Will summer ever slow down? {{another update - LONG}}

Truly, no complaints about the long FILLLLLLED days of summer around here, but I'm really wondering if I'll allow myself to just SIT and relax for more than one day!

The highlight of this past week was some quilting-skyping time with Nancy, albeit, we had to pencil it into the schedule a few days prior!!!

But, OH so productive!!!!

I finished off the yellow June RSC14 block and managed to cut up and piece the July red RSC14 block.  I thought for sure I'd taken a picture of them, but nope.... not on my phone.  I guess I'll have to lay out all the blocks later on and get a picture of all 7 so far.  Between all the giggling conversation, I'm surprised I didn't make a mistake on the July block;  thankfully it was pretty mindless piecing.

With oodles of WIPs scattered around the room, I wasn't sure what to work on (mindlessly) while chatting away with Nancy.  I had started cleaning/organizing the room the other day (HA!!!! right?!?!?), so I simply grabbed some bonus HSTs that were scattered on a shelf to piece up some bonus pinwheels.  Trimmed to 3.5" unfinished.

Then I finished piecing up some stored 4-patches and 9-patches

And while searching around for the next mindless tidying task, I started sorting through a pile of scraps at the edge of my cutting table.......

LOOOOOOK what was buried!!!!!!

FIVE blades!!!!! Holy moly!   LOL.  

So, here's the BEFORE picture of the sewing room --- there simply isn't an AFTER (yet).

But while reorganizing, I saw piles of fabric that I simply was NEVER going to use in a quilt -- they just aren't quilt-worthy;  slippery, heavy, ... just not nice for quilts. 

They worked PERFECTLY for a rag rug, though.  So, Angela..... the entire time I was working on this rug, I was thinking......."this should world for the RSC14, right??  I certainly burned through a fair amount of scrap fabrics with this!" ;)

And then I got into a rug obsession...

This one was created with some garage sale yarns that my mother gifted to me.  Candace is grabbing this one for hers and Caitlyn's room.

But my FAVORITE is this gem.  While out on Ravelry the other day (Wednesday), I saw this pattern [Mandala Rug] and was instantly motivated and inspired.   That afternoon, I picked up some yarns before heading to and appointment for Cassie.  That night, in front of the TV with the family, I started it.  I finished it the next morning and blocked it to a 32" diameter.  I used 2 strands of Red Heart Super Saver on each rounds; different combinations of colors for various rounds too.  VERY happy with this finish!!!

And Caitlyn was/IS determined to learn how to knit!!!  Last week, she had asked me about knitting;  I know nothing!  One morning a few days later, I walked into the living room to find her watching YouTube videos, and using some brand new sharpened PENCILS as her knitting needles.  I think it's time to go shopping for her, huh?  ;)

And, as always.... the life of this hobby farm keeps us busy!

Big Mama was walking the tightrope.  I'm so partial to her;  she's MOST DEFINITELY my favorite!  I can't wait to see what her three chicks (of the 13 hatchlings) end up looking like.  

The incubator was started up again;  Pekin duck eggs this time.  I've learned NOT to wash the eggs prior to setting them because of the protective coating.  They were set on Wednesday (7/16);  their due date is Wednesday, August 13.  

Our lawn mower was on the repair list for a few weeks.  In the meantime, we were tying out the goats from time to time.  These girls USED to roam freely on the property, BUT they started eating our berry bushes, which is NOT okay.  They are now kept in the enlarged (former) pig pen, and they spend their days roaming with the two Pekin ducks.  

The mower was FINALLY fixed this past week, so Cassie spent much of the next day mowing the lawn.  She and I took turns raking the yarn with our Lawn Sweeper....

And we started stacking, and stacking, and stacking the grass into a huge mound.  Good golly!  The goats will have food to come for the next few months!  This was the mound about halfway through the 'sweeping' process.  In the end, we guesstimated we had enough grass in our pile(s!) that would equate to 2-3 big roundbales of hay.  With a little bit of math, we determined we saved about $40-60 by doing this, rather than searching out hay from local farmers for the winter months.  The piles have been reshaped, remounded, and tarped off for the time-being.  

And now, Paul and I are starting to talk about a POTENTIAL future purchase to add to our lil' hobby farm.....

OMGoodness!  It's so tiny and CUTE!  I didn't realize there were MINI hay balers out there!!!! HA!

