Design Wall Monday and I Need Some Goals

Monday, October 10, 2011
These are the blocks currently on my wall.  The start of a baby blanket for "Petey".  I know Laura Beth is rolling her eyes--the baby expected in December hasn't a name (okay--his parents may have picked out a name) and somewhere I heard the name "Petey" mentioned.   So for now his name is "Petey". 

Design Wall 10-9-2011
Taking pictures at night yields awful color!  But I'm not a morning person so....!  I still need about a dozen more blocks--I'm making two sets--one will be an extra quilt.  On those white diagonal rows bright rick rack is sewn like a winding vine--and appliqued leaves from the block fabrics are sewn along it.  

I need to start setting goals every week.  This week they will be small.

  1. Make more Petey blocks
  2. Load quilt for Henrietta 
  3. Finish blue/white swap blocks
    Its been very dry and harvest everywhere has had field fires.  The dry grain dust + hot machinery + dry crop leaves/stalks has been very dangerous.  


    Field Fire South of the Campground
    About 1200 acres burned less than two miles from my camper.  This picture shows what looks like smoke--but is really blowing sand.   This picture was taken the day after the fire, see the sand dunes already on the road??  The fire burned all the crop residue from the field and the high winds made a dust storm.   Crop residue (what's left after you remove the corn, soybeans etc) is normally left in the field and you won't have the blowing soil--but the fire burned all of it.  Luckily we've had some good rains over the weekend.  Slows harvest but a fire is worse.   The weather the last month has been both "unseasonably cold" and "unseasonably warm".  This afternoon I had the central air on--in October!

    Here is a picture of my boss at the Visitor Center-Karla-with Toni and Eddie and I.  Toni and Eddie have left heading for winter in Texas. 


    Me, Karla, Toni, and Eddie
    It will be lonely at the campground the next few weeks.  Soon I will be done for the year.  But we'll be back next year!  

    And a few random pictures---


    Katie and Award
    Katie received an award.   Congratulations Katie!
    Spillway Gates Closed
    There are still some spillway gates open.  They closed them while they were putting a buoy line across with a boat. Doesn't it look peaceful?


    I'm Holding a Bat
    Yes, my hands are inside those gloves.  We have "bat gear"--a long handled net and heavy leather gloves to catch the bats.   We take them outside and transfer them to a tree.  


    Bat in Tree
    He quickly crawled about 10 feet up the tree after I released him.  


    I'm not a squeamish person.  The Visitor Center has three story glass windows.   Birds bounce off them all the time.  Once in a while we have a casualty.   This bird was unusual.  Yes, I took the corpse and measured it with lots of photos.   A bird we usually don't see--a Merlin.  This was either a female or an juvenile.  The pictures went to professor in MN who could identify it.


    Merlin
    And if you are wondering what happened to the bird, it went in the freezer!   Since it is a somewhat rare sighting for that area, it may go to the taxidermist and be mounted for one of the displays.




     

    14 comments:

    Jo said...

    Petey is looking good. I too need some goals.

    Nancy said...

    I like the Petey blocks. The rick-rack and applique sound interesting - can't wait to actually see it.

    Kathie said...

    Petey blocks are very cute. That will probably always be known as the Petey quilt!!

    Chris said...

    Petey is so cute. I can't wait to see the rest of it.

    Chris said...

    Cute quilt so far. I really like the idea of rick-rack vines. Can't wait to see it done.

    AnnieO said...

    Petey is as good a pre-nickname as any :) Love the blocks and the rick rack vine idea, very cute. Thanks for the nature show! The merlin is beautiful.

    Amy said...

    Your petey quilt is looking good. The drought really is bad. We were so fortunate to have rain this weekend. But we need more after all the dry heat.

    Quilter Kathy said...

    Love your header photo! You definitely are NOT squeamish!

    Mary Johnson said...

    I have the same problem with trying to photograph my work at night. I've been finishing up the HeartStrings quilts here in Maine at night and then waiting until the next day day to photograph them.

    Alycia~Quiltygirl said...

    That is scary to have a fire so close to your trailer. Hope you get some rain or cool or whatever it is you need to make the fires stop!

    Love your Petey quilt!!

    Julie Kaye from KS said...

    Your baby quilt is going to be great. And thank you for the job/bat/bird information. Great pictures and info.

    MightyMom said...

    GOALS!!! woo hoo.

    Stephanie D said...

    Aw, the bat is cute! I always thought they were black and slick, but I guess I've been influenced by Halloween. Didn't know they'd be brown and fuzzy and cute.

    Susan said...

    I love that quilt! The picture is nice in the post above, but I prefer yours on the design wall. Are you looking forward to being home?