What I've been up to this month...

Sorry for not posting much this month. Since shearing there has been so much to do. It has seemed overwhelming at times. I started out with sewing new coats for the sheep. I wanted to get them on right away. We took them off of the sheep about a month before shearing because they needed new ones. Well I never got out and measured for new ones, so they didn't get made or put back on. What a mess that made of their wool in the terms of vegetable matter. BIG LESSON LEARNED!!!! A stich in time saves nine. It has taken alot more work to clean the fleeces up. We have also been working on washing, picking, carding and have tried a little dying. Want to try out wet felting soon. Will post more pictures of the process in the next couple of days.

This is me skirting Ruby's fleece.

Opal Ann's Fleece.

Five newly sewn sheep coats.

Vintage Thingies Thursday

Hi there I'm Diana, mom of the farmgals @ Dandelion Acre. This is my first time participating on Vintage Thingies Thursday. I wanted to post these items that are very dear to me, in loving memory of my Grandma and Aunt Jeanne, since they are also fitting for Easter. The vintage tablecloth was handed down from my Grandma. After her passing I was given all of her sewing supplies where I found the yellow trim that is on the lampshade. The neat part about it is that it must have been leftover from a flower girl dress she made me when I was two. The ceramic bunny and lamb lamp were made for me by my Aunt Jeanne when I was a baby. The lamp was also in my babies rooms. Thanks for stopping by and have a Happy Easter!

Spring Lambs

I stumbled across this cute free pattern at www.patternbee.com/FREELAMBKIN . They were pretty simple to sew, and was able to finish them both in a few hours.

Wool Crafting

I have been feeling the need to be creative, so I got out Caitlin's wool stash and decided to do some needle felting. I was inspired by artist Jenn Docherty and her "wool felted friends." You can check out her work at http://www.jenndocherty.com/ . The lamb Cait and I worked on together a few weeks ago using our own "Eleanor's" curly wool. The pink bunny I worked on most of yesterday. Cait an I also had a great time with the photo shoot.

Sewing Help

I have been working on Arielle's wedding dress today, and all the house animals wanted to help. We spent most of the afternoon working on it. The dogs were never more than a couple feet away the whole time. Still have alot of sewing to go but, I think we have worked out most of the design details. I caught a few pictures of Kalli "helping."

Junk'n

Today the girls and I went on an adventure with our friend and her daughter. They picked us up this morning to go to the livestock auction. They were taking some of their birds for sale. I had never been to an auction. Well we planned on just dropping off the birds and going for lunch, because we were not planning on buying anything. My friend told us there was a junk auction going on outside, so of course Arie and I were intrigued. At first glance, it looked like a bunch of snow covered crappy clothes. As we stood there scanning all the rows of junk, I noticed at my feet was a box of what looked like vintage tablecloths. Well I started to rummage thru it and a lady told me there was more linens that hadn't sold and she would sell them to me as a cash sale. We found the other two boxes and I asked her if she would take $5 for them. She seemed to be happy to get that much. We loaded the boxes into the truck not really knowing what we had bought. After a fun lunch out with our girls we decided to hit up Goodwill. No luck in housewares, but I made my son very happy by finding a Miles Davis and 2 John Coltrane LPs. When we returned home Arie and I went through our boxes to see how we had done. Out of the three boxes we found quite a few keepers (tablecloths, curtains and napkins). I also found my lost pair of car keys, that have been missing for months, in an old coat pocket that almost went to Goodwill!

Checkout Caitlin's Blog Too!

Caitlin has started a new blog too! She's going to keep us up-to-date with entertaining photos and stories from the barnyard. Go to: www.dandelionacresheepfarm.blogspot.com

Checkout Arie's Blog

Arie has been working on designing her own blog, it's www.dandelionacrefarmgal.blogspot.com . It's really cute, and is going to be showing some of the projects she's been up to lately.

Another Beautiful Spring Day

Today we took advantage of the nice day and trimmed sheep hooves. We would have taken pictures but we forgot the camera, of course. We couldn't believe how much the lambs have grown over the winter. Thank goodness we had Chris to help catch and hold them. We're glad to get that done before it's supposed to rain for a few days.

I Love Spring!

This time of year always fills me with energy. I was up this morning just as the sun was rising. I even went out to capture it with my camera. It was still a bit chilly and the sheep were not even up yet. They didn't even get up with all the noise I made, walking on the crackeling ice. The ducks that were up and getting around were stunned speachless, because they didn't even quack at me once. I guess they are on Farmer Cait time. Anyone one that knows her, knows what I'm talking about. :-) I wished I could have trained my kids like that when they were little.

Wow it's been a long time!

Sorry, about being away so long, but we decided to go into hibernation this year and skip winter. It looks like spring might be on it's way! We have so many ideas and projects planned!

In Loving Memory

Yesterday, our sweet Nudgie passed away. We found her laying in the pasture, under an apple tree. She was one of our oldest on the farm. We are going to miss her dearly. Nudgie was mother to Gerty Pearl, Issabelle (Izzy), Valamon, Noel, Fergus, and Samson.

Shearing Update

Yesterday we sheared Louisa, it took us about 2 hours, luckily she was pretty patient with us. She looks a little gawky right now, but beautifully white and curly. Not sure how many pounds her fleece was yet. We were too tired to weigh it or get pictures of her lastnight. We are going to shear Eleanor tonight or tomorrow. The girls have to work today and tomorrow so it will depend on how tired they are. I will get pictures of them, with their new look, in the next couple of days.

First Attemps @ Spinning

This is Caitlin and my first skeins of yarn, that we have spun with our new wheel. We spun them from roving that was given to us, by our friend Kim, from White Barn Farm. This is where Cait bought the CVM lambs. You can see the roving in the basket, under the yarn. Roving is the sheared wool after it has been washed and carded. Carding can be done with hand carders, that look like big flat brushes with fine wire teeth or with a drum carder. The drum carder have the combs on a wheel. The drum carder can make the roving much faster than hand carding. We haven't had a chance to try ours out yet. So the next thing is getting some wool washed, so we can give it a go!

Shearing

Caitlin and I decided lastnight to try our hand at shearing. We started out with just doing their necks. It went pretty good! They were really well behaved for us. They actually seemed to enjoy it. We are planning on working on their bodies today.