Friday 10 July 2015

Noisy Night, Sewing Circles and Flowers

We all suffered through a summer night last night I can tell you.
Some creature was crying a plaintive sound that carried on the night air.  I listened and listened but couldn't figure out what it was.  It sounded like a large bird or a small cat which is odd because you'd think the two sounds would be very different.  I can only say it was a sort of squawky yowl sound.  That in itself was unnerving but not entirely the problem.  Of course it drove Rex and Murphy crazy and they went from window to window crying and barking, adding their sounds to the night. This went on for perhaps a half an hour till thankfully all went quiet.  Hubby figures it was a cat; probably true because wild creatures tend to keep silent and not attract attention.
 Who knew night time in the country could be so noisy!  Just hoping there won't be a repeat performance tonight.

Before getting sidelined by bad hand I was making steady progress on my Strawberry Thief cross stitched picture.  Sort of.



I got this far and realized that the blue in the wing and the blue of the star and strawberries was not supposed to be one and the same.  I had to spend a painful hour unsewing...plucking out each little cross stitch trying to be extra careful not to damage the fiber of the fabric itself.  I really don't know how I made that mistake.  But there you have it...I did! Meanwhile I am pleased with the red for the strawberries.

I have been also spending time at the sewing machine and I must say practice does help.  I am almost liking most of what I sew now.




I am enjoying making these free motion loops and curliques.  I still have wonky bits that I have to unsew sometimes but overall it is improving. I would like to get good enough to not have to mark lines to follow a simple pattern on the fabric.





Lots of lovely bloom all over the property; absolutely no problem to get a pretty bouquet together now in July.  Hundreds of the orange tiger lilies dot this land and are a very popular farm flower. You see them along the sides of the road and as welcoming clumps at driveway entrances.  Wonderful how they grow back each year.

This is Daughter's hanging basket full of  Portulaca, Moss Rose, one of the many flowers referred to as Ten O'clock plants because they fully open by 10 am and close up or fold in for overnight.



                   


                                   Lots of sun, water and dead-heading to keep it looking lively.





Here is my chipmunk; I say he is mine because I recognize a slight wave in one of his stripes that distinguishes him.  He stands like this looking at the front door, signalling time to refill the bird feeder.  He is comfortable enough with me that he just waits by the house as I fill it.  Hubby doesn't believe me that he is signalling, though he watched him doing this one day and had to admit that while maybe not exactly signalling, Mr. Chipmunk definitely knows which way the food is coming from.
But I know animals can become quite clever when it comes to food sources.  My aunt had a squirrel that would come and knock on her patio door when the feeder was empty.  Now that seems a little too close to nature.  Too bad it was before the days of Youtube; the world would have enjoyed seeing that. 

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