A table, a quilt and a cold

It was inevitable. I caught my yearly Fall Cold. I don't know why it is, but the change in season never fails to lead to a sinus cold for me. Anyway, I was lucky to be off Friday and today, and I'm grateful for that because it makes being sick so much worse when you're in public. I'm also lucky I have a very nice guy as a boyfriend, who gets me things like ice cream and orange juice whenever he goes out (thanks, turkey buns). I Got to work finishing the binding on my quilt. I decided to make it myself this time, which I liked doing. However, I'm still not sure I have the hang of this mitered corner business. O well, imperfections add character, right?









The embroidered insects were a lot of fun. Those are ants at the very bottom, and although you can't see him there, I added a chubby one too. My personal fav' is the fly in red thread, he's so subdued. This quilt went quickly, but was an emotional roller coaster of sorts. I don't know how many times I decided I really disliked it, and then changed my mind again that I did like it. I'm still not completely certain how I feel; I think I like some aspects of it but maybe not how they all fit together as a whole. Maybe the brown is too dark compared to everything else...I do like how the stitching looks, and the homespun cotton...maybe I need to put it away for a while and move on.

In other news, I decided to build us a table. We had been looking for a while but were disappointed with what's out there (so many look cheap but are ridiculously expensive), and as patience is not a virtue of mine, well, I thought I might as well try to do it myself. There's a list of "issues" related to its stability (one leg is on a 15-20 degree angle), and some parts are not so pretty (like underneath where I tried to fix the legs by adding nail after screw after screw). Also, this is supposed to be a walnut stain. I thought walnut was quite dark, and this is very gold. It really doesn't fit well with our living room (you may be asking "why didn't you go get another stain?" well, as I said patience is not something I have a lot of and I wanted it done). I guess I was thinking it would get darker with more coats, or that this colour would look alright. I do like it though, because I like anything that isn't mdf board or plywood, so I'll be putting it in my studio. Now the hunt is on to find something else to put in its place so that I can have my fall Arrangement of Gourds Display that I've been waiting years to set up. For so long I've wanted a focal point, one seen from the entryway, for seasonal/special things. Ah, life is hard.







I hope you are all doing well and enjoying the crisp air and pretty leaves falling.

Make mushroom while the sun shines

I've been trying to get a photo of these guys for a while. Every morning I hear them go about their routine:
"Everything still okay?"
"yeeesssss, everything's okay".
"Everything still okay?"
"yup, still okay".
"Still okay??"
"yeah, no sign of humans as of yet"
"Okay."
"Still okay??"

This cawing back and forth early in the morning seems to irritate people, but I find it really fascinating. I'm pretty sure that there is one always in a high spot keeping guard, while the other(s) look for goodies in the dumpster. I think they're keeping communication with each other during the process, working together to avoid danger. Actually, I've heard accounts of a Guard crow reacting very loudly when a human approached the area where his companion searched for food, and then the companion reacting to this and fleeing.

Finally this morning they were still long enough for me to get a few shots. Maybe I'm just a nerd, but that made my morning. I'll have to find a name for these guys.



I started a quilt today and got most of the top done. I left home to get fabric with a general idea of what I wanted (not a good idea for me, usually end up spending too much) and I came back with colours that are a bit different than my usual picks. This is going to be my Mushroom Quilt, so it will have mushrooms appliqued to the top.



I was actually pretty happy with how it was going, until Chris came home and pointed out how "penis-like" one of my mushrooms is. So of course all I can see now is a big brown penis when I look at my quilt. There's nothing wrong with penises of course, but I don't want them on my quilt. O well, penis or mushroom, it's there to stay.