Rosebud's Cottage

Shepherd's Harvest

One of the things I look forward to each Spring is the Shepherd's Harvest at the Washington County fairgrounds in Lake Elmo. If you love working with wool, this is the place to be. It's held on Mother's Day weekend so always easy to remember.

There are real sheep ... and llamas, too ... at the harvest. They have sheep shearing demonstrations, sheep dog trials ... lamb burgers {nope, not for me!}. As a former 4-Her who once raised a few sheep ... I begged enough and wore my folks down ... it's always a step back to the past when I watch these events.

One of the things I like about the Harvest is how it changes. When I first began going about eight or nine years ago, the colors were very earthy ... saying they were bland would be kind of mean but they sort of were. The last few years, it's like the spinners and weavers have discovered the dye pot because it's now bursting with color!

The Shepherd's Harvest is where I became interested again in felting wool. As knitters have become more skilled at embellishing, they're discovering needle felting with wool roving. Consequently, the colors and uses for the roving are hugely improved. I loved looking at the booths that had it!

Look at these gigantic balls of painted roving! They were so cool.

Colored fleece curls ... a wonderful change from the natural ones I've used for sheep and santa beards. Where does the imagination go with these?

There were a ton of finished items too. On a colder day, I might have had a pair of these mittens for my very own. Little hard to buy on one of the first nice days in Minnesota, though!

Down home music for entertainment. It's always fun watching the little kids get into it.

And of course, there's a black sheep in every crowd, isn't there? This was just a wonderful time and a great escape. Mark this on your calendar for next year!

Let's get pickled!

For the first time in 24 years, Bob and I spent Mother's Day eating breakfast alone. Is that a good or bad thing? {Well probably good for our checkbook as we only spent twenty bux!}

We went to The Washington Square Grill in downtown White Bear Lake and because it was Mom's Day the place was packed. We ended up sitting at the bar ... something you can't do if you have anyone underage with you {like Teddy}. Minnesota laws you know.  The bar is a perfect camera opportunity ... so many colors and textures!

Right in front of us were these great bottles of fruits and vegetables taking a soak in spirits.  Aren't they pretty? I overheard the bartender tell someone the pineapples are soaking in rum ... I have no clue what they do with them and I'm guessing others don't know either because that bottle is pretty full. Not so the pepper & onions or the strawberries. Obviously favorites at the grill!

My next big question ... would you really drink an ale with a name like Moose Drool???

Taco salad ... yum!!

Ha ha ... fooled 'ya! You thought you were getting a recipe or something, didn't you!! Well ... I guess this sort of is a recipe ... a recipe for a table topper in Terry Atkinson's new book Let's do Lunch.

Don't tell Chris but this is what I'm leaving for her and Deb to work on while I'm at Quilt Market this week. I thought we'd do two Taco Salad toppers using the brown as the background and the other using the white as background. {Chris! Deb! You girls taking notes?} I like being able to show people how different a project looks when you switch around the fabrics. Plus ... you've gotta love a project that uses only four fat quarters!

We're going to kit this project for the Quilt Minnesota Shop Hop  this August ... along with the wine tote in the book. Won't these be great gifts for someone with a cabin or who longs for Minnesota even though they're far from home? {Our shop hop fabric is on the truck ... you can come in and pet it but we can't sell it until August 1. But I'd take orders for these kits if you want!}

Let's do Lunch and Time out Quilts are Terry's latest  books. The lunch one is all about things for your table ... perfect gifts for wedding showers!! In her time out book, Terry uses short cut methods for quilts that seem impossibly hard ... her Trip Around the World uses combinations of four blocks! No more rows of squares to keep track of. I remember my mom making those quilts ... I bet she wishes she'd had had Terry's book. We are so lucky today, aren't we?

Hot off the press so come and get 'em!

Through the camera lens

Here are some random photos I've taken ... some of them I'm clueless why ... other's seem to have a motivation.  They're fun to look at if nothing else.