Sunday stitching and chicks?

Today I will be joining the Slow Sunday Stitchers while adding some raindrops to the umbrella quilt. I finished outlining quilting the umbrella's last night. I'll use my newly purchased hera marker (nope, never did find my original one!) and a ruler to mark my stitching lines today.

I also plan to finish the last three hearts in purple. Of course, then I need to figure out what I will do with all of them! I believe there are about 40 of them.

Thursday we got an addition to the household. Well, 4 of them actually. Greg and Emily were busy dismantling the play area earlier this week as they no longer use it. It would be a great spot to put a chicken coop and run as it is mostly in the shade and in the back of the property. Greg has mentioned getting some chickens over the last couple of years with the issues with the eggs and chicken production in the US. Emily is going into middle school and wants to do agriculture as her elective. She is horse crazy and has always loved animals. I won't get her a goat.... like she wants.... or a horse.... but maybe some chicks to watch grow and give us eggs?

Greg and Em went to tractor supply on Thursday to get the supplies needed for chicks. They had placed an on-line order and were going to arrive July 6th. Suddenly, a text photo of baby chicks with a ?. Sigh.... they did not come back with any.... but they both went to the computer and did research on the kinds of chicks they had at the store. They decided on the heat tolerant and quiet chicks that I took both kids to the store and got later that day. They each picked 2 chicks. 

Gold Sex Link chickens are a cross breed utilizing the Rhode Island White Female and the Rhode Island Red male. The result is a hardy and robust dual purpose breed with superior egg laying capabilities as well as substantial size for meat.

We repurposed the guinea pig cage to house the chicks while they are inside the house. Jimmy Jr, the last pig passed last month. We added a 1/2 inch square wire around the cage so little cat paws could not reach in and get them!

The popular thing in my house now is watching the chicks. Kids, adults and cats!

Finishing up pink.....

I realized when I posted my 2 pink stash buster blocks I didn't do a layout of them all so far... and since I knew I was going to do another post today.... I laid them out for a photo op!

I managed to cut out and sew my 10 sweet confetti blocks (Sunday Best Quilts) today! It was fun laying out the colors so far - bright green, orange, teal, light blues, dark green and pink. I can't wait to see the red, purple, dark blue and yellows added to the mix in the next few months.

Linking up with the RSC.

Pink....

I pulled some pink on the weekend and sewed up these 2 stashbuster blocks for June. 

I then moved on and made one of the stars and nines blocks using 2.5 inch squares. Later in the week I made a couple more and added them to the other blocks I have made so far this year. 

Thank goodness there are a few more days in the month for me to sew up the sweet confetti blocks. Linking up on Saturday with the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.

Thursday update....

Well, Thursdays are my day off. I have yet to do what I really want to do... but will pop to the sewing room to play after I write this post.

I was good and did my walk this morning and after breakfast (homemade oat bread yummy!) I headed out and attempted to weed a bit. A little bit got done before the temps did me in. A shower and some blog hopping and then I made a Sams club list. Why in the world was EVERYONE at Sams today? About 3/4 did have masks on though. It took me an extra 20 minutes.... as I waited for the rotisserie chickens to come out of the ovens and get packaged. I was melting after I put things into the cooler bags and carry bags in the back of the car! Thank goodness when I got home I had 3 helpers unload for me!

Then Greg and Em headed to Tractor Supply to get chicken supplies. They had ordered 6 baby chicks online yesterday and they would ship out on July 6th. Lets just say I got a photo text of baby chicks with a ?.  They came home without chicks but with all the supplies needed to convert the guinea pig cage to a heated area for the chicks and feeders and food. They did the research on the 2 sets of hens there and decided on the Golden Sex Link Pullets. They are a dual purpose bird, producing large to x-large brown eggs. It is a cross between a Rhode Island White female and the Rhode Island Red male. We were able to cancel the on-line order no problem and avoided the extra $35 in shipping and got 4 instead of 6. A little more manageable to start with.

Both kids and Greg are pretty excited..... They have dismantled the play area Monday and Tuesday. Found a design for the coop and we have the spot to put it in the back yard in a mostly shady area with a big run. They will work on building that over the next month. In the mean time.... we have 4 quiet chicks sleeping

happily in the cage under the heat lamp! We each got to name one.... so far there is Emma (Emily's), Molly (me), Fred (Greg!), and little sleepy ostrich (Aidan). The names might change.... that was just the initial thoughts. That should keep them occupied for a little bit.

Book Club and OMG Flimsy Finish...

My OMG goal for June was to hand stitch all 9 of my book club blocks into a quilt top. I really liked Diann's top with sashing and cornerstones in red so I decided to do that with my purple ones! I cut the leftover fabrics up into the 2.5 inch blocks for the cornerstones. My little hand pieced quilt is finishing as a top at 35 inches square. 

This will be next on the list for hand quilting once my umbrella quilt is completed. I still need to quilt last year's Hand Pieced Quilt Along as well. 

Linking up with Book Club Flimsy finish and OMG - both over at Elm Street Quilts. 

Tuesday....

No, I am not sitting in feels like over 100 degree weather watching Em ride today! Thank goodness Greg is not working today.... so I tapped him to take her. I was on an on-line seminar for a couple of hours and managed my time well! 

I got some hearts appliqued. I finished off one of my spools of silk thread. I had stopped last week and purchased a similar blender color but.... I decided to check my guitterman supply for purple. I found 3 spools - one was too light but the other 2 worked. After working with the silk for applique... I have to say I think I prefer the cotton. It just seemed to work better on the needle turn for me today. Not perfect (as nothing I ever do is!) but I am down to 4 hearts left to stitch. These got added to the finished pile today.

Now to prep dinner and get it in the oven. Not the best for a hot day.... but it's what I took out so I'm going with it. Chuck roast (cream of mushroom soup and an onion soup mix) over carrots, potato, onion and I might throw some mushrooms in.  

Happy Fathers Day.... and Slow Stitching...

Just wanted to wish my Dad a Happy Fathers Day. We wish we were going up to see you this summer in Vermont. 

One of my favorite photo's of him with Peanut!

Finding a good photo of Greg was difficult! I found this family one from when we got the monsters... I mean cats a few years ago. You are a great Dad to our kiddo's. (Hehehe.. this was when Aidan was shorter than me!) 

My kids were up early this morning making their Dad some things. Aidan made him a felt bookmark and Emily got her pencil and paper out and made him a really neat heart surrounded by puffy clouds. She plans to color it in later.

I was stitching on this umbrella last night before I had to set it down to play a game of scrabble with the kids. I plan to finish this one off today and work on the 15 umbrellas waiting for their outline stitching. I also need to pull out my first attempt at raindrops in the middle area. 

This is a photo of the whole little quilt. It is amazing how progress happens when you actually pick it up and work on it!

Linking up with the other Slow Stitchers.