Quilting Tutorial.......The Goodwife, Live and Unscripted.........

That crazy, beautiful gal over at "Go West" Feral Woman requested some more quilting info, so I've attempted a hand quilting tutorial. You are going to get to see an actual live video of the Goodwife.  I know, it's scary but it had to be done.  I hope that you enjoy this, or get a kick out of it, or just ignore it completely........whatever makes you happy!  LOL!  I also hope that the quality is good enough for you to see what I'm doing.  Please ignore my high pitched voice, The Youngun and I get mistaken all the time on the phone.........

God Bless...........

First Quilting Project of the Season.........

As ya'll may or may not remember, I love to hand quilt.  As the weather turns colder and gets gloomier, nothing makes me happier than to kindle a fire in the fireplace and sit down to work on my quilt. 

Here's the baby quilt I made last season.  And here is the post where you can see it finished.  A few weeks ago I dug around in my stash to see what I wanted to make this winter.  I've got a pieced top that Mom did for me, but I don't want to work on it just yet.  I found this stamped design that I've had in there for years, so I decided this would be my first quilting project this season. 

I like the film strip style of the pictures.  They alternate two pictures in each strip.

I'm backing it with some really lovely, soft, peach flannel.  This is also the first quilt in which I'm using cotton battting.  Every other quilt I've made I've used polyester batting, but recently I've seen cotton, so I'm very excited to try it.  So far it's quilting really nicely.

It shouldn't take too long to finish, if I work on it steadily.  I've no idea what I'll do with it once it's done, but I'm sure I'll figure something out!

God Bless........ 

So Much to Share.............

All of my life I've wanted a Hoosier Cabinet. As some of you know, we are getting ready to do some minor kitchen remodeling. The Man came home from work last week and said, Why don't you buy yourself one of those cabinets that you been wantin'. Well let me tell you, that was all I needed to hear. I got right on Craigslist and started looking. I found one about an hour south of us that was VERY reasonably priced. It had been restored in the 70's and had been in use in the couple's kitchen for the last 33 years. That just happens to be how old I am now ;) So on Saturday we went and picked up this beautiful piece of history!  I can't wait to spend Monday getting it all set up the way that I want it.  Since it's been restored it will be strong enough to stand up to the rigors of daily use that I intend on putting it through!

Also on Saturday my folks came to spend the night with us so my Mom and I played with Steve.  I learned a great deal!  Mom taught me how to bind my quilt.

And here is the finished baby quilt.  I've decided since I'm setting up a hope chest for The Youngun, that I'm going to put this quilt in it for her.

Steve and I also finished my blouse! 

I really like my blouse!  It's comfy, modest yet cute and I've got such a sense of satisfaction knowing that i made it myself. 

I've got a bit more to share, but will do so in a day or two! 

Till next time..............GOD BLESS FROM GOODWIFE FARM!

Busy Monday Morning,

After a rather productive, though terribly muddy, weekend I'm having a nice productive Monday! On Sunday The Man and I decided to brave the disgusting mud and clean out the rabbit barn and the chicken house. The Man actually got started on this little project, as I was telling him he was nuts and shouldn't we just wait 'til the ground froze again?! However, he's like a pitbull once he sets his mind to something and insisted that he was going to do it. I stayed inside to cook the deli style roast beef that I'd had marinating in the fridge since Saturday. This is my second time of making this roast and it's DELICIOUS for sandwiches! No more buying roast beef for us!

After I got done baking the roast and settin' it aside to cool I put on my mudboggers and headed out. I wish I'd gotten pictures, but I didn't want to risk getting my camera all slogged up! Nuff to say that it was all The Man could do to push the wheelbarrow through the sticky, gluey mud. We did get both barns cleaned out and the poop slung on the two garden spots. The upper garden is new ground, we just opened it up last year, so it needs all the yummy stuff on it that it can get. The lower garden is much more established and didn't take as much. We didn't get any poop put on either garden last year because the rain just didn't allow. I think that's why hubs decided to just do it this time and to heck with the mud. The poop will sit out there on the garden now until we get a dry enough spell to till it under. Nothing grows better veggies than a nice mix of chicken, rabbit, horse, and goat poop! We also butchered 5 more rabbits on Sunday morning. I've got one in the pressure cooker now for barbecue bunny for The Youngun. The other 4 will go in the freezer for later use.

This morning I got a bit of housework done, stripped our bed and got it remade, dusted, vacuumed and cleaned the ceiling fan in our room. Got the rabbit cooking, I'm going to make whole wheat pita breads, almost apple turnovers and I hope to get some work done on my quilt. I'm within about 4 hours of having it done and I really really want to get finished with it this week. I've been saying that for about 2 months now!

Anyway, I've really got nothin' exciting to report! Hope you are staying warm and dry and aren't drowning in mud!

Till next time.............GOD BLESS FROM GOODWIFE FARM!

Quiltin' Bee!

