Little by Little

I just cannot get with it!
This weekend is a big one for me and my daughter.  (sniffle, sniffle) My youngest one, is turning thirty on August 1st, and since everyone works weekdays and she lives two hours away from me, we are doing a big camp out birthday party on my farm. I think it will be a blast. She has friends coming from California, and friends coming from around here and her boyfriend's sister and BIL. Everyone is bringing their best camp faces. Sorry, I'm sleeping in my bed! My camper will be loaned to whoever doesn't want to sleep on the actual ground. That could be four people maybe. Then there are people who live close by, but we are trying to avoid anyone leaving the party after partying...if ya know what I mean.

So...there's that. I'm going to pickup some food tomorrow in preparation. Hamburgers, hot dogs, I found an intriguing recipe for cherry tomato salad, I'm getting the ingredients for that. Of course, potato salad, watermelon, ice cream and cake. Everyone is bringing their own alcohol beverage. I'll have cold things for the kids. Oh! Plus S'Mores ingredients, because camping ain't camping with out the S'Mores!

On the sewing front, I haven't gotten over the slump I have found myself in. One day I thought I was getting into it, I made two and a half boot blocks! Alas, paper foundation piecing and I DO NOT play well and I had to give myself a time out. The bottom portion of the boots are paper piecing. I have to watch a video on how to do that or it doesn't get done. I proved that to myself several times with that last half a block. Yesterday though I bit the bullet and sat down with youtube, my half a boot block and a purse full of determination and got it done! I was so proud, and patted myself on the back. What a goober I can be when I really try. Mind you, these are blocks that were supposed to be done by me for April's RSC 2017...I am that far behind!

 This first one is so cute with the birds

 I couldn't not do this one with the batik fabric. I think everyone needs a pair of boots like this!

This last one is my nemesis! 

I will continue to do the boot blocks until I have made thirty, then I will set them in a fabric that will make them pop, finish it up and probably give it to my daughter who is a down and dirty horse woman. (That's my baby who is turning 30...sniff, sniff!)

Who by the way has the boyfriend, Brian, who is the ace carpenter putting up my catio. They did come weekend before last to work on it and the rest of the farm for me. I am not able to do the heavy stuff and when my former husband turned tenant moved here, he was taking care of a lot of the stuff, but he is not in the best of physical conditions and is limited. So the young-uns came and did a lot of clean up and rearranging. I need to put a couple hundred bales of hay away for the winter. I'm also going to be putting a NEW mobile home on my other property and the kids will be renting it from me. That way I will have someone to help should anything go the wrong way. 

Okay I got sidetracked there. Catio progress:

 There is wire on both the side walls and this side has the door with a custom lock, which is hard to see. It's there, believe me.

They had pulled a wall down from the pole barn that wasn't needed, and the wall matched my house. So Brian cut that up to use on the top side boards instead of putting wire there too. I think it adds to the cuteness of the whole thing and ties it right in to the house. We have the floor to put in after weed block goes down, some clear silicone caulking around the connection between the catio and the house and paint, then the cats can move in. Brian wants to put some walkways and shelves for the cats too. I know the cats are getting anxious. They keep getting up in the window that leads out to the catio. I think they are making plans for what they will do when they are out there!

My neighbor directly to the south of me flagged me down the other day and asked if he could rent some of my goats to eat a lot of weeds next to his house. I told him no, but he could use them to clear the yard that is overgrown. I know it is fully enclosed, because he used to raise turkeys back there. So I gathered two of the goats and we walked them over. They have been there for three days now. They have a lot more work to do. Another neighbor to the northeast of me came by and asked if it would be okay for him to dump his grass clippings in the goat yard. He's been paying $5 a week to drive the clippings 10 miles down the road to dump them! I told him fine, he would be their favorite person then! So my food budget for the goats has gone down for a while. YAY!

So that's the haps for the last month and a half. (Well, actually, the last two weeks, nothing happened much before that!) Thanks for still hanging in, even though I am a little lax about posting!