Shipshewana

Hey there, I can't believe it has been a week since I last posted.  

Life has been a little bit more hectic then normal and 

I really can't see this letting up for all of this month.  

Our eldest daughter asked us to attend a bird swap with her and 

her friend near Shipshewana last weekend.  

We have been trying to get to Shipshe for quite a few months and 

it looked like this was the prime opportunity to do so.  

We decided to go on Friday and do our "usual" things then meet up for dinner with our daughter

 and her friend and her mom.  

First up is always Jo Jo's Pretzels. 

 I LOVE their pretzels. 

 I was even able to look them up for their point value too.  

That helped me to know that I should only eat half of one!

"Horse Drawn Vehicles Only"  Don't see that sign every day!

They were having their May Fest and the fried pie people were there.  

They were making them right there.  How could I just walk away without sampling one?

  I could not do it!!  Mmmmm, Pie!

Worth every point!

I will share the rest of our time there in another post as the quilt portion is pretty extensive! 

 We had to get up at 4:30am (on a Saturday!! You know we love her if we were willing to do that!)  Drive for another 20 minutes to the "swap".  

This way, she assured us, we would get a place to park that was not in the back 40. 

 It was still dark actually, when we arrived.  

This was after walking down 2 rows and I thought to get a photo.  

We actually needed a flashlight to see what they were putting out!

I think the predominant chicken was the Isa Brown.  There were LOTS of those there.

Many different kinds of chickens.  

There were also, pea fowl, Guinea fowl, turkeys, ducks, goats, cows, puppies and 

kitties there as well as some fox kits and raccoons.

 There seemed to be a little bit of everything.

We were on the hunt for a few peafowl.  

This little purple female pea came home with us.  

No name as of yet but she is very sweet and unafraid of people.  

As I understand it, my daughter will be picking up a purple male at the next swap 

(arrangements have been made!)

She seemed to fit in well with the other birds too. 

 We stopped in to see how everyone was doing on Saturday night.

Octavian the second likes to perch on the pen door!

All in all a successful swap and trip to Shipshewana all the way around.  

Quilty version coming soon.

~XOP~

Peacocks and Old Photos

Does anyone else think this weekend just zipped by?  

I did some sewing but will share that later, when I make the tutorial.  

We went out to the farm on Sunday. 

All the "stuff" we dumped in my daughter's basement now has to be dealt with, sigh. 

 I started going through photos.  

Is it just me or does everyone have a hard time throwing out old photos? 

 I know I can't keep it all 

but if there are people in the photo it is very difficult for me to ditch the photo.  

I did, but it was hard.

I ran across a few gems though and thought I would share these with you all.  Here goes:

One of my all time favorite photos of my oldest daughter when she was about 16 months old. 

 I made that kitty for her.

This one is from right after we had our son.  

My middle daughter was "feeding" her baby (named by her, EXY and Z)

 "just like you mom".

Here I am with my oldest in a raft up at Hardy Dam.  

Wow, what kind of mom takes photos instead of watching out for the safety of her kids?

This mom!  

(no children were harmed in the taking of this photo though)

Ahhh, then there were some oldies but goodies from when I was super young and look how thin!!  SIGH, and we all thought we were fat back then!!  

I was a bridesmaid in a friend's wedding.  I was maybe 22ish.

And this body will never see that body again!  Here is me and my hubby.  

Man we look young here!!!

Lastly we got to see my daughter's beautiful boy, Blu. 

 We hatched him from an egg at my house and he lived in the kitchen of my house for the first few months of his life (with his sister).  

He hurt his ankle and had to have surgery and still only really uses the one leg. 

 It does not seem to deter him. 

 Those hormones that cause mating are STRONG with this one!!! 

 He was showing off his gorgeousness to any female that happened by. 

 The shake them and it makes a buzzing sound.  

I was not able to get a video but I plan on it.  

If you look closely, you can see him standing on his one good leg.

Here he is with one of the females.  

I am not sure which one this is though.  

I don't have all the girls names down just yet!

Blu is using his left toe just to keep his balance.

He hops around the pen which is kind of funny to watch.

Hope you enjoyed the old photos.  

I just took pictures of the pictures so the resolution isn't great, but you get the idea.

How was your weekend?

~XOP~

Finish It Up Friday

I have a finish today.  

I am part of the Bitchesgetstitches swap.  

I showed you the trivet I made for that swap already.  

I decided to make a mini quilt for my partner.  

She didn't have much put in her Instagram feed for ideas so 

I just decided to make something I would love to receive.  

What else do you do right?  I finished the binding last night (after all the drama).  

So here is the mini quilt for my partner.  

I am really thrilled with how it turned out.  I did my own quilting.  

The geese were paper pieced from a pattern my friend Kelly has on Craftsy.  

You can see the stitchery better in this photo.  

I used metallic thread which makes the stitches look a little choppier but he is so sparkly!

This is the top all finished before I quilted it.

I am linking up to Crazy Mom Quilts Finish It Up Friday post too.

What do you think of this?  Would you be happy to receive it as a mini quilt for your wall?  

~XOP~

Weekend Update and Wednesday WIP

I actually had quite a productive weekend!  

I managed to add two rows to the stitch and flip charity quilt.  

That top is now ready for making into a quilt and donated.  I just have to figure out how to quilt it.  

I did some cooking.  Pigs in a blanket.

Individual chicken pot pies

I finished embroidering my peacock for my swap partner

Working with sparkly thread is more difficult!

Then I finished the top too.  

I got the side geese made but one was incorrect.  

I must have printed the paper piecing incorrectly.  

I ended up having to remake one set of the geese to put the whole top together. 

