December

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A post shared by Sara Dunham (@thecrazysheeplady)

December...much like the whole year.  Plough on and focus on what went right...

Merry Christmas!

Every now and then I catch a little glimpse of white out in the field or a flash of orange in the garden and I hope we are all still here together under Hank and Maisie's watchful eyes, the bright stars and occasionally the northern lights.  I wonder if Maggie and Big Moose see them, too.

*  *  *  *  *

I couldn't fit every beloved ghost in the scene, but ghosts are fluid and other than Hank and Maisie watching out back and Salt and Comby out front, everyone else can be whoever we are missing the most and catch out of the corner of our eye.  Remember, they might be tucked in the barn or curled up in the Wool House.

I'd love to know who you see.  

Merry Christmas!

Oh, and it's a puzzle too :-).  

Almost There

As has gone the whole year, the 2025 Christmas card about broke me.  While I was putting together the final calendar this fall I thought maybe I should also do one last card while I still had a printer who would be able to run proof after proof after proof as I struggled to get the colors to translate right, fix typos in the text on the back, print a few more when I ran out...

Painting these cards over the years taught me many lessons on what works, what doesn't and what might be a pitfall.  By the end I was pretty good at getting the painting right and we learned that it's better to take a picture of the canvas than try to scan it and all in all I could get usually get it together and in the mail in about a week.  Taking the picture was the only thing I didn't mess up this year.

I spent over a week trying to put on paper what I had in my head and finally gave up and started over.  From there I thought the new design looked promising and I then proceeded to paint the rest of the card breaking every lesson I learned from the first 20 years of painting cards.  Every. last. lesson.

Two of the issues I knew as I was painting that I was doing it wrong...and I did them anyway.  I think that's the definition of insanity, right?  Expecting a different outcome from repeated actions?  The worst mistake was one I didn't even realize until I got it ready to send over to the print shop this morning.  5"x7" is not the same as 8"x10".

I think I learned that in 2004.

I believe I have everything patched up, but I won't know until the printer gets home this evening.  I'm still not completely set on the wording on the back, but again, we'll hash that out when he gets home.  Tim's only comment so far was "Why isn't Digga Digga on there?"

Digga Digga Daewoo is our skid steer and he should be parked in the barn from where the card is focused.  I did think about that.  I also moved the horses all down one stall to try to balance out the barn scene a little and I wished I hadn't done that almost as soon as I did it.  Same with not adding in the chicken coop.  I sadly complained about all that and Tim did what he does best.

"Well, the horses are all in the wrong stalls, you can't find the chickens and the sheep aren't where they are supposed to be, out in the dark, mixing with the horses.  I'm not sure what the problem is.  Sounds like a normal day to me."  ;-)

The 2025 Bluegrass Yarn And Fiber Crawl

It's time for the Bluegrass Yarn and Fiber Crawl and the farm and Wool House will be open for the following dates and times and can also be "open" at other times, but please email to make an appointment.  If you show up without checking first, you'll probably just get put to work ;-).

 

Saturday and Sunday July 26th and 27th from 11:-00 to 4:00

Wednesday July 30th from 4:00 - 7:00

Saturday and Sunday August 2nd and 3rd from 11:-00 to 4:00

So what can you do if you come out to the farm?  

Obviously bring cookies or crackers to treat the sheep and meet the flock :-D.

Bring your spinning wheel or current project and find a shady spot to sit and visit...or not visit if you'd prefer to just relax and not be social.  We understand.

Bring a picnic lunch or a bottle of wine and snacks and enjoy relaxing on the farm.

Wear work clothes and clean stalls or run the weed eater.  Just kidding...sort of... ;-).

Do a little shopping.  We have raw and washed fleeces, roving, batts, yarn, spindle kits, gift items...

Take a free spinning lesson - bring your own wheel or borrow one of mine. I can also help with basic knitting questions or problems...or teach you some new ones ;-).  I'm also happy to talk about how to process wool or take care of sheep.  What would you like to learn?

Get your passport stamped and try to win some prizes from the Kentucky Fiber Trail! 

There will should be cake on both Sunday afternoons.  Wednesday evening...I might make some fresh sourdough bread and have a bowl of bruschetta topping.

 

If you need directions or have any questions, just shoot me an email!

Things To Know

If you are headed out on the I-64 Spring Fiber Fling Trail this weekend, here are some things to know if you are coming here.

Yes, the Wool House is my studio, but it's also a fiber shop, class room, gathering spot, place of respite.  Please come on in!  

