Worried about frost; Jamestown Landing nearing completion

After spending hours planting portions of the garden last weekend, we sent up a simple wish for warmer temperatures and mild rain.

The strawberry patch was beautifully and dutifully weeded and mulched yesterday.

All week long, the temperatures have been typically decent, and the order of rain came through, but....... FROST last night.  Dag-nabbit!  We woke to a light frost this morning;  and the strawberry blossoms are now at-risk since we didn't cover or irrigate.  Drat. Drat. Drat.

Caitlyn and I covered the cucumber plants we had transplanted last weekend, so they should continue growing nicely.

Cassie had taken charge of planting corn.  Clearly, we continue to await for the ground (and air) temperatures to increase and stabilize before hoping for any germination.

The broccoli didn't have to worry about rain OR temperature since SOMEONE couldn't pass up the fresh leaves of the new transplants.  Grrrrrr......  EVERY LEAF -- stripped away!

And since my chickens can NOT pass up these delicious snacks, we need to come up with a simple fencing solution for our strawberry patch.  Otherwise, we'll lose any berries to our chickens that may end up surviving this frost.

In other news.... Mama Rock has successfully hatched out six babies on Thursday/Friday.  We expect to see another seven coming home from Caitlyn's classroom incubator this week (we offered some eggs to the class incubator), and we're hoping Mama will embrace them as her own since they are essentially the same age (3 days apart).  

Additionally, OUR incubator is coming due anytime over the next 3-4 days;  thirty-three eggs, which we do not plan on handing over to Mama.  LOL.  Instead, they will be raised as a new 2015 flock to be complete with a new coop too :)  (YET to be made).  The jury is still out on whether another full set of eggs will be placed in back-to-back incubator hatchings.  The vote in leaning towards, 'ya better start setting some eggs aside when you perform your daily collection.'  ;)

On the quilting front, a few hours have been spent in front of the machine when the weather has been less than garden-worthy.

Rainbow Scrap Challenge updated a little bit;  I'm still shy of a couple of colors, but I'm 'ahead' with the red.  ;)

A new deadline project for a customer has been loaded on the frame;  Bonnie's Jamestown Landing, one of my favorite designs she's come up with!

One more week of 2014-15 school year.  Or as Cassie says..."four and a half days, Mom.  Friday is only a half day."

;)

Cassie's track season completed and gardening underway

Cassie's ended up having lots to be happy for at her Conference track meet was this past Thursday.  She's been plagued with a nagging back injury for much of the season, and has unfortunately found herself sitting on the sidelines for many of the meets this year.  However, the downtime paid off and she was at her 100% for the Conference meet.

She started the day by taking 1st place in the high jump.  All of the competitors scratched out at 4'6", so the officials asked if she wanted to keep jumping.  With no pressure on her, coach gave the okay for her to keep jumping.  Neither Cass or myself knew the heights the bar was being set at; she just kept jumping.  Oh that sneaky coach!  In the end, Cassie tied the Junior High high jump record of 4'10" established by, none other than, her track coach 10+ years ago.

While on cloud 9, she moved over to the Discus area and set a new PR of 79', moving into 2nd place on the Leader's board, and then, when she was called for the 400M, she continued her record-breaking evening by running a 1:04.06, breaking the previous record of 1:05.4, and leading by over 4 seconds from the rest of the competition.  Yes, folks.  She's still on cloud 9, and I'm super super proud of her!!

The 8 ducklings we hatched out a couple of weeks ago have moved into a ground-brooding box. 

The plants I began as seeds in February have finally been able to be moved outside to the deck indefinitely.

Cherry tomatoes already being harvested, as well as peppers :)  Who said people in Wisconsin can't have two growing seasons?!?!  ;)

But now, we need lots of finger-crossing for all of our other tomato plants that have been hibernating in the basement for the past couple of months to see if they survive the transplant into the garden.  I've most definitely learned my lesson -- starting plants in February (tomatoes, specifically) is NOT in the best interest of the plants OR myself.  But -- forty plants were transplanted into the upper garden yesterday;  about 12 more wait patiently for more fence posts to be purchased.
(Mind you, we started 56 new plants last weekend from seed -- just in case ;)  I guess we're going to have two growing seasons in Wisconsin this year ???)

The strawberry patch was expanded and tidied a couple of weeks ago...

... and the blossoms are popping up in exponential rates.  In another 3-4 weeks, we should expect berries.  GOOD!  We just opened up our last strawberry jam container!

There's a saying....."there's no rest for the weary."  However, when the weather cooperates, taking a snooze in the hammock given to us by my parents was on Paul's mind before needing to start his night shift.

The yard is purposefully being left un-mowed, waiting for the dandelion season to pass.  Yes, yes... the bees' food takes precedence over a 'pretty-looking' yard.

The only crafting project I've been giving time to is a new afghan man-ghan for Paul.  A couple of months ago, I was sequestered into making a large queen size afghan.  Paul fell in love with the weight and size, so.... I took that as a hint ;)  At a width of 106", I predict the project taking most of summer to complete.

Today:  more gardening and planting.  Perhaps my blogging time will become more consistent again;  two weeks of school left for us in the northwoods!

Yes, I live

Oh dear, faithful readers out there (if any of you remain).

Yes, yes;  I'm indeed alive and kicking...

... and crocheting...

... and teaching...