So, the lawn is finished.  And the strawberries have tapered off.  And the garden is mostly tidied and weeded and mulched, and..... just waiting to get the growin' goin' on!  You'd think I'd have some down time....but...

Now the raspberries are in full swing!  We have 7 lonnnnng rows of berries

and the berries have grown to awesome sizes!!!

This is the result of TWO of our 7 rows, and there's only so much jam a person can make!  We still have a whole case+ of raspberry jelly and syrup from the harvest last summer, so....

The berries (at this point) are being bagged up and placed in the freezer.  Plan:  WINE!  

The weather truly has been AMAZING this summer.  The temps are quite low, on average, from a typical summer (so far).  Gardening has been very enjoyable.  The tomatoes are finally taking off;  I think we only have 25 plants this year.

So there ya have it.  Another week of highlights around the Skattebo Ranch.

Today, I THINK I want to actually relax!  That's what Sundays are meant for after all, right?

Happy Sunday!!!

Another rug in the making - Blue

Over the past few years, my mother has been collecting fabrics for me at just about every garage sale and goodwill she has come across.  And there is every single walk of life in those fabrics.  

Over the past few years too, I have accepted that there are simply some fabrics that were destined to be donated back to goodwill or garage sales.

HOWEVER, they have found a new life!!!!

I'm sorry, but this..... this would NEVER have made it into any quilt in my mind.....  I don't even know if Bonnie's "if it's still ugly, it's not small enough" philosophy would work here.  It's just simply SOOOO not me.

But....1" rips................... ready for another rag rug.

And look at what other goooooodies I dug out of the pile that simply has been collecting for years.  

20W for $1.00!!!! was buried in the donated stash too!!!!!!

With so much blue found, I knew they were destined to be united in another rag rug.  With my practicing of crochet over the past handful of days, I'm actually using half-double-crochet on this rug.  I'm fairly tickled with how nicely this one is coming together;  I THINK I've figured out where/when the edge stitches are for smoother edges.  Yup, yup.... loving this one so far :)

I need to spend some time in the garden this AM putting up some more twine to support the tomatoes.  Suddenly they have BURSTED in growth and are beginning to topple over with their weight.  Yikers!!!!

Happy Tuesday everyone!

-A

Another rag rug - utility style

I'm burning through some old fabric, pillowcases and bedsheets that I have been adding to the "will-never-use-in-a-quilt" pile over the past few years of donations given to me here-n-there.  I've simply never gotten them boxed up for donation yet.  I'm SOOOO glad I never got around to it, because I am able to play around with it now as I continue to practice and work on my rag rug skills.  I know I'm losing where exactly the rows end/start because of the slight warped-ness of the edges;  therefore, I added a top/bottom border to this rug in an attempt to "line things up" a bit more.  It is now housed in front of my washer/dryer....

Raggin' along.

Happy Saturday!

RWB Rag Rug complete

My attempt at the rectangle rag rug turned out better than my circular version.  I have practice and practice planned ahead of me to figure out those row ends/starts better, but for our non-materialistic life-style...... this will fit just lovely in front of our French door.

Happppppy Friday :)

AHA moment! Crochet RWB rectangle rug

Last night while working on the woven crochet mat, with the TV mindlessly playing in the background, I tuned into some Youtube videos.  I wasn't really watching for anything in particular, but I figured they would hold my interest more than what was playing on the television; better background noise.

When I came to Nanie's Rag Rugs, it started out as any other lah-dee-dah video, but then at about 1:30 when she showed a rectangular rug, and then moments later discussed about how she didn't like simply going back and forth so she was trying something new for her 4th rug.....

OMGOODNESS!  Lightbulb moment!

I CAN DO THAT!!!!!  I can crochet back-n-forth!

So, I grabbed the circle rug I had in progress and undid all of the crochet I had done so far; I was so frustrated with it anyway.  And now.... I'm am MUCH happier with the look of THIS rug!  

KUDOS!

Ummm.... a new addict to crochet ??? Despite rug frustrations!!!

Let me start by saying that I AM NOT a crocheter.

Prior to about 30 hours ago, anyway.....

Alright, I had DABBLED a little bit with a simple single crochet stitch in order to attempt to crochet a rag rug.  With some newly found confidence after my practice with Caitlyn the other day, I was ready to start my newly "energized with motivation" attempt at another crocheted rug....

