Feeding the birds

The birds come to visit us of a morning and early evening to be fed.

They make such a mess that I have to hose off the verandah when they go.

I love them coming . Some are so tame they jump on my hand to be fed.

They make a real racket calling out until I give them something to eat.

Sometimes they peer in my doors at me or sit on the flyscreen until I come out.

With the birds in mind, my daughter Tara bought me this beautiful Willow Tree Figurine

It is titled Happiness..FREE to sing, laugh, dance...create!

She has birds sitting on her outstretched arms and looks so carefree.

A beautiful day

We have had the most glorious weather here today after the storms of last week and even yesterday.Sunshine with a lovely breeze. Washing all dry and the lawn mowed. I love a freshly mowed lawn (especially seeing as though I don't mow it)

My front yard

A favourite garden of mine

my son Lee is a blacksmith and he made me my snake

and the fabulous ornate hose holder.

He came and put the snake in the garden when I was out.

It gave me a fright for a second when I first saw it. haha!

Some birds enjoying the rain in my backyard yesterday

I love our view it is so calming even on a rainy day

A quilt for Chad

I am making a quilt for a 9 year old boy who is in Westmead Children's Hospital and has had a long battle with a rare blood disorder. He has been seen recently on the Today Show and Sydney FC have also been inviting him to their games. He also likes the Wests Tigers so I am going with that theme. My family are Panthers supporters...so please forgive me Panthers. I will share it's progress with you.

The pieces are all traced out and the cutting out and placement begins

Lots of little bits

placing all the pieces

all done

The borders are on and the main block is ready for blanket stitch

I love it! I think it looks fantastic.

I will need a really sharp needle to sew all the exposed edges with blanket stitch as there

are three layers of fabric in most of places.

I will work out the rest of the quilt as I go along.

Tara's Quilt is finished

Loaded on my machine and ready to start quilting.

Tara selected clouds for the quilting which is perfect

 as the fabrics are busy and the quilting doesn't stand out.