Bike Basket Makeover

$1 yardsale bike basket (at least that's what I am calling it)
I have LOTS of this fabric that I was going to use to spice up my bedroom....lol! ....with curtains and I had big big plans for a log cabin quilt for my king size bed using this as the backing. The fabric was $1 a yard at Walmart so I bought out 2 stores. I have 5 windows in my bedroom one is a triple!! So 7 total! The stores have now gotten in more of this. I did make curtains but never quite got around to the quilt!! Imagine that!! I grew tired of the curtains and decided that I didn't need such cheerful curtains in my grown-up room ;-)

I thought this basket needed a little cheering up!
You may be seeing a lot more of this cheering up around my house soon.......I am thinking of a cover for my Kitchenaid mixer next.......

(If you look closely at the pictures you will see the stitches in my seams are showing. I hate that but I used my serger to whip this up quickly all but the last bit of triming. I didn't notice this in time to do something about it. The seams are secure but look loose, bummer)

Handi Quilter.....

It may not be so handi after all. I wrestled with this thing on Thursday and got it put up and my older Kenmore machine put in it, you know the machine with out all the new features that my newer one has. I thought it would be OK for quilting because it does a beautiful stitch and I don't have to wrestle with the quilt so I didn't need the needle down feature. I knew that I would have better control of the machine so I didn't need the speed limit feature either.

WRONG!!!! I practiced for a long time on a muslin. I broke needles. My presser foot fell off one time. I made a complete mess.
Today I decided that since I was doing nothing else besides blogging about my old blogs and telling the world how crazy I am that I would go ahead and put a real quilt in there. A real small quilt. Another Moda Charm quilt from Mary Engelbriet designs. I thought that if it was a real project that I would take my time and be more careful and gain some control of this baby. I put the new Kenmore in there and it has been great. I have learned alot from putting the quilt in the frames to controlling my machine and so on and so forth. Nothing like hands on is it?

My stitches have touched in places and made love in places but not many. I am learning! I am getting a feel for how much room I have before moving the machine. I see a longarm machine in my future! The wrinkle in the fabric is only there because I was stopped and had the needle down so as not to lose my place and the machine pulled against the quilt causing a wrinkle. The frames really do keep the fabric taut!!

Not bad for a beginner huh?

I thought this thing was gonna kick my butt. I think I have it whipped now. I better learn something soon because I have a much larger pinwheel quilt almost ready for quilting. See I can finish some projects....if I want to!!!

Look at those really cool blocks of wood (top pic) with holes drilled in them, so the table wouldn't slip off, to raise my cutting table/quilting up high enough that it won't break my back. I have asked for them for years and finally got them Thursday evening after I put the quilt frames together all by myself and didn't bother him ;-)

What was I thinking?

I was just sitting here in my good ole comfy office chair this morning pondering. Pondering all sorts of things such as......it's going to be another gorgeous warm fall day today and what is the most pressing thing or things that I need to get done while it is so nice out as the rain is to come tomorrow, a mountain of laundry, a somewhat small mountain of dishes, floors to be vacuumed......etc etc etc......

Then in my ADD infested mind I started pondering over my blog.......long story short I ended up at my first post and then started reading thru in chronological order but I stopped at this post on December 31, 2007 and laughed til I almost peed my pants. You see it was the last post of the year and I had some high hopes for the future year coming up! Boy did I think that lightening was going to hit me and cause some sort of electrical friction that was going to change around my brainwaves or I was going to drink some power drink that was going to change my chemical balance or should I say imbalance and turn me around into a totally different human being from what I am?


I mean I had some wild and crazy ideas for my new year that was approaching. I was acting as if it was somehow going to be different from all my previous years. Just go on over and read it and rest assured that you are reading a bunch of craziness that came from some outer body experience that I had that day. I mean why would I say things like that because it was already 12/31 and I posted on 11/7 that I was making socks for everyone for Christmas that year and they have yet to get socks. I have one sock from several different pair finished.........ADD you think? I just haven't had time....only 2 years.....they all have really big feet!!! Good thing Robin moved south or her toes would be getting cold awaiting socks from me!!!


