A Fun Day Off

Wes and I both had the day off yesterday! We got up to a little mischief in Intercourse, PA and at the outlets in Lancaster.

He is such a helpful fabric purchasing assistant. although he does get nervous when I pull out a camera in an Amish store.

He got me to pose and insists that this picture must go on the internet.

After lunch we hit the outlets and I bought these!

Here’s my  fabric haul for the day, some pieces for my liberated quiltmaking and a backing for a baby quilt I’ll be starting this weekend.

 

R.I.P. - Philmont the Rooster

Poor Phil was killed Thursday. We think it was a fox, but we will probably never know for sure. The whole family had really come to like him and I think I can honestly say that you do eventually get used to a rooster crowing in your house.



He was fierce for such a little guy and sure did take his job seriously. I think the hens are too dumb to really miss him, but we sure do!



We bought a shotgun on Saturday. We have talked about it for some time, because we have had rabid animals on our property several times. We called a neighbor to help us out on those occasions, but that's not always an option. We're not going to hunt down the predator that got Phil, but we decided we need to have a way to dispatch of a predator problem if we have one.



Anyway, I shot a gun for the first time today. Here is Wes taking aim:

Folk Art Museum in Baltimore

If you ever get a chance to visit, you must go. It’s called the American Visionary Art Museum.

Here are some outdoor pictures from a recent visit.

 

 

    A gigantic egg

 

 

    

 

 

     Fountain Faces

 

 

 

 

 

 

     The outside of the building

 

 

 

 

 

  A funky guy made from found materials

 

 

There were many memorable exhibits but I was most amazed by a collection of art by people who spent their lives institutionalized. The day we were there hundreds of Post Secret postcards were on display.

Their website is pretty cool too!

Quilt and Chicken Update

I'm still working on my Marston/Moran-inspired quilt. Here's how it looked when I went to bed last night:

I'm planning a row of paper-pieced chickens next and will rearrange the rows some. It's over-growing my modest design wall.

It was a sunny but cold day and we are still trying to figure out what to do with Phil. There seems to be no pecking when they are free-ranging together.


Here's my flock:

Star

Henny Penny











Ethel

Alma

Barbara

















Stella

Philmont

On Tonight's Menu: Tuna Casserole

There is nothing like a little comfort food for a cold wintry evening! This is my family's favorite recipe for Tuna Casserole, adapted from this cookbook:

Favorite Recipes from Quilters by Louise Stoltzfus.

Tuna Casserole

2 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped celery
1 packet White Albacore Tuna, undrained
1 cup milk
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 can cream of celery soup
1 mini can white corn, drained
8 ounces cooked pasta (macaroni, egg noodles, etc.)
1 c. grated sharp cheddar cheese

Topping:
1/2 c. bread crumbs
2 Tbsp melted butter

In large skilled saute onion and celery in olive oil until tender. Add tuna with liquid, milk, mayonnaise, soup and corn. Heat through.

Pour mixture into 2 quart oven safe dish. Add cheese and pasta and mix well.

Mel butter and mix with bread crumbs. Spread on top of casserole and bake in 350 degree oven for 25-30 minutes or until light brown and bubbly.

Enjoy!

Phil gets a break

Yesterday was a big day for Phil. He's still living in the basement, and it was so cold this weekend...

...that he didn't get to spy his lovelies at all on Saturday. Sunday, however, was a different story. We let him get reacquainted with the hens, two at a time, and he was in heaven!

We got about 3 inches of snow today so Wes is praying for a snow day tomorrow, but he would definitely settle for a two-hour delay! I didn't do any quilting this weekend, but we made a trip to IKEA on Saturday and had friends over for football on Sunday. I made three kinds of bread on Saturday night and Ham and Bean soup on Sunday, and after that I was tired...

Hen Pecked

I never wanted a rooster. When we were talking about getting the chickens, I told everyone that I was only getting pullets (females). I paid extra for that. :-) We decided to get all different varieties and I let my son pick one out. He went for the Silver Polish because they're so funny looking. He named her Phyllis (after Phyllis Diller). After about 9 weeks it became pretty clear that "Phyllis" would be renamed Phil.

I've been telling everyone that if Phil begins to get aggressive he will have to be re-homed. "I won't be afraid to go out to the coop because of a mean rooster, blah, blah, blah." Last Sunday Steve noticed blood on the beaks of several of the girls and we saw that Phil had been plucked and was bleeding from his nether region. We have not been handling Phil since he was a baby as he is pretty shy and now he is a little imposing looking.


Steve caught him and we administered first aid. We put him in our dog crate and he's been living in our basement this week while he gets extra R&R and a chance to heal (yes, a rooster in the house is quite noisy).



I was home today and by noon I was going crazy with his incessant crowing. I decided to see if he could go back in the coop on a day when I could keep an eye on him. Once back in the run the hens immediately started pecking him again! He doesn't try to stop them, and he was clearly happy to be back home. I had a devil of a time "rescuing" him by myself, and by the time I did he was bleeding. Grrrr.

So, he's back in the basement for at least several more days. There are products that can be applied to his wounds that make him taste really bad to a pecking, blood-thirsty egg-laying machine, but I haven't been able to find a local source. I'll have to order some online and I'll be ready with them before I let them at him again.

After all my worrying about him being aggressive, I am crossing my fingers that he can find enough aggression to rule the roost instead of being hen pecked to death!

Am I the Last to Know?

I have been enlightened to the awesome funkiness of fabric selveges. Am I the last quilter on the planet to have seen the book Quilts from the Selvage Edge by Karen Griska?

After reading her blog and checking out the projects therein, I ran to my sewing room garbage can, only to remember that moment of neatness I had this weekend when I emptied it. Grrr. It's out at the curb waiting for tomorrow's pickup, but I'm already in my pj's for the night...

The only thing left to do was to begin harvesting selvages from my stash. These are just the ones that were easy to grab and cut. I can't believe I've been throwing them away all this time!

I'm going to use this tutorial to make a zippered bag.

I'm sew easily distracted. Too bad that blog name is already taken...

Halfway to Liberated

This is the latest quilting project currently on my design wall. I don't usually work with colors this bright, but I'm not sure why! I am having a great time with this. I just bought Collaborative Quilting by Gwen Marston and Freddy Moran and have been playing around with some of their methods, especially Gwen's idea of "liberated quilting." It's not coming naturally yet, so I think I'm only halfway to liberated.

First Posting

A new year and a new blog! I can't imagine why anyone would want to read what I have to say, but then again, I read lots of blogs every day and I'm sure glad that my favorite bloggers didn't let that niggling idea stop them. I have lots to learn, like how to post a picture and make a banner, so bear with me.

Here is something pretty exciting (egg-citing) that's going on around the manor lately:

Eggs!!! We have six hens and a rooster. We found our first egg just before Christmas and received our first double-yolker on Dec. 25. Today is the first day we have gotten an egg from each of them (although one of them came without a shell!) It's been really fun trying to figure out who is giving us which egg.

Hmmm...maybe that picture thing isn't going to be so difficult after all?