EARLY MORNING VISITORS

Aren't they beautiful birds?! 

 The Sandhill Cranes  are tall--48-50" each. 

 Their chatter is beautiful and their songs, while a bit boisterous, are incredible, too.  They come up to get some cracked corn to warm up after our chilly mornings lately!  

I stitched all of the blocks together and then had the less-than-thrilling job of ripping all of the paper away from the blocks.  Now if I had used the special paper available in pads for foundation paper piecing, which comes out in the wash, this step could've been skipped but I used thin copy paper.

Here is the pile of paper I ended up with--about 8" high! lol

And most of it peeled away very nicely.

I'm pleased with the results.  

I added some left over 2" strips for borders. 

 The final dimensions will be about 24" x 34" after I layer it up 

and load it on the machine for quilting!

 

JUST WAITING!

Look at the sunset from last night! 

 You'd never know that a hurricane is heading straight for me!

At least I am not on the coast but this should be a very interesting weather event!

I told the Sandhill Cranes that they better hunker down....the water is high out back which is good and bad.  Good for them to be able to hide safely but if we get the rain they are predicting, 

they will run a good chance of having their hillock

 in the swamp well under water!

At quilting yesterday, I made a bunch of flying geese;  I ended up using the 'no-waste method' to make the geese.  I've only 40 more to make before the next clue on Wednesday!

Have you ever used this technique to make flying geese?!

 

EXPANDING

I added a few more blocks (24 actually) to the design wall.  I 

I finished adding this month's row to the Casablanca Afghan.

 And my parents added another year to their marriage---

68 years now!  What a celebration!

Twice as Nice

My view each morning for breakfast;  

I enjoy watching the hummingbirds 

and all of the visitors to the bird feeder out farther in the yard.

It's not unusual to see the sandhill cranes cleaning up the seed from the song birds but what a surprise to see this family of four!  (our usual parents have only one baby!)  Sure enough, they were in the back yard while these guys ate in the front.  

So entertaining!

I not only sewed the first dress of silky fabric.....

I made a second from the fabric my daughter brought me last month!  Things went very smoothly but I used bias fabric strips to bind the neckline and the armholes instead of facings.  

I sewed it to the front, folded it to the back and stitched in the ditch to secure and then trimmed the fabric close to this seam.  It is neat and lightweight for this kind of fabric.  

After doing the sewing, I did a bit of outdoor work (no humidity today!)  and put up both bird houses in the front garden! 

 The other one is on the opposite side but I couldn't get a pic because it was straight into the sun!

I did put up the one board in my sewing room.  

No more Friskies in the crack below the wall! lol

 

A Simple Day

I can't have an empty lathe! 

 I loaded on another  piece of the maple for a bowl.

A square bowl emerged pretty quickly. 

 I will wrap up  the sanding and finishing today!

Look what I finished at the frame yesterday!

I will be putting the binding on today and loading the pieced backing on the frame for the table runner!

The young sandhill crane is a teenager! 

 As soon as the parents saw me at the window for a photo,

He herded the kid right away 

staying between me and him the whole way! 

 Lena likes watching them, too!

Looking for that Carload of Love!

I worked a bit on this quilt-it was being used by a 'burrowing ' cat, Lena, who can mess up a quilt very quickly 

so I worked to get it off the floor!

I am doing an easy loose eight shape that nestles right up between the row before.  Very easy to do freehand-I saw this on a link from one of a guest blogger but now I can't remember who....sorry.

I've also puttered a row or two on the new table runner-with all of the Y-seams, it isn't a fast row either!

While outside doing some planting, I saw mom and baby sandhill cranes...so cute!  

We bought a new rug for the tv room;  I wish my new furniture was here in time for family visitors 

but I doubt it make it in time now since it is

Only a matter of hours 

and I will be giving hugs in person. 

 It is a long wait!

 

Taking a Good Gouge

The Sandhill Crane family still visit several times a day. 

 It is so nice to see their chick grown now to his parents' size and coloring.  

He will be on his own come Spring but for now they are still a happy family.

I played at the lathe on a new Camphor bowl.  

There sure was a lot of sawdust!  

It smells so good, I think it would be good in little sachets to keep away moths, too!

The bowl is just roughed out;  the end on the right is the bottom of the bowl 

and is now turned around on the lathe so I will begin hollowing out the bowl portion.

  I will then wait for the bowl to dry out a bit-it is full of water 

and needs to dry out so the final bowl will not crack and warp. 

 It was so relaxing to sweep away the waste wood to get it rounded out, 

that dinner was late! 

 I'm so happy to have the area and tools to work with wood!

INKTOBER DAY 20--CORAL  

A fantasy coral reef--I think it would be pretty painted on the wall on our pool!

 

Add Color!

 Look who we saw early in the morning!!!

They came right up to the back patio door 

asking for cracked corn!

All three together is a very good thing;

the 'chick' is an adolescent now-

adult plumage except for the red head-that's the last bit of coloring

to be added!

Speaking of color, look at my mailbox!

The mail lady came as I was stitching the last of the stitches

and I apologized for covering up the numbers nailed to the post

and she said not to worry--that they all knew which one it was now! lol

I will be painting the old black box in the 60's style today!

Playing with Threads

 After numerous attempts, I have worked the numbers for all of the different types of filet crochet used in this pattern--kind of like those math problems where you have to find all of the factors of a number! lol    (24 would have factors of 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, and 12 for example)

You have to use this kind of information when you are quilting, too, so all of the different geometric shapes must fit together in the same measurements! 

 ( a 12: square could be made of 6" or 4", 3" or 2"!)  

Practical math rocks!

 I added the gusset on the second sock, turned the heel and even started up the leg!  

I am sorry to say I haven't enjoyed making this sock because of the traveling stitches.

I am in the mood to knit a plain sock ---stay tuned;  I will have one on the needles soon!

 I also wasted a lot of time trying to make the linen stitch and while it was finally executed correctly but still didn't result in the look I was after.

I will have to give it a try with scraps--I thought of an idea

 to use up all of those scraps of dish cloth yarn!

'Look what Bill spotted at the pond/swamp out back!!!!

I can't wait to see them , too!

(Sandhill Cranes and child!  (new-it is very new!)