April 10, 2010
Spring!
Spring is finally here! In the air and on my clothes! I found very pretty single curtain panel for $1 at Hudson's Dirt Cheep the other day. I decided that the beautiful material would best be used for a new Spring dress for me! So, I went to cutting and measuring and made myself a new spring dress!
April 7, 2010
Rice Bowl Quilt
Yesterday I began working on my quilt! The squares are rice bowls. Unfortunately, I lost the directions. So, I have just been making the rice bowls. I'm not sure how to piece the borders together. I will have to wait for my Grandmother to send a copy of the directions. Maybe then I'll know what I'm doing. Sort of.
April 3, 2010
Rainbow Brite!
YAY! I have organized my sewing materials! And all the colors reminded me of my favorite 80's cartoon - Rainbow Brite! So... I organized
My Spools
My Buttons
My Ribbons
And my NEW Fabrics!
Good Friday = Planting Day
Yesterday was Good Friday which means planting day! We filled raised beds, tilled, planted, fertilized, and etcetera. And it was a really nice day to get all the planting done. In past years we have waited until late April or even early May. That is the worst time to plant. It is far to hot in Mississippi to plant after mid April.
My father-in-law uses an olde-timey planter to plant corn. It has a little wheel that places the corn the perfect depth in the ground and distance apart. This planter used to be horse or mule drawn. But we have a more modern way of doing things now. . .
Yet, somehow, this still seems a bit back-woods.
Other things were planted by hand and hoe. Jake, my eight-year-old nephew, and I planted the cantaloupe by hand. Earlier that morning we also planted watermelon into little peat-moss cups.
Also, the figs, pears, peaches, and apples are all in full bloom! I can't wait for all these things to produce fruits and veggies! Ah, another successful day on the Harrell Family Farm.
March 29, 2010
Rice Bowl and Chopsticks Apron
Here is the rice bowl and chopstick pocket all sewn onto my apron. This is the template that I posted a picture of s few weeks ago. I think that I will keep this one for myself. So far it is my favorite piece that I have created. Yay!
March 28, 2010
Cups an Espresso Café
Most Saturdays, and the occasional Sunday, I work a at local coffee house called Cups. I enjoy it. Especially since I enjoy coffee. Though, I wouldn't really say I would "kill for coffee." Most days I prefer a good hot tea or, if I really feel like spoiling myself, a chai tea latte.
This awesome spaghetti-strap shirt is another one of my great bargain buys. I purchased it last summer at the local Hudson's Dirt Cheap for a mere $2. Yeah. Wow. So, I wear this shirt to work fairly often. Lovely.
March 27, 2010
Unique Aprons
I have been working on some more aprons. This one is made from only two dish towels which can be purchased at a dollar store for a dollar or less each. I am glad that my cousin pointed out to me that they are 100% cotton! So, I was sure to wash and dry them first so that the recipient of this apron isn't unpleasantly surprised upon removing it from the dryer after it's first wash. The teapot itself is a pocket and the strings are just cute ribbons I found on clearance at Michael's.
Also, here are the pieces to the pocket I am going to put on my next apron. I placed a pencil beside it for scale. It is much larger than the last one that Lisa and I made without the rice. I will place this piece on a heavy dark brown linen. Pictures of the finished apron soon to come.
Sunset Fishing
Ah, how I love early Spring. Lath took Curly and me fishing this week. We just went down to the small pond in the pasture. It was so nice outside. Just before dusk, maybe 70 degrees outside. We only caught a few good channel cats, a little mud cat, and a very tiny pond perch. It was just catch and release for fun. Curly enjoyed himself.
March 20, 2010
A Stitch in Time
The second set was down with some good old Red Heart brand yarn. These booties were done with an afghan stitch. When they are stitched together then turned right-side out they make a neat little criss-cross pattern down the front. The base of the hat was done in afghan stitch for about four rows. It was then joined, turned down to make a cuff, and single crocheted to the top. It was hard to close the top, since i did it backwards from the way I usually work, but it was fine. Lastly I laced the booties and embroidered the fish hook onto the hat with a dark brown yarn.
The Thrifty Queen
I Heart Aprons
I spent the past few days with my best friend Lisa. We decided to make aprons as our weekend project. They turned out so well! Here is a picture of my apron. I cut out the mushrooms, ironed the edges down, and stitched them onto the apron with the sewing machine. I got the top of the biggest mushroom a little crooked. The material shifted very easily. And! The bottom of the big mushroom is a pocket! My creative gears have really been turning lately. . .
