And So It Begins

I am slowly moving things around to figure out an arrangement. The trouble I'm having is that this needs to be a functional classroom, but still has to be where I sew too. I won't have room inside my house for a sewing space until my kids start moving out, and I'm in no hurry for that. For now, I'm just trying to get a layout of the room in order. It's like a giant jigsaw puzzle...

 This insulation on the garage door needs to stay, but it's so ugly. I'm thinking of taking it down and wrapping it in some pretty fabric before I put it back up. Or even cover it in batting for a design wall of sorts.

 Once I have everything situated where I want it, then we will begin moving it all out. Then the cleaning and painting will begin. There are many things in this room that belong to my husband. So I'm waiting for him to make a space for his things somewhere for his things. I don't really think basketball trophies and car parts fit in with the theme I'm going for.

Baby it's Cold Outside!

I went on a youth group retreat with my two oldest girls this weekend and it was such a great time! We went to Leavenworth (no, not the Federal prison. It's a small Bavarian village in Central Washington.) where it was covered in a beautiful, thick blanket of snow. Everyone was thrilled because we haven't gotten ANY snow this year! We played outside, had snowball fights, sledding, and a very cold and wet game of capture the flag. Camp Camrec was the name of our facility, and it was a wonderful experience. Right before we were ready to board our bus and head home on Sunday, we heard that our town got over a foot of snow! At that point there was a grumble spreading through the crowd of kids. I think they were wanting to be done with the snow :)

This was my son's reaction to our epic snowfall. I think that he was pretty excited to finally have some of that powdery white stuff to jump around in.

My ladies in the hen house, however, are not nearly as overjoyed. I found an egg in their coop that was completely frozen solid. We decided to peel it and see what a frozen egg looked like.

That first photo is kind of blurry, but it was really weird. It almost looked like a hard boiled egg, but it was solid and slimy. Pretty gross!

My dog is also not enjoying herself. She didn't understand what the snow was. There was so much of it that it was even with the porch. So she stepped off the porch into the snow, and poof! She sunk right down into it and it scared her. Honestly, it was pretty hysterical. We got her in right away and warmed her up.

This is after the jump. You can see that big dip in the snow on the right.

I have some sewing to do to keep me busy while it's too cold and wet to do much outside. One thing I'd like to complete before spring comes is my Chicopee quilt. I have the top finished and all sandwiched together with the batting and backing fabric.

I made this using the Jelly Roll Race Method. It is so fast and fun! I added borders to my top since this particular jelly roll came with much less than the normal 42 strips of fabric.

I'm hoping the snow melts before too long, but we'll enjoy it while it's here and use it as an excuse to get some things done inside.

Superbowl Bound!

It's no secret that I love football. I have loved the Seahawks for as long as I can remember. I have pictures of my kids with blue and green paint smeared on their cheeks on a Sunday afternoon, settled in to watch the game.

These pictures are from a few years ago. We were excited to watch those guys play even when they were losing. We are beside ourselves with excitement now that we actually get to watch them play in the Superbowl!!!

I had some Seahawks fabric in my stash and a friend of mine asked me to make her a custom iPad sleeve with it. I did, and I really like how it turned out. I made another one and listed it in my newly opened Etsy Shop, along with a few other non-football related products.

I don't know who you're rooting for this Sunday, or if you're even watching the big game. The Broncos are a great team too, and I do really love Peyton Manning (although John Elway was always my favorite). I will be sad if the Hawks don't win, but I can't think of a better team I'd rather have them lose to. And I'm just happy we finally get the opportunity to have OUR team in the game! No matter what happens, I am proud of our guys. Regardless of how they are portrayed by the media, they are amazing and caring men who do so much for their community. GO HAWKS!!!

Choosing Colors!!!

It has been unseasonably warm here (I'm talking 30's and 40's, so certainly still pretty cold). It hasn't snowed here once this winter, and all our reservoirs are empty. This is very bad news for our crops, my veggies, and my grass.

