Dragonfly Purse & More!

Ok, who ordered snow? According to my calender it's the middle of April! Yes, it's snowing here but I'll try to think "Spring" thoughts and hope that it comes back very soon!

First, I want to update you on my little Flicker birdie. He's fine! He sat in the same spot on my maple tree for about 2 1/2 hours yesterday. Every little while, he would stretch his wings and look around a bit. After a couple of hours, he called out to his friends! 2 more Flickers came and landed in the tree by him. A few minutes later, all 3 of them flew off into the woods together!

I can't begin to tell you what an amazing experience it was to touch this gorgeous bird! I would never wish his trauma on any bird. He hit that window very hard and knocked the wind out of himself but to see him so up close and to touch him was amazing. I'm thrilled that I was here to help him and that he was able to recover from the shock.

So now, onto some finishes! I finished up my Dragonfly purse yesterday. And for those of you who counted 5 dragonflies, 2 butterflies and a spider yes, you are correct! Here's a photo of the finished purse:



I just listed this in my Etsy shop.

My next finish is the black Autism pouch:



I trimmed the bottom of this pouch with some crocheted beaded edging that my mom made for me. She does this to thank me for taking the time sell some of her things for her.

Anyway, that's my news for today! I plan to start another CQ piece later today and I want to get my list of needed supplies together for my custom apron order so I can pick up what I need and get started on that. Stop by tomorrow to see what I decide to work on.

At Home With Needlework Magazine Holiday Issue

The new Holiday Issue of At Home With Needlework by Zweigart is now available. Here is a list of my designs which appear in this issue:

"Redwork Valentine Stitchband Border" - page 6
"Cluster Of Clovers" Tabletopper (cover) - page 8
"Easter Bunny" Tabletopper (cover) - page 10
"Bookmarks For Dad" - page 16
"Autumn Leaves" Stitchband Borders - page 23
"Halloween Greetings" - page 26
"Harvest Table Collection" - page 29



You can find this magazine and others with my designs at your local needlework shop.

Bird Rescue

About an hour ago, I was in my kitchen and heard a huge thump on one of my living room windows. I looked out, and laying on the ground was a beautiful Flicker bird which is a member of the Woodpecker family. I immediately ran outside in hopes of helping him.

He was still breathing so I sat down and started talking to him, telling him that was fine, that he hit the window hard and was just a bit stunned.

His eyes kept opening and closing so I started petting him. Birds are so soft! Anyway, he began to perk up a bit. It didn't appear to me that his wings were broken but I wasn't sure about his neck. I kept visualizing him being ok and flying away but after a few minutes, he was still quite out of it.

I ran in the house, grabbed a box and some old towels and then went back out. Again, he was still breathing, and starting to move his head around a bit so I assumed that his neck wasn't broken. I talked to him some more, kept petting him and then gently picked him up and put him in the box and carried him to the front porch.



I sat the box on the chair and just talked to him and kept petting his little head and slowly but surely, he started to move around some more.



As you can see, this little guy was quite out of it but after awhile, I noticed as I started to move around, walking back and forth a bit on the porch, he started watching me which I think perked him up some more. After a few more minutes, he stood up, and flew into my maple tree.

I just checked on him and he's still sitting in the same spot in the tree but he was looking around, I saw him stretch his wings a little and I heard him chattering. All of which I believe are good signs that he'll be ok. I'll keep you posted.

Black Autism Pouch Complete!

I stitched on this yesterday during the Cubs Home Opener game. Yes, they lost. That's ok, I'm just so happy to have baseball to listen to again!

Anyway, this is ready for assembling now:



As with the first Autism pouch that I did a few weeks back, I pulled the colors from the puzzle ribbon.

My plan for today is do the machine work on this as well as the Dragonfly Purse. If all goes well, I may even get the hand-finishing completed today too! Stop by tomorrow to see I was able to stay on schedule!

I have a custom apron to do so I'll be pulling out my apron patterns today to figure out what supplies I'll need and I have a ton of new blocks all sewn up and ready to stitch on so I'll have to choose one for my next CQ project. I'll probably have to go "eenie, meenie, miney, mo" because I want to do them all and probably won't be able to just pick one!!! Isn't creativity wonderful?!!!

Inspiration In Magazine Publications

I mentioned last week that I'm more of a do-er than a reader. I've always loved reading but I find it time consuming and with my drive & passion to constantly create, I find myself looking to magazines to fill my needs. Short articles and lots of pictures that suit two purposes, the need to read and the need for inspiration.

Over the weekend, I picked up the new Quilting Arts magazine:



This magazine is almost always a treasure to me! I so much enjoy curling up on my sofa with my latest issue of Quilting Arts, a glass of iced tea and getting lost in the beautiful artwork of the contributers.

I also picked up a magazine titled, "Haute Handbags" from the publisher of Somerset Studio & Belle Amoire:



You know how much I love handbags! And this magazine is loaded with gorgeous photos, ideas, how-to's and of course inspiration! Anything can be a handbag! And I truly believe that every women on this planet deserves to own at least, one gorgeous purse. Even if only for the purpose of looking at it! If you're attracted to beautiful purses, you may consider checking this one out. I found it at Borders.

If you're still wondering what those crazy black earrings that I bought yesterday at the flea market will be used for, Allison was correct when she said "peacock tails". Yes, I saw them and I saw peacock tails! Stay tuned for that project!