Sarah Lynn's Nature's Splendor: Journal: Birds & Bugs & Sunbonnet Sue

Last Tuesday, I washed several loads of clothes, including the bedding. I even managed to remake the bed – and it’s one of those humongous king-sized, extra-thick mattresses that drops down into what used to be a waterbed frame, years ago. Last time I washed sheets, Larry had to help me remake the bed. My wrist is getting better!

One of the moderators of an online quilting group posted a few tips, then added, “If anybody has any other problems or stumbling blocks, just ask, and someone will be glad to help you.”

‘Stumbling blocks’! hee hee I’ve encountered a few of those!

Turns out, she hadn’t even meant to make a pun.

It was an overcast 71° that afternoon – cooler than usual for these parts. I filled the bird feeders, and the little birds were soon all clustered around them. Every now and then, three young cardinals land on the curled rebar that holds the stations. Two are beginning to turn bright red under their baby fluff, and the other is turning tawny tan, with accents of bright red. Must be two males and a female (and just get a load of her hairdo!). They are cracking their own seed shells open now. I get the black oil sunflower seeds, which have softer hulls than the striped seeds, so that even the little birds can easily crack the shells – and the fledglings can do it sooner, too. Even so, if a parent bird lands nearby, the youngsters go to hunkering down low, the better to appear like wee, helpless babies, flapping and cheeping like anything. And the parent obligingly stuffs already-hulled seeds into their gullets. They launch into more cheeping before they even swallow, and while they are swallowing.

Wednesday afternoon we attended the funeral of an elderly lady, Evelyn, who’s been a dear friend for many, many years. She was also the grandmother of our son-in-law, Jeremy, and our daughter-in-law, Maria. She was 96 years old. She was born in a dugout in rural Colorado, oldest of ten siblings – and survived them all, except one.

In the front vestibule of our church, there were many photos on display of Evelyn and her family. They also had quite a number of things she had made – knitting, crocheting, embroidery – and a beautifully embroidered quilt, with each square being a young woman dressed in the historic fashion of a certain country – Ireland, Sweden, Switzerland, Bangladesh, Thailand, Argentina, Mexico, etc. Her embroidery was second to none. Large designs, all filled in with every variety of stitch imaginable. Her tea towels were the same.

We went to the cemetery after the church service for a short graveside service, then back to the church for a reception.

After the luncheon, we drove the Jeep to Madison to see if Larry’s five-hour job of changing all the sparkplugs the night before had fixed it. About the time we were convinced it had, we realized it hadn’t, when the thing died (and immediately restarted) as we were traveling over 70 mph. ☹ Techs at the dealership have been trying to fix that vehicle for over a month. They thought they’d narrowed it down to sparkplugs, and said it would cost $700 to change them. Larry bought the plugs for under $100 and did it himself.

Home again, we gathered up Jeremy and Lydia’s 10^th anniversary gift – a heavy aluminum bacon/meat press and a big box of Schwan’s frozen pepper bacon – and took it to them. Aluminum is the traditional gift for the tenth anniversary. They showed us the beautiful new furniture they’ve recently gotten for their lovely home.

When we left, the Jeep would hardly stay running long enough to get out of their driveway. (I’m sure glad it didn’t decide to try that when we drove to the church and the cemetery!)

We went on to my niece Susan’s house; she had some topical, homeopathic analgesic salve that she thought might help my wrist and thumb. So I’m giving it a try. If it helps a little bit, that’s better for me than cortisone shots. Cortisone can worsen osteoporosis, and I have the beginnings of that. I also discovered that most types of tendinitis are worsened by caffeine. So I’m switching to decaffeinated (and yes, I do know that there are trace amounts of caffeine in decaffeinated coffee). I can’t tell a difference in taste, and I don’t make coffee strong enough for the caffeine to make a huge difference in how I feel, so I won’t really notice a change.

The Jeep politely took us home again with nary a quibble. I like that Jeep! Why can’t it just work?!