But since it hasn't been super cold I'm expecting spring to come sooner than later - or spring-like weather anyway -  which means I will begin working on the studio earlier than expected. Last week my husband was sitting next to me watching television and he asked me "have you chosen colors for the studio yet?" Normally he doesn't care even a little bit about that kind of thing. So after the shock wore off, I realized that, no, I had not even thought about it yet!

This is where you come in. I need some help. I have so many ideas swimming through my head and I'm having a hard time committing. This space is huge, people. Once it's painted, I'm done. Whether I like it or not.

There is a site called Design Seeds. This lady has hundreds of color palettes to inspire! Here are a few of my favorites:

I'm not really sold on that one. But as you can tell from the first three, I definitely have a certain color scheme I am attracted to. I would LOVE LOVE LOVE some input from you! I'm thinking a lighter color (more neutral) on the walls, then something fun, bright, and cheerful for the shelving and pegboard. Take a peek at the Design Seeds site. I'd love to see what you like.

If you find something awesome, it would be great if you'd leave a link in the comments so I can check it out. I'd also love to hear which of the 4 I posted here is your favorite. Much thanks!

New Things Are Happening!

Hi everyone! This is just a quick little post today to let you know that new things are happening here. If you haven't already noticed, I'm revamping the blog, have a new name, and that means something bigger is going on...

Next month I plan to dust out the shop and get it painted. Once that is done, I will open it up and start some beginning sewing classes! I'm so excited to get going on this, but I need to wait for it to get just a bit warmer outside before starting this project.

I haven't figured out pricing details but that is next on my list of things to do. What I can tell you is that each class will have a different project and the class fee will include the pattern and materials needed to complete one project with that pattern. I will also offer some more advanced sewing classes, quilting classes, and kids sewing classes.

Please spread the word and let me know if you are interested in receiving a newsletter from me with more detailed info and first dibs on signing up. You can leave your email in a comment here, or you can email directly with your info at fourchicksfarm@gmail.com. Please remember, I have a somewhat limited amount of space. Because of that, each class will only be able to accommodate up to 6 people. If there is a high demand, I can always add a couple more classes to the schedule.

Some input from you would be great to help me get this started! What days/times of the week would work best for your schedule? Finding this out from everyone interested would be very helpful to me in figuring out the best times to hold classes.

Thank you! Please let me know if you have questions!

Tardis Awesomeness!

My youngest daughter loves Dr. Who. If you have no idea who I am talking about, look it up! I won't go into details but it's a sci-fi show on BBC that has been on for 50 years and it's really great. Anyway, my daughter had a birthday last weekend and she got some cash. Reading is one of her favorite things to do so she made the decision to purchase a Kindle with her birthday money.

Being the super mom that I am, I told her I'd make her a new sleeve to keep her Kindle in. Of course I knew it had to be Dr. Who themed!

I happened to have some Lizzy House Constellations fabric (because why would you not have it?!) and some Robert Kaufman Kona cotton in Royal Blue - which just so happens to be a great color to make a TARDIS.

If you are not familiar with the show, the TARDIS (which stands for Time And Relative Dimensions In Space) is Dr. Who's time traveling machine. It's basically a blue phone booth that travels through outer space, and time.

 Here is the front of the finished sleeve. I made up the pattern as I went along. She loves how it turned out.

 This is the back of the sleeve. The Constellations fabric was pretty much perfect for this project.

 One last photo with the flap snapped in place. I'm so happy with this sleeve, I think it's my favorite one yet!

Egg Surprise

I trusted my daughter when she said "no, mom. The chickens haven't been laying ANY eggs!" Part of her daily chores include letting the hens out every morning and checking the coop for new eggs. It is our first winter with the hens and I have heard that they don't lay much at all when it's cold. So I believed that maybe it had just been too cold for them to produce. I got up early one morning last week so I decided to let them out and let my daughter sleep in. When I looked in the coop... 16 EGGS!!! And two of them are so big that I think they might have baby dinosaurs in them...

Since that day they have continued laying about 2-3 eggs every day. Tomorrow is Saturday so maybe we'll have omelets for breakfast. Goodness knows we have plenty of eggs!