moving on

The diapers are done.

The soakers are done.

I also did a set of soakers for Kenny because he can't decide if he's potty trained or not. He'll be good for a while and then, like he did at my house the other day, he'll sit in his chair and pee on the floor through his clothes. It's not like he doesn't know. He just does it. I made the soakers for him so if Abby needs to use them he has them. She can use them on Patrick when he gets older anyhow, so I only need to make one more size - the size between those and the ones he's in now.

I have the quilts cut out for the twins but I'm lacking the energy and motivation to sew the pieces together and make the blocks. Once I get going it will go quickly. It's just a matter of getting off my backside and starting that first block; sewing that first seam will do the trick.

I have a lot to iron. I just caught up on laundry and most of my dresses and such need to be ironed. I haven't ironed for over a week so now I really just buckle down and get it done. I'll probably do that tomorrow.

The garden is doing well. We have lots of cucumbers and the tomatoes are starting to get ripe.

The pullets should start laying soon. I can't wait to see the multi-colored eggs. It's going to be neat to have blue and green eggs in my fridge. The turkens are large birds and so are the Marans. The Ameraucanas will be smaller birds and they are noticeably more shy and mellow than the Turkens, but more outgoing than the Marans trio. Turkens are inquisitive and smart. Ameraucanas are quiet and gentle with bright eyes and pretty colors - their muffs make them especially cute, and their color combinations are incredible.

I did give two of the Marans cockerels to a lady with a farm. She said they have been good boys. I'm really glad she took them. They have a lot of room to run around and about half as many birds as we do to hang out with. She calls me about every 2 weeks to give me an update.

Life is slowly and surely settling into a routine here. It's all going to be good in the end.

staying busy

I've been working on headcoverings this week. I played with one yesterday and got it all finished before deciding I really didn't like it. I'll have to tweak that pattern so it doesn't make the wearer look like The Flying Nun when they have it on. Fortunately I have a lot of scrap and leftover fabric so I'm not wasting good stuff with my experimentation.

I also made a new jumper and I really like it. The last time I used this pattern, I gathered the skirt instead of doing the pleats the pattern called for. This time I used the pleats and found out very quickly that it is much more flattering and makes me look a bit smaller and not so round.

We had to cull a hen two nights ago. She was at the bottom of the pecking order and obviously ticked someone off. I went in to check on them and found blood spots all over the place. They'd been pecking at her head and neck and she didn't look too good, though she wasn't as bad as she could have been. Hens being hens, if I'd have left her there overnight she'd have been dead in the morning. I got hubby and we went to the garage and did what we had to do. I was able to clean the carcass this time and pluck most of the feathers so on Wednesday we'll have a nice roast chicken for supper. If I catch the head hen being mean like that to one more of her housemates she's next on the list. I don't need mean birds.

We definitely need more birds this spring. I just put 2 dozen fresh eggs in the outside fridge today and a new local customer showed up and bought both of them. I had emptied the fridge last week to take the eggs to the feed store owner and now I'm out again. 15 (now 14) birds just aren't enough. Once I get the new chicks next month and they start laying we'll have 25 pullets producing eggs. That should be enough. Where we are now I won't even have to go to the farmer's market to sell eggs this summer...I won't have enough to take!

Later today I want to make some more of the triangle headcoverings, assembly line style by color, so I can list them on Etsy and see what happens. I have plenty of fat quarters picked out and after I go to the post office and check the mail I'll have enough lace for them as well. I'm making some with lace and some without. I'll see which sells best, and also have the option on my Etsy page for people to contact me about specific preferences.

I'd like to get on a regular sleep schedule again. This staying up most of the night thing really throws off my routine.

I guess that's it for now. I'm going to try and take some pics of my headcoverings so I'll have them to post on Etsy and I'll put them here, too.