s stitching time will be even more limited, but hopefully by the end of the day we’ll know what’s going on with my brother-in-law. Thanks for your good thoughts and for continuing to visit me here!

out of (my) ordinary

Yesterday I pulled out Mary Garry’s Spring Cookies – one of those charts I “had” to have when I saw it on eBay, but once I got it, I was like, “Eh.” It didn’t really do it for me. Nonetheless, I started it in what seemed like a fabulous choice of bright, spring colors … and almost immediately lost all interest. I didn’t like the colors. I didn’t like the fabric I chose (some sort of non-linen evenweave in an absurdly low count). It’s gathered dust for a long time now. But when I saw it sitting on the WIP shelf, I thought it deserved a second chance – and honestly, after working on it yesterday, the colors are a little more appealing. The fabric still feels as big as cross stitching on a piece of window screening, but … I think there’s potential for this being finished this spring. The love might not be there, but it would make a cute something and I’m pretty sure the kids will like it a lot.

For today’s challenge, I’ve pulled out Noah’s Stocking by CHS. Ooooh – I love this one!! But my brother-in-law has been admitted to the hospital and I’m going to lend a hand at my sister’s daycare so I won’t be stitching too much after all today. Please think good thoughts for my BIL’s return to good health.

Wishing you a wonderful day. Thanks for stopping by and for your great comments on my (embarrassingly large) WIP pile progress.

ho ho ho!

I got this great design from Mary Kathryn and of course I was sure I’d have it done in time for Christmas. I started it right up (using DMC on 25 ct Floba from Violarium) … and then set it aside. Oops. It wasn’t ready for this Christmas, but hopefully it will be ready for next year’s. LOL!

Arden is back at daycare for a few hours today. He must be feeling better because he was very excited to go. Rowen will have a playdate after school (finally! she insists it’s been ages) while Nick has an after school activity. Max will probably spend most of the afternoon doing Mysterious Preteen Things in his room. Last night, Rowen asked why Max is always in his room and if she will be so boring when she’s that old. LOL!! I assured her she would be.

Well, I’ve caught up on some work, but there’s plenty more where that came from, so off I go. Don’t expect much for tomorrow’s WIP Challenge update.