In A Bookish, Quilty Mood

Title emerged as I was *SLOWLY* peeling day-old hard cooked eggs. Then came the ruminations.... Those hard-cooked eggs are now deviled eggs, and pretty tasty too! A New Year's treat that I sampled today, lol. But first! I had to attend to chicken maintenance. Like dumping the dregs from the feeder into the run, hence luring said chickens into the run, as they've been free ranging much of the day, and most of that unsupervised. Oh, you know what, this might be a long post, so heads-up. (It IS a long post, with lots of links to entries from this year about various pastimes.) Anyway, back to sorting out the chicken feed for the rest of the day; the feeder was quite low, and best to let them have the spoils as though an actual treat, HAHA! Into the run went all but one, and upon a quick glance I noticed Owl was missing. What is up with that gal, I wondered, as my husband went to check the coop. Sure enough she was curled in a nesting box, bless her poultry heart. But I digress, y...

A mini charm pack coaster from Jen Hewitt's Reimagined line. Going to be one I use after the Christmas linens are put away.   Happy Christmas indeed! I meant to write this on Christmas Day, but the hours slipped away. Then on Boxing Day, and again time sped like a swift river (more on that perhaps in this post, but if not certainly within impending entries). Then there was yesterday.... In which nothing monumental occurred, other than finding three eggs in the rice hulls bag. Did I mention how hens were roosting in it, alongside the shelf? And that I went through said depleted bag and found nothing, then I removed it, but Cami Chicken SQUAWKED, so I put it back, then my husband took it out, and then yesterday afternoon, while refreshing the dustbathing box, while scooping up rice hulls I came across three eggs? Well, that latter bit is new, and maybe the whole story wasn't mentioned. Bless this henny-penny's heart! But stay outta the rice hulls, you hear chicken? It's p...

A camellia to honor Jen! Photo courtesy of my husband. People enter our lives for a reason, a season, forever. Sometimes those distinctions bleed into one another, so I can't rightly say how Jen S. fits; more than a reason, not quite a season? Yet one solid purpose was to proffer Liner Notes as a title for the author's page at the conclusion of my novels. For the last few days, I've been reading the final quarter of Home and Far Away , which is definitely my favourite story emerging from, well, not merely my creativity, but as a gift from God. To whom I credit all my fictional and life efforts, but especially the writing. My almost twenty-year literary path has been one of fun, exploration, tears, and self-examination, among other treats. This morning, as I completed the novel, I then read the Liner Notes . If you aren't into music, or merely stream all your songs, Liner Notes hearkens to the day of vinyl, where the artist or recording company spilled a little or a lo...

I snapped this photo earlier today. I so LOVE this quilt! This morning feels like a good while ago, what with a deluge of rain falling, causing flooding all over Humboldt County. Highway 101 was even closed near College of the Redwoods, both sides of the freeway inundated with water. We spent an uneventful day, thankfully, although keeping track of a nearby field that kept looking more like a lake. The chickens had some outdoor time, mostly spent under the awning near the coop. They happily dug through gravel, no idea what they found so intriguing, and I'm also glad they can't tell me. Only four eggs today, WHEW! Take a break girls. But all of that wasn't on my mind when I coined today's title. More to matter was peace, grace, love; all those I experienced in great waves very early this morning, wiping my teary face on the top edge of the Cornflower quilt , what I've been snuggling under for the last couple of weeks, wanting a full-size cozy, what with winter knocki...

Camilla on the far left, a Barnevelder checking out box #2, while another hen inspects box #4; chicken photos from yesterday, courtesy of my husband.   Yes, I KNOW laying eggs is what chickens do. Young, healthy, happy chickens who apparently don't care that tomorrow is the winter solstice. Chickens whose instincts are so deeply embedded that for thousands of years producing eggs ranks right up there with scratching for food, searching the highest spot for sleep, and clucking for no obvious reason. Okay, the last one is my addition; we just made an emergency visit to the run to confirm no predators had infiltrated because one of those ridiculous hens was clucking her dang head off! I kinda know, or assume (for better or worse) I know why she was being so vociferous; they want out of the run. LOLOL! Sorry chickies, not today. The run isn't under water like it was a few days ago, ahem, because 1) It hasn't rained in several hours and 2) My husband extended the trench that lie...

