December was sunny and dry, there was no white Christmas and our New Year's storm
didn't happen for the first time since we've been here. I got up yesterday morning and when I went out to feed, it was a touch under 50 degrees F. Our waterfall amounts for this time of year are almost 6" less than what they should be. That's a big deficit, that's a a lot of moisture to make up. That's a lot of mud. I should have asked for snow for Christmas, lots of it.
Yesterday I moved the Julia loom from the back sun room to the main living area.
There isn't enough room in the studio proper but this space works quite well.
It get so cold out there and DH hates to heat it since there is no insulation in the walls or the ceiling (house eave space above). This was meant as a porch in the original plans
and for now I'm fine with it being a 3 season room. We had to take the door off to get Julia through but that was easy enough. It's kind of fun having such a cute little red loom in our family area but please excuse the wreck of a (post holiday & football game weekend), kitchen.
The sewing machines haven't been neglected either. In fact I had two of them set up for service. One for sewing and one for just top stitching. It was a pleasure, no a luxury to have two super machines to work on. During the summer I stumbled upon a real deal on this Pfaff 1171.
It's an older mechanical machine with just enough electronics to keep me quite happy. Needle up/down, low bobbin indicator and some fancy satin stitches.
Oh and one more thing, you can fill the bobbin from the needle thread. I never had this option, but now that I do, it's my favorite for sure.
I made some cargo jeans over the holiday week.
Took a lot of time designing pockets and top stitching but I'm very pleased with them. The fabric was heavenly to work with.
A bamboo/cotton blend. The bamboo gives the denim a fabulous drape. These will get a ton of wear and as you can see by the wrinkles, had to be removed for pictures! My only regret is that there wasn't more of this fabric available, but I'll be keeping my eyes peeled for similar blends.
Also up on the sewing front is this cowl tunic.
The pattern is the same one I used for my Mom's lovely black and white one. I've done mine longer and added a bit more shaping to the back with darts. When my Mom comes to visit again ( or maybe during my visit), I'll take some measurements and note them for future patterns for her.
This rendition is from a coral wool crepe, one of my favorite colors to wear. I wanted a little relief from the field of solid coral and did a cute cotton print on the under collar.
I can have just a bit peeking out or turn the collar in and show the whole piece. I loved this print and was thrilled to find a such a perfect use for it.
Going on Hey Baby Delta is this lovely mixed skein of wools and glitz for a bed shawl.
Long, wide and simple I'll let the beautiful yarns speak for themselves. The weft will be a soft darker green Nature's Palette fingering weight Merino.
In farm news, the stalls are as done as they are going to be until spring. Front guards are up, they each have a wall mounted salt block to play with and all three have gotten use to their individual spaces. Of course the weather has been so nice, we have not opened up that little sectioned off barn/paddock area since a couple of days after Christmas.
Dennett celebrated his birthday January 1st, that would be 19. Like a candle reaching the end of the wick, he is fading. He sleeps, we cuddle, he eats well. We'll soldier on until he tells us he truly has had enough. I'm preparing myself best I can.
Stella, Robin, Pogo and Smoochie provide us with lots of comic relief. Robin is hitting that bratty 9 month old teenager stage. No doubt it will last until about 18 months. He's such a cute little rogue and finally has surpassed his big sister in size and weight. She still gets the last word though....always.
Parting shot -Stella : Little Pictures have big ears AND eyes!
