And Six Years to Post Photos

Goodness, so much has happened since the last post about Susan's purple dress! But now that I've logged back on, I feel it only appropriate the finish that post with a few pictures. The dress isn't exactly like the one in the movie; I simply couldn't find the right purple material, with the right stripes, spaced correctly, etc, etc. **Now you see why it took me 10 years to get started ;-)** And I didn't have the funds at the time to specially design and order 8 yards of material. Maybe if I were to sew this dress again that may be something I could consider doing. Or I could sew it up in lovely shades of deep green. Now that I mention it, it does sound like the good start to a Ithilien ranger inspired outfit. Hmmm, now my brain is racing. As if I don't already have enough projects on my sewing to-do list. Lol! Back to the purple dress. I did finish it satisfactorily enough for my tastes. I completed it just two months before getting married, so hopefully anyone reading this blog can forgive me, especially since I had to immediately jump into rush-sewing my wedding gown. :-)

And now here are a few of the not-so-great-quality photos I have of the long thought out dress, inspired by Susan's purple dress from the movie Prince Caspian. Enjoy!

     I did adjust the bodice pattern for my wonky shoulders. If I had done the back neckline like the original, I would have been constantly tugging and readjusting it. Not a fun thing to have to do when you're just trying to enjoy your latest completed sewing endeavor. :-)

     I really like how the silhouette turned out. :-)

10 years in the making

So I've been wondering.............is it perfectionism or a fear of failure that makes someone wait 10 (TEN!) years to make an outfit? I'd like to say it's a combination of both. 😊 I've wanted to sew this ensemble since I first saw the movie Prince Caspian in theater, back in 2008. But for once in my sewing career I wanted it to be exactly like the original. Usually I put my own twist on it. Change something in it to make it *mine*. Sometimes that simply means doing it in a different color. But for this dress I wanted it just like the one Anna Popplewell wears. A square necked, light blue under-dress, over which is a well fitted bodice done in purple, a daffodil motif appliqued on the front. Tight sleeves with slashes below the elbow (she is an archeress, and needs the room to draw her bow), with scalloped peplums. A princess seamed, floor length skirt with a opening in the center front through which you can see the skirt of the under-dress. 

As you can see, there are different elements to this dress. As I studied it I found more details, which I liked. It's the little details that make something unique and different. I also realized it wasn't going to be the quickest, or easiest, outfit to sew. But that was ok. Just so long as it looked like I'd stepped out of Narnia when I wore it. :-) As we walked out of the theater my brain was already working through the whole sewing process. I never thought it'd take me this long to complete it. Better late than never, right? 

So just as this dress took plenty of time to make, it's going to take several blog posts to cover all the different parts of it. Consider this the intro. 🙂

Long time, no blog :-)

Ahhmmm. Hello. Yes, I'm still alive. ;-) But no blogging since 2015?!? Unacceptable! So now we are going to remedy this sad state of affairs. First off is a very brief and quick overview of the last 3 years.
1) As you know from one of my last posts, Gracie and Aaron got married and are living quite happily in their itty bitty world.
2) The market that Dad & Mom started in 2015 is going strong and constantly growing.
3) Dad has gone back to school.
4) Mom has graduated and started grad school.
5) All of my siblings have grown.....a lot!!
6) I've met the man of my dreams and am going to marry him in 70 days, 17 hours, and 18 minutes!!!!! (as of when I typed that 😊)

As you can see, it's been a hectic, crazy, busy, blessed 2+ years. 😃
Now I am getting ready to start a new chapter of my life. It will certainly be a big adjustment. So many things will be different. Small things such as getting used to cooking for two people rather than twelve, and bigger things, like living several states away from my family, and getting used to a house with MUCH less noise in it.😉
Hopefully I can keep up with my blog as Jonathan and I start our lives together. But I ain't making any promises! Lol!

But I'm certainly going to try. :-D

So Excited!

