My Dream Room

Since there has been a lull in lambing I've been busy setting up my new sewing room. Our youngest moved to CA Wednesday to join her husband who is out there in the military. Since then I have been busy repainting her room and setting it up as my sewing/spinning room. I still have much to do, but it's been a good project to keep me busy. I am going to add a design wall to the right of the sewing machine.  So far all the furniture in here has been salvaged, gifted, or purchased at thrift stores. I figured up I have less than 100$ into all of it. YAY! It's my dream room.

I made a collage from an old 1933 sewing magazine that I found at an antique store and framed it in an old poster frame with a couple of sheets of pattern paper under it.

I added a dozen quart and pint size jars to the shelf that was above our daughter's black board area for storing small things. 

Of course I had to have a little Lambie goodness in there some where.

                              I am repurposing Jana's old gum ball machine for small yarn balls.

                                   You will remember the old shelf I salvaged from one of the barns. 

And this is a piece from an old ladder I found in one of the barns. I hung my farm quilt on it.

Soaking Up Some Rays

The quads in the sun soaking it up.  The little gal on the right is named Beulah.  She is definitely a keeper.  We have had two sets of twins, one set of triplets, and one set of quads so far. And just think, we are just getting started.

Hello Good Lookin'

My little Rosie got her Spring haircut today.  Her fleece was the worst I have ever had and took me for ever to get off her.  She had been sick last Fall and had break in it. It was also matted, so into the dryer ball bag it will go.  She is such a sweetheart though.  She held my hat for me while I trimmed up her tummy.

Alfralfra

Alfralfra, my fravorite.  Tanks Mom.

Fashion Diva Esther

I've recently taken up weaving and  purchased a 32" rigid heddle loom and have enjoyed it so much. I was shooting for a rustic/folky look for this scarf and do really like the way it turned out.  I think Esther looks just smashing in it.  She is quite the little fashion diva.

       

Here's another picture of it laying on a piece of Devonite.  Soon I'm gonna have to do a post on just exactly why my blog is called Mt Devon Meanderings.  

       

Me Me Me

This is what greets me every morning.  The Three Musketeers begging to have their chin scratched.   

       

        

   I try to tell them that I only have two hands and there are three of them, but they just dont buy it.

New Little Buddy

A couple weeks ago Little Esther met with an unfortunate accident that required she be seperated from  Mommy and become my little bottle buddy.  I didn't post about it because I wanted to make sure she would be ok before I let the rest of you get so attached to her.  I'm happy to announce she has finished her round of antibiotics and is doing just fine.  She loves being in the house with me a few minutes each day and hanging out with me also as I do some things outside.

       

Her she is right after the accident.  She actually broke a sliver off her lower jaw.  She ended up losing those two front teeth, but the jaw bone stayed put and seems to be healing fine.

                                  

She loves coming in for some snuggle time.  She even joined me for an afternoon Bible study one day.

                                  

                             Ear Scratching sessions are her favorite though.  What a life!

A Shepherd's Perspective

       

     Psalm 23

23 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.

3 He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.

6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.

My birthday is coming up so I decided to treat myself with a shepherd's crook.  I thought it would look really neat in the family room with my other wooly paraphernalia.  The day after it came in I decided to take it down with me and just give it a try with the sheep as I caught them to give them their worm medicine.  I had done some reading on how to use one, but had no real intensions of ever making it something that I would really use on a regular basis.  But then, I tried it.  It worked.  It really worked and saved so much wear and tear on my hand which bothers me due to having broke my index finger a couple years ago.

While working the sheep and slipping the crook around their neck I had one of those moments.  It was a true epiphany.

Like most people I was familiar with Psalm 23.  Sometimes a person can be so familiar with something that they fail to know it intimately.  I do believe that was my situation with this beautiful Psalm.  I had heard it all my life, but had never really listened to it until the my Shepherd whispered it into my ear that day standing among my sheep.

"Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me."

As I was catching each of my sheep to give them their dosage of medicine, most of them were just sure I was administering strychnine to kill them, except for Lucy of course.  She thought I was handing out candy and wanted everyone's share.  She would come up and nibble on the drencher and try to knock the expensive jug of medicine over to get just a little bit more.  I didn't have to use the crook to bring her to me.  She stood at my feet the whole time, quite like a little pest.  That's when it came to me.

Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

The shepherd only has to use his crook to draw in the wayward sheep, the sheep that does't trust him completely, or the sheep that is in trouble.  The comfort is not in the crook but in knowing that He will use the crook for our good.  It's not that it is such a comfortable experience for the sheep to be hooked about the neck and drawn to the shepherd, sometimes kicking and screaming the whole time or jumping up and down like little ram lamb Samuel did when I caught him, but it is for our good.  Sheep like Lucy don't require it, but when we decide to act like the others, He will not let us go.

What a comfort that is. I will never read that verse again the same way.  I will never pick up my crook and head out to my sheep without being grateful that He will not let me go my way, but loves me enough to try to draw me to Himself.

