Till The Cows Come Home

As I said in the beginning of this blog we used to milk cows.  The house used to be full of cow things everywhere you looked.  When the cows went in 1998 a lot of the cows ended up in the attic.  There are still a few roaming around the house, tho.....

This little runner is worked in size 30 thread with a size 10 hook and measures 33" x 9 1/2".  I made it to fit on the dry sink.  If you remember the Down On The Farm Table Runner from the first post this cow pattern came out of that one.  A lot of those patterns have been pulled out from that one to make another pattern. 

We made this window/mirror from an old barn window which we took what little glass was left in it out and replaced it with mirrors.  We often say this piece saved our cow barn.  When we were caulking the mirrors into it in the barn one day back in 1994 trying to find a well ventilated area plus a cooler spot since it was awful hot that day, a thunderstorm came up. We noticed at the end of the barn what looked like smoke.  Weren't sure if it was smoke or steam coming off the tin but it turned out to be smoke.  Some old wires were smoldering between the ceiling and upstairs floor.  Don't know if it was a power surge from the storm or it was a coincidence but at least we were in the right place at the right time to see it start and save the barn.  It will always be a reminder of that day !!  I made this little curtain for it out of size 30 thread with a sized 10 hook, also.  That used to be my thread size of choice until I saw how much faster things went in a size 10 thread.  I still think you get a more clear design with the smaller threads, tho. It just takes a lot longer.  This little curtain turned out to be 10 1/2" x 45". 

If I thought the little window curtain took a while this one took maybe 5 months to do if I remember right.  I had made this wooden shelf to go over a double wide space between the living room and office and wanted to hang a little curtain there so I added holes in the ends of the shelf for a curtain rod.  First thing that came to mind was the cows again.  This one is also in size 30 thread and size 10 hook and measures 11"x93".  Yes, it took quite a while to do !!!  It's nice when these things don't need a lot of washing since it took a while just to stretch and starch this one since it was so long.