Not enough hours in the day!

Well, I can't believe how long it's been since I last updated the blog!  There just aren't enough hours in the day to get everything done.  I hope everyone had a safe and happy Holiday season and that 2013 is a good year.  I'm still just as busy as ever making saddle pads.  I'm working on nine new patterns as well as a variation of one of my current patterns.  I haven't been doing much pedigree assignment since I have a backlog of saddle pad orders.  My model herd is steadily growing and is at almost 600 (after we get our tax return that number will jump to roughly 700).  I also found out that I just can't use the DMC satin and metallic floss for the saddle pads, it just doesn't hold together and lay nicely enough for me.  I put an ad on Craigslist as I had 78 skeins of it and was unable to return any of it.  A lady in Wisconsin saw my ad and said she was able to use all of it for what she makes.  She said that she had a lot of 18 and 22 ct aida cloth that she was unable to use.  So, we traded!  I now have enough aida cloth to make at least 100 saddle pads.  Another local lady happened to see my ad as well and she called me to say that she has quite a bit of the 18 and 22 ct aida as well that she can no longer use.  We were going to meet up last weekend but ended up getting an ice storm which left everyone at home.  Looking forward to seeing what she has available though.

As of today, February 1st my order bookings look like this -
Kim D - 'rush' saddle pad for end of Feb b-day gift
Randa G - ten saddle pads, 6 traditional and 4 classic.  Of those, four traditional are done.  Will also be trying both a stablemate and pebbles scale pad to send to her to try as she's an avid performance photo shower.
Ariel W - two saddle pads
Rita T - one saddle pad so far
Heather B - two saddle pads
Kim D - one saddle pad with more to be decided

So, if anyone is interested in getting a saddle pad from me please don't hesitate to e-mail me at michelevonhagen at yahoo dot com.  I can generally squeeze a rush order in if need be and for those who may be waiting for me to 'catch up', I haven't been caught up for months so it's better to just get put on the list!

Just a quick update

Just thought I'd post a quick update as I sit here waiting for Miss C to decide she's ready for bed.  It's 1 am and she's watching old Tom & Jerry cartoons, eating a pop tart, and sipping on her tippy of milk!

I'm still busy stitching saddle pads.  Sent out a bunch of finished ones last week.  Included was a brand new pattern.  It turned out stunning the way the customer asked for it and I think it'll look just as good in different colors.  I have 19 still left to do before I'm caught up and that's only if nothing more comes in!  Here's a photo of the finished pad.  It was patterned off of a real pad and was quite fun to design and stitch.

Currently I'm working on a drafter size saddle pad (my first one).  It's just about done and will be turquoise and black.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed though, normally a saddle pad only takes two skeins of floss.  This one is taking more so I need to get more when I go to town later today and hope that it matches.  If not, I'll be starting over, ugh.

My poor chickens don't know what to do, one day it's 90* and the next it's 57* so their egg production is a bit lacking to say the least.  I'm supposed to be getting upwards of 15 more young hens but the guy can't catch them as he doesn't have an actual house for them so they're roosting in his trees.  Hopefully one of these days I'll be getting them!

Well, that's about all for now.  Think I'm going to head to bed whether Miss C wants to or not!

How time flies

Wow, I didn't realize it had been so long since I last posted anything, time has really gotten away from me.  We've recently moved (again).  Sadly, it's still a rental house but we're now out in the country on a small acreage where Miss C can run to her heart's content.  Since we're not in a postition to have animals per se right now (we have permission to have whatever we want) for now we're making due with a small flock of six Australorp hens and a Banty/Cochin roo.  They're free range and are spoiled rotten, whenever someone walks out the back door they come running to beg.  We're getting an average of 3 eggs per day so friends and family are getting some 'benefits' too.  A couple weeks ago the kids found two young kittens.  We saw momma once and she hasn't been seen since.  We've quickly tamed the kittens down and they now live in the garage with our chocolate lab (they moved there from the barn on their own).  One is a gray male that got named Smoky and the other is a tiger/white (her belly, part of her face, and legs/paws are white) female that Miss C has named Kitty Meow.  We're guessing them to be around 7 weeks old now (they just recently started venturing outside more to play).