I'm so excited! Grace is engaged! I'm very happy to be able to call Aaron brother. They are perfect for each other.  �� I remember the first time that we met the entire Jones family, almost 11 years ago.  I wasn't too pleased with Aaron then.  All he and Isaac wanted to do was hunt for frogs and toads. Yuck! Thankfully he is over his toad and frog fascination. Now he is about to become a member of our family. :-D So happy!!! He is getting a beautiful, kind, upstanding young lady with an amazing God-filled heart. She is getting a sweet, generous, understanding, hardworking young man with a God-filled heart, who would go to the ends of the world for her. They have shown each other respect and caring all through their courtship, doing all with a mindfulness towards honoring God. I have great respect for these two wonderful people. I hope that when I am in a courtship to be as honoring and upright as y'all have been. I know it can not have been as easy as y'all make it look. Congratulations Grace and Aaron!!! May your marriage be filled with love, and may the best years of your lives be those that y'all spend together!

Hello! :-D

Oh my! This poor blog. Abandoned for almost two years. :-( Well here I am, picking it up again. :-) I shall keep up with it, I shall!! I am determined. So what has happened at the farm during that time? Alot. The farm is continuing on, despite quite a few setbacks. Mom has gone back to school to study creative writing. Dad is in the process of starting up new a farmers market in Houston. Katie is working at Central Market, Grace is remodeling moms bathroom. The little kids are as rambunctious as always, Linnea continues to milk the goats and make the cheese. Emma is dreaming of being a volunteer firefighter, while Sara helps out wherever she is needed. While I, I am in Costa Rica. X-) The first full day of a three-month long trip. I'm SO excited! I'll be staying with some dear friends of mine and helping out where ever I can. So I figured that now would be a good time to pick up my blog, dust it off, and use it as a way to share my experiences. So please join me as I embark on this new adventure! :-D

O_o

Well those of you who know me well will laugh when you hear what I got for Christmas. I was given a tablet for Christmas. Yes. I Christin, who was quite excited when she got a 150 year old sewing machine for her 21st birthday, is now the pleasantly surprised owner of a tablet. This will definitely be a learning curve for old-fashioned me but it promises to be a lot of fun. :-D

Legoless

*****WARNING!!!! Facts of life are herein discussed. Viewer discretion is advised.*******

Fact of life # 1- We live in a fallen world. Been that way since Adam. Things happen that we do not like because of this fact.

Fact of life #2- Because we live in a fallen world things get hurt. People, animals. It happens.

Fact of life #3- Animals will eat other animals.

Now that we have that out of the way I will tell you about my duckling named Legoless.
Legoless is from the first batch of ducklings to ever be hatched on our farm. Their mother was a gift from a friend. Almost all of our ducks are to one degree or another wild. They do not get messed with by people that much. They are here to add ambiance to the farm. But of all the ducks that we have, this particular duck is WILD! The other day we were pleased to find out that she had hatched 8 ducklings. We  were determined to give them the best chance of survival. So we got our largest rabbit hutch and proceeded to make it as predator proof as possible. We managed to get all 8 ducklings in the hutch but catching mother duck was a whole 'nother matter. When we got close enough to dive in and grab her she took to flight. We could NOT catch this duck!! So we decided to wait a couple of hours until it got dark and catch her once she went to roost. Then we would have ducklings and duck in a safe place were they could grow up fat and happy . Good plan right? We thought so. But mother duck did not go to roost. She hung around the general area but whenever we went out to get her it was the same story. She had absolutely no intention of being caught. At some time during the night one of our numerous farm cats decided that she/he wanted duck dinner. When Linnea and I went out to give the ducklings to their mother (we figured they had a better chance of survival "in the wild" with mom more then if they were cooped up in a cage without her, not to mention both parties were stressing out) we found a duckling without a leg. We brought it inside,cleaned the wound, and put golden seal powder on it. Some time during the process Linnea quipped that "well now we have Legolas." The name stuck. That was early on Tuesday morning. Legoless is now settled nicely in a box in my sewing room with two of his siblings that we managed to obtain for him as his companions. We have discovered that he does NOT like rollie-pollies or black caterpillars. He loves the green variety though and he'll eat flies when we can catch them. We kept him out of water until his wound formed a scab. We did not want him to get sick from the wound getting infected from dirty water. Earlier today we allowed him to go paddling around with his two buddies who we have named Gimli and Aragorn. Any one noticing a theme here? ;-) Legoless has a very healthy appetite and like most youngsters he finds the greatest enjoyment in messing with his boo-boo. We will see how he does with just one leg. As was hinted at gently by my mom we are not sure how he can live a very long life with such a handicap, while my brother was a little more blunt . "He's gonna die." Now I know that there are some people out there who are thinking "It would have been more merciful to put him out of his pain". This was also said to me by a member of my family. But we are told quite clearly in the Bible that we are to take care of the creatures, as well as of every thing that God has given us. The way that I see it is that if God wanted this duckling to die early on that Tuesday morning and thus end the duckling's pain then He (God) would have allowed it to before Linnea and I found it. And it is likely that Legoless might die in the near future. Due to complications appertaining to his wounds or from any other occurrence. Only God knows what is in store for this little creature of His. But in the meantime God has given me this charge to take care of to the best of my abilities. And I will.
I enjoy taking care of animals. This duckling is no exception. So this is the story of Legoless the one legged duckling thus far.

