Here’s our friendly mallard that was checking out our little front yard last week for a nesting place. They must have found something more suitable, as they haven’t been back. Actually, almost anything would be more suitable. I did like this picture though, and thought it would make a fun puzzle.
Sue
I know I started this as primarily a quilt blog, but the birds have been so active lately, and it’s so much fun when the trees aren’t all leafed out yet and you can still see what’s going on in the trees! So springtime, it’s a quilting/birding/knitting blog!
We have a lot of red-winged blackbirds around the pond, and they tend to stay around the pond. We see them sitting on a cattail or a reed, and they are watching guard over a nest nearby. They will station themselves like soldiers, all around the pond. Today we saw some actually perch in a tree by the house. I think this guy is a youngster (probably a year-old male), as his wing patch color isn’t fully developed, and looked pretty light yellow-red when he flew by. He was surprisingly pretty up close.
Then the goldfinches started grazing on the seeds of the wild flowers (expensive weeds) that are planted on the edge of the park area as it comes up to our lawn. First there was one:
They are so tiny and quick. Here is a photo of one with a plant full of seeds that they seemed to favor.
Yes, I said “they”. The next thing I knew . . .
there was quite a group (I counted 5 3/4) at this seedy smorgasbord. I was surprised when I saw this photo on the computer, because by the naked eye (and through the lens) I could only see the bright yellow males. (That’s why I cut off one of the females.) The females do a good job of blending into their surroundings. It always seemed unfair to me that the males get the beautifully colored feathers and the females are boring and drab. But I guess it beats being somebody else’s smorgasbord!
Sue
Today is a dreary, chilly, rainy spring day. We will have sunshine back soon enough, and I’m sure all of nature is welcoming some moisture. We’ve had a couple of scary looking grass fires in the metro area recently, so I’m sure that this is for the greater good. However, I’m chilled today, and haven’t quite been able to warm up. It’s just that kind of a day.
We espied this fellow out on a driveway (out our kitchen window, of course). His stance totally reflects the way I feel today. Brrrrr! We had some discussion of what he was — mostly that it looked like a robin, but not quite. Time for the camera.
He does have a slight blush to the breast feathers, but definitely not a robin. It wasn’t until he stretched himself out that we could see it was a mourning dove.
We could hear a mourning dove the other day when we were out on the deck, but this is our first sighting of the year. Then before I had a chance to put the camera away (c’mon, you know I never put the camera away…), six or seven cedar waxwings blessed us with a visit to the crab apple tree.
This fellow looks pretty skinny, but maybe that’s because the robins got all the crab apples before he got here! They are one of my favorite birds, and sooo pretty!
Sue
(A warning: This is a long post, and I rambled a bit. I put the stash report first, in case that’s all you’re after.)
This was a good week — no shopping (ZERO yards in)! There was also a lot of sewing going on, but I was working on existing projects for the most part (3 yards out on a family reunion quilt).
Accomplishments this week were completing a customer quilt on the longarm, pinning up an oversized queen-sized customer quilt on the longarm so it’s ready to rock and roll, started knitting a new pair of socks, working on a family reunion signature quilt, and working on a gift project. Here are pictures I can share:
This sock is knitted from some Opal self-striping yarn (75% wool/25% nylon). I’ve completed the heel, and am ready to do the heel turn. Yarn like this is absolutely addicting because you don’t know what’s coming next. Well, until you figure the repeat out, but by then you are several inches into it, and it’s still fun anyway. After last week’s fiasco with a new pattern (the sock was getting HUGE), I’ve reverted back to my original successful pattern. When will I learn . . .
I’ve already blogged about the family reunion quilt here. I’ve sewn the corners on all 98 of the signature squares. Thankfully, this pattern has no sashings, so it will go together pretty quickly.
The customer quilt was a twin-sized airplane-themed cutie. I quilted it with Jodi Beamish’s panto “Popcorn” to simulate clouds. And speaking of pantos, I blogged here about my favorites and also sharing your favorites, so if you are a panto user, pop over and read the other comments and perhaps add one of your own.
For fun, (okay, I really do have fun EVERY day — it isn’t just once a week) seven of us neighbor ladies (and we all live in seven houses in a row, so how fun is that???) met at the local Perkins for breakfast. We were having so much fun, the people at the next table wanted to join us. Thursday was a lovely day, and Perkins is probably a mile or less from here, so I opted to walk there. (Okay, okay, okay, I did accept a pick-up ride with Marilyn halfway there, but I did walk all the way home with Karen.) Don’t you just love springtime?
