A Cool and Affordable Luxury

 Linen. For summer there is nothing like it!  I think of all my linen clothing as an investment and I wear them year round. With minimal care, they will last for years too, just like linen handwoven's.  While linen sheets for a king sized bed can be cost prohibitive, a pair (or more) of linen pillowcases isn't.



 These mint green beauties took about an hour and half in time and  $35.00 for 2.5 +- yards of good quality European linen. I utilized the pretty pale periwinkle blue selvage edge as the decorative band between the deep folded hem and the pillow case body and matched my thread to it for some simple top stitching. Pillow cases are one of the few home decorating type projects I like. I used a tutorial from Fabric of Visions blog here. I liked it better than the one I had previously followed and like the size and very generous hem this one calls for.

In sewing news, one top (Burda 7220) in voile has been completed



and another (Simplicity 2191) is in the works with a wonderful shirt weight Italian cotton.



I had to do some adjustments to Rhonda. It meant taking everything off of her and the two of us standing around in our skivvies while I measured and adjusted. Time consuming, but worth it since she's in service for most of my sewing. For those that are curious, we had to go down a bit in some places, not up.  ;) Lastly in sewing, I am finally going to cut into my treasured tomato red plaid for a jacket. It's been in the petting stash long enough!

Around the farm, the horses and donkeys had their feet trimmed yesterday. The new farrier Steve is now just Steve the farrier. Everyone has become accustomed to his way of working and it's all good. I need to get pics of the donkeys, they are finally looking pretty svelte.

Notable sightings around the farm have included a big Red Tailed Hawk, a fully mature Bald Eagle and of course, the usual residents, Chickadees, Nuthatches, wood peckers, wrens, sparrows and robins. The deer are out and about all over the mountain. Does and fawns are constantly crossing the roads now that the fawns are getting older. This is probably the most dangerous time for both drivers and deer. These two cuties were grazing with their Mommas last night while we watched them from our front porch.



 They finally got suspicious of the camera clicking (what hearing they've got!), and took off.



 I've spied my favorite little grey fox once or twice this week too. Gratefully, no raccoons or skunks.

The new warp for Murphy is in process. I'll work on it some more over the weekend along with writing out the prayers on the silks.



Parting shot: Comfort in closeness. These two are almost always touching at rest.

Second String

That's not a bad thing. It means the Murphy loom is free and ready for a new flag warp. It means every single hand written prayer line has been woven into a flag and is now blowing in the wind. (Possible earworm!).



 And it means I better attend to my squeaky beater and get a new warp started on the reel. Over time I have simplified these flags and I am happy with the changes. Less really is more especially when it means more flags get done and they are more fun to do.



I guess I could have also titled this the second coming post, because there are a fair number of seconds here. Second of the seconds, Mouse #2. Caught the day after Mouse #1 and also channeled into the release program. Complete with picture.



 So far after 2 nights of resetting the trap, no third mouse. I do want to say, in Robin's defense (he's probably the most game of my crew for mousing), he alerted me last week by barking and digging around the crates there in the laundry room. I thought he was whining for a dropped kibble that might have rolled behind a crate, but in retrospect, I think he was probably on to those mice. Certainly deserving of an appropriate picture showing just what he can do where rodents are concerned. ;)



Third of the seconds, is another visit up to Howard Prairie to see a man about a boat. I had questions about what kind of boat one of them in my last post was, so, being up for a drive I tootled over yesterday morning for a look see. While I was there I couldn't resist taking some more pics of this lovely resort. It has a long, long jetty that made for a perfect picture taking stroll, and yes, I did get the boat info that was requested.

Flock of seagulls ( BTW, anybody remember that band?). These pictures should all enlarge. That's Mt. McLoughlin in the background, still holding some snow.



Boats at the dock. I was thrilled with how nice these came out. I do love my new camera!





A Pelican!



In farm news, Sunday evening was dang perfect. I grabbed Cooper and we went out for an evening ride. Left at 7:30p.m. and got home just a bit before 9:00p.m. A lovely relaxing finish to a wonderful day. He got to poke along and graze and I just enjoyed doing what I've loved doing since I was about 4 years old. There is nothing for me as magical as riding a horse.

Surprisingly for July in Southern Oregon, yesterday evening marked the start of two days of  rain and very cool temps. As I write this it's 48 F out and I'll be grabbing my rain coat and hat to go feed this morning. A welcome relief.

Parting shot: A true original. Peter enjoyed the trip to Howard Prairie too.

