Big doings.

Can I just say that baby chicks are a pain in the..............well, you know.
They are a lot of work.   I have had chickens in the past, but NEVER chicks.
omg.
One night I actually stayed over at the studio, so I could run out there every couple of hours to make sure the light was at the right height that they didn't freeze.
I had them in a huge metal water trough inside the chicken coop.  They are growing so fast, I think they were getting overcrowded.
The other day I noticed one little barred rock crouched down and not moving.
I picked her up to find that her neck was pecked and in rough shape.

 So I put her in a box by herself....with food and water.  I have fed her a little boiled egg, and while I was expecting to find her dead, she is actually doing much better.
But she wants out.
Chickens are social birds.  She doesn't like being alone.
So today, after two days of being in this box, I tried her in with the rest.  They immediately started pecking the back of her neck.

I fetched her out quickly.

Then I had a bit of a brain storm.   I went to the barn, where I had a bird cage hanging.....cleaned it out, put some shavings in it, some food and water, and put her in it.
As you can see, she can see them, and hear them, and while it may not be a perfect solution, it is the only one I could come up with for the time being.
I would love to hear any suggestions.

Oh, and I did take them out of the metal container, and put up this corrugated cardboard, so they wouldn't hide under the nesting boxes, where I couldn't keep a good eye on them.

I think they will be easier when they are grown.

Finally the kitchen construction is done.  And while I could have opted for the "Country Living" completely new kitchen, I am pretty happy with my old/new kitchen.  
It's perfect.

I have to get knobs for the cupboards, and the floor needs to be sanded and refinished around the new ones, where the bathroom used to be.

I love my old house, and it's important to me that any renovation I do feels right.

This does.

It's especially fun, when an idea that was brewing in my head, comes to fruition, and is even nicer than I expected it to be.

I'm not keeping you awake, am I Sydney???

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6" Sampler Quilt

I'm sure you're familiar with the Farmer's Wife Quilt that was bit of a craze a while back. There are tons of gorgeous versions out there and many horror stories about making it. It seems all the blocks are made with templates - not our favorite thing in this rotary cut quilting world.

I was on the fence about doing one until I saw my friend Carla's quilt. Beautiful!

To avoid the template hassle, I decided to use several of my block design books, graph paper and pencil to create my block choices. All easily rotary cut. It will be an ongoing project for much of this year - I'm going for 64 blocks - 8x8.

Here are the first 25:

And it seems I have a few favorites {which just happen to be my most recent ones}...

Maybe I should call it The Salesman's Wife Quilt :-)

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Low Volume Churn Dash

Have you seen all the pretty "Low Volume" quilts around the blogosphere? Though not usually my style {I love some color!}, after admiring so many, I thought I would give it a try.

A simple Churn Dash block, combined with some cute fabric from the Littlest line and here's what I came up with...

It's very sweet and soft

And features the border print in several of the Churn Dash blocks...

I quilted it myself in a design similar to a Dogwood quilting pattern...

And the back is super cute with the border print!

I have to admit, I prefer a little more color, but I think it will be lovely for just the right person!

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Easier days.

6am.   Every morning.  Wide awake.
That's me.

What better time to make rhubarb pies?

I don't put strawberries in my rhubarb pies.  I might have told you that before.  When it comes to rhubarb, I am a firm believer that it is fine all by itself.

Then I made some whole grain orange quinoa  muffins.... and I didn't take a picture, and my daughters took them all home.  They were met with rave reviews.
It is good to have family that appreciates what I cook up.

We found some sherbert loopers in the attic and L wove them up into 3 nice rugs.  One of them is sold, just from putting them in my newsletter.   
I love the sherbert rugs, but bleaching out the color to get those shades is a giant pain.

I have been going to my chiropractor for a few weeks.  He has been helping me with the pain and stiffness in my neck and shoulders, from all the trauma of three surgeries, and the presence of rods holding my cervical spine straight.
I think it's helping, and maybe the reason my headaches seem to be better.  
I am almost afraid to say that.

But being joyful  is easy with this girl around.
She lights up our whole family with her smile. 
We all love her so much.

So much to be grateful for.

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good news

I finally got the AVL up and running.   I was beside myself for a week.
I could not get a shed.
I was convinced that something had happened to the loom, and that I needed to figure it out.
I reread the manual.  I called AVL.  I posted on a weaving group on Facebook, and got a lot of advice.
I tried everything I could think of, still I could not get a clean shed.

Finally the other day, after crawling under the loom for the third time, and seeing nothing that might help me understand it, I sat at my computer, and stared at the loom.

Then I had an "aha" moment.  I could see that there were tight and loose groups of threads across the warp.  I got up and checked them out, and they were not specific to any particular harnesses.  As my eyes followed the threads back to the warp beam, I suddenly realized that the sections on the warp beam were not flat.  There was a slight rise  on one side, and the loose threads were coming from that rise.   The tight threads were coming from the low side of the bout.
Embarrassing to admit, but the problem was not the loom, it was the warp.  I was not careful enough when I wound the warp on, and the sections were not even.
The problem was simple............I didn't do a good job putting the warp on.

