Sewing!

I don't think I ever got around to blogging about this... I'm teaching myself to sew! With help from Facebook groups and YouTube videos.

I am learning on both my grandma's 1898 Singer treadle:

and a Brother I bought with Christmas money, it does sewing and quilting:

As far as we can tell, the Singer was my grandma's mother-in-law's. No idea where she got it from, but there's no way she bought it new. This is Vesta J, my great-grandmother who died long before I was born.

It was made in Clydebank, Scotland in 1898. January 22nd to be exact, so it has a birthday coming up :) It was fairly well taken care of and sews well. Jon and I took it apart and thoroughly cleaned and oiled it. 

My current sewing table set up for the Brother: 

(see the sewing box on the floor? I have matching fabric and am going to make a machine cover for both of them, along with a few other little things)

Lap quilt I am working on: 

New fabric that is too beautiful to cut just yet:

Madison

On Saturday evening, around 10:30 pm, Madison passed peacefully in her sleep. She was laying in the floor, snuggled next to Jon. Bailey was laying next to her with her head on Madi's side.

She turned 11 years old on December 15th. She had been having some of the usual "old dog" problems, but nothing major. It was just her time.

We buried her in the yard with the help of family and finished around 3 am. Thankfully the sub-zero temperatures and 15 inches of snow did not start until later on Sunday.

December and Christmas Update!

It was cold and we got snow! 

Connor and his cousin went sledding in the front yard. Jon, my uncle and I went down too! 

Jingle, our Elf on the Shelf, came back!
Connor and grandma made a gingerbread house.

Connor built a fort.

Connor made me a present in pre-k.

I made Finnish Ribbon Cookies with my homemade cherry blueberry jam.

Family pic

Connor got a SWAT outfit.

I made cinnamon rolls for Christmas morning.

My grandma's nativity. 

Connor got lots of presents.

And 3 sets of trains! 

Thanksgiving Update!

Wow, so it's been forever since I've updated. I'll do this in chunks.

Thanksgiving!

Connor's pre-k had a cute program for the parents. They made table centerpieces, created a "recipe" book where they said how things were made (like put a turkey in the microwave for 10 minutes and it's done!), and sang songs for us.

Mayflower

3-eyed turkey

some of my decor

We host Thanksgiving dinner for my mom, step-father and uncle. We always do Alton Brown's brined turkey. Yum! Hmm... I had a picture of the turkey, but can't find it! So here's our Thanksgiving wine instead.

And my mom playing puzzles with Connor

Leaves, leaves and more leaves!

Madi caught a squirrel

and a Bailey pic

(she was too interested in eating maple seeds to lay nicely)

Covered Bridge Festival and Riding

Towards the end of October, one of my best friends, Jane, and I went to Covered Bridge Festival in Bridgeton, IN. Covered Bridge Festival is a multi-town festival that showcases arts & crafts vendors, business vendors, bakers, flea market and of course, covered bridges. This was our second year going together.

Jane had a caricature done:

Then we headed over to Greencastle to meet up with a college friend, Candice, who has a barn there. The route there was mostly back roads, and we came across a covered bridge that we had to drive over. 

It was quite scary, but we made it! 

This is what most of the route looked like. Parts were even gravel road.

Now, I have ridden once in the last 5-6 years and that was a walking trail ride. I was pleased that my position still looks decent. My camera does not like action shots, so please pardon the blurriness. This is me and Ahba, a 26-ish year old Shagya Arabian mare. She was so sweet and comfy. Like riding on a couch ;) 

Video - Jane is first. This was her first time cantering in an English saddle. I'm towards the end. The little boy is Candice's son on his pony :) 

Jane on Fauna, me on Ahba. 

Fauna is an Arabian mare.

(We had matching shirts, just different colors, on older grey mares. haha...)

Candice's place is lovely. This is the path between the two pastures. It's a really nice set up. It'd be perfect for one person to handle everything. If our place was set up different, I'd love to do something like this.

We rode in the outside ring for a little while and switched horses.

Me and Fauna

Candice decided that I needed to "jump" a "course"

Video:

I don't know why I trotted the whole thing, but whatever. 

Candice and I