Progress on the Halloween quilt and the hawks

It was so nice to get back to working on the Halloween quilt. I managed to get five blocks quilted. So I now have 10 out of thirty blocks quilted.

Then I also started quilting the striped border. Here is a picture of one section from the front and the back.

I did spend some time working in the yard. I have a contractor coming in the next week or two to fix the brick around this window.

Below the window is a planting bed gone wild. I had to get it cleared out so the contractor could set up his ladder to fix the window. I dug up two Lenten roses and transplanted them in the back yard, trimmed the heck out of the bush on the right, and cut a few branches off the mugo pine. I was dripping so bad with sweat I just couldn't do anymore. This was Sunday morning at 8 am! I wasn't really that hot, just humid. The grass was soaking wet and by the time I got done my feet were squishing in my shoes. I forgot to take an after picture - I will post one tomorrow.

The hawks were buzzing all over the place. Here is one of the juvenile hawk on the deck railing. The are almost as big as the mom hawk and it is getting hard to tell them apart.

Dad was perched high on the telephone pole in the front.

The juveniles on the neighbor's roof.

Here is mom sitting on the deck railing just outside my kitchen window. I was doing some dishes and shredding some pork and it didn't seem to bother her that I was so close. I think as long as I don't make any quick movements or make a loud noise they will just sit there.

Museum, pulled pork, quilt rescue, and pillowcase progress

It was Thursday so I was down at the museum again for the Downtown at Dusk. The band was set up in the parking lot but it started to sprinkle so they moved the band to under the canopy where we sell beverages. It was kind of loud so I got the earplugs I keep in the car for when I work my nephew's shows. You can just see the band off to the left down at the bottom of the steps.

Here is a shot with the beverage table in it so you can see everyone was packed under the canopy.

The barbeque place was there again and it smelled so good. Here is their menu and Bobby pulling the pork. There are only two more weeks of Downtown at Dusk and they are coming for the last two weeks.

On my way home the sky was beautiful.

One of the volunteers brought a quilt that her grandmother had made. Someone in her family decided to have someone quilt and bind it to give to her. She is distraught because she knows enough that whomever finished this quilt did a hack job. She hates the hearts in the middle of the wedding rings and they way they bound it - are you kidding me?! They rolled the back to the front and zig zagged the edges of the quilt top down. The woman is very upset and yes, I am going to fix it for her. She at least is not in a hurry. The backing is crap and they used polyester batting - yuck!

While I was waiting for my clothes to get done in the dryer this morning before work, I cut the pieces for the pillowcase.

This weekend is a Patty weekend! I am not going anywhere! No concerts to roadie, no grocery shopping, nothing! I am staying home and doing what I want to do - well, at least that is the plan!

Have a great weekend!

Doing stuff and wildlife

My brother and his wife are coming so I went to my brother's house to strip the bed so I could wash the sheets. I also grabbed some bath towels so they would be nice and fresh. My brother has not been to the house since April I think. Another brother came over and took care of tidying up the back yard.

Here are the twin fawn chilling

They got up and here is one of them looking right at me

Next they both decided to investigate the young rabbit that hopped by them and was in the backyard.

After the fawns left the rabbit sat there in the yard for a long time. I was waiting for the hawks to swoop down and catch him for their dinner, but that did not happen.

Here is some fabric for a pillowcase I need to get made.

Watching the hawks - yes, plural!

As soon as I got home from work I had to run upstairs to the kitchen to see if the hawk was there, but it was the female hawk not the male hawk. I had watched them long enough now I could tell the difference. She was perched on the deck

and he was across from her perched in the trees. I know he is hard to pick out, but he is on the branch above the big branch that angles from the bottom of the picture to the right. His chest is all white so he blends in with the sky and clouds.

This morning I headed to the kitchen and took a look out back and there was the female again. I am pretty sure she can see me, but it doesn't seem to bother her.

As I was watching her I saw two smaller birds fly into that big tree. I thought are they crazy, there are hawks around. Since I saw the hawks I have not seen any squirrels, chipmunks, cardinals, blue jays, or robins. Everyone is either hiding or were somebody's lunch. Well, I looked at those two smaller birds and here they are hawk chicks! They were practicing there skills and jumping from limb to limb. I am a city girl so to see this is pretty darn cool! Here are the kids - one is facing the camera and the one to the right has it's back to the camera.

I did get some dyeing books from the library to look at while I sat in the merchandise booth Saturday.

I am trying to prep for the big dyeing event at my house Aug. 18 for my Modern quilt group. While I was sitting there I worked some more on taking my son's t-shirt apart. I am about half done with that job.

Weekend pics

Saturday was the big show. I left the house at noon to head over to my brother's place. It was sprinkling when we got to Streetsboro and the ground was soggy. Mike got the SUV and trailer parked so it was time to unload the equipment. My brother is in the trailer with the green jacket.

Some of the equipment lined up in the tent backstage

There was another band playing as we unloaded. The crowd was sparse.

Merchandise table set up

The mud and standing water in the merchandise tent - this was before the huge downpour that happened a couple of hours later.

The guys scrounged up some more plywood

Sound check

Joe Vitale Jr played before Michael. Joe's dad is a drummer and played with many rock legends - Eagles and Peter Frampton

The skies cleared

Michael played two sets - doing one song with Joe, and then there were fireworks.

I got home at 1 a.m. I was wet, muddy, and tired! Sunday I just puttered around - I was just too tired to do much. In the late afternoon I saw a hawk sitting on my rotten deck railing looking for some supper. This is the first time I ever saw a hawk sitting on my deck. I once had a owl sit on the railing several years ago. I seems to be a good lookout point!

What a crazy busy week - and it's not over!

No sewing has happened this week. Wednesday was modern quilt group - seven members showed. We had a long discussion about dyeing fabric which some members are coming to my house in August for a dyeing session. The topic of the evening was how you got started quilting and how has your tastes changed and what influenced those changes. We met for 2 and 40 minutes hours which normally we meet for 2 hours. I was too tired to take any pictures so here is a picture of the rain we had Tuesday. The white arrow is pointing to the area where I live.

Last evening I worked at the museum. The weather is so much cooler than last week's 90+ degrees. It was only in the high 60's. They had a very popular band and with the beautiful weather the crowd showed up! It was packed.

With the large crowd we were busy selling drinks to go along with the fantastic smelling pulled pork that one of the local restaurants was selling outside next to us. Here are the 96 gallon recycle bins loaded with empty beer bottles - now that is a lot of beer!

I have a bunch of errands to run today and tomorrow I will be spending some long hours with the band. The Michael Weber Show is the headlining at the Streetsboro Family Fun Days. I will be running the merchandise booth. The band doesn't go on until 8:30 p.m. so it will be a late night for me.

Maybe Sunday I will have time to get back to quilting the Halloween quilt.

Have a great weekend!