A very fun mail day!

Posted by kenleighacres on January 18, 2009
Posted in: Felting, Fiber, Jacob Sheep, micron testing, sheep. 4 Comments

Yesterday I got a bunch of fun stuff in the mail 😉 

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I talked to a company on Thursday about the felting and felt products that they carry and they said that they would mail one of their product kits to me.  I was shocked to receive it two days later – WOW!!!  They have some very nice products and have been in business for 100 years! 

The second fun item was the prefelt sheets that are sitting on top of the pile.  There are 22 colors and the squares are 10″ x 10″.  I ordered the sample kit to experiment with this product and see the colors.  They can be cut and wet felted with other fibers, needle felted together, felted further by themselves and sewn together, etc.  The colors are very vibrant and I am hoping to play with them later this week.  Depending on how they work, the company sells them in 10″ x 80″, 30″ x 80″, and 60″ x 80″.

The last item was my micron testing results!  Thanks to Michelle at Boulderneigh I was able to send in 17 samples to be tested.  She posted on her blog about the very reasonable testing done at Texas AgriLife Research Center.  The results are interesting and I am really surprised by some of them.  I found a great site for definitions on the 15 numbers that came back on each sample.

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This is a picture of Darby’s fleece sample, her micron count is 27.9.  Her daughter Chevelle’s is 28.2 and her other daughter Liberty’s is 27.7.  I expected Darby’s fleece to be in the 30’s and was surprised that it was in the 20’s. 

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This is Harley’s fleece and looks and feels very different from Darby’s, but it measured very close to the same – 28.7 microns.  I would have bet money that Harley’s fleece was a finer micron count than Darby’s. 

I tested Wrangler’s lamb fleece and it measured 24.8 microns, I had his adult fleece tested this time and it came back as 31.8 microns. 

The desirable range in the Jacob Breed Standard is 26.4 to 36.19 and the acceptable is 23.5 to 38.09.  Our samples range from 24.5 to 36.6 with the average being 29. 

We are still waiting for our first lambs to arrive – hopefully my next post will contain cute lamb photos 😉

Progress and Ramsey’s Felted Friends

Posted by kenleighacres on January 14, 2009
Posted in: felted birds, Felting, Fiber, sheep. 12 Comments

We (mostly my brother) are making great progress towards my Fiber Studio.  He has been working for most of the week on my shelves and they are wonderful!

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I am so happy with them!

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He found these great door handles at a local recycling place.  He is also working on a work table that will be reversible, one side for wet felting and the other side for dry felting.

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I had fun playing around and putting some bumps of roving on the shelves, now I need to get serious and figure out how I am going to lay it out.  The picture on the top shelf was painted by my other brother, here is a close up.

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I would love to sell it for him and am going to look into reproducing it for cards and smaller prints.  In the meantime, I am enjoying it in the studio!

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Ramsey, the jacob ram, is no longer lonely – meet Sarah the sassy show sheep. 

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and Shiloh, the shetland ram.

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These little birds are tweet and twitter and will be hanging out in the studio as well. 

I have found suppliers for the products that I need to start classes and have a rough draft of the classes I would like to teach.  There is a lot more on my ‘to do’ list, but I feel like good progress is being made. 

 

Big bellies and a mystery solved

Posted by kenleighacres on January 13, 2009
Posted in: Chickens, Farm Life, Jacob Sheep, sheep. 7 Comments

My son woke me up this morning saying that it was time to get up because the rooster was crowing 🙂  I wasn’t sure if he was really telling me the truth because he likes to tell tall tales!  I told my husband about it and he said “Oh yeah, he was crowing a bunch yesterday!”  So the mystery has been solved – ‘she’ is a ‘he’ 😉  Hopefully he stays nice and mellow.  I guess he is just a late bloomer. 

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Their bellies may be full of babies, but they can still run and throw their heels up on a sunny day.

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The ultra serious, Magoo, was feeling pretty good too.

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Most of the ewes have big udders now and lambing should start this weekend.  The weather looks beautiful all week, which is a big blessing!  Pretty soon you will see cute little baby lambs here 😉

 

The rest of the chickens…

Posted by kenleighacres on January 11, 2009
Posted in: Chickens. 2 Comments

Here are some pictures of my other chickens.

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This is Fancy Pants, I am guessing that she is some sort of frizzle cross.

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This is Henny Penny II, she is one of the mamas and looks exactly like my pet chicken I had growing up.  That hen used to let me carry her all of the place.

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Here is a picture of the whole group.

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Here is a close-up of the one in question from just a couple weeks ago.  The comb and waddles have gotten a lot bigger!

 

Is ‘she’ really a ‘he’?

Posted by kenleighacres on January 11, 2009
Posted in: Chickens. Tagged: . 6 Comments

Calling all chicken experts… 

My chicks hatched last July and are now 7 months old.  At what point do roosters start crowing? 

I thought that all the ones I had left were hens, but now I’m not sure. 

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My little black chick, that I thought was a hen, looked like this for a long time.

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This is what she/he looks like now. 

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The comb and waddles are a lot bigger than my other chickens and she/he walks around all puffed up and macho.  I haven’t heard any crowing though?  I really didn’t want a rooster in my small group, but I really like this chicken.  Any opinions?

Meet our new Jacob ram – Ramsey

Posted by kenleighacres on January 5, 2009
Posted in: Felting, Fiber, Jacob Sheep, sheep. 5 Comments

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Isn’t he handsome?  He has a very sweet personality, great horns, good color percentage and the best part – no destructive behavior 😉  I had so much fun making him!

