Monday, February 25, 2008

Chicken tales and keeping busy...

Some days are full of surprises. Saturday, I had made some lunch for Jos and called him to take a break from painting to come and eat. We were sitting at the table and I let out a yelp. Jos thought the red squirrel was back again chasing the birds. He had done that the weekend before. Nope!

Now I have to explain that I have always had a dream of moving permanently up north and having a garden large enough to keep some chickens among other things. What did I see peeking into our back door? Two beautiful chickens! Now I know better than to think that Jos got these two ladies for me so I knew they were runaways. We thought they would stay just a moment and leave again. How did they even get into our fenced garden?


Wrong! They seemed to decide that it was an okay place to roost with plenty of birdseed and water. Jos checked with some people one street away as he knew they kept chickens but all theirs were accounted for in the coop. We left for a couple of hours and when we got back, we thought they were gone as we did not see them anywhere.

Wrong! At 4am, we were roused from our bed with a chicken outside our window screaming bloody murder. Now I thought how silly this girlie was for waking up before sunrise. I also looked out to see spots all over the garden. I thought it must be chicken poop. Well, I love seeing Carolien and Mia's girls but they never talked about how the chicken poop is all over the garden. Jos went out in his pajamas to open both garden gates and we went back to bed. I spent a while mulling over the idea that keeping chickens might not be such a great idea if they leave that much chicken poop. I would get up in the morning and wash it away and end of story.

Wrong! We awoke to go out and find it was not chicken poop but chicken feathers. Apparently, something was in the garden attacking our visitors and we must have scarred it away. Jos found only one chicken. He is sure the other left the day before. I don't want to think he is wrong. So he chased her out of the garden thinking she would go back home to her own roost which was much cozier than sitting under our conifers and eating birdseed.

Wrong! We were 'hat rack' pruning a very old and overgrown holly bush to attempt to save it. Jos had left one of the garden gates open when he got some things from the shed. We both stepped back to look at the pruning and decide what still needed done when all of the sudden we hear Miss Henny Penny behind us. I swear she was cheerfully saying 'Hi there! I am back again!'


We had a run into Assen this weekend and on the way home is a tulip farmer. I stopped by to buy a bouquet of these pretty red pointed tulips.


Two things I want to accomplish in 2008 are to get through some of my many books waiting to be read and work on getting my quilt UFOs finished. I just finished the Daughters of Lancaster County Series by Wanda E. Brunstetter this morning. I had not read the third and final book of this series. I decided to start this book now which is called 'The Fragile Thread' by Aliske Webb. So far, I only read the first page to see how the book is and it is about a 47 year old woman starting her life over by buying a quilt shop. Hey a girl can dream right? That would be great fun.


If you read this post on my other blog, you know that I have been sorting my very many quilt UFOs. I have some that are in the stages of patchwork still being sewn, some are summer spreads (quilt tops completed and waiting to be sandwiched and hand quilted) and some are in the process of the hand quilting. I thought it would be a good idea to take one of those summer spreads and get it started. I picked on that was not too large and would be easy to quilt without too much thought. I really have to get my amount of UFOs under control. So here I am working on this quilt since Friday evening. It is going well and I am so far avoiding the temptation to put it aside and start more of my cross stitching. I hope to keep very busy this week finishing the first of a very long list of these quilts.



23 comments:

Carolien said...

Hi Heidi,

You had some chicken adventures out there! André would have made chicken soup of them ... We don't let our chicken potter around in the garden, as we have too many cats and poisonous plants around. Our fence is no real fence either, so that's no good idea. I throw all the poop into our borders, manure for free! So you can still consider having chickens ...
How good of you to start with this UFO! I started with my little quilt. Perhaps you are reading about it now?

Have a nice week, greetings from all of us. Hugs, Carolien

Nancy said...

What beautiful chickens! I wonder if they will visit you again?

The pointed tulips are so beautiful - one of the prettiest I have seen.

Your quilt is gorgeous Heidi!

Rhondi said...

Hi Heidi Thanks for all the compliments on my kitchen. Your adventure with the chickens reminds me a bit of our experience with Daisy the deer!
Hope you have fun while you try to make progress with your UFOs. I have too many also!
Thanks for the recommendation of the books. I'm going to try to get them from our library.
Rhondi xo

Tanya Willis Anderson said...

Love the chicken picture and words with it :) Your quilt is stunning.

Tanya

Anonymous said...

LOL I love chickens and I have lots of them sitting around my house and mine don't poop! I was eating my supper as I was reading your blog and I was gnawing away on a chicken leg. But my chicken comes from a supermarket not from a real live chicken so it's ok, right?

Your quilt is lovely. I really like the colors in it. Heidi colors!

Reginas Cottage said...

Hi Heidi
Wow! Wonderful chicken! What for a
adventure. My dream it is,I have a
old farm with a great garden and chickens, for the fresh eggs.I like
fresh eggs to the breakfast.Your quilt is grandios.
You asked me what makes the crochetting.I have now 40 squares needs also still ca.30.I'm to the time with so many other things busy
so that I have for this crochet in the moment no time.Work in the garden,makes easter eggs......

I wish you a wonderful week,
hugs Regina

Anonymous said...

