Dragon Quilt Update

Still not much going on around here.

Same old, same old… eat/sleep/work/e-learn/repeat

We’re stuck in that pattern and that’s okay.

Nothing much except a dragon quilt update.

I’ve finished quilting along the bottom border and have rolled the quilt.

I love my new-to-me quilting frame.

It was difficult to roll the old one by myself.

Not the new one!

This stencil fits perfectly in the top and bottom border spaces.

Upon rolling the quilt I began the task of figuring out how to make the Celtic stencil work in the longer border sections along the sides of the quilt.

I didn’t want it too difficult because I have to repeat it on the other side spaces as well.

I simply added points to the top and bottom.
It was super simple and I think it blends well with the pattern.

I even made a little template for the added part.

After collaborating with Nolan regarding the quilting around the dragon in the middle,
we’ve decided to go with free-flowing “wind” lines.

I’m a little nervous about the free-flowing part. I like patterns and ruler work.

I’ve done some research on Pinterest and have some ideas to work with.

I'm outlining the dragon and Nolan’s name. Then I'll have the wind lines go through them.

I’ll keep y’all posted on my progress!

I usually draw the lines on a quilt before it’s sandwiched and basted.

I didn’t do this because I didn’t need to baste it before loading it.

Plus I naively thought that I’d just draw the lines as I go… and I didn’t have my stencil yet.

While it is possible to draw the lines as I go, it’s much easier to do on a flat surface!

Oh well, lesson learned.

Crop Watch

So this year I decided to do something I’ve wanted to do for quite some time.

I’m planning on taking weekly progress photos of the field behind our house.

According to our random farm photos from last year, corn was planted.

I guess we’ll see if it’s beans this year.

I going to try to take a photo from the same spot every week until harvest.

I’m adding the label “Crop Watch 2020” to the side bar.

Should be fun…as long as I don’t forget! 

I took the first photos the day it was planted, April 21^st.

 One full field.

One close up.

Wonder how many times the chickens will be in the photos?

They seem to wander out there a lot!

I have photos from the first week but nothing has changed.

Blooming

Last week we kicked the rest of our ducklings outside.

We have them in the same pen as the 6 guineas and the 2 chickens.

Depending on the weather, we sometimes let them out to wander the yard.

If it rains we keep all of our ducks locked in their runs.

They tend to make giant messes anyplace that has water...like by the downspouts.

Last fall we planted lots of tulip bulbs.

I think it was somewhere around 36 bulbs.

I love tulips as they remind me of my grandma.

We had to put up a short fence to keep the ducks from destroying my plants.

We fenced around the north flower bed and out by the road.

They don’t eat the plants but rip on the leaves and stomp the plant.

Quite destructive little critters!

I think most of them will recover and bloom.

The ones out by the road are just beautiful.

See the stomped plants in the front row?

Those rotten little varmints!

They're lucky they lay eggs Connor can eat!

Our fruit trees are blooming too!

The red bud tree is getting close!

I think it's finally safe to say that spring has finally sprung!