Knitting

The needles have been staying fairly busy. I finished this guy. He's knit from handspun karakul yarn. Not the softest yarn but I love the way it felts.

My oldest' significant other asked if I would make him a hat. He really liked the one I had made for her. I was thrilled to do this since he never asks for anything. The yarn was a dream to work with.....Tosh Vintage. The hat turned out wonderfully. He loves it and wears it all the time.  :)

I loved working with the Tosh Vintage so much that I'm using it for another project. It's a hat for my hubby. I'm still working out the design/pattern so no photos at this time.

Quilting

New machine.....you know I've got to see what it can do.  :)  One of the first things I did was play with the Bernina Stitch Regulater (BSR). For me, this was the selling point for the 750 (among a few other things, namely other feet). I started off with quilting a couple of samples. Once I felt fairly comfortable I moved onto quilting the queen sized quilt for my daughter and her husband. I had presented them with the completed quilt top Christmas Day and told them it would be finished by the end of the year. They started their new year with a new quilt.  :)

Even added a few extra little touches....secret messages that they could look for while they snuggled together under the quilt.

I started Bertie's Winter on it ( pattern by Bonnie Sullivan of All Through The Night). Love , love, love doing machine applique on it. So far I've done three of the four parts.

In between parts of Bertie's Winter I've been machine quilting a small panel quilt. Practice makes perfect....

The panel is embellished with hotfix swarovski crystals. They are hard to photograph...unfortunately.

Still Here

It's just been a rather rough start to the new year for me. Losing two of my sheep so close together was quite the shock. Then I've been dealing with a few health issues. I guess life figured it was time to see if I would rise up to the challenges or allow myself to be buried. So far I've been meeting each new challenge head on and dealing with it the best I know how.

It hasn't been all doom and gloom around here. There have been those bright spots. Like discovering that two of my ewes will be lambing sometime in March. Or seeing how big last fall's lambs are getting. Carrie's twins are still on the small side but both are very healthy and active. Stu, the ram lamb twin, is very affectionate. He will be wethered within the week. He is staying here as a fiber pet. His twin, June Bug, has surprised me by growing a pair of small horns. Hope, Gracie's ewe lamb, is also sporting a nice pair of horns. I will keep an eye on both ewe lambs to make sure their horns are growing properly. It's about time I tried to get some photos of the lambs. It might be a bit challenging to get photos of Raven and her ram lamb. He has gotten quite big. He's nearly as large as his mama....and he's sporting a really nice set of horns already. I had to put both out in pasture as he was "bothering" the ewes.....and making a rather cute "fish face" in the process.

Christmas was nice. Everyone loved their gifts. It's always nice when things you have made by hand are loved and appreciated. This is the queen sized quilt I made for my youngest and her husband. They LOVE it.  :) I quilted words in it.....love, laughter, joy.....to hopefully remind them of the brighter side of life when things get a bit challenging. They had fun looking for the words.  :)

This little guy I made for my youngest. She loves owls. I used all handspun for it. The photo isn't the best but it's the only one I got of him. He never left her hands once he was unwrapped.  :)

As for myself....well I got spoiled after the holidays. My loving hubby surprised me with a new sewing machine. And it was a HUGE surprise! In more ways than one....

We were in one of my favorite fabric/yarn shops. I was looking for needles for a project. Anyway, I was standing there admiring their new display wall of Berninas when my loving hubby says,"Pick one out." My first reaction was "What?!? Are you kidding??" He said,"No. Pick one out. Get what you want." Oh my gosh!!! We were there for quite some time. It was almost overwhelming. There were so many to pick from. I finally decided on the Bernina 750 Quilters Edition. It has all the features I was looking for plus some. 

It is considerably larger than my old Bernina...as you can see from the photos. It came with a nice accessory case, which I have just about filled up already.....a nice selection of feet, and a lovely soft case. It's a sheer dream to sew on. It's so quiet and has a very lovely stitch. I LOVE sewing on it! As for my old Bernina....it has been lovingly packed away. I can't imagine parting with it. It was my workhorse for almost 15 years. Never had a single problem with it. I hope to enjoy my new Bernina for just as long, if not longer.  :)

Velkrys Sophie

April 2, 2004 - January 18, 2015

Cedar Haven Maxmilian

                                     March 29, 2007 - January 9, 2015

Year of the Sheep

.....is starting off with lots of snow.  :)  It's also starting off with me convalescing from a bad ankle/foot sprain which I acquired New Year's Eve by slipping on some icy snow.

2014 was a good year. It had its ups and downs but that's life. Overall, it was good. My loving hubby and I celebrated another year together, which is always a good thing. Our kids are more settled. It's nice knowing that we can finally breathe and not have to worry about them so much. 

2014 saw the addition of a new Great Dane/Bloodhound puppy (Moose), as well as a new Shetland ram (Max). It also saw the birth of fall lambs. The first lambs that have been born here in several years....and hopefully not the last. I discovered that I really enjoy having lambs around.

2014 also saw the closing of my etsy shop. After seven years of stress and struggle to make it successful I finally said "enough". While there were sales and repeat customers (thank you!) it really never got going. It was more stress than fun. While I wanted a successful online shop it just wasn't worth it.  Not to me. The day I closed my etsy shop I felt like a huge weight was lifted from my shoulders. It felt wonderful!

The new year has started and I find myself happily content with life. No resolutions. No changing this or doing that. I just want to enjoy each day as it comes. I want to continue being happily content with life. It's good for the soul.  :)