Hexagons and Dandelions

I was all geared up to start hand quilting my improv quilt and then I realized that all of my safety pins are on the hexagon baby quilt. I am not prepared to thread baste so I just stopped procrastinating and started quilting the hexagons.

I'm doing a basic stippling pattern again, still working on my FMQ skills.

Stippling is so fun!

There are tonnes of dandelions blooming in the yard and today I went around and picked a bowl of them for an experimental batch of dandelion wine.

David helped me and we pretended that the flowers were gold doubloons.

The little chickens are so funny, they won't let us pet them but if we wander out into the yard, they follow along behind us, just to see what's up. Still no eggs yet but we had our first rooster crow this week!

Here is David down by the lake, where the goaties live. The goat pasture was fenced in long before the goats arrived, and it was not originally intended for animals. Luckily there are established nut trees, oaks, and rhododendrons, all of which the goats avoid. There are too many tannins in the oak and nut trees and the rhodos are poisonous.

Individual goats have different tastes and food preferences.

But there are certainly many plants for them to eat. I rescued some tea roses and flowering currants, and here is Firefly eating a flowering Spirea. Oddly last year and the year before that, the goats didn't touch the Spirea. I want to save it so it is slated for removal and will be transplanted into the main yard where it can grow. On the upside, the goats are doing a great job mowing the lawn.

I've been looking for a source for cheese-making supplies. I want to try making homemade Havarti. The first place I stayed on the West Coast was a dairy goat farm and the ladies there made amazing dill Havarti cheese.

David studiously filling up the tub

Finally, the cast iron bathtub is ready to go!! After working all day it is so great to sit in a hot outdoor bath, listening to the birds sing and breathing in the scent of flowering fruit trees.

I keep meaning to get a photo of myself in there with my toes hanging out and the fire going underneath it, but you get the idea. The water can stay hot for hours as long as I keep the fire stoked. I always find it a little bit ironic when doing things the old country way is actually more luxurious than the modern, more convenient version.

Then there is wee David who is content just to get soaked with the cold hose.

Hope you all saw some sunshine today.

I'm linking up with Stitch by Stitch's 'Anything Goes' Monday. 

Thank you for stopping by!

Quilting and Recycling

The batting is cut to size because I'm planning on binding with the back.

I'm making this little quilt to test out a pattern I drafted for a hexagon quilt that is sown in strips. Mostly I made the top out of articles of clothing. A few pretty tops and a brown skirt and this blue vintage sheet, plus some scraps of plaid. The batting is an airplane blanket.

I love to recycle and re-purpose fabric into quilt projects. I often drool over designer collections and I do buy fabric sometimes, but mostly I find lines of fabric to be pure inspiration for how to pair fabrics in my own stash. So much fabric is readily available in the way of clothes and cotton sheets, so much of it in perfect condition aside from minor flaws that can be discarded when choosing quilt pieces. It is like a puzzle, trying to decide what to use. 

Especially for a project like this one, which is a practice piece. I have it basted and ready to go, just as soon as I decide how to quilt it.

I am inspired to finish up this quilt because I was telling my BC quilting friend Caroline Heinrichs at Good Earth Quilting about my interest in recycling and I won her giveaway! I am so excited not only to win some beautiful fabric but to have made a connection with another quilter who enjoys the economical and environmentally friendly practice of re-purposing fabric.

We have so much surplus in this age when things are made to be thrown away.

Also I just have to bring to light that clothing manufacture is often outsourced to factories where people are paid poorly and have no rights. Banana Republic, GAP, Old Navy, Levi's, Victoria's Secret, etc etc... it is shocking to do some research and investigate how many popular stores and brand names get their clothes from third-world countries with the cheapest labor.  For me, using these like-new but discarded items is a way to honor the people who made them, who might work in a sweat shop, while we in the developed world might buy something and never even wear it.

The age of consumerism is soiling our planet. I love new fabric and I do buy it with pleasure, however I also want to advocate for reducing waste, reusing materials, and recycling products whenever possible. For thrift of course but also for the Earth and for our oceans.