                                                        

Legoless.

I Forgot

I completely forgot. One thing  that I forgot in my resolutions post is my hope chest.
In the next year I would like to repair my hope chest and start filling it up. :)

New Years resolutions 2013

A new year, new resolutions. :) But first let's review last years resolutions.

1~ Read the Bible every day.
2~ Brush my teeth every day (I know, that sounds weird ).


I think that I've done pretty well on brushing my teeth every day. Not so much on reading the Bible.
I also  put a list up of different dresses that I wanted/needed to sew in 2012. Here is the list of "wants":


Susan's red battle dress from "Prince Caspian".
Eowyn's green dress (aka the stable dress).
Susan's purple traveling dress from "Prince Caspian".
Eowyn's shield maiden dress.

I did not do Susan's red dress, or her Purple one. Nor did I do Eowyn's Shieldmaiden dress. But I did do Eowyn's Green dress (aka stable dress). It is the dress that she is wearing when you first see her, running up the steps to Meduseld. It turned out exactly like I wanted it to. I was and still am, excited about it. It fits me perfectly. :) I plan to do it again at some other time. It is in the March 3 and August 9 posts. Now for the list of  "need to" dresses.

Linnea' ball gown.
Sara's ball gown.
Grace's ball gown AND camp dress.
My camp dress/ ball gown.


Yes I got Linnea's ball gown done, as well as Grace's camp dress and ball gown. No I did not get Sara's ball gown completed. She wore it to the ball but it was pinned on. ;) We still need to put fasteners on it and the trim. I did not get my ball gown or my camp dress done. This is my fault because I was given the most beautiful forest green cotton taffeta that any seamstress would be thrilled to work with. It was given to me by a very thoughtful and loving sister with the plan being that I would have a ball gown to wear at the ball. But I decided to use it for a medieval costume to wear when we went and watched The Hobbit. :) I guess I'm hopelessly lost when it comes to medieval or fantasy style dresses. :) And I am planning on making a day/camp dress for my self in the next two to three months. The problem is that there are so many different styles to choose from.  I also put a goals/jobs list on that post as well:


1~Clean out the storage shed behind the house.
2~ And there was some thing else that goes under this category, I just can't remember it.


Yes I got the shed cleaned out. Yeah!!!! You can read about it in my February 28 post. And the other thing that I couldn't remember was learning to play the piano. No I do not know how to play the piano. Because our piano is broken. :(

So now that I have you updated on last years resolutions let me tell you what this years resolutions are.

1~ Read the Bible daily.
2~Be a better daughter and a better sister.

Goals/ jobs for the year

1~Finish fencing in the property.
2~Blog twice weekly. Hopefully more then that.
3~Learn how to play a musical instrument.I don't know what instrument,but I'll figure that out later.

So there you have it. My new years resolutions. If you read my blog or are my Facebook friend please, PLEASE ask me every now and then how I'm doing in regards to my resolutions. The more you ask, the harder you will push me to keep them. Thank you! :)

Where Did It Go To?

