Good Morning Quilters!
Quilting activity: I am working on a doll quilt that I am trying to put names in the center of signature blocks. It is not going well so far. I am experimenting with waste cloth cross stitch, desolvable cross stitch foundation, and just regular embroidery of a name. I am debating tearing out what I’ve done so far and starting over. The usual disappointment when something doesn’t look like I imagined it would. But I will work on another project and come back to this.
Current events:
News/weather/health/politics/information overload keeps on getting more than I can take. You too, probably. I said last week that I was trying to ignore it all in this space, and I shall try again this week.....
Right after I say this: RIP RBG. She had so much grit and determination and stamina. I differed with her views, as I am pro-life, but I admired her good qualities. Her death took all the fun out of me on “Talk Like A Pirate” Saturday. I didn’t feel like it at all. Argggh! I am praying for the next person that fills her shoes, and the coming process of choosing that person.
Nature Stories:
A little mouse has decided to live in our mailbox. He gets in by coming through a little drainage slot on the hinged door. We have cleaned out the leaves (nest) twice!! before we figured out what was happening. Now we are leaving him alone. The box is long, and we will get letters from the front part, and he will live in the back part, all nice and dry in his metal house. You can see him on the left side of the picture of the open mailbox.
Some squirrels have gathered lots of pine cones into two big piles at the base of two pine trees on our property. Penny and I took these pictures on our walk Sunday.
I guess instead of burying them like acorns, they are just making big piles of cones. My internet search says these mounds are made by red squirrels and are called middens, and all this work could be done by one single squirrel.
What are you working on?
I thank you all for participating in Design Wall Monday. Lots of beautiful projects each week. You amaze me. Thanks, and please talk about Design Wall Monday and provide a link to this post from somewhere within your post.
It's always frustrating when a project isn't looking like you imagined. Hope you find a solution to your embroidery dilemma. Isn't it amazing how mice can find a way in to just about anything. We had our second round with mice in the house a few months ago. Thankfully My Guy figure out where they were getting in and fixed it.
ReplyDeleteI'm with you on the information overload, what happen to good old fashioned news? Mice, grrrr. We have been battling them lately with the weather change. I guess their instincts tell them winter is coming and its time to find indoor housing. Field mice are a little smarter than city mice I have discovered. But I a little smarter yet and purchased live traps which they had no problem walking into. As time allows I will catch up around your site and I hope I see more of your embroidery blocks :) Thank you for the linky party.
ReplyDeleteSorry that the cross-stitch isn't working as well has you'd hoped! Apparently the mouse is not deterred when mail is shoved in the box. I'm sure that postal carriers have encountered more than mice in mailboxes over the course of their careers. WTTW, Chicago PBS, did an extended story about squirrels. The researcher (prof at UIC) found out why red squirrels are more prevalent in city neighborhoods and gray squirrels hang out in the suburbs.
ReplyDeleteHere is the link: https://interactive.wttw.com/urbannature/great-squirrel-mystery#!/
where there is one mouse there are more - I hope your mail carrier doesn't get bit - the mouse will also possibly start to nibble on your mail
ReplyDeleteI don't like mice, but if he's content to stay in the mail box and not my house, have at it! LOL. Miss Penny is such a good girl.
ReplyDeleteSorry about the project not looking like you wanted. I think it looks fun. Just don't let it become another UFO. :)
ReplyDeleteLove that you’re sharing your mailbox with the mouse.
ReplyDeleteWhile it may seem humane to let the mouse shelter in your mailbox, I doubt the mailman would approve. Mice are a vector animal for deer tics, so if deer ticks are prevalent in your region, you might want to reconsider hosting the mouse.
ReplyDeleteA mouse in the mailbox can't be good, but better outdoors than in the house. That is why I have a cat.
ReplyDeleteIt is amazing how much work some animals put into food storage. I loved the photos!
It is so difficult at the moment, so much uncertainties in many areas of our life, so much changes... We have squirrels in our garden, busy trying to hide nuts for the winter....
ReplyDeleteActually, I like both of the names stitched on those blocks. I know what you mean about it, but I have a family quilt with names embroidered in each block and I see similarities in the way my quilt has the names stitched and how you have done yours. There's a vintage vibe to your embroidered names, and I even like mixing up the styles of stitching because it simulates the look of an antique quilt with blocks contributed by different makers.
ReplyDeleteI love that you are allowing the mouse to take up residence at the back of your mailbox.
As for RBG: Yes, this is the end of an era for sure. Interesting how she has come to be so strongly associated with "protecting roe v wade" for liberals when the liberals initially weren't thrilled about her appointment -- and their reason was that RBG had spoken out AGAINST roe v wade as a mistake in judicial overreach that would increase division and lead to a backlash... Which has totally happened! Yet conservative and liberal women have all benefited from her work fighting laws that prevented women from having credit cards in their own name, as well as men and children benefiting from her work to overturn policies that only granted death benefits to a woman whose spouse had died, not to a man whos wife had died -- with the idea that a woman would be dependent on a man's income, but a man would not. The plaintiff in that case was a man with a young child who had lost his wife, and the decision made it possible for this father to care for his son himself.
I agree with RBG that roe v wade was shortsighted in that it has had major unintended consequences for this country. Now when we have an opening on the court, it seems like the only thing anyone cares about is where the nominee stands on abortion, but there are so many other things the Supreme Court rules on that reshape our country and our lives. I think our elected lawmakers ought to be the ones drafting laws about what is legal and what is not, and justices ought to be picked based on their legal qualifications and experience rather than their personal beliefs or their politics. But unfortunately, no one is asking for my opinion! :-)
I like your stitching, Judy. It has the handmade look--not all perfect, but done by a real person. You are more tolerant than I am with mice. I would have difficulty getting the mail out of the box. Those red squirrel add a lot of entertainment to life!
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