Rambling On, Again

I've been working diligently on my aunt's quilt and all the blocks are done -- I said D-O-N-E!   Now to do whatever squaring up is needed before stitching them together.   

This is the how they'll be laid out but all the way to king sized, hence the 55 twelve-inch blocks.  Gonna be a honking big quilt.   I'm loving how the colors look.  From a distance, the tan looks like a solid but it has tiny white, irregular dots on it and it looks wonderful.  I'm thinking of quilting in a pattern that has lots of curves and loops to help soften the angles.  And I'm also looking at a variegated blue/green/gold thread to give it some highlights.  


It has been very cold here the last two nights --  25 and pretty calm last night and 27 the night before with winds up to about 20 mph.  That's nasty cold weather for us Floridians.   We even make the birdies go ice skating once in a while.  

All my plants are in the garden house, but one of them that had been damaged earlier bit the dust.  It is a rather delicate plant anyway.     Plectranthus (Mona Lavendar)  They are very easy to grow and are easy to propagate from stems, so it's only necessary to buy one in the early spring.  Had I brought the plant into the garage, it might have survived, since the garage is warmer than the garden house.  There's no insulation in the garden house.  :(  


This kind of weather, while not totally uncommon for us, is not the norm.  And we've had two rounds of really cold weather already this year.  Now, I'm ready for our normal stuff!!   I was out and about today and, although the thermometer said only about 50 degrees, it was beautiful.  I took my jacket off for a lot of the time because the sun was very warm and there was no wind.  

We have many little birds visiting us every day.  There's usually a flock of chipping sparrows and more goldfinches are arriving by the day. 

Some days they share the feeders and some days not.  

Last week while on our birding outing to Blackwater, I noticed this hornet nest hanging from tiny branches of a tree.  We were stopping to check a swamp area for wood ducks and as I got out of the car, there it was.  The late afternoon light wasn't wonderful for picture taking, though.    That was the longest birding day for me in the forest.  Birdlady friend picked me up at 7:30 and dropped me back home at 6 p.m.   And we had a fabulous day, including a look at a flock of snow geese flying overhead.  

These little guys amuse me to no end, but they can be really obnoxious.  At least this shot caught him eating an acorn, for crying out loud, instead of my birdseeds!  


Daily we have many, many birds in our yard.  Just in this picture which represents about a 15 foot wide span, there were 5 cardinals and a chipping sparrow. 

Today I bought food for them, and while spending a bunch didn't get everything that will be needed very soon.  They eat very well, however.  And I even bought peanuts today for the squirrels in hopes of luring them away from the feeders.  


Our Christmas was very low key and spent here at home.   I wish all of you a wonderful New Year filled with good health, peace and happiness. 


Y'all take care.