More Autumn Planning

 The weather is sunny most days, but the wind has a bite, making me pull out my mittens and tam in the mornings when the chickens are awake and want their breakfast. The nice thing is that two of the Rhode Island Reds always have two eggs waiting for me. The other girls have no set time; they just lay their eggs later in the day or not.

A huge surprise for us when a hen laid a huge egg, we'd never seen one so big!

Bill decided he wanted a fried egg sandwich for breakfast & the curiosity of what was in such a large egg was to be revealed.

It was indeed a double-yolk egg! Bill said it was very tasty!

Our youngest son Nicholas celebrated his 35th birthday on the weekend & I made & gifted him this labour of love quilt of 168 images of Pokemon I Spy Quilt a pattern by Primitive Gatherings.

The backing of his quilt was too narrow & I did not have enough fabric. Nick came up with the idea to use a Pokemon panel to sill the shortage & it worked out beautifully! Rose, the longarm quilter did a wonderful job on the quilting. Happy Birthday Nicholas! xXx

Last weekend was a busy one with Bill & the boys, Nicholas & Donald installing the steel fence that Bill had purchased at an auction a couple of months back in Fredericton. Both Nick & Don had to work that morning & didn't start till 1pm but by suppertime, the fence was done!

The fence is 7ft tall & each section is 10ft long.

With the Autumn colours behind it, I think it is beautiful!

The ground was not level & this part is lower as you can see with Don being 6'2". lol

Bridget the Boston terrier was so excited with all the activity at the end of the lane.

They started working on the east side of the property corner after the smaller area on the west side was done.

Nick had the job of mixing water into the holes to make the cement harden.

Then Bill & Don did the fence installing, it was hard on Bill's shoulder as he's waiting for a shoulder operation that I hope comes soon.

The three worked well together getting this big job done in just several hours!

Here's the before look at our front property before the fence.

Mitchell worked on levelling the front area for the fence installation on his last visit here.

Having that all done made for a much easier installation of the fence, thank you, Mitch! (He's our middle son who lives in Alberta)

This is the west side that has the draining ditch & a very high water table when they dug down for the cement holes.

Beautiful, one of my girlfriends called it 'magical'. 

The lane is long & some fencing is left over but we'll see if it is going by the two-car garage that is being built next spring.

And here is the finished fencing with Bill leaving the laneway, lots of room to come & go making the plowing easy this winter.

Bill made this bridge for the chickens to cross over to another area that he had opened up for them.

It too has fencing around & over it to protect the chickens from predators.

See the chickens left of the photo, they enjoy sitting in the sun.

I made wee Liam a Winnie-the-Pooh crib quilt & used the leftover fabric from his crib sheets to put in the border. 

Bill was in Alberta last week to meet Liam & took this picture for me. He was born September 5th & is doing very well.

The quilt after I had sewn the minky roses backing to the front as binding. 

The backing is oh so soft! Rose, did a beautiful job quilting this in my favourite wind pattern.

Liam on another quilt that I made him with soft velour-like pinwheels. 

This is the 100 100-acre wood pattern that I am doing with Art East Quilting Co. You receive one chapter a month, the first for October was Winnie-the-Pooh & now I'm working on Chapter 2 - Piglet, I'll post when he is finished. Two were made last month, the one on the left is for the big quilt, and the other is the one you viewed with Liam on it!

Bill with Liam in his Halloween costume, Bill is over the moon with this beautiful baby named after him! 

We love auctions these days & at the last Auction in Loggieville Bill bid on outside Christmas ornaments. These were older ones that had been commercially glued at the factory & over time the glue dried out leaving the fabric hanging. I took the time, yes, hours & hours of whip stitching the fabric back onto the wire. I keep hearing the sound of the lyrics in a song "If it's broke around here we fix it" & I was so pleased with the time spent doing just that!

The tenants at the Eel River Apartments are going to love these decorations this year. 

The snowman had a lot of work done too! See the red whip stitch around the mitten, I used acrylic yarn to hold the fabric to the outline wire, it was strong & I think will weather several winters.

And here he is together, black yarn to hold his hat together, white yarn to hold his arms & body together. I sew things together rather than glue as I know it only falls apart when the glue is old.

Isn't he friendly to put in front of an apartment building?!