Here is Lisa sporting her finished apron. Rice bowl and chopsticks!
March 16, 2010
White Perch Delight!
So, I took one fillet and covered it in flour, salt, and pepper, then dipped it in egg, milk, salt, pepper, onion powder, and rosemary and finally rolled it in crushed potato chips. Sounds nutritious, huh? I put it on a whole wheat bun with a Romain leaf, mayo, and some melted medium cheddar. YUMMMMM!
Lath fried the rest. So, left-overs today!
March 13, 2010
Beagles!
This picture was taken about two weeks ago. Lath and I took the beagles rabbit hunting. Dan went too, but he is a little anti-social and does not like to lay next to the girls. This trip was only Molly and Lucy's second time to go. They are a year old. Dan and Daisy are about two years old and are experienced rabbit runners. Molly and Lucy seem to be catching on. The only problem is that young, inexperienced beagles tend to run anything and everything. That day they ran two rabbits, a deer, a fox squirrel, and an armadillo. The trick is to get them to want to run only rabbits. Daisy runs only rabbits. Dan will run a deer sometimes, but mostly rabbits. So, now the pups just have to learn what they are and are not supposed to run. I thought they did very well for their second run and a good time was had by all.
March 12, 2010
Dan the Beagle is a Happy Beagle!
Wow! Got a lot done today! First thing this morning Lath woke up and said,
"Get up! We're going to build a new dog pen today." So, off we went!
First we had to move to old cotton pickers that were sitting next to the existing pen. I'm not sure why we have these since we do not grow cotton. Then we cut down a small tree and some limbs and sticks that were in the way. Then it was time to make the walls. We have a tremendous amount of junk on our farm. Lath went to the "stuff pile" and got several chain-link fence gates. We propped these up and tied them together with wire. This took longer than you would think. . . we finished this much by lunch time. Whew!
After lunch we got inside the pen and built Dan the Beagle a dog house. We had to separate Dan from Daisy, Molly, and Lucy because one of the girls is in heat and we don't want her bred. So, to build the house we first took some scrap 4x4s and cut them the same height for the corners. Then we made the rest of the frame out of 2x4s. The house sits up about a foot off the ground. I don't know why, but we always build dog houses like this. We used a piece of ply-board for the floor and front, nailed some scrap vinyl siding up for the back and side walls, and finished it off with a tin roof. Yes. It was very redneck. And don't even ask me where we get all this scrap junk. I have no idea.
Well, the sun was setting and we cleaned up the pen and set Dan in his new house. I think he is satisfied. We ended the day with some chicken strips, black-eyed peas, and corn bread. I also made a yummy home-made peach pie with some peaches that I had in the freezer from last summer. Delicious. Ah, the perfect ending to a long day.
March 8, 2010
My Neighbor Totoro
This is an amigurumi Totoro that I made for my sister Megan. He is about 14 inches tall. He was made from Vanna's Choice Lion's Brand yarn, eyes and claws are felt, his nose was bought from Hobby Lobby and his wiskers are thread. He took forever though! I think this doll took about 8 or 10 hours to complete. Megan better love him and not let her kitty cat, Kiko, eat him!
Curly VS Buddy
Lath and I have a donkey named Buddy. He doesn't like Curly. We got Buddy to keep the coyotes out of the pasture. Sometimes coyotes will kill calves and donkeys hate coyotes and will stomp them to death if they are in the pasture. I guess that Buddy thinks that Curly looks a bit too much like a coyote. One day he chased Curly all the way across the pasture. Curly was keeping the cows from getting out while the gate was open and Lath was bringing in hay to feet the cows. Buddy kept distracting him.
Introductions Continued. . .
This is Curly the Australian Cattle Dog! I had to put his picture on a separate post because my slow dial-up connection wouldn't let me post more than one picture on the same post. Curly is my best buddy. . . next to Lath. I love Curly. He helps work the cattle, digs up mole that get in my yard, chases away armadillos that dig holes in the yard, eats table scraps, and gets on the couch when he thinks no one is watching. He born January 2008 and is two years old. Good Boy!
Introductions
March 6, 2010
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