quilting zen and woodchuck den

My Farm Girl Vintage Sampler quilt is coming along nicely!

I'm nearly halfway done.  I organized my scraps into "rainbow order" and the bright, bright, bright is now coming more naturally! 

I'm not sure how I will feel about the finished quilt.  There's a part of me that wants to order a few mixed fabric bundles in the beautiful muted, earthy colors I love from Fig Tree and make another version of this quilt which is more suited to my color preference.  I have enjoyed making this so much, though, that I don't think I'll mind making another. 

I've also been knitting, although not nearly as much, since knitting still hurts my hands.  I'm making a pair of gingham-checkered socks and I've just started the second one.

Another fun project!  I heard about "half birthdays" earlier this year - celebrating the halfway point between your last birthday and your next one.  I definitely don't need a real reason to have a celebration, so I scheduled it on Google Calendar.  When it popped up this weekend for Todd, I had a great idea.  I didn't want to make a whole cake (to be cut in half), and a half cupcake seemed like a bit of a stretch for a celebration.  I decided to take a small-batch chocolate cookie recipe (which made 12 cookies) and press the dough into half of an 8" cake pan.  I made a foil "wall" and used pie weights as a buttress. 

The resulting cookie was a perfect half-cookie cake size.  Livened up with a little almond-tinted frosting and festooned with sprinkles, it made a very cheerful half birthday surprise!

Around the house this week we've had a lot of interesting creatures.  A wheel bug was resting in one of our ferns.  They're pretty aggressive and have a nasty bite (said to be much more painful than a bee sting), but I've found that the general wildlife rule applies:  leave them alone and they'll leave you alone.

Check out that spiky wheel!  Both males and females have them and its general purpose is unknown...perhaps an intimidation tactic?

Can you see that long, pointy rostrum?  They're in the assassin bug family.

I saw some wood ducks a week or so ago, but they're very flighty (no pun intended) and I've been unable to get close.  These ducks, though, don't seem to mind. 

I was gratified to see the growing flock.  Last year, we only had four!

Our little woodchuck has been very active too.

He's got a den under a fallen tree stump in our back yard.

I don't see him very much, but I'm always keeping an eye out!

For weeks, spiders everywhere.  Then, boom!  Nothing.  I did find a nice web in the back yard, where this yellow jacket had just been tidily wrapped up for later consumption.

I couldn't catch the spider, though...he was too fast for me!

Lots of flowers still blooming.

Our orange ginger lilies, which I transplanted around the front of the house, are blooming.  I wouldn't plant them again, though. The flowers are too short-lived and the plants themselves remind me of corn stalks.  While they last, though...

A few random gardenias are still opening up, and the japonica bushes are starting to sprout the funny 'puffballs' that will eventually become bright black berries.

Some leaves are falling...

...but I miss the bold, varied displays of the Midwest.  At least it's a little cooler this week.  Last week we hit 90 degrees again!  I dreamed about a snow storm last night.  I think it's back to winter-scene puzzles for me!

Have a great week! 

Cream of the Crop

Fall brings many little pleasures to us here in the south.  The turkeys are back!

I count ten in this year's flock.  They're big, beautiful birds.

Absent for most of the summer, the anoles have returned and are basking in the late-season sun, much to the consternation of the cats.  This anole checks out a dessicated spider before heading to greener pastures.

The spiders, which have been so numerous for the past month, have all but disappeared.  Now we're seeing more caterpillars.  It looks like some sort of woolly caterpillar has built himself a comfortable cocoon under this leaf.

The leaves are turning!  The back yard is absolutely beautiful. 

I love the different colors.

They make me feel as if I never left Indiana!

I bring in fallen boughs (and some that just need a little tug - ahem).  I like our decor to reflect the season.

We're definitely in the south, though.  It's still so strange to see the juxtaposition of fall leaves and palmettos.

And, of course, there's the reverse flowering season that we seem to have here.  Just last week, I glimpsed it through the leaves:  the very first camellia.

We have so many different varieties.  Lush, large pink:

Pinks with exposed centers:

The most recent to bloom, these tiny ruffled ones: 

When they die on the branch, they turn a lovely purplish color.

Many of them are very delicate.  They only last a day or so in water before the petals start to fall.  I think it looks so romantic, though, to see the 'petal drift", so I leave the petals scattered around the bouquets.  They look nice scattered under the trees, too. 

We also have a white variety, which has just bloomed, and a pink-and-white marbled color, which hasn't popped yet.

After a 'dry' summer of generic grocery store blooms...bring on the bouquets!

The cream of the crop!

So beautiful.

They remind me so much of peonies.  Now I'm anxious for the Helleborus to bloom!

Some azaleas have started to open up:

Our japonica, too, is putting forth its usual weird prickly flowers.

I can't wait to see what happens next!

Have a great week!