September Stocktake

Well, well well, September is done and dusted already!

In an attempt to appear slightly organised I thought I would do a bit of a tally-up to see what I was actually up to during September.

First of all, the blocks.

One more Wings and Pretty Things block. I've been wanting to get back to this project for a while but my evening hand stitching time has been taken up by other things deemed more urgent —

I've now done seven of the 12 needed to surround the centre block —

Lin, who is also making this quilt, tells me I need to start on the elongated hexie borders so they don't become too much of a bear at the end (!). I really like how Lin has hers sewn onto a different coloured fabric (see *here*) so I will have to get my thinking cap on and make some decisions. (I was just going to use cream but have gone off that idea!)

Other evening stitching blocks, previously talked about *here*....these Foxley Village blocks —

And this wee stitchery - destination unknown!

I had a goal to complete the 12" blocks needed for my churn dash quilt - and in spite of other churn dash distractions, here they are —

A couple of 8" blocks thrown in for good measure —

Here are the different sized blocks I've been making, 6", 8", 12" and 18" —

(Barn Dance by Denise Russart.)

The pile of hourglass blocks I talked about in my last post is steadily growing too. 

I now have 30 of them. I have enlarged the pattern so need more than the 96 stated. Better keep sewing!

I made a total of 48 blocks in September. The number surprised me as I hadn't felt particularly productive. I've been keeping track of my block making for the 350 block project ...when you have little to show in the way of finishes, having a decent pile of blocks instead makes one feel a little better!!!

This gives me 326 blocks made so far this year!!

Yep, finishes for OPAM this month, Zilch. Not even a 5 minute Barbie quilt!!

We've now been calving for 2½ months and are just waiting for the last few (5) cows to calve. Generally, the first four weeks of calving are really hectic as about 70-80% of the cows calve then, and the rest of the cows just slowly do their thing when they're ready!

I have 117 calves that I'm rearing so the workload is still reasonably high. I'm hopeful of getting to 120 calves as that sounds pretty respectable. It all depends on what's born...all the beef heifer calves are sold and we raise the beef bull calves.

Most of the calves are now out on the farm learning how to eat grass as well as getting their daily milk feed.

Our son-in-law is still working on the farm which has decreased my workload. Sometimes YD and Odie come and 'help' too —

"A Family Affair" - a great thing about farming ♥

I'm looking forward to a quiet rest of my day today so hope to get some quilting done - it's a quilt I ideally wanted finished several months ago but more brain power than what I had was needed!

'til next time,

happy stitches,