Gratitude Sunday!

(Yep, that's yours truly)

Time for another gratitude post. I love writing these almost as much as I love reading them!

This week, I am grateful for...

-The chance to see some very dear friends tomorrow. We see them every few weeks, but that's just not enough. I think of them as older siblings, and they've been there for our family through some really crazy times. Love you, hippies!

-Finding out yesterday that I am not, as I previously thought, the only pagan at work. I have absolutely nothing against other faiths (in fact, I embrace them all), but sometimes, it does get a little lonely around the workplace.

-My new tea, Fidnemed Nighttime tea, from Mountain Rose Herbs. I've had it for two weeks now, and while I only use it on weekends (because that's when I work part time), it has so far passed with flying colors. It's gentle, but when you fall asleep, you really fall asleep!

-My pumpkins are finally getting their color, and my Musquee de Provence pumpkins are finally producing female blossoms. Also, we seem to have stopped losing the plants to the heat and lack of water, yay!

-The lovely orange I got from dyeing some wool with coreopsis flowers. I had seen some photos, and I realized that I had some of the flowers in my haphazardly planted "just flowers" bed. I plan on planting an entire bed of them next year!

-Also, I have to mention that I am so grateful that my mother has taken it upon herself to water my rose bushes if I happen to be at work when they need it. She really doesn't like roses, and I promised her she wouldn't even have to touch my bushes, but she's done it of her own will, and that makes me smile.

That's it for now. I'm off to knit my delicious shawl and cut out pattern pieces!

The sewing bug strikes again

A few weeks ago, I was inspired by one of my favorite bloggers, Farmama. Her lovely, sturdy overalls seem like just the thing for working out in the garden and berry patches.

I always had this notion in my head that overalls were somehow less than desirable. I'd only ever seen someone wear overalls and look good in them once, and now I realize she looked good in them because she wore them for the right reasons. They weren't a fashion statement - they were practical, comfortable, and protected her from the elements. Aha! That's just what I need! The more I delve into homesteading, the more I leave behind what's "fashionable" for what's practical and comfortable. With that mindset, I've come to see well-worn, well-loved overalls as a thing of joy.

I tracked down an old pattern, bought it, and then tackled the task of finding fabric I liked for them. My "old brain" drove me for a while. I looked for something light but sturdy, something printed and pretty, but then one night, as I was reading Country Women: A Handbook for the New Farmer, it hit me. It was really quite stunning. I stopped cold. I laughed at myself. Overalls should be work clothes, silly!

I'm waiting on 5 yards of heavy, striped denim to arrive now. I also splurged a tad on two 3 yard lengths of cotton shirting and a pattern that's very close to my favorite shirt ever. The shirts may not turn out to be terribly sturdy, but they will work as a go between for the gardens and the outside world this fall.

This is going to be a learning process for a long time, I'm sure. There are times when I wonder how I ever made it this far in life without realizing some things, and there are times when I realize I've known certain things forever. It's fascinating, challenging, but overall, it's full of enjoyment and growth.

Sunday Gratitude post

I figured that today, I would join Taryn from Wooly Moss Roots in a gratitude post. I've been wanting to do this for a few weeks now, but have always seemed to get distracted, so here goes:


-My mother giving me her copy of Country Women: A Handbook for the New Farmer to read. This was published in the 70s by a group of farming feminists. Mom told me as she handed it over that she'd read it cover to cover and it really touched her. I can see why. Not only is there a ton of information on many subjects (the section on wells, and the one on outhouses I find particularly interesting), but the journal entries scattered throughout have really gotten to me. They put into words how I've been feeling more often than not lately, and it's good to know others have gotten through this transition from submissive girl to independent woman.

-The sheep that provided the beautiful wool I just finished spinning last week. It was a variegated Rambouillet fleece I purchased a few years ago. It spun up like an absolutely dream, and knits up even better.



-Finally getting some recognition at work from my "big boss" for all the work I do. It was nice to hear it had been noticed, and I'm flattered they seem to be "grooming" me, even if the job itself is entirely against my nature and not something I want to do for much longer.

-Coming home from said job and going out to check the herbs, roses, veggies and berries. What a lovely way to reconnect to the land after all the hustle and bustle of "civilization."

