Camino training is starting

 Hello, everyone. We are resuming our walks in hope of walking the Camino once again. We were not able to walk the Via de la Plata in 2020, as had been planned. Perhaps it will happen this time.

We have found a new series of YouTube videos, by an Australian fellow with the screen name GreenEnergyGavindelaplata. It's interesting. He, like us, is interested in how the local folks live. He learned a lot about cork culture (this is a crop, the bark of the cork oak tree) and shared it in his first video.

Today, though, we were just practice walking. We went to Bentsen State Park and saw the Green Jays, the doves, the Chachalcas, the orioles, and even the local flock of wild turkeys.

Mister Cardinal at the feeder

Mrs. Cardinal thinking about the feeder

Orioles and Chachalacas considering the feeder. (The Chachalacas did eat some peanut butter mix.) The orioles didn't seem to know what to make of the feeder. Theywould fly over to look at it and not eat. Perhaps they thought the yellow-orange peanut butter mix was cut up fruit.

A Green Jay eating peanut butter mix. Almost all of the birds love the peanut butter mix the park feeds them in the winter season.

After the frost

 Hello, everyone.

A quick update on our recent frost: it's not as bad as we feared it might be.

Before the frost, the Lila avocado was covered with a sheet and also wrapped in a C7 incandescent strand. Y'all will note that a rock was place to keep the sheet from blowing away. (Fairly stiff winds were forecast for this front--almost a true Blue Norther in fact.)

After the frost, the sheet was removed and the light strand was moved to the base of the baby tree. As y'all can see, she has survived. Though with her branches bent over from the weight of the wire and sheet.

She grew about 7 inches or so last year after we painted her stems with white latex paint. It's almost time to get the paint out again and protect those new, tender inches of growth.

We're going to keep the light strands where we placed them until potential frosts are in the rear-view mirror.

It's Christmas type weather for the holiday this year (updated)

 Hello, everyone. Merry Christmas to all!

We're at the edge of the huge cold pool that has rolled down from the Artic.

It's still a lot colder than usual. Today has been low 30's F (near zero C) all day. Last night I think we bottomed out around 30. We have done what we could for our plants.

This is a Desert Rose and a poinsettia, wrapped and with incandescent lights.

A baby avocado tree, also with incandescent lights and a wrap. The stems are still so thin that the lights weigh them down.

I hope they all make it through.

(Updated to correct spelling and formatting.)

A completed project: Christmas Apron

 Hello, everyone.

There has been some sewing done lately: The Charm Squares Apron pattern has been made. Link goes to Shabby Fabrics, the place I got the pattern. (The lady who did the design has an Etsy shop, but when I looked at that page all the prices were in pounds, instead of dollars. So if a reader would rather deal in pounds, I put the Etsy link in this parenthesis.)

This project used up a whole package, or equivalent, of 5 inch squares. ("Charms") The instructions make a lined apron with pockets at the sides. Instead of putting a name across the top, I embroidered a dove with an olive branch and some hearts. I used a quilter's binding method for the bottom hem instead of the one she suggests in the pattern, the quilter's one gives a double layer at the bottom edge which I think is going to be more durable. I also used the expansion proposed by Ms. Bethany at Shabby Fabrics to make the pockets fully lined with no raw edges exposed. I recommend this, as her point about better durability seem good.

It's not hard to make, but there is a deal of sorting, piecing, squaring up, and deciding about placement.

I'm thinking of making more Charm Squares Aprons, as there are a lot of charm squares in the stash, even before turning odd shaped scraps into 5 inch squares. (The off-cuts become input to crumb quilting, which makes a new fabric.) 

There is also a plan afoot to make some more wall hangings instead of taking the hook off of the wall where the Kimberbell Jingle All The Way quilt is currently on display. Valentines? Easter? Camino hiking? Fall? The possibilities are endless!

Action Photo: the new tree skirt

 Hello, everyone. The new tree skirt is with its tree, and for a bonus the Kimberbell Jingle All The Way quilt is hung alongside.

The Kimberbell Jingle All The Way quilt was a multi session class at the (late and much lamented) A Block Away quilt shop. Sadly, that shop is no longer. But I still have the things I made in classes there. 

And!

A new quilt shop is opening in the next town over from me. When I have a good picture, I will show it. I already stopped by to say hello and get a charm pack. (I didn't actually need it, but I want to support the ladies who have opened the shop.)

The wall quilt has a hanging sleeve at the top, and I put a curtain rod (with a cute finial) into it. Careful use of rubber bands to both set the amount the inner part sticks into the outer part of the rod, and to try and control the natural tendency of the hanging yarn to pull toward the center has been my friend in this. The hanging yarn is one of the fat, braided ones from Hobby Lobby. It's a sort of garnet red.

This is the only picture I have that really shows the bow on the tree, too. Thanks to the late afternoon sunshine, plus turning on every light in the room!

New Christmas tree skirt (updated for formatting)

 Hello, everyone. We're having "Chamber of Commerce weather" in South Texas just now. That means, in Fahrenheit numbers, nights in the 60's and days in the  80's. Very comfortable! And seasonal for this area.

The moon was playing peek-a-boo behind some clouds the other day.

Since this area doesn't generally see anything that looks like snow, or ice, we have to use our decorations to make it look like it's Christmas season.

I have now used my (new) 10-degree ruler to make the panels of a tree skirt. Fabrics are from stash. Also the little tying ribbons are from stash.

The front. I used nine different fabrics for the panels.

The back.

The tree that needs a skirt. (It got a few more ornaments after this photo was taken, but the general idea is the same: decorated egg shells, beads, and crystals. And a bow for the top, because the traditional stars are too heavy for it.) This is a small tree, so we set it up on a coffee table.

(Edited to fix formatting. I don't know what happened, but using my phone to post made a huge pile of empty space for no reason that I can see. Now fixed!)

Cutter Ants (edited for formatting and clarity)

Hello, everyone. While we were gone, the weather in South Texas was mostly cool and damp. The plants loved it! And, to my surprise, so did the ants that have made their home down the road.

This is what we saw while walking. (Bearing in mind that I had thought the ant city had died out last summer.)

 The shoe is left in for scale!

This was really sudden. Presumably the ants were hiding during the day, avoiding the heat, and possibly there was another entrance or two on the other side of the fence. 

These are the kind of ants that children's "ant science kits" come with. They cut leaves from trees, shrubs, and even small plants, carry them back into their underground city, and grow fungus on them. Then they eat the fungus. They're farmers, actually! 

(Edited to fix formatting and increase clarity.)