Today after I dropped The Youngun off at school I went to my friend Darlin' Deb's house. You may remember Darlin' Deb as my lovely friend that took care of the homestead so that we could go on our vacation to Florida. Deb is alot like me. She plants a garden, she cans food, and she loves to QUILT!! She is the only girlfriend I've ever had that enjoyed doing those things. She's a blessing to me and I love her! Anyway, enough with the mushy stuff!

I got to her house right at 8 AM and we chatted and quilted and sipped our hot drinks and before I knew it it was 1 PM! We just had the loveliest time! I also got to see some really lovely old photos of Deb's dad, which was really very neat.

This is Deb's quilt.

The actual DEB is rather camera shy and wouldn't let me take a picture of her working on the quilt, so I had to settle for just the quilt. Deb isn't sure what she's going to do with this quilt, it is large enough to fit on a full sized bed and the colors are just gorgeous. We were discussing today how the tan fabric really looks like suede.

This is my quilt. I've been working on it off and on for a couple months now. I should be able to be finished with it by Friday. I could quilt on it all day tomorrow and have it done, but I do have other stuff I've got to do as well! Can't just sit and quilt all darned day now can I? This quilt is a gift for a friend who is expecting his first child. I've got another quilt top ready to go as soon as this one is finished. I do have to make a little confession..........DEB pieced her quilt herself...........I didn't. I chose the fabrics and the pattern and my mom pieced mine. I know, I know, I've got to learn to piece one myself. That's my next goal, to piece my own. It's just so darned much easier to say....Here Mom, piece this for me wouldja? LOL!

Till next time................GOD BLESS FROM GOODWIFE FARM!

Quilting Club!

Yesterday I went over to visit my friend Deb and we got to talking about quilting. I had no idea that she enjoyed it and she didn't know that I did either! We started talking about starting a quilting club and are going to do it. We really don't know exactly how it will all work, but we will figure it out as we go. We already have another lady that would like to join us so our quilting club is off and running! We've got to decide how often to meet and on what day. We also need to figure out if we will work on individual projects or find a floor frame and work on one quilt together. If we work on one quilt together we have talked about raffling it off and donating our proceeds to a local charity such as the public library or the local animal shelter, Salvation Army, or another local charity.

It's going to be such fun and a nice old fashioned social activity. I'm not much for socializing because of how worldly most things are, but this is a social activity that I can get excited about!

Till next time..........GOD BLESS FROM GOODWIFE FARM!

Quilting....

This is the quilt that I'm working on right now. I designed it and chose the fabrics, my mom pieced it and now I'm hand quilting it. I should have it done by next weekend. I just love hand quilting! This block is called 54/40 or Fight. I have another one to begin after I get this one finished. I'll post pics when I get started on it.

More busy busy busy!

Sorry I haven't blogged in awhile. I've been busy as a bee! We've got 9 little rabbits and another litter due any day. Naomi and Star are now both bred, and it's time to dry Tulip off for the season. I hate this because I do so love my goat milk, but we are going on vacation in November and I don't trust anybody else to milk her. She's been fresh since January and is due for a rest anyway. Next year, I hopefully will have milk the year round! We also have 25 meat bird chicks in one of the horse stalls eating us out of house and home. Since I've been on Weight Watchers, and eating lots of boneless skinless chicken breast, they will save us lots of money this year. We are also going to bone out some of the rabbit meat when we butcher and see how that works out.

Today I'm mixing up two batches of homemade ice cream. We never buy ice cream, just mix it up and make it here. It's so much better than anything you can get in the store! Since I'm drying Tulip off, we are trying to get enough made to last until Naomi kids in December. I don't think we will make it! We'll just have to do without until she freshens.

I'm also busy working on a baby quilt. I love to hand quilt and this is going to be beautiful. After it's finished, I've got another one ready to start!

Hope you are all happy and healthy!

Till next time...........GOD BLESS FROM GOODWIFE FARM!

Busy Busy Busy...

Been making lots of salsa with the last of the tomatoes. I also canned some vegetable juice, which is really tasty. Monday I made a huge pot of vegetable soup with rabbit meat in it and canned that up. It is delicious and will taste amazing this winter! I don't buy convenience foods because I don't like all the sodium that they typically have in them. This way I can just pop open a jar of soup and have a hearty healthy meal in minutes!

Since joining Weight Watchers, I've developed a lot of really yummy healthy recipes! Today I made some whole wheat pita breads which were delicious. I got the recipe from here http://www.tammysrecipes.com/whole_wheat_pita_pockets They were super easy and super super good! Yesterday I made some whole wheat tortillas and fixed myself some chicken fajitas for lunch. The tortillas were delicious as well.

Things are good here at the homestead. We got 25 meat bird chicks in the mail last week and just had a litter of rabbits born early this morning. Nothing tastes as good as food you've raised and prepared yourself!

I've started a new quilting project. I'm working on the piecing now. Hopefully will have it all pieced and ready to quilt by the time cold weather gets here.

Hope all is well at your homesteads!

Til next time GOD BLESS FROM GOODWIFE FARM!