Free Motion Quilting

I've spent the past few days discovering the art of free motion quilting. I love my little Brother Innovis 900D sewing machine. I've had it for almost 2 years now and have yet to fully explore all its capabilities. I'm almost embarrassed to admit that. I purchased it because I wanted the free motion quilting capability along with a bit of embroidery and of course, all the basics to boot. She's certainly not a Husqvarna Viking (I drool over those machines like a dog drools for bacon), but she had all the features I was looking for. Above you can see my first attempts at using the free motion quilting utility. If you look close enough, you can see all the ripple-like stitch through the blocks; that's all done on the fly. No pattern, no lines, just your imagination. I kind of dove into it with the piece on the left, not knowing how it would turn out. It's trickier than you would think as you have to coordinate eyes, muscle memory, concentration, stitch speed, and patience. But the outcome was well worth the time spent learning. I'm going to try to spend a little bit of time each day improving on this technique. I was amazed how many resources are out there, including videos. For those interested, I found this website which not only describes 300+ patterns, but gives you a video tutorial as well. My hat's off to this girl for all the time it must have taken to create these. The above objects are meant to be scarves, with one of them made as a Christmas present for 'someone'. I can't mention names yet, because they just might see this blog post before then.

The baby buns are doing well and growing fast. They no longer bury themselves in their nest, but wander about, snuggling up to mamma buns when sleep overcomes their curiosity. As far as I can tell, all their eyes are open now. I try to handle them a little bit each day, hoping that this will get them ready for the trip they are about to make up north tomorrow. I suppose it's not ideal to move them around, but I can't leave them alone for a week, so they are coming with. We rarely travel with the farm. Note to self: plan breedings away from travel dates. Live and learn. For now, I still have loads to get done in preparation for the trip tomorrow. I think it's going to be a late night.

I baked A LOT of cookies this weekend!

Oh, and two sweet potato pies! I didn't take pictures of those though...

FO: (More Than) 198 Yards of Heaven

This was a lesson. I had never knitted a lace-like pattern before, let alone an actual shawl. I have to say, I'm pretty proud of myself for completing a project like this. For those of you who don't know me well enough, I have a tendency to start many projects and few ever really get finished. I was a determined knitter this time. This was also the first item that I ever blocked before. I wish I would have taken at least one picture of what the shawl actually looked like before being blocked. You can't really see any of the lacey pattern. Blocking involves wetting the object then stretching it out to create what you see in the pictures and letting it dry. That's what these pictures show. I did modify the pattern just a bit; mainly to make it longer, then followed some other Ravelry knitters mods to finish the border. Many thanks to them for all they helpful instructions. The pattern is not intended for beginners (in many ways I still am), but you can always find help on Ravelry.

The second best thing about this shawl is that it is 100% processed by me (outside of being shorn). I washed, carded, spun, then knit. It took about a month to complete, but boy is it ever warm!

BTW - the buns are doing just fine. We do have a runt and are supplementing his feeding, but he's going strong. So I'm hopeful that he will grow up healthy and happy. More on them later...

Arrival of the Baby Buns

She did it! Mrs. Buns is finally Mamma Buns, and we couldn't be more pleased. This is her second attempt at a successful kindling (giving birth to baby bunnies = kits). I think she's got it down now. We brought her in Sunday night and set up a cozy spot for her in the basement. We figured this would be the perfect spot - quiet, constant temperature (not too hot, not too cold), little disturbance. She almost immediately took to nesting. By Tuesday she had plucked her belly clean. Honestly, I knew that they plucked their own fiber for the nest, but never in my wildest dreams would I have thought that they actually plucked SO much! I was amazed! She lined herself a good nest and early this morning birthed six beautiful kits. By the time I got up, she had them all cleaned up and carefully divided in two little pouches of her nest. It was like waking up on Christmas day at the age of 9 (I got my first chinchilla then). I can't wait to watch them grow up.

Handmade Christmas

I'm so happy with our Christmas tree this season. This is our first tall tree! I've been working the past few months on some origami ornaments and decided to take what I've made adorn our tree. Many of our Christmas's have been 'handmade'. I wouldn't have it any other way. There's nothing nicer than knowing that someone put the time and thoughtfulness into your gift. I find handmade, up-cycled, or even re-gifted presents to be some of the one's that I cherish the most.

So I'm going with that theme again this year and following suite with a 'handmade' Christmas tree.

I just finished creating my own garland for the tree this evening. This was an idea I got from a gift that my wonderful mother made for me a few years ago. It's very simple and fairly quick and easy to do. Especially if you've got multiple pairs of hands to help.

I used two strings of 60 LED lights and four yards of homespun fabric. The fabric was cut into 6 inch by 1 inch strips and tied between each of the lights. That's it! So simple, yet so beautiful!

Give it a try! And if you are interested in making the origami stars, here is one of many web tutorials.

A Farming Movement

As I was reading one of my favorite blogs this morning, it got me pondering on some of the other blogs I follow, and some of the people that I've met and become acquainted with the past few years. Maybe it's just because this is what I've chosen to surround myself with, but I'm starting to see the 'movement'. The farming movement. People making a conscious choice to do something better. To live off the land. To take the bounty that God has given and run with it. Against all odds and the knowledge that they could fall flat on their faces, they jump right in hoping to make a better future for themselves and those to come after them. We all have our own reasons, but I think we work for a common goal. And for those who cannot themselves farm, there is more of a support of our local farmers and CSAs.

This is a good feeling.