Once again I'm so thankful for my sheep and what the Shepherd show's me about His love for me through them.

A New Little Flock

      

           I made a little flock of dryer balls yesterday, but they all left me to go to the shop in town. 

     

Then I realized I didn't even keep myself any.  I may have to make some more of these as they really do work.  This is what they looked like after being in with a load of towels.  The towels came out without any static but look at these little guys.  Talk about bad hair day.

     

I'm NOT Fat, I'm Fluffy

It's time to really keep an eye on Liza.  She keeps trying to convince me she is not fat, just a bit fluffy.

       

I really don't think that is just fluff under that jacket though.  Let's hope not.

      

In the mean time she keeps telling me that if I'm gonna come check on her multiple times a day that I really should bring peanuts for everyone.

      

                                   

I'm thinking we should expect multiples sometime within the next week or so, at least I hope there is more than one in there.  So today's job was to get all the lambing supplies gathered and organized.  

A Little Activity

I'm finally feeling better.  I'm sure it was the flu as the morning I came down with it was the same morning I finishd up a round of antibiotics from a sinus infection and I also had all the tell tale signs;  was terribly achy,  fever, and a very unhappy stomach.  So glad that is over and that I felt up to doing a little more today though.

I actually think I did a bit too much, even though I only did a little bit.  That is I did a litttle cooking, a little bit of outside chores,a little bit of laundry, a little wool combing, a little wool dyeing, a little carding, and a little spinning.  

Here is the result of the dye bath.   I had a hard time starting to spin this.  It just looked so neat the way it was.  I do believe dyeing batts is about my favorite part of the entire process, next to baby lambs being born of course, but we have a month or two still to wait on that.

     

I Got Bored So I Made Me A Sheep

I am feeling a bit under the weather today, running a low temp, and it is incredibly unrealistically cold out so I only ventured out twice to feed the animals.  It was too cold to hang out and chat with them, but I had been thinking of them all day and last night when it was so miserable.  So I made myself a little sheep pendant.   This might be fun to take along on our upcoming trip so maybe I won't miss my sheeples and peoples so bad.

       

Brrrrrrrr!

It's warmed up to 27 here today and I just got in from giving everyone a little extra afternoon grain for a snack since it is so cold and breaking the water in their troughs.  I also brought in 3 wheel barrels of wood onto the back porch in preperation for the snow that is coming.  Sunday they are calling for 8 inches or more of snow and Monday's high will be 4 degrees. 

 Sometimes this winter weather can make me long for those days long ago when we were missionaries and lived close to the beach in Nayarit.  We celebrated the new year in 2000 by taking the kids swimming.  Not so here in good ole frosty Missouri.  

Since we don't have a fire place, I came in from doing the afternoon chores and lit a few candles.  That made it seem a little more cozy.......now back to my knitting.  I have all afternoon to myself, sigh.  :)

      

It was the end of a Horrible courtship.

 Hard to believe its time already, but today the boys had to go back to their own area.

       

    Horrible terribly misses all those girls, but Amos just can't figure out what all the fuss was about.      

                     He's just happy for some peace and quite and a little grass to nibble on.

       

Lawn Mowers

Isn't that about the cutest lawn mowers you ever did see?

They all thought it was great, except for little old Clementine. She can never stay up,with the rest of them.

And of course Ellie May was indignant that THEY were eating HER grass.

   

Every Morning

I like to think that they come running because they love me.  Besides, it always sounds like they are all saying, "Mommmmmmmmm."  In their sheepy little voices.

But really they are just beggars.

Aren't they cute beggars though?

Especially Lucy.

And Tina.

This doesn't really qualify as a sweater update, unless of course you realize how much works it takes to just get to this point.  Last night it got down to 25 degrees, so about 9:30 I decided I wanted a cup of hot chocolate.  Well, to say the least, I was awake well after midnight spinning.  Thats a great way to spend a cold evening. 

Spin It Up

I enjoy spinning.  I enjoy spinning a lot.  Sometimes I watch TV while I spin, lately its been Call the Midwife on Netflix.  Sometimes I listen to a book or the Bible.  I'm working on 2 Samuel now.  Frequently I find it gives me time to set and think and pray.  Now matter what I'm doing I enjoy my time spinning.

This weekend I decided to take a handful of various fleeces that I have and just make up some batts with no preconceived idea as to how they "should" turn out.

Less than 24 hours later this is what I had, 8 oz and about 250 yards of lovely soft squishiness.  Though the colors are all natural they reminded me of our local school colors of black and gold.

I posted it for sale and it didn't last long, which is good I suppose.  If it had sat on the shelf for long I think it would have ended up on my own knitting needles before the week was out.

I just luv the process.

                                                  

   I really enjoy each step of the way from sheep to yarn to something nice and warm to wear from it.

                            Now I need to go give Hazel a hair cut so we can do it again.

First Page of My Art Journal

                              This was fun.   Hope it gets my creative juices flowing again.

                     Definitely gonna enjoy the Auto Biography of Benjamin Franklin more this way.