Wednesday, January 14, 2015

The lone star quilt, chickens, a few goals

Here's my patchwork quilt, all quilted and finished.  It took me several days to machine quilt it;  luckily from this distance the wobbly quilting stitches are invisible!   But I don't care:  it's for Franklin's bed, and he likes it.  I like it too.  I would like to make two more quilts this year:  another scrap patchwork, and an applique quilt.  In fact, I hope to start the first this month, once I finish my current knitting project.

We have ten chickens altogether, and now they are fully feathered again, I can no longer tell them apart!  We put up a new fence of chicken wire to replace the old orange plastic one (a background feature in many photos here!), and they haven't discovered a way to break out of it just yet.  We still rotate them every week or so around the back, so they can weed, trim, and fertilize the whole garden evenly.  This time of year, when it's cold, the plants and weeds grow slowly, and the lawn is pretty scalped by now.  However, it's not so cold that nothing grows, so they still have a little bit of greenery when they come to a new section--not that it lasts long though!

Our Christmas was lovely, with just the three of us.  We played games, played with toys, and enjoyed a big dinner featuring a three bird roast.  The Christmas pudding was well received (Franklin particularly enjoyed it), and everyone overindulged.  It was such a nice time that I thought it was a shame it only comes once a year.  Maybe we should have a similar holiday for midsummer too, with decorations, gifts, and a feast.  Christmas in summer, like the Australians, with swim suits and barbecue.

So a new year with new potential.  Last year I pledged to get more sleep.  I have done so, though I will carry on that goal this year too.  I will also set myself the goal to grow all our own veg (I make this goal every year!  But have still never achieved it).  And to make two quilts.