spent the early part of the day, well, most of it, finishing the Kantha stitching on the Robe.

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i will still invisible baste down all the seams flat.  but just because i want to.  it really isn't necessary.  everything now is secure and strong.  it is an incredibly FINE robe.   A blanket found years ago at the Thrift Shop, used in many ways a blanket has and most recently, this winter as the back door hanging blanket to keep Wind at bay.  Until that moment when it was THE moment and it got taken down and cut.  Again, this is from Jude's method in her Contemporary Boro 2 class, creating a paper doll of our own specific measurements and cutting 3 rectangles.  the body, 2 sleeves.  it couldn't possibly be more simple and it couldn't possibly work more perfectly.  i am amazed.  the hem and the edges of the sleeves are as is of the blanket.  the fronts and side splits and neckline were where i did the kantha to secure and reinforce the cut edges.  Perfect.  Done.  The most warm, soft, comfortable, elegant Robe that i could not even ever FIND to Buy Anywhere.  and then, this:

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you might note it says Page 4 of 6.  all of them are like this.  but this is the page i am trying to force myself to look at.   i can look at maybe one sentence at a time.   so i look at the picture.  i Can look at the picture. 

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Snowbunny, who is beginning to resemble a very large Rodent,  was hoping it meant she could come out and jump on.  She knows milkstand and knows milkstand means food.  but, alas, more to be done.  this is a stand that i got from someone in town who never quite finished it.  and the part they didn't finish is where the goat's head goes through and is held in place while you milk.  as long as there is a feed bucket attached, this is considered a good deal by most goats.  it's also what you need for hoof trimming.  and any immunizing etc. 

SO.  even tho this is not made according to the plans that i have printed, it's close enough for me to figure out how i can be made to work.  you see all my tools, which includes a glass of wine.  i made 2 false starts.  it DOES matter whether you have a 4" hook and eye latch.  and it DOES matter that i don't have a drill thingy the size of the bolt.  OR a bolt the size of the drill thingy that i DO have.  So, a trip to town tomorrow which i work so hard to avoid.

 

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30 responses to “Day 6 Opposites”

  1. Valerianna Avatar

    OH my goodness. I was trying – for the life of me – ( strange phrase, now that I think of it..) to figure out how anyone could make a simple head cutout for a robe any more complicated. And, would it work, and what the heck kind of darth vader hood- hat thing was going to go on that robe! Ahhhhh, scroll down to next photo, read post… duh, got it!

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  2. roz Avatar
    roz

    i so get the drill bit size to match the thing that goes in and through ..you are speaking my metal/ jewellery land talk now!

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  3. grace Forrest Avatar

    don’t you love when you get to the
    duh
    part???? i love Duh.
    and yeah, i still want a hood, but i won’t do that now.
    i am really wanting to shift into the Unforseen cloth.
    and now i can.

    Like

  4. grace Forrest Avatar

    holy goat. why IS it????? all that stuff is NEVER
    easy. NEVER. and for me, who is someone who is trial
    and error, over over over, it’s SO hard. but my
    determination always somehow pulls me through. and we
    aren’t even to the part where i use the jig saw. that
    will be Something. you can see i got 4 lx4’s. i really
    only need 2. but i know myself. xtra is good.
    i am sitting here in this moment staring at the jig saw.

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  5. Sandy Avatar

    Back in the day when I had my Saanen goat, Abbey, I filled her food pail, sat on a 5 gallon bucket and milked away. Wow, those were the days. I always had wanted to make soap, but sadly most of the milk went to waste. A great experience tho. She was a sweetheart! I would think the stand would be so much easier if you have more than one to milk. Also a great place to trim thier hooves. You look like you know what your doing. Just reminiscing… I adore goats!

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  6. Robyn Ayaz Avatar
    Robyn Ayaz

    Hi Grace. I am filled with wonder when I come to your place; your courage, your energy, your thinking, could you bottle it and send some over? I could sure use it. Love your new cloth colour. Loveandhugs.