Along with the new farm I've been burning my fingers up making saddle pads.  I currently have a waiting list (wow) and have at least 12 or so to do on that list.  Most are trades so more plastic ponies will be added to my ever growing herd.  I'm also going to possibly be doing some work for an up and coming tack maker in exchange for some of her saddles so stay tuned to hear more on that sometime after September.

Since all the models got boxed up for the move I took the time to photograph each one as I unpacked it (and then repacked quite a few as the landlord doesn't want stuff on the walls so no more wall shelves) and my herd count is up around 360.  I've gotten several new ones since we moved so I'm already losing count again.  More free standing shelf units are in the works but until then I have to make due.

And since I've been so busy with the saddle pads doing any pedigree assignment has taken a backseat for now.

It's late so I think I'll sign off for the night but will leave you all with a photo of the new place.

This is the house and garage, looking from the south end of the property.  There are four grain bins to the right, and the partial building is the old barn.

And I figured I'd better add a photo of Shorty the Roo (on the left) and one of his 'girls'.  He's about half the size of the girls but is quite the character.

Where is 2012 going?!

Man, time flies when you're having fun!  I've still been busy working on saddle pads, trying to get a few made to put up for sale so that I have a few more bucks to fund my 'addiction'.

We've gotten our tax return back and sadly the money is already spent.  I did get to pay off, order, buy a lot of models though.  I placed a huge order with Stone Horses - I ordered an Ideal Stock Horse in champagne to go with my lovely champange weanling (that I waited over three months to get), an Ideal Stock Horse in red dun to go with the just as lovely red dun weanling I just received from a wonderful lady.  I also ordered three Arabians - one in bay with two hind socks and a large star, a black with two socks, a small star, and snip, and a white with no markings.  They will be models to honor the memory of a dear friend and are representative of the horses she owned as a young woman.  I also ordered Stone's new Morgan mold - Santa Fe Renegade and my first ever Pebbles Arabian mare - Garner!  I also have a few Stone Chips models on layaway with a retailer.  These are just a few of what I've bought/received, I'd be here all night listing everyone new that I've gotten!

We've made our trip to Overland Park and back.  While we were there I made Mike take some time so I could spend a couple of hours with a wonderful fellow hobbyist.  Her and I could have talked models all day and night.  She gave me some wonderful tips for the pedigree assigning so I've been slowly working on those.  I have close to two dozen of my models pedigreed now.  I have also started a website for my sire/dam list.  Nothing is listed as of yet but it's up!  Site is: http://www.m-n-macres.weebly.com/ if you'd like to check it out.

After our trip to Overland Park we made a trip to Davenport, IA to pick up a toy hauler for a friend, tow it home, and fix it.  It was sideswiped and needed some panels on the outside replaced.

I have some new stablemate barns and have discovered that I need to reorganize a lot of stuff to make room for them, which I haven't done yet.  As of now they're still sitting on the dining room table and they're moved elsewhere when we need to sit down and eat.  I recieved one barn that was part of a set and I'd love to find the entire set as I just love the barn and accessories that I did get.  It was released/endorsed by Animal Planet and is called "Harry's Horse Playset".  I don't care about the people/horses I would just love to find the barns and other accessories.

That's about all that's been going on here.  Will hopefully post some new saddle pads next time I post!

New Year but just as busy as ever!

I posted a link to my blog on another site and realized, wow, it's been ages since I updated here!  January 2012 is almost over (where did the time go) but I'm just as busy as ever.  Between doing saddle pads for show donations I got several orders in to do for trades (who hoo!).  I'm currently working on a completely new design that I've never seen done before in cross stitch - a zebra print!  It took a lot of trial and error, asking for Mike's help (but not getting much), and pure determination to get something that resembles a zebra stripe.  Nice wavy lines in real life just don't translate to square blocks very easily!  And my brain must have come up with the most difficult pattern it could, this one is really mind boggling but should be well worth the effort.

Mike is still just as busy as ever out in the garage.  A couple weeks ago we made the trip to Overland Park, Kansas to pick up his 'baby'.  The first ever LandCruiser he built from the ground up, and brought it back here so he can do a transmission swap (manual to automatic).  It's proving to be a big challenge and he's had several set backs (can't find transfer case seals, needed a bushing that wasn't in the transfer case anymore, etc) but he's being persistent and getting it done.  Once he gets it back together we'll be taking it back to Kansas.  Here's a photo of our garage with the two LandCruisers in it.  The gray one is the 'baby' and the green one is a work in progress.