Where did 2012 go to? Wow! It went by fast, didn't it? And what happened during this past year here at the farm? Thankfully it was full of quite changes. No wild fires, no evacuations. Quite but none-the-less big changes. We've had a movie filmed here. Katie went to New York again. She also went to Colorado for the National Dairy Goat show. And she went to Idaho for the National Dairy Goat convention ( have you figured out yet that she loves doing dairy goats?) We have made new friends. And done things that we hadn't done before. Like going to the Renaissance Festival. This year I've also done more sewing then in any other previous year. In the space of two and a half months I have sewn three Civil War ball gowns, a Renaissance costume, a Civil War day dress, a cape, and a medieval dress for my self. In the last ten days I've sewn two night gowns, and a cloak for Judah. I love to sew!!! :) My sewing room has gone through several "transitions". I've had the sewing room for a year now. In that time it has been messy, clean, messy, clean. But almost always there is a project being worked on. It sure is nice having a dedicated space for my sewing. So yes. It has been a year full of blessings.

Guess what I got?

A serger! Woohoo! Now I have to figure out how to use it. :) I can't wait! I had to completely re-arrange my sewing shed/room so that I had a place to put it. I also have a new work table. Ok so I took the ping pong table and set it up in my sewing room. Just don't tell my brothers where the thing disappeared to. ;) Now I have a great big space to cut my patterns and fabric on. No more bringing my projects into the house to cut out on the floor in the dinning room. Yeah! I was also able to put a real book shelf in as well. Because that little tiny metal display shelf thingy just wasn't enough room for my books. I will put pics of my serger on tomorrow so that y'all can  ohh and ahh over it. Oh yeah, and I'll put pics on of my new and improved sewing room as well.

*GASP*

Woohoo! I did it. I actually did it. I just sewed a ball gown. A civil war ball gown made out of taffeta. I remember telling myself that I would NEVER sew a ball gown. Much too complicated. And I would never sew with any thing that was slippery. No silk, no taffeta, no satin. Nothing like that. I was quite sure that I would mess it up. And then Sara gave Grace, Linnea, and myself some taffeta for ball gowns. Great! Now I had to use that slippery stuff. I came up with every possible excuse as to why I couldn't do it. "The fabric was too slippery." "So what? Figure out how to work with it. And hurry up."
 "The material was too cheap looking. It might shred and then it would have been a waste of time." "Well you'll never know what it will do if you don't use it. Hurry up and start sewing." As you can see, my sisters were not going to take  "no" for a answer. So I began with Grace's gown. She had bought a simple pattern from Period Impressions. So we washed the fabric and began to iron it. That was were I hit my first "speed bump". This taffeta was 100% polyester. I took the iron and placed it on the fabric and....... it melted. My room stank of melting plastic for two days. Okay, lesson learned. Do not use your grandmothers 15 year old iron that is no longer adjustable. So I bought a new iron that had settings that worked and started over. Got it ironed and I told Grace to start cutting the material while I got the machine ready. Problem was that I had never done this kind of thing before (as I've already said) and I didn't know that you couldn't just cut it out like you would with regular old cotton. First you have to layer the material with tissue paper so the material doesn't slip and come out in funky shapes. So we re-cut the fabric and got ready to sew it. It was a lot easier than I thought that it would be. The hardest part was figuring out how to fit 180" onto a waistband that's made for some one with a 26 1/2" waist. We ended up doing a triple box pleat all the way around. Half way through sewing the bodice together Grace held it up and said "You know what? I think this will actually work and that it will look quite nice." Thank you for the encouragement Grace. All the way through sewing this dress Grace was right behind me, encouraging me. So now, almost 9 months after I first started on this project, it is finally done.
                                                                       
                                                        

The front of the gown.

Back of the gown.

Close up of the front.

Close up of the back. We are eventually going to add lacing to the back. Half of the girls like it as it is now, with hook and eye closures. Grace really likes the look of the lacing.

Gown from the side.

The antique lace that we dyed to match the binding, which we also made.