This very large pom-pom tree was taken out of the Anniversary Garden & is heading to the apartment to be rehomed in the large horseshoe area out front!

I asked Bill to move it as the tree needed more space than it had & was now coming onto the back deck.

Here is the void in the garden to where it was. The blue-muffin bush got a big trimming too. When we purchased it several years ago it was to be 5ft x 5ft, it is out of control!

Bill loves any opportunity to use his equipment to get a job done, and Mitch is so like him for that too. He used this to level the front for the fence last year. lol

The squirrel is tormenting Baxter again, Bridget doesn't care, she just likes to smell the autumn smell.

Baxter sat there for hours looking at the little red squirrel as it chirped at him. 

When I finally insisted that he leave the tree, he was so numb that he was walking on three legs! 

Last winter I kept saying that the squirrel was going to kill him, but he did end up with near frostbite!

Such a love-hate relationship with them!

Bill used a tarp to wrap the rootball for the large bush to be moved to its new home in the next village.

It worked out beautifully.

And the day was a beautiful one too. This fall has had wonderful weather, although it is calling for snow tonight but in a couple of days it will be 17C (62.6F) crazy weather!

Here is the pom-pom bush in its new spot at the apartment, it will be stunning this spring/summer when it blooms!

In the horseshoe grassed area Bill also installed a flag pole to hang seasonal flags!

The chickens have cleaned all the area outside their coop out, just trees left.

We weed through the yard & throw it into their fenced area, such a win-win but the weather is changing & soon the weed greens will be gone too.

Rusty is such a nice rooster, I'm thankful because he is huge & has grown past my knee height!

It's a joy to see them out in an area in our yard that was just dead space, now it is alive.

Leslie gave me sewing things from her auction box & this red cotton is truly geranium red!

I winter my geraniums inside over winter, and the colour of the flowers makes my heart sing.

Makes me think of my Aunt Lousie, my Grandma's older sister, she always had red geraniums across the front of her house every year, Aunt Louise's favourite colour was red & Grandma's was green, those two sisters were like 'day & night', I loved & missed them both!

Plants are now all out of the sunporch and are in the great room for the winter until the sunporch is warm again next spring.

This solid maple blue dresser I got at the auction for $3.00, with the highboy & matching mirror for another $3.00. I love solid wood for its strength & durability & could not pass this bid up!

Bill had the idea to place his 5/8" thick plexiglass workbench on top to protect the wood and take the weight of all the plants. It all worked out!

It fits in that area perfectly! Bill covered a board in the back again with a cotton quilt from Cracker Barrel to keep the west winds from blowing in as this is the old part of our house but with the firebox in that room it does get cozy & warm.

With all the drawers out you can see the storage that we will have with this new furniture piece that works great with Christmas coming. I have already started filling the drawers with Christmas goodies.

No peaking from the kids if you're reading this, Santa knows!

The extra quilt layer really does make a difference!

The outdoor board is sturdy but oh so cold with drafts until the snow covers the whole wall which did not happen last year, I saw out the window the whole winter!

I'm not getting into Christmas until after Remembrance Day, so I shall show you what I am up to this year. 

Thank you for stopping in for a visit & yes, I know I'm not doing well at keeping up with my blog but so much is going on with the prep for winter & I'm savouring the beauty of Autumn & getting outside when I can. 

Thanks again for your visit!

Hugs, Cynthia 

Fall Is Upon Us

 It sure feels like the season it is, fall these days. So much rain has fallen, making the leaves heavy and falling off the trees. The wind is changing just to reassure us that it is autumn!

The colours are so beautiful when we drive to town, even in the overcast the colours are there!

The chickens are now doing what we wanted when we got them last May 6th: The last of the Rhode Island Reds has laid her egg! For now, four eggs a day will be the norm, but this will slow down as winter approaches.

Nick & Leslie gave me this for my birthday in a full bag of 'chicken surprise gifts' this is so fitting right now, thank you, kids!

Bill made us a Sunday breakfast of scrambled eggs! They were delicious!!

The colour of the eggs is perfect & the shells are thick and healthy, the girls are happy and Rusty the Rooster seems to be always muttering about something, he is such a good rooster, a gentleman to his ladies, & a hero protecting them too.

I started Liam's Winnie-The-Pooh quilt with Art East Quilting, one chapter a month to make the quilt, this month is Winnie. I'm making two Winnie's one for the quilt & one for a crib quilt.