Okay, now I will get off my recycling soap box, promise!

Up close and personal with a baby goat's breakfast

At home I am counting my blessings, and among them my three milking goats and the bounty of milk and poo for the garden that they give us. Animals always pick up on my mood and every morning they offer me a reminder to have gratitude for the abundance in my life and to live in the present moment. The goats love having a routine, and they give me a reason to maintain stability in my life.

I might be in danger of becoming a crazy hippie goat lady.

I can always count on these two to help make the milk disappear.

It is my sweet boy's birthday today.

We had a pirate party and he had a wonderful time, greeting every guest at the door with a big "Happy Birthday!!"

Thank you for visiting my blog and reading my rambles!

On this Work In Progress Wednesday I am linking up with Lee at her blog, Freshly Pieced.

Have a beautiful week out there.

Goat On A Boat

Today I rode a rocky ferry off the island with Bessie Mae and her daughter.

Our regular ferry is being refitted and we have to ride on the dinky replacement boat. I put the goats in a large dog crate, but on this boat there is no covered area for freight and the poor goats arrived WET, having been splashed with seawater in the back of the boat!

Goodbye, dear Bessie Mae! Thanks for all the milk.

Thankfully today was not cold, and Bessie's new owner was happy to see her and her baby. They are going to a good home and soon the billy goats will go elsewhere also.

Snowdrop

This is the other one of Bessie's twins, I am keeping her. She is too beautiful and sweet! I am calling her Snowdrop because she was born on the snow.

The couple who adopted Bessie Mae also have horses and a couple of Nigerian Dwarf kids.They had decked out the back of their car for goat transport. Goats ride amazingly well in cars, a lot like dogs do - although you won't see a goat with it's head out the window! They feel safer in small spaces.

Yesterday was rainy and for fun I brought one of the other little doelings into the house for us to play with. We pet her and tried to feed her raisins. It is important to socialize the babies so they aren't afraid of us.

We returned this little girl to her mom after dressing her up in David's clothes and bouncing a balloon off of her head. Socializing, huh?

Remember that rooster that I said would make a tasty dinner? Apparently the ravens thought so, too.

We caught the raven in the act, but I had to put down the injured chicken. Luckily it was our biggest bird so at least there was some meat for a fried chicken dinner. I made mashed potatoes and steamed some leeks and greens, so everything on the plate was from the land. I love it when that happens.

Tonight was singing practice with my awesome group of ladies. We sit around and harmonize, drink steamy mugs of tea and eat popcorn. I sat with an amazing view of the ocean and watched the white caps crash as we sang. I love living on an island!

My beautiful friend Constanze was battling breast cancer over the last year. This is one of the love blankets we have made as a community for our sisters and friends who have had to deal with cancer or a serious illness. Many people contributed squares and all of the blankets are unique and stitched with intentions of healing and friendship. In addition to all of her many talents, it just so happens that Constanze has an AMAZING singing voice, the kind that stops you in your tracks and makes you shush people so you can listen.

The fruit trees are starting to blossom and sleepy bumblebees are appearing on primroses and red-flowering currants. I have been working on two quilts and I'm ready for BASTING!! Yeah baby!! I can't wait to show pictures of the finished product.

As always, thank you so much for reading.

Milk Recipes and More Baby Goats

We've got oodles of milk thanks to our four lovely ladies.

Fresh Raw Goat's Milk

We are getting roughly 3 of these full jars a day (only milking when the udder is full, so that there is plenty for the kids) The fresh milk is the milk that we drink. Part of the reason for having dairy goats is because don't subscribe to a power company and we choose not to use a refrigerator. Instead we drink milk that is fresh from well cared for animals and has not been pasteurized.

I came across this fabulous and easy buttermilk Boston Brown Bread Muffin recipe on Thimbleanna's blog. There are lots of great recipes over there of the kind of food I like to make!

 I make buttermilk by letting raw milk develop it's natural culture in a warm place for 24 hours.

(Sometimes I do pasteurize the milk first, like for kefir and yoghurt, which are made by adding a pre-packaged culture that you can get at health food stores. You can pasteurize raw milk at home just by heating it in a saucepan to about 185-190 degrees Fahrenheit. I also do this when I make cheese.)