Too many nice photos to simply chat about chickens. Probably a Welsummer egg due to the speckles. But yes, the hens are LAYING like there's no tomorrow! Five of the eight, we think, are acting as if winter doesn't matter, youth has no bearing, and who cares if the solstice is right around the corner! That's what those chickens would be saying, if they could do more than cluck, cluck, cluck. The other Welsummer egg, freshly washed, why it appears so dark. Am I really one of those chicken owners who feel it necessary to display various eggs? I guess so.... I have a lot of pictures to share, of eggs, and the beach, and coasters completed. None of the hens, lol, maybe in the next entry. We're heading into the homestretch of Advent, Christmas preparation, Hanukkah. Heading into what I hope is a quiet time, a time of reflection, thankfulness, peace. A time where I want to embrace my faith in Christ Jesus, revel in grace, eat some eggs. Eggs.... Oh my goodness, how did the Bar...

  Good and evil and Christmas coasters in the making.... And chickens. It's the third week of Advent, which I didn't mention on the last post, over which I then inwardly chided myself, but sometimes not everything lands in an entry. The Bondi Beach shooting had occurred, that didn't get into the last post either. Rob Reiner and his wife Michele were murdered, allegedly by their son. The list of awful incidents seems unending, and yet, a miracle is nearly due. How to slot waiting for the birth of Christ into my daily, and mostly mundane, activities; we're getting three to four eggs a day, Camilla still the star, but then her Barnevelder sisters are pretty cool too, laying eggs a good two months before the average Barnevelder hen. Fussy the Chicken raised HECK yesterday when she emerged from the coop, all her sisters out free ranging. Cluck cluck CLUCK brought me to find Fussy in the run, and it took five minutes of crooning/cajoling her to where her coop-mates were forag...

Fabric with dots is Aerial View. The other is Lands End. I like the colour blue. In lots of shades. And pink. In many hues. And I like the weight of Ruby Star Society fabrics, especially for EPP. Put those together, and tonight I have much of another block for my Eden quilt sorted. I also like making blocks that have a center hexagon, lol! Cornflower blocks , Eden blocks; what I appreciate is simply stitching around a basted shape, not worrying if center points meet up. I realized that while making the Cornflower blocks, and it's reinforced with these little beauties. Earlier today I put fabric on the design wall, but I'm keeping this quilt under wraps until it's gifted, as it's a surprise. Not in time for Christmas, but hopefully before February. Large squares will lend themselves to being quickly turned into a top, but as I plan to hand-quilt this project.... It's going to take a few weeks of evening stitching. Yet having completed the design element freed me to ...

If I did own a Christmas quilt, it would look a lot like the placemat above. Lol. A few mornings ago I took the photos for this post, in part I was thinking how I don't have a Christmas quilt, although I have made several for beloveds. And that I truly love these mats, made from what Katie Pederson calls Magic Numbers sewing. I still have 2.5, 4.5, and 6.5" squares in my Christmas Fabrics bag, and maybe one of these days I'll sew up more placemats, as I only made four when I fashioned these. They won't have bindings, but the layout makes me HAPPY! And small projects are easy finishes, 'nuff said. I wonder if my chickens think of their egg-laying as easy finishes, LOL! One laid an egg in the dustbathing box yesterday; DUDE! That's not cool, chicken. We think it's a Welsummer egg, from the hue and slight speckling, and if that is true, I'd guess Cami laid her first egg because Cami LOVES dustbathing. But I am very sorry, Miss Cami Chicken; eggs are to b...

Title and idea courtesy of my husband. And the hens, lol. Oh, and the Year-End Smashwords Sale! Do chickens have guardian angels? Do humans? I don't know the answer to either of those queries, but I have suspicions, and who is to say chickens or humans don't possess someone assigned to their well-being. I will say that yesterday morning my husband scraped a LOT of nasty poo off the wall, leading us to wonder if said chickens had coccidiosis. Yet, we didn't have the liberty to do much more than pray about it because we were meeting our eldest daughter in Santa Rosa for lunch and to exchange Christmas presents. We fed the chickens, I gave them some bonus straw in which to play, then chased after Nadia who slipped from the coop, that nimble hen! Finally trapping her near the door, I slowly picked her up, then set her where she belonged, wondering if later that night I'd be dosing their water with Corid. Highway 101 yesterday morning, photo courtesy of my husband, as I was ...