Well shiz...

I guess when I promise to actually update my blog, that means I really should. But then again I really should have woken up when my alarm clock went off this morning too...

I didn't sleep in too bad, but later than I anticipated. Not that I really have anything I have to do today, but it just goes to show that I have no willpower and can talk myself out of anything... Including doing what I just convinced myself I would do. Oh well. I'm up, chickens are happy, and all is well.

Yesterday was workday, and we got a whole lot accomplished. We made a portable sheep shelter so that we can use the electric fence and move the sheep around in better pastures. They've eaten all the clover on their side, so unless we want to kill off the clover forever (which we don't) they need to move soon. I think the plan is to move them on Tuesday, when we have a reporter from the local newspaper coming out to do a story. It was raining when we started, but luckily it started to clear in the early afternoon, and even got hot later (but then luckily cooled down in the evening.) It gave me just a teasing taste of fall... ahhh.... I love fall. I actually wore a sweater in the evening! IT WAS SO NICE! Plus it was my favorite sweater... Anyway! We also put up the new poultry electric fence to keep the chickies in their yard, and it's even bigger than the last one! We have a ridiculous amount of room for the number of chickens we have... (18, including a rooster.) We also moved the house, so it's on new grass, which took 5 PEOPLE! That thing is heeeaaaaavy... need to design a newer, lighter one me thinks... We also have a semi-functional mower now, and harvested A TON OF TOMATOES!!! I'm thinking maybe not so many tomatoes next year... they're falling everywhere. No matter how we stake them, they are just too heavy and there are just too many... hmmm... Market was slow; Susan said most people in the area go on vacation in August, since it's ungodly hot. A lot of our families are leaving, so I guess she's right. I left halfway through to go home and clean cat boxes and shower. It was nice to have a break!

Okay, so I did originally intend this blog to be mainly for my crafty-urges. So far it's been a farm blog (which is fine), but I'd like to actually do some crafty stuff, no?

Well, the most recent project I've been working on is reusable produce bags. Yes, I'm nuts, and as the check out man at Wal-mart pointed out "[i'm] so green, [i] don't even buy the green bags, [I]make [my] own." But really, I hate those flimsy plastic produce bags, which rip and tear and are ridiculous. Half the time, they don't even have them. Plus, how wasteful? They don't really serve a purpose after that, which at least plastic grocery bags can. SO. I found a tutorial online, and they said to use tulle, to make it easy to see through, so that cashiers can find the numbers on produce, know what you have, etc. I got some from Jo-Ann's (in green, just for kicks) and proceeded to cut it out. Let me tell you this now: I. Fucking. Hate. Tulle. It did not do ANYTHING I wanted it to. You can not iron it. You can not fold it. YOU CANT EVEN FUCKING SEE IT! So... two seams later, I gave up to despair, and thought all my hopes and dreams were dashed... Alas. While digging through the stash (which desperately needs a new home... Gigantic tub hides everything and I never know what I have...) I found some cotton gauze, from I know not where... Or why I have it? Beats me, but it's neat stuff. It's so loosely woven, you can just pull it so that the grain goes wherever you want, and you can pull threads to make a straight cutting line. Niiiiice. It's also cotton, rather than... whatever they make tulle from... I also decided to embroider labels. I thought at first to make ones with specific names of produce, but realized that I would have to make a LOT of bags, so I just settled with "Produce". The bags went together like a breeze, and the zigzag stitch I used made the seams look like drawn-work, which I really like! I embroidered the first label before putting it on, but the last two I sewed to the bags unfinished. I thought it would be nice to be able to embroider them while sitting at the farmer's market, but already have the bags done and ready to use. It was fun to embroider, but in retrospect, I won't embroider them on the bags again. The first one looks so much neater. Oh well, they're for throwing veggies in! So, without further ado, I give you:

PRODUCE BAGS!

Bag One:

Bag Two:

Bag Three:

And, "The One Bag To Carry Them All":

And it's lovely edge-stitch, know as the Armenian.

The bag works a bit like a travel tissue-pouch, and unfortunately does not rule them all.

So there you have it! Produce bags! I'm thinking about making some to sell online, but I think I'll give them a few trial runs and make sure the gauze holds up alright before inflicting them on the masses. Unfortunately, I just went grocery shopping :-/

Hmmm, So what else have I done and not shared? SLIDE SHOW!

I made this sundress a while ago, but the armholes are not right and rub a little bit. Not too terribly, but I do need to take it apart and fix it. Unfortunately, I fully lined the entire top... Gah.

I also made this AMAZING apron with a yard of crazy plaid that Lindsay gave me. Yeah, it took me a year, but you know what? Shove it! I do love this! I did make it a *tad* heavy, but it'll be good for winter and keeping everything off of me while cooking.

I've done a bit of spinning and finished these yarns:
Merino Wool and Firestar, whatever that is... called "Snow Days"

I haven't bothered to take this one off the bobbin yet, but I believe it will be called "Dreamsicle"

This can be either a hair pin, or a pin-pin. I've only put it in my hair so far... Yay for long plane rides!

This is a linen-viscose blend necklace. I lusted after one in my cousin Modi's shop, but it was like $40 or something crazy. So I bought two skeins of *nice* yarn, for less than half that price, and used a teensy bit of each. I think I'll make more, and actually think about the placement next time. I just kinda smooshed these together, but I think I could do better.

And this is a market bag I made out of an old, favorite t-shirt. I just cut the sleeves off, cut the neck a bit bigger, and covered the edges with some crazy bias I got on sale. These are nice and carry a TON.

So I think that's actually it for now. I'm going to go clean up the messes I've made in my craft room now... and do some more!