I took this photo on my walk. This is the long-way view of the pond behind our house. And I wish you could hear it. The blackbirds were singing their hearts out and the pond just sounded alive with activity. Did I already say, don’t you just love springtime?
Saturday DH and I were sitting out on our deck having a pretend latte (I brewed a couple of cups of pretty strong coffee in the Keurig coffee brewer and added some hazelnut-flavored creamer). As good as the $4.00 kind! Anyway, we spotted a great blue heron hanging out along the side of the pond. Here is the un-zoomed regular photo view of the pond from the deck (I marked in red where the heron thought he was hiding):
Here is a photo with my beloved Panasonic 12x optical zoom/4 times digital (total of 48x zoom), which I’ve blogged about before:
This really isn’t a great picture because I’m all the way zoomed out, and it gets pretty grainy. It’s good if I stick to just the 12x, but sometimes that just isn’t enough (but I’m unwilling to pop the big bucks to get a super-duper camera). It’s fun to be able to get shots like this without leaving your pretend latte on the deck!
Oh, and I also worked on our family tree. My dad is the product of a short-lived marriage of the 1920s. I can’t find any trace of his birth father after the 1930 census, so just a shot in the dark: anybody know anything about Kelsey Jordan, b. 1880 in Iowa (also lived in Oklahoma, Minnesota, Colorado), parents were (supposedly) Benjamin Mayberry Prentiss Jordan and Laura Salome Dunning??? (I can find more info on BMP & Laura, but not Kelsey.) I keep searching, but the mystery continues. I guess I deserve it — I always did love a good mystery, and they are so hard to find!
Sue
My paternal grandmother’s side of the family is having a family reunion the end of June. The last one was five years ago. I collected signatures on squares of white fabric at the last reunion, and it’s time to get that PhD off the shelf and make sure I get them all incorporated into a quilt for this next reunion. I have 98 signed blocks! Based on the number of children and young adults at the last reunion, I’m sure this year’s reunion will be even larger.
I also got word that two teenagers at the last reunion were killed in auto accidents since that time. How heartbreaking. I checked the signatures, and I have signed blocks for both of them. (I wasn’t sure I got everybody at the last reunion, although I gave it my best attempt.) That just makes this quilt all the more precious.
So, are you going to a reunion, large or small, this summer? Please consider planning an autograph quilt to commemorate the occasion.
Sue
celebrates spring! This is a photo I took last year of a robin in the crab tree outside our kitchen window. The robins love to munch on these little apples. Don’t be discouraged by the different cut of the puzzle. It takes a little bit longer to get started, but then finishes fairly quickly because there aren’t too many pieces to this puzzle.
A tip on the puzzles: when you are working on the puzzle, try clicking on the timer on the left of the screen. That will pause the timer while you decide on the next piece to move. It will automatically start up again when you move your next piece.
Sue
I just took a customer quilt off the longarm, and it occurred to me that I tend to use my favorite pantographs time and time again. There are others that I’ve tried once and didn’t care for (and I should put them on eBay), and there are others yet that are patiently waiting for their first turn under the red laser beam of light, but the right quilt hasn’t come along yet.
My Cast of Favorites:
So those of you who use pantographs, what patterns do you reach for again and again? I wouldn’t mind adding a couple to freshen up my collection, but it’s always great to start with a recommendation or two or three. Plus I find it difficult to choose patterns based on a tiny drawing!
Sue
Since Patrick asked the question on my blog, why have an appraisal done on a gift quilt, I thought I would address the question here also.
Here is an appraiser’s site to check out, and she lists a number of reasons for having an appraisal done. (She isn’t local, but they all seem to have the same list and info.)
I have appointments to have two quilts appraised at the Minnesota Quilt Show in Duluth in June: Pat & Patrick’s Irish Chain, as well as a star kaleidoscope quilt I am donating to our church for a raffle. The reason for an appraisal on the second quilt is obvious — for tax purposes. But why for a gift?
My original plan was and is to tuck the appraisal into a sealed envelope and give it with the quilt. It would be up to them if they wanted to open the envelope or just file it away or toss it into a fire (the envelope, not the quilt!). It makes no difference to me.