I'll post when I get them done.

Sew many pieces to get this block done, this block is 19" x 37.5", so perfect for the crib size, just borders to enlarge the end.

This is the whole quilt when finished, there are nine chapters & will finish at 70" x70".

This just makes my eyes swell as a friend of mine recently found this & a handwritten letter from his mother when going through her things after her passing. 

Winnie-the-Pooh is timeless and has no age limit to it. 

Some autumn pics of the property here, it was Blue Box day & the walk to the end of the lane inspired me to go & take these pics to share. This is my favourite time of year, sweater weather. lol

This is approximately halfway down the lane. Where I stopped is where the new garage will be built, this spring 2025.

Such colour always reminds me of plaid fabric!

This is the new garage area and the lane that goes to the house.

We planted a new garden along the lane to add a shot of colour & texture with the limelight hydrangeas.

So many maples that are showy at this time of year!

I have started drinking rosehip tea since the new meds I'm on have me avoiding tea, coffee, & chocolate! I'm enjoying the flavour & my body likes it too!

Bill & I picked these and the jar was full, he likes the flavour as an evening drink.

I picked more this morning so I'll clean them & put them in a jar once they are fully dried.

Well, Bridget, Baxter, & I are going for a walk down the laneway to drag the emptied big Blue Box back home, this time it will be lighter!

Well, I must get on with my day, this was just a post to let you know how happy I am with the chickens now that they're laying eggs!

Thank you for stopping by & I'm hoping you have a wonderful Happy Thanksgiving!

We will be having our Thanksgiving dinner in Chatham, Nick & Leslie are hosting it this year!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hugs, Cynthia

September Is Exciting!

 It"s been a while since I have taken the time to sit down and visit with you so now I will show you the busy treadmill of my senior days this month.

Our grandson Liam, is named after my husband, his grandfather William. The naming was such a wonderful surprise, I cried tears of joy upon seeing him with DIL Nicole & our son, Mitchell, & baby Liam.

Nicole did not have an easy time with the breech birth & the doctor decided that a cesarian was to be scheduled. The three are all doing very well. 

Liam was born September 5th, 2024 weighing 7lbs 1oz Beautiful baby boy!

He is growing daily, and they send pics via messager.

I made Liam this growing mat from a panel by Northcott and I  made four bibs and a vertical hanging growth chart from another panel from the same collection. 

Ok, that was my great news from the Alberta kids and the new branch on the Richardson Family tree!

Now the the terrifying experience I went through with the chickens!

It was 7:30am early morning and Baxter went crazy at the front door & really wanted out.

I opened the door to hear a chicken screaming for its life! I put my boots on & went after Baxter who had got to the chicken area before me & frightened an enormous bird of prey off of Rusty the Rooster. 

OMG, the bird flew over my head & its wing span was huge!! I had adrenaline running through me & I chased it with a rake flaring it in the air as it sat in a tree & watched & listened to me calm the chickens down, my heart pounding and feeling so bad for Rusty who was the gentleman rooster I knew him as but now he was a hero to his girls!

His comb had been yanked and he was bleeding for about 2.5cm but what I saw next made me cry.

There he sat on a log exhausted from the fight of his life & his eyes opening & closing from that exhaustion. The four hens gathered around the log he was on & held him up with their bodies to warm him and be together, the united flock they had become. 

It looks dark when its wings are down but what I saw fly over me looked like the spotting of an owl!

Maybe it is the baby eagle that the parents were teaching to fly a couple of months ago?

Of course, this is all happening when Bill is working away! I told him what had happened & he said that deer netting would go over the open area. He did install it & it looked great & I feel at ease that the chickens are safe from birds of prey. We thought that the trees would have been protected...we thought wrong and it was the raccoon & fox that I was worried about!

 

The same week as the attack, I awoke to find this in my dressing room! That was a downstairs mouse trap that had no food in it?!! Rexton may be 10 years old but she still is playful and a good mouser!

I screamed & Baxter came running & the mouse then moved its feet & I screamed again & the dog was frantic & barking. I ran & got my gloves & an empty bread bag to be rid of it. 

I placed it trap & all in the bag...what to do next. I couldn't kill it so I took it outside & released the trap in the outside firepit, it ran under debris that was already in it. I told it if it lives it is free, if not then a cremation would take place next burning. What a week!!

