Monday Goals Made on Tuesday

Well, looking back on last week's goals, I didn't finish even one of them. 😒 

So, I'll list them again later and try harder. 

But I did get some other things done, thank goodness.

Besides keeping the house and homestead running, I finished the cross-stitching part of this gift and only need to do the outlining and mount it for gifting the early part of May. I have another one done, but it also needs mounting to be ready three days after this one.

I'm continuing to enjoy growing my microgreens with this self-watering method from Mike VanDuzee and am eagerly awaiting more of the drip lids. The new ones will fit kombucha bottles so I don't have to use plastic bottles. Though I do make my own kombucha, I'm willing to buy a few while I'm out running errands and want something to drink.

I also did a silly thing - I started a new project. 😁😉😐

I've had this Crazy Yarn from Stonehedge Fiber Mill for a long time, buying a little here and there as I visit the mill or see them at fiber festivals. I've tried to knit something with it and used some as a table runner for awhile till I decontructed that in order to use the yarn otherwise. Now I'm going to crochet myself a super simple top mostly so I can use the yarn and have something kinda mindless to do with my hands while watching tv or listening to my husband monologue which he does occasionally. 😍

I may be forced to revisit the mill and buy more yarn along the way, but I'll try to suffer through that. 😉 I want to take a new friend to visit it anyhow, so...

I spent the afternoon with said new friend yesterday and came home with some treasures.

This is an inkle loom, for weaving narrow bands. This is a particularly large floor version. I've been looking for some time at buying a table-top one, but couldn't really justify the expense when I didn't know if I'd even enjoy the process or what I'd do with the finished products. But I certainly couldn't turn down a free one!

So I need to clean it up really well (it was stored in a barn loft), replace two pegs, and watch lots of YouTube videos on how to do the weaving as well as read the books I ordered from the library. I'm rather excited!

She also has a huge stash of yarn, so gave me some with which to make more baby afghans for the pregnancy care center. I'm excited about that, too.

Another thing on which I spent some time was helping my Lovey cut a hole in the Critter Corner floor so he can put in a floor drain for easier cleaning. He's so good with all this stuff and able to figure out how to do things even if he's never done them before. As it happens, putting in floor drains is part of what he does in his day job. We moved the rabbits out while the noisy cement saw was working so they wouldn't be too traumatized since the older does are pregnant.

One of my jobs for today has already been happily done - ordering more literary teas from Simpson and Vail Teas. The leaves are so rich and flavorful that I get several small pots' worth of lovely tea from a few tablespoons and one must have a good tea while sewing or reading, you know.

This week's goals... (I like the way Joy laid out her crafting goals separately and specifically, so I'm gonna type mine out that way this time.)

In the yarn basket 

* Continue on the Olivia top - easy relaxing

In the hoop

* Finish all outlining of cat cross-stitch

At the sewing machine

* Repair Doug's quilt as able

* Prepare quilt back for Ann's Autumn Jubilee quilt

* Find #9 for Chookshed Challenge

* Put binding on Christmas wallhanging

On the loom

* Thoroughly clean the loom

* Get educated on inkle weaving

In the kitchen

* Make paneer

* Experiment with blending herbs for tisanes, ie. lemon balm, lavender, chamomile, and dried apple

* Order more SVTea - done 😊 (That felt good!)

In the home

* Declutter bedroom

* Organize stuff on craft room table

On the homestead

* Start cabbage, lettuce, kale, Swiss chard indoors

* Pruning and yard clean-up

* Help Lovey put in Critter Corner floor drain

Well, here's hoping I haven't planned too much for one week, but I'm off to get at some of it. Check the sidebar for some of the places where I link up.

Hope your week is productive yet calm.

Back to Blogging with Monday Musings and Plannings

 I usually do my blogging on Mondays as I plan through the upcoming week, but the last two Mondays have been away from home. We got to visit my mom, maternal aunt, two daughters, paternal aunt, and two cousins all in a whirlwind trip through Ohio and Indiana in four days. It was good and fun.

Then the next Monday I visited a friend downstate who is going through a very rough time of tearing down her life because of divorce and trying to build a new life while undergoing permanent health difficulties and uncertainty about how much money she'll have to live on. We had a nice visit anyhow and, though tears were shed, she's trusting God to work things out. I prayed a lot on my drive home. 💗

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In between those Mondays we worked some more on our homestead, adding some meat to our freezer and making plans to put a drainage hole in the Critter Corner.

I also started growing my microgreens in a different way - with re-usable clay pebbles instead of soil and a cool way of self-watering invented by Mike VanDuzee of Keep On Growin' on Youtube.

He makes and sells bottle and jar lids that help the jar stand upright but have little holes on the sides so water will dribble out into the pebbles as needed. You can also buy the pattern and print your own if you have a 3D printer. I may enlist my daughter and her friend to do that for me since they co-own one. 

I'd like to have several bowls going, but not have to spritz them several times a day like I do with this bowl of pea sprouts. We'll see.