And as if I didn't have enough to do, I've decided to try pedigree assignment for my models.  I've been e-mailing with a wonderful lady about the whole process (I did it a little bit years ago but don't even have those pedigrees anymore let alone remember what it was all about) who has a ton of horses with pedigrees, including parents for my lovely Stone DAH TWH who is a buckskin frame overo with sabino.

This guy is absolutely stunning in person and I've already had offers from people to buy him.  I did my research before I ordered/designed him and although probably extremely rare his color/pattern is possible in real life!  He was my first ever DAH and although I prefer models of real horses, I do have a few more, a chestnut frame overo western pony, and on order I have an Arabian yearling in black with four socks and a blaze.  I also have a grulla and red dun weanling and a grulla ISH on hold with someone.  I couldn't pass them up as they were exactly what I wanted - solid with no markings!  Now if I could just find a red dun ISH to go with the weanling....

Oh, and we're trying to potty train Calleigh.  She is to the point that she hates being 'stinky' but is still telling us AFTER she does her business.  One of these days she'll get it!

Still busy!

I've been busy making saddle pads.  I'm doing some new, never before seen designs.  They look really nice.  All of the ones I'm doing now are going to be show donations.  I did just recently complete one for a customer though.  I sent some gift certificates to the holder of the QH Congress Model Show that was held Oct 15th, hopefully whoever got them will use them!

Mike is also still busy out in the garage.  Living here in Garner is sooo much nicer.  I do miss going to Mason City for errands and having lunch with Mike though, only get to do that once a month now when I go pay rent.  I also can't get any of my floss or cloth here in town so I have to make sure I'm well stocked enough to last a month.  I wonder if ordering online would be cost effective....

Stay tuned for photos of the new saddle pads.  I'm going to do a bunch before I finish them and take photos, it's so much easier to sit down with half a dozen to finish then just one or two.

Busy, busy, busy!

I've started working on the saddle pads that are going to be live show donations, have one stitched with a second coming along nicely.  I have several color combinations picked out for more, just need to get other patterns made up and printed next.  The three saddle pads I just finished and listed for sale have already sold (sold within a day) and are on their way to Australia!  So, they're my first true international sale!  It's hard not to list these new ones for sale, but I keep telling myself that doing these for show donations will get my name/work out there which will hopefully give me more business.

I'm not the only one busy though.  Mike's busy out in the garage working on the next project - a '79 Jeep CJ7.  It's another ground up build.  He's hoping to have it done by Christmas when the truck's owner comes home for the Holidays.  He's already got new sides and rocker panels on it and he ordered all the parts he needs so they'll be here Tuesday.  And our neighbors are such a DRASTIC difference from the ones we had in Rockwell.  One came over yesterday to borrow a socket and he was impressed with Mike's handywork, said he'll be coming to Mike if he ever needs body work done.  And they all say the same thing - they NEVER hear Mike out in the garage working.  We just weren't 'welcome' in Rockwell since we weren't 'Rockwellites' and people did whatever they could to get us out of town.

Landlord has finally made it home for a few hours today as well.  He hasn't been home since the day we moved in back in July.  He's coming over to blow several inches of new insulation into the attic for us which will hopefully help with the heat bills this winter.  He hasn't seen the kitchen in person yet so can't wait to see what his reaction is.  I am a bit peeved though.  The other day Mike noticed that some of the tiles by the sink seemed to be 'lifting'.  Then the next day I came home to find a small puddle of water and a 'squishy' spot on the floor.  I wiped up the puddle just to have another one appear.....I started looking.  Drain for the sink had come apart so every time water was run it ran out onto the bottom of the cupboard, leaked through, and soaked the subfloor.  So, now several tiles in front of the sink as well as the subfloor need to be ripped out and replaced.  We were hoping that the subfloor would dry but it's cheap particle board (not true subflooring) and just keeps getting worse, one of the tiles has lifted to the point of breaking off.

Keep checking back as I'll hopefully be posting some pics of the donation saddle pads!