Wordless Wednesday

Silence

The cicadas are finally silent.  They must have finished what they were born to do.  For the past few weeks I have listening to their loud and constant chirping outside every window in my house.  I was just reading that their chirps can reach 120 decibels.  That's loud. 

Most of the time you can't see them up in the tree but the other day I managed to get a few photos of the ugly little bugs.  They were about 2 to 2 1/2" long and fat looking.  I was surpised by their rusty orange color.  I guess I expected them to just be brown and camoflauged into the tree.

There's some really cool information about them on Wikipedia which I won't go into but here are a few interesting facts.  The life cycle of a southern cicada is 13 years.  They begin as an egg laid in the barch of a tree twig.  From there, they hatch and drop to the ground, burrowing into the earth up to 8 1/2 feet.  In 13 years they come up out of the ground, mate, and die a short time later.

Wow!

A Sewing Challenge

For the past couple of months I have following the blogs of several EXTREMELY talented Australian quilt designers.  Jenny of Elefantz posted a sewing challenge on her blog to make a sewing mat for under your sewing machine.  From the people that make one and post a photo in their blog will have a chance to win a secret prize.

Well here is mine.  It was incredibly easy to make...and come on how useful a little tool is this!  No more searching around your work area for your scissors and other notions!  The front pockets of mine are paper pieced.

Silent Auction

Last night I finished quilting and binding the little wallhanging below for the upcoming quilt show.  It measures 14" x 14".  The embroidery pattern is from Shadow Redwork by Alex Anderson.  On it says "Love binds everything together". 

I like it so much I may have to bid on it just to keep it for myself.

I have some other projects that'll be put into the auction but they're not quite finished yet...but I'm getting there.  Too much to do and not enough time.

Wordless Wednesday

Dama Gazelle

Goings on...

For the past two years I've been planning (with many others) our guild's 2009 quilt show.  The past few weeks things have really been picking up and I've been busier than ever. 

Through all this I've been trying to fit in a few things for myself.  A week or so ago I finished this little quilt.  The pieced blocks were made from a charm pack of Civil War prints that I was given.  The blocks had been sitting around for months and months and I could never figure out what to do with them.  Shopping for another project I came across the border fabric and inspiration to set the blocks came.  I am pretty happy with the results.  Sometimes simple is best.

For the past couple of months I've been heavy into embroidery.  The fairy will be a Christmas gift for my mother.  The flowers will be for a journal cover.  I don't know yet what I am going to do with the pumpkin girl, mermaid, and the good luck saying.  They'll probably become pillows or wallhangings at some point.  The snowman is one block from Crabapple Hill Studio's pattern "Snowmen A to Zzzz."  I'm taking my time on the snowman quilt.  I have all the blocks traced out and just need to do the embroidery now.  I know I'll never have it done by Christmas but am pretty confident that I'll have it done by February or March.  *fingers crossed*

This past Saturday I went to a quilt show and came home with some great patterns!  Yeah yeah yeah...I know I need another pattern like I need another hole in my head but I really couldn't help myself.  I can't wait for the chance to start on them.

Wordless Wednesday