Everyone is welcome here.  This is a safe space.  

If you want to just stop by and get your passport stamped, that's perfectly fine.  

If you only want to meet the sheep, that's fine too.  I'd  probably bring some toll "money" - vanilla wafers or saltine crackers ;-).

If you'd like to spend an hour or two sitting on the porch with your spinning wheel or current project, watching the sheep and horses and listening to the birds (or the rain fall on the metal roof), that's also fine...and encouraged.  Bring a picnic lunch!

If you are stumped by your current project or spinning wheel or spindle and feel comfortable asking for help, I'll do my best to get you back on track.  Note that I am more hack than genius, but sometimes it's better to be lucky than good :-).

And obviously, if you are looking for some unique local yarns or spinning fibers, learn to spin kits, wool sheep ornaments, farm inspired folk art cards,...  please fill your free My Favorite Sheep bag to the top :-).

Yep, if you stop by during the I-64 Spring Fiber Fling, you'll get a free tote bag (while supplies last).

And if you've enjoyed your visit, but just don't need anymore yarn (whatever), but would like to tip the sheep, you can always Buy Them A [Bale Of Hay]

* * * * *

The forecast is not great, but it's Kentucky in the spring...  The Wool House will be open from 11:00 to 4:00 on Saturday and 1:00 to 4:00 on Sunday and again next weekend.  Other hours can probably be arranged.  Just email to make an appointment.

Merry And Bright

If I had time I'd probably go back through the archives to see if this is the latest I've ever posted the Christmas card.  If it's not the latest, it's probably tied for the latest.  Whooosh!

I'd originally planned to paint this fun picture of Short Round, but as I sketched it out on my iPad and started figuring out the colors on there, I really liked it just as it was so decided to just go with it and use it as an exercise to learn more about Procreate, which is a fun art program built for Apple devices.  

This was my hope when I finished out the 20 year series of folk art farm cards last year.  Mostly I was out of new story lines, but also I wanted the opportunity to learn some new skills.  Once it was finished I realized I could still draw the back as an outline and it would probably work as a cute rug pattern, which is something else I'm hoping to learn more about.

This has been a hard year for so many people.  I hope this funny old ewe brings you some joy and the silhouettes of sheep grazing in the moonlit sky behind her bring you some peace.  The inside of the card this year says "Merry and Bright".

Monday Morning Magic

I was up early this morning.  Dogs, sheep, horses and shepherds don't understand daylight savings/wasting time.  I decided to go organize my Christmas card stock and make up some individual year packets I was low on.

I don't sell a lot of cards anymore.  I think mostly because I'm not setting up at the big Wool Festival in Falmouth, but also, sadly, I don't think people send cards like they used to.  I love getting cards.  I love sending cards.  Yes, I will be painting a card this year.  It's just going to be a little different ;-).

As I noted my inventory, there were two years I felt were getting too low.  I wrote out a "purchase order" (aka note to Tim on the back of a used envelope) and realized this would probably be the last time he'd need to print cards for me.  I took it kind of hard.

I then walked outside as the sun was rising and it felt like spring and there were birds singing that I don't think should be here, and the lilac bush is blooming again (fourth time this year) and I saw a group of Bradford pears blooming the other day...and it's November.

There's a lot going on these days.  A lot that feels very heavy, personally, nationally and globally.  My horse is lame, my sheep are getting old, the planet is on fire.  Bea and I headed out for a walk and I caught myself noticing trash on the side of the road rather than the beautiful leaves, green moss on a decaying tree trunk, the scuttle of little creatures.  

Time to git yer head on straight!

A bit later I was poking around the Wool House looking for some tasty greens for Pinot and I spotted a tiny dot of color.  "Now what's blooming that shouldn't be?!?" 

(head. straight.)  

A tiny zinnia, smaller than a blade of grass!  And it has two more buds! 

The zinnias who worked so hard all summer tossed out some seeds and one volunteered to stand up and bloom this fall, sheltered under the frosted dried leaves left from a long, dry summer.  

Isn't that delightful!

Merry Christmas

I originally thought I'd stop painting the farm cards after the tenth year.  That was a nice round number and I was having trouble thinking of new "scenes" for upcoming years.  I shared that with some folks, probably at the Kentucky Wool Festival, and new ideas started coming in from all over...so I kept going.

I've enjoyed painting all of these cards.  It's been fun watching them progress over the years.  I invented the scenes and Tim came up with all of my favorite clever titles.  I'm not sure if we started adding text to the backs to explain the titles or maybe the design itself, but that became almost as much of the card as the fronts.

