Our First Duck Egg

We've been expecting our first duck egg and today was the day.

Look at that bright orange yolk and the white was very viscous as it should be.

My daughter ate it atop her leftover Thai lunch.

I've been taking a lot of photos recently so here is an update of what I've been up to-

I realized I needed to allow myself some quiet moments with a cup of tea to come up with some decorating ideas. I was running around too much and not thinking. I was staring at this corner of the dining room one day and remembered the old ladder we found in the basement. I folded up a few quilts - I didn't like how they looked hanging on the rungs- and put them on the ladder in the corner. You can see the curtains I made and I still need to hang the sheers I made. I am pleased with how it looks and like that I've used something that otherwise might end up at the landfill.

I had my second and last English Paper Piecing class with Cyndy. During the second class I showed her how to put the hexie path on her hexie flowers. She made all these flowers in between the two classes. I was very encourage by her progress. She is making a little table cloth for her daughters kitchen table and a small table topper for herself. We also went over finishing a hexie quilt. I thought I might do a blog post about that as well as some tips I have for EPP.

We are renovating our master bathroom. I don't know why this is wearing me out when the contractor and his help are doing all the work! They have been here several weeks - we are also turning a small bath into a small laundry room - and this week the roofers joined the fun. The dogs and cats are really mystified, excited and/or irked by all this activity.  When it is all done I'll show a before and after pick. I love how it is turning out.

We harvested over 200 lbs. of winter squash. Here is a look at some of the butternut. I hope this lasts for months in the basement as they say it will. I love roasted butternut and butternut squash soup.

Have you ever heard of pawpaws? 

We have two pawpaw trees and the fruit is now ripe. Lots of big seeds but the flesh is delicious - kind of a combination of banana and mango with a custard-like consistency.

We've been eating them out of hand and freezing some of the flesh. They are good in smoothies and I've been told it can be a substitute for banana in banana bread.

I hung a couple of quilts on the second story stair rail.  I made the one on the right several years ago. I found the one on the left at a yard sale a couple of months ago.

Please don't look at the walls - we are in the middle of removing the wall paper.

I love this little strip of pink gingham. It only goes about 12 inches of this one side. This corner is squared off and-

this corner is rounded.

Dave and I went to Octoberfest at the Frontier Culture Museum. This is the Irish homestead.

They had Tunis sheep at the American homestead. They are hard to find around here though they were once very common in the mid-Atlantic region. I'd like to have a small flock of Tunis some day. I love their coloring.

I had to snap a photo of the beds in the American home from the mid-1800's.

Tomorrow night I'm going to see the play Quilters at Mary Baldwin College with my cousin. Have you ever been to a performance or heard of it? It's new to me.

English Paper Piecing Class

Today I taught my first quilt class at Appalachian Piecework Antique and Textile Studio. I had only one student. If I was going to just have one student I'm glad it was Cyndy. I met her and her daughter at the Staunton Farmers Market. They sell fabulous grass-fed meats and eggs from happy hens. Cyndy has a blog Mountain Glen Farm Journal. We held our class out on the patio of the studio. A couple of times the wind picked up and we had to chase down hexies but other than that we couldn't have had a nicer day.

Appalachian Piecework is one of a few shops in the old train station here in Staunton. The train still runs on the track and went by a couple of times during class - just about a dozen feet behind us. We had to take a break and take some photos when the second train came by.

 Cyndy and me

Laurie, the proprietor of Appalachian Piecework, and me 

Rachel's Quilt Patch is next door and this caboose is part of that shop. The garden is Laurie's. She once told me what some of these plants are and now I can't remember. I know there were some that she uses to dye fabric and yarn. Laurie dabbles in several textile arts. Her works is beautiful so I should really say she is a master of several textile arts. She sells them at Appalachian Piecework as well as antique textiles and some very special silk scarves her talented daughter creates at Nellie Rose Textiles.

After class Cyndy and I browsed through the shop-

Can't you see yourself spending hours in this shop?