ALRIGHT YOU CROCHETERS!!!!!! WHY WHY WHY can't I figure out this stupid thing???  I followed a tutorial that said to single-crochet (sc) into the same stitch twice in order to increase the size; and this tutorial also warned/suggested that if I start a 'round' with 1sc per stitch, to continue that round with 1sc per stitch.   Likewise, if I started a 'round' with 1sc TWICE per stitch, to continue that round with TWO sc per stitch.  But me thinks......that increases it TOO much?  Right?  Hence, the ruffling....

Another tutorial suggested (once increasing was needed) to sc once into one stitch, and then sc twice into the next stitch, and so on.....alternating between 1 and 2 sc per stitch.  Which I started to do in the blue section to try to "fix" the waviness that began in the white.

Um..........

yeah.  

Kathy?!?!?!?!?!!  Any advice?   Anyone else????  

So, while I put that aside with a bit of frustration, I thought.......Why not work on actually UNDERSTANDING crochet before picking up the rug again!??!!?!?!?

O

M

Goodness.

It's SOOOOOOO much fun learning something new!  AND, what's even more exciting is coming up with "rules" and "designs" on your own.  Now, bear with me and BE KIND!  For those of you master-crocheters out there....looking at this, you might say "ummm, mistake" or "ummm, easily done."

BUT, the quick story behind this was........

I started by simply sc a couple of rounds, following the sc1 per stitch for one round, and then sc1 twice per stitch for the next round.  AND THEN, I recalled the double-crochet (dc) steps from an earlier tutorial in the day (I was in the truck, on the road up to the farm when this doily-thingy was made---TOTAL play!).... so I did a round of dc.  And THEN...I wondered......."hm.  what would happen if I chain-stitch a bit, and then skip some stitches...."

LIGHTBULB!  THIS is how all of those doily loopy-things are made!  

So, um....

there was gardening done this morning....

but NO quilting is on the agenda anytime soon.  

WHY?  

Because I found THIS TUTORIAL just a bit ago -- Crochet a woven rug.  Dude!  I'm PUMPED!

Of COURSE, I'll start small though!  We need a few more potholder/trivets anyway!

Patience with me.  My quilting will return!  Have no fear.
Until then....I reallllly want to see truly how easy this woven rug can be done.

Kathy--really though.  If you (or anyone else) has advice/suggestions on the rag rug.....I'd LOVE to hear it.

Happy Wednesday!

Feeling lazy

I feel lazy; I know I've done a good share of tasks over the past 24 hours....but I just feel lazy.  I think it's because I never got around to actually quilting up Wafer Cookies yesterday, nor do I feel like standing behind a quilt machine right now for some quilting.  I feel like sitting.  With my feet up.

Candace, my model

I finished up the double-knit scarf yesterday morning using Caitlyn's Knitting Loom.  I didn't really keep track, but I would have to estimate I spent 10-15 hours total on it and used two ... ummm.... "things" .... of yarn.  Not being a yarn user, I don't know the actual name of a "package" of yarn.....

Google to the rescue.....

A SKEIN of yarn.  Well....there ya have it.  I used two SKEINs of yarn;  a dark brown and a dark blue/navy/purple/brown mix.  I can see doing another project.  It's kinda fun doing something new (and easy!)

Lazy Sunday, Part 3 was also ALMOST finished up!  All purple bricks and white squares cut;  all 156 "diagonals" sewn (and double-sewn for bonus HSTs), and SOME of them cut and pressed.

The bonus HSTs were even pressed as I went along.   The part is ALMOST finished;  another good hour of cutting apart the double-sewn seams and pressing should do it.

Ummmm, I'm trying to remember how I got sidetracked away from my sewing room yesterday......

....

.......

Gosh!  I'm getting old!

I don't remember how, but SOMEHOW, I got sidetracked... and ended up outside on the lawn mower.  

LOL

I spent a couple of hours mowing and "raking" with the yard sweeper behind the mower.  

Which then lead me to weeding Paul's newly planted berry bushes....

Then lead to mulching the bushes and the 'rescued' tomato plants.

Then lead to hoeing 45 hills of the white potato patch

Then lead to

OH!!!!!! I REMEMBER NOW!  I hauled up some jars of green beans for lunch yesterday;  we had three jars left from the 2011 batch (buried behind the 2012 jars).  I warmed them up in the microwave.......ehhhhh.  They didn't taste that great (it may just have been in my mind) .  SO, I  dumped them into a bucket, along with some overly ripe grapes, and took them out the pigs after lunch. 

