55 Days till Christmas!!!!

The little snowman in my sidebar is telling me this. Sometimes I wonder why I put him there. Was it because I was looking forward to Christmas? Maybe back in February I was... but now... it is seeming rather too close for comfort!

Thankfully I have been working on Christmas. Joining Di's challenge in August was a good start. I've also been busy making stockings for my sister's market stall. I forgot to take a photo of them before I sent them, but Christie kindly took a few. She sold one... hee hee, but it is still early, after all, when she had the stall, there were 62 days till Christmas.. and now there are only 55.....

Here are a few of the finished stockings:


I have made only have 6 of these stockings so far, but have 24 other simple ones. The fun news is that I will actually be at the next market!!! So I will take photos for you all!!! My mum, Elizabeth and I will be leaving on Wednesday morning to go spend 10 days with Christie and her family. I'll be posting photos of them all for sure :) It is going to be great fun.

I can hear Alice saying - but Joy, you are not doing any Christmas stuff for yourself!!! True, but I am hoping that if I sell enough Christmassy things at the markets I can buy a big round trampoline for the kids for Christmas.. so you see, I am working on our Christmas!

There are only 3 1/2 days till we leave to go to Christie's.. and in that time I need to make more stockings.... and cook some meals for the boys... and catch up on the washing... and clean the house... and... and.... and..... 55 days till Christmas is looking better.... I'd better get moving! Have a lovely weekend everyone!

The Best Ever Homeschool Conference!

Well, it seems like quilting and sewing are on hold this month what with farm happenings and homeschooling. I guess that has to happen every now and then :)

On Friday and Saturday I went to the Diana Waring "Living, Laughing, and Learning" conference. It took me a while to decide if I was going, and I am so thankful I did. It was just fantastic. Mostly it confirmed to me that what we are doing is fine. I know that over the years God has led us to a certain style of homeschooling, but sometimes the doubts come in. Especially as we have two high schoolers now... As I listened to Diana speak, I recognized so many things that were similar in our approaches. To me, homeschooling is a way of life, and that is what she was talking about. Making the most of each learning opportunity.

I enjoyed the topics on Friday since there was a specific one on teens and another one on History (which I love!). The common theme seemed to be - allow your children time to develop their interests. Is playing with Lego all day a valid part of school? Yes :) Is letting Elizabeth raid my stash to make rag dolls part of school? Yes :) The things the kids are passionate about now, may someday lead to a job later in life.

The other thing I picked up was that we are not in a race. Homeschooling is not a race! We don't have to cram everything into their brains by a certain age. They don't need to learn to read by 5, it's ok if it takes them a few more years. We can let them take their time and learn things when they are ready to learn them, not what we think they should because someone has written a book that says they should know how to do this or that by this age.

Some quotes:

"We're aiming for mastery, but we're not in a hurry."

"You are giving your children a gifted program everyday."

"Stop trying to fit homeschool into a box."

"Give them room to spend time on things they are really good at."

"Got teens? Enjoy them!"

"You need to intentionally choose to enjoy the teen years."

And oh so many more, but I'd better stop now!!! Yes I really did enjoy the conference! It was wonderful to meet like minded people and be encouraged to keep going with something that is seen as "strange" by most of the world.

And now... I need to tidy up the house... and look at the books I bought... and oh, get out of my pj's first :)

Pet Lambs are a Pest!

We had another girl arrive, this time it was Elizabeth's pet lamb Lacy who gave birth. Lacy used to look like this:

She thought Elizabeth was her mother, and she still does. When she first saw another sheep, she ran crying to Elizabeth in terror! She doesn't know she is a sheep. She thinks she is human. And.. a few days ago to her shock and horror, something wet and sticky came out in the paddock behind her.... To make things worse, this pesky little thing kept following her... even head butting it away didn't stop it.

This is Lacy now, all growed up and a baby of her own that she doesn't want:


How come Lacy doesn't know that she needs to clean up her baby???



