Roses of Summer

Who would ever think anything could be so lovely and perfect? These are a few of my miniature roses, which are just riotously blooming along my front walk. They are all from Noreast Miniature Roses, which unfortunately is no longer selling directly to individuals, and only to nurseries. I bought these before that policy.

This is Innocence.

This is Peaches and Cream.

Seattle Scentsation

Looking a little tattered but still gorgeous is Raindrops.

I have two more varietals (Incognito and Child's Play) but they are not blooming right now. They have tons of buds, though.

And here is the Brother cat, with some early-morning snuggling in the chair.

Coop Repaired and Other Matters

The coop is finally fixed. It just needs a spot of paint and it's done. So much for the tree crushing it! It's been re-shingled and the broken boards have been fixed so the girls will stay clean and dry.

The little girls are getting to be big girls but the big girls still don't care for them, so they get locked out while the little ones get to run around inside the coop for a while.


Here are the big lovelies, almost ready, I hope, to lay. They are getting nice big combs and wattles and are sitting in their nest boxes occasionally.

And here is the new home for the duckies, who are big and smelly and need to be OUT OF MY HOUSE! We have to move it into place. It was just delivered yesterday. It's very heavy and needs to be pulled with the lawn mower. Hopefully the duckies like it!

Seattle in Summer

I was a tourist for most of last week. I went to the American Veterinary Medical Association's annual convention that was hosted in Seattle. We had a GREAT time. The parts I enjoyed the most were the food, Pike's Place, walking all over, and the Asian bookstore Kinokuniya. There's little me in the middle of the craft book section. I bought a bunch of books and I'll share those later.


This photo was taken at Pioneer Square, which was a unique district. There was a great antiques store that we muddled around in for a while.

We walked to Seattle Center and saw the Space Needle. We didn't go up, though--the line was ridiculous.

This is the fountain in Seattle Center. It was hot and sunny that day and those kids were having a GREAT time!

On one of our last days, we went to Viretta Park, where there's a memorial of sorts to Kurt Cobain. It's hard to believe it's been 15 years since he died. Here's his bench.


I'm glad we went. It was very restful and such a crafty sort of city. I hope to go back again sometime.

DS Travel Case

I'm going to Seattle for a conference next week, and my DS is coming with me. It needed a cute pouch for travel purposes, so I made one up today. I bought the fabric from Etsy (Mountain of the Dragon).

Sewing Cute Dolly Clothes

This is An Mei, by Helen Kish. She's 8 inches tall and is the little sister of Song.

Baha, always pretty, no matter what she wears.

Someone's Sewing Box

The Rescue Mission had a tent sale last weekend. I wasn't intending to go in, but we stopped next door at the hardware store, and when we were done there we stepped into the tent. It was pouring rain and the rain was leaking under the tent edges and making everything damp and gloomy. We wandered up and down the rows of cheap tables, looking at what was mostly junk. I was about to leave and saw this basket. It's not the nicest basket; the handle is damaged and the trim is coming off. But it was full of vintage patterns. And at the bottom, there are vintage notions--buttons and rickrack and ribbon and thread. I couldn't leave it there, so I got it for 3.99. I brought it home and sorted it, and now I'm feeling sad for whatever lady used it. It's obviously well-used and full of patterns for ladies' clothing. There are a large number of maternity clothes patterns. I imagine that the owner of the box took up sewing when she was pregnant. There are later fashions that are Misses sizes and look to be from the 1970s. There is a scrap of grey and red plaid pants material at the bottom of the basket, and a fluorescent felt heart-shaped needle book with all the hallmarks of a child's first awkward sewing project, given to mother or grandmother and carefully preserved in her sewing basket all those years. For whatever lady used this basket for all those years until it ended up at the thrift store, I'll sort, clean and keep your sewing things, and think about you every time I use them.