I am trying to do better but it is a disease.....a really bad one......I need help! Please! I have finished a couple of old projects this year so maybe I will finish the other sock for everyone to have socks this year for Christmas!!


Robin called today and we had a good laugh together about how I never change and only make resolutions that can never be kept because I am just me. I can't be changed trust me I have tried!!


Do you guys ever look back at your older posts and wonder what you were thinking that day, or do all your wishes or intentions or resolutions come to fruition?

ps. I forgot to mention that among the many many things that I mentioned that would be done in 2008....about Leslie and my sil getting new sewing machines that year and Leslie being bitten by the sewing bug. Well we were just at a party at Leslie's house Friday evening and my sil was there and they discussed their sewing machines were not being used at all and that they were saving them for the next generation!!!!! See it's not just me is it?

There's a new guy down on the farm......

and his name is Thunder. He is a reg Nubian buck to replace our dear Durango. We lost Durango, his son Tango, and Tango's mother Violet all this year.

We had a bout with coccidia and it got both mother and son before we knew what was going on. Durango was lost in the horrible accident on the hillside right after we found out Violet was sick.
It was a tough year and I couldn't hardly bring myself to talk about it.
Saphira was really excited at first to see that we bought her a new teenage boyfriend. Now I think she could send him back to his previous home. He is loud and noisy, he stinks and he pees on his head. She didn't want any part of the pictures today!!


As I was getting this shot below the barn, he was above the barn and she had went out of his eyeshot but definately not earshot. He was hollering so loud, as Nubians are famous for, and she gave me a look as if to say "Can you shut him up? Puulleezzee. " Sorta like Danny does with the guineas!

That's Opal, our hateful old fainting doe in her new little pen all by herself. Well she is so mean to anyone else unless she spit them out of her womb. She tries to kill everyone else over food. This field is meant to be a buck pen and Danny and I built this little shed over the fence so we could have 2 new stalls for weather protection on either side of the fence. Aren't we smart? It was really my idea. Now he likes it too. He laughs that there is a fence running thru the barn!!!

You can never get enough places to stash a goat!

Horrible picture of a lovely goat. This is Ellie Mae. Saphira's and Durango's baby doe from July. I have high hopes for her next year....oh yeah .....her and Thunder!!

Got cookies? I love her stripes. She looks like a Gremlin!

It was naptime and they are still groggy. See the little stubby horn scurs on the little brown goat? I was watching and couldn't stand the thought's of Danny hurting him while dehorning him and made Danny stop too soon. The next one he did while I was gone! Smart man!

How many roosters do you count? I count too darn many! We have to have a chicken pluckin'

I love this view of the babies napping! All curled up together.

As promised ....the newest version of the rollaway nest boxes. This is what I see when I come into the coop. Actually on the outside wall of the coop. The eggs are to be layed in the box and then they are supposed to roll out into the PVC pipe and roll down to the end of the pipe where no longneck chicken can get to them and eat them.

Triple decker. A smaller perch that they don't roost on. YES!!!!

and what do you know? They work!!!!! Look at that pullet egg!!

Other than paying some bills, some office work, computer time, a little house work and getting out in the cold today for a few quick pictures thru the fence.........this is what I have been up to. It involves pinwheels my new sewing machine and a lot of Halloween candy!

I don't talk politics on here but......

I am estatic today!!!!

Yes I am a Virginian and we rock!!

If you have been watching any of the news lately you know what I am talking about!

Now that's all I have to say about that!

Somebody please stop me!!!!

I am addicted to sewing machines!

I can't help myself.

I know it's a serious problem.

Someone has to stop me before my kids starve or go without shoes or I go without more fabric.

Yes my friends, I had to buy another one today.......but it was on sale honey!!

