This quilt block shows your stereotypical black and white milking cow. The cow is made out of white fabric with black splotches. The udder below, which is fairly large, is made of a light pinkish fabric. Both are outlined by a very thing stitch of orange thread. The cow is facing to the right with its head down grazing on some grass drawn in with pen. The tail of the Holstein cow is long and black with a tuft at the end. It's in full swing from behind the cow.

Block-A-Day 314 – The Holstein Cow

Tina November 10, 2021Block-A-Day Leave a Comment

Holsteins are pretty high maintenance, have huge appetites, and don’t do well on poor pasture. Highlanders are low maintenance and are efficient grazers.

This quilt block shows a house in front of a mountain range. The mountain range is a dark brown with a light brown outline stitching. The house itself looks like two barns attached to each other in the middle. It is a tan brown and has pen markings on it to indicate the metal roof, garage doors, windows and porch. There is a teal and light blue diamond shaped sign above the garage doors on the right. The ground the house is on is a polka-dotted duo-tone fabric that is a shade of brown of dirt. The sky is a light blue salmon patterned background.

Block-A-Day 312 – The House That Scott Built

Tina November 8, 2021Block-A-Day Leave a Comment

It’s a big log house. He dug the hole and after the basement was poured I painted tar on the outside. We raised and set the logs and beams ourselves with nothing more than a block and tackle.

This quilt block shows a large pig standing in front of a rubber bin with food in it. The food is a mixture of black pen, orange and yellow fabric. The pig is a light tannis-pink piece of fabric with a pink stitched outing. The outline shows its leg muscles, its ears, and its little curly tail. This is all against a blue salmon-patterned background.

Block-A-Day 311 – The Baconer

Tina November 8, 2021Block-A-Day Leave a Comment

While the sows are named Cookie Cutter and Allspice, the market pigs end up with names like Pork Chop and Bacon. And one odd year when Farmhand 3 was only 3 we had one named Coffeemaker.

This quilt block shows two young pigs (shoats) against a blue background. The pigs themselves are a light pink color piece of fabric. There are two pigs, each facing the other direction. The left pig is sniffing the air and taking astep forward, while the other is "smiling" for the camera. Each pig is outlined by a white stitching. There are little noses and curly-q tails penned in with a brown pen.

Block-A-Day 310 – The Feeder Pigs

Tina November 6, 2021Block-A-Day Leave a Comment

Pigs that have been weaned are called shoats. The females are called gilts and the males will be castrated by now and are called barrows. Another name for this group is feeder pigs.

This quilt block shows a bunch of pigs against a blue background. In the center of the block is a light skin colored large sow lying on her side. Underneath the sow are six pink piglets curled up and suckling on her. There are little curly-q tails at the end of each. On the sow's back is single pig facing the camera with his little two front legs visible. His face is drawn in with a black pen.

Block-A-Day 309 – A Litter Of Piglets

Tina November 5, 2021Block-A-Day Leave a Comment

This is most often the pose you will find a fresh litter of piglets in. Mama pig lays on her side and softly grunts while the piglets tuck in.

This quilt block shows a tan squat building with a dark green thin angled roof. The opening, much like a dog house, is in the middle and is also dark green. The dark green pieces of fabric are stitched with a lighter green stitching. There are also lighter green stitches on the tan building to show the slats of wood. This is all against a light blue background.

Block-A-Day 308 – The Farrowing Shed

Tina November 4, 2021Block-A-Day Leave a Comment

Food is available for mama and an area is provided for piglets. A corner is blocked off with an opening piglets can get through but mama can’t. It’s equipped with heat lamps to keep the little ones warm.

This quilt block shows a short box on a field of grass with white hens inside. The bottom half of the block is a green salmon-patterned fabric, while the top half is a light blue salmon-patterned baground. In the middle of the green fabric are brown pieces of fabric with brown stitching that show a squat structure. Half of the structure is covered, the other half is lined with chicken wire. Inside the chicken wire are white chickens, each it's own piece of fabric.

Block-A-Day 306 – The Pasture Pen

Tina November 2, 2021Block-A-Day Leave a Comment

Pasture pens are open-air structures that have a roof covering 3/4 of the top surface. Half of the side surface is also solid. The remaining surfaces are covered with chicken wire.

This quilt block shows a table with bowls on it. In the bowls are white eggs. There is a sign next to the two bowls holding the eggs which is yellow. There is red lettering on it that says,

Block-A-Day 305 – Eggs For Sale!

Tina November 1, 2021Block-A-Day Leave a Comment

Eggs for sale! This is a constant theme at the farm. Sisu farms produces brown shelled eggs which are generally larger than white shelled eggs.

This quilt block shows a brown piece of fabric made to look like a big rectangular box on its side with demarcated boxes in pen in it. In each box is either yellow hay, or a light rust colored hen sitting on eggs looking at the viewer. This is against a blue splotch background fabric.

Block-A-Day 303 – The Nesting Boxes

Tina October 30, 2021Block-A-Day Leave a Comment

If you have a hundred chickens you’ll have ten nests, and that’s about the ratio you want and works out the best. When we started out we had open nests just like you see here in this block.