And as for letting it get a feed - the baby knows what she wants, but Lacy won't let her... so she needed a helping hand:

We are keeping both of them in this cage in an attempt to get Lacy to accept Lucy, her baby. Grampa McDonald says we might have to do this for up to two weeks... sigh.....! It is rather sad to see Lacy butting her baby around and ignoring it... Oh, and the other mother and baby from the last post? They are doing well and behaving themselves as good sheep should :) We've called the baby Jilly.

In other news, I have been making quilted stockings to send up to my sister, Christie, for her to sell at her local market. So far I have 8 that are up to the same stage - they just need their cuffs on....


Last year I made Christie and her family these stockings:

Many of her friends loved them and she thought they would sell well. I am not personalizing them, just keeping them simple. We shall see if people buy them or not! So, that is the latest news from the farm and the sewing room!!

It's a girl!!!!!!!!

Look what we found in the paddock today!!!


Isn't she cute?!
Knobbly knees...


Staying close to mum....

Our first lamb of the season, isn't that exciting?!

Sick...

Not sick of sewing, but sick.. blocked nose, sore throat and cough... must be the change to Daylight Savings. Oh well.. I guess it must happen sometimes. So I haven't written the post about the bushfire quilt yet, and I haven't finished Cameron's quilt, and I haven't.... etc, etc, etc...

I think I will disappear for a few days and come back again later in the week.. you know, go hide in bed with a good book and a box of tissues....

Have a great week everyone!

Parcels and Finished Projects

Last week I sent off some parcels and forgot to take photos, of course! I sent some of the Dreamline Quilt Backing to Alice, the latest issue of Handmade to Diane and of course the Purple Prizes to Deb. They all arrived safe and sound, which is always good to know! And I got my very own parcel from Di yesterday!! I was so excited! Here is what was in it:

I can't wait to start on the paper pieced pattern!! And the seam ripper - well, how did Di know that I lost half of mine the other day, the most important half too. So that will go next to my machine right away. I agree with Jenny that the emery board is way too cute to use, so it will sit next to my machine too :) And the cute little Christmas tag? Someone special will get that this year :) Thank you so much Di!!!!! You are so sweet :)

As for the second topic of this post - finished projects.. well, you'd think I'd have a lot wouldn't you? But even after all that sewing at Alice's it seems I only have one finish so far, which is the bushfire quilt that Cheryl quilted for me! I am going to try to do a post on that tomorrow, so stay tuned...

Oh, I did sew a dress for Elizabeth, yes, phew, there is something else!!! It's a nice simple bright sundress, (sorry the photo is not great):


Now, if I drag something out of the freezer for dinner, do you think I can quickly go and finish Cameron's quilt by midnight....? Let me go try....

Machine Quilting Class

On Saturday I went to the machine quilting class run by Ballarat Patchwork and had a GREAT day! It was well worth going to - I picked up a lot of handy hints and tips. And it was fun!! Much better than watching the Grand Final.. hee hee... although we did finish in plenty of time to watch the end.. poor Saints....

Ok, enough about footy, back to quilting. We had to make a nine patch to practice on, and I of course made mine blue. I think it will make a nice table topper. I traced those patterns with a blue washout pen using Pam's templates.. nice ones. We also had a calico sampler which we played on:



I was feeling quite happy with my doodling, until I showed it to Cameron and he said, "Oh, it's hard to be neat, isn't it?!" Men!!!

I also bought a few things... :) We all bought a can of basting spray, and I got one quilting template and two patterns:

I couldn't resist that cute teddy/blanky pattern by Melly & Me. I also bought some of the Minky fabric to make it with - it is soooooo soft! I can't wait to make it! A friend of mine has the pattern as well, so maybe we will motivate each other to sew it up soon. I bought the doll pattern for Elizabeth - she is on a doll making spree! She has been making her own patterns up and I thought it might be nice for her to have a pattern to follow for a change. She was quite pleased.

Anyway, I had a great time at class. It is so much fun to get together with other women and learn new things. Must do it more often! Have a great week everyone!