Speaking of Jeeps... One time Lura Kay and I were discussing long-ago family adventures, and she told me about the time, long before I was born, when Daddy took the family out to Montana to visit some Winings relatives. He drove his Willys Jeep up the side of a mountain, and it got so steep that it started getting a little tail-heavy. So he had all the kids – his own, plus their cousins – get out and sit on the front bumper, and away they went, on up the mountain!

“Wow,” I marveled, “He would have never, ever done that, when I was little. I missed out on all the fun and excitement!”

“I know,” she answered. “I married John H. just so I wouldn’t have to have that kind of excitement!”

“Well, I married Larry,” I retorted, “So I COULD have some excitement!”

And then we giggled like idiots.

Larry and I went home again, feeling like it had been a long day. I usually go on for a few more hours... but I was tired, my head hurt, my wrists hurt, and I was plumb happy to simply sit in the recliner and edit pictures.

The Sunbonnet Sue quilt could wait until the next day. I can continue quilting designs after I’m all worn to a frizzle-frazzle; but I am never inclined to start a quilting design when in that condition.

Thursday, I got another section of borders done on the quilt... and took pictures of finches, baby Northern cardinals, and baby English sparrows at the feeders.

That evening, Larry grilled Black Angus burgers on the Traeger while I baked ciabatta rolls and cooked corn on the cob. We had a small bowl of split-pea soup as an appetizer, and I sliced tomatoes and summer squash from the neighbors’ garden to go with the burgers.

Later, Kurt and Victoria, with Baby Carolyn, brought out an invitation to Carolyn’s 1^st birthday party next Friday. Victoria hunted through the bins in the cubbyhole in the little office where I’ve stored all her things she hasn’t taken yet, looking for a purple teddy bear she’s been wanting. She didn’t find it. I went downstairs and looked in a bag of stuffed toys... then I looked in the little library upstairs...

Meanwhile, Victoria found several things for Carolyn. Little Carrie was delighted with a small, very soft, furry bear, and also with a cloth book with lots of buttons that Janice had made for Victoria when she was a baby.

And then Victoria walked into the little library – and there was the purple bear, sitting on the little bench under the north window, big as you please. Victoria demonstrated, sitting up straight and tall, with a slight, smug smile on her face, which made Kurt laugh.

She’s done that since she was little – impersonate and animate things such as her stuffed toys and dolls, or the cats or the neighbor’s dog.

That bear wasn’t the exact color of purple I was looking for, you know? It was bluish purple. I was looking for lavender purple!

Friday, Amy sent pictures of Elsie with the caption: “Elsie in Style.” The silly little girl had on pjs, a huge straw sun hat --- and a pair of her brother’s well-worn cowboy boots, on the wrong feet, as usual. Those pictures made me laugh right out loud.

That day, I got the first row of Sunbonnet Sue blocks done, including one sewn by my great-grandmother. More pictures here.

Did you know that old muslin atop new muslin stretches, and if it was that crinkled stuff, it comes uncrinkled and proceeds to grow... and grow... and grow? I pulled out the can of Faultless Magic Sizing, gave the Sue blocks a good spraying, and then ironed them. It pretty much put the crinkle back into the muslin, and I was able to quilt it without too much trouble... but still there are rumples in the muslin of the old blocks. Just take a look at what the problem is before I quilt it:

I don’t want to get too carried away with quilting on the Sues --------- well, that’s a great big fib. Yes, I do want to get too carried away, but I’m working hard to restrain myself. Still, I thought those bonnets just... needed some plumes and swirls and whatnot.

A week or so ago, yet another drunk driver slammed into the barriers at the end of 38^th Street. That’s where a drunk driver failed to stop in 2002, went through a field, and hit my nephew David’s house in the middle of the night, killing him, and seriously injuring his wife Christine.

The city refused to put up barriers, even though multiple intoxicated drivers had previously gone through the ‘dead end’ sign – “Somebody might get hurt!”. So Walkers did it themselves. In the years since David was killed, at least 7 or 8 drunk drivers have hit that barrier. This time, the guy destroyed a nice juniper and part of the fence. One driver was going so fast that when he hit the concrete barriers and a big boulder, he went airborne and landed clear on the other side of the fence, inside Christine’s property. But at least he didn’t get near the house.