Deer Herders

Not quite, but close. Maybe "Panic in the Forest" might be more appropriate, or "The Deer Stalkers"! It wasn't funky plaid hats floating through the forest, just Cooper and I on a long enjoyable ride. At 9:00 yesterday morning, I put down my sewing, grabbed my mount of choice and hit the trails. We've had a cool down the past few days (I guess buying an A/C it was almost a given I wouldn't need it.), and the weather was perfect. Cooper had obviously been daydreaming about Seabiscuit or Seattle Slew and was awfully perky. I let him have his way with the speed control and just enjoyed whatever pace he set. He self settled into his usual mosey after a few good long steep hills. No matter what the speed, everywhere we went we rousted deer from resting or grazing spots. Bucks, does with fawns and those without. I don't think we went 50 yards without someone bounding away in front of us or to the side. The ride was packed with excitement and beauty and we enjoyed two hours on both deer trails and our regular routes. Gene said 6 deer raced across our driveway about a minute or so before we pranced onto it. He knew we were coming even before he heard the bells or saw us in the trees. We had finished the last 30 minutes on the halter only. Good old Mr. Reliable!

One of the hot nights earlier in the week we had gone out to dinner up at Howard Prairie.



The meal was unremarkable, but the views spectacular.



 It's a big, beautiful mountain lake, full of fish, eagles and plenty of other wildlife. The lake itself is man made, part of the irrigation project for the valley and was built the same year I was. 1958!



It's 6 miles long and a mile wide in parts. There are about 250 camp sites but the majority of the area surrounding the lake is untouched except for trails and is a magnet for wildlife. If I rode the irrigation road the 12 plus miles from my house, I would end up on the far (south) end of Howard Prairie.

There has been some stash building over the last couple of weeks.



 Obviously the cooler colors and hues have been popular, but still a pop of something warm and fallish. This Tina Givens cotton print was on sale and with an eye towards cooler weather I snatched it up.



 Besides, I'm not one to shy away from whimsical prints, and I loved the fox floating on the kites in it. The printed pale Robin's Egg blue fabric is a rayon crepe.



 I've visited with it often and when the roll started to get low I figured I better not tarry if I wanted some. Three yards came home with me (along with a yard piece of linen in the same lovely shade of blue). Enough to make whatever I decide and maybe then some. The rest are all cottons, the grey a nice bodied organic.

Dog walks in the woods are out for now. The fox tails are out with a vengeance so all walks are now on the true paths or roads and on leash only. It's just as well, the wild life around the house is active and I don't need to go chasing after a dog chasing after a deer or turkey. Late afternoon yesterday I was sitting on the back deck, sipping a beer. In 20 minutes I saw does, fawns, our grey fox and a hen turkey with a whole pack of chicks, peeping and cheeping through the woods. I really should remember to bring the camera out with me but I'll leave you with these as parting shots. I AM loving my zoom lens.

Fawn: Unaware


Fawn: Aware

Seriously...

Six, count them (Robin, Stella, Charlotte, Miss Bea, Smoochie, Jack), SIX terriers and not a one of them could catch this little imp hiding under the washer or dryer.



 And lets not forget the one house cat. Sheesh, it took me, worlds dinkiest Hav-A-Hart trap and some peanut butter to do the job. It was a catch and release of course. Little Minnie or Mickey went into the Peromyscus relocation program and ended up on a woodsy rock outcropping about 75 yards from the house. I am sure the local mouse population is being regaled with stories about the horde of lazy critters. Maybe the mouse version of a big fish story?

The terriers are adept at finding the errant scorpion though. He was not so lucky. Enough said.

Now I know you are all probably impressed with how magnanimous I am, not to mention sheer bravery, but I need to come clean. In the face of another Southern Oregon summer, (which by the way, finally arrived), I am a griping, grouchy wimp. I just can't stand high heat and I know that many of you, in most parts of the country, are experiencing MUCH worse than we have on average up here in the Cascade-Siskiyou Mountain range.  Kudos to you, and to all those fire fighters on the front lines in Colorado too! Anyway, I cried "Uncle"( a few other things too), and broke down and bought a cheap small window air conditioner for the bedroom. $99.00 between me and a good nights sleep. It was a no brainer. DH wisely installed it with very little comment, but I did notice he brought in the ice scraper from his truck. If only it could get the room cold enough for frost on the windows.....

In general farm news, Bob got an oil change. It was a real pain locating the proper oil filter. He's about 21 years old and the parts books no longer cross reference his old part number, so we and by "we" I mean Gene, had to take out the old filter, go to town and get a new one. That current part number is written on the front of the manual we have for him. I was a little insulted when one of the tractor parts places asked if he was a mower when I gave them his model number. Bob is NOT a big lawn mower, he's a small tractor, complete with front end loader and could take other normal tractor attachments if we wanted. He may be small, but he is mighty and I told them so.

