A week ago, or so, my hubby said to me something along the lines of "Hey, you wanna try making our own venison sticks?"
"Sure!" I said, "That could be fun!" And we have all the equipment for making venison sticks.
Venison sticks ... the whole family loves them.
And, if we make them ourselves we get to control the amount of seasoning and heat in them.
See, my boys like the venison sticks with more heat in them than I do. I have a delicate palate and stomach. So, not as much jalapeno's and peppers in a batch for me.
Well, we got everything ready for making venison sticks. The venison was mixed up with seasoning and jalapeños and peppers from our own garden.
We made a trip up to Fleet Farm to get some casings and we were set.
Until we discovered our meat grinder didn't have the proper plate for running meat through that doesn't need to be ground.
Ugh!
We made calls to all the stores we could think of that might have these plates. No luck.
My hubby did some research and we ordered a sausage maker off of Amazon. Surprise, surprise, it showed up in record time and we made some sausages! It was a smaller batch, just to get the hang of it.
Then it was decided we needed a bigger smoker so we could smoke a larger amount of sausages at a time.
Back to the drawing board. Sort of.
It was decided to try a propane smoker.
Someone has been having fun seeing all that the smoker can do.
The results have been delicious!
This is a portion of what we have craft (created?) so far. Yum! Gallon-sized bags with pounds and pounds of delicious venison sticks in each one.
I've made some really nice progress with my crochet cardigan. I have all five pieces complete and am now working up the muster to seam the pieces together.
The back
The front pieces
The sleeves
I was rewatching one of the videos on the craftsy class, to see how to sew all the pieces together. The instructor shows a method that seems a bit more involved to me. I'm not looking forward to this part of the project.
And then ... I have to add ribbing on the edge, collar and wrists. That part looks way more complicated. Or, maybe my mind just couldn't wrap my mind around it because I wasn't trying to work the stitches while I was watching how to make them. If I was any other kind of crocheter (i.e. really lazy) I'd be tempted to leave the ribbing off, but then the cardigan wouldn't look complete.
This is what I have left for yarn. For the fronts and the sleeves, I used a fresh yarn ball. I figure I can use the leftovers for seaming everything together.
Yesterday I shared about my snowflake cross stitch. You can click here, if you missed it. Thank you to all who complimented my progress and my fancy new bling.
I sewed up one of the blocks I had in progress for my sandpiper quilt.
The other day I was taking out a new flosstube for a spin. Unfortunately I don't remember which channel, or her name.
However, she said something that stuck with me. I've heard it said other ways, but her way rhymed.
"A thread before bed."
And it makes total sense if you want to have some progress, but not dedicate hours a day to something.
How do you eat an elephant?
A bite at a time.
Does anyone ever do just one thread when they pull their cross stitch out? Maybe it's different if you are working on a high count linen. ... I usually end up stitching two or three threads. Tonite was three threads.
I decided to take a break from the crochet cardigan. I was crocheting like the wind and my hand started aching.
I've pulled out my snowflake cross stitch project and giving it some attention. It is just over 50 percent completed, according to patternkeeper.
Did you notice the pretties in the photo? I'm kinda matchy-matchy with this one.
I found some snowflake scrapbook paper and made matching flossdrops and a thread charm. Floss bling? I don't know what it's called.
I also made a little beaded pendant to go with the charm.
And then I decided to be *really* clever and make another scissor fob.
The only way I could improve upon this is if I had a snowflake needleminder.
This morning I felt a burst of creative energy and decided to make myself something pretty in the small amount of time before work.
Recently I've been itching to make something outside my wheelhouse. I don't know what I've been watching lately that caused the desire to make pretty, shiny things to go with my cross stitching. Floss drops, thread charms, floss jewelry, whatever you want to call it, I want to make it.
Anyways, this morning I decided it was time to make myself a scissor fob with some beads I recently purchased.
Making the scissor fob took a bit longer than I thought it would. I kept stringing beads on the beading wire, then taking them off and trying different arrangements.
Before I knew it, my clock was chiming (or bird calling) the hour and I was in the midst of finishing off the fob. I was struggling to tighten the bead wire and making sure the beads were snug against each other before crimping the crimping bead.
I was so pleased with the finished product that I immediately snapped a photo and shared it on my social media.