                
One ball gown done,three more to go. And all before November  17. I better get movin'. :)                                                   

September 5 - 11,2011

Sorry that this post is a little late. So here it is. September 5 - 11 marks the one year anniversary of the Tri-county wildfires.  What started out as a small puff of smoke on the horizon would soon be the cause of a week long evacuation for our family and many others in this area. I remember the anxious and worried looks on Mom and Dad's faces when the fireman told us that it was highly likely that we could be evacuated. For the next several hours some of us were watching the news channel to see what was going on while others were completing chores while still others were trying  to get some stuff together just in case we really did have to evacuate. There was a suppressed feeling of anxiety. I thought that every thing would calm down in a matter of hours. The firefighters would get it under control and it would just be a rerun of the Dire mills fire that had happened in June. A big scare, worrying, discussing what we would take with us and where we would put the goats. But I was pretty sure that nothing would really happen to greatly disrupt the regular flow of daily doings at the farm. I sure was wrong in this thought. In a couple of hours it was apparent that this fire WOULD disrupt the regular flow of things here at the dairy. Mom and Dad started giving out directions and  Dad,Grace, and Timothy started to get goats in the livestock trailer and in the back of the blue van. Getting the goats in the vehicles was a hard task. Not only did we have to get them in there but Mom had to decide which goats were got out first and which we would have to get later, if we could. Some people were shouting "Get my goat ____" while others were yelling "Get the show girls out first" and yet others were saying "Get Sonnet and Liendoe out first". Sonnet and Liendoe were not feeling well so they left the property first. After that it was a race against the clock to get as many goats in the trailer and off the property and back again before the firefighters came and told us to leave NOW. In the end we had to leave almost all of our bucks and "dry" does. We let them into the largest pen we had so that they would have more room to roam. In between the trips to and from Blue Heron Farm ( where our friends the Segars lived and had so graciously allowed us to bring our goats) we were trying to pack those things that were important to us and that could fit in the cargo trailer and white van. The pasteurizer and other things that were associated with making cheese and things like that were first to be packed. Then it was every thing that you could cram in there. Saddles, sewing machine, hope chests, family pictures, the quilt that our great-grandmother made, family treasures, you name it we packed it all in there as best we could. After that we used every possible space in the van that wasn't occupied by a child,cat,rabbit or dog. After that we spent our time doing every thing that we could think of to make those animals that we couldn't take with us as comfortable as possible. We also spent this time to make our house as "fire proof" as possible. Which wasn't much. We put the garden sprinklers on the roof at full speed and hoped that that would help. We knew that it was time to leave when the police and fire fighters started to drive up and down our street making a lot of noise and making sure that there weren't any more people in the area. We drove approximately a mile away and parked in the drive way of a church while Mom and Dad had a discussion as to what should be done. Dad had been able to get back to the house after we had left and was in favor of staying there to see how things were going on. Mom didn't think that that was a good idea. In the end, after going to Sonic and talking for a long time Dad decided to see if he could get back to the house with Grace and Sara, while Mom and every one else went some where else (we didn't know where at that point) and get some sleep. We ended up staying at a Red Cross shelter that had been set up in a local church. The next morning Dad called and said that since it didn't look like there was that much smoke that we should come home. So after eating breakfast we piled in the van and headed home. As we were driving out of the parking lot I thought to myself "Well that was scary, and in a odd kind of way, exciting." It was some thing that didn't happen often and you didn't want it to happen often but when it did it sure did set your heart racing. We hadn't been driving for more then ten minutes when we had to stop. There was a police car parked in the road and a line of cars piling up behind it. "Uh-oh. This doesn't look good". Slowly we got to the front of the line. "I'm sorry ma'am, but you can't go any further. This area is under mandatory evacuation" the policelady told Mom. "But my home's back there!" Mom said.
"I'm sorry ma'am but I can't let you go back there"
"What about Bunting rd? Is that area also evacuated?"
"I'm not sure ma'am"
So we turned around and Mom began the search for a back road that wasn't blocked off. We searched without success. Mom finally and reluctantly admitted defeat in the search and we headed to Blue Heron Farm to milk the goats. The next week was a week that I and every one in our family and in our area will never forget. Every day was marked by some event that made it different from the day before. Every day there was smoke in the general area of our house. We tried not to think too much about it. We were able to get an idea from the fire fighters as to where the fire was. At one point my sister Katie and some of the other girls went to the JP's office to get news. Katie:Where was the fire now? Them: Well where do y'all live? Katie: On such and such road. Them: Oh it's pretty bad there right now. Which house do y'all live in? Katie described it. Them: Oh that house. Yeah it's all right.
I can only imagine the look on Katie's face. We found out that one of the fire fighters lives on our road and had been keeping a eye on the animals that we had had to leave behind. He had told the county animal control about our animals and they had been watering them and feeding them. We were so relieved and grateful. On Saturday most of the family went to market. As Mom says "It was a little bit of normality in an abnormal week." The next day we went out to eat with a family friend and his wife. As we were sitting at Starbucks with them, sipping our "dessert", Mom came at a controlled run from the other side of the room. "We're going home! We can go home! The evacuation is lifted for our area! We can go home!" Boy were we excited! Over the next couple of days we worked on getting all our things back to the farm. But it was a while before the smell of smoke left the air. And it was a while before we could settle down and stop being anxious that the fire might flare up again. But we were home.
God is very merciful to us.

