spring cleaning.....

in the kitchen. well, really only 1/2 of the kitchen. i wanted to do the whole thing, but i try to keep in the back of my head that i have fibro, and if i want to get out of bed tomorrow, i'd better not push it.

so, today, the work was centered on the built in that paul made for me. it holds our wine, my canning, and all of my "witchy" herbs, as the kids like to call them.

it's obviously time to make the summer wines!! i like the gewurztraminers, reislings, and the liebermilch wines. they're light and fruity and taste great whilst floating around in the pool when it's 110 degress.... and it helps that it only takes about 6 weeks to make 24 bottles at 14% alcohol!!

i emptied out some old applesauce that was too old to use, and got all the canning jars ready to go....

soon it will be time to make strawberry jam. then this summer, it will be tomatoes from the garden. the last two years have sucked for tomatoes here, and i'm hoping this year we'll have a bumper crop. nothing beats opening a jar of summer tomatoes in the middle of winter.....

then this fall, more applesauce. there's an orchard about 45 minutes from us, and we go down there and pick a couple of bushels every fall and turn them into sauce. and decadent apple pies....

that's all i can anymore, jam, tomatoes, and applesauce - i've discovered those are the most practical things as they're affordable, and we actually consume them.





i went ahead and listed seamus' yarn in the shop: here's his pic:

he's a good bunny. he's a rescue, and he's gotten pretty comfortable here with us.

and that makes me happy.




oh, this is the yarn from the batts i showed you yesterday!

it's almost half spun up, and i'm really liking the way it's turning out. now i just need to find a really simple, but really nice looking lace shawl pattern. if any of you know of one, feel free to pass the info on!

the brilliant "miss harley"

today was harley's first day of levels obedience.

think of it as elementary school. she went through puppy kindergarten with no problem, and levels is like 1st, 2nd and 3rd grade. So we go today, and there is only one other puppy there. (i love doing this kind of thing on weekdays..)


so, after one session, she gets kicked out of the class......

haha! she was promoted to level 2!! and i looked at the sheet for level 2, and it's just an expansion of what she already knows, so it shouldn't take us long to complete that either. then, one more level, and we can start working on agility!! she's already running through the tunnel we have here at home, and jumping the little pvc jumps i made her, so we're well on our way. she loves it so much, and that's whats really fun about it.



these are some batts i made today, they're 50%
baby alpaca and 50% tussah silk.
I'm going to spin them up and use them to
make a shawl. i figure that it's about time i
really tackled some lace knitting. i just haven't felt like i'm ready to do that yet, and i have no idea why. so i'm going to prove to myself that i can do it. i hope i actually have the patience to complete the project......

i want to imagine it being soft and wonderful, and beautiful. i'm going to spin up all the fiber, then dye it in a dark red. the silk should take the majority of the color, and it should give the yarn a very interesting look, that hopefully will make the shawl killer.....

we'll see. i'm going to start spinning it up tonite.



I wanted to show you this too, it's a floorcloth that i made a few months ago. the mariner's compass is my favorite quilt block. it's also the only tattoo that i have.....
i love it in the dark colors... i tried to make one in the "shabby chic" color way, but it ended up looking like the easter bunny took a sh*t on it! oh well, that's easy enough to paint over in different colors.....

harley just started barking, and i looked outside, and the sun is shining, but we're getting dime size hail! gotta love springtime in oklahoma....

i've got some of seamus' angora handspun that i need to list in the etsy shop tomorrow, but i just haven't gotten around to taking the pictures.... everytime i look at it, i think i want to keep it. but i just plucked another 2 ounces off of him, so i guess i shouldn't be stingy with it.

:)