Am I a beading newbie? Yes. Years back I thought I'd give beading and jewelry making a try so I could make my own pretty stitch markers. It was a fairly quick phase I went through. At the time, I thought the stitch markers I made weren't very good in comparison to what I was seeing other people make, so I stopped making them.
Also, at that time the only place I could purchase beads from was a big box store that didn't have a very large selection of supplies. More than a decade later this is still true. If I want anything that isn't basic I either have to drive across the bridge and go up on the hill or order something online.
My stitch marker-making hobby was pretty much over almost as quick as it started, thanks to my lack of confidence in something brand new to me and feeling like what I was creating wasn't good enough and never would be. All I needed was some practice. On social media all I could see was that people were making beautiful things and mine just didn't compare.
I should also mention this time period was also at the start of social media websites, and everyone was excitedly sharing things on Instagram and Facebook.
It's too bad that I didn't hear Angela Walter's words of encouragement at that time. Granted, she's coming from a quilting background, but it applies to all sorts of things. Her list of things to stop doing, so you can enjoy the process of your creating more, and her reiteration of comparison being the thief of joy really resonated with me when I first saw her video 4 years ago, or so.
1. Stop comparing your worst to everyone else's best.
2. Stop pointing out your own mistakes.
3. Don't forget the purpose of your project.
The point I'm trying to get to is this: Don't think your creation is lacking just because you are new to creating that particular thing and it doesn't look like what you see on social media. Be proud of what you have created with your own two hands. Don't be afraid to share your work and what makes you happy. You never know who you may inspire.
I had intended to write a WIPs on Wednesday post. Alas, ... it's been a bit of a week. My close buds have heard me complaining about the rain putting me into a bit of a funk. I like taking photos of my projects when we have decent outside light.
There still isn't decent light because - shocker of all shocker-ey things - it's raining. Again.
Last year I decided I was going to try making a crochet cardigan, after seeing a "My first cardigan" class on Craftsy.
I've got some mixed thoughts on this project because of the craftsy class. I haven't viewed all the videos yet. A couple things I've had to look on the internet to figure out what I was supposed to do. Nothing personal against the instructor, but the more knowledgable I get with some of these crafts, the less impressed I am with some of the craftsy classes. I remember when craftsy first came out and everyone thought it was the greatest thing. I'm feeling kind of meh about it. Definitely cancelling the subscription.
The next part to work on will be the fronts. I'm confident I'll be able to blaze through them. What I'm not looking forward to is the sleeves. I'm sure that's a universal feeling.
Made For: Myself. Maybe. I haven't decided yet if I want to give this away.
I put this down a few months ago. I got tired of working on blue. Blue, blue and more blue. I was pretty dedicated to it when I was working on it, and got a ton done.
How it looked back in June:
See, lots done since June.
Patternkeeper is SO awesome. If it wasn't for patternkeeper I think I would have given up on this.
I'm sure I'll make this one again, some time down the road, but I'll be using a single color rather than nine different shades of one color.
Spinning ...
I identify as a spinner so much, you'd be shocked at how little I actually spin fiber into yarn. It's pathetic, really.
I've been working on the same fiber for years and years. I bought ... two and a half pounds, maybe, years ago, with the intention of spinning enough fiber to knit a sweater for my husband. I even picked out the pattern for an interweave knits. Now i'm not sure I'd make that specific pattern because it's all kinds of cables and pretty bits.
Anywho, I'm still spinning the fiber and I am finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel with it.
I probably haven't touched this since last year ... or maybe early this year?
I was watching Dark Winds the last time I was spinning, and now I tie watching that show very strong with spinning. So now I don't want to work on it unless I'm watching the show.
The other night I pulled the spinning wheel out and got her all dusted, cleaned up and pretty.
Now to just make the point of watching the show, right?
Maybe when it's just a little bit more "fall" out? Sitting by the wood stove, with Dark Winds on, and spinning for like an hour at a time. I have a goal of getting the fiber all spun up by the end of the year.
Quilty things next ...
I started the year with such good intentions with the Fat Quarter solids of the month club.
And then ... nothing.
I have four blocks done so far, and two blocks in progress.
The last time I shared I had finished the blue one that is in the top photo, lower left.
I have fabric for the next few months are all ironed and ready to go. I iron it really well and do my absolute best to keep things lined up. I figured I didn't need things to be super-duper precise, so no starching.
