A Quilted Rooster — Janet Szabo

No, not Dave, LOL.

I need to get the muscle memory back for working on the Q20 as it’s been five months since the last time I used it. I had a few hours yesterday afternoon, so I oiled the machine, put in a brand new needle, threaded it, and quilted this:

The center was quilted in loops—of course—to help me get back in the free motion rhythm. I used a cream/yellow/mocha variegated 40wt thread. I did the side borders in a piano key pattern with red thread for some basic ruler work, and the corners are done in a royal blue thread in a sunburst pattern. The bobbin thread was red Aurifil 50wt to match the red chicken wire fabric on the back.

This piece is all trimmed and ready for binding. I have to decide what color. I am leaning toward the same blue that is in the corners.

And now I am ready to move on to some bigger quilts. The tumbler quilt probably will be next.

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I am about to start reading this book:

When I told the husband, he said, “That sounds like it’s right up your alley.” Heying is an evolutionary biologist. I follow her on Twitter. I expect this book will give me much to think about and I am looking forward to digging in to it. For all that I spend much of my time in creative pursuits, I do like to get back to my biology-degree roots every now and then.

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All is calm in the chicken coop. The little chick that hatched a few months ago finally got big enough that it can no longer escape from the chicken yard. The fencing had holes in a few spots, and she figured out how to get out. I would find her wandering around the yard. Thankfully, nothing got her, nor did she wander off with a flock of turkeys. Dave is happy with his harem of hens. I am happy that Dave is happy.

The pigs are bulking up nicely, and even though it is extra work for the husband to manage the water line, he says keeping them until December was the right decision. Cathy sent me an article from a local paper about the family—three brothers—that bought the processing business we used to use. The new owners aren’t ready to do pigs yet, but I am still hoping that we can get on their schedule for 2022. Also, I haven’t seen her in a while and it would be great if the two of us could take a trip up there some time to meet the new owners. The calendar is starting to fill up, though. November and December will be busy.