Hilltop Homestead

 This is what I bought myself for my birthday, which will come as no surprise to those who know that I love old sewing machines!  This one is PINK.  I have never been a fan of pink, except nowadays I seem to be leaning more and more towards it (scary thought).  When I was a child, I was an 'in the dirt, up a tree, wearing jeans, loves the color brown' kind of girl.  Now.......well, nothing's changed.  I just sort of like pink on this sewing machine!  (It's an Atlas, by the way - made in the 50's.....)




This is the first of the strawberries from my garden.  We're lucky to have gotten any of them!  THINGS come out of the woods and eat everything - rabbits, deer, elk, raccoons, crows, robins, mountain beavers....you name it.  Somewhere our place is published in WildThings Weekly as the place to be if you're looking for a good meal!

 This yummy pile of stuff is all from our place (yesterday's dinner).  We just got our butchered pork back, so that is a nice pork sausage patty with (real) maple syrup drizzled over.  New potatoes with (real) butter & dill, a fresh little cauliflower & some delectable broccoli.  Oh, wow.  What could be better?
It all went downhill after dinner, however.  Only 5 of the 6 milk goats showed up for milking.  One was way down at the bottom of the pasture BELLOWING from the wrong side of the fence.  And it was raining.  Hard.  Blech.



If my mom wasn't having chemo treatments every week, I would spend less money ;-)  Here is some of the fun LOOT that I picked up this week......The book is called 'Play With Your Food' and it's a HOOT!  I LOVE IT!   I'll use the old stuff in some of my Ebay primitive projects.

 Here's the rest of my plunder.  I already made a primitive little dress (see the next pic) out of the ticking fabric.

The springy things you see are rabbit water bottle holders - for my rabbits, of course!  I have English Lops, New Zealands and a couple of Mini Lops.  I'll take pictures of the litter of English Lops again when they get a little bigger.  SUPER CUTE and loveable - that's English Lops!  Ours are some of the most rare colors around - Black/Orange & Blue/Fawn Tri-colors, Magpies & Sable Points!

 Here's the primitive little dress I made and listed today.......

The bird's nests we found around in the woods, and the little sewing machine is a German one I found on the way home from a rabbit show at a creepy little Antique shop off in the woods......

These grungy sunflowers have been popular - these in particular as they have vintage quilt blocks in their centers.  After I sew them, I 'grunge' them with a coffee/spice mixture to make them look aged and primitive.  Then people display them tucked here and there in their vintage decor!







The weatherman has promised that today and tomorrow are our last days of rain for the time being and the temperatures are finally supposed to climb up near 80*.  We will think it is WAY TOO HOT as we are used to our cool damp climate!  However, we will make every effort to adjust - perhaps even wearing sandals and capris!

The vegetation has enjoyed our mild wet weather immensely (pun intended) and I'll have to spend much time beating it back into submission!  Off to finish making dinner.....tonight is Salisbury Steaks, mashed potatoes and peas.......and leftover pumpkin pie & iced apple pie for dessert ;-)