Sewing has been steady but slow. Monday I cut out 4 summer blouse patterns. There is something perverse about spending all morning vacuuming and cleaning, only to make a mess cutting up fabrics an hour after I'm done, but that's what happens.  I made up a repeat of Burda pattern 7398.





 I had bought this pattern and some fabric I liked when I was in MA and gave my folks sewing machine a good cleaning and little workout on it while there. I liked version one a lot. It took a while constructing pockets on this second version. I just love the practicality and fun that adding a pocket offers so when I saw a little 5" zipper at the "craft store masquerading as a fabric store", I had to give it a whirl.



 This shirt got a little breast pocket too because I loved being able to use the interesting selvage edge from some left over grey Swiss Dot fabric.

Weaving has been steady but slow too. The end of the Murphy warp is in sight.

Riding has been out of the question. Along with the heat these last few days, we have stayed pretty humid for us, over 50% most evenings and overnight, dropping to around 30% during the day.  The boys did get out for a day of grazing rotation, the grass is drying up quickly, so it was probably one of their last. I may hand walk them all over to one area
and keep watch since it is nearer the road than I would like. Basically, we're hitting the dog days of summer. Fire danger is rising to "High" today, we're watching the skies for thunder storms and hoping all the visitors to our lovely mountain are as careful as we are during fire season.

Parting shot: Rodent specialists? I think not!

Matango

The weekend was devoted to doing a series of unrelated tasks that, while not glamorous, just needed doing. The sort of stuff that starts with looking for something, then before you know it, you're reorganizing a drawer or a closet. Piddly stuff that eats up more time than you would think.

Then of course, horses behaving badly was another time sink. Actually, only Dandy behaving badly. Every horse has their thing that just brings out the worst in them. Nick's is small white plastic bags, Cooper hates to be hard tied, Dandy...the dreaded water hose. Mr. D needed a bath, so we danced and pranced for over an hour in the hot sun on Friday. All politeness goes out the window when the water hits mid back. Needless to say, both of us were dripping at the end and both just as aggravated with the other over it. I did manage to avoid the "let's roll in the dust and make myself muddy" period by letting him go graze around the property. After a couple of hours grazing, he was full, dry and back to his usual sweet self, as was I. All was forgiven and even the foot he stepped on felt better. Neither of us holds grudges. Baths are business. 

In the sewing room, I finished up the second bath rode/housecoat I had cut ages ago.  I went from giant fruit to giant fungi! BTW, Matango is an old Japanese grade B horror flick, in English known as "The Attack of the Mushroom People".

Can't say why this languished for so long, but I'm in love with it now that it's done. I made some changes from the blue corduroy one. I hated the in-seam side pockets. They are comfortable enough but I have ripped (and repaired) both of them since they catch quite often on things. I went with patch pockets on this one; lengthened and narrowed the sleeves and decided last minute to use snaps instead of buttons.

 I had bought some pretty wooden buttons painted with matching toadstools, but cute as they were, they just didn't show up on this big, bold and busy pattern. Simple silver snaps worked well and I'll save my cute buttons for something that will showcase them. I wish I had had enough fabric to match things, but this was expensive fabric and the waste would have been substantial with the large repeats. As it was, I'm amazed I got what I needed from the yardage since it was a half yard shy after looking at the pattern. But it is, after all, a bath robe.

The roll of done prayer flags is growing. I hope to finish off this warp mid week. I need to get after a squeak in the beater assembly once the warp is off. I know just where it's coming from and a little dry lubrication should do the trick.

Around the farm we have our first truly aggressive doe. I heard a commotion and went out to investigate. Juno came running from the woods with her tail and back puffed up. There was the doe (probably the same one who challenged the grey fox) with her fawn. The fawn took off, the doe stood her ground, stomping one front hoof then the other in a very deliberate way and accompanied by a threatening snort. Hey, no problem. I can take a hint. While I didn't puff up like Juno, I did clear out PDQ. We consoled each other on the back deck. Don't mess with the wildlife in general and this Momma deer in particular!

Parting shot: Why Robin! What a little fat head you've got.

The Bounty of Beets

 And good friends that gift them to you!



 Let's not forget carrots and monster heads of lettuce either.



