Stitching, Birding and Knitting

I was up late last night cross-stitching a square for a quilt for the Trillium Embroidery Guild. I had the sampler alphabet finished when I realized the pattern didn't have a 'u'. It looked kinda dorky so I had to pick out 'v', 'w' and 'x'. I then redesigned those letters inserting 'u' and restitched it. On the left is the original pattern and on the right is my modification.














Crap! Now that I look at it again, I realize the 'j' is missing, too! I think the designer was on crack. Maybe I can squeeze a little 'j' in somehow. Or maybe I'll just leave it. Rats!

One of our guild members died last year of cancer. Many of us are stitching squares which will be made into a quilt and then auctioned at a very chi chi poo poo fundraiser with the proceeds going to cancer research. We could pick any heart pattern for our 6' x 6' square and were given the fabric and were told which colours of DMC floss we could use. We couldn't use words but it was decided that alphabets are OK. It will be interesting to see what the quilt looks like once assembled. We think there will be about 30 squares once finished.

This morning I dragged myself out of bed and returned to Thickson Woods to see if I could get some pictures of birds. I didn't see a lot of them but did manage to get a few photos.

Northern Flicker colaptes auratus













Yellow Warbler dendroica petechia














Rose-breasted Grosbeak pheucticus ludovicianus
















Great Horned Owl bubo virginianus













Tree Swallow tachycineta bicolor














Grey Catbird dumetella carolinensis













American Goldfinch carduelis tristis











I had to tear myself away to go to my weight-lifting class.

Last weekend was an Artist Studio tour that I didn't have a chance to see. When I realized one of my favourite local artists, Sharon Recalla, was on the tour, I sent her an e-mail asking about one of her pieces that I really liked - 'Michelangelo's Cat'. I hoped she had a print I could buy as the original had been sold some time ago. In her response, she thanked me and said there were no prints but that she had put something in the mail for me.

When I got home today, there was mail for me. Sharon had sent me a 4' x 6' photograph of 'Michelangelo's Cat' mounted on a half fold card.

YAY! I now have my very own copy which I can frame. It makes me smile every time I see it.











This evening was knitting guild. We practiced two-colour stranding using a colour in each hand - knitting continental with the left and 'throwing' with the right.

It's supposed to rain tomorrow so I guess I won't be going birding. Oh well, I'll just stay cozy inside and knit.