-Finding old friends online and discovering that our relationships are as strong as ever. Also, for friends I have lost over the years, whose memories still bring me so much love and joy.

-Seeing my best friend relaxed and happy.

And finally, for all the fathers in my life. None of you are perfect, but you are all wonderful and much appreciated!

I'm going to have to work up some sort of posting schedule, I think. I have a work schedule, a rose schedule, a sleep schedule, why not a blogging schedule?

Anyway, no pictures just yet because the light was already gone when I got home from work. I do have to report on some quilting, however.

I started Think Big from the February issue of APQ in February. I went all out - I took my "birthday money" and my mother to JoAnn's and went crazy. I gave myself one rule - there are no rules. I knew what colors I wanted, but beyond that, it was a case of "if you like it, buy it." I don't get to do that very often, but since it's such a fat quarter friendly quilt, I went hog wild.

I decided to do my backgrounds in neutrals and tans, instead of blacks. Black is a little too stark for me, and I wanted something to remind me of a lovely summer when I finish. I got a few of the backgrounds that day, then visited my local quilt shop, Field's, for the rest. I even managed to grab the last yard and a half of one of my favorite backgrounds ever. Yay me!

I've been working fairly steadily on the blocks, and to date, I have 4 1/2 hand appliqued. I absolutely love hand applique. I suppose it's because the first "real quilt" I did was a teeny tiny Kim Diehl with an appliqued border. It goes along with my love of handquilting. There's something soothing about all of those tiny stitches.

In other news, our late neighbor's wife has told the real estate sharks that she won't be selling the property. This makes all of us on Hummingbird Lane very, very happy. She's definitely a character, that one. She told me with somewhat tearful, faint amusement at her husband's memorial that she'd have to get food from our gardens now, and I told her I'd take extra care with the oregano she gave me a week before the tornado. It's fierce and hardy like she is.

We're also taking care of her rooster, though no one can seem to locate her hens. I'm afraid they've all wandered off into the woods by now. The rooster, however, is doing smashingly. He struts around our little neighborhood like he owns it, and I suppose he rather does, the gorgeous thing that he is. He's been faring well on bugs the past two weeks, but I'm planning on getting him some feed tomorrow, so I can add that to the routine. (We already put out water for him, and I discovered today that boy, does that rooster know which water bowl is his or what? He followed me today and got a bit huffy when I wasn't fast enough!)

Well, that's all for now, and since I've really rambled on this time, I think that's enough. Happy May Day, all!

Not the post I expected

I was thinking that this first post would be full of lovely pictures of what I'm working on right now, and my thoughts, and introduction to the quilt sphere. I was wrong.

You see, on Saturday, as my mother and I pulled into our driveway and parked, she paused, and asked "What do I hear?"

Those are the scariest words in the English language when you realize what you both hear is a freight train, and there are no train tracks within 30 miles of you. We had no time to get out of the car and run for the house, so we hunkered down, covered our heads and prayed like there was no tomorrow, because there was a good chance there might not be.

We made it, though. My father had been standing in the back door, wondering if he could hold the car down if it started to move. Luckily, it didn't. Luckily, our two dogs, Samwise and Bombadil, were terrified, but unscathed out in their pen. My favorite tree, a huge black walnut, missed them by a few feet.

Once we were safely inside, my father rushed out to check on the neighbors. His quick thinking, and that of the two boys next door, saved a life. Our new neighbor and her husband had been home when their trailer was hit head on. My father and friends managed to pull her out, though her husband was not as lucky. He was a good man, who loved his wife and children to an immense degree, and I know he's thankful, wherever he is, that they're alright.

I suppose I can tie this back to quilting by saying that the rest of that night I spent in our dark kitchen with my parents, watching the emergency vehicles on the road beside us, wrapped up tightly in my first real quilt, a Civil War Soldier quilt from an old American Patchwork and Quilting, shaking like a leaf, crying, but knowing that there was definitely someone watching out for us.

I have to thank all of our friends and neighbors for pulling together, from those first few seconds afterward, to now, as they get a chainsaw gang together to start clearing and picking up the pieces. I haven't put too much thought into it just yet, but I think this experience calls for a quilt to commemorate all of the love and fellowship we all spread around our little corner of the world in the aftermath of this tragedy.

Hello, world!

I'll take this down once I have a real post to share.