I'm so flattered when people tell me they save the cards each year and some even set them out as part of their holiday decorations.  Back in 2011 I was incredibly honored to be featured in an episode of one of our favorite tv shows, KET's Kentucky Life.  

I just went back and rewatched the story and am so grateful to have that sweet time capsule of Hank and all those good old sheep and horse friends.  I kept expecting to see Maisie and realized that she hasn't actually been here forever.  

I've made a lot of friends with these silly paintings, one in particular, a retired art teacher who I met through blogging and got up the courage to email to ask if she could help me figure out something I was struggling with. I know longer remember which year that was, but it was long ago at this point.  

I didn't have to call her for help with this year's card and I was sort of sad about that, but proud that I've learned enough from her over the years that I was able to pull it off mostly on my own. Thank you, Lori.  It's been a privilege to talk art and horses and life in general all these years.

Thank you also to another good artist and friend, Robin, who always helps bounce ideas around, especially when another artist friend who lives in Texas just laughs when I ask her a question about painting snow ;-).  It's always been a team effort, even down to the proof reading.  Thank you!

Going forward, I'm sure I'm still going to create a Christmas card each year, but I'm looking forward to trying some new ideas and techniques.  I can't imagine not sending out at least a few cards.  I sure enjoy receiving them.

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Card Reveal Eve

 

If you'd like a sneak peek or just a really fun puzzle, here you go!  I put the puzzle pieces a bit higher than normal and it's a fun, but completely do-able size.  If you really want to make it less pieces, that's okay, but spoiler alert...if you keep it as it's set, Maisie's tail is it's own puzzle piece :-D.  

Enjoy!

Find You A Sheep...

 ...who looks at your artwork the way Big J does :-).

While I would like to talk to Maisie, even though I feel like I know mostly what she'd have to say, who I'd really like to talk to is Big J.  What a great old sheep.  I'd love to know what he thinks about and understands.  He was very interested in the painting last year as well. 

I've had to wait a couple of days for an overcast sky to take a digital picture of the painting, but I'm sure not going to complain about a couple of warm, sunny days in December :-).  I got the picture taken this morning and it's headed off to "the printer" and if all goes well, we'll be ready to start mailing on Monday.

Behind The Scenes

I almost forgot to share this.  For the last couple of years I've been photographing the finished card instead of scanning it.  It's hard to get the card to print the same color and saturation as the actual painting and this seems to be getting us closer, quicker.

This year, as I got ready to shoot it, Jared came over and gave the painting a thorough inspection.  That was probably due to the fact he was hoping it was a yellow Vanilla Wafer box, but I'd love it if he knew those were his friends and himself in the picture.

If you notice, this is not what ended up being the finished card.  With the different perspective I noticed that the painting was a bit heavy on the left with too much open on the right.  And Betsy was missing.  Back to the [painting] board ;-).

I normally do a Christmas Eve cookie party video, but dealing with the extremely cold weather has taken a toll so I'm not making any set plans.  I think the sun is supposed to be out tomorrow, so I think it will be more fun to "open presents" Christmas morning instead.  

This will be live on IG and I may try to do a live on FB as well if I can get that figured out.  I'm not going to make any promises on a time because animal care comes first and we are still going to be very cold tonight. Hopefully all will be well and maybe we'll shoot for somewhere around 9:00?

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas

I really enjoy listening to Christmas stories, well, any good stories and some of my favorite people are the ones who tell great stories.  I like to think that our animals tell each other stories as well.  I wish I could sit down here between Bea and Blossom and listen to Grandpa Rocky.  Everyone has a story. 

Merry Christmas!

Jessica is our puzzle post winner.  Please email me (thecrazysheepladyATgmailDOTcom) with your mailing address :-).

A Sneak Peek And A Giveaway

I'll post the actual card and the back diagram tomorrow (Friday) at noon ET.  In the meantime, if you'd like to work the puzzle (click the picture) for a sneak peek, let's have some fun!  How many characters can you identify?  

Leave a comment with A. the total number of animals and B. how many you can recognize and I'll have 20 do a random drawing giveaway for a fun prize on Friday afternoon :-D

Greetings!

Wow, December 13th.  Sigh...  Okay, I'm not going to dwell on the disappointment of missing so many days on the blog.  

The Christmas card is finished and everything is being printed today and will start going out tomorrow.  I'll do the big reveal once they are in the mail.  I'll probably do it as a puzzle, just for fun and then later in the day post the whole picture and story.