Many recipes call for milk or buttermilk - biscuits, muffins, cakes, cream of vegetable soups, and  homemade cheese. The whole and naturally homogenized goat's milk adds beautiful texture and protein.

Because I have been getting up really early I have been eating a hearty breakfast. Goats milk is in the biscuits and the omelet. It was delicious.

All four of our goats have now had their babies. Two sets of twins (to Bessie and Firefly) and two lone billy goats to Ken and Nemo, who each had singletons. Total count is three doelings and three boys.

Bessie with her two kids, the twin does.

There was a small miracle as Bessie Mae came to accept and nurse her babies on their 4th day. I penned them up together and I forced her to Nurse them by tying her up at the collar and holding her back leg or legs. I also was bottle feeding them to make sure they were getting enough milk, and when Bessie finally smelled her milk in their poo she properly regarded them for the first time. Sounds bizarre, right? But it was magic.

Last night I witnessed Firefly's perfect birth of two kids.

She makes a great mom (did a great job licking the kids clean and then even lifted her leg up to help them nurse) And her babies are so cute. They are my only kids this year from the black haired line, all the rest are Barney's. (I blogged about him on Knits n Goats).

My little guy was a good shepherd and he thought the goats were hilarious as they nibbled his fingers, and sneezed on him.

I think he enjoyed watching them drink from a bottle just like him.

It was wonderful to have the experience of bottle feeding and I am so glad I got to do it but still very grateful that their mother is now doing her job.

I even took a selfie with the elf baby. My little gal pal. This goat has LaMancha ears - my favorite breed for their quietness and sweet temperment. (Nubians are loud!)

 Still so much sewing to do - and I need to start garden seeds.

Baby Spinach Seed Starts

Onions, Leeks, Tomatoes and Peppers, and greens can all be started now, in little trays of dirt, inside on a sunny windowsill. I wait until the first week of April to sow seeds directly into the ground -and even then only for cold hardy rootcrops like beets, carrots, and parsnips.

I want to host a crafty give-away to drum up comments on my blog. Any requests? A knit creation? A quilted bag? Some fabric? A beautiful tea cozy?

I am a grandma trapped in a 26 year old's body.

What a whirlwind week. 

Just Kidding! Get it?

Work In Progress Wednesday

David loves his fleece quilt. He calls it his "Robot Bankie". I wasn't thrilled with this project when I finished the top, but after I quilted it I liked it a little more. The texture of a quilted blanket is just so nice.

I didn't use batting for this blankie because it is made of fleece. It is plenty warm and is just the right size for a little boy. Another roadblock with this quilt was the border. I just couldn't decide what fabric to use. Somehow it hit me - make a scrappy border! That way I can brighten it up a little bit and throw in some reds and more robots.

My wad of scrap strips is turning into a pressed border and I'm so excited to put it on because then this quilt will be FINISHED! Hooray!

I'm still trucking away on the Sister's Ten blocks. I made a mistake on one of the February Blocks (Susannah's) but I'm going to leave it and pretend like I did it like that on purpose. Just because I can.

The chickens were getting too big for their brooder so we moved the coop to it's new home in the cherry orchard. I'm so grateful to my sweet friend Jennifer who gave me this coop. It has a tile floor inside and the blue color is called "Dream I Can Fly" by Benjamin Moore.

The birds are still spending the night inside for the next few days as they continue to feather out and adjust to colder temperatures.

There are doors on either side and in the front (pictured) for easy access to all that lovely chicken manure that will feed the garden! The rhubarb and onion patch will be so happy!

Did you know that goats have rectangular pupils?

I was curious about this so I researched it and discovered that goats have a panoramic view of up to 340 degrees! No wonder I can never sneak up on them.

My three little silkies are allowed to stay inside. They have each other for company and I think they could use a bit more time in the indoor warmth. Plus they can't fly so they aren't escaping and running around pooping everywhere. BONUS.

Phyllis Diller, anyone?

Hope you are all having a great week.