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  7. grace Forrest Avatar

    Sandy…maybe it’s the breed????, these goats figit. and
    yes. there are MANY…like 17. although i’ll never get
    Buckwheat up there by myself. Why don’t you live next
    door????? WHY did the milk go to waste?
    i know a LOT from watching my daughter. but she has
    “excused” herself from the picture and i’m needing to
    remember everything on my own. and yes. hooves. can’t
    put it off. they need doing.
    again…why don’t you live next door?????
    am thinking of putting up a flier at the grocery store:
    Looking for someone interested in Goats….
    there must be SOMEONE around…
    xoxo

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  8. grace Forrest Avatar

    Robyn…HEY! WooHoo!!!!! you in the Bogainvilla (sorry,
    sp)…where have you been? stuff’s ok?
    well…i would bottle it if i could keep hold of it for
    more than a minute.
    the colour…well…it’s going to change, i think. some
    of it anyway.
    THANK YOU for being here…LOVE,

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  9. Sandy Avatar

    Just say the word and I’ll come visit. Might be hard to leave tho once I’m there! ❤

    Like

  10. kat Avatar

    I absolutely adore this robe!! And the little stitched touch is perfection!
    Best of luck with the construction – my dyslexic thinking makes things like this difficult. At least there is a picture. Pictures always make it easier for me. Otherwise, I wind up with inside walls of things on the outside 😉

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  11. Michelle in NYC Avatar

    Yes indeed–the finest robe it is. Nice tool set too. Lucky goats.

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  12. roz Avatar
    roz

    extra IS good …it is ALL good really.

    Like

  13. kaite Avatar
    kaite

    I like the name Fiasco Farm, mistakes do happen. Your tools are so neat, mine are all in a big jumble box. Enjoy your woodwork and make sure you sand well. byee…

    Like

  14. Julie Avatar
    Julie

    i made the same mistake as Valerianna, thinking in complete disbelief that I was looking at Jude’s instructions for the boro cloth and being so relieved that I havenever taken that class!! Grace, awhile back you mentioned that you periodically feel useless and I dont know enough good words to tell you what an inspiration you–and your life– are to me.

    Like

  15. saskia Avatar
  16. saskia Avatar

    I have a couple of basic tools and whenever I embark upon a (new) project I’m determined to finish the job with the stuff I have; I think/know ‘they’ do it on purpose, the improvements I mean, where another gadget is going to make the job ‘easier’, it never does: you (i.e. my husband, I noticed men especially fall for gadgets) spend money on something you’re perhaps gonna use once, lose the instructions and that particuler little essential thingy, after three days wasted attempts you give up in frustration, leave it for a while, realize how it should be done and it gets done with your basic tool-set!

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  17. patricia Avatar

    these are the same plans i used when i built our milk stand–fiasco farm–they worked great but the first head restraint was too big and the goats could pull their heads through. this particular part of the stand can really take beating. so i had to do it again and made the key holes smaller. you might want to measure the thickness of your goat’s necks before pulling out the jigsaw. and i also found that leaving the stand in their pen so they could get on and off of it for fun made it much less weird for them when we actually started milking. looking good.

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  18. patricia Avatar

    the orange nylon rope hanging on the end of the stand reminded me or something else. we had one doe who was really hard to milk. huge basketball size utter. minute, pinhole orifices in the teat. it took for ever and she didn’t like to stand after she finished her grain–which she ate like in 2 seconds. so she’d start moving her hind end around, fall off the stand, tipped the whole thing once which was a freak because i was afraid she broke her neck. so i built removable side panels for the side away from where i sat to milk. but then she could swing her body off the side where i sat. remedied that by getting a velcro product made just for this. it anchored her outside foot so she couldn’t move it far enough to step off the stand. of course it was unpleasant for every one involved and finally i just milked her off a bit at a time to avoid mastitis and then let her dry up. we got her for the huge udder but when the breeder asked if we wanted to milk her before we made up our mind, for some reason we said “no not necessary” BIG LESSON there–udders aren’t the whole story! some does e

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  19. patricia Avatar

    –some does enjoy the process and some don/t

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  20. jude Avatar

    it is always a delight to figure out what you actually do need. and then a delight in making that happen.