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The fun of learning cheese-making continues. So far my Farmhouse Cheddar is turning out more like Parmesan - quite sharp and hard, but we both like it (though I would prefer a little less sharp), so I continue as is, making the process a little more effecient as I go. Maybe I should just call it "Parmhouse Cheese" and be happy. We are eager to taste the latest two batches because I mixed in dried, minced garlic and onion and they sure smell good!

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Another recent and quick project was to make drapes for our favorite his and hers chairs that have been unbeautified by a naughty but loveable kitty.

So, I did this...

I wanted to do both in the buffalo checks, but they didn't have enough of that fabric, so I went with the gray. I bought those clips with elastic between them for holding sheet onto mattresses, but they just didn't work with trying to keep them hidden, so I ended up with four safety pins per chair and they're pretty hidden. So far we're liking them.

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This week's goals:

* Finish organizing the sewing room. I moved furniture in and out and reset up some stuff on Saturday,     but it is far from organized. I also want to improve the lighting in there.

* Neaten the bedroom. I have a similar situation here in that I cleared my corner desk, but just plopped     stuff on the floor so now I need to sort through it and organize/trash stuff.

* Move canning jar shelving to the storage room that's cooler and more suitable.

* Bind the Christmas wallhanging that I hand-quilted. 

* Fix a friend's boyhood quilt that his grandmother made him. It seems to have been attacked by mice       and I hope to applique over the holes.

I have other hopes, too, but I tend to have gandiose plans that I can't meet, so I'll try to tame myself. And, of course, I still have my ongoing cross-stitching in the evenings (that may have to command a greater portion of my time so it can get finished in time for birthday gifting).

Oh, and I just remembered that it's coming to the end of the month and I haven't done much of anything on my Chookshed Challenge. Yikes!

I hope your week is productive and enjoyable!

Chookshed Challenge/OMG for March

 The Chookshed Challenge number for March is #4, which a lot of people, including me, chose to use for a panel-type quilt.

My plan/goal is to use this panel piece...

...as centers for the stars in two (possibly three) wall-hanging sized quilt tops of this same pattern from Joy's Christmas in July Mystery quilt. They will then become my next hand-quilting projects to give as gifts. But for March, my goal is just the making of the tops.

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This week's goals will be tame because we're supposed to have warm enough weather for working outside and I have a major job there of emptying out a former woodshed that is falling apart (and the cats use as a litter box in the winter) so that Lovey can demolish it during his staycation part of next week if he's ready to do so.

I do hope to have some time to sew on these Christmas wall-hangings, but mainly I'll keep working on my cross-stitching during the evenings or when I need a work break.

My house also needs a good cleaning because I've lacked in motivation and I've been sick, so that needs doing. 😏

So this will be short, sweet, and hard to beat because the sun is quickly racing across the sky.

Have a great, springy day (unless you're in the Southern Hemisphere; then I wish you a cooler, beautiful day)!

Chookshed Stitchers Challenge Finish

 

Since I was not successful at finishing last month's goal, I'm very happy to be able to show that I finished this month's goal of turning this Autumn Jubilee project into a completed queen-sized flimsy, ready to take to the long-armer.

I'm also very thankful that this February had 29 days instead of 28 because I was too sick to get it finished yesterday and really needed this extra day to get it done.

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Tomorrow is a sewing day with my friend, so I hope to continue my progress on my Sew Scrappy Spools as well as a few simple projects that won't take much brain power. 😊 Sometimes those are handy for a little break.

Maybe I'll do the binding on this wall-hanging that I've finished hand-quilting.

I quilted around the poinsettias with black thread and they look interesting on the back.

And I hope to hem some large pieces of thick cloth with which I plan to cover/drape our swivel rockers to cover where the beloved but naughty kitty has scratched the upholstery.

So many options, so little time!

Hope your plans are fruitful. 😊

Raising Barley Fodder for Animals

In an effort to feed our rabbits for less money and more nutritional diversity, I have followed the trend of growing barley fodder for them, but here's how I have mine set up in a tiny, unused extra shower:

I had found the metal wine racks at a thrift store quite a long time ago and began figuring out how to best use them for this. When it finally dawned on me to use the shower that we never used because it's just too small (and not needed now that there's only two of us), things got a lot better than when I'd had it set up on large Jimmy Johns bread trays on a table. 

I put about 2 cups of barley seed into a 2 quart wide-mouthed jar.  After rinsing a couple of time to get rid of the floating hulls that won't sprout, I put in a little medicine dropper squirt of bleach to keep mold from growing, and fill the jar (or nearly so) with water to sit on the counter for a few hours or for the day if I get busy and forget. 😀

Then it goes into the shower, turned upside-down to drain on the milk crates that hold up the whole system.

I keep the seeds in the sprouting jars for two days to get a good start. I used to do three days, but then the sprouts had grown so much that they were hard to remove from the jar.