I told you a couple posts back about my Kenmore machine that I got off of ebay for $76. It is such a great machine but lacked a couple features that I felt I needed to be able to machine quilt properly. So I found this baby on sale at Sears.com and droooooooled all weekend over it. I pined and pined for it. Remembered today that I had a huge coffee can full of change that I rolled a while back and what do you know....it was enough to get this baby. I found out online that my local Sears had this one in stock and when I went this morning to pick it up it was on sale even cheaper than it had been over the weekend!

See it was meant to be, right?

This machine has the turtle/rabbit speed control and the needle up/down feature that I just knew would make my life as a quilter much better. I was right! I quilted this Wonky Block quilt shown above tonight and totally enjoyed myself. I slowed the speed down to almost a crawl and kept my foot on the gas all the way and it was so evenly fed thru the machine. I was not exhausted after a couple rounds either. Boy the needle down is a life saver too. On top of that this machine has a few more decorative stitches than the other one does.

I have to have all of these machines because they all do a variety of jobs or I bought them to do a variety of jobs with ;o)

I have this Handi Quilter frame, that my dear spouse got me for my birthday a couple years ago and I have never even set it up because I was wanting to have a machine to leave set-up in it for a big quilt project. Since I can't afford a longarm quilting machine for it I will have to use my other Kenmore in it. That is when I get a big quilt finished!

I told you about my Bernina being a moody ole female dog most of the time while trying to just sew anything and about her not quilting at all. Saturday I went in to a local quilt store that sells Berninas and questioned them about what was happening and explained what I have tried to remedy the problem and do you know what the owner of the store had to say to me.................

"Just use your Kenmore to quilt with."

hence the new Kenmore today!

It's been a crafty weekend.......

It was a rainy and nasty weekend around this place. My husband and I resorted to crafting.........well I was happy with that! Yesterday I worked on a quilt that I am piecing and pieced a table runner to match my Christmas Tree skirt. Today I made this ensemble, bag, make-up/ medicine bag and check book cover.


This picture was prior to the bag having handles. I couldn't decide which handles it needed. I had several ideas but I have been wanting a sort of clutch tote so I opted for these welted ones. I used to work in a sewing factory many moons ago and one of my jobs was to do a welt pocket on cordurory blazer jackets. I could do welt pockets in my sleep for years. Just not today........well they aren't exactly a pocket ;-} The bag is also reversible so I had to get a little creative to get them to work.




This picture shows the colors of the fabric a little bit better....it is actually red instead of fushia like my camera wanted it to be.





I think I like it!





The fabric was really cheap too. It was Heide Grace fabric from Joanne fabrics on sale for $1.50 a yard. I may have $3 in the set.



The best part is a secret...... my hubby had the idea for the bottom of the bag.......the stabilizer. If you need to know just email me and I will tell you. It is a great idea that I will have to use in the future if I sell any of these bags. I think you will be surprised!!!





Now his crafts......


Remember the chicken coop make-over? OK the rollaway nest boxes that we designed and made were built in hopes that they would work. My hens were eating there eggs and thats why we built them. The eggs rolled away like we planned but it seems that I have some very longnecked birds. They were still able to get to the eggs on occasion. I found egg yolk dripping from the front of the box a couple times and one day I found an empty shell. Either my hen laid a pseudoegg or someone ate it!!





BUT THE WORST PART.........the hens decided they loved to roost on those new boxes and chickens must poop all night. Most of the time there would be four big hens in the 2 boxes! Remember how pretty and white they were? Not any more. I knew that they would get dirty soon but not immediately. It was a mess.





So back to the drawing board......he is determined to get these rollaway nest boxes perfected. He has now built a triple highrise condo for my hens!!!! The eggs roll to the out side of the coop this time. The eggs roll farther away this time too. They also have a small perch on the front of each nest to enter the nest but hopefully too little to roost on. Danny couldn't wait to go back to the coop tonight to see if any of them were roosting on them and they weren't........he was so happy his plan worked.



( maybe some pics tomorrow )