This is the quilt pattern suggestion for the 2022 Fat Quarter Shop solid fat quarter club. I had to buy a special ruler for this one.
The fabric is being starched. I feel precision is really important on this one.
It's five quilt blocks for each month, and the pattern calls for all 12 colors in the monthly bundle.
This project has been at a bit of a standstill. Lots of ironing and making sure none of the colors are out of place.
A couple weeks ago I had the great idea of using the liquid starch to starch a lot of the fat quarters at once.
I used a jug of the sta-flo liquid starch at a 50/50 mixture and used almost all of the mixture.
There was hardly any left.
I starched 108 fat quarters in like half an hour. It was amazing!
Then, it wasn't so amazing. All the time I saved on starching I'm making up for in the ironing. The fat quarters are SO wrinkled from my squeezing out the excess starch. It's probably taking three times as long to iron because I need to steam and spray extra water to get all the wrinkles out. Ugh!
The project is slow going due to my desire to iron all the fat quarters before I start working on it again.
This quilting project I started ... oh who knows ... and it stalled almost right away.
It's a project from the January 2022 sew sampler box from, you guessed it, Fat Quarter Shop.
I have all the pieces cut out and almost ready to sew. I wanted to make the smaller size that is a wall hanging, and make it for my bedroom. Since there's no pressure to get it done, it hasn't been worked on.
Oh, I take it back. I did blog a bit about this when I first started it.
Since I basically cut it and forgot it, I didn't remember it! Heh, funny how that works.
*ahem*
And as I type this I remember that in the spring time I decided I wanted a pretty spring-ish project bag. I got as far as ironing the fabric. No cutting for pieces, though. Would it count as a work in progress if it's only been ironed?
Today I was half-listening to Chris XrossStitch while I was diligently working my day job. He is a flosstuber who announced last year that he was taking a break due to a cross country move. He posted his first video after his move back on Aug. 7. He said something about the necessity to check out for a while and hitting pause
Yup, that was me. Without realizing it, I hit the pause button on blogging and most social media things. Sorry.
Thank you so much to those who reached out to me about Furby. It means a lot to me that you did.
I still miss my girl. The house is so much quieter without her and her tv habits. In fact, I have the tv off a lot now during the daytime. I'm listening to more music, and even started listening to an audio book, at my husbands urging.
Since July I haven't watched a Fat Quarter Shop video on purpose. Youtube keeps auto-playing over to those channels. I unsubbed from both their quilt channel and their flosstube channel. Youtube doesn't care, and keeps starting those videos when I'm not actively paying attention. So, the Youtube viewing in general has gone down, too. I sometimes wonder if Fat Quarter Shop has noticed a drop in views since Furby's passing.
Then, when I wasn't looking, Autumn hit my neck of the woods. One day I looked up and the trees were changing. September went by in a blur. October seems to be doing the same. July and August each had a more sedate pace.
I've been in my own little world the last few months. There have been some changes in the household (obviously). I've got some things I have to be more mindful of, health-wise, and I'm missing my constant little feathered companion. My husband will probably read this and go "What about me?" Yes, he is my companion and the love of my life. He just wasn't with me 24/7 like Furby June was.
Needless to say, I perk up when it gets close to that time of the day when he's supposed to be home. How many others can say that after 25-some years? Eh? But I digress.
The changing of the season and listening to Chris' comments this morning was the nudge I needed to put virtual pen to paper.
Apparently I needed a preamble to say "Yes, I'm still here!"
I have some blog reading to catch up on. I'm practically non-existent on the Instagram and post sporadically on the book of faces. I've been doing a tiny bit of knitting and crocheting when I'm sitting out in the hunting blind.
Various projects have been started, paused and completed since I last wrote on blog post. This all will have to be stretched out a bit so I'm not overwhelmed by a long post.
In the meantime, I'll share a few photos with you that I took of the changing colors the last few weeks.
My sweet Miss Furby June passed away the morning of Sunday, July 2, 2023.
How do you write about the passing of a chicken? It's not easy when the bird was as special as she was to me and the family.
Furby hatched out in May 2020. She was in the last group of eggs we incubated for the season. The group we intended to keep for our own flock.
She didn't stand out in the group. She blended right in.