It was a very enjoyable afternoon and I can't wait until our next and final class in two weeks. I can't believe I forgot to take a photo of Cyndy's hexie flower and the applique piece that was her fabric inspiration. I'll take some photos next time. Luckily Cyndy picked up on the technique right away. We'll both be stitching on our hexies for the next class.

I took a few photos yesterday morning while I sat on my front porch drinking my morning beverage of ginger and green tea.

We've already had a couple of very chilly mornings. I'm hoping for a beautiful fall leaf display here in the Shenandoah Valley this year.

Harvest

How did a month go by!?! I feel like this year has been a blur. We have finally contracted to have some much needed work done to the house. Our new master bath and laundry will start next week (fingers crossed) and we'll get a new roof and gutters this fall. It is such a relief to have these things scheduled. There are so many good things that have happened because of our move - a big vegetable garden, lots of animals, driving country roads, enjoying the sites and sounds outside my windows, and small town living in general. Still, the move has been a big adjustment. Little by little it is getting better - feeling more like home. A couple weeks after we moved I remember thinking - geez, every step I take is new. I'm a creature of habit and this really took it's toll on me. Those first weeks were spent unpacking and working outside. It was frustrating to me that little was happening inside. I know I just needed to be patient but that was easier said than done. It was during this time that my daughter told me Parks and Rec was looking for teachers and suggested I teach a quilt class. I thought about it briefly and said I didn't have the time. A few days later I visited Appalachian Piecework in town. I'd been wanting to stop by to meet the proprietor, Laurie, who is mother to a friend of my daughter's. What a shop! It is full of antique and vintage textiles and fiber creations by Laurie and other artists. While Laurie and I were chatting I mentioned teaching a quilt class and she offered to have the class in her shop. We started planning and before I knew it we were in the Parks and Recs fall brochure! I decided to offer the class on English Paper Piecing. I soon realized I really didn't have a finished EPP quilt! Well - this won't be a finished quilt but it will be close to a finished top. I'm looking forward to the class and hope someone signs up! It was good for me to get my mind off my new surroundings and all the demands I felt because of them. Quilting is such good therapy!

I made the star last winter - was it really that long ago! and pulled it out for a quick (really?) hexie border.

I've been snapping photos for over a week now. Here is a little of what's happening in our farm garden...

Galeux d'Eysines squash - a French heirloom - it gets a wonderful warty surface as it matures. I just read the name means "embroidered with warts".

Ruby Red Chard 

The Silver Appleyards have gotten very big. They are almost adults so we now know we have two males (drakes) and four females.

My daughter putting in the fall garden.

The barn garden - see those sunflowers in the background - they are easily 10 feet tall.

An okra blossom. I tried okra for the first time - very good just sautéed in a bit of pork fat.

The ducks love to forage under this big oak tree in the pasture and Duke is trying to find the groundhog.

This is the spring house. My understanding is that the water we don't use comes out here and goes into the spring that runs through our property.

Harvest - plus a crock of fermenting cabbage. Had a little of the kraut for lunch. It was so tasty. Very easy to do and it is so good for you.

Freda the momma cat. I'm afraid she is pregnant again. We are learning about cats the hard way...

Duke and the kittens are getting to know each other. Duke is realizing he can't take them in his mouth or momma cat gets pretty fierce. The kittens don't like it much either. The calico goes to her new owner later this week. We are keeping the grey and white and still looking for someone to take the tortoiseshell.

Little Smokey Roo - can't really explain how he got that name - has been seen rubbing up against Dukes legs. Duke received a lot of praise for quietly letting this happen.

Some jewelweed by the spring

I started making some curtains this afternoon. It was a beautiful day so I opened the two windows and got a nice breeze. I wasn't happy with the sheers in the stores so I ordered a linen cotton blend from fabric.com to make my own. I'm loving my new Oliso pro iron. I'll need it if I make window treatments for all 27 windows. Yikes!

Hope it isn't so long between posts in the future. Thanks for stopping by!