So, on Day 3, I spread the jar's worth of sprouts onto two 9x13 disposable pans into which I'd poked drainage holes. I also added some bits of foam tape to the ends of the pans just to help keep them from sliding off the racks.

After four days in the trays, they look something like the second level down, and after five days, like the top layer. I flip the trays end-to-end so that the lower, more watered part gets traded daily as I also move them up the racks daily. So I'll feed the rabbits off the top trays when they're about six to seven days grown.

Every morning and evening, the trays get watered with a simple shower hose attachment, and I've discovered that I can use it for rinsing the jar sprouts, too.

(For the curious, the tattoo is the Hebrew word hesed 
which means "steadfast love, loving-kindness, mercy" as in Psalm 136.)

Since fodder doesn't need to green up till the tail end of the process, I only have a simple full-spectrum light hanging from a nail toward the top of the set-up.

I divide each tray into thirds and spread them between our six cages.

Excessively happy rabbits!

Now that I have my system set up and running smoothly and consistently, I'm backing off on the store-bought feed and saving money that way. I won't completely eliminate it because there are vitamins and minerals in it that the barley doesn't contain and because when we go on vacation, it will be easier on our nephew who rabbit-sits if he can just use regular feed.

I hope to be able to also produce enough fodder for our quails when we get them soon.

So, get creative with what might work for you to feed your animals more frugally with more nutrition and see what you can do!

Adventures, Accomplishments, and Goals

 If you have not yet read Jennifer's post on being still, go there right now...I'll wait. Be sure to watch the video, too.

Now, aren't you glad you did that?!

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While I haven't been completely still lately (ok, rather busy lately), I did take it easy yesterday because I had the "fun" of having a tooth extraction in the morning and only felt like napping after I'd taken care of a few errands while the pain killers were keeping me happy. 😄 I was surprised by the relatively low pain even after the dentist's shots wore off. So, that's good!

After starting another batch this morning of supposedly Farmhouse Hard Cheddar Cheese (it comes out more like Parmesan cheese, which we like), I'm gonna sit, relax, and chatter on about projects and goals.

My cool pottery molds and rustic pressing method to extract the whey.

So, what else has been happening besides enjoying my kitty friends?

Well, last week I drove the six hours to visit my 89yo mom and we visited an Independent Living/Assisted Living home near her which is also very close to her church with which she's very involved and has quite a few friends. It is a very pleasant place and she'll probably be moving there before next winter. Not an easy thing to think about, but 'tis time. As I was with her, we drove the hour farther south to meet up with my two daughters who now live in Ohio and had a lunch and explore/shopping time. It was fun!

Accomplishments:

When I got home, I did a good clean-out of the "Critter Corner" including shop-vaccing the quail cages in hopes of finally getting said birds. Our buck, Winston, was quite interested in the process.

The cage units conveniently roll so I can put them wherever I need to while cleaning, or when we finally begin getting eggs rolling out onto the little roll-out lips.

This is the brooder into which the chicks will go when they come out of the incubator. We still have to hang the heat-lamps above it, but other than that it's good to go.

Portable handwork projects were again the order of the day and I finished crocheting edging around these two receiving blankets to take to the pregnancy care center along with a bunch of preemie hats that Mom had knitted and several bib and burpie cloths that I'd sewn. I'm hemming some more pieces of flannel to be ready to crochet more edgings.

That's about all the sewing/crafting I've been able to do, but I've had some continuing my experiments with indoor gardening. Here's the progress made on the potato plants. They look kinda spindly to me. I did get a couple of full-spectrum bulbs, so I'll install them in their clip-on fixtures soon and see if that improves things and if my other gardening attempt work better.

I planted seeds of spinach, cilantro, and Swiss chard to enable me to have more salad greens besides my soil sprouts.

Whenever I visit Mom she makes sure to do her paper shredding and sends me home with more bedding for my vermi-composting (worm bins). So I added that and stirred it up nicely and can't wait to add it to my gardens this spring. I hope to make a screen sifter so that I can also use the compost in the house without including the worms which I prefer to have safely tucked away in the bins.

Another project has been revamping my fodder-growing system for feeding the rabbits to make it more efficient, but I'll write about that in another post cuz this is getting long.

Goals:

Homemaking/Homesteading (the line blurs):

* Finish clearing/decluttering desk area

* Organize craft dresser in bedroom & make pretty labels

* Declutter kitchen counters/workspaces

* Ensure that quail watering system works

* Put up heat-lamps

* Plan gardens and order seeds

* Keep an eye on rabbit mamas who are due to deliver Saturday and Monday

Crafts/Sewing:

* Crochet more blanket edges

* Make at least 4 bib/burp cloth sets

* Finish last blocks of Sew Scrappy Spools and begin to make into a flimsy

* Finish borders of Autumn Jubilee flimsy

Ongoing Reading:

* Sacred Sorrow by Michael Card

* The Collagen Diet by Dr. Josh Axe

* The Complete Stories by Dorothy Sayers

* Essentialism by Greg McKeown

May your day be filled with wonders and delights 

tucked in along the way.