Then in early September we had a bird of prey attack the flock. I chased the hawk away and checked to see if everyone was all right.
One hen was laying there with her eyes closed. I thought "oh no!"
She was still alive and I couldn't see any visible damage on her. Just that her eyes were closed.
So I brought her in to my house and set her up in a tote in the kitchen, so I could keep a close watch on her and see if she would make it. I thought I would do everything I could to give this poor hen the best chance of recovery.
For at least a couple weeks she was in that tote with her eyes closed. We hand fed her and we did our best to let her hear where the water was by sticking her fingers in the water and making a splashing sound. At that time I didn't know anything about feeding and watering a disabled bird.
In the midst of all this we had a family gathering to celebrate my Mother-in-Law's life, and everyone was cooing over this small hen in the box who was convalescing.
Then one day she opened her eyes and to our great surprise, she had both of them.
Her eyesight was next to nothing but she managed to figure out where her food and water was, and started feeding herself.
She spent the next several weeks in the kitchen, keeping me company while I canned, dehydrated and preserved the harvest. I always had a few youtubers on and eventually Furby decided she liked Kimberly of the Fat Quarter Shop the best. But she would tolerate a couple others for short amounts of time. If she couldn't have Kimberly playing, then she wanted Pat Sloan.
I eventually figured out a routine with her. Especially when she was smaller. In the morning I'd help her up to roost on the edge of the tote. When she was hungry or ready to get down, she would stand up and patiently wait for me to notice. If it was too long, she'd make a couple calls to get my attention.
She figured out how to jump up and down on her own, at some point. She seemed quite proud of herself. She'd hop down and turn around to see if I was paying attention. I'd give her high praise and tell her what a smart girl she was. Especially when she figured out how to jump up. No more having to wait for the chicken mom.
When her eyes fully healed we learned she had limited vision in one eye. The other eye showed obvious signs of not working. And when she was really curious about something or trying to figure something out, she always pointed her head so the one eye could have the best vantage. I always said her port side was her good side.
I did try to reintegrate Furby back in to the flock. By that time the rest of the flock had forgotten her and they rushed around so fast that you could tell Furby wasn't comfortable and stressed. The other birds would circle around her and peck at her.
Furby became my house hen, and a very spoiled one at that.
I would keep her by my side a lot. I'd move her tote around the house, from the kitchen to the living room. Her permanent spot was close to the wood stove, but where she could look out the front door.
Oh, and before I forget, I have to mention her ability to chime in her two cents into any conversation at just the right time. Seriously, it was spot on. So many times my husband and I would be chatting away and one of us would say something and Furby would make this sound like she was laughing, or adding to the conversation.
She also learned certain sounds, like when my husband would grab a can of peanuts. She knew what that sound meant. She would perk up, make a sound, and stare until someone made the right decision and threw a few of them in her food dish.
Today, when I was tidying up a space in the kitchen, I saw a container with just a few nuts left in it and started to shake the container and call out "Furby, do you want some nuts." Then I remembered she's gone.
I feel like I have a thousand Furby stories. Like the time she *really* wanted a bite of my son's fish. So she figured out to keep pulling something off the little table by him, so he'd be distracted and she could try and sneak a bit of fish for herself.
Or when we discovered she was a music aficionado.
Don't ever let anyone tell you chickens are dumb. They are so smart.
I used to bring her outside with me as much as possible. I thought it was pretty important for her to be out there and feel the sun and wind, and scratch in the dirt. Oh, and take dust baths. She used to let me know when she was ready to come back in to the house by climbing up on to the back deck and wait by the door. Sometimes calling out to me.
But her favorite, I think, was spending time out in the garden area with me.
I called her my little garden helper. She'd go and scratch up the dirt for me in the spring time.
The summer of 2022 she gave me a few health scares and I thought she was going to pass away. She developed an impacted crop and I did everything I could to get her better, including feeding her with a syringe. The day I decided I would try to relieve the impaction via surgery, the blockage was gone. It was a miracle!
I'm very grateful I was able to get an extra year with her. She was my girl, and my near constant companion.
We had three years with her. I was hoping for more. The last few months she started slowing down. There was a few other things going on and I figured my time with her was coming to an end.
Still, though, you are never really ready or prepared for when a pet dies.
Farewell my sweet little Furby June. The chicken mama misses you.