I always listen to audio books while I work and for the last few years I've tried to find good Christmas-y stories.  I've shared some of my favorites before.  This year I have found a new strategy for finding fun stories.

If you have an Audible membership, put "Christmas" in as a search and then click "included in your membership" and you'll find an amazingly long list of free Christmas/Winter stories!  There are classics and mysteries and children's stories and lots of sappy Hallmark style cozy romances and plenty of just good, fun stories.  

Currently I'm listening to Lady Osbaldestone's Christmas Goose and it's a charming early 1800s story about a grandmother and her three grandchildren as they try to solve a mystery and is very reminiscent of Downton Abbey.  

Enjoy!

Maisie's Red Sled And Some Of My Favorite Things

I mentioned the red sled that went a** over tea kettle "several" years ago and broke into a million pieces.  See the kind of weird red plastic Christmas tree ornament?  It was made from that sledding wreck :-D.  It's one of my very favorite ornaments.

I love ornaments that have special stories or memories behind them.  Even years when I don't really feel like putting up any decorations, I always do because I'd hate to not visit with these special friends. 

I had plans to do a post every day this week sharing something special from my Christmas.  Even though it's only Wednesday now Thursday (!), I feel like the week has completely gotten away from me.  And actually, I just realized that one of the main reasons my week has gotten away needs his own blog post before I go any further.  Be right back. 

Okay!  Archie was a pretty good Christmas gift, eh?  :-D

I don't do a lot of traditional holiday stuff, but I do have some favorite things I'd like to share in case you might be struggling to find some Christmas spirit this year.  

One of my very favorite Christmas stories is The Tree Nobody Wanted by Tom McCann.  I love audiobooks and McCann does a wonderful job narrating if you go that route.  It's short and sweet and even if it's not a true story...and it very well is...it's a true story.

I always make a pan of gingerbread from Fields of Greens by Annie Somerville.  This year's (first :-) cake was my best yet.  Turns out if you use the actual called for size cake pan you don't have to stress about how much longer you have to bake it or how to get the middle done perfectly.  Thanks, Auntie Reg :-).  Sometimes I top it with poached cranberries (also in her cookbook), but usually I just warm it up and pour milk over it.

 

Years ago Tim put together a CD collection of our favorite Christmas music.  Yes, a CD collection, that's how long ago it was :-D.  He listens to his copy now on an iPod, but I'm still playing the CDs ;-).  Here's one of my favorite songs.  Sing along and sing it loud!

Of course my favorite sheep are maybe the best part of my Christmas.  I love being in the barn at night any night, but Christmas Eve is always extra special.  We'll once again do a live cookie party at some point in the evening.  I'll post the time on Christmas Eve...which is tomorrow :-o.

Baa-shing Through The Snow...Or Rain

Well, the weather outside is looking a bit frightful, or at least damp, but we're all wearing wool anyway...right?  If you were thinking about coming out today to see the sheep, come on out!  The barn is actually quite cozy even on the nastiest of days.  

* * * * *

A...um...few years ago my friend Susan and I tried to pull one of our trusty sleds like this (sort of ;-) with Handy. I don't think I even got a turn on the sled before it went a** over tea kettle and broke into a million pieces. That wasn't our first sledding wreck...and it wasn't our last. Those are some of my most favorite-est memories.

I'm not sure Maisie would agree, but I think I can almost hear her laughing...or maybe that's Susan or possibly 20, my other favorite sledding buddy ;-D.

If you'd like to work this as a puzzle, here you go :-). 

Merry Christmas!

BETSY!!!

 

Normally the biggest issue with printing the Christmas card is getting the colors right and we had our fair share of that once again this year.  When it was obvious we weren't going to be able to get it right as it was painted, I headed back home to make some changes and then email a scanned file back to Tim in Lexington.

I really didn't want to make a second 45 minute drive back in to the big city, but I also really didn't want to give the go ahead on a big print job without seeing a new color proof.  I could wait for Tim to bring home the new proof, but then I wouldn't be able to include a card with the calendars mailing out today.  

We decided to do a short run of cards so I'd be able to use them today and then if I hated how they looked, we could continue tweaking the colors before we ran the big group.  They looked great and I gave Tim the go ahead to do the rest of the printing.

I am an obsessive proof reader.  I had looked and looked at the card and was satisfied there were no spelling or horrible grammatical errors.  Something nagged at me though and I picked up one of the printed cards one last time.  Everything checked out...but...maybe I should double check to make sure all the numbers match up correctly.