Hello Heidi, Isn't it strange about the chickens. I would like a couple, but I know the garden isn't really big enough...wish we had an orchard. love your quilt...gorgeous colours!
Margaret and Noreen

diane said...

Wow, what an extra event for your weekend at Cranberry Cottage. I am so happy to hear that the bird was not caught and eaten, that would not have been a pleasant site for you! You are keeping so busy!!! I am busy planning projects in my head too, for cross-stitching, none for quilting...LOL Good luck with the UFO's! I am on your side!!

Mary said...

Chickens for you and a rooster for me - how cute!! They were pretty - could it have been a fox you heard in the night?
Your cottage weekend must have been fun - hope you didn't work Jos too hard! Bob's back is somewhat better - thanks so much for asking about him Heidi.

Love the red tulips - I picked more daffodils today but do see the tulips popping up now. Please wish rain for our area otherwise I fear the shoots will be parched before they have a chance to bloom.

Have a super week - as you can see I'm staying busy!

the tattered nest said...

I loved seeing those tulips...thanks for sharing. And the chickens were so pretty! and of course the quilt is amazing! so much beauty around you!

Karen said...

Sounds like those chickens know a great place to visit. I love your tulips. They always remind me of spring and that color is just yummy. Doesn't it feel good to work on finishing up those UFO's and that quilt is beautiful. I'm working on my UFO's. Lots of bindings to put on. Hugs - Karen

Nancy said...

I JUST DO NOT BELIEVE IT, now you have chickens visiting you. Oh my.
Are they gone now? I cannot believe you didn't make Jos build a pen right away. Love the tulips, the book looks good and the quilt is beautiful as usual.
I'M BACKKKKKKKKKKKK
Love you, Mom

Ragged Roses said...

Gorgeous chickens Heidi! A similar happened to friends of ours who lived in a country cottage. They liked it at first but the early mornings got a bit too much for them. Good luck with yours
Kimx

Anonymous said...

Maybe you should adopt those chickens? It sounds like they adopted you!

I share your dream of a little smallholding with chickens ~ one day.

Marie x

Sweet Cottage Dreams said...

What an interesting chicken story this is and they are just beautiful!!! How sweet that they just popped (not pooped) over for a visit. I would be thrilled to have them, minus the early wake-up call.

I think about you each day as I muster through my sewing endeavors. I need to create virtual blogging so I can do both at once! he he.

love and pixie giggles to you and Dagi!!

Becky and Dooginator (we are afterall in Cali-fior-na. :)

carolr said...

Hi Heidi,
I have reading your blog for about a month. I love the fact you live in Europe. I like a lot of the things you like( as you listed in your blog). Your choice of songs is perfect. I play them sometimes, but haven't set up songs of my own yet. Happy Day, Heidi!

Kristen said...

Oh my goodness! SO, you just have a dear little surprise in your backyard. I am sure it will be well taken care of while in your yard! You would have loved Mom's chicken coop! She had a ton of chickens and a ROTTEN goose that chased me everywhere and bit me! She always had to lock it up or it would literally chase me until it bit me!

I love the quilt by the way!

Mia said...

Such lovely girls you have had visiting you, really beautiful! But I am afraid my girls do poop (a lot), but chicken manure is the best for the garden, so I do not really mind (and as soon as the grass starts growing, it will not show... the poop, I mean...) when the growing season starts in the garden I am afraid my girls are confined into the chicken run again...

Your quilt looks beautiful, and hand quilting is the loveliest form of quilting. But I do have to confess that I tend to skip that bit, and prefer machine quilting instead... I like to "play" with different fabrics and colours, but I am not so good at hand quilting them, I am afraid...

BittersweetPunkin said...

I think the chickens have adopted you!! Maybe they'll start leaving you "presents" in the form of eggs? LOL

Mary said...

Me again - just a few lines before busying myself with stuff!

First, Bob thanks you so very much for your good wishes - he's doing better and has decided only time will heal the back strain.

Second - my neighbor (with the brick chumney) only puchased the house 18 mths. ago and was married last Oct. He and wife have moved to her house! This house next door will be for rent soon - which concerns us a little as renters can be questionable - but he doesn't want to sell for a couple of years until he's built up his equity. Our area's real estate value has skyrocketed due to a huge and quite posh 'small town' being developed nearby replacing the old mall, so he's sensible to hold on to it for a while.

So dear Heidi - wish you, Jos and Dagi could come and be our neighbors - wouldn't that be fun!!!!!!

More later - hope your week is going well.
Hugs - Mary

Penny from Enjoying The Simple Things said...

Those chickens are beautiful! So are you going to adopt the one that is left?

Your quilts look amazing. Is that the flying geese pattern?
Hugs,
Penny

Betty said...

Heidi,
I enjoyed reading about your 'chickens'...When our twin granddaughters were 3 or 4 they had a hen named Henrietta....they were so excited about eating her eggs until one day they saw her eat a lizard and from then on they didn't want any more of her eggs.....

Happy weekend....Betty

Andylynne said...

Some days those are the best kind of visitors. I love chickens too. I had a rooster before I moved to Missouri. His name was Eddie Bard Rockell. He lived with the rabbits in a seperate yard. So he was Eddie Bardrockell and the new Bunnyhemians. I know so stupid but he was a dear who loved every one.
I'm now off to amazon to see about the new book :) The flowers will have to wait till spring.