quilt tops

I have made 5 quilt tops so far this year. 2 tops are the Disappearing Nine Patch and are cut from my scraps. I must say they are colorful but I prefer a more organized scrappy top.

January snowstorm

Here are some pictures from the January 11th snowstorm.
Pictures of the bay from January 12th.

Quilts completed.

In 2010 I completed about 2 dozen quilts for Wrap a Smile- a Rotary sponsored endeavor that suppplies quilts to be used in the OR & Recovery Room during Cleft Lip and Palate repair. So far I have pieced 3 for this year and hope to up the total of quilts I made over last years number. Since the project started in 2001 quilters have made and donated almost 16,000 quilts to be given away to each person on whom surgery is done. That is an amazing number of quilts that would fill about 4 football fields. Here are pictures of a few of the last quilts I made and sent in December.

More January birding

I have a hankering to see some eagles so when I was on the computer checking out Cape May County I ran across the fact the Mauricetown in Cumberland County has an Eagle festival every year that's held the first Saturday in February. Since I have only been birding about a year I haven't really ventured out of CM County so thought why not take a drive up to preview the area, see where the viewing platforms and walks are going to be held. I'd like to go but do prefer to know where I am going so I don't get lost. So off I went exploring checking out the 4 viewing areas. I had brunch at a cafe just at the edge of the water in Newport where going back the road, I saw flocks of birds - Blue Jays, American Robins, Common Crackles, Starlings plus some birds foraging on the ground including a Flicker that was apparently looking for bugs & several White-throated Sparrows. As I tried to get a good picture of the Flicker he flew off to the trees where I was able to take a picture. Drove from there, out to Gandy's Beach, where I came across about 8 Great Blue Herons and some hawks that were out in the distance. I checked out Fortescue where I saw a lone Sanderling trying to find food along the snow/ice drifted beach. Next it was off to Turkey Point where 2 Great Blue's were walking across the street with about a dozen more were all together in a field. Here I saw an Eagles nest but sadly no Eagles to be seen. But all in all a nice day and great to be outdoors even if only driving along!

Birding in January

Birding in January in NJ this year is not for the faint of heart. The weather hasn't been the best with a major snowstorm Dec 26th with snow that has lingered plus 2 other major snow events along with frigid temperatures. Just when you think the weather is going to change for the better another snow storm is predicted. I was lucky to be able to go out 2 days to the Avalon seawall.

The first day I just needed to break free or go stir crazy. I was only going to drive up to see what birds were about but not stay. I wasn't dressed appropriately that day and the winds were blowing off the water but in the forecast there was a day that was predicted to have calm winds with the temperature in the midthirties - a positive heat wave! I did walk out the seawall on that first day and the Purple Sandpipers and Ruddy Turnstones were roosting against the rocks on the South side trying to stay out of the winds. It was a quick walk out and back.

Day 2 I was prepared with many layers of clothing including long underwear, boots and gloves. I stayed out for about 1.5 hours. There were Long-tailed Ducks courting, Greater and Lesser Scaups, Surf & Black Scoters, Common Loons along with several types of gulls, Ruddy Turnstones and Purple Sandpipers. From there I back tracked to Cape May Point but all was frozen and I didn't see much of anything.

More Snow Dyeing results

I have some more snow dyeing that I did in early January. My sister loves the look of the snow dyed fabric so she wanted me to try and snow dye some cotton interlock that she can then use to make some article of clothing. She gave me 4 pieces of fabric 2 white cotton interlock and 2 yellow cotton interlock. So far I have dyed one of the yellow pieces and love how it truned out.

Snow, beautiful snow

It's snowing again here so that means I can do more snow dyeing! We had a big snowstorm on December 26th that dropped 18" or so around the county. I have done a number of pieces of snow dyed fabric in the last week. Instead of starting with a blank white cloth I have been taking my handdyed fabrics that I was less than happy with and overdyeing the pieces with snowdyeing. Sometimes the cloth is low immersion dyeing and sometimes had been snowdyed once. I am happy with most of the results. Now it's onto new cloth. I do need to order some more dyes as I ran out of some favorites. I have no browns or gray left. I tried to make a brown but the red struck fast and hard so the piece is maroon and not brown! Pictures coming later today....