abearsthimble2

Dec. 8… Fall,Flowers and Failure…

Three F’s … if I was in school ,I don’t think I would have gone home to Mom. 😳 Today though those three F’s are all positive even if one of those words are failure.

I’ll start with fall first. I know that up north a lot of y’all are having snow and cold temps,here in the south we are just getting through the fall that was surprisingly pretty for the south. I’ll show you then let you decide… just promise not to compare it to the New England States.😀

It is also time for Camellias to start blooming..

The hard frost didn’t kill the Gerber daisies up against the house

Of course a confederate rose can’t be left out even though they all died in the first hard frost. I photoed these the day before it frosted.

Now on to the failure…
It is often a challenge to keep Leona’s mind busy ,as she is very limited to want she can do. We got her a iPad so she can do puzzles with her nose,(she has no control over her hands),she can watch movies ,only I limit them as I feel there’s more to life than movies. … The new challenge…

Yep… to hatch some duck eggs!
Leona thinks it would be fun to add ducks to the farm. I agreed ,and that it would be fun to hatch them.
Amazon shopping soon started,looking for an incubator. That was the easy part!
Shopping for duck eggs this time of year was more of a challenge. EBay was the place we settled on ,purchasing 6 ducks.
I researched YouTube and google for information on how to hatch duck eggs,learning all I could on this subject.
The day arrived when the eggs came in the mail,of course the incubator was up and running according to the advice from my search. Seven eggs were placed inside,and the waiting began.
The family was all here on Thanksgiving day,excitement was high on candling the eggs that day. The grandchildren gathered around in the dark bathroom ,one holding the flashlight for me as I chose an egg…. sad to say our excitement went to disappointment! No signs of life in any of the eggs.😢 we were all a sorry group walking out of that bathroom. The grands sat in the living room for awhile with sad faces then I heard Reagan say, “ MomMom are you going to try again, you aren’t going to stop now are you?” Well, that snap me out of that sorry mood! Of course, I’m going to try again! We wouldn’t have baby ducklings for Christmas but we will shortly after New Years.(Maybe! 😁) so with promises to post them photos of what’s going on in the incubator,everyone was back to normal.
I ordered more eggs that have arrived and are in the incubator on day two!

So what went wrong? First when I did the research I should have typed in hatching SHIPPED eggs.
Shipping eggs is hard on eggs,often dislodging the air sack so that it floats around . First problem
With that problem one needs hatch the eggs in a paper carton with the egg point down so the air sack stays in the top where it should be. Second thing I did wrong..
The third mistake…..is that one needs to gently hand turn the eggs after seven days of sitting still in the incubator,even with the turning it’s different than with normal hatching.
So cross your fingers along with me so that on day seven I can carefully candle to see if there is life! It was mention not to candle often shipping eggs until day seven as to not disturb the air sack any more than needed.
The failure really hasn’t been a failure for Leona and I are learning this together and it has been enjoyable ,even with that first shock of all dead eggs!
So what kind of duck are we trying to hatch…
The Silver Appleyard duck.
Have a great week!

Dec 1 …..Hand quilt along update….

The quilt covers 11,390 square feet, a faithful reproduction of the state of North Dakota with every county a different color. Volunteers from 53 North Dakota counties helped stitch the quilt. It was the largest in the world until the AIDS quilt came along; now it’s known as the world’s largest historical quilt.

Leona Tennyson was responsible for putting it together with a measurement 85 ft. by 134 ft.

Now for the update on the lovely old log cabin…

Here is where I was last time ….

I had just rolled working on the first block to your right. I am a very short armed person so with the roll getting larger that I have to put my arm under while working with the other arm on top , I can no longer work a whole block. I just did the lower half all the way across , reaching the last block on this set of blocks.

last block that I’m working on

I did get a quilt that I had finished quilting in 2015 bond!😱

looks nice on my bed.

That’s it for me this round! Hope all enjoyed their Thanksgiving day.

Hand Quilt Along Links

This Hand Quilt Along is an opportunity for hand quilters and piecers to share and motivate one another. We post every three weeks, to show our progress and encourage one another. If you have a hand quilting project and would like to join our group contact Kathy at the link below.

Kathy, Margaret, Emma, Tracy, Susan, Nanette, Edith, Sharon, Karrin, Gretchen, Kathi, Bella, Daisy and Connie

Nov. 10…. Hand quilt along update……

A warm welcome to Bella,and Daisy ,so glad you joined us and looking forward to seeing your projects. Connie ,delighted to have you on the list again.😊

I had these old blocks setting in the sewing closet for awhile just waiting for me to do something with them. Let’s take a look at these little blocks..

As you can see the blocks were not all the same size,so I first trimmed them to 4”

Some of the seams were off very much so, so I redid those. I am beginning to think that some were beginners block…. so was it a young one or an adult??

The stitching on some of the blocks definitely showed signs of someone learning….

Some were done by machine… wonder if it was a treadle like my great Grammy had ,or an older hand crank machine?

Then some were done by a more experienced hand,these blocks will not tear at the seams any to soon! They were first sewn to together then press open with a whipped stitch on top . Very neatly done.