Eowyn's Green Dress part Two

So it is three days past my deadline for sewing the green Eowyn dress.While I haven't gotten the dress made in the finer fabric  that I wanted to make it in I did complete the "test dress". I used fabric that I had in my fabric bin and it isn't the prettiest thing out there but this was a test run, right? I am very pleased with the out come. It is the first "fantasy" dress that I've made for myself that I really like. I fully lined the dress even though the pattern did not call for it. The fashion fabric is a deep purple, the lining is a pale yellow. Think butter yellow. The yoke is also made with the yellow fabric. The front of the underskirt is a flowered print on a pink background and the back of it is a mish-mash of  different fabric ends that I had on hand. It looks like a patchwork quilt. But you don't se the back so it doesn't really matter. :) I will post my notes and pictures of it in a later post so you can see what it looks like. Now that I know how to make it I can't wait to sew it in the fashion fabric.

Dress Forms

Mom and Dad are getting me a dress form for my birthday. Yeah! Woohoo! I'm so excited! I can't wait! A new sewing toy to play with. :) I've really wanted one and now I'm getting it. I was wondering if any one who reads my blog has any suggestions on which one I should get or what to look for. Any suggestions would be appreciated. :)

Eowyn's Green Dress part One

One of the many dresses that I want to make for myself is Eowyn's green dress from "The Two Towers". I decided that I would make it for my birthday. That would give me enough time to work on it at a leisurely pace and also make allowance for any mistakes that I might make. So I started doing research on it and looking for fabric. I soon realized that this wasn't going to be the easiest thing to make. There aren't any patterns that are exactly like the dress so I'd have to do some tweaking to the patterns that I already have. Simplicity has a pattern that is clearly made to look like the dress, but it is still not exactly like the dress in the movie. So I will use it as a starting point. But first things first. I will do the same  dress with cheaper fabric and make any changes that need to be made. This way I won't be as likely to mess up the nicer fabric that I'm hoping to get later on. So while the rest of the family is at market today I will be tweaking, cutting, and writing notes. What a fun way to spend the day. :)

Sewing

 As I said in my previous post the shed is more or less finished. So for the last month I've been sewing. I made curtains for the shed windows, a dress and shirt for myself and a skirt and shirt for Liberty. Now I'm gathering all the stuff that I need to make Timmy's birthday present. I can hardly wait 'till I have every thing that  I need and can start sewing it! I tried making the same outfit for him last year but I didn't like the results.The outfit doesn't match up with the picture in  my head or the picture in the movie. So I put it in my box of "in a pinch it will do" costumes. I'd tell y'all what it'll look like but I know that some of my siblings read my blog. :) Here are pics of the dress and shirt that I made for myself.

Simplicity pattern #3673

This picture shows the bodice darts a little better then the photo does. I made view C.

