Snips and Snails and Snake-Back Scales

I've had a very productive two weeks!  I finished my little quilt.  I had enough red fabric in my stash for backing and had decided against anything more than a thin sheet of cotton for filling, so it was really a fairly simple process of laying down the backing, centering the filling and top sheet, pinning it, and stitching it on my sewing machine.  I'm very pleased with how it turned out.  Each square is about 5 inches, I think.

To bind all three layers together, I used light tan thread to stitch a few Xs  in the corner of every other square, right at the seam.  It only took about 30 minutes and is quite invisible!  I love this little quilt and only wish it was big enough for our bed!  :)

I finished my cross stitch pattern and am very pleased with how that turned out, too.

I'm going to frame it soon!

I was so excited about my spider idea last week that I decided to go ahead and try it right away.  I thought that it would be good practice with different kinds of stitches, and I was curious about the photo-to-finished product comparison.

Here's the original photo (not to muddy the waters, but I swapped swapped out the abdomen of this particular spider with another photo of the same spider, because it showed more detail):

I blew this photo up on my computer and used copier paper to hand-trace it from the screen:

Then I used a light box and water soluble marker to trace this design onto fabric.  I worked on it an hour or two every night before bed and got done fairly quickly.  Voila!

 Here's a side-by-side of the two abdomens:

It's not perfect, especially two tracings separated from the original, but I'm really excited about the possibilities. 

I found another pattern repetition today that is an intriguing possibility for embroidery.  I glanced out of my office window and saw this black rat snake on the ground below.

Round pupils = non venomous.  Black rat snakes are great to have around, although Tabitha was hissing and spitting from her window perch the entire time.  I didn't know that cats had opinions about snakes, but I guess it shouldn't surprise me.

All in all, a lovely snake!  But I really loved his scales.  I could see embroidering just this section of his body!

I'll definitely save a project like that for a later date!  

Lots of other wildlife around this week.  The birds, of course, are loving this cooler weather. 

A mockingbird...

(Female) Baltimore oriole...

...and an Eastern phoebe.

 

Our red fox is back, too, although he still looks awfully ratty...

With October right around the corner, it's safe to say it's almost fall in South Carolina! 

I decided to celebrate yesterday by making two giant cinnamon chip pumpkin scones with a cream cheese glaze.  I blogged about it here in 2011 and basically stick to the same recipe, but cut it in half and throw in a handful of cinnamon chips.  So good...especially in a saucer-sized serving!  

Todd and I have had a few too many 'saucer-sized servings' this year (sigh) and are going to both try to eat healthier foods, but I'm still going to shoot for baking at least once every two weeks...as long as I can give away the extras!

Have a great week!