Rosen Lied Beige

At last! I had time to complete her dress and photograph her. This was what I was working on Thursday when the trees came down. This is April, by Rosen Lied. Her model name is Beige. She's going to be lots of fun if I can ever have time to make her more clothing.

Whichever way the wind blows

Don't worry, the chicken ladies are ok (and so are we), but we're all a bit shaken up. There was a thunderstorm here, and while we didn't get much rain, the wind was unlike anything I have ever experienced. It blew so hard, it blew a tree onto the coop. The roof is somewhat damaged and has a drip if it decides to rain. The ladies can't see out their front window, and my garden is SMASHED. I climbed into the mess and salvaged my tomato plants (I broke enough branches away that I think they'll be ok). There's a gap in the corner of the ladies' coop on the left, and as long as a weasel doesn't get in tonight, they'll be alright. The tree guys have been called and they will be here at 8 AM. They are dealing right now with LOTS of other people who have trees on their houses.


We are incredibly lucky. Two trees also blew down in the front yard and they missed the house by INCHES. They hit the gutters in the front. And they mis-aligned the satellite dish so we have no TV, but no windows are broken. My bushes are trashed, but I climbed under the mess and freed my rosebushes and I think they'll be OK with some pruning. My front yard has two giant craters in it. And one of the trees is across the power line and keeps slipping, so I'm not sure how long we'll have power for. The power guys have been called. My landscaping around under the base of those trees is destroyed. The Bergamot is uprooted and my azalea is on its side. :(


All in all, though, it could have been worse. We're lucky that the ladies are still alive and that no major damage was done to anything.

By the way, I am now also on Twitter.

Bye Bye Boys

My boys have all gone to new, good homes. Alice is now named Pooka and lives with tons of girlfriends at a home nearby where he'll take good care of them. Here's a picture his new chicken-mom took of him with his new girls, and one by himself. He's a good guy and I hope his new family enjoys him!




The other four went to a lady in Spencer who has a small hobby farm. They will be chicken daddies at her place.

I'm never buying straight run chickens again! It's hard to get attached to them and then have them leave, but at least I feel like they're in good places where they won't be dinner! :O)

Not sure how this happened....

This was not in my plan! Yesterday morning I had no ducks. And somehow, now I have two!

Last night, my boss called me and asked if I knew how to raise a baby duck. I said I thought they were raised similarly to chickens. And he asked if he could bring the one over that his neighbors just gave him. Sucker that I am, I said sure...and the poor little guy was really lonely, so we checked Craigslist today for a companion and found a singleton duck in the next town over who was only a "little" older than my guy....however, I think he's a LOT older! Look at the size difference! So they're getting acquainted through hardware cloth. Hmm...I didn't plan on ducks, but I guess we can accommodate them with the chickens. We'll have to make an extension to the run. Or maybe they can have their own house on the other side of the yard.

Here are three of my girly Orpingtons today. They are in the scraggly stage and apologize for their scruffy appearance.

A Little of Everything on a Sunny Sunday

It was lovely today. My chickies are growing nicely and have graduated up to the kiddie pool in the house. This was them during last week on the lawn. They're so cute!




My larger chickens are 10 weeks old now and the boys are quite handsome at this point. I need to find them homes! So I took a few pictures of them individually to try to get them re-homed. The girls (all the reds) are staying. This is Alice, in all his fine glory, tolerating being held.


I also finally made some dresses for the Annette Himstedt dolls I have had for a while. The one on the left is Gitta and on the right is Margie.

Updated the Etsy Shop

I wish I could sew full time...I get more enjoyment out of this than anything else! I spent the day today (I have a few days off from work) sewing and updating my etsy shop. I made two pairs of cute jammies for the Chrysalis babies.

Poppy thinks she might smooch this cute piggy.



I also made a dress as a prize for a contest on Riley's Friends. That's one of my favorite groups and it's been so quiet there lately...hopefully more people participate.

Here we go again....

