Quilt retreat and greenhouse update.

I left the homestead early Friday morning and ended at the base of Pikes Peak for a quilting retreat. It was bliss sewing for three days.  No cooking, cleaning or anything... just sewing! It was great. 

This was my view from my sewing machine. 

Anywhooo... it was great to be home this afternoon on the homestead.  Even though the porch isn't done I took seat and breathed in all that is good of home. 

Then headed to the greenhouse to cut lettuce and spinach.  Dude tilled the ground around the greenhouse. We have been working with it since we moved here 5 yrs ago.  It was all rock hard when we got here. 

The greenhouse is looking great! I headed to the salad section and got to work.

Lettuce picked and overflowing. 

Peas are reaching for the sky. 

Flowers.

Peas... for our stir fry tomorrow. 

Here are some pictures from the retreat. As you can see the crafting was diverse! 

Someone knitted doll socks. 

Another beaded.

Lots of quilting .

Embroidering

Knitting. 

A prairie dress for the upcoming 4th of July.

These butterflies are all hand-sewn and hand quilted. 

An autograph quilt table top. 

This is one of my table runners. I made three. 

Good friends.  You could hear so much laughter all weekend! 

Yep, someone finished some socks. 

Row by row from 2016 pattern. 

Wool and beading.

Pirate love. 

Hawaiian quilt with octopi and sea horses.

I finished hand sewing my penny rug. 

I am finishing a quilt top and will post this week. 

All in all it was great fun and I would do it again. 

Back to work on the homefront. 

Dinner was simple, salad from the garden with hard boiled eggs from the hens. Then went to the canning shelves and got beans, tomatoes, onions, garlic, left over green chili in the fridge, chili powder, salt, pepper and a dash of sugar with little bit of cheese. Topped with dried parsley and chili and pickled jalapeno, made a vegetarian chili. 

peace 

Learning to spin wool and making sauerkraut

Dude got all the caissons poured today and made a platform in front of the well house with the leftover cement. 

Meanwhile...

The  Farmsisters met today. We hadn't met in a few months and it was good to see everyone.  We worked on wool.  My friend Sunny made this with a variegated wool she spun. Gorgeous. 

Some crocheted and another embroidered.  

I set up my wheel and learned to spin. It is not as easy as it looks. Working the pedals and concentrating on feeding the wool was mind-bending. Practice will be a must for me. (I couldn't tell my teacher that concentration was difficult with the Journey song Wheel in the Sky playing in my head! All I could see was Steve Perry with hair that looks better than mine ever could... okay everyone in the band way back when hair looked better than mine... the Seventies live on if only in my mind,but I digress...oiy)

Learning to thread the wheel. 

Okay, I am just a beginner but  I did getting something close to looking like yarn spun.

Later in the day....

Remember the cabbage I bought after St Patrick's day? Today it was made into sauerkraut. 

I love sauerkraut!

We filled an 8 gallon crock and then left it to sleep for 6 weeks and grow into something wonderful ... and fermented. 

And all the leftovers went to the birds. 

                               
 I belted out a few, "Here chicky, chicky", and the herd came running. 

Tomorrow's project... plant some onions. 

Time for dinner... stuffed tomatoes and grilled cheese sandwiches. 

I took the leftover cheese we had for the sandwiches and made tuna salad for the tomatoes. 

The goat cheese added a zing to the sandwiches. 

Parsley from the garden. 

Dude loved it. 

Oh, and I found this stuff...well, it was on sale and I thought I would give it a try.  I mixed it with almond milk and loved it. 

Time for dishes, tea and the tube... Season one of Call of the Midwife. 

peace