Which then lead to emptying the compost bucket...... which then lead to the lawn mower!  LOL

 So, when all the outside work was said and done, it was 8PM and time to relax.  

There was NO quilting on Wafer Cookies like I had hoped, but.... that's okay.

I grabbed up the Knitting Knobby again while watching some marathon episodes of Snapped.  Until MIDNIGHT!!!!  Good golly!  That cup of coffee at 8PM probably wasn't the best idea.

But I made some progress.  All of the outer rings (the speckly brown/tan yarn) were knitted (icorded) last night.

The rug looks a little bigger when Candace's feet are on it, though :)

Some of you were asking about the Knitting Knobby.  I use a very simple, plastic yellow one;  I think it was from my mom to one/all of the girls;  and I snagged it up since it wasn't getting used.  

A google search lead me to a picture of one that is what I used as a kid;  I had the "mushroom" headed one;  it always reminded me of the Smurfs' houses!

My google search also shared other names used for this tool:  Toy Knitter and Spool Knitter.

Regardless of what name is used;  it's an EASY way to introduce a child to a crafty project.  

And today so far.....

it's been another morning of good sewing ambitions, but filled with garden distractions instead;  and a 2 hour detour to the local strawberry patch to pick 2 buckets of berries.  Our timing was perfect too;  Cassie was almost finished with her assigned rows as we were finishing our picking.  

And now....

I feel like being lazy! :)

Caitlyn took a crochet class during her first Summer School session, and she wanted to desperately show me how to crochet.  Since Kathy posted her progress on her crochet rug for yesterday's Slow-Stitch Sunday, I thought a refresher on crocheting would be a good way to spend some downtime after lunch.  So, with Youtube in the background, and Caitlyn next to me, we both grabbed a crochet hook, some yarn... and crocheted away.

This is mine.  Practicing an oval shape to get ready for a new rug (see a post on a former rug).  Caitlyn crocheted a massively long chain-stitch.  The right side of this lil project turned out good....but not so sure what happened on the left.  I think I lost count of my stitches right off the bat in my 2nd round, and I haven't quite been able to "fill it in" yet.  

BUT.  With this refresher, I think I'm ready to grab some fabrics and give my go at a rag rug again :)

Have I said I'm feeling lazy!??!

Hand-project Sunday

This morning, Cassie and I went shopping for clothes!!!! We BOTH needed some.  And even though I reallllllly didn't want to go, I knew we had to.  In the end, we each came away with two new pairs of pants and half a dozen tops.

Then......

I'm trying it again!!!

Remember when I attempted to crochet a rug for the first time?

Sure, as that post shows, the rug's life started out fine....but it didn't take long for it to start getting extremely wonky and wouldn't lay flat!  So I stopped and set it aside.

After watching some YouTube videos today, I'm trying it again.

{{Do you like my Green Bay Packer apparel too?  The 'comfy pants' are new today {even though you can't really see them}} :D

So far, so good.  

Now that dinner is finished (eggrolls--YUM!)), and the girls are taking showers, I plan to put my feet up with an evening of DH's choice of TV shows (football, probably), and I'll continue with the rug.

Paul was busy today too, making lefse.  I'm not a die-hard fan of it, but I certainly will enjoy a piece or two with some butter, cinnamon and sugar :)

Also, Candace and I enjoyed some PhotoBooth time!

I'd like to know what she's thinking in this picture!  Great shot for a caption contest.

A perfect image for the upcoming Halloween spookiness.  

Happy Sunday everyone!

Golly, this weekend flew by :(

The Ol' Man is 39....and other things...

39 years of gracing this earth pictured here in all of his beauty ;0) With all due respect---A lil' salt-n-peppa startin' to show at those temples and speckling the beard....;0) But you can still give Brett Favre a run for his money :0) LUV YA HUN!

Mmmmmmmm........the first green bean pickins---not enough to warrant the process of canning. DH is eatin' em all up anyway. Come Sunday, we should have a good bunch ready for canning, though.

