We’re so proud to announce our family has had its own little blue wave! Meet Wyatt James, born November 4th at 8:19pm– 6 lbs., 11oz! Mother and baby are doing fantastically.

Mr. SFO and I made the five hour drive the next morning and stayed for a couple of days to help out. I’m so in love with my new little grandson who has a tinge of red hair, just like my dear mom. Harlow, at 18 months, was so cute to watch– she seemed oblivious to the baby, other than that mommy was holding something! When he cried, she looked a bit concerned, that’s all!

She was impressed by this, which had me over the moon!

I was not able to make a specific Wyatt quilt because of the shoulder handicap– I so wanted to make that whale one for him from the Sew Sampler boxes. But I did have this beauty waiting in the wings– this was a favorite quilt I made in 2024 called “Chatterbox” and I always intended that it would stay in the family. As I pulled it out of the gift bag, she quickly grabbed it– but not before I said I knew Wyatt would be willing to share!

She opened it up, folded it, opened it up again, lay down on it, folded it, dragged it across the floor (!), and opened it up again. She is one busy lady, but everyone commented on how obsessed she was and I knew this quilt had fallen into great hands. It will be well washed and snuggly by the time Wyatt takes possession.

I did have to bind it at the eleventh hour! I always forget that step where you check to make sure none of your binding joins will occur at a corner– but I had such long pieces of fabric to make the binding so there was only one join– what are the odds?

Apparently 100%, because the join couldn’t have been even more squarely in one of the corners.

It was a late night, pressure situation, so I left it– and you can see above my lumpy results. I’m a bit disappointed in myself, but in spite of all the folding and unfolding, Harlow never noticed and I am sure Wyatt will not care.

Here’s a good corner just to prove I do know how to do it!

I finished this quilt before I had the longarm set back up– my friend Sara at Acorn Ridge Quilting did a pantograph for me which couldn’t have been more perfect.

Once I got home, I launched right into my Wheel of Fortune UFO pick of #3! If you don’t know what I’m talking about, go back a post.

My list says “Americana” because I had forgotten the name of the quilt– it’s Lori Holt’s “Sweetland.” I was so happy when my iPhone picked it. The four applique blocks are done and it’s time for the five pieced blocks. I just love quilts that are a mix of applique and piecing.

One of my peeves about most current patterns is overuse of stitch and flip corners. Like– will we ever learn to do a Y seam, quilters?? No, never. So I put my money where my mouth is and turned two stitch and flips into a triangle.

If you draw every seam line in with a pencil, it’s not that hard, but I guess it would be hard to write a pattern for it, so there’s the quandary! Here’s the finished patch…

And here’s my block– impeccable, if I may say so!

When I decided to pick seven UFOs last week, I intended to work on a different one each night for a week. That was a reward for my monogamous stitching of Harvest Stars. But when I realized how inefficient that would be– I’d probably only get to cut one block of each quilt and not even get to sew in the hour or so allotted. So then I decided I would spend two or three nights and finish a block of each– but now, I think I’ll go ahead and do the rest of the four blocks before spinning that wheel again. So much easier to not have to relearn how that block is made four more times. See, good habits die hard! It will probably take a couple of weeks to make them– each is a different set of fabrics, so one at a time is all I can do. After that, Sweetland goes back on the shelf until a long winter’s night when I feel like making 136 Flying Goose blocks–just check out the borders in the photo above.

I’d really like to focus on finishing next year– I’m thinking of a finish a month or some such gimmick. NO NEW STARTS. And we still have a good few weeks to close out this year!

Finally, I will tell you a second miraculous story of the week– this time, it’s not grandkids, it’s chickens! I am interspersing with photos I took of Lowe’s Christmas offerings while Mr. SFO shopped for shovels, because this adventure was not photographed.

Once in a while, a chicken will disappear– not surprising, since we allow them to free range in the middle of the woods. It’s always upsetting– we send out a search party, put the rest on lockdown, and pray for their safe return. It hasn’t happened that often in four years of raising them, thank goodness– they so enjoy being out.

Last week, little Raven disappeared– she was one of my newest babies– the one that visited me most while I painted our smaller barn this summer. I cried. Not a trace to be found. The guilt is just terrible when this happens.

In this situation, we put the other girls on semi-lockdown. That means they only go out if we’re out. About five days passed and little Honey, also a baby, went a-missing with not a trace, on a day when all four of us were mostly in the yard every minute. So that’s it, I thought. I can’t keep going through this heartbreak! They can never go out again. I decided not to pray for them anymore– Raven wasn’t back. There’s a lot more in my life that needs prayer now than a chicken. God’s not gonna raise them from the dead, right?

All in all, a week went by. I went out on Monday morning, and as I opened the door of the coop a crack to throw in some scratch grains, little Bobbin got behind me and escaped. I knew I had to get her back in, or she’d be a sitting duck. So I got a big broom and ran after her, in my pajamas, trying to round her up into the supply part of the coop.

She’s a tricky and smart one! Around and around we went, until she ran behind our composting area and stopped dead. There sat Raven and Honey– ALIVE– looking back at me. I’ll honestly never forget that moment and neither will anyone else because I yelled so loud.

What happened? First Raven walked into a coiled piece of extra chicken wire. The coil got narrower and narrower until she was stuck! I guess chickens don’t have a reverse gear. Then, five days later, Honey went in behind her to see what she was doing, no doubt.

I lifted up the wire and they fell right out and went right back to pecking. I have no idea how Raven survived all those nights. There must have been enough bugs walking by to sustain her. At least one of the nights was heavy rain, which really hurts my heart. I must have walked by that area a hundred times and she never said a peep.

It just proves that little miracles are happening every where, every day! Do we notice them? My pretty flock is back up to the full count of twenty-one girls. Honey and Raven have their entire lives ahead of them. And cozy season is just beginning on Sugar Meadow Farm. All is right with the world.

xox
Carol