I tried to trim it down but that didn't work.  

It was kind of close on the side but I just didn't have the heart to discard it.

So I used it on the back!  

One of the points is cut off due to my earlier trimming, but it's on the back.

I figured my partner would not care and I just couldn't bring myself to throw it away!

Did laundry, and grocery shopping, went to Cabela's with hubby and then a quilt shop.  

All in all it was a great weekend, but I wish I had one more day at home.

Linking up to Lee's WIP Wednesday too.

How did you spend your weekend?

~XOP~

Just Had To Share

I just had to share this video of my daughter's boyfriend and her indoor peacock.. 

 For some reason Blogger is not letting me upload the video so here is the link to watch it.

I also made a peacock Onsie for her to give as part of her shower gift today. 

 As I said before I took line drawings and made appliques from them.

 I will show them as I finish stitching around them probably next week if you want to see them. 

 Here is the peacock.

I decided to free motion around this one instead of blanket stitch. 

 It was much quicker and I really love how it came out too. 

 Although my stitching is not amazing and knit is difficult to stitch on with no stabalizer!

My daughter loved it.  

I hope the mother-to-be likes it as much as I do!!

I will take pictures at the shower and post them soon.

Moving my dad tomorrow. 

 Can;t wait to have him closer!!

~XOP~

Some Purchases

I thought I would share with you a few cute things I found while out and about recently.

 First off were these adorable note cards. 

 Just one dollar at Michaels!

 Seems like I am always looking for note cards to send out with swap stuff, aren't you? 

Then I went to JAF to get the blue and yellow and the dark green for the tumbler quilts when I happened to go past the novelty fabric and this bolt just jumped into my cart. 

Well 3 yards of it anyway. 

 Since DD1 raises peacocks I am always on the look out for cute peacock fabrics.  

She loves purple too so this one was perfect.  

Although I am looking for the Hoffman peacocks 

 if anyone knows anyone that has them for a decent price.  

As an added extra bonus DD1 told me she loves this print!

I need to talk with Cori but

 we will probably be drawing names for prizes soon for the sliced apples QAL. 

I will talk with her tonight to decide a date and let you know but please

 be sure to post your photos in the Flickr group.  

We will be drawing from all the names of people that have posted photos of their progress 

(you need to have at least cut the quilt out). 

I have been sewing so much lately the cats are feeling neglected.  

Here is Jack, sleeping on my sewing chair just so he can be near me when I am cutting!  

Isn't he cute?  

Almost camouflaged on that chair isn't he?

Getting ready to leave work and go home.  

Quilting tonight with the "ladies", then over to Cori's to lay out a quilt top.  

Never a dull moment! 

 Have a wonderful day!!

~XOP~

PS:  If you haven't checked out Cori's online fabric shop in awhile take a look! 
She has Flea Market Fancy, and Lush (running stitch) listed with more coming in every day!! 
These are 2 of my favorites!!!

PPS:  No one answered me about another QAL. 
Christmas in July anyone? 
It's a cute quilt...just sayin'

Farm Livin Is The Life For Me

Yesterday morning DD1 needed to go out to our friend, Liz's, farm to check on her animals.
 I went with her so I could get some pictures of some of the animals there.
 I will post some here but there are a TON more on my Flickr.

 We hand raised 2 pea fowl from eggs, Osirus (female) and Blu (male). 
The other male is Octavian and the 2 females are Aurora and Lilley.

Here is DD1 with her bestie goat friend!

This is the newly built goat pen

When we go out and the donkey's saw us the new baby, Electra followed me around like a puppy.
 It was so cute.
Here she is with her mom, Pearl.



 The peafowl have their own enclosure.
 When the roosters are naughty Liz throws them into the peafowl pen.
 That pen is now dubbed "Rooster Jail".

This is Octavian, our opal Peacock. Isn't he beautiful?

  

 Here are Aurora and Lilley.

 Aurora is in the foreground.

  

 This is DD1's "baby", Osirus. 

 She is very friendly with my daughter and will come and take food from me.

 She is also very nosey! 

 Everything seems to be her business! 

 

 Here is Osirus taking cat food from me. She LOVES cat food. 

 

I did work on some quilty things and have done some new swaps so will show more of that later.

 I hope everyone is having a great weekend.

 ~XOP~ 

Some Recent Purchases

I haven't had much time at night to blog and catch you up on some of my goings on so
I thought I would take a minute on my lunch to share some recent purchases. 
When we were driving up to GR I asked DH to stop in Mason so I could go to Kean's. 
They are a candy/general store with fabric!! 
They usually have things I can't find at the shops near my house. 
More modern fabrics. 
They didn't disappoint. 
They had gotten in some FMF so I bought a little, no really, just a little.
 Seeeeeeeee...

Oh and the orange? 

 AMH Innocent Crush. 

 I love orange lately! 

Believe it or not, there is another shop right around the corner, although it is an actual quilt shop.

 It is called Yards of Fabric. 

 I couldn't find a web address for it but it carries a lot of more traditional fabric.

 Just look at this beauty I found for a quilt for my daughter, the peacock breeder!

There were companion fabrics that I think I will stop back and check out tomorrow when I drive back to GR to see my dad.

 I was going to make the

 "My Tweets" quilt by Erin Russek.

 I kept hemming and hawing about how I wanted to do that and I think I will use these colors and maybe some purples. 

 That quilt is on my list but kind of far down the list, LOL.

I did finish binding a quilt last night but need to get photos. 

 I will be spending the day at my dad's tomorrow cleaning and running him around.

 I hope it's a nice day tomorrow!

 Have a wonderful day!

~XOP~