Saturday, August 29, 2009

Sunflowers

I love sunflowers! Love the colors they come in....the various shapes and colors. While they may not be the prettiest flower (from ground up) they are very elegant and make me happy. :.) I thought I would share a few pictures of the ones that made it through the very hot summer we have had and are now starting to bloom.

Enjoy!!








Sunday, August 23, 2009

Organized Chaos


And that is what it's been like around here the last couple of weeks. Between settling the boys in and helping the youngest get packed and ready for her move to college......it's just been plain chaotic. Well, the youngest has moved and is now settled into the dorms. She loves the campus and the town surrounding the campus. Her and her roommate get along well. .....and her "intended" lives on the floor above her. So all is well with her world. Oh, and class starts tomorrow....which she can't wait for. :.)

As for me.....well, I must confess that it is harder for me to adjust to an empty house than I thought it would be. I actually felt lost....and very, very sad. The lost feeling is slowly starting to go away. Still feel sad at times, but I'm not crying anymore.....and that's a good thing. :.) I started a new quilt project. The top is almost done. Just needs a bit more embroidery and then it will be ready for sandwiching and quilting. I've also done a lot of spinning. I just set the twist on the last of the plyed yarn today. That will make three completed skeins of yarn in the last two weeks. Quite a bit for me. :.) I've also been playing around with dyeing my batts. I've been using Border Leister for that. My experimentation hasn't quite turned out the way I was expecting....but it's still rather pretty....or at least I think so anyway. :.) It's encouraging enough that I will keep on trying until I get what I'm after. It's absolutely amazing how different the two skeins turned out even though I used the same dye colors. Didn't even mix new ones for the second skein. I had plenty left from the first.
I did finish the graduation quilt....which was aptly named "Organized Chaos". It looked absolutely beautiful on her dorm bed. Fit perfectly. :.) Her side of the room is done in bright colors....pink, turquoise, purple, yellow. Real sunny. :.) This was definitely the project quilt. There are something like 72 pieced blocks in all......and 26 embroidered blocks. The whole thing is set on point (which always gives me fits). The machine quilting is rather simple. Mostly straight line quilting using a serpentine stitch and variegated thread. The embroideries are outlined with meander quilting in the background. Pictured are a couple of the embroideries found on the quilt.
Now I will end this the same way it started.....with a picture of smiling Casa. He has a perpetual smile on his face. You can't help but smile and feel happy inside every time you see him. :.)


Sunday, August 2, 2009

My new boys :.)

Here they are!!! My new boys. :.) After a very long, but very pleasant, drive they are finally here. So meet.....Whitikin (the true black)......Casadeora (the red in the center)......and Jack-O-Lantern (the rose gray).

All 3 were gifted to me by a very generous breeder in Oregon. The drive down was lovely! We visited Sisters, Oregon....went through the Willamette National Forest (very, very pretty!!)......saw an amazing historical bridge.....and really enjoyed the lovely scenery. Had a wonderful visit with the breeder the boys came from. All of the other alpacas were very friendly.....and very, very pretty. At one point I was surrounded by babies ranging in age from 2 weeks up to a year. It was amazing!! While I was playing with babies, my hubby was getting to know the boys.

We spent the night in Eugene and loaded everyone up the next morning. They loaded very easily....and very quickly.....in Whitikin's case. He literally ran into the trailer and squeezed himself between Casa and Jack. He didn't want to be left behind. :.) The trip back up was just as nice as the one going down. We took a different way home and saw so many beautiful things. Every time we would stop heads would pop up. It got to be quite comical. "Are we there yet??" :.) We arrived home late yesterday afternoon. Unloading went very quickly. The boys were more than ready to see their new home and meet the flock.


Here is Whitikin saying hello to Q-Tip. Q-Tip is always one of the first to greet any newcomers. He is almost as curious as Whitkin is.

I was a little nervous about the boys meeting the llamas....especially Cavi. He's the alpha male of the flock and everyone knows it. Things went much better than I expected. :.) Below is a picture of Whitkin (told you he was curious) saying hello to Cavi. This was one of my favorite moments from yesterday.

Of course the thing I wasn't expecting was the bit of tension between Levi and the new boys. Levi (my white llama) is very, very friendly.....and very curious. So when there was a bit of tension between him and the new boys I was stumped. Couldn't figure it out until I remembered that the breeder had a light colored herdsire that was aggressive with the boys. Then it all made sense. So I watched and waited. While there was still a bit of ears laid back (on Jack's part) things went pretty well. Levi showed no signs of aggression at all. At one point, Cavi felt Jack was being too aggressive (with the growling and ears laid back) with Levi and actually stepped between the two. After that, things calmed down. It will take a bit of time, but I think everyone will become great friends. :.) And I think Cavi will retain his status as Alpha male of the group. After all, he does tower over everyone.....which makes him very happy. :.) As for me....well, I'm on cloud nine with happiness. My flock finally seems complete and I have some wonderful fiber to play with. What more could I ask for. :.)