This has to be the first time anybody ever posted about this combination of subjects! First, it’s getting to be the time of year when a quilter’s thoughts turn to the Fair! At least in our Wednesday circle, it does! Last year the Minnesota State Fair added a new category — Quilts on a Stick. Since most of you don’t live in Minnesota (and certainly everyone who lives in Minnesota didn’t go to the MN Fair and visit the Activities Building last year), I thought you might like to see what quilts on sticks look like!
They are 8″ x 9″, machine or hand quilted, and you must make a vertical sleeve on the back to accomodate a paint stick. Last year there were over 140 entries. Pam B. of our quilt group made the one with the small quilt hanging on the clothes line below, and it earned her a second place. Yea, Pam!
Margaret, another member of our group, made this three-dimensional ear of corn:
We have some talented and creative people to inspire us! So this is a reminder to start thinking small and get your entry ready for this year’s fair. They added a theme requirement this year — and it’s a State Fair theme.
A weather report: It was NINETY-SEVEN DEGREES today in the Twin Cities. We jumped from cool and windy to sweltering and windy. That’s why I’m up late doing this post — it’s too hot to go to bed and too early in the year to turn on the air conditioning! And since Wednesday is Puzzle Day in my world, I chose a nice, refreshing picture. This is my favorite photo of DH. (He will be so flattered.) This was taken a couple of years ago in Port Aransas, TX, while we were walking on the beach early one morning. It was a really hot, sticky September day (actually week), so we were taking our walks in the early-morning hours and I remember how cool the Gulf was.
I really was going to give you a break from any more hummingbird pictures for a while, but one I took today surprised me. After I put them on the computer, I always go through each one at 100%, which makes it huge and you can only see part of the picture, but I can really tell which ones are a little out of focus or any little detail I would miss otherwise. An example:
Upon closer examination. . .
. . . she’s sticking her tongue out! I wasn’t sure that’s what it was, but I found lots of photos on line that show hummer’s tongues are much longer than what we see here. She made so many visits to the feeder today, I had to refill it. It was either because of the heat, or there may have been more than one hummer. I think it was the heat. And check out the teeny, tiny toes on this one:
I’ve read that a hummingbird’s feet are only good for perching, not for walking. If they need to just move a couple of inches, they have to fly there.
Stay cool!
Sue