My friend, Chris from Homestead Weaving, suggested that I try to even out the sections with a tapestry beater.  I did just that, and the problem disappeared.
I guess you can get away with a little deviation in the height of the sections of the warp beam on a 2 harness rug loom.
You cannot get away with it on this 16 harness AVL.
I am humbled.  I have put on hundreds of warps, and have never had this problem.
It is a reminder, to slow down, and do it right, and that no matter how much you think you know, there is always something to learn.

 

 The baby wrap is well on its way.  I am loving it, and loving the loom again.

I am actually happy that it was me, and not the loom.

Two happy little chick mamas have been with me for two days.
Feeding, cleaning, checking for pasty butt, they have settled right into it.
They tried to talk me into letting them sleep out there.
That didn't happen.

 It's been a busy couple of days, but in a productive, happy way.

Today, on several different occasions, for long periods at a time, I had almost NO headache.

Gulp.  It was so alien, and such a surprise.  I felt giddy.

I can't say more.  I am joyful.  Grateful.  Hopeful.

Happy, happy day.

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Nutmeg Stars

I've shared some glimpses of my Nutmeg Stars quilt and it's finally quilted! I need to add a binding before it gets it's big reveal. But today I thought I'd share a long overdue post about how I changed the pattern for this one.

I made the quilt many years ago - probably when the pattern was first released - exactly like the one on the cover, fabric and all. Last year my friend Jamie was involved with a quilt auction to provide funding for ovarian cancer research at the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Texas. I lost my sister 3 years ago to ovarian cancer and I wanted to donate a quilt that I truly loved and would hopefully bring a good price. I donated my Nutmeg Stars, pictured here. Then I got a beautiful note from the woman who bought the quilt. She definitely loved it as much as I did. That's when I decided I needed to make another one - a special one for me.

And because I can't make the same quilt twice, I decided to change the setting a bit to a straight set. I thought the straight set could use a bigger block, and was able to draft it to a larger size. With full permission of the pattern designer, Joanna Figueroa, here's how you can make one too!

First you'll need the pattern, Nutmeg Stars from Fig Tree Quilts.

My block finished at 13 1/4" {unfinished 13 3/4"}

Refer to the cutting instructions in the pattern. For one block, add the following to the measurements to those indicated in the pattern:

Print for center: (A) add 1 1/4"

Print for star points: (B) 2 squares add 1/2"; (C) 8 squares add 3/8"

Background: (B) 2 squares add 1/2"; (C) 4 squares add 3/8"; (D) 4 squares add 1/2"; (E) 8 rectangles add 3/8" to the short side and 1/2" to the long side

Refer to the piecing direction in the pattern {note - the pattern makes 2 blocks at a time}. When you look at the block, you may think it looks pretty complicated. But it's actually super simple {love that!} For one block:

Follow the first step and make 4 units using the print and background triangles. It's just a simple hourglass unit...

The remaining units are made using the folded triangle method. I know you know how to do those!!

In the second step, make 1 unit using your background (C) pieces...

In the third step, make 8 units as pictured in the pattern with the (C) print squares.

Follow the block diagram to complete the block!

My quilt uses 1" finished sashing to set the quilt.

It's really a simple way to make what looks like a complicated block. Let me know if you try it!!

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Castle Cluck.

Last year, I made a promise to my granddaughters, who are now 8 and 9 years old.
I felt like I had missed so much time with them, because of my head injury/surgeries, etcetera, and I wanted to make it up to them.
I committed to raising chickens with them.


Can I just say that I will have to raise chickens for eggs, and maybe sell them door to door, for about ten years,  before this venture even begins to break even.
I could have bought a tractor trailer full of eggs.

But that's not what it's about, is it??

They arrived Monday.   26 little balls of fluff.  Half of them are going to my bff's house, when they are bigger, and half are residing here, at Castle Cluck.

 There are 5 barred rocks, 5 buff rocks, 5 buff orpingtons, 5 rhode island reds, and 6 araucanas.

But don't try to count them.  It's impossible.

Isn't it awesome to see green grass, and green leaves?
I am loving it.

Roy and I walk almost every day.  His favorite walk, and mine, is down by the river.

It is blissfully quiet there this time of year.
Summer, not so much. 

It is the best place to walk.  

I have been wicked busy this week, with the weaving weekend, then the chicks, babysitting the grandbaby, and it's not over yet.  I have two little girls that are "itching" to get to the studio to bond with their chicks.

Only problem is, they're not going to want to leave.

Spring and grandchildren and chicks.
My, my.

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A B C D E F G

I've finished my ABC quilt! And every time I worked on it, the Alphabet song played in my head. It really is such a catchy tune :-)

I love letters, so making this quilt was a really fun project for me. And {call me weird} I love punctuation too - so I had to add some of my favorite marks. Including my overused ellipsis...

My color scheme came from this adorable print from the Enchant line, which I included on the back...

The patterns for the letters are available from the Moda Spell It With Fabric blog hop. To get them, you'll need to go to each of the fabric designers' page to find the link to their letter pattern.

I'm hoping the Grandkids like this one!

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