New Project

 While the kids were here, they went into town one morning to look at a property. My daughter-in-law saw a quilt shop and asked to stop. She's not a quilter, but she does crochet.

The previous day, we had been talking about projects we both wanted to make. 

We live 34 miles from a little town that is the home of Smokey the Bear and Riley Blake recently released a Smokey the Bear collection. I thought it would be fun to make a quilt and raffle it off during the Smokey the Bear Days as a fundraiser for the volunteer fire department. 

My thoughtful dil pulled out 2 bolts of fabric from the backseat when they returned.

10 yards on each bolt! 😂

She had asked me how much fabric it takes to make a bed quilt and I said it depends, maybe 9 or 10 yards and then about the same for the back, but she hasn't seen my fabric stash. LOL. But how sweet of her. 

Smokey the Bear Days are the first few days in May so I'm under the gun. Initially, I had thought I'd make the quilt for next year, but now that I have been gifted this fun fabric, I figured I had better get to stitching. There's enough fabric for future quilts. 😉

I pulled coordinates from my stash

But since I'm in a little bit of a time crunch, I need something simple. I settled on this

The oranges in my stash were too loud, but I thought this one was a good fit. I had pulled it for another project. Orange is not a go-to color for me, but it seems to be finding it's way into more projects and this one seems to work well here without being too wild...at least that's what I'm hoping.

I still like my initial fabric pull so those will factor into the next quilt. So, in between helping DH build fence, I'm making time to stitch.

Peep! Peep!

 Every 3 years I refresh my chicken flock, keeping the old hens and adding new ones. I've got 6 old ones and hoped to add 12 babies. They are in high demand, hard to come by and much more expensive this year. The Farm Store was selling 2500 on Friday and they were expecting to be sold out that day. We weren't sure if we'd go in so DH had picked up 6 chicks at Tractor Supply on Thursday when he went in to get some metal, but we ended up pulling poor E out of bed just after 5 and drove the 56 miles to town, thinking we'd have to wait in line. Surprisingly, there wasn't one. 

 It was fun to introduce her to the new babies

She's an eager egg collector 

At the Farm Store, you get 6 chicks if you buy a 50# bag of start and grow so I bought a dozen. 18 is more than we need, but I share eggs with my in-laws and my long arm quilter, and DH thinks there may be some attrition here in the mountains. These little fuzzballs are too cute.

This year we added 2 black Sex-links, 1 California White, 3 Chocolate Orpingtons, 3 Easter Eggers, 3 Production Reds, 3 Buff Orpingtons, and 3 Barred Rocks. 

An empty water trough makes a great brooder and they stay warm with a heat lamp in the shop

They won't begin to earn their keep for about 18-20 weeks, but it's fun to watch them grow and peek in on their antics. Their little feathers are already beginning to emerge.

We probably should have built a bigger coop. 😉 

In the Middle of Fun!

 Spending the week with this little Sprite!

Which means adventure is the just around the corner! Wishing ya'll a Happy St. Patrick's Day!

When she first saw the headband, she was so excited and called it her 'broccoli' hat. 😂

Out & About

 Ya'll were sweet about yesterday. With raging winds and no electricity, you wisely suggested  I linger over a cup of coffee (tea for me) or enjoy some hand quilting. That sounds so good in theory, but I guess we're not very good at dialing it down. Almost as soon as I published that post, DH suggested we drive to a town 2 hours away to pick up a welder and we'd make a few stops to inquire about baby chicks.  They are in high demand this year. So we tended to chores and headed out.

We loaded up a small anvil that the previous owner had left. He had expressed interest in keeping it and we'd be close to their new place.

DH has a big one at the barn for when he shoes horses and one in the shop

One stop for a new little stick welder for the shop

One stop for some extra quikrete for the new flagpole

3 chick stops, but we came home empty handed. However we've got a date to pick some up in a few weeks.

1 stop to pick up a little side table so that I could stop using a still packed Uhaul box to set a glass or mug and my hand binding supplies.

I didn't want anything big or bulky and this little metal table with a wood top is perfect. 

Then we spent a couple of hours visiting with the kind couple from whom we bought this place  before heading back. They have become friends and we're so glad we're staying in touch.

We hadn't eaten all day and it was 4:30 when we stopped at a favorite little spot on the way home.

Home at 6, in time to chore. And we have electricity. Yay!

I'm in the kitchen today, cooking...we have family coming for the week!