Old School Acres

Neigh.

So you would think that with all the live models around here a horse would be easy.  Me, too, but not so.  I have a pile of failures.  Finally a keeper.

Lambie pie

On the way to my parents' house is a sheep farm.  The lambs this spring were as sweet as pie.  If I could have gotten by with it I would have jumped the fence, grabbed at least a dozen, and buckled their sweet wooly butts right into my van.  When I got them home I'd have tied little ribbons and bells around their necks.  My husband can't be convinced that sheep would be a good addition to the farm.  Party pooper. 

This is as close as we are going to get.  Lambie from a vintage pattern.

Itty-bitty yo-yo

What do you know?  I can follow instructions!

The process wasn't nearly as difficult as I imagined.  The yo-yo maker is especially handy for these itty-bitties.  Has anyone tried the hearts and/or flower yo-yo makers?  Thoughts?

This is Grace

The not so graceful horse that badly cut her leg 3 weeks ago.  We were never able to figure out where she caught her leg, but she has about 3 inches of leg bone exposed and a severed extensor tendon on the front of the cannon bone.  Not a good situation.  Brett's dad even brought the backhoe out so we could bury her.  Lucky for Grace our vet thought it a shame to put down an otherwise healthy, gentle horse.  So 2 weeks ago the vet put a cast on her leg to help with healing.  The leg looks so much better, but bone is still exposed.  So she got a new cast yesterday.  We'll take another look in 3 weeks.

Here she is with her new cast (the old one is on the floor to her left).  Ever seen a doped up horse?  A little bit funny; a lot scary.  The legs don't possibly look strong enough to hold up all that weight when they are wobbling around.

She got a quick-and-dirty pedicure, too.  The ugly hoof on the left is what the one on the right looked like. 
Blech.
 

Not too early to think about Christmas

At least not for me, the queen of procrastination.  I tend to work pretty well when under a deadline, but I have a big project I need to start.  See, my mother-in-law would love a yo-yo quilt/coverlet.  I'm thinking that if I start now I can at least get enough done by Christmas to make a little coverlet for the back of her chair.  If I'm really ambitious and whiz through them maybe a quilt isn't too far out of the question.

I broke down and bought these this past weekend:

I don't mind making yo-yos the old-fashioned way, but I want them to be as similar in size as possible.  The instructions?  Ugh.  I hope the process is easier than it looks, especially because I hope to put Katie to work making yo-yos! 

I want to get a couple pair of baby shoes done and ready to ship and then the yo-yo factory will open.

A Rhino on the farm.

A blue Rhino.  The 2 best things about this animal?  Nothing in; nothing out.

Some of this. Some of that.

I found my crafting mojo.  Whew.  I was starting to worry. 

So, I've been making some of this:

And one of these (with the last of those beautiful pink buttons)

And even hope to work on some of that:

The Great Soybean Cat Hunt

Scratch, scratch..scratch...aaaauuuugggghhh

The gnats are atrocious.  I'm pretty sure it's safe to say that I  have approximately 2,784 gnat bites.  *scratch, scratch*

Because of all the bugs, we've been working quite a bit inside the house.  Last weekend's project was purging the accumulation of stuff from the side porch. 

It's been a catch-all for years, including long before I moved in.  When you move into a house filled with your husband's great-grandmother's things you feel guilty throwing out things.  Not things like old aluminum foil and bread wrappers, but things that may be important to someone some day.  Gram lived through the Depression and like so many others of that time she saved everything.  Every. Thing.  Sometimes it's like living in an old time capsule.  Other times it's overwhelming to be the keeper of the things. 

Original wallpaper on the ceiling of the porch. 

Old linoleum on the porch.

Some goodies found on the porch.

High and dry

A big hug and thank you to every one that has emailed, called, and/or replied inquiring about my whereabouts and welfare.  We are high and dry here at OSA.  Luckily we live on top of a hill at least a couple of miles from the nearest river.  The flooding is not too far away though and it's heartbreaking to watch

Unfortunately I've been experiencing some nasty anxiety.  The girls are out of school but in activities.  I applied for a job and 3 weeks later still haven't heard anything.  We got a lesson pony for the girls and the very night we brought her home she stuck her leg somewhere it shouldn't have been and severed a tendon.  I've missed deadlines for things I thought I really wanted to do with my softies. 

I know it can only get better, right?  Yes, better from here out.