More pottery.

I hope y'all don't get sick of seeing my pottery. But I just love doing this! These are some things I made today.

I am really loving this pot. It was fun to make.

Then some more bowls and mugs. I need to make the handles real quick, before they're too dry. And I went ahead and made scalloped edges on the 2 bowls.

A few more mugs. That's what I started out to make today, but ended up with bowls too. I never really know what a piece of clay will turn out to be.

Now back out to trim. I'm leaving them all outside so they'll dry fast. Might not be a good idea.

In the garden today.

Working in the garden today. We're supposed to get rain tonight. I have a big bed in front of the bee hives, so I am planting all kinds of flowers and herbs for the bees. And of course lots of zinnias. I love them. Also planted a row or buckwheat with sunflowers thrown in. Then got a few rows of zucchini and squash too. I am done for the day. I'm worn out doing all that. I had to rake up all the grass that I tilled up too. Then those teeny tiny seeds. Good grief, some of them were so small I couldn't tell if I had any in my fingers. I hope they all come up. I will post pictures when they do.

I made some feta cheese in between planting and tilling too. It should be ready in a few days.

Now I am taking a few minutes break before I try to make some pottery. I want to make some mugs today. I'm home all day with so much to do! I love being at home.

Tuesday nights are sewing class. We're making a wrap skirt. It has a lot of things that will help us, like making the fabric straight, basting to make gathers, and lots of ironing! We're supposed to do the basting stitches and gather the waist for home work. Haven't gotten to it yet. But did do some sewing last night. The table clothes that I tie dyed last summer with the grand kids needed hemming so I did that. It was fun but took a long time since they are so long. But I had fun. Then ironed them. Tomorrow the St. Elmo market opens so I wanted them to look nice. I can hardly wait! I have all my soap packed and ready so all I need to do is load up the Trooper and pick kale and some other things.

Kids on the playground...

Went out the other day and saw this. These kids were having a blast on these old trees.

And these rocks have entertained many a kid in the past. And now 4 more. I love watching kids play. So fun.

First glazed pottery!

 I am so excited to have some glazed and ready to use pottery that I made myself! I love every single piece too. Each one is so different and has their own special look and use.

This is my scrambled egg bowl, just right for 2 eggs. And the color is Robin's Egg Blue. Can't really tell, but it is a bluish green color.

                                                 Here are the 3 pieces I glazed in this color.

Then I cannot remember what color these are. Some kind of green. I love the scalloped edges of the 2 bowls. I think Coryn,. my middle grand daughter, might get the bowl on the left. She really liked it.

The 2 little bowls in front are Oatmeal and then again, can't remember what color the other 2 are. I wish I had put handles on them to make mugs.

These look so much better glazed and all shiny, don't they?

I still have several mugs and 2 plates and more bowls to glaze. I went yesterday but had to leave to go pick up grands for music lessons. I want to have some time so I can concentrate and do more creative glazing. Maybe tomorrow.

And I have 3 bowls ready to get fired that I've made here. I will probably work on some more later today. I am working on tilling some flower garden spaces for the bees. And the market too. But right in front of the hives is where I'm working this morning. I'm going back out to rake up all the grassy things I just tilled up. Then I'll til some more, then wait a few days and then plant the flower seeds. I also want to plant more buckwheat for the bees too.

What's happening in your gardens these days?

Locust Trees...

 Sunday was just beautiful. Sky was bright blue. Sun shining just right. Trees full of white flowers. Bees buzzing all around. Baby goats playing. Just a happy day.

Thankful.

 This morning, I put the sheep and alpacas in back with the goats. There is plenty of grass and the goats don't eat it much. They'd rather be out eating the brush on the other side of the fence. So I need to let the sheep out there to keep the grass down.

Here's little Rika, doing a goat baby dance! She's so cute.

The Locust trees are in full bloom right now. Bees all over them!

As I was walking from my studio to the car this morning, (to go to Cloudland Station for the day and sell soap and stuff)  I just felt really thankful.

For my sheep and alpacas. I get so much fiber from them and make dryer balls, needle felted things and yarn, and I make money from them.

For my goats for their milk that I make soap and cheese with. And make money from them too.

And for my hens who lay the best eggs ever that I sell and make money from.

And honey bees for their bees wax that I make soap, salve and lotion bars with and make money too.

I am so thankful for all my animals and bees here at Outback Farm. They give me so much and then others get to enjoy it too. It's amazing that I get to live here and do what I do and make a little money to boot. Just awesome.

I swear Black Bart poses for me, Whenever I have the camera and point it at him, he stands still like he's posing. He knows he's the most handsome rooster ever. Look at that one while feather on his tail. Cool right? I lost a hen this week, so down to 7 now. Plus the 6 new little ones. I hope a few hens go broody soon so we can have some more chicks running around soon.

A yarn. And some yarn.

 Yesterday about 4 I got a call from Abby, the event planner at Cloudland Station. I went to 2 last year there and did really well. I loved it!I have been seeing lots of activity over there and wondered what was going on. Even thought about calling Abby a time or two. But never did.

So she says they are having a another Southern Living open house event and wondered if I'd be interested in coming. I said sure, I would love to, when is it? She said Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 1-6:30. I said like tomorrow? Yes. Ummmmm, really?

This happened both times before. The day before they have the event, they call to see if I'd like to come. Well, I start stressing out about it. I have SO much to do already, now this? I really want to go. So go tell my husband. And there's water all over the kitchen floor. A lot of water. The sink had been draining slow lately. And I had just washed a load in the dishwasher. It backed up and sent water all over!

So this, plus had to go to town to pay one of the care givers and go to my pottery class for the glazing class. (Which was so fun! I learned so much and can't wait to go back to finish the rest of the things I've made. It was too much to do in one class.) Thinking of all the things I should be doing, like wrapping soap. Making more lotion bars. Washing all the yarn I've been spinning. Finding tables and table clothes and display shelves and baskets and getting the car loaded and and ..... Oh my goodness, I almost had a panic attack!

So when I got home last night, my husband had some things ready to try to fix the sink. I just said I don't have time for this! He said I don't need to be doing everything. And I realized I was not going to the show Friday. And I felt so much better. Abby said I didn't have to go all 3 days. But we need money so bad right now, so I really wanted to. So I decided to just do the weekend. So I have all day today to get ready.

I wrapped soap last night til midnight. Also made 2 more batches of lotion bars. That felt so good just to get the soaps wrapped.

So today, I made more lotion bars, found the table clothes and shelves and got the soap all ready.

Then started setting the twist on all the skeins of yarn I've spun lately. Got them all hanging on the porch to dry. Still not totally sure I'll take them to this show. Might save them for the show down at the barn in May.

But aren't they all pretty hanging out on the porch? I love spinning and the results are just amazing. So soft.

Here you can see Buttercup's on the top row. The other white is Amarillo and Sugar, the alpaca. The blue and white is Buttercup and a blue roving I bought. I think it is BL.

                                                                   The brown is Romney.And to the left barely in the picture is the 2 skeins of that Merino  I've been trying to spin for a year. All done!

There's also some Border Leister that's blue and some more white wool with black alpaca.

I think I'll take my knitted hats though.  But mostly soap and lotion bars this time. Because the farmers market starts next Friday in St. Elmo! So excited about this one. I hope I have to make a whole lot more soap!

Y'all have a great weekend! If you're up this way, stop in and see me at Cloudland Station on 193.