For the last couple of months I've been working on a baby-sized quilt. It's now finished!
Here is one part of the quilt, with a whale showing its cheerful yellow eye. The half-circle almost looks like it's winking, doesn't it?
Friday, May 20, 2016
A project finished!
Hello, everyone.
For the last couple of months I've been working on a baby-sized quilt. It's now finished!
Here is one part of the quilt, with a whale showing its cheerful yellow eye. The half-circle almost looks like it's winking, doesn't it?
For the last couple of months I've been working on a baby-sized quilt. It's now finished!
Here is one part of the quilt, with a whale showing its cheerful yellow eye. The half-circle almost looks like it's winking, doesn't it?
Sunday, May 15, 2016
Wonderful weather
Hello, everyone.
It has been really dry lately--well, it is in the late spring down here--and the plants have been drying out. Then, yesterday and today, we had a sudden change.
A couple of the interesting cloud views yesterday. Yes, those were clouds that were flirting with the thought of a funnel. No funnels developed, though. And--gratia Deo--no hail. Plenty of lightning when the rain actually hit.
Yesterday we got 1.5 inches of much needed rain. It was coming down hard and heavy for a little while, while we sat under the carport and watched the show with dogs hiding under our chairs.
And today we got at least another inch of it.All the puddling soaked into the ground as soon as the rain stopped, too.
It has been really dry lately--well, it is in the late spring down here--and the plants have been drying out. Then, yesterday and today, we had a sudden change.
Saturday, May 7, 2016
Sal Del Rey
Hello, everyone.
We woke up this morning with a yen to visit the historic salt lake at Sal Del Rey, This salt lake goes back for centuries. The Indians used to gather salt here, and it was traded up and down the countryside. The Spanish were also impressed with it--thus it became part of the Crown's lands in the area. These days it is a National Wildlife Refuge operated by the federal government.
It is about an hour's drive out of town for us--an hour, that is, from picking up our breakfast Q tacos at the local drive-through. We got to the highway entrance about 8 a.m., parked in the fenced parking lot, and started walking along the trail.
We photographed some birds and a rabbit, a bunch of shots of the crystals, and some plants. Then we left and drove along Brushline Road at the edge of the refuge. There was almost no other traffic.
We saw was a flock of wild turkeys cross the road in front of us, a bright-red bird (summer tanager?) perched on the wire overhead, and a very large cat (bobcat?) was crossing the road a little farther on. An embarrassment of riches, and by the time we got the cameras out and ready to click, the turkeys had slipped away, the cat was long gone, and the little red bird decided to fly away. That's nature for you. But we did have a very pleasant walk.
We woke up this morning with a yen to visit the historic salt lake at Sal Del Rey, This salt lake goes back for centuries. The Indians used to gather salt here, and it was traded up and down the countryside. The Spanish were also impressed with it--thus it became part of the Crown's lands in the area. These days it is a National Wildlife Refuge operated by the federal government.
It is about an hour's drive out of town for us--an hour, that is, from picking up our breakfast Q tacos at the local drive-through. We got to the highway entrance about 8 a.m., parked in the fenced parking lot, and started walking along the trail.
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| A butterfly on a thistle blossom |
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| A couple of ants milking an aphid on a paloverde |
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| Some of the many, many animal tracks around the lake |
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| Starting to walk along the lake shore. |
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| The crystals were plentiful. |
We saw was a flock of wild turkeys cross the road in front of us, a bright-red bird (summer tanager?) perched on the wire overhead, and a very large cat (bobcat?) was crossing the road a little farther on. An embarrassment of riches, and by the time we got the cameras out and ready to click, the turkeys had slipped away, the cat was long gone, and the little red bird decided to fly away. That's nature for you. But we did have a very pleasant walk.
Thursday, May 5, 2016
In-town wildlife
Hello, everyone.
I recently had occasion to do some walking in my town and passed by the city golf course. There was an egret on the grass near the water hazard.
Other wildlife we have seen in this area, or in the city: yellow-crowned parrots and green parrokeets (not budgies) are known to live around here. On certain streets, they pose on the electric lines around 9 a.m. on Sundays. White pelicans are known to visit the water hazards of this golf course. Also whistling tree ducks live and breed in the area.
Roadrunners are not as common in town as out in the country, but they are around.
And, of course, the usual jackrabbits, geckoes, and the occasional snake. Plus cardinals, mockingbirds, curve-billed thrashers, grackles, etc. etc.
In the (hopefully) near future, there will be a post about the Mission Hike and Bike Trail. We walked a lot on it while training for the Camino in 2014. One day we were there around 7 in the morning, and we saw a small herd of javelinas.
I recently had occasion to do some walking in my town and passed by the city golf course. There was an egret on the grass near the water hazard.
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| View of egret from across the (busy) road |
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| Tree ducks leading their brood to the drainage ditch. (They crossed our whole front yard!) |
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| Roadrunner, using the patio crisscross as a lookout point! |
In the (hopefully) near future, there will be a post about the Mission Hike and Bike Trail. We walked a lot on it while training for the Camino in 2014. One day we were there around 7 in the morning, and we saw a small herd of javelinas.
Friday, April 29, 2016
Just because
Hello, everyone.