I was inspired by a couple felting sites – www.woolpets.com and www.feltpets.com – I have been browsing the internet for felting ideas because my goal for 2009 is to open a little fiber shop on our farm! 

We have the perfect little building for it.   It has one main room with a little kitchen, bedroom, and bathroom.  I have been using it for fiber storage and had plans for opening a fiber shop, but was overwhelmed with how to go forward.  Over the weekend the idea came to me to teach felting classes!  My concern with opening a fiber shop was how was I going to get customers?  I am going to start small, but I have big plans and have found a couple lines of products that I would like to sell.  My brother came over on Saturday and helped me brainstorm and layout areas for shelves and a big work table.  The table is going to be reversible for wet felting on one side and dry felting on the other.  A couple ideas for classes are – 3D felting (like Ramsey), flat needle felting (like my wall hangings), and wet felting (like my scarves).  I am really excited now that I have a plan and am moving forward 🙂  I’ll keep you updated on how the little house is transforming and when you can sign up for classes!    

 

 

Danica’s a big girl now and a Paisley update

Posted by kenleighacres on January 4, 2009
Posted in: whippet. 2 Comments

Wow, I can’t believe it has been almost 3 months since Paisley broke her leg.  She had the pin removed 2 1/2 weeks ago and the bone is healing well.  She is feeling better and has been such a trooper through this whole ordeal.  She still LOVES the vet and the techs adore her and her funny, sweet, silly personality.

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This picture was taken a few days before she broke her leg…

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and this picture was taken yesterday.  Danica has grown up a little 😉 

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She is looking very mature.

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and the best part according to Danica is that she can wrestle with her best buddy again…

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and Paisley is happy to have someone to dote on.

Paisley still has a few more weeks to go before she can run around outside off leash, but in the meantime she is enjoying her daily walks.

Enjoy every moment of every day!

Posted by kenleighacres on December 30, 2008
Posted in: Afghan, Border Collie, Cardigan Welsh Corgi, Dogs, Lab, whippet. 6 Comments

I received this in an e-mail awhile ago and it is so true 🙂

Remember, if a dog was the teacher you would learn things like:

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When loved ones come home, always run to greet them.

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Never pass up the opportunity to go for a joyride.

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Allow the experience of fresh air and the wind in your face to be pure ecstasy.

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Take naps.

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Stretch before rising.

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Run, romp, and play daily.

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Thrive on attention and let people touch you.

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Avoid biting, when a simple growl will do.

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On warm days, stop to lie on your back on the grass.

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On hot days, drink lots of water and lie under a shady tree.

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When you’re happy, dance around and wag your entire body.

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Delight in the simpe joy of a long walk.

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Be loyal.

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Never pretend to be something you’re not.

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If what you want lies buried, dig until you find it.

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When someone is having a bad day,be silent, sit close by, and nuzzle them gently.

Remember to:

Live Simply

Love Generously

Care Deeply

and

Speak Kindly

 

 

I’m gonna miss this girl

Posted by kenleighacres on December 29, 2008
Posted in: Farm Life, Jacob Sheep. 7 Comments

Darby (the sheep) went down a week ago and despite treating her as the vet prescribed, we lost her Christmas night.  She was such a special girl and I am really going to miss her.

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She was 10 and in sheep years that is getting up there, but I wasn’t ready to part with her yet. 

She came to us in a round about way and I am so glad we said “yes” when we received the call about buying back some of our sheep along with 20 others 🙂 

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She blessed us with a set of beautiful triplets in 2007 and I am so fortunate to have both of her daughters.  Joan at Mud Ranch has the handsome brother.

We did a necropsy on Friday morning and it looks like she died of complications from a hernia that was discovered after shearing about a month ago.  The vet assured me that I did all that I could for her, but it is still really hard to lose the special ones. 

A Handmade Christmas

Posted by kenleighacres on December 28, 2008
Posted in: family, Felting. 6 Comments

I feel very blessed to be part of a family that is full of creative, talented people.  It was so fun to receive gifts that were handmade and now that Christmas is over I can post pictures of the gifts that my husband and I made. 

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My sister-in-law gave me this beautiful wreath.  What a fun and unique way to make a wreath, it even includes yarn that I spun on it!

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All of the great-grandsons got fun pillows made by my grandma.  They love them and it brought back fond memories for me.  We received some really fun handmade gifts as kids growing up.

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This picture is really bad, but they are a pair of earrings that my brother made.  He takes coins and lays them on the railroad track near his house.  He then does etching on them and attaches twisted wire. 

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This is the felted wall hanging that I made for my brother.  It measures 3′ x 4′.  He gave me a gorgeous log bed for Christmas last year…

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I have always wanted a log bed, but I also love the look of wrought iron beds and he included both.  It was a complete shock and I treasure it every day.

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Here is the finished wall hanging for our house and I gave it to my husband for Christmas.  This last week has been really long and I finally finished it Christmas day at my parents.  I still need to sew the ribbon along the top for hanging. 

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My husband made horseshoe wine racks.

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This wasn’t a gift for anyone, but when I showed it to my friend she had a great idea – a felted pillow…

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so, she got the first felted pillow.

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and the second felted pillow went to my very special friend, Kristine.

There were many more gifts that were given that I didn’t take pictures of.  It was a wonderful Christmas!