    Like

  21. grace.porvida@gmail.com Avatar
    grace.porvida@gmail.com

    tools. tools are just essential. how beautiful tools
    are. i still have some of my grandfather’s. and ones
    that have appeared one by one. that great set that is
    opened on the milkstand was a birthday gift. i keep
    it in the cabinet under the bathroom sink.
    today i bought a 1/4″ drill bit. i am admiring it this
    evening.

    Like

  22. grace.porvida@gmail.com Avatar
    grace.porvida@gmail.com

    visits get frittered away. you’d have to move in
    next door.

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  23. grace.porvida@gmail.com Avatar
    grace.porvida@gmail.com

    yes. i have an empty space in the left brain area. just
    wind in there. so pictures save the day for me too.

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  24. grace.porvida@gmail.com Avatar
    grace.porvida@gmail.com

    i don’t know, lucky goats…but we are who we have….

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  25. grace.porvida@gmail.com Avatar
    grace.porvida@gmail.com

    i have 2 jumble boxes too. it’s just that “set” that
    i guard so it remains relatively virgin. it’s for
    when someone from the “outside” comes and wants all the
    precise stuff.
    and Sand. yes. sand. sand well. yup. got sandpaper.
    xoxo

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  26. grace.porvida@gmail.com Avatar
    grace.porvida@gmail.com

    Julie…then i would ask you to think of that and somehow
    pass it along. like maybe think…grace to me to……
    maybe that will be a good thing.
    today again i became heartbroken reading about the
    newest generation of Lost Boys in Sudan.
    but, i know i can’t help that. i cannot go to Sudan.
    so, i just think about what to do with the feelings.

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  27. grace.porvida@gmail.com Avatar
    grace.porvida@gmail.com

    i don’t know if that would work or not…leaving it in?
    there are 13 of them, remember? it would probably be
    in shreds in a week. there is a guy who is supposed to
    be making me a metal one. i enlisted him before Christmas. he’s slo.
    and isn’t she GREAT??? fiasco farm? just SO much on that website. did you use her herbal stuff?

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  28. grace.porvida@gmail.com Avatar
    grace.porvida@gmail.com

    ohhhhh, tell me every goat story you know. Fiasco
    suggests hobbling. but really…i want to get a few of
    them that are ok with it and milk easy enough. that
    would be good. Little Grace was HORRIBLE. she hated
    it and it was just unbelievable. someone else might do
    better. OR she could just be someone’s breeding doe.
    she’s very very nice. these are decisions that need to
    be made this year.

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  29. grace.porvida@gmail.com Avatar
    grace.porvida@gmail.com

    yes. i am very curious about the little JR does that
    i got last summer. didn’t breed any of them. this year.
    and how will they do. we have a relationship from the
    beginning…but then, as i remember daughter saying, that
    doesn’t necessarily mean they will want to be milked.
    SO MUCH TO LEARN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    one of jenny’s babies, Amelia, she hated to milk. but
    the people who bought her LOVE her and are getting
    Stars with her. it’s just all a Who Knows thing.

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  30. grace.porvida@gmail.com Avatar
    grace.porvida@gmail.com

    yes. what you NEED. and then be able to make it.
    i cannot LOVE this robe enough.
    and i am remembering a jacket i had in Oregon. it was
    made by someone…as in not bought and i am remembering
    it as a very similar pattern…i think i lucked out that
    it was like me. i don’t know what happened to it. those
    were years of blur. i am going to stay on the lookout
    for another blanket and make a jacket. what i just
    LOVE is how it rests on my body. just right. i can’t
    stand things that pull on me. hence all the layers of zip up sweatshirts. but they also drive me a little crazy
    in their layers…
    this jacket could also be exactly long enough. so…
    watching for the right blanket.
    HAPPY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    Like

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