My new toy

 Last week, my brother got bored and was looking for something to do. So he got to looking up plans for pottery wheels. Found one in an old Mother Earth News site. Went and got all the lumber and bolts and screws and stuff. Came over Saturday and he and my husband went to work. It was COLD here Saturday too! They worked ALL day on this. It is solid too.! This baby ain't going anywhere.

So this is it. All the metal frame is gone and it's all wood now. That's the seat on the left that we came up with. I have to swing my left leg all the way around to get in. We have to come up with another seat.

But for now, it works! And I love it! It is slow enough so I can do a better job. With the electric wheel, I seem to go too fast. I do everything too fast really. So this will be good for me. I had to try it out right away. So I made a little bowl. I was a little worried I'd be covered in clay when I was finished, but surprisingly I only got a little tiny bit on my pants. The electric wheels have a tray that goes around the wheel to catch water and clay while spinning. This one does not. I didn't use very much water at all on this bowl. But I am usually covered in clay when I leave the studio.

The first piece of pottery made here at Outback Farm!!! I will start signing them Outback Farm now. I just love it and am so excited to have my very own wheel! No telling where this will lead. I hope to be able to sell pottery at the markets soon.

While I was at Mrs. T's Sunday, hubby put this rail up and called it my tea holder. He's so sweet. Plus I was afraid I'd fall off the porch. I need another on the front now.

My classes will be over this week. Tonight is the glazing class but I signed up for a 6 week sewing class which starts tonight. Like I need more to do. So they said I can go to the Thursday class and do my glazing then. I will become a member there so I can bring in all the things I make here to be fired and glazed there. I bought more clay yesterday, so I have a little time today to play with the wheel and clay. So fun!

Goats

I'm sure everyone who has goat kids thinks theirs is the cutest ever. And so do I. Really, these kids are so cute! And they are all so friendly. They jump all over me when I'm out there. They are all so healthy and growing like weeds.

I took Astrid and Isla last Friday to get their horns burned off. I had a little scare with Astrid that night, but she's doing great now.  I am hoping Olga's kids won't have horns. I still don't feel anything on the buck. And bucks usually come out with little horn buds. They are 2 1/2 weeks old now.

Last week I started cutting privet and honeysuckle for the goats after I milk. A few days ago, they were all standing at the fence, looking at me. I forgot to get their morning brush! So I got them a big pile. The kids had their own little branch. They're starting to eat stuff now.

I put it over here on this brush pile so it's not on the ground. If anything touches the ground, they will not touch it! These goats are so picky.

I had to keep them all in this week because they sprayed the hay fields. We had some rain so I let them go out yesterday for awhile. They've pretty much stayed in the "jungle", eating all the brush over there.

Happy Friday y'all! I hope you all have a great weekend! It's going to be COLD here. We have had a fire going most of the week. Supposed to freeze tomorrow night.

Pretty productive day so far.

 This morning, when I realized the St. Elmo market opens in 2 weeks, I panicked! 2 weeks!? I have got to get busy!

So started making sheep balls. I have so much crappy wool to use for this. Got my scale and needle felting needle and went to work. After making about 15, I decided my hands were too rough and needed lotion. So put some on and went back to work. I loved how the wool stuck together better with the lotion on my hands. It was tighter. So from now on I will put lots of lotion on my hands.

That was before I got stabbed with the needle. Has anyone ever been stabbed through the finger with a needle felting needle? It really hurts! It surprises me first. Then I realize what just happened. I mean, this needle is about 2 inches long, with barbs about a half inch up, that grabs the wool and makes it stay together. I have had one go all the way through a finger before. Hurts for days after. Not fun.

Anyway, this is 24 sheep balls, ready for the washer, when I get some hose.

This morning, I decided to make some dandelion jelly too. So ran out and gathered 10 cups. Got it all ready. Hubby had to bring me some lemon juice from the store on his way home, but I had all the rest to make it. Got 6 jars of dandelion jelly. Tomorrow I want to make violet jelly.

Forgot to say the 2 jars on the left are plantain olive oil ready for salve. I just need the little jars I use to put the salve in. There wasn't much plantain yet, just starting to come up, but I got enough for this start.

And during all this, I washed a load of crappy wool that's not good for spinning, but good for felting. So got that done too. I have another smaller bag when this is dry. I just have one rack.

Now to go fix dinner and get ready for the very last night of American Idol. I am so sad Mackenzie was voted off last week. He was my favorite. I just like his music style. I have watched this show since season 2. But did not watch it when Niki Manaj was a judge.

 Then back to work tomorrow on more stuff. I am not working at Mrs. T's anymore on Fridays. And just filling in whenever I can't find anyone else to work. But still doing everything else. I haven't had a free Friday in years. This should be fun!