 I have no garden, so it is much appreciated when other's share a bit of their hard work. The beets BTW, were delicious simply sliced thin and sauteed in some butter. It certainly elevated our modest burger dinner last night. Horses and donkeys all enjoyed the carrot treats. The greens were almost as coveted as the carrot itself. The lettuce everything one could want for a salad or sandwich. Thank you good friend!

Two thirty a.m. seems to be the magic time for emergency calls up here this summer.

DH has been called out at least once a week at that magic hour. Last week for a suicide

call, this morning for a medical call. It's interesting to note, this seems to be a suicide year. This was the third call in about a month. The other two sadly were successful in their endeavors, this last the party was taken into custody for their own protection.

It would be easy to say it was the economy, but honestly, we get a year like this every six or so. I wonder if other rural remote places experience the same kind of phenomenon?

Anyway, setting deep reflection aside for when I have had more than just one cup of coffee, let's get down to what's happening on the Murphy loom. We have a full string of five flags completed and probably another 10-12 flags worth of warp on there.



 It's good to weave on my first loom and the view in that back room is wonderful. Yesterday we got our first good sighting of a young fawn. She was racing around the pine trees, testing out those fast new legs on what was likely her first full day outing with Mom.

Birding has been excellent this year so far. We have a breeding pair of Stellar Jays that has provided constant entertainment for us and lots of noise and woe for Juno and Buzz.

Juno gets dive bombed regularly if she travels towards the back of the property and we always know to look because they make quite the racket! Their beauty is in the feathers not the song, but they are devilishly good at sounding like a hawk when alarmed.



 Western Tanagers have been plentiful as have Mountain Bluebirds and all local varieties of woodpeckers, including the giant Pileated Woodpeckers. The usual assortment of Wrens, Chickadees, Nuthatch and Juncos, plus hawks, vultures and crows. I believe I spied a Cedar Waxwing while out on ride Monday morning, a first for me. I have a pair of Ravens that wait with the horses and donkeys for me to serve up the daily portion of cob and vitamins at morning feeding. These two bold black birds strut up to any of the donkeys and pilfer a bit of cob. If I'm late on delivery not only do I hear braying and whinnies, but a few irritated caws in there too. They're all just keeping the room service staff on time I guess.

In the sewing room, I have been working on a jacket in the rest of the linen/cotton denim. I'm using Simplicity pattern #2153 and I can't recommend it enough.



 What a wonderful pattern to use. Simple, well drafted and stylish. Easy enough for a beginner sewist but versatile enough for someone who wants to use it for springboard to customize.



 Can you tell I'm loving this pattern or what? Everyone needs a good three season denim jacket and I've got mine.



This one will get a ton of use and with the high linen content should last for a long time.

Have a Happy 4th of July everyone, stay safe and enjoy!
Parting shot: Pigs on blanket.

Charlotte & Peter

The Attack of the Killer Strawberries

Oh come on, how often can you use a subject title like that? I've been saving that one for a long time. But I really mean killer in a different way. Just how do slang expressions get started anyway? I made myself sit down and finish a home decorating project I started about a month ago. Since my little desk area sits in a windowed alcove, it really needs curtains. Sometimes the contrast and light is so bright, I can barely see my computer screen and the old bamboo roll up blinds were a real pain to deal with. Enter large, lovely and very graphic giant strawberry printed fabric.



I fell in love with it the moment I saw it, but it just isn't suitable for clothing especially for someone in the low five foot range. I don't particularly like handbags, so that left curtains. If I grow another foot or find that perfect pattern for a strawberry garment, I can always follow Scarlet's lead and wear them. Basically the curtains are lined panels.



I've left deep hems and kept stitching to a minimum so the cloth is still in large pieces. Some day soon I'll do the tall window in the studio, but not in this. I have something else picked out to contrast and play with my big berries! ;)

Moving to the outside, the moon and stars aligned and Gene and I found ourselves with some free time on the same day and in the same time frame. It happens less than you may think and only gets worse during summer fire season. The Dennett memorial wind chime finally made it out to the proper location.



Basically we cut a tallish tree that needed to be thinned, cleaned it up, put a cross piece on it and put it up. We also took down all the old prayer flags and put up the first new string.



The old ones are folded and waiting for fall burning season. I'm hoping to have all new strings of flags circling that special area. Some gifted lambs ear was planted around the pole.

Of course Robin was out and about to help later in the day. (Rodger too since nothing goes on in his domain that he doesn't feel the need to supervise).



It was a nice little training session for him. Young dogs like to be in constant motion. While I was working out there he had to learn to stay local. He could investigate, he could dig, but he had to stay in the immediate area. As parting shots, I'll leave you with a few of the best. Let's just title this series, "I am Terrier, see me dig".