BRACE YOURSELVES

Just LOOOOOOK at this kitchen!!!!! DH snapped a shot of me last night when I canned another 4 quarts & 1 pint of dill pickles. Yikes----looks a bit cluttered, huh? Canning supplies cluttering up the floor on the right, bottles of booze on top of the fridge, cupboard doors open showcasing (?) our spices, counters full of clutter......GOSH! It's embarrassing to show! {{and yeah...my hair is in braided pig tails}}

Once the canning was done last night, I made some more progress on the rug....

Very little quilting being done, but I did load a quilt of my MIL's on the frame yesterday and did a couple of paths before losing interest. I have four quilts that she wants me to quilt up, so I hope to get them done next week since I have NOTHING on my schedule. YEAHHHHHH :0)

Yup, yup: Two weeks OFF coming up and then....summer vacation is officially over because volleyball season begins. Yes, yes....I love it, I really do! For those of you somewhat newer to my blog----I kinda fell off the face of blogland last year August - October once vball season hit :0( Now that I have my first year of being HEAD coach behind me, I'm hoping life will be a bit better this year and I'll be poking in more often that last year :0) Some of you have inquired about my assistant coach issue. NOPE! Nothing yet, but it is what it is. Everything usually works out in the end and I'm sure this will be another one of those times.

Dinner is just hitting the table, so I'm off. DH is heading out tonight to my parent's house because he needs to work for his sister tomorrow. He'll be able to see the girls, too! I'm heading down tomorrow once camp is over and I get a few things done around the house. So....life is GRAND at the Skattebo-Ranch :0) Hopefully things are super in your neck of the woods, too.

HOT HOT HOT and MUGGY MUGGY MUGGY

HEY!!! MY first chance to actually SIT DOWN at the computer since last Friday...sorry everyone, but life definitely took back over these past few days....

So....bare with me...

First, on Friday, I got my first complete July finish.
Dizzy's binding was sewn on. It still awaits a label, but I'm considering it DONE :0)

On Saturday, I was out in the woods with the boys helping...getting in the way....photographing their bonding time with each other and some manly tools. Together, we cut, split, stacked five loads of wood.

And of course the girls were super happy to see Mom and Dad after two weeks of being with Aunt Jenny and G'ma. We loaded them up on the 'pug' (a glorified 2-seater 'car' that pivots in the middle and has a dump bucket on the back) and headed back to the woods to pick some wild raspberries. We had enough to make a batch of jam {{jam that showed up on the table for Sunday morning breakfast---YUM!!!}}

On a crafty note---no quilting for me since Friday, BUT I found some new inspiration when loading things back into my new sewing room. I NEVER dreamed I would have learned to crochet, and I don't know why I was inspired like I was by this book {{it's not like it's the first time I've looked at it}}. Anyway, on the way up to the farm, we swung into Walmart so I could pick up a size J hook. Then, MIL and I attempted some crochet stitches according to the pictures in the book........needless to say the pics were hard to follow. I couldn't tell where the stitches were, blah, blah, blah. SO, after ripping out 3-strips worth of stitches more than 5 times, I finally said, ENOUGH!!!! Then I waited until getting back home and watched some Youtube 'how-to' videos----SUCCESS! So far, I have used 1 yard of fabric and have a "rug" about 12" in diameter. I don't know how big I'll make this, but it's a good way to use up that BLAH, QUESTIONABLE-QUALITY fabric.

I've been running my volleyball camp for the past two mornings with a decent turn-out. The gym has been HOT HOT HOT with the mugginess bearing down on us. Yesterday after camp, DH asked me to join him in staining a deck---HOT HOT HOT....

and, TODAY, the HOT HOT HOT and MUGGY MUGGY MUGGY didn't deter DH, myself, Nikki (pictured), her brother and dad from gathering together on the softball field to have an afternoon of hitting and chasing down balls! ;0) With sweat pooling in places hidden from view, we spent two hours practicing our batting. Nikki, who is also a recently former student of mine, and I play softball Monday nights. Last night was the first night of tournaments, where we proceeded to advance to the second level (next week) with a 10-1 victory. But we talked about getting together to practice some batting, so.....we made a day of it.

Once we got home, it wasn't time to rest (and THANKFULLLLLY we have AC on a day like today!!!) because I had a couple bucket fulls of cucumbers that needed to be dealt with. SO....a couple of hours and 9 pint jars filled with bread-n-butter pickles later, I am FINALLLLY putting up my feet.

So....there ya have it....
Hopefully tomorrow will be a "me" day after camp.