Here a shot from Google Street View of the barricade. It’s so beautifully done, some think it’s a memorial to David.

That night, it belatedly occurred to me to look for the results from the State Fair. And here’s what I got:

Americana Eagle quilt: 3^rd place

Baskets of Lilies quilt: 5^th place

Americana Eagle pillow: 1^st place, Judge’s Choice

Rag-Shag rug: 1^st place

Silk Ribbon Embroidery picture: 1^st place, Best of Division Award, and Best Entry Award from Calico Annie’s Quilt Shop

Flower Basket mug rugs: 1^st place

Basset Hound mini quilt: 2^nd place

Machine embroidered tea towels: 1^st place

The elk panel quilt didn’t place. Larry fussed because ‘his’ Americana Eagle quilt didn’t get first place.

“You haven’t seen the other quilts, though!” I protested.

“Don’t care,” he pouted. “Mine should’ve gotten first.”

“There, there,” I comforted him, patting his arm.

He pretended to weep copious streams of tears, which is quite absurd for a guy who was never a big baby, from the time he was a fresh-hatched babe-in-arms. 😄

As for those mug rugs... Funny thing is... I made them some time back, and when I got them out to put with my fair entries, I nearly turned my nose up at them, because I didn’t consider the quilting up to snuff. We improve, don’t we, hardly realizing it as we go along. It’s always fun to pull out some old piece of work, and just see how far we’ve come. 😊

We’ll go to the fair next week, on Memorial Day.

Saturday, I went on quilting, hoping maybe now I would make better time. The designs were all decided, and I only had to duplicate what I’d already done.

You know one of the things I’m not so good at? It’s making my last feather around a circle meet up nicely with the first feather I made. Maybe I’ll be better at it by the time I get to the bottom of the quilt?

I said as much in one of the online quilting groups, and a nice lady protested, “It seems to me there’s nothing you’re not good at.”

“Ooooo, the stories I could tell you,” I replied, “and then you’d change your mind.”

Well, let’s just stick with one story, this go-around:

I once tried putting a cute stenciled teddy bear border around the upper wall in one of our boys’ rooms. 😯

After that, Larry had to repaint the whole wall.

I changed tacks and purchased a wallpaper border. 🤨

I think the problem is that my motto is this (never mind the subject matter): “If a little is good, a whole lot is better.”

I only got part of a row done on the Sunbonnet Sue quilt Saturday. More pictures here.

Somebody suggested I use starch instead of sizing on the blocks whose muslin has stretched. But I prefer Magic Sizing for this project, since 1) I don’t plan to wash the quilt when I’m through, and wouldn’t want to leave starch in it, as it might attract bugs or rodents. Faultless Magic Sizing uses synthetic sodium carboxymethyl cellulose. This compound is derived from plant material, but the end product does not really physically or chemically resemble the original cellulose. Some critters can derive nutrition from almost ANYthing, but ironing aids without natural corn starch are less likely to attract pests. 2) I like the way Magic Sizing gives the fabric body and a little bit of crispness without staying stiff. Once I am done quilting these blocks, they feel no different than the blocks beside them. 3) The sizing doesn’t make my iron sticky like starch does, is less likely to scorch this fragile fabric, and doesn’t flake like starch.

After ironing, I plop a ruler down and get on with the crosshatching. It’s looking surprisingly good for how bad it looks in the first place. I’m telling you, those blocks were flat when I sewed them together. Perfectly flat.

In addition to the rumpled-muslin-blocks problem, I had two out-of-round bobbins that threw the tension off... and once the machine even spit the bobbin case right out onto the floor! Talk about making a statement. Furthermore, it left the bobbin itself behind, on the hook in the race area, when it did that. Yeah, I’m doing business with one opinionated Avanté.

The third bobbin was the charm, but by then the needle had a barb on it, and I didn’t realize it until the thread had broken half a dozen times. (There is such a thing as being too persistent.)

