Mom noticed

When I was talking with Mom this morning, she told me that she noticed I hadn't blogged since last Thursday. My goal was to blog this morning by 9. Oops! I'm about an hour late!

Daughter Alison started moving in to her new home this past weekend, so Friday after school Dave and I loaded up the van with things that have been stored at our house the past couple of years.

Saturday, we left bright and early to help with cleaning, painting, and setting up the kitchen. It was a long, tiring day, but we all felt a feeling of accomplishment by the time we finished. This weekend will be the big move... great excitement for Alison and the kids!

One of the hens laid an enormous egg on Friday!

I fried it up for Dave's breakfast on Sunday. The two yolks at the bottom came from that extra large egg. Dave and I were very impressed!

Dave's been busy harvesting butternut squash. Right after I took this picture, he pulled up with another wagon full of squash.

He said there was more in the field. It looks like we have enough to feed the whole village! I made butternut squash soup for dinner last night. One medium squash makes enough soup for two meals for us. I guess we could live on squash, potatoes, and onions this winter. It sounds a bit boring, but maybe I'll find some more tempting recipes.

I did some more experimenting with bottle caps. The bottle cap on the left is a used one, and the one on the right is a purchased, unused, unlined bottle cap. I wanted to see what would happen if I did not use pliers to pull out the sides as recommended in the YouTube video I watched. As you can see, the sides folded under and the top became a huge dimple.

Here's a view of the back side. I'm sure this could be used for something, but this is not the look I'm going for, so it will be trashed. As you can see, it ends up being much smaller than the other bottle cap, even though they started out as the same size.

I'll also have to remove the seal from the used bottle caps if I want to decorate them. I think it's much simpler to purchase unused bottle caps without the seals!

Since this bottle cap is decorated on both sides, there was no need to add a cabochon or any other decoration. It's very light weight, and I do like the look!

The pattern is my Silver Crowns, designed for Liz Metallic. I used size 20 Liz Metallic #324, Christmas Red. When working with metallic threads, I prefer using a bobbin shuttle. I do love my pretty shuttles from La Cossette!

Chicken fun

I was sitting in my chair enjoying the afternoon yesterday, when Dave called to me. I looked out the window, and there he was with a chicken on his back!

I quickly ran outside to take a closer look.

Meet Henrietta. She loves Dave! She follows him around the yard, hoping he will feed her mealworms. Do you see the chickens at the end of the porch? Dave was at the bottom of the steps, watching the chickens (they are NOT allowed on the porch) when Henrietta flew on to his shoulder. She stayed on his back until I shooed her away. Sometimes I wonder if Henrietta is really a silly goose! ;-)

How was I enjoying the afternoon? Why I was crocheting spool pin doilies for Mom!

I worked on more today. I now have 35 finished... only 15 to go!

No, I haven't given up on tatting. I just want to make sure I finish the spool pin doilies and get them off to Mom. I have a bad habit of setting things aside and forgetting them!

This afternoon I wound these adorable wooden spools with hand-dyed thread from Marilee Rockley (Beach Cafe and Garden Afternoon). I love using my little swift for holding the skeins of thread as I wind them. I found the spools on Etsy, and I think they're great!

Where do I begin?

The week has just flown by! I subbed two and a half days, while Joanne and the kids visited friends, took naps, and played with the chickens. We went shopping Friday and Saturday, a true adventure with the twins! After shopping on Saturday, we visited Aunt Carol, then we headed home for lawn mowing fun.

While subbing, I managed to tat two more Ice Drops. Sophia loves being my Ice Drop model!

Sophia and I counted May's Ice Drops. There are 24 on the tree, and I gave 4 away, for a total of 28. Not bad, but a bit short of my goal of one Ice Drop per day. ;-)

The kids were worn out from shopping, so the twins napped while Joanne, Sophia, and I visited with Aunt Carol.

Then Sophia crashed when I ran in to the grocery store.

The chickens have been a great source of entertainment for the kids this week. The kids love feeding them mealworms, something I won't touch! I love living in the country, but I don't interact well with nature.

The chickens have two favorite places... under the pine trees, and under the forsythia bush. Kara loves visiting the chickens under the pine trees. Last night she was talking to them and wagging her finger at them. They must have been doing something she thought was wrong!

Having company hasn't kept me from collecting shuttles! I love this painted beauty from Grizzly Mountain Arts. I wonder if I should find another job so that I can afford to buy all of the shuttles I want. There are so many!

This painted beauty is from Scotland. Orange Crush is the perfect color to use with this shuttle! :-)

I did miss out on a gorgeous painted shuttle called Mountains Sunrise from Rita Richmond of Shuttle by Design. I bid as much as I dared, but some luck shuttle collector outbid me. Shuttles are little works of art that warm my heart!

Windy day

Today was another sub day. I have to enjoy my sub time while I can, because school will be out June 1. Where has this year gone?

When I got home from school, I checked on the chickens. It was so windy, the chicks decided to stay in their house. However, when Dave got home from work, they braved the wind and had fun pecking around their little yard.

I had a little time to tat while subbing, so I was able to make two Ice Drops. The art teacher really liked them, so I added ribbons when I got home, and I will give them to her when I sub at the high school again on Friday. She was interested in my tatting shuttles, and she said she would try to create a flat shuttle for me. I would be thrilled to have one made just for me by Amanda!

This is Dave's busy time of year, so I had a few hours of time to myself after school. I finally started my socks after taking a class on German short row heels with Denise on Saturday. These are worsted weight socks that I will wear around the house. I'm using k3 p1 ribbing, which I haven't tried before. I do like the look! I'm using I Love This Yarn from Hobby Lobby and size 6 needles. The color is Agean Stripe. It's been quite a few years since I've knit socks, and I figured it was better to start with worsted weight before tackling fingering weight. So far, so good!