Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm ...the planning.

I'm lending a hand in a novice RR and am about to start on Ruthie's block... I've been looking at it a day or two and here are my thoughts... First (obviously) needs lace...nothing leaves my house without lace..

Then there's the red...my favorite color... Any block with red can stand some drama... I'm thinking red flowers but NOT roses...I'm so tired of doing roses... Initially I considered fanciful flowers like in Hungarian folk art but now I'm leaning toward poppies... brash, red, red, red poppies... The folk art flowers may overwhelm what's been done but wouldn't a fanciful folk art flowers RR be fun... I'll be conservative (LOL) and go with the poppies and maybe a hummingbird.. Definitely lower right. Oops better think about seams!

Girls to Go!

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They're attached to the 6" blocks which I want to do on the diagonal... Their hair might have had a little help from Miss Clairol... But they're off to their hat makers and we'll follow them along... I'll be putting the booklet together tomorrow and hopefully they'll go into the mail Friday...

Progress on Nicki's block......

The fish are done and I've started beading the water in their wake. I loved the wavy seam on the left and I started to echo it on the right... It's great to get a block with so much good work ahead of me...

I had wanted sea-life parades and have a couple more planned as sketched below... Once I pinned it up I immediately saw that a seam treatment I started looks like whiskers on the bottom fish and so will have to be reworked... I'm far enough along that I can set it aside while I get the Faces RR ready to mail...... I tried to keep my fish in proportion with the fish on the lower right. I bought some neon thread and neon paint to use....

Big decision....who will go?

The ewes are pretty well dried up so I'm using the time to do some training and evaluating I should have done early in the spring...(when leg was in a cast.) Several are new milkers and training a sheep to walk up a ramp and put its head though an opening that closes around their neck is a feat in itself. Once they're locked in I use the time to massage and wash their udder, handle their legs and check their hooves and get them used to being stroked and loved... They need to be very relaxed when they are being milked. They're doing well except Sapphire and this has pretty much sealed her fate...

Next I need to reduce my flock by selling one ram and 2 ewes...for obvious reasons Sapphire will be one of the ewes...she's a good mother and has a fine fleece but too skittish to milk... I am trying to decide who will be the other ewe..

Ruby should be the other to go because she has nipples that point outward and it makes her difficult to milk...BUT she's my dominant ewe and has so much personality I adore her... So I'm hoping as she ages her udder will droop (don't we know how that is) and she will be easier to milk.. This is going to be a very hard decision. Photo is of Ruby with lamb last spring.... Isn't she lovely?

Porpoise beads and first fish

I did get my little porpoise beads on Nicki's block. I can't believe I found them just before this block arrived... They are just perfect for that seam and I had about a dozen left.... Only because I was listening to a great mystery..."Religious Body" by Catherine Aird.... I was able to stay up and bead the first fish... I had worked outside all morning and then a jewelry-making friend came for the afternoon and I finished a necklace. We both love to take apart old pieces and recycle them....