Misc., Hidden Wells, China Cabinet, Sandhill Cranes and Vomit, Oh My!

Just one more picture of my Throwing Up Scraps (Scrap Vomit), all washed and crinkly and on my bed with clean sheets.  DH is enjoying them all now. 

We decided that some more red, white and blue on the tables in the living and dining room would be nice when our friends get here, so this is No. 1.  Another hidden wells, I think it's going to be nice.  This one will have borders and the reverse I decided will be purples.   Maybe another wonky log cabin, as that takes the stress out of trying to get things centered. 

When my husband was in the hospital we received the little Shar Peis as a gift from our grandchildren in Germany.  I promised a picture of them in use, it took me long enough.  They have magnets in their lips (do dogs have lips).

The sandhill cranes were right in my front yard, the closest I've been to them.  I was only about 10 feet away, I would guess.  I need to get some corn or something from the feed store, maybe they'll visit again.   They make a racket, I decided that they sound like pinking shears cutting thick fabric, but much louder. 

Two of my favorite things, the big birds and my car. 

Sandhill Cranes and Scrappy Star Struck

Yesterday we got quite a rain and when we got home there were 7 sandhill cranes enjoying the puddles in the pasture behind our house.

The last big storm had some wind and you can see the dirt where the trees were, and behind the living tree you can see where they bulldozed the dead trees. 

Sometimes it's hard to see where one starts and the other ends.  I think there are 3 in this picture.

The first 9 blocks of my Scrappy Star Struck.  Unfortunately, I think some of my lights are too dark and some of my darks are too light, but I'll persevere and I don't think I'll mind too much in the end, it is scrappy after all.  I need to find more scraps and cut more though, next time I'll know that when you use the chisel die on the accuquilt for this quilt you need to cut all the fabrics the same.  No folding them right sides together and then cutting, I have a pile of chisels that won't fit in as they are cut wrong.  I'll find something else to use them for though, so not a big problem.

Giveaway and Sand Cranes

Jo from 'Home Sweet Home' is having a 100th post giveaway, and her question is, "what are three crafty things you can't live without". Very thought provoking and hard to narrow down three, but I came up with my machines, my iron, and my rotary cutting tools. What are yours? If you go to Jo's blog and let her know and post it on your blog, you'll be entered in her giveaway and you'll also be able to congratulate her on her wonderful blog.



If you follow my blog you probably already are aware that I love the Sand Cranes. I was very excited yesterday to have five in the field behind my house, and it was like they waited for me to get my camera, and then they stayed there as long as I liked to have their pictures taken. Notice the cow watching in the background, that can give you an idea of how big the birds are, they are really tall, and I think that they are beautiful with their red heads.
I got to spend the afternoon yesterday with my DD, we went to Ikea, it was her first time, and she couldn't believe how big the store is. I told her it was like 2 Targets. We didn't make any major purchases, but got a few little good deals. I got a new chair for my sewing room and after I get it put together I'll take a picture of old and new, and you'll see why I needed a new one. After we walked and walked for about 2 hours or so we went to Bahama Breeze, my favorite restaurant and had a really nice splurge. We had the Roasted Cuban bread, which is toasty bread with sweet tomatoes and basil on top, then a fruit cup with I believe mango sorbet, and shared the lobster, shrimp pasta. It was more than enough for both of us, and truly did have shrimp and big pieces of lobster in every bite. It was a very nice day with my daughter and we both enjoyed the time together.

Orange Crush and Sand Cranes Again

I have come to the conclusion that other than laziness, what is holding me up on my OC is fear. I have never done a quilt on point, and part of me wants to finish out the OC as given, but I've been trying to chicken out. Last night, I put some blocks on the bed straight set, and asked my husband if he thought he would like the orange in our room. He gave it the seal of approval, so I decided to go for broke, and do it Bonnie's way. I'm going to suck it up and do the on point. Bonnie says she lays it out and then does half at a time, so as I only have a small space, and no design wall, I am going to try to lay out half and sew it and then lay out the other half and sew it. I hope I'm not getting into more than I can chew. I'm not doing the border she recommended, although, I may use the leftover blocks in some adaptation of it.

Also, a lone sand crane made it back to our yard yesterday, and since my last pictures were so bad, I took some more. This time I made sure that my camera was on the correct setting. They are about 36 inches high (my estimate), and that is the road in front of our house behind him. I am going to try to get a picture of the baby birds today if I can get my husband to get out the ladder. I saw that they are actually still there a day or two ago. Hopefully, I won't be too late.

Sand Cranes

I get very excited when we get lucky and the Sand Cranes visit our neighborhood. They are big birds probably at least up to my waist. They were here a couple of months ago with babies (probably about knee high), and my brother and I tried to get pictures but missed them. Today I was on my computer and looked out the window and there they were in my front yard. I grabbed my camera, and ran out, and got several pictures, but unfortunately when I came back in and loaded them on my computer they were all blurry. I had my camera on the wrong setting. Here is a link to see a good picture of a sand crane.

http://tinyurl.com/49lppx

You can click on him down at the bottom left.