Recent Quilting & Crochet

Last week, on the due date, I took in a challenge piece that I submitted to The WI Museum of Quilts and Fiber Arts.  They were selling 1/2 yards of a particular fabric (the strawberry print one) and then the challenge was to make something using a noticeable amount of that fabric.  I opted to make a bag.  I love bags. :)

My bag is called "Messed Up on the Inside". 

back of bag

 front of bag

This block is actually a pocket.

Close Up of freehand quilting on back of bag.

If you want to see the challenge entries, they are on display at the quilt museum.  I know they will be displayed for sure this weekend June 23-24, with the viewer's choice awards taking place then.  Vote for me! :) lol

I also took in some crocheted water bottle holders for them to sell in their gift shop. They will be listing them at $3 I think.  So very reasonable, and it keeps your water a little cooler, and keeps the condensation from dripping all over everything!  They also have handles so you can hang them from a bike handlebar, or your lawn chair arm, or on your belt even! :) 

On Sunday, after seeing the gulls (in the previous post) I spotted this Sandhill Crane in a field a couple miles north of our house.  Isn't it a beauty? :)

 I'm purely facinated with Cranes :)

I have recently added the hummingbird feeder outside.  Here is one of the first visiters.  This was yesterday evening as the sun was going down.  They are very hard to get a picture of, but DS2 got a decent silhouette! :)

Birds @ Sheboygan, WI

This past weekend, we went to see the gulls and other birds at the Sheboygan Lakeshore.

Most of what we saw was Herring Gulls and Ring-Billed Gulls.  Atleast I believe so.  If you know differently, please tell me! I'll label each picture here for what I think.

Herring Gull

 Herring & Ring-Billed Gulls

Several male Mallard Ducks with a gull or two in th emix.

 baby Mallard's

 Ring-Billed Gull

 Ring Billed Gulls

 baby Mallards

This is one of my favorite pictures.  I think it may get framed .. we'll see . ..

I know it's an immature gull, probably Herring or RingBilled, but can anyone tell me how to tell which one?

Ring Billed Gulls, the center one is probably a Herring Gull.

Herring Gull

 Same Herring Gull

I believe the larger one is a Herring Gull, and the smaller ones are Ring-Billed.

This photo gives a nice comparison of the two gulls.

 my hubby :)

 RedWing Blackbird

Mix of Herring & Ring-Billed Gulls 

Red Wing Blackbird.

This bird was interesting because when he's ont he ground, you couldn't see the red, but when he flew, it was clearly visible.  I was thinking this may be because it's still fairly young?

Following are pictures that were taken just north of the gazebo area at Sheboygan.  These are either Bonaparte Gulls or Little Gulls.  My book says that Little Gulls are more common in this area in summer.  Also - these could be juveniles or still in winter plumage  - when Little Gulls have the gray caps and black ear patch (even though it is well into June!) Please comment if you know which they are!  They were in a group of about 6 or 7 gulls.  Now that I look at my book again - the Bonaparte's are also supposed to be grayish heads with a darker ear mark when immature .. HELP!

Killdeer :)

The group of the Bonapart/Little Gulls, with a Mallard or two.

One of the best shots I got of these gulls.

I defintely welcome comments.  I haven't seen either a Bonaparte or Little Gull before, so if I could get these correctly identified, then I will be able to add it to my list.

Boys have I got a lot of photos for you today! :)

Okay, starting where we left off ;)
Memorial Day weekend, we where on our way to northern Iowa, and had stopped over near the WI/IA border so we could visit Wyalusing State park.  After that visit, we went and spent a few days at my parents.  While there, we were able to spend a little bit of time visiting with my Grandpa.  He is 96 years old (almost 97).  I thought this photo of my boys and I with him turned out pretty good.

 While at my parents, and while chatting or watching tv, I made several water bottle holders.  Here are what I made. They are both for the smaller bottles, and for larger bottles as well. 

 I had previously made a few at a women's craft day at my church.  The ones I had left from that day are here:

 I actually took a few of the small sized ones to the WI Museum of Quilts &Fiber Arts today for them to sell in their gift shop. 

The last week of school saw Joel doing a World Showcase for his class. It was similar to a science fair except each group of kids did a display on a specific country.  Joel's team did Greece.

 Then after Memorial Day was Rob & I's 19th anniversary.  He surprised me with these roses. :)  That's like 3 times this year he's bought me flowers .. :) 

 I also was able to cut a few daisies from the yard.  This is from a plant that I brought from the place in Iowa.  I had actually started that plant from seed.  So it's traveled with me.. sort of.

 A close up of the roses.

 We had some baby grackles in the yard.  They are annoying little things.  Always crying for their parents! :)

 A mourning dove sitting quietly. 

 Here's a bush I have in the yard as well. I'm not sure what this one is called either.  But it's pretty.

 Rob also finally relented and let us purchase a firepit :)  Here is a picture of our first fire :) It's also using wood that I had trimmed from around the yard and had saved. (It's last summer's wood - but it was still a bit smoky.)

 We roasted hot dogs and marshmellows.  Here's a couple of photos of Seth and Rob enjoying the 'dogs.

 Joel had been the first one to eat.  So he was off exploring around the trees.  I caught him really quick before he could run away :)

 It didn't take too long before the fire burned down to coals.  It was short, but it was very nice to be able to enjoy roasted marshmellows. :)

 Here's a quick photo of Peaches.  She likes lookign outside.

 I tried a new recipe. This is Strawberry Cream Puff dessert.  I got it from this website.

 It tasted pretty good.  I was going to use fresh strawberries we had, but some were nearly bad .. so I decided to play it safer and use the strawberries to make a strawberry sauce.  Turned out pretty good - I could have added more sugar, Joel liked it, but Seth said it was too sour.

Here's a bloom that just opened up recently .. It's an iris that came from our house in Iowa .. and before that it was an iris from my sister's yard. :)  Isn't it wonderful when flowers can bring back memories :)

 Not sure what this plant is either .. we have several of them.  The picture really doesn't do it justice.  The leaves are a deep burgandy red, and the flowers are white puffs... interesting!

 I purchased a few flowers at Walmart to plant in the yard and in pots, etc.  Below is one that went into the ground into a hole. 

 A flowering potentilla bush.

Right in the front of our yard is a single rose bush.  Here is a picture of the buds. 

I love how the rose bloomed:)  Several buds opened up at once, it's very pretty!

Joel coming home on the last day of school.

I decided to use an old roasting pan that I had and put some of the purchased flowers in it.  Thought it turned out ok.  I put holes in the lid, then put the lid in the base and planted in the lid.  What do you think?

 Rob and I drove to Sheboygan last weekend.  Saw a couple of birds.  Here's a sparrow of some sort. 
My best guess is Savannah Sparrow. it was in the grassy/weedy spot near the parking lot on the shore of Lake Michigan. ( I was looking at this again, and I'm 99.9% sure it's a female Red Winged Blackbird. )

 A Mallard.

 Some Gulls. Not sure what type of gull.

This beautiful sunset taken from our driveway.

And finally - the iris that I transplanted from the side yard to the front yard.
Beautiful color, don't you think?

A better shot of the roaster planter and the flowers in it.

And that's about it for now! :)