Piggy Scrum

Dakin's trio of foster sows have been entertaining.  Before I start flooding my blog with photos and videos of Bolt and the baby, I'll catch up with the last video I shot before I knew Bolt was pregnant.  (But look at that bulge on her side in that photo - I did have some suspicions about her.)

These gals quibble and spat but get along really well.  I often find them resting near each other.  They've each learned to tolerate me reaching in to scritch their noses.  Bear (the aby) dislikes being picked up, but settles nicely when being held.  She's quiet and calm when being held (although she's bossy to the other pigs).  Browny would rather not deal with people at all, if she could help it, but is now comfortable enough to beg shamelessly for food.  Feed me?  Yes!  Touch me?  No way.  Both Bear and Browny are old enough to have the laid-back, life-is-good-as-long-as-you-feed-me look on life.

I Like Thursday: New Surprises

Where to start?  

Mom came to visit over the weekend.  Yay!  Spent the day at my sister's.  It's so nice to be able to hang out.  

My potted sage was blooming.  I didn't know that sage had purple flowers.  The plant was getting spindly, so I cut off the flowers and brought them in.

Four for Three?

I woke up this morning to three bickering guinea pigs:  teeth chattering, chasing, screaming.  Sounded like a real throw-down.  Things seemed to settle down after I swept the cage and fed them.  Then I heard cries of pain so I picked Bolt up to see why she was so distressed.

Suddenly I had two guinea pigs in my lap.

So this happened this morning.

Bolt is doing very well and so far seems to be a good mama.  Baby started out really tired and wobbly, but he's gotten a lot stronger in the last hour.  I'll feel better to see him nursing and running around.  

OH!  We've just had nursing!  Yay for baby piggy!

I Like Thursday: Bells, Barns, Shakers and Sows

Ooh - lots of photos.  I met up with a friend on Sunday for a walk and a bit of local history.  We had fantastic weather.  First stop was the forest bells.  The bells are long and skinny, like oversized wind chimes.  Can you find the two of them in this photo?

Obviously not very visible.  But they were a fun find and sounded pretty.  There's six of them in this area, each with a bell pull marked with their note.  I tried to take video of the sound... but it didn't turn out.  I guess I'll have to go back again?  

Three for One

I got the call on Thursday I knew was coming - Chocolate found a forever home.  Could we bring him in on Friday?  And would we like to bring home more piggies?  Sure.  It would make the drive down worthwhile.

Before Chocolate went, I managed to catch one more video of his goofiness.

He loves that egg-cersizer.  I'd fill it with a bit of diced carrot and cucumber at least twice a day.  I could hear him batting it about:  bang!  bang!  He wouldn't let me watch, but I set up the camera.  He's good at it - as soon as it gets stuck, he goes around the other side and bats it again.

I Like Thursday: Sewing and Stuff

I have several blog posts lined up but no time to write!  I have a bunch of appointments next week, so I'm not catching up any time soon!  

I'm whipping together some shopping bags for this month's OMG.  First one done last night.  I didn't want a bottom seam, so the fruit is upright on one side and upside-down on the other.  It's really not that noticeable - so I plan to keep doing this with the others.  I think I can get four bags from this fabric. 

I'm hoping to get them done by the weekend so I can get back to the Icy Waters quilt.  I'm still quibbling about what order to sew together the fabric.  I need to focus on getting a few more blocks together.

Chocolate Shell

Chocolate has been a wonderful little foster guinea pig.  He is about a year old, alert, curious, and well behaved.  But it's taken him a longer to settle in than the other fosters I've had.  That's the drawback of a solo guinea pig - the world is a scarier place.  And who do you play with?  Or steal food from?  Whereas most of my fosters start demanding food when I walk into the kitchen in the first day or two, it took Chocolate nearly two weeks to figure out that kitchen noises were something to get excited about.

Although he's been timid and wary, he's also energetic.  When I cover the cage at night he feels safe enough to kick up his heels.  He was loud enough to hear over the dishwasher; just look at how that cage rocks and rolls!  Thumpa-thumpa!

May OMG

Happy May Day!

Some of our shopping bags are falling apart and at least two have wandered away, so Rob requested that my May goal is to make a few new bags.  He likes the Bread and Circus bags best, so I'm using them as my pattern.  It has three straps - two handles and a shoulder strap.  

I had picked up some pretty fabric at Swanson's last summer.  The fabric is a little on the lightweight side, so I'm going to reinforce the bottoms like the originals.  The bummer is the fabric design is directional, but I don't want to put in a bottom seam - so these will have upright fruit on one side, and upside-down fruit on the other.  I'll play around and see what I like (or maybe add in the bottom seam).

This should be a quick project.  I'm  hoping so, anyway, so I can get back to the Ice Waters challenge.  

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Elm Street Quilts - May One Monthly Goal