Dinner Has Arrived!

He came today! I know it will take him a while to grow, he's a Jersey beef. And he's been neutered and de-horned. Neutering adds to the growing time, too. Since there are lots of kids that visit the pasture a friendly beef is much better than a fast growing beef.

Not Much Farmin'

I've been busy this summer helping around the neighborhood and working on some other projects. Not much farming or cheesemaking going on right now!

A set of 36 color cubes. Each cube has four solid colored sides (red, yellow, blue, white) and two dual colored sides (red and white, yellow and blue.) I've been wanting one of these since I saw a set here.

This table needed a new leg. I used my Kreg Jig Jr to build it. It's the second project with the new jig and I'm excited to have more projects in mind!

These are some temporary shelf doors that cover some of the open shelves in my daughter's 3rd grade classroom. She needed something to hide the stuff that has to be stored there. These were easy to 'build', the cost was minimal, and although they don't completely cover the shelf, they make a big difference in calming the room down.

I'll be posting a tutorial for the teachers at her school who want to make some of these. The teachers at this school are phenomenal! The administration.... not so much!

Fly Killer

I was at the feed store on Wednesday and picked up a box of Aeroxon Window Fly Killer.

I went back today and bought 3 more boxes!

It's doesn't smell, the flies don't stick to it, and it sticks on the window out of the way.

It has a poison on the sticker that the flies eat and then they DIE!!!

We had a barbeque here on July 24th. When the party was over we had hundreds of flies in the house. By Thursday evening we were finding dead flies everywhere, which is kinda gross when you find them on the counter, but that's better than them buzzing around everywhere.

I was surprised at how well it worked.

There is now a Fly Killer decal in every room in the house that has a window.

I might even put one in the camper!

Blocks from Japan Quilt Top ~ DONE!

Blondie finished her quilt top today!

This photo was taken before the dark blue border was sewn around the edge. It was dark outside when she finished so we didn't take another photo.

Here's the post with the original blocks.

Blondie sewed half the blocks. She cut all the setting pieces (small blue borders and white triangles) herself. I did the math so that all she had to do was cut and sew.

This is the first quilt she's done pretty much by herself. Meaning that she was pushing the foot pedal for the sewing machine....

She's so proud of it!

And I'm sooooo proud of her for taking on a new project, learning a new skill, and not giving up when it seemed overwhelming and really difficult.

I've got three more tops in the sewing room to finish..... I doubt I'll finish them this summer like I wanted to, but that's okay because I've gotten so many good things done this summer that I wouldn't trade them for finished quilt tops!

Oregon Trail Quilt Top

I finally got my Oregon Trail Quilt top done! I kinda like it. I started it in September of 2009 at the wonderful Quilt, Etc. store. They have the best block of the month class ever!

I've got a few kids who think it would win the "Ugliest Quilt Contest".

Oh, well!

I still need to piece the back together. My plan is to use all the scraps from this quilt (all my 1860's reproduction fabrics) and piece them together for the back. That's gonna take some time, too!

My goal of finishing the 4 quilt tops I have blocks for is only 1/4 accomplished. It's been a busy summer here helping other people with their projects so I'm not upset about not getting everything done that I planned.

Important people are being taken care of and helped.

And that's what is most important in life.

Blocks from Japan

Blondie and I have been working on a quilt for her over the last year. We've been participating in the country's best Block of the Month class. As long as we get the block assignment done before the next class, the next kit is free. If we don't have our assignment done, we've got to pay $5.50, which really isn't much at all!

The theme for this year's class was "9-inch Blocks from Japan". Most of these are from the class, but there are a few that we've added that seem to fit the theme. We have a few extra because the layout that Blondie decided on needed more blocks, 41 total to be exact.

The 'deal' was that I would make a block and she would make a block, then all the blocks would go into her quilt. Since she needed 41 we needed at least 20 different blocks for the pairs.

After going through three or four layout decisions, Blondie has decided on the final layout and her project for the next two weeks is to sew the blocks into the finished top.

Here are the photos of the blocks. I'll post a photo of the top when she gets it all put together. She's got something special planned for the back, too!

More of the New Forge

Hubby and Son1 cut down a dead tree on Saturday so that Son1 could have the trunk for his anvil stand.

Son1 has blisters on his hands because he's been having fun in the Blacksmith Shack (aka gazebo in the backyard.) He's not used to swinging a heavy hammer anymore and his hands show it!

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Hubby got a new tool box (that's ginormous!) so he gave the red one to Son1 for his tools. The anvil stand (stump) is on the left.

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 This week Son1 is going with Prion to help our friends fix their cement patio. Prion has been living with a wonderful family this summer instead of living in the dorms. It's been a blessing for her to get to know these people that Hubby and I love and admire.  They have been such a help to Prion that she wants to make sure that she repays them for all they have done for her. 

So she and Son1 will head up this week, move some large cement patio slabs, level the ground underneath, and replace the cement slabs.

Lots of work! Son1 said he's looking forward to it because he misses the hard work of construction he did before his mission to Mexico.

I should have him doing more work around here, but I don't want to give him work for the sake of working.... I'd rather have him do work that is worthwhile. 

Real men are like that... they want work that makes a difference.