Neil deGrasse Tyson and Chickens

This past Thursday the university I teach at was lucky enough to have Neil deGrasse Tyson as our main guest speaker for the semester!! Now you might be thinking that since I am an astronomy professor I had something to do with this and got to meet him, but you would be wrong. It had nothing to do with me, my department, or any academic department for that matter. I was lucky to just get tickets! They sold out in under and hour!

Luckily, we scored some autographs! We also hung around outside after the lecture and as he was being escorted to a car by an entourage of police officers, we got to say hi to him.


We were up in the nosebleed seats, but you can totally see him! He did the whole talk without shoes on... Just socks! I love it!


This was possibly my favorite slide of the whole lecture: Pluto (It's still not a planet). Oh my gosh, he was so hilarious!


Now it is time to talk about the not-so-little chicks that are now SEVEN weeks old! Provided none are roosters, these are the three we plan on keeping out of the fifteen.

First off, a ridiculously adorable Easter Egger with poofy cheek feathers. Since we got them at 3 days old, this one has been the most accepting of human interaction and a life of domestication.


Secondly, one of the three nearly-identical Easter Eggers with polydactyly (no idea where that came from, since it is usually a Silky trait). This one seems to be very clever and so friendly! Whenever I mess with them, this is one of the first to come play with me. Check out those feather colors! Gorgeous!


Then we have this striking Olive Egger that ended up being the darkest of the fifteen. I'm not sure what it is crossed with, but it has feathered legs and feet; we have been calling it the Hobbit chicken. This is going to be a gorgeous bird!

Nearly Wordless

I decided on my April goal for Lovely Year of Finishes: My EPP table runner for my dresser. It needs the papers ripped out, basting, quilting, and binding.


I EPPed everything on it, just for funsies.


I made some bleu cheese meatballs with Brussels sprouts and couscous.


Finalized my fabric pull for an upcoming project.


And realized that I need to go in a different direction, so this giant pattern is going in the recycling bin and I'm drafting another.


Then we have the chicks at 40 days old eating a banana.


Then 41 days old helping us brew beer. Of course by helping us brew I mean eating the spent grain that was leftover from brewing a Bock this weekend.

Spring Break: Part Two

Here goes another attempt at a brief blog post. I finished and mailed my March contribution to the Mug Rug Revival swap. I went a little out of my comfort zone with the asymmetry, but I don't think it would look as fun any other way.

I drafted up the pattern to use for the block because I wanted to make sure all the corners were extra crisp. Here are links to the patterns I came up with in a few sizes, all free of course. 

Paper piecing pattern for 9" block.

Paper piecing pattern for 10" block.

Paper piecing pattern for 12" block.

Then it was laundry day and somehow the third load was forgotten. I could either sleep on a pillow without a pillowcase, wait until the dryer was done to sleep, or make a pillowcase. I decided to race my sewing machine against the dryer. I won by a landslide. Here is my squirrely new pillowcase.


See? Squirrely!


I also made another hot pad for my boyfriend's aunt in an effort to slowly replace her worn out ones. I used reverse applique for the circle and then regular applique for the rays.


She loves mushrooms so I had to use this for the back! Side note: This might be my best stipple everrrrr!


Oh! We decided to make a baked bloomin' onion (recipe over here) and it turned out delish.


Then one day I decided it was a tote bag sort of day so I made this one for my friend Connie...


And this one for my bff Nurget (Melissa)...


And this one for myself. I couldn't decide which locally grown fabric I liked more, so I made it into a two-face sort of bag. Half the lining and exterior is one fabric, the other half is the other. Aren't the lambs and chickens adorable?!


Speaking of chicks, here are my chickens on their 5 week birthday. We celebrated by giving them a big bowl of red cabbage. They mostly just carried pieces around in their mouths while frantically running away trying to hide it from everyone else who was obviously trying to steal that one piece instead of getting their own from the bowl.


My boyfriend and I also made it up to the San Antonio Gem and Mineral Show. He picked up this gorgeous and huge piece of tiger iron. He got a great deal on it because it is just cut, and not actually polished (I put water on it to show the chatoyancy).  Side note, the locally grown tote bag was strong enough to carry this and all of our other purchases around the show!


We both prefer rough rocks, so the smooth side will be the side facing down. How can you not love the rough side? I mean, this is what this rock looked like when it was dug up. Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous! Anyways, we decided it should live on the coffee table, but didn't want it to scuff the table...


...So I made it a teeny tiny quilt to lie on. I tried to model the FMQ after the striation in the rock itself. I toyed with actually making the lines the same color as the stripes in the rock, but the fabric was black to match the coffee table so I decided against that.


Here is a better shot of the FMQ.


And here is the lovely rock in its cozy new home. Taaadaaaa!

Spring Break: Part One

I am so thrilled to have a break from teaching for a week! My car is in the shop, so I am stuck at home and have been working hard to maximize my time, which would explain the project riddled, photo-heavy post. I'm going to try and be brief. It would also explain why I'm done with both of my LYoF goals for the month: My Pantone challenge quilt and my STBS tote bag. Both are in this post.

I finished the front of my Pantone challenge quilt. Here is a close-up fabric shot to see the Radiant Orchid-ness. Mmm, shot cotton.


Here is a shot of the whole front. If I have time to quilt it, great, but at least as a front, it is enterable. The top is 48" by 48". Once it is quilted, I am planning on binding it in that green color between the leaves.


I made my first Spoonflower fabric! Woot! You can find it here. It is a 19" x 24" map of Middle Earth. I have uploaded several different orientations and sizes, if you are interested.


I got the panels made and quilted for this round of Secret Tote Bag Swap.


I even finished the tote bag and made it to the post office to get it in the mail before my car went into the shop.


The boyfriend and I made some blueberry cornmeal pancakes. The cornmeal pancake might have been my favorite pancake ever! Recipe is here, but we didn't coat the blueberries in sugar.


I started on my mug rug for the March Mug Rub Revival Swap. I made up a paper pieced pattern for the block and will hopefully release it soon.


We also made a key lime pie and topped it with tequila lime whipped cream. (Recipes here and here)


We also made some spinach, caramelized onion, & mushroom grilled cheeses. I might whip up a recipe post for these.


Then the chickens were 27 days old and I caught a photo of two of them mid-flight.


We also made some Guinness stew and it was amaaaazing. Recipe here.


Then there were the dulce de leche stuffed cupcakes...


That turned into salted caramel cupcakes! Recipe post for these is in the works.


Then the chicks turned 4 weeks old. Here they are looking huge and waiting patiently while we clean their cage.


And here they are in their new cage with a perch! One little lady is even testing the perch out.


And we grew some broccoli.


Pfffew. I'm exhausted. Have you also been busy? If so, what are you working on?