1.  Krista  2.  Short Round 3.  Ellie...on down to 16.  Cheeto  17. Betsy 18.   18.  18?!?  There was no number 18 on the ID list!  

Guess who is number 18.

Yep.

Possum.

I know when I set up the back of the card that Possum was on the list.  I didn't take her off.  Tim didn't take her off.  

BETSY!!!

I'm going to go ahead and include one of the "limited edition" cards with each calendar order today just so they can get on the way.  Hopefully you will get a laugh as you write in Possum's name...and you can scribble out Betsy's if you wish ;-D.

Almost Caught Up

 (insert hysterical laughing)

There is a big box of calendars sitting on the dining room table and it's not even January yet :-).  Thank you for your orders!  I haven't responded to any of the emails yet because I've been working hard to finish the even behind-er Christmas card.  You'd think with two retired race horses that I'd be better about photo finishes.  Phew!

I think it's "done", but I'm still have some doubts about my snow (how can I still be having this much trouble painting snow?!?) and if there should be some flying straw behind Betsy.  Yes, Betsy made the card this year.  Sadly, she is no longer the naughtiest character on the farm :-o. 

Whether I think it's done or not, I'm headed in to Tim's shop today to get the card set up to print.  We have trouble matching the acrylic paints to computerized printing colors, so this is fairly stressful.  Some years work better than others, but it's frustrating that the colors don't look as bright or clear as they do on the canvas.

Getting the calendars and Christmas card finished is a huge relief.  Huge. Relief.  

If you are more caught up than I am, here is a new puzzle.  Silly Frankie :-).  He was actually just scratching his back, but it's a funny capture.  I'm looking forward to working it tonight when my to-do list is finished...or just tonight.

Procrastination

I wanted to get a post written with some photography news, but I didn't think I had enough time so I threw together a quick puzzle...and then couldn't help working it...which was about the same amount of time it would have taken to write a blog post...

Get busy out there! 

* * * * *

Quick note:  the 2022 calendars are finally finished and have "gone to print".  I'll post more details tomorrow (No. Puzzles.)

The Christmas card painting is officially underway.  I'm not worried about that because if the calendars are just now printing then it must only be October at the latest....right?

Getting busy!

Easter Eggs For Christmas

I came up with a plan for the Christmas card early in the year.  It was something cute and fun with the horses and sheep and I was excited about trying to draw and paint it.  Just before I started to work on it, B. Willard got into a bucket of greenery I'd cut and ate just enough off each branch that I could no longer really use any of them and would have to start cutting all over.  

I was laughing with Auntie Reg about that and we agreed it was 2020 in a nutshell and that should be the card design this year.

I sketched it out, had my yearly conference with my favorite art teacher, started painting...and I didn't love it.  It wasn't terrible...but it wasn't great.  There were good parts...and parts that I just didn't feel  were working out at all.  There were several things I wished I had done differently and I considered just starting all over.

It's been a sad, sentimental sort of year.  The thought of painting over the top of naughty Cheeto and Willard or the horses running around the yard or Salt sleeping under her favorite tree made me...sad and sentimental.  Those were good stories.  Good times.  

Tilly digging in the bucket to see if there was anything to eat, Possum, so happy on "her" porch, Maisie standing watch over the flock...and wearing a Santa hat, no less!  Rocky and Jared grazing in the yard and the chickens...the chickens... ;-)

There's probably too much focus on the Wool House porch, but sitting in those chairs with Kate and Tilly, watching the sun come up and Willard hobble out to "make the donuts" each morning meant a lot to me.  I hope we aren't the only ones still sitting out there somehow.

Maisie floating around by herself out in "left field"...is, well, kind of Maisie.  I added her red hat to try to draw some attention away from the heaviness of the porch and it became a nice reminder of the fun we had dressing her up this year. 

Oh wait, I did paint out one character - Betsy (said like "Newman" from Seinfeld).  I'd originally had her looking out of the window of the Wool House, but after yet another vicious attack on sweet little Possum, I replaced her with a potted plant.  It's a special plant though.  Every year Stella gives me a beautiful poinsettia and it made me happy to include it.  

So...while I might not love the overall design of the card, when I notice all the little stories behind the big story I have to admit it's still a pretty good card. Sure, there are good parts and not as good parts and things I wish I'd done differently and stories I wished had ended differently, but...that's probably 2020 in a nutshell.

Merry Christmas!