Red Rows and More Indecision, Plus Some Vacation Adventures

I worked again today and it was a long day! I am nowhere near getting through the 2.5 weeks worth of email waiting for me. Maybe I’ll be lucky and get it done next week.

After a delicious dinner of chili verde that I pulled out of the freezer, we took the boys for a quick walk. It was absolutely gorgeous weather today and they snoozed in the back yard sun all day long! They needed some activity.

When we got home we hit my sewing room and moved a few blocks for my red Fractured quilt around and decided it was all good. Then we sewed all five rows together… me pinning and sewing, my friend pinning and pressing. We had all five rows done in less than an hour and decided to stop there for the night.

It’s funny, but I’m waffling again on whether or not to add the purple horizontal strips to this quilt. I thought I had decided last night that I didn’t want the strips. Now tonight I’m thinking it needs the strips.

Here’s why I think it needs the strips. I made this black quilt top last year and was really disappointed in how it turned out. Why? Because it feels all muddy to me. All the fabrics are too similar. It all blends together and is chaotic at the same time. I think this quilt could have made more sense if it had some solid fabric pieces to calm it all down.

So, I’m feeling a little bit the same about this red quilt. Without the horizontal strips it’s feeling a little muddy… a little chaotic, and usually I’m all over chaos in a quilt! I think the horizontal strips make it all feel more organized and it all seems to make more sense. It’s less muddy.

What do you think? Strips or no strips? And tell me why?

I’ve been trying to remember what my friend and I have done every day of my vacation and I’ve got big gaps. I’m thinking that might be a really good thing! One of the best things we did was visit my brother and SIL for a few days.

We drove down last Thursday and got there in the late afternoon. We had a really good dinner of some of my chili verde over my SIL’s home made corn bread. We sat outside for a couple hours first, enjoying a nice cold beer and watching the dogs run and run and run around the property. My dogs love this place! Acres for them to run, up the hill, around the garden, down into the orchard, around by the sheep pasture… and back around the shop.

Occasionally they stop to just enjoy the beautiful place they are existing in.

Sometimes they dream about the sheep that are … just… over… there…

They were completely spent by the time it got dark! They slept as we talked into the wee hours.

The next day we were expecting the sheep shearer to come by to take care of my brother’s two lambs. They had never been sheared so they were in for a treat.

First, my SIL’s brother helped wrangle the sheep for the shearer since my brother had just had surgery on his hand and couldn’t do it.

The sheep he’s lifting is the second one to be sheared. His freshly sheared friend is at the left.

It was amazing to watch the shearer get this job done. I timed the second sheep and it only took her about 3-1/2 minutes! And the sheep looked so good!

Shearers really know how to handle sheep and the sheep are quite calm and cooperative for the entire thing.

Here’s the freshly sheared sheep hiding behind the unsuspecting next one in line.

And here’s the first guy thinking he needs to get the hell out of Dodge!

It’s amazing how clean the wool is down near the skin. It’s a good illustration of how it protects the sheep from the elements.

Later that day my friend and I took a quick trip to the beach. My brother’s place is only about a half hour from the coast and we definitely take advantage of that proximity when we visit. And my boys definitely appreciate it!

It was a gorgeous sunny day and I didn’t even need a jacket.

My friend caught me taking a photo of Rico. Well, TRYING to take a photo of him… he HATES to have his photo taken! Bender, as usual, was ready for his close up!

Here’s some photos of happy beach dogs!

Here’s a blog post from MANY years ago – 2014 – about a visit to my brother’s place.

Tomorrow we’re heading down to Molalla for Rico’s weekly sheep herding lesson, then we’ll stop at a local quilt store on the way home to see if we can find the Aboriginal fabrics we need for new quilts we want to make.

I’m glad the weekend is here already!