... and celebrating birthdays

... and watching Track meets

... and enjoying our animals during Spring

... and watching more Track meets

... and Volleyball matches

... and enjoying more animals...

... and more...

... and spending evenings at FFA banquets...

... and pruning/watering/feeding our inside garden

... reaping fruits of our labor (or...vegetables!)...

... and supervising Math competitions...

... and watching scary movies!

... and chaperoning Prom...

So, yes folks.  I'm alive and kicking.

Masculine afghan [Customer Crochet]

What started as an random ripple project placed on Etsy last fall, ended up leading to a sale for the largest afghan I've made to date.

A customer contacted me to create an afghan to fit a queen size bed in similar fashion of one I currently have listed on Etsy.

The project required about 70 hours of time, utilizing almost every non-teaching moment I had over the past 6 weeks :D

After a shipping fiasco that involved a breakdown of a large sorting machine in Salt Lake City, UT, the afghan arrived safely (albeit, a week late) to the customer.  With the backdrop of his house and dessert landscape, the afghan seems to fit in quite nicely.

The customer is awaiting a custom-made bed the afghan is meant for; until then, it rests on a spare bed.

Etsy sale for smaller version

Crochet deadline; plants doing well!!!

A new project; a new deadline has been underway for the past week.  A customer (via Etsy) requested a 90x95 afghan in the same colorway of another afghan I have for sale in the shop.  He's willing to wait the 6-8 weeks I've requested to complete it;  this will most definitely be the largest afghan I've made.  Each row is taking about 20 minutes to complete, increasing the length by 1/2", so... approx 60-65 hours will be needed to finish off the project.  Guess who's going to busy? ;)

Just prior to having the newest customer, I had been making progress on the Mystery Crochet-Along;  I had been worried up until the last clue -- I'm really liking how my colors are playing together!

And of COURSE, the plants are growing, growing, growing!  Yesterday morning, Cass and I had the task of transplanting many of the tomatoes, peppers and broccoli;  some herbs too.  For the first few minutes, I was really feeling overwhelmed!  I've never jumped the gun like this before.  I've never planted so MANY tomatoes before.  I was running out of transplanting containers.

Growth after transplanting last week (Week #4)

Current growth (Week #5).  The tomatoes look AMAZING!  I just hope I can keep them alive for another (*whiper*) ......... two months!  There is NO WAY tomatoes can go in the ground in our area before mid-end May.  *gulp*

Lesson learned. :)

Time to find some (LOTS) of 5-gallon pails...

Spring weather has hit!  Last weekend, we found ourselves enjoying the first 40 degree day since last Fall!  The girls couldn't wait to pull out their bikes and enjoy.

Since then, this past week, we actually hit temps of 60!  Hallelujah!  Most of the snow is now melted;  even snowbanks have mostly melted away :)

Paul decided to finally burn up the pile of rubble we've been growing for the past few years.  Bonfire time! 

*sigh*  I can only hope that our Spring is truly underway similar to 2012.  We had a stretch of weather just like this;  our first picnic on March 16 even.   Every week, we were all wondering...."Is this the week the temps will drop back down?  Is this the week we get a Spring snow storm?"
But, it never happened!  We had green grass in April;  by May we were ready to mow AND plant the garden still with a little nervousness.  The rule of thumb up here:  "never plant before Memorial weekend".

I was done with harvesting the whole garden in August that year;  I'd love for another year like that!!!

Did you enjoy PI day yesterday?  

Quilting over embroidery - It can be done [Quilting]

A couple of weeks ago, MIL and FIL came for a visit, partially due to MIL needing to drop off some crib quilts she wanted me to machine quilt for her.

I've quilted some of her hand-embroidered quilts in the past.  The first time was the toughest because I struggled with the thought of, "Dare I really quilt over her embroidery?"

I had found only a few images via a google search about quilting over embroidery before attempting it for myself.  My biggest concern for quilting over the embroidery, of course, was losing the embroidery in all the quilting, but I don't think that really happened.  Another concern was 'catching' the embroidery with the machine quilting foot, but that never happened.

A concern for NOT quilting over the embroidery was whether the non-quilted areas would get all puffy looking in comparison to the quilted sections.

Therefore, in the end, the full pantograph quilting won out.  And MIL was satisfied with the results.

I had been putting off the quilting of these projects for her simply because it is SOOOOOO cold downstairs in the basement, specially in my open space where the quilting frame is.  At least in my sewing room, I can turn the space heater on, but not so much in the open area.

Therefore, hubby to the rescue this morning without me even asking him to do this.  He simply realized that it's COLD down there, and I NEEDED to get going on this quilting projects.

He uncapped one of the venting pipes from the wood furnace that is directly in line with my open quilt-frame space.  Yay!  It was actually reasonably comfortable while quilting my mini-marathon today.

The first two quilts went smoothly and quite quickly, using a pantograph "Climber" by Meredith England.

But as I unfolded the last two ....

*sigh*

Oh dear MIL.  I must must must stress to her again the importance of having at least 2" of extra width on each side for the backing and batting...

These last two.... well.... she kinda gave me zero.  In fact, in some spots, the batting almost equated to a -1" span. Ummmmm...... 

*sigh*

But, I did my best, and figured I'd trim off some of her edging if needed...

After breaking three (3) needles and dealing with some minor frustrations on the finishing edge...

They were both finished.

Quilting marathon -- a success.