Last weekend we drove down to South Padre Island. It was "between the Easters" and there were neither the clogged crowds of Mexican Holy Week vacationers nor the mobs of Spring Break students. It was, in fact, refreshing.
This is inside the city limits of South Padre Island, the part of the barrier island that is not National Seashore, and because cars are not allowed on the beach inside the town, the city has installed board accesses with pocket parking lots. (The public has an enforced right to access the public beaches. Which are all of the beaches in Texas.) The loads of green vegetation in sight is the area that the local property owners try really hard to keep green--anything below the permanent vegetation line belongs to the State of Texas as part of the public beach.
We didn't even wander around doing a big walk and keeping track of birds, bugs and flowers. We just enjoyed the fresh breezes for a few minutes. (There are, of course, seagulls along here like nobody's business.) On the other side of the barrier island, where the water is calmer, we saw some hermit crabs and regular crabs crawling around in the water near wooden piers, and oyster shells clinging to the wood.
Last weekend we drove down to South Padre Island. It was "between the Easters" and there were neither the clogged crowds of Mexican Holy Week vacationers nor the mobs of Spring Break students. It was, in fact, refreshing.
We didn't even wander around doing a big walk and keeping track of birds, bugs and flowers. We just enjoyed the fresh breezes for a few minutes. (There are, of course, seagulls along here like nobody's business.) On the other side of the barrier island, where the water is calmer, we saw some hermit crabs and regular crabs crawling around in the water near wooden piers, and oyster shells clinging to the wood.
Tuesday, April 26, 2016
Late April, and the summerlike weather is back again
Hello, everyone.
I must admit that at this time of year the summerlike weather is normal. And it's not 95 or higher (35C for my metric zone readers) every single day yet. (That comes in a couple more weeks.)
Still, my feet feel like they should be out walking in this:
These are from the first three days of the Camino Portugues last summer. It was about the same temperatures. Of course, walking along the levee means no breeze, too. We still miss it.
I must admit that at this time of year the summerlike weather is normal. And it's not 95 or higher (35C for my metric zone readers) every single day yet. (That comes in a couple more weeks.)
Still, my feet feel like they should be out walking in this:
Tuesday, April 19, 2016
A fabric surprise
Hello, everyone.
Today is more of an update on various ongoing projects.
On the book cover business, I decided that I'd learned enough about using the poly doupioni and took it out of the embroidery hoop. A scrap (large scrap) of poly taffeta had crossed my awareness and I wanted to see if it would be hard or easy to needle. I backed it with a scrap of muslin and tucked the set into the hoop for a look-see.
This is leftover Ivory Two-Tone Taffeta that was off-cut from wedding dress projects. I used a pencil to make a little bird and then got one of the needles from the Bohin sample pack and loaded it with two strands of the same orange DMC floss I was using before. (Hey, it was out already.) The bird is being done in chain stitch.
I am amazed. I had expected the fabric to resist the needle. It doesn't. And the smooth texture of the fabric lets me just sketch with the automatic pencil--it has a consistently sharp point--and go.
I suppose at this point I should consider whether using up the tons of ivory scrap is an idea for this project...even though it would need to be laundered more often...just because it's so easy to work with.
But at this point, I'm really just trying a few last ideas before talking it over with the decision maker.
If the little dove-ish bird comes out this easily, maybe I can trace a pelican on it? Using outline stitches instead of heavy fills would get the project done faster.
On the quilt, I did more auditions: border fabrics now.
A slightly-wild hearts print that didn't work out as a border on this already-very-pink quilt. (Bit I have intentions of using it as the binding!)
This ticking strip didn't work out as border either.
And the winner is: the mottled gray "solid" at the top right. (I fold up hunks of fabric to just about the thickness of the border and lay them alongside the top for the final auditions.) The gray solid at the bottom just didn't have enough contrast and looked "dead" next to the rest of the top. A couple of other candidates are not shown, they were either too busy or just didn't spark next to the top.
Today is more of an update on various ongoing projects.
On the book cover business, I decided that I'd learned enough about using the poly doupioni and took it out of the embroidery hoop. A scrap (large scrap) of poly taffeta had crossed my awareness and I wanted to see if it would be hard or easy to needle. I backed it with a scrap of muslin and tucked the set into the hoop for a look-see.
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| Testing the taffeta |
I am amazed. I had expected the fabric to resist the needle. It doesn't. And the smooth texture of the fabric lets me just sketch with the automatic pencil--it has a consistently sharp point--and go.
I suppose at this point I should consider whether using up the tons of ivory scrap is an idea for this project...even though it would need to be laundered more often...just because it's so easy to work with.
But at this point, I'm really just trying a few last ideas before talking it over with the decision maker.
If the little dove-ish bird comes out this easily, maybe I can trace a pelican on it? Using outline stitches instead of heavy fills would get the project done faster.
On the quilt, I did more auditions: border fabrics now.
A slightly-wild hearts print that didn't work out as a border on this already-very-pink quilt. (Bit I have intentions of using it as the binding!)This ticking strip didn't work out as border either.
And the winner is: the mottled gray "solid" at the top right. (I fold up hunks of fabric to just about the thickness of the border and lay them alongside the top for the final auditions.) The gray solid at the bottom just didn't have enough contrast and looked "dead" next to the rest of the top. A couple of other candidates are not shown, they were either too busy or just didn't spark next to the top.
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