I can never bear to quit in the middle of a problem, even when it’s getting late, late, late, and I need to get up early, early, early. So... once the tension was right again, I quilted a couple more blocks.

There. Now I could go to bed.

I really, really hate to head for the quilting studio, knowing there’s a big, bad, unresolved problem up there. So much better to know everything is ready and waiting for me to just get on with it. I’ll soon be to the 1/3-done mark.

Baby Keira smiled at me yesterday morning between Sunday School and church! That’s the first time. Rumples in quilts fall far, far down the Importance Ladder, when a baby smiles at you ------- especially this little darlin’, who weighed 2 lbs. 8 oz. at birth, and now weighs 10 ½ pounds.

Plus, Baby Carolyn spotted me all the way down a loooong church hallway, gasped and grinned and pointed in delight, and waved. She will be one year old next Sunday, September 2^nd.

We visited Loren and Norma after church last night. They fed us rice pudding, ice cream, cookies, and coffee. 😋 Norma and I looked at the wedding album I made for them. Wish I’d’ve been a little bossier at the wedding, though, and had us all stand together, then let Robert take a picture. Oh, well. It’s a beautiful wedding album.

On the way home, I was looking at Instagram on my tablet. In commenting on a lady’s beautiful quilt, I started writing, “Oooooooooo, that’s pretty.” Spell check was quite certain I wanted to write, “Lollipop, that’s pretty.” hee hee

Have you ever hunted all over the place for something that was right under your nose in plain sight the whole time? That purple bear isn’t the only thing it happened with; I just did it with my eyedrops. They were lying smack-dab on the laptop keyboard, all the while I was typing away on the ergonomic wireless keyboard, inches away.

I’m reminded of the times I’d send one of the kiddos off to look for something when they were little. If it didn’t jump out at them and shriek “HERE I AM!!!” within the first ten seconds of their search, they’d come slowly back to me, face all screwed up in angst, distress, and woe, and say, “I can’t find it.”

I’d turn around and see that face (how can a cute kid screw his cute face up like that?), and I’d exclaim, “Well, no wonder! You crabbed it right out of sight!” haha

One of the girls remembers me grabbing her hand and marching her back to the room where an item was supposed to be, then standing behind her, putting my hands on the sides of her head, and pointing her nose right at the object, and saying, “Look out that it doesn’t bite you!”

Today it is two weeks since Larry took Teensy to the vet and we learned he has hyperthyroidism. We’ve been giving him one pill a day, and today we start on two pills a day. He still has lots of interest in eating. He wants to eat all the time. More, more, more!!!

I think... and Larry thinks... that perhaps he doesn’t feel quite so skinny. He acts well enough, really, and he’s more restful than he was.

There’s a male cardinal at the feeders who is missing a bunch of his head feathers. He’s molting after the nesting season, resulting in a pretty bedraggled-looking bird. But he’s fine; this is normal, though not all birds lose so many feathers at once. It happens more often when there are more offspring for the bird to care for – and this bird has three fledglings he’s feeding. Tsk, the stress kids put on their parents! 🤪

I’ve also seen a young house finch that has the eye disease Mycoplasmal conjunctivitis. I need to bring the feeders in the next time they are empty (the birds can empty both sunflower seed feeders in 24 hours, and the Nyjer seed feeder in three days or so) and scrub them good, so they aren’t contributing to and spreading the problem.

Here’s a Goldenrod soldier beetle – on goldenrod, of course. I think he’s made out of a black and yellow-orange slinky, whataya think?

Time to sign off. I seem to be a verbose, overly-wordy person when there’s a keyboard in front of me. Or a pencil and paper. Brings to mind a poem I found, years ago:

There once was a man of verbosity

Who loved words with a savage ferocity.

Waxing profound, he fell to the ground,

Knocked out by his own pomposity.

Th-th-th-that’s all, folks!

,,,>^..^<,,, Sarah My Grandbabies Think I’m Important Lynn ,,,>^..^<,,,