Winter Visitor

Our Winter resident Yellow-bellied Sapsucker is back and still working on the Turkey Oak, which in years past he's done a number on. Rows and rows of little holes up and down the trunk and branches of this tree in our backyard. A very ambitious fellow, but kind of hard to see - right in the middle of the picture.

I've been a bit ambitious myself in the past few weeks. With the cold snaps we've been having, I decided that I needed to finish stitching down the binding of my latest quilt so I could USE it! My "Big Print Pazazz" was not done in big prints, but in Bali fabrics I liked - 2 yard cut strips going wide to thin one way and thin to wide the other way across. Pretty simple and it helped to get me back into sewing a bit last year. I added in a few of the light thin strips to make the top wider. It has a Bali green backing - one of their 108" wide fabrics. I had it machine quilted with loops and leaves at the Olde Green Cupboard in December. The binding was put on at the end of January and I've have been working on hand stitching it down off and on since then. It's done now, except I do need to make a label for it.

The quilting is hard to see, but it's there and it's lovely.

Otherwise, I've been knitting - working on a Knit Along sweater that the Local Needle is doing. I'm using the Classic Elite yarn that the pattern calls for, Soltice, which is mostly an organic cotton. Love the yarn - nice and soft. The sweater is knit from the top down - something new for me - but the pattern is pretty clear if you pay careful attention! I didn't even notice that the pattern was labeled as "Experienced" until I had most of the yoke done. Good thing that I AM experienced, since I can't exactly breeze on up to the shop to get help or ask questions (the shop is 4+hours away). I'll try to get a picture up of this WIP soon.

With the chilly weather, Cayenne and Little Eddie have been somewhat confined to quarters - driving me crazy! One day I actually had to get in my car and leave to get some peace. They have been rather hesitant to go flying out the back sliding door onto the porch and be faced with the cold of 40 degrees. But usually by the afternoon, with the sun on part of the porch, they've been braving it. I'll leave you with a picture of them in "alert mode". What's out there in OUR backyard? Hopefully no burmese pythons passing through!