Front of the dress.

The back of the dress.

 I made this dress exactly as the pattern said to. I don't usually make the clothes to look exactly like the picture on the pattern envelope. I almost always use the pattern as a starting point for a completely different look. That is what I did with this shirt.

Simplicity pattern #2249

What the shirt is supposed to look  like.

The sleeves that I wanted the shirt to have.

 The pattern is for a short sleeved, tunic style shirt that zips up the back. The neckline is supposed to have a notch in it and there's also supposed to be a ruffle that goes from the neckline down the front of the bodice to the bodice/skirt seam. I had read reviews that said this pattern tends to run a size larger than what you measure. So I decided to make this a pull over shirt with no zipper, no "neckline notch", ties, and 3/4 length sleeves. These are the results of my alterations.

The front of the finished shirt.

The back of the shirt.

It looks exactly like I wanted it to. :-) Thanks Sara for modeling them for me!

My Sewing Room

One of my jobs for this year was cleaning the shed behind the house. I can now say that
it is almost done. It is close enough to being done that I've been able to do some sewing. Woohoo! The only thing left is to finish putting down the peel-and-stick tile. I don't have any "before" pictures. Even if I did I wouldn't post them. That's how messy the shed was. :) But I do have "after" pictures. So this is what the shed looks like now that it's been cleaned and organized.

My sewing space.

I plan to turn the table into a ironing board.

                                  The loft. This is where I keep the bins full of material
                                       and the sewing machines that I don't often use.  

Carlson family storage space. I'm thinking about putting some sort of doors on these shelves and then painting them with blackboard paint. Keep it looking neat and tidy while having a good use for it.

 

 

 

 

It's raining kids!

There are four rubbermaid bins lined up along one side of our dinning room. In those bins there are nine baby goats of various sizes and ages. Last night there were seven bins with fourteen babies.
Fourteen!! Do you know how much milk 14 baby goats drink in one sitting? A LOT! This morning five of them went to their new homes. So now we are feeding the nine who are left plus the six that are outside.
From beginning to end it takes a hour. Some of them eat really fast. Some of them eat really s....l....o....w.

Fourteen!!

Llano's doeling & one of Yoyo's babies.

The little bitties! The black one's Bonnie's little doe and the belted one's Sophie's doe.

                                                            

This little doe loves to sleep on the bottom book shelf. This is the other one of Yoyo's babies.

Meet the giants! The white one is Mesquite's doeling and the belted one is Sophie's buckling. They are both BIG!

The one not looking at us is Nyasa's doeling. She has some pretty markings. The chocolate one is Serano's doe.

                                                                          

Meet The New Kids

So what has happened since I last blogged? Terra Cotta kidded. Triplets! We named them Thorin, Fili, and Kili. :) Thorin's the biggest followed by Kili. Fili was the smallest. Fili was never really healthy. We believe that her big brothers got most of the nourishment while in their mother. We did every thing that we  could for her. When we couldn't do any thing else for her, we made her as comfortable as possible. Thorin and Kili went to their new homes on Tuesday. Later that night Sydney kidded. Twins. A buck and a doe. They are both BIG! Emma and I named the girl Aravis and the boy Tiny Tim. He couldn't stand properly for the first couple days because his leg had been cramped in a bent position while in his mom. But now he's fine. His nickname is Tiny. :) Even though he is a big boy. Calvin and Luther are growing fast. Rebel Yell is trying to keep up with them. :) They are now in a outside pen during the day. Usually they come in for the night but that is about to change. Later today I'll be moving their pen to a more open,sunny patch in the side yard. Then on nights when it is cold I'll wrap sleeping bags around the sides to help keep them warm. Because I'm tired of moving them in and out every morning and evening. :)

Kili. He is around 2 1/2 lbs. He's SO cute!

Thorin trying to get Tumbleweed to play. No go. ;-)

Thorin. He was about 3 1/2 lbs.

Kili getting ready to jump.

This is my favorite! Libby with her goaties.

Did I mention that Thorin and his siblings were Mini goats? That's why they're so small. :)