Cowith Lilith

Our neighbors raise meat and dairy cattle. This morning they greeted me with happy cow moos.

It is spring and my other Amaryllis are blooming. I do not mark/tag them and some are cross variations and it is always a nice surprise to see what blooms. It is always nice to have flowers growing in the house. After they bloom I put them outside to let the bulbs regenerate. When winter comes they are ready to show off again indoors. So easy to grow.

 

Horses and Emu

 

A friend spotted me at a farmers market and asked if I could restore her plastic garden pony. It was from a yard sale, decked out in fringe and rhinestones and put outside in yard for years. Under the blue paint is a Wonder Horse saddle. The saddle had been plastered over and the hot glue had succumbed to UV degradation. I will be chipping off the bondo and restoring this pony with flexible resin scrolling painted in gold. Just need the rains to stop long enough to work on it outside.

 I went to an animal auction and spotted a single emu chick for sale. I wanted one but it turns out you need 2+ to keep these birds happy. The price for this chick run up to $200+. I asked my husband and he was interested but wanted an Alpaca more. We will wait on both. For now our animals numbers are fine and manageable on our farm.

Book Creepery for me

Our church secretary & book keeper is moving back to her home state to retire. Our church recruited a sister church secretary but she declined. This left us with a big problem, no one to keep records and books for our church. The rest of the congregation was either too old, unhealthy, unskilled or not available to take on the responsibility. And hiring a local one was not affordable for a small church. My husband asked me to step up and do it. I have no skills in this area but I do have more time to spare than most and he has the computer part down. Our priest has too much to do and can't take on office work.

I feel like a dog trying to be a dolphin. I wear many hats and have a lot of skills but not in this.

But after training with her for 3 months I am about to do this for our church.

Luckily most of the restoration and sewing for the church has come mostly to an end.

I have done just about all the seasonal colors the church requires for the year.

It is not easy running a business like this. Luckily I can do most things remotely and only have to be physically there 2 days a week. Our retiring secretary did a lot of things to keep the church running well as did several of the former ones. She is the 5th one in 12 years! Usually, death claimed 2, health 2 and one found another job. It is non- paying volunteer job. Larger churches can pay to keep one but we need paid lawn care more. This is going to be an interesting year to say the least.

I can still farm and do restoration work but now I can get out more away from my studio as the church is a half hour away one way.

 

The restored tabernacle

 

There it is in all its restored glory. Hard to believe it was in several pieces in my husbands office over the winter. Our priest could not wait until Easter to show it off. The weight is in the top part of this tabernacle.

I also sewed the red jacquard drapes and linens for Palm Sunday.

I had to use a blowtorch to get the old lacquer off. Still missed a part in the back but this was as good as I could get it without sending out to a professional. It cost only my time and elbow grease. it glows like gold like it was new.

I sewed the altar cloth as well. The old linens had not been replaced in over 30 years. It takes time to measure, sew and steam these new church linens.

The ambo with gold ribbon at the bottom. I am happy this all worked out. This was a huge responsibility for me to get all this done. My studio is a huge mess with all the polishing stuff, sewing stuff and my other interests, plus farm and puppy stuff. Yes, good thing I live on a farm, I can work in chaos and make it work for me.

Brass Tacks

I have been asked how I restore things. I take lots of photos as I take the item apart, label and bag all the parts and document it all.

I make sure the item is 100% brass is not magnetic before I proceed. I have several large and extra large stainless steel pans to boil the brass in a pool of vinegar until the lacquer falls off. Indoors this makes it hard to breathe so if you can do outside do it. Also, old lacquer gets all over everything when it boils off.

This is thick old lacquer that is peeling and shedding. However I used a torch to burn off this hard lacquer.

All the pieces ready for polish with 0000 steel wool ,the alcohol to remove grease then lacquer by Mohawk and put back together again.

I use these buffers on a drill for extra shine.

 

Tabernacle Before

This looks fine but up close all the lacquer was crazed, flaking off and crackled. It shed all over the counter it was stored in. It needed a full removal of the old lacquer and a polish of the solid brass under. This lacquer made the brass look like gold. The restoration bought out the copper in the brass, more natural color.

Found the iron weight on the top of all places.

Cracked lacquer close up.

Inside was shedding as well.

Hot vinegar bath took some off and the rest of the hard stuff was torched off.

 

Ent cutting day

My husband fully outfitted in safety gear for chainsaw work. The chaps jam up the chainsaw if it hits his leg. This happened once and this is his second pair. So worth the cost. 

These storms threw several trees down along our fences. He took them down and now we have to re string the electric fences for the horses. It is an on going problem but part of living in the woods. This lets us move our horses into pastures for grazing once the grass is up. 

