Bits and Pieces, This and That

Can you believe that absolutely NO quilting has been done in my home for the last two evenings? It's hard for me to believe, but I've been a little sidetracked (1) doing other things and (2) thinking about what to do about adding applique to my recent quilt top. Judy left a comment for me the other day saying, "If that quilt were mine, I'd quilt some feathers in that light area using variegated thread and forget the applique!" You know what? I kind of think she might be on the right track. For some reason, I always forget how much I like the quilting that goes on in light areas of a quilt, so now that I'm reminded, I think I'll just go ahead and take off the little bit of applique I had added and put the top away until I get around to doing some quilting. I have a couple other little block projects I need to get to, so maybe I can start them tonight.

Speaking of tonight, for those of you who are interested, don't forget the new Mark Burnett (Survivor) "reality" show, Pirate Master, starts. Since everything seems to be in summer reruns now, I'm looking forward to it. I suspect it will be a decent show to turn on while I'm quilting.

And if you enjoy watching TV, I would recommend a show my husband and I watched last night on PBS called Craft in America. The three-part show looks at the works of various craftsmen and craftswomen in America. Yes, there were quilters, but there were also woodworkers, potters, weavers, jewelry makers, glass blowers, and many other artisans. Very interesting to learn about the traditions of each craft, listen to the artists, and see the work they do.

I think tonight might be a fast food night in this household. We will be awaiting delivery of a new dishwasher tomorrow, so it seems reasonable to not want to generate a sink full of dirty dishes tonight, doesn't it? Or is that just convenient justification?! LOL! Of course, we still have that lovely carrot bread I made over the weekend and could have that for dinner. Oddly enough, although it's barely edible, I haven't thrown it out yet. I'm kind of funny that way. I know darn well it's going in the garbage before long, but it feels awfully wasteful to bake it and toss it out right away, when it hasn't even had a chance. What if there was some natural disaster today, food was scarce, and I had thrown away the carrot bread? As you can see, it makes perfect sense to keep it in my bread basket for the time being. But I think I'd really rather eat fast food for dinner tonight, baring any natural disaster.

About a month or so ago, I noticed two birds--some type of blue jays, I think. They had built a nest in a pair of juniper trees in our back yard. The mom and dad birds would fly in and out all day long, carrying food to their baby. Our younger cat Spike was also fascinated, I can tell you! One day a few weeks back, I noticed the parent birds acting funny, and rather than flying up to their nest, they kept flying to the base of the tree and squawking. Spike was beside herself with excitement, whiskers twitching, belly to the grass, creeping slowly toward the tree. When I went to chase her off and investigate, I found a downy gray baby bird at the base of the tree in a clump of dried grass. Hoping for the best, I kept both my cats inside the rest of the day, but as the sun went down, I went out to check for any progress. The baby was still there at the base of the tree.

In our neighborhood and in our particular yard, we have several cats who come through during the day and nighttime hours, and I was fairly sure that even if I kept MY cats indoors, some other cat would come along in the night and take that baby bird. The solution that finally occurred to me was to tie a basket into the tree in a fairly protected space as high up as I could manage and fill it with raffia. I then lifted the baby bird into the basket and went back indoors to see what would happen. The rest of the evening and the next morning, the mom and dad birds continued to stay close to the tree, squawking at their baby; then, around noon, I noticed they had disappeared. I was sure the baby bird hadn't made it, but I didn't want to face the reality of a tiny dead bird body lying in that basket, so I put it out of my mind, thinking I would collect the makeshift "nest" sometime in the future.

Last night, my husband took the basket down out of the tree. No baby bird bones or any other sign the bird had even been there. If a cat had climbed into the tree and gotten into or onto the basket, the weight of the cat would have knocked the "nest" out of the tree. I don't know what happened to that little baby bird, but I'm choosing to believe that it was finally strong enough to fly out of the nest on its own the next day. Yes, I know that in many ways, I'm a hopeless hopeful optimist. And that's probably one of the reasons I haven't tossed out that carrot bread yet!