So, what's in your sewing room?

Most people sew in their sewing rooms. I don't just yet. Soon, I hope, but not yet. I do have my fabric in there, some projects in the works, ironing board, scissors, thread, etc., etc., but not a place to sew yet. Part of the reason is that we (meaning Paul or Ned or both) need to refinish the floor. Part of the reason is that I don't have any type of sewing cabinet or table. Part of the reason is that there is a pig in there.

What? A pig in the sewing room? Yup.

Now, it may be important to know that although I live on a farm and technically own hundreds of animals, I don't really like them. Well, I like dogs. I tried to like cats. Cows are not on my list of desirable company. Nor are sheep or pigs. And Evan once had a rooster, Mr. Rooster, who was so mean, I actually bore a deep rooted hate for the nasty little creature. I try to like them all, but as it turns out, I only like the idea of them. . . and of course their products. I am grateful for the superior quality of food raised on our farm and our nephew's. We get prime beef, lamb, chicken and pork, not to mention eggs with yolks so yellow they compete with the sun. Oh, and I am so looking forward to the wool from Joel's sheep this year. It's not a bad way to live, believe me, but as for animal friends, I'll stick to dogs, thank you.

Now that you understand that, you'll also understand what a leap it was for me to agree to bring a pig in the house today. The poor little guy is all alone in the world and even I, non-animal lover, can't bear to think of deserting him. His mom had just two piglets and she has no milk. This little guy lost his brother and so he's all alone and cannot get anything to eat. I told Paul he could bring him in and put his tub under the kitchen table (we briefly discussed a bassinette, but the absurdity of that settled in before the word was even completed). Naturally, the first thing I did was call my sister to have her listen to pig noises in my kitchen. Little pigs are very noisy. They actually sound more like ducks quacking than the classic oinking you might imagine.

At any rate, this poor thing was hungry and probably lonely and letting the whole world know about it. Paul mixed up some calf supplement for him while I went to the store for a baby bottle and some nipples. When I came home I found them both in the someday-sewing room. He looked a little happier then. Do you see his little piggy smile? (Sorry, no picture of Paul.) He probably won't be with us long; Evan is trying to find a sow for him to adopt. In the meantime, I'm still sewing at the dining room table.

At last

At long last...it's finished ...

That's right. Take a moment to absorb the fact that in just eleven short years, a quilt can be made.
Then take it and run. These things don't come along every day you know ...

Easter Eggs

When the kids were little we dyed lots of Easter Eggs, not as many as my brothers and sisters and I made as kids, but lots of eggs considering nobody liked to eat them. We also did Ukrainian Easter Eggs. At one point we had a very large basket of eggs painstakingly decorated with layers of wax and dyes. They really were lovely. Not for long though. We also had this peculiar cat in the house at that time. She knocked the basket over and the eggs were finished. The enthusiasm we shared while going through the laborious process of dying those eggs simply never returned with the same vigor. Now, I don't dye eggs at all. Nobody likes to eat them, so I don't bother.

Today, while looking forward to almost all of us being together for Easter this year, I decided to make a small batch of Easter cookies. My mind saw dainty pastel creations iced with zigzags, swirls and dots and other fanciful touches.

Unfortunately, cut out cookies are cut out cookies. Whether Christmas or Easter or anytime in between, I'm all over the idea of beautifully decorated cookies until reality steps in. The discovery of only yellow or red food coloring in the cupboard was the first turn of the dimmer switch on this bright idea. Impatience sealed the deal. Still, I love the Easter egg cookies the most; I hope my family does too.Happy Easter!

Honey hexagons

In the last month, I did some major piecing projects, including a spontaneous queen size quilt, and, frankly, rather overdid. Time to switch gears a bit.
Monday brought in the new work week with a trip to a conference in Wisconsin Dells. Twice a year, I head for these things and always pack a little handwork for the hotel. Sometimes it stays in my bag untouched while I fulfill my obligation to network. This time, I couldn't wait to get back to my room after dinner to try something I'd never done before: English Paper Piecing.
The idea is to baste fabric around precut paper shapes for very precise piecing. The basted shapes are then hand sewn together for perfect results. While I've known how to do this for many years, it was never something that called out to me ... until now, that is.
And now -- you guessed it -- this is so much fun! These are not tiny pieces; nor are they large, as the dime in the picture tells you. Just cute little hexagons in scraps of honey colored fabrics. What are they for, you ask? Not a clue. Not yet anyway. But someday soon they'll be the start of something really good.

Sweet Saturday

Book club is such a good way to start a weekend. Little Bee by Chris Cleave was our choice this month, and an excellent choice it was. In fact, I read it about a year ago and found it just as compelling this time. Certain proof of a good book, in my estimation.

Our 8:30 breakfast meeting was followed with a couple of hours at the office and a haircut. Then home again to make the beer bread I've been planning all week. Whole wheat Guinness beer bread, to be precise. That entire loaf disappeared in the making of some absolutely spectacular caramelized onion grilled cheese sandwiches from one of my favorite food blogs, Closet Cooking.

While the bread was rising, I tried something else new: Joy the Baker's Maple Bacon Kettle Corn. You read that correctly. Maple Bacon Kettle Corn. This little bit of naughtiness was a recent discovery that just screamed a for trial run during the sapping season. Although I was deathly afraid of burning it, the batch came out pretty well and was an appreciated treat for the sap collectors.
You can bet this won't be making a regular appearance around here. There' s just something inherently frightening about a popcorn recipe that starts with 1/4 cup bacon fat, isn't there? In the spirit of the season, however, it was certainly worth the effort.

This maple season has been an odd one. The taps went in, the sap ran for a couple of days then came to a dead halt with the cold weather. Now the trees are running again, but if the weather warms as we all hope it does, the season (and our time to spend on it) will be very short. Nonetheless, it is the sweetest time of year. If you need further proof of that, take a jump over to Alyssa's blog for a million maple recipes. Well, maybe not a million, but certainly a whole bunch!