Archive of entries posted on May 2009
One More Bee Post
After all, these may be Quilting Bees!
The bumblebees really catch my eye because they are HUGE!!! 3/4″ to over an inch in length. Today I noticed a number of honey bees also visiting the flowers on the crab tree. They are so insignificant looking in comparison. I tried to get a picture of each on approximately the same size flower so you can see what a size difference there is.
And even these pictures are a little deceiving, as the honey bee’s wings are neatly folded on his back making him appear a little larger. The honey bee is more difficult to photograph because they buzz around at top speed and agility; the bumblebee just sort of lumbers along.
Sue
A Wee Window Visitor
This is my favorite view this time of year — my kitchen window with a flowering crab tree right outside. I end up shooting my pictures through the blinds so I don’t startle the birds that may stop for a rest in our little tree. And I don’t think we’ve ever had prettier flowers than we’ve had this year:
The birds are either avoiding this tree or have found better spots to hang out for the time being. (Maybe if I started offering a Happy Hour. . .) So I’m reduced to taking pictures of whoever stops by:
Here he’s gathering pollen on his hairy legs. I’m amazed that you can see the hair on his body and how gossamer his wings are.
Sue
A Quilting Entry!!!
I know, I know, you were starting to think this was a birding blog. I have been sewing, and have decided to share a few pictures.
I did the final touches on the neat-o bag that some of us did last month. This is The Big Bag Theory by Penny Sturges; pattern found in McCall’s Quilting, Beautiful Patterns for your Home, April 2009. This is an awesome bag, and one that I know I will be using. My only modification I made was to add the ties to the sides to hold it together a little better and give it a nicer shape (if only I could do the same for me). The ties can be loosened for more room, for example, while shopping at a quilt show. I LOVE this bag.
Another task completed is our guild’s BOM for May’s meeting. This is Cross Within a Cross, and all the blocks I’m doing have a sprinkling of metallic gold in the Asian fabrics. We are doing twelve blocks. I have a chocolate-brown blender fabric set aside for the sashings.
Remember the jacket I was embellishing, and wasn’t quite happy with how it was coming together — actually how it was NOT coming together? Sandi A. said it needed rick-rack, and darn it anyhow, I knew she was right. So I took the collar back off (the ONLY thing that was DONE!!!), and redid the collar. I borrowed Betty’s yo-yo maker and did the flower with a yo-yo center with some gloppy looking beading (I hope Niece Julie doesn’t read this, as she is an expert beader and I’m anything but). Took off some fabric I added under the pocket on the left side, and kept the covered pocket flap on the right. (And I had some other nice comments too — the buttons I am stuck with as they are the riveted-on type; I still may cut off the cuffs and replace them with the burgundy fabric if I can get another piece of it.) And ta-dah! It’s as good as it’s going to get. It’s officially in the “done” pile. Here’s a “before” and an “after” pic:
Wasn’t Sandi right about the rick-rack though? I think it really sets off the collar. Thanks, Sandi! (This was a purchased $7 clearance jacket originally.)
Thanks for visiting!
Sue
Holy Mackerel!
It’s Wednesday, so it’s time to subject you to another puzzle. I was going through some of my favorite bird photos taken in Texas over the last several winters, and came across a different sort of “bird”. Yes, this is a picture of me after a day of deep-sea fishing with DH. We left with a group early in the morning, spent two hours speeding along in the boat until we got to international waters. We then spent three hours fishing, then another two hours back to port. This was about March 1st, 2006. I really enjoyed it, but my arms ached for days afterwards. These king mackerel put up a pretty good fight, and I remember being pretty exhausted after this long day on the boat, all the sun (which I normally avoid), and working hard to get these fish into the boat. IT WAS SO MUCH FUN!!! Maybe I’ll get to do it again next year. So I am today’s puzzle. (I know DH would claim that I am a puzzle every day, but that’s another story.)
Sue
Sighting
Considering we live in the city, I consider us pretty fortunate to be able to look out at a pond, trees, birds, squirrels, rabbits, hedgehogs, and other years we’ve seen deer and a fox. You just never know what you’re going to see.
I know our pond isn’t very deep, because in dry summers I’ve seen ducks stand up in the middle of it. However, it may be a lot deeper than I thought, as here’s what I saw this afternoon:
Does he remind you of anybody famous?
The other birds weren’t cooperating at all today, and so here are a couple of pictures of the tree the birds are SUPPOSED to be in! They must not have gotten the memo that they are a main source of my entertainment.
This tree is prettiest right now. Another day or two, the blossoms will be totally open and appear all white. I love this pretty rose color that they have now. I just don’t understand why all the birds don’t want to hang out in this particular tree! I know I would.