Hopefully these will actually be GIRLS! They're six sexed pullets with a 90-95% chance of being female, and purchased from Natureberry Farm in Macedon, NY. If they are not girls, they can be returned.

My five Orpington roosters are looking gorgeous and big...anyone want a really nice roo?

Double-cute Squirrely Goodness

The red squirrels had a passel of children and they are TOO CUTE for words. They're very wee and very adorable.

In other news, all five Orpingtons are most certainly roosters. :( They have been advertised to go to a hopefully good home and I am fetching 6 GUARANTEED pullets on Sunday from a farm in Rochester. Long drive, but worth it for the guarantee.

More County Fair Swap

I made another small item to go with the dress for the swap. It's a prize-winning quilt! And a little chick toy.

County Fair Swap

My Heidi Plusczok doll list is having a summer swap, and my partner and I selected a County Fair theme. I made this dress for her Mandy and put smocking on the bodice and chicken scratch embroidery on the hem. I was thinking about embroidering a chicken on the apron, but then I thought better of it and decided that butterflies were more versatile. I made a giant lollypop and cotton candy to go with it. Hopefully she enjoys it.

Chickens are growing up!

Well, the chickens are growing up. Not much crafting has been going on lately because I've been spending most of my free time fixing up their coop and run. The run is done and the coop is 95% done, and just needs the roosts installed. The run needs a covering over it so hawks don't eat the chickens, but other than that it's pretty much finished. Here are the kids enjoying the sunshine in the run this morning. This is their first day in it.

I still don't know who is a rooster and who's a hen. The chicken below is my favorite, Alice, and I hope she's not Alex! Her wattles are looking roosterish. I think these buff colored birds ARE in fact Buff Orpingtons. They have pinkish-white legs and they are definitely NOT Reds.

Below: Alice's head close up.

Dorothy, who's curious and always likes to jump up to roost on me. I'm pretty sure she's a hen.

Hazel, who I think might be a New Hampshire Red (she's lighter than the other reds) and is reasonably friendly.

Dennis Hopper the Bunny

The above is Mr. Dennis Hopper, my little bunny, at one year of age. He's six now and has a thymoma in his chest. This is a benign type of cancer that is taking up most of the space in his chest, pushing his heart to the side and making it hard for him to breathe because there's hardly any room left for his little lungs! I first noticed he was breathing fast at rest a month or so ago, maybe six weeks ago, so I took an x-ray at work and found that he had a mass in his chest. I made him an appointment with the Exotics Service at Cornell and they kept him all day yesterday for diagnostics. They did a CAT scan and also took a sample of the mass to make sure it was what they thought it was. He'll start radiation on Monday and will have it twice a week. It should rapidly shrink the tumor and give him up to a few more years of life, which for a bunny is a LONG time. Hopefully he does well with the treatments and will be a happy, hoppy bunny for a while longer.

Margot in New Spring Dress

I put this dress on Etsy a few days ago. Sarah says I should make some in other colors, like blue. Apparently not everyone likes pink as much as I do! :)

In other news, the chicks are getting bigger and bigger. They like to go outside quite a lot. Their coop is progressing and is a lot of work! Especially since I'm doing it all myself. I borrowed a jigsaw from my boss to cut their pop door with (that's the little door that leads to the chicken yard). I still don't really know what the heck kind of chickens they are, but I guess it doesn't matter. I know they're egg-laying breeds. At this point, I'm just hoping for not too many roosters. Anyone want a pet rooster? The chick below is one of my favorites and I'm hoping she's a she. If she's a she, her name is Alice.

First Outing

The chicks had their first day out today. I spent most of the day working on their coop, as well. They have outgrown their little rabbit cage brooder and they are now in a small wading pool inside an exercise pen for dogs/small animals. It works out well for them and they love the increased space. They're pretty silly birds and they now enjoy perching on my hands and flying up to my shoulders if I'm sitting. They're so goofy--they don't know whether the leaves are edible or not and they keep playing a game of keep-away with them.