Status of the Coop for the Summer

Summer has arrived and all its busyness.  This is the status of my chicken coop at the moment. 

The one lone duck likes to hang out here.  There are only a few chickens in residence and the Rooster will be deciding which of the new chicks will be moving over to stay in my coop.

These chicks are White Rocks and the coloured ones are a new breed called Grazers.  He is determined to come up with his own 'perfect' breed.  We'll see.  He should get an A for trying! 

I left off my Photo shop Elements lesson with a blogger header that needed to have 3 photos inserted.  It seems the lessons I'd learned leaked away as the weekend passed and for the life of me I can't get the 3 photos I chose into position. 

Choosing the 3 photos was a good exercise because it reminded me of my focus.

I want to use thread on fibre and paper.

I want to make marks and draw on fibre and paper.

I want to paint and dye on fabric and paper.

I also need to move on to the other things that happen in summer so imagine the photos in the snazzy blog header.  But one one week was all the time I can devote to photoshop classes.  I also realized that I need to do my own creating. So with my focus intact it is time to leave the fantasy work of digi-ing and grab my shovel to clean the coop, my hoe to weed the garden and my sketchbook to make my own marks.   It was fun while it lasted!

Going with the flow

Which happens to be blue!

One grand kiddie is fighting an awful 10 day virus and I lured the other home with the promise of painting.
So I am happy to report I have one thing crossed off my list. I am not so happy that I still have 2/3 of a gallon of neon lime green! I'm tempted to send it home with him! ;^)

Another nice blue flow is that the drought has ended this morning! This is good if I ignore the fact that the grass is already starting to perk up!

Addendum:

While I'm hitting the post button the 'littlest rooster' is preparing his question, "Can duckie have a swim?". !!! And, says I, "No, he can't walk back."!!!

Red, white, and blue

And not necessarily in that order.

I did get right outside Monday morning but before I could get to the Coop to trim the shrubbery back I had to go all across the front yard and into the chicken run itself lopping, pruning, trimming and generally de-foresting. lol Stalling, that was all that was. But I did grab my broom and water hose around 4 o'clock and I got the job done. I was wetter than the shed and quite bushed but the first step was done. I even spent some time on the scrap strips for that baby quilt border. So I did sleep well in spite of all the heat in the upper storey.

I was now rolling so this morning I began to slap the primer around. I deviated a bit by doing some inside the coop because you can see in thru the door and thru the window. And slap I did. What a mess! I went for a tarp because I have a nice rustic brick path that was starting to look less than rustic. I was beginning to think I should just do white on white and rename the blog Elle in da Casa! ;-)

A lunch break and I kept on rolling. Only I didn't slap. I slowed down and was more careful. Sort of! But after about three brush stokes I got very happy. YES! This is me in da Coop! And it is gonna be a great one. It is very humid and I pushed the drying time on the primer as I got a wee bit of streaking. It is also very overcast and we are under a weather watch. Again! So we'll see if it is still blue in the morning.

To keep the chooks happy, I planted a day lily in the smaller run. It is a very orangey red. Nice but some still aren't happy. Two hens and 1 rooster insist on fleeing the coop periodically. They fly back and forth over the gate. grrr I was starting to get kinda red in the face. Partly heat and humidity but mostly irritation. They rearrange my careful mulches and flower beds. :(

Then I did get redder when I had to do some serious scrubbing to get all the paint off of me. I shoulda wore a hat and coveralls. Long sleeves always get pushed up but I even had blue paint by my, well, near my heart. 8^)

This is what I see now from my playroom. Awk! Do you see them? Pesky chickens. I'm seeing fried chicken on an upcoming menu!

I'll also be excited to see what the lime green door and trim will look like. ???

Chicks Arriving

I'm thinking yellow today!

The resident hens need to have the bar raised on what is expected of them so My Farmer ordered 50 White Rock chicks from Alberta, 2 provinces to the west. They arrived this morning bright and early at our local post office. Noisy bunch! Chicks can go 3 days without food and water so the airplane flight wouldn't have been too much of a hardship in these days of jet travel. I expect hens need 3 days to complete brooding all their eggs so the chicks must be able to chillax for a while before taking their first stroll.

Now where was I... Baby Quilts

A friend has 2 daughters who gave birth to their babies within a week of each other. One is a boy and a second child. The other is a girl and a first child. So I picked a bright, busy, animal print for the backing. I didn't want to play favorites and there was enough backing for 2 quilts so I considered a second top similar to the first. The girl's bright pinks went together well so I looked at my other hand dyes. I had the most selection in a run of yellow golds to orange red.

If I added a jungle print and a red/gold geometric stripe I could pull the range of hand dyes together. Eight 5 inch finished squares fits the backing width perfectly. So 8 x 8 = 64 squares and an easy peasey few hours of sewing. I didn't even need my handy dandy calculator! lol

First I spread the most noticeable squares around to evenly disperse them. Then I begin to fill in with the rest. I still needed that yellow print that has proven so useful in my stash so I added those and then one small dotted print to add to the eye spy aspect.

Again, I sew by bringing pairs to my sewing machine which is on my cutting table so I can sew standing up. The best rhythm for me is to have one pair to clip off, one pair under the needle and when I take the sewn pair back to its place on my design wall I bring back the next. I can still get things upside down but my mistakes have been significantly reduced since I've begun this practice. You can pin numbered papers on key points as well. But since I'm older and slower I can slow down and enjoy the process more. I can also enjoy the chicks and the occasional cuppa in my Coop and Saucer Playroom! 8^)

So it is pairs, then fours, then eighths to complete the rows. Some sew in squares, some in lines or rows. I like rows.

When that is done I press the first row seams to the right and all the odd numbered rows as well. I press the second row seams to the left and all the even rows as well. This enables me to butt my seams and I don't need any pins.

I pinch the area where the seams butt with my right hand. They kinda nestle together. Then I allow the feed dogs to ease in any fullness in the fabric. This works with slight amounts of ease. If there seems (oops, 8^) a pun) to be a lot then turn the whole thing upside down and get that fabric with the extra fullness down on the feed dogs so they can shuffle the fabric under the foot and needle. This works for small amounts but not large amounts. But I can testify that the more I do the better and more accurate I get! Who'dda thunk it?

Then I again sew two long rows together, then 4, then I sew the final two big sections together. The only difference here is that I'll press the seams to one side each time I add a row just because there is less bulk than waiting till the end.

Next decision will be the machine quilting and the binding. But the grass may need cutting before I can do that. I'll have to study the sun and the clouds to see what my future plans for the week hold!

But with yellow now taken care of, I'm thinking of something a bit more daring for the days ahead.

I shall consult with the chicks to see how they feel about cobalt blue with apple green trim for the new paint for the Coop!!!

The wind beneath my wings!

Spring has been blown in on a typical gale force wind. It knocks the wheel barrow over and sets the straw and debris to blowing all over the place.

I had a helper for the chicken coop cleaning. This keeps up and my little grandson could become quite useful since all the other chicks have fled the coop and my dear Rooster has bigger and better nest eggs to search for. But now 'he who crows' is home and he has bigger and noisier toys then I do so Josh's off to ride shot gun on the tractor.

That leaves me with the wheel barrow and the flowerbeds. I have served warning that any more chickens remodel my flower beds and there'll be new feather pillows and chicken soup simmering.

Monday I shall have the feathers flying up here in the Coop and Saucer Playroom. I have major fabric related deadlines looming in these next few weeks.