2012 November 06 — Patchwork Times by Judy Laquidara

The Goofy Mama Chickens

November 6, 2012 · by JudyL

Here’s the picture I posted this morning of the two bantams on the nest.

I just walked out there to check on them and there’s the position they’re now in.

Is Tiffany now setting on Louise’s 8 eggs, probably at least 3 of which belonged to Tiffany in the first place? Do either of them actually know which eggs are hers? I’m hoping some of the eggs hatch but I won’t be disappointed if none do. With these two chickens being halfway goofy (more than halfway in Tiffany’s case), I’m going to be surprised if anything hatches.

· Filed Under: Home & Garden · 8 Comments

New Beginnings

November 6, 2012 · by JudyL

The name chosen for Nicole’s newest quilt is New Beginnings. Thanks to the several blog readers who suggested the name.

I will share the pattern but the first thing you must know is that there are 400 half square triangles. Stop moaning! It’s just half square triangles! I use Triangulations™ and it took me two afternoons to get them all made, then another afternoon to get them all trimmed. Once those are done, this quilt is a piece of cake!

The quilt, as the instructions will be given, will measure about 105″ x 105″. Yes, that’s big but it’s the size they need. You can make yours any size you’d like. I’ts pretty easy to adjust. The blocks are 12″ finished and the border blocks are 4″ finished. The outer brown edge is the binding, not the final border.

This is what’s currently on my design wall. It’s one completed full block, with the four corner blocks.

The block is simply a Bear’s Paw block. Traditionally, you would see it made up something like this:

For this quilt, the large squares are made using the same fabric as the points.

And, the block is set on point.

The instructions will be posted in steps and then they will all be compiled into one post for the Free Patterns page.

The fabric requirements are:

Background: 6-3/4 yards (You could easily use scrappy background fabrics . . it doesn’t have to be just one fabric)
Orange (or whatever you use for that outer border): 2-1/4 yards
Brown (for the chain and borders): 2 yards (does not include binding)
Gold (for chain block): 7/8 yard
Binding: 7/8 yard

For the blocks, they can be scrappy but if you want it more planned, I used 8 medium/dark fabrics with coordinating lights. For the darker fabrics, 1/2 yard would be plenty for 2 full blocks, 2 half blocks for the edge and some border blocks. There are 16 full blocks, 16 half blocks and 4 quarter blocks (corners). The border is made of 92 blocks. For the lights, 1/4 of the 8 fabrics would be sufficient for the light section of the blocks, as well as some border blocks.

· Filed Under: Quilting · 14 Comments

Recharged & Ready

November 6, 2012 · by JudyL

I’m back! I can’t tell you how many times over the past week that I’ve thought “This would be a great blog post!” I should’ve written some of those ideas down but didn’t so maybe I’ll remember some of the good stuff.

How about a chicken report to start with? Our family is growing! Or at least the hens are trying to enlarge the chicken family. I got back from Chad and Nicole’s on October 19. I went out and got eggs from the bantams but the next day, Louise wouldn’t get off the nest. She began setting on the 20th and it takes about three weeks so this weekend, we could welcome new baby chicks.

Then on November 1, Tiffany, the other Silky, decided to start setting. There are three nests in that coop and look at them!

They are all snuggled in there together in the same box. Tiffany is almost under Louise. Tiffany is the tiniest little chicken. Louise isn’t much bigger than a big cotton ball and look at how much smaller Tiffany is. And goofy! That is the goofiest chicken ever. When she gets excited, she screeches almost like an owl. The rooster is a spitting image of Louise but he’s bigger so there’s no telling what Tiffany’s babies will look like. Tiffany’s eggs should start hatching on Thanksgiving Day! If you’ll remember from previous blog posts, last time I looked, Louise had 8 eggs under her and she was “stealing” Tiffany’s eggs. Since they weren’t being incubated as long, I doubted they would hatch. I’m wondering if, once Louise’s eggs hatch, will Tiffany take over the unhatched eggs and will they hatch? Chicken gurus? Heck, from the way they’re snuggled up there, I’m not real sure who is setting on which eggs.

And poor Thelma. He doesn’t know what to do. All his girls have abandoned him.

Mostly he stands halfway in and halfway out the coop door. He just doesn’t know what to do with himself.

Every now and then, he ventures out, looks around and . .

. . then he heads back into the coop. He’s such a cute little guy but pretty unlucky for him that both his girls decided to set on the nest at the same time.

One Dominique hen is still setting on a nest somewhere out in the woods. She comes in every day for food and water. Sometimes we see her and sometimes we don’t. We saw her Sunday and then I didn’t see her yesterday but since I’m not outside at all times, we go for days that we don’t see her but I’m always happy to know she’s still alive. If all these hens end up hatching eggs, we’re going to have a whole lot of baby chicks around here soon.