 

Hilda the brave

So after our Osa passed we needed a second dog to keep our farm predator free. Zilla is 11 and can't keep up patrols. I have been searching for a year and was on the fence about getting another dog. We wanted a German Shepherd but no one had a reasonable priced one or female. Then on facebook a free puppy was found abandoned and needed a new home. She was on the street for a month before rescue. Her rescuers were overburden with male dogs and they could not keep her. She was scared and underweight. We drove 6 hours to pick up this free GS pup.

She was wild, never on a leash and afraid. After a week I have her trained to walk on a leash and work with me on farm chores. She is ok with our alpha female. Once she is older she will be spayed. She is about 4 months of age and smaller than Zilla. 

We decided on Hilda and I am her person.

 

Restoration of a tabernacle

This was a tough one to restore. The before is on my phone but basically all the original 50 year old lacquer had crumbled and alligatored the brass tabernacle. I took this apart and boiled the parts in vinegar but then winter arrived and I put the whole thing away as my studio is unheated. Then I was asked about it and asked to get it done. So all the pieces were cleared of lacquer except the door and the main body. I had to use a torch to get that hard lacquer off. I then polished and lacquered the brass. Every single bolt, nut and screw was saved and restored, polished and reassembled. It turned out quite stunning. In my haste to get it done I forgot to take a photo after. I will post soon after Easter. It is being used again after sitting dormant for decades. The new priest for our parish prefers the old style of tabernacle instead of the mod one currently used.

 

Wintertime in the Ozarks

Watson helping with chores

New hay delivery from a new hay farmer.

First time in the snow for this cat born in March of 2022

Stuffing hay bags 6 a day everyday until the grass grows back in.

I bought this 3D printed head for my older brother. I mounted it on barn wood. He loved it.

Our woodstove and cat warmer

Spots next to me and my computer

Puff working on her winter tan. Wool fire rug next to the woodstove.

 

Life almost lost

I was having a busy day after Thanksgiving gearing up to clean house and get ready for Christmas. The phone rang and it was the daughter of a friend who watches our farm sometimes. Her mom was not answering the phone and she was worried. We live about 10 minutes away from her mom. Her mom lives alone with several horses, a few cats and two dogs. The daughter did not have a car. 

So I got in my truck and drove to her farm. Her mom was not in a good way, she was in bed in the middle of the day, high fever and the house a mess. This is a woman who works, farms and is pretty tough. Appointment was made but most places were closed. I went and got her up, fed, washed and cleaned her house. Got her on her meds, rehydrated and fed. After about 4 hours she was talking. She thought she had food poisoning but it was not that. She was fine overnight but she called me twice thinking it was time for her doctor visit. The next day I took her in and she drained 2 bags of fluid and was told she needed to be in the hospital. She was not having that. But she went down and blood was taken, badly. She had what was going around these days and severely dehydrated. She was very underweight. I was given her Rx's to get, a list of foods she must eat and drink, and I left her in my truck so I could shop for her as she was not able to stand. I got her home and made her a meal. She went to bed. I called her daughter and kept her informed. The next week it was doctor visits, meals, cleaning and keeping her healthy. The next week was more meals, animal checks, winter prep and laundry. She was stronger and she cleaned her house. She had no memory of the Dr. office visits nor the late night calls. Her fever broke and she got stronger. We installed propane heaters as she no longer trusted her wood stoves for heat. By Christmas week she was her normal self again. We picked up feed for her herd and checked fences. She went back to work after spending Christmas at our place. I am glad we had a short winter storm. The weather was perfect the rest of that time. I was able to get to her farm and take care of my farm thanks to mild days. We never would have known she was feeling this bad. I am grateful she did get over this.

 

I want to restore that

Over the Christmas break I binged watched some Chinese soap operas. They had the most gorgeous costumes and hair jewelry. After communism all this stuff was destroyed or hidden away in China. I only saw these photos in textbooks. Now they are making a comeback at least in shows. 

I want to buy a damaged one of these and restore it. I have saved blue bird feathers just for one of these.

And I want to get into goldwork. I love how the dragons come alive with metal threads and stump work embroidery. In the meantime I am learning how to make the stitches. How the layers are built up and what threads were used. So much to learn about. 

 

2023 and sew much sewing

I have been sewing since November of 2022. Then dove into Christmas with more sewing.

Mostly repairs, restorations and new sewing for our church.

The decorations inside our church have not been updated for over 20+ years. I consulted with the priest and sent him photos of options I made. Since the church is a far drive, texting works best. I get instant communication and changes.

All put together. I made new drapery behind the crucifix, new altar drape.

And even dressed up the baptism font. The poinsettia were not set up yet.

Thankfully with Lent about to start soon I can take a break from all this sewing. I really want to work on personal projects but I still have left over work unfinished from last year thanks to illnesses. But my husband is doing much better as he avoids beef and pork products. We can get back into fitness thanks to VR and gear up for spring planting.