Quilted at Last

 

 Greetings from the hills! The Carolina Wrens love the suet that was leftover from rendering fat for soapmaking. 

 I started a winter garden since we last visited here. They're what's left of vegetables we bought at the grocery store.It's a tat scrappy looking right now, but I have lettuce, two celery plants (nubs, actually) and two cabbage plants growing on the windowsill. The chirps are all excited over it.

 

  I read an interesting post over at Deep Roots At Home about how to do this. I started these five days ago so they're just starting to get roots, and I'll set them out in a raised bed as soon as the roots develop a little more. I may have to rig a cover for really cold nights.

 

I have my quilt back, and I'm quite happy with the quilting done by a local quilter. She thought this swirly pattern would look good as this turquoise print has the same sort of look.

  

I've been practicing free-motion quilting, but I am not ready, yet, to actually finish a quilt free-motion style without pulling out my hair. o.O

 

Oh, and I'm really slow when it comes to hand-sewing. I'll be spending the next week or so (month? year?, lol) on the binding. Until that's done ... hope your projects are all smooth sailing!

Gypsy Birds

 Our birding adventures continue right from the kitchen window with this flock of Cedar Waxwings. The bird books say they don't stay long in any one spot so we were glad we noticed them when they were in the area.

 They stopped off in their wanderings to get a drink of water in our birdbath. Note the yellow tips on their tails and yellow backsides.

 They preened for a while in the sugar maples then moved on to wherever, but Goodman and I did enjoy seeing them and felt good about providing a good stopping place for them.

 I've begun another quilt that will be a bit bigger than the first one, somewhere between full and queen size.

This time I'm trying to piece an easy, well-known quilt pattern. I'm still learning about colors and everything to do with quilting really so I don't know how well it will look when finished. I'm thinking I've made a bit of a mistake with the purple fabric with yellow splotches, even if I do like it. We'll see how it turns out. This time I'm planning to try stippling the quilting part.

Have a great week, Y'all!

Li'l Quilt

The bluebird family that checks on the bluebird house just outside my kitchen window. Can you imagine a life this carefree and full of color? Oh no, I wouldn't trade places for anything, but I do appreciate their beauty.

 I finished the little quilt I told you about in my last post. It's 36 in.x36 in. and my first quilting project.

 I quilted it on the sewing machine and backed it with plain ol' muslin. Quilting seems to be easier on my hands than knitting so I think I'm going to stick with sewing for awhile.

I'm sure you've heard of the Scopes Monkey Trial that pitted the theory of evolution against The Bible. (What a debacle.)  Goodman and I were recently near the town of Dayton, Tenn. where the trial took place so we stopped by the courthouse as I'd seen it before and wanted him to see the style of it. I think is a beautiful building.

In the basement (which seemed so fitting somehow) of the courthouse there's a tiny museum with a couple pf displays and info on the trial.

This is a homemade suet made from a mixture of cornmeal, peanut butter, raisins and a bit of suet I had in the freezer is drawing a crowd. I put the mixture in the freezer for about thirty minutes then shaped it into a ball and put it in an old plastic onion bag that I had saved. This Carolina Wren and Chickadee think it's every bit as good as the suets from the store. ;)

Till next time, hope you're warm and cozy. :)