January 01, 2013

 

I didn't think I had much to post about,

until I imported the pictures from my camera.

Should do it more often!

 

 

I'll begin with the most recent.

Anxious to see my first bird of the New Year,

I headed out the door this morning

to a birdless yard.

 

Thinking maybe the birds had celebrated too late
into the wee hours of the morning,

or were kept awake by all the fireworks,

I studied the trees,

and then I spotted the reason....

 

 

 

Never very confident in my hawk identification,

I've narrowed this handsome devil down to

either a Cooper's Hawk, who is here in S. Texas year round,

 or a Sharp-shinned Hawk, here during the winter.

He seemed to be pretty big.

 

 

 

Here he is, flying away.

 

One of the first little birdies to venture out after the hawk scare

was this sweet Carolina Wren.

 

 

 

 

Not a bad start to the New Birding Year,

OR to my Texas Yard Bird List!

 

I'm just now getting my sewing area set up.

I've been pretty busy since arriving in TX on 12/15.

Crafty Daughter had a birthday cookie order for us to work on.

 

Cows, of all things.

 

 

 

 

I just snapped a few quick, unstaged photos. 

(You can see that one is on a stick.

We attempted our first cookie bouquet.)

 

 

 

 

Then we moved on to Christmas cookies,

 

 

 

 

and had lots of fun experimenting with

the different cookie cutters we'd collected.

 

 

 

 

I always describe this areas as being within the northern fringe

of South Texas, and was surprised when a neighbor

invited us over to pick grapefruit.

 

 

 

She was away when we passed out Christmas cookie plates

to all the neighbors,

so she's getting a special plate

of New Years cookies.

 

 

 

 

Oh, my, this is becoming too long.

Well, down to business.  The purpose of posting today

is to link up with Carrie from A Passion for Applique.

 

 

Just choose three (3) UFO's a month

post about them,

and link up with Carrie.

 

1.  A Christmas Table Topper that never got finished

before I started my migration.

(At least I brought it with me!)

 

2.  A baby quilt that I've been handquilting since I left

Cape Breton.  The baby has just been born and is only in Houston!

 

 

 

 

  

3.  Crafty Daughter wants a small bag to wear for work.

She picked out the focal fabric.
This hasn't been started, but it's a UFO
because she asked for it last summer!

 

 

 

Stop by A Passion for Applique to say hello,

and to check out some of the links!!

 

Okay, I'm finished!

 

Whew!

 

 



Happy New Year

 

Happy New Year
from Texas!!

 

 

(Looking down onto

The Riverwalk,

San Antonio)

 

 



Signature Quilt - A Group Hug

(deleted post recovery #1,
dated 12/06/12)

 

 

Signature Quilts


Whenever  someone in our little community quilting group
faces an illness or an adversity,
I always try to make them a signature quilt
to help comfort them.

It's like a great big, 
perpetual, group hug!

 

 

For Helen.

 

 

 

For Lois.

 

 

For Marion.
,

But last fall, I decided we shouldn't have to be sick
in order to each have our own 'group hug',

I worked all summer on a signature quilt,

 

 

 

 

hand-quilting myself to the moon and back.

 

 

 

 

When we had our Christmas luncheon,

(the ladies always make sure it coincides to my departure),

we drew names for the quilt.

 

 

 

 

Here's the lucky, and very pleased,

winner!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

OOPS!

 

I accidently deleted a whole page of blog posts.

It's times like this that I wonder why I even bother.

 

Does anyone know if I can retrieve/restore them?

Blogger is no help.

No one answers questions in the forum.

And there is no place else to ask.

Thanks,

karen

Oh Little Playmate..

...come out and play with me!

Too cute to miss!

http://www.slothster.com/2352-Cat-On-Boat-Plays-With-Dolphins.html

Connections

Being a nature lover and a quilter,

it is sometimes difficult to connect the two in a post.

No doubt about it, quilters and artists have taken  the very best

of nature and incorporated it into their art for centuries. 

I've posted about owls, bees, dragonflies, and more dragonflies.

This morning, I found another connection, albeit ever so slight.

Several of my quilting followers have asked me

what a life list is

when I'm talking about seeing new birds. 

Birders are great listers. 

They have a life list, a yard list, day lists,

trip lists, wish lists, state, county, and even country lists.  

I'm sure I'm forgetting a few. 

Now there is e-Bird,

and they can keep track of their lists on the internet

with thousands upon thousands of other birders. 

This opens up a whole new playing field!

Visiting a new area?  Just hop onto the internet for a list

of birds that you can expect to see while you are there.

I looked 'lister' up on Dictionary.com

and discovered that a list is also:

 /lɪst/ Show Spe

1. a border or bordering strip, usually of cloth.

2. a selvage.

3. selvages collectively.

4. a strip of cloth or other material.

5. a strip or band of any kind.

 

 

Therefore, although the term is now obsolete,

a 'lister' is also 'one who applies a border or edge to...'.

Quilters are great listers of lists, as well. 

It's the only way they are able to finish all the projects they've started,

and manage their life around their sewing! 

Have a great weekend.

Hope you check off everything

on your list!

All the Rage

Dresden Plates are

all the rage. 

Miss Kyra

Isn't this one beautiful??

All proceeds from the sale of this pattern

are being donated to the family

of a very sick little girl.

Kyra

To learn more, please visit

Erin

at

One Piece At A Time.

To order the pattern from Erin's Etsy store

because you're just too excited to help

 and want to do it right now,

click HERE!

Erin has graciously posted tutorials

on how to construct this beautiful quilt.

Dresden Plate

Appliqued Flowers

Not a quilter, but it is in your heart to donate?

Click HERE!

Thank you, Erin, for giving us the opportunity

to help this beautiful girl and her family

as they stumble down this long, rocky path.