Patrick asked if it was necessary. Of course not, so maybe they will take the fire option (VBG!). It will still be interesting to me to see what a trained, certified appraiser thinks of my best work.
It has been pointed out to me fairly recently that quilts with special meaning tend to have more “value” (however you want to define it; I’m thinking mostly monetary value for this post). I think this quilt will have some unique family value (of course, I am a little biased). Patrick is of Irish ancestry, Pat is 25% Irish; they were married last year on St. Patrick’s Day; this quilt is pieced in the Irish Chain pattern. I mean, how special can you get??? I am still mulling over how I’m going to quilt it, and any longarmer knows how that goes. The quilt has to “speak” to you. I have a couple of Irish-influenced ideas in mind, though I dislike using templates and have been working on a freehand plan. I have purchased special thread, and the Irish Chain is waiting to get pinned onto Elvis. Then I will put on some Irish music (no, I won’t — maybe some bluegrass, or maybe some real Elvis). Of course, a label documenting the quilt will need to be made and applied, then the whole thing bound.
And because it’s a gift, no further pictures or updates until it’s gifted.
Sue
First of all, a Very Happy and Blessed Easter to all of you who celebrate Easter. It’s a beautiful spring day here in Minnesota, with the sun shining and a high temperature today should be in the upper 50s. Pretty nice!
So, the stash report. For a change (LQS is now closed), nothing in this week; 3 yards out that went into a tote bag done in a group this past week (soooo cute — photos follow). Here are the YTD stats:
Accomplishments this week were quilting a donation quilt for our guild, one customer quilt almost completed, and a cute bag made. A step backwards this week was the red socks I was knitting. They kept getting bigger looking all the time. I did a search on line to see who else made these socks, and they said they ended up more like slippers. So I ripped out a 2/3 done sock and it is now a nice ball of yarn, waiting to become a sock another day.
The bag — if you have this magazine, McCall’s Quilting (Beautiful Patterns for your Home) April 2009, Page 12, you will find The Big Bag Theory by Penny Sturges.
The only problem with this pattern is that you want to make one for everybody you know, and life just isn’t that long! (There should be a wooden button on the red flap, but the handwork isn’t done yet.)
And just a little bit more Out My Window photography from this week. I just love springtime, when all the wildlife is returning north or crawling out of its winter hidey-hole. As a bonus, the trees aren’t leafed out yet, so you can see so much more. We watched this woodchuck (or groundhog, if you prefer) munch its way through the wild grassy area behind our house:
Then he would hear something, and stand up. Doesn’t he look like a little bear?
He was about the size of a medium-sized house cat, and I imagine he was finding tender new sprouts to munch on underneath the dried vegetation.
Well, I better get cooking or we will be having Easter dinner by candlelight, which wouldn’t be all bad except I promised dinner at 3:00!!!
Sue
Yes, more photos from the world’s laziest photographer. I love to take pictures from my windows. It can be raining, windy, nasty cold or blistering hot, and I don’t mind at all!
Thursday, 4/9: We noticed a duck (Mrs. Mallard) hanging out in the little bit of a “front yard” that we have in front of our townhouse. There’s a lovely pond behind our house, filled with wildlife and perfectly good ducky stuff. But no, this female appeared to be shopping for a nesting site in the little bit of a green area between our sidewalks and driveways. Maybe she’s more of an urban gal.
She must have spent at least ten minutes checking out this little area, up and down the sidewalk, through the little bushes. I think she could see the focusing beam from my camera, because she looked at the window like she could see me and was wondering what I was doing.
Finally, she’s had enough of being spied upon. (According to the National Geographic Birds of North America, Mallards don’t require a running start to take off, but can spring directly into flight.)
Friday, 4/10 (the very next day), this is what we see:
She brought Hubby Duck!!! It reminded me of the 3-4 years we spent looking for a townhouse. “We” was really me looking at a couple to several townhouse developments most weekends, dragging Hubby Man back to see the best of the best, only to have him shoot them down. The female duck had been pre-shopping the day before!!! And now she’s back getting HD’s approval and checking for comfort:
HD is doing his homework, and figures he’s going to check with the neighbors and see what kind of place this is. Oh-oh, I don’t think Ben & Muriel are home.
I can almost hear him saying, sure, it’s nice, but what are the taxes with all these so-called improvements??? Can we afford it? Is this a good place to raise our ducklings?
They won’t be back. I don’t think Hubby Duck liked it!
Sue