Can’t show any quilting pictures right now. In the works is a customer quilt, our guild’s challenge for this month, our Wednesday group (DayStitchers) started doing our box exchange again this month, and another challenge quilt for a June quilt show. So much secrecy!
Sue
Sue
Out My Window
Yesterday a lonely little Palm Warbler was checking out our flowering crab tree. It was late in the day, and there are a lot of shadows on this fellow, but he was very patient and did a lot of posing for me.
This tree is just outside the kitchen window where the table and chairs are, so it’s a primo spot for bird watching without actually having to do any work. I know, I would be in much better shape if I actually did a little more moving around, but if the birds are willing to come to me . . .
We are still waiting for another hummingbird sighting.
Sue
Happy Mother’s Day
Happy Mother’s Day to all of you who are mothers or have/had a mother! I’d like to share a favorite photo of a hibiscus bloom from a plant Jim gave me three years ago, so a Mother’s Day flower to all of you:
And in case you have a little extra leisure time today, here it is as a puzzle.
Enjoy the day!
Sue
9-Patch & Stash-Busting Report
Thank you! I really appreciated all the comments on my blog yesterday regarding the sashing color on my 9-patch quilt. (I was just thinking of what to call it other than just “9-patch quilt”, the first thing that came to mind was “9-Patch Garbage Quilt”, because it is all scraps that I used to throw away when I first started quilting! I have to come up with a better name than that. Maybe you can help me with that today.)
I probably should also change the name of the Stash Report to the Rationalization Report…(and thanks to Judy L for doing the stash report!)
I didn’t totally trust my judgement on the blue fabric. I thought maybe it just looked fresh and different and that’s why I liked it best, but looking at it again this morning, along with twelve BLUE votes — blue it is, and I know I’m we’re making the right choice because I am much more excited about this quilt right now. The next challenge will be to find a navy fabric comparable to the batik I tested the blocks on.
I decided to add my stash report a day early onto this posting because I’m going to discuss my stash-busting efforts (really, I’m trying!). And this week was hard on my stash-busting efforts. This week I purchased some muslin for the sashings that I’m now going to do in blue (no crying here — I needed a bigger piece of muslin on my shelves; I usually have a bolt. I planned to have some extra so I bought 10 yards. Actually muslin shouldn’t count, it’s like buying flour for your pantry).
I also got a gorgeous fabric (it’s light-colored though) for the backing (8 yards, enough for backing, binding, and some extra), and now when the 9-PGQ is done I may want a darker backing instead (and no regrets here either — it will make a fabulous backing on something). 18 yards in.
So four months into the year and instead of being 1/3 of my way towards my goal of 75 yards used (25 yards), I am deeper in the hole. And that’s okay. It gives DH something to chortle about when I walk in with a bag of fabric, “Is that more stash??? Are you going to have to report it?” Followed by maniacal laughter. At least I’m using up some old stuff, buying some new stash I need/love, and giving my husband a cheap thrill, all at the same time. (Fabric used: scraps into the 9-PGQ, which I weighed to get the yardage = 3 yards.)
The numbers don’t lie:
*sigh* I’m about 50 yards away from where I should be at this point. We’ll see how the next third of the year goes. I may be changing my goal to just break even!
(Click here if you have time for a little Mother’s Day puzzle.)
Sue
Nine-Patch Color Options
I decided to join in on CrazyMomQuilts nine-patch quilt-along. Click here for the specific post with the quilt picture. I just love the original coloration this quilt-along is based on, but I knew my colors would be totally different than these modern brights because I am digging out scraps from my scrap container; I don’t own any fabrics that would vaguely resemble the original quilt. I proceeded to pull out any browns, golds, dark reds, tans, greens, and a few blues. No real pastels, and no neon brights. My plan was to use unbleached muslin for the sashings.
Today I decided I was going to do a quick reasonable facsimile on Electric Quilt just to ensure that my unbleached muslin was going to be okay colorwise. (I shopped at a discount place yesterday for a more beige-y fabric, but I couldn’t find one I liked.) I also played around with other background colors (yellow, gold, blue, brown, tan, green, wine, etc.). Surprisingly (to me, anyway), I really liked the navy blue. Here are the two different colors as they appear on EQ. All I changed is the cream to navy:
Well, my problem is I am liking the navy blue better! I hate to change horses in the middle of the race, and I know colors can be deceiving on a computer screen; plus, the “fabrics” in my EQ drawing are just kind of similar-ish fabrics that are the standard ones on EQ.
I decided to do a quick layout of the 30 blocks I have done (out of 80 — I’m making the quilt 8×10 instead of 7×10) on both the muslin and a nice dark navy I have for another project (even though it’s a batik, the color is what I have in mind). Here they are, and please squint so you don’t see all the wrinkles and threads!
So what do you think? Do I need to go back to the fabric store?
Sue