Then there were blocks that were marked with a stitched H…did it mean block placement or for a certain pattern that were left overs?

There are still many questions one can ask but this I know that these lovely old “antique” blocks are at least 110 years old, and they needed to be put into a quilt with no added new fabric,and it will make a wonderful piece of history in my house whether hanging on a wall, or draped in an old doll cradle…. which by the way ,I tell my family I’m in need of but haven’t got on yet!😁
I think I will quilt this in a Baptist style pattern,for I will use a pen that the markings disappear rather quickly ,and mark as I go. Like the old log cabin that I’m working on now,so the light hand washing they get will be easy to do .
Now time for update on the old log cabin…

I had three of the blocks to one row done, I was able to finish the other three and roll ,working on the first block in that row.
I’m now half way finished!💃

The block that I’m working on .
Please check out the others in the handquilt along…..
Hand Quilt Along Links

This Hand Quilt Along is an opportunity for hand quilters and piecers to share and motivate one another. We post every three weeks, to show our progress and encourage one another. If you have a hand quilting project and would like to join our group contact Kathy at the link below.

Kathy, Margaret, Emma, Tracy, Susan, Nanette, Edith, Sharon, Karrin, Gretchen, Kathi, Bella, Daisy and Connie

Nov.4… BRYOZOANS…or moss animals

Ever hear of these unusual aquatic invertebrates? I hadn’t until this weekend!

My hubby find the first one while we were out kayaking on the lake ,then I started looking to see if there were more,and it’s amazing what one doesn’t see right under their nose at times! Here are some photos of these unique invertebrates..

A little information that I found online says…

Each tiny individual bryozoan (zooid) is attached to a surface at its base. Its body has an outer sleevelike structure (cystid) and a mass of organs (polypide) that moves within it. An opening at the top of the cystid permits the polypide to slide outward toward the water, exposing a headlike structure (lophophore) crowned with tentacles, which filter food from water. At the slightest disturbance, the polypide and tentacles retract instantly.

Size:

Varies by species. Colonies are usually no more than 2-4 inches long or high but some can be 12 inches or wider.

Curious as to what they felt like, I was surprised to find that it was a jelly ,rubbery blob like invertebrate.

This weekend I was able to capture a rainbow,and fog on the lake

And there were some fall leaves,that were not just brown!

And how do you like Leona’s all terrain chair?! Beings there are no paved roads like a state park’s,it was tough trying to push her wheelchair down the dirt roads. I searched online for an all terrain wheelchairs or handicapped carts ,what I found were way out of my budget plan…$1,000 to 2,000..😳 I then searched for wagons with air tires,finding this one with a much nicer price tag, $50.00. It gives her a nice ride without the sides putting pressure on her hip bones as some of the strollers did. She is thrilled to be out and about again outside.

Oct.20…Hand quilt along update

The Tristan Quilt, sometimes called the Tristan and Isolde Quilt or the Guicciardini Quilt, is one of the earliest surviving quilts in the world.Depicting scenes from the story of Tristan and Isolde, an influential romance and tragedy, it was made in Sicily during the second half of the 14th century.

From Wikipedia

Now for my update… here’s where I was last update…

I rolled the top and finished three more log cabin blocks.

That’s it for me these three weeks!

Hand Quilt Along Links

Kathy, Margaret, Emma, Tracy, Susan, Nanette, Edith, Sharon, Karrin, Gretchen and Kathi

Oct. 18….Heterogeneous….

Now isn’t that a fancy word for miscellaneous!😁 that is exactly what this post is,a little of this and a little of that!

For the first little …

Hubby and son( Mike ) need to put time in on their diving,so they look for interesting ways to do this. Here is one of the ways they put that time to use…

Hubby said it is something that he wants to do again! Maybe next time I’ll go along to run the kayak to put their trash in.

On to the next little…

Look at darker spot in the photos that is a curled up leaf, when the wind blow the leaf out of the sun it was all dark, with the sun a red spot.

Some more littles….

Daughter-in-law made this cream cheese peach cake.. it was heavenly!

This was a morning glory vine that was huge and full of lovely blooms.

Of course ,there has to be some lake views..

And what’s a post without a quilt …

This quilt I purchased off of eBay. The lady ,Mable Minard, made the top was from Truro, Iowa, born in 1900 and pieced the quilt around late 1920’s to early 1930’s.

I love it’s uniqueness. I do believe that some of its fabrics are older than 1920’s but l will post more photos of it in another post when I go to hand quilt it.

Leona enjoying a cozy blanket on a cool morning.

Have a great weekend!

Sept. 29… Hand quilt along update….

Quilt” is derived from the Latin word culcita, which means “stuffed sack.”

And…

The earliest depiction of quilting was discovered in Egypt; it was an ivory figurine of a pharaoh wearing quilted clothing, ca. 3400 BC

Well they say it’s fall time but I’m not really ready to believe that yet as it is still very much like summer here! And dry, we are in what I’ve just learned a flash drought.

So with this flash drought ,I have no grass to cut,or weed whacking to do, it’s been in the upper 90’s to 100’s so I decided to keep my nose inside as much as possible.

Welcome back quilting!👏👏

Here’s where I was …. working in the two center blocks