I wanted to do something with the chickens' empty feed bags & came up with the idea of making outside pillows making something from nothing, I stuffed it with selvage fabric scraps so it had good weight & will not blow away.

Stuffing it with fabric scraps & if they're mine they are truly scraps! LOL

This was their first feed bag when they were chicks. :) I found the wrought iron chair at Open Door Antiques in Chatham & it's perfect for the pillow!

The empty areas are for the planting of thyme but that will be next spring now. The geraniums did great back by the coop!

This was their 2nd feed bag, I put small pompoms on the ends & lined the inside with bubble wrap & brick for a filler.

My girlfriend Debbie sent a wonderful hydrangea wreath idea & I made grapevine wreaths & cut many limelights to dry for this project next year for us to do.

Sitting on the front porch you only see these limelight beauties now! Those are the three bushes that have filled out.

They are starting to change to pink so I cut many to hang & will do the same with some pink ones next week if all this rain doesn't make them have rusty-coloured flowers.

That clipping didn't even put a dent in those large bushes!

We were at Atlantic Auctions Inc. in Loggeville last weekend I got this maple hutch & table with chairs for $35! Yes, thirty-five dollars!!

The hutch is perfect for storing & displaying planting pots & seeds.

This is the limelight hydrangea bush that was moved there two years ago, it too is thriving!

And the one by the flagpole, well just look at it this year!

I placed the loose bits in the metal bird bowl to dry out.

And hung the other full stemmed pieces from the pole to dry out. I hope this works & it was not too early to do this, time will tell. 

Now for the drum roll for the excitement I had this week...

Henny laid an egg!! Her very first egg was on Tuesday but not in the nesting box, then again on Wednesday but again, not in the nesting box. I took two marble eggs and some lavender & placed both in the nesting box. Thursday she laid her egg in the nesting box and a Reba, the Rhode Island reds laid one in the same box that afternoon!! Two hens lying with just two more to go. 

Since May 6th, this is what we've been waiting for!

I had placed the baking sheet/towel with cherry tomatoes on top of the cat tower, she wasn't using it until yesterday and what a mess I had to pick up. I heard a noise when vacuuming but couldn't find anything that would cause it, and then I saw Rexton playing & chasing something, a mouse again?

No, it was a tomato!

Oh my, it seems my days have such excitement in them these days. What was I thinking placing those tomatoes on the cat tower? Well, last year it was the cranberries & she had them everywhere, so I thought high & out of sight. Wrong. LOL

I also made two grapevine orbs, this one is quite large & I had Bill nail a stake to hold it from the wind as it will sit outside all year to keep the gargoyle company.

It is hard on my arthritic hands to clamp the hog clamper but I had an easier time this year than last so I hope my hands are getting stronger but I was told it is only going to get worse. So I really keep my hands busy! I love seeing artistic sculptures done with nature, it so belongs there and warms the area with interest.

This is the second one, I think I will wrap it some more with the grapevines.

This is the one that I made last year & you can see how the colour of the vine lightens with age.

The paper-pieced dragon was a lot of work but so worth it when it came together!

I plan on putting his name on the bottom & making it a wall hanging for Liam's room as he ages. 

I have been working on the garden door insulating quilts & have the Christmas one done! It's called Hanging Stockings by Lori Holt.

The colour looks drained from my phone photo. I plan on rug hooking small stockings for the presents that will be wrapped in brown paper this year. I want an old Christmas feel to the house, it will also mean less work! 

This pic from my phone is so washed out from the light in the foyer. I will take a proper photo when I have the border on it. It is called Crows In The Corn by Lori Holt. 

You can see that I'm working with bright colours these days to lift my mood. I do feel more comfortable with the darker natural colours that will probably come out through the winter to ground me.

I am so happy you have stayed til the end, it was a long blog and much has gone on this month with highs & lows in my daily living that are moving way too fast for my liking. I think that is why I'm seeing so much about 'Slow Sewing' on Youtube, I like listening to books, and I'm on the second 10-hour tape of Black Ink Heart, one of the Strike series that aired on TV made from the book.

I can sew or prepare meals and listen whilst being read too!

Have a safe weekend this long weekend and I will try to be more proactive with doing my blogs. 

Hugs, Cynthia