Baby Birds

I have this nest tucked under the eaves of my house. It has been interesting to watch these baby birds grow. Their mom continually comes to feed them. They are growing well and it is amusing to see how half of them hang over the edge of the nest because there just wasn't room. They other day they started leaving the nest. They kinda hung out in the bushes around my house. Then we had this huge storm and it was pouring. They all hung out under the eaves until it subsided. And now they are all gone.

Custom made handwoven rug

I finished the custom made rug for Elnora. The colors are burgundy, blues, and tans. It measures 21 x 30. Most of the fabric I used was old men's plaid shirts. It's amazing how much fabric I can get out of one. And they are cotton and so soft because they have been washed a million time. It's great to be able to recycle 90% of something the just would have been thrown away.

Wildflowers of the Sandhills

I went out in the pasture this morning and the wildflowers are everywhere. I guess 8 inches of rain in the last two weeks has really helped them grow. The purple spiderwort is my favorite and that seems to be the most abundant. I found a new one called Plains Beebalm. The prickly pear cactus are abundant too. They are a pale yellow color. The bright small yellow is greenthread. There are clumps of them. And the Yucca's are getting ready to bloom. I think the 90 degree weather next week will have them all opening.

Rainbows

We have had some pretty intense storms lately. Lots of rain, wind, hail, and tornadoes. I haven't seen so much rain in a decade. Which is great because the drought is over, plus the added benefit of an ending storm is rainbows. We had some huge rainbows and even some double ones. Who know if there is a pot of gold at the end of these. Maybe I should go check it out.

Lace Wedding Cloak

I found this amazing white lace fabric. It is sheer and has these neat little flowers in the designs. It is a very delicate fabric, so sewing it was a challenge. Actually even cutting it out was challenging. :) After trying several different needles, I finally selected an 11 and that seemed to work pretty well. I sewed all the seams and then I serged them. I then resewed the seams just to be safe. I had wanted some white satin ribbon for the ties, but I finally settled on white velvet. It is a stunning cloak.

Check it out on Etsy http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=26504570

Rain

Western Nebraska has been in a drought for 8 or 9 years. It's been going on so long that it is hard to remember when it started. But I think that it is finally over. We have had 7.35 inches of rain in the last week. That is half of our yearly rainfall in a week. The pastures and hills are so green. It is such a pretty sight. We don't have much of a problem where I live with flooding because I live in the Sandhills and most of the water just soaks into the ground. There are some fields with low spots that have standing water, but not too bad. I think the county roads suffered the most with many spots washed out from so much water. I am very thankful for all the rain. The wheat looks good and we should have a good crop, plus I haven't had to water the lawn or garden in forever. And with the sun finally out my garden should just grow and grow and grow!

My Studio

I am fortunate to have my own studio. It is an old wash house built in the 20's or 30's. The walls are made with cement and there is horsehair though out. It has great lighting with about 10 windows. My Dad and I spent a long summer years ago fixing it up. It hadn't been anything but a junk house for decades. Most of the window panes were broken and we spent a lot of time fixing those. We did a lot of caulking to keep the mice out and worked on the vent for the old coal stove. For the last few winters I have tried to work down there with only the heat from the coal stove. Last winter I gave up. It would take hours to even get it up to 40 degrees. Luckily my Dad brought an old propane stove and today we are installing that. It's hooked outside to a propane tank and the exhaust goes into the stovepipe and out the chimney. It is going to be so amazing this winter to have heat down there. I am a very lucky woman.