FINISHES FOR FRIDAY

 It was a busy Finish It Friday today.  I loaded the Loretto quilt onto Eric the longarm and started to quilt it before our 11am get-together.  Then since it was going so well, I continued to do the quilting during the meeting.  I eventually got around to sewing the binding on the Intertwine quilt and I got the quilting finished on Loretto and even trimmed it.  I got the fabric for Loretto's binding cut, but that was as far as I got.  We shut it down at 3pm.    Another productive day.

Loretto

Intertwine!

INTERTWINE QUILTED

 I had loaded Intertwine onto the longarm yesterday and set up a pantograph program.  I had a few problems and didn't get much done.  In fact, after picking out some bad starts, I gave up and decided to come back to the top later.   I was very frustrated.  

Today, after I couldn't unlink two rows, and it refused to quilt the top row of the two.  I discarded the whole program.  I just had the one row up and moved it on the computer to line it up with each previous row.  It was tedious, but I got the quilting done.  

MONDAY STUFF

 Brave Patch Monday Sewcial has been starting with 30 Minutes of Play.  Here's what I came up with today.  

I also got this week's Art East Mini-Block Challenge done.  Number 13, Log Cabin.

I also got a little work done on the Stack-n-Cut Curves project.  Most of it is now sewn together.  But, there's a lot left to do. And I'm a bit stumped.  It was suggested I put it away and let it marinate for a while.  So, that's what I'm going to do. 

BACK TO STACK-N-CUT

 I went back to working on the project from the Stack-N-Cut Curves Workshop with Sherri Lynn Wood that I attended via zoom several weekends ago.

I thought I would get it a little more organized.  I began by sewing together what I already had.  That entailed editing and adding parts and pieces to make them fit.

It took me all day and I sorta feel like I didn't get anywhere because I made no new parts.  And I'm still not getting these parts to fit together.

But, I'm liking it.

BIG ART IN THE PARK

 Spotted on my morning walk in Lincoln Park this morning.

Oh, and I also spotted a Cooper's Hawk.  

GANYMEDE BLOCKS

 I've been making more triangle pie parts for the Small World I'm calling Ganymede.

I put some up on the wall to see how they looked.  And, I decided they needed more neutrals.  So, I cut and added several shades of grey triangles, some tan triangles and another orange just for fun.  I probably have enough triangles cut to make a couple of quilts.

ART EAST MINI & MORE

 It's Monday, so there was another Art East Quilting Mini Block Challenge block dropped.

I got it made during BP-Monday Sewcial.

But, before that, I finished making the first month's Seattle Modern Quilt Guild's Block of the Month 2023.  It's two large triangle-shaped blocks made of really dark and really light half-square triangles.  I'm using scraps from my scrap bins.

BACKING FOR INTERTWINE

 I've been working on making the backing for Intertwine.  I got it finished today.  I printed out the label and started inking it onto fabric.  I realized, after it was too later, that I hadn't printed Intertwine, I had printed Interweave.  It was either go with it or scrap it and start over.  So, I just decided to go with it.  It is now called Interweave.  The next one can be Intertwine, I guess.  I used fabrics from my stash mostly, and a few pieces leftover from the cutting of parts.  A couple of these prints made me wonder why I'd bought them in the first place.

After I got it done, I thought it needed a heart.  So I gave it one.

INTERTWINE DONE

 I finally got the top of Intertwine done while attending Brave Patch's Finish it Friday.  This was a free pattern from Kona featuring the new COTY 2023 'Crush' along with  'Torch' and 'Sangria'.  

It wouldn't have been long enough for a twin so I added another row of plain squares in the middle.  It is now 56" by 77".

TWO MORE MINIS

 I'm still trying to catch up with Art East Quilting Mini Block Challenge.  I got the last two done today.

I'm caught up!  

This is 'Outlet'

and this is  'Rainbow'

CATCHING UP

I'm way behind on most of my projects.

I loaded Sue's Round Robin quilt onto the longarm yesterday and got it started.  This should be interesting.  It's not flat, and it will test my skills for sure.

Then, I got two of the Art East Quilting Mini Blocks done:

 

MAKING TRIANGLES

 I'm working on my 'Small World' project.  I've decided to change to a version that is scrappy and less defined.  It is basically alternating  light and dark triangles.  So, for every 'pie' piece that is majority light I need to make one that is majority darks.  It's easiest to make two at a time, one of each.

I still need a name for this project.  Tara named her's "Small World".  This is her version of a light/dark version. But, mine will be scrappy

I don't want to call mine Small World.  But, maybe, name if after a small world.  I started thinking about moons in our system.  Then I recalled the book I read as a teen "Farmer In The Sky" by Robert Heinlein.  It was one of my favorites.  It's about a family that emigrates to a moon of Jupiter called Ganymede where they become farmers in an effort to terraform the small moon.  Here's the synopsis from Amazon:

The Earth is crowded and food is rationed, but a colony on Ganymede, one of the moons of Jupiter, offers an escape for teenager Bill Lermer and his family. Back on Earth, the move sounded like a grand adventure, but Bill soon realizes that life on the frontier is dangerous, and in an alien world with no safety nets, nature is cruelly unforgiving of even small mistakes.

So, I guess I'm naming this quilt Ganymede.

EVERGLADES NAT'L PARK

 We left Everglades City early having decided not to do the airboat ride.  Instead we wanted to get to Everglades Park as soon as possible.  

We drove across the state on Hwy 41 and entered the park at the Homestead entrance.

First stop was the Mahogany Hammock Trail - where a very large, old Mahogany tree lives.

Right when we got out of the car, there was a Red-shouldered Hawk sitting in a tree. 

Then we drove down to the far end of the park to the Flamingo Visitor Center.  There is a small marina.  We were told that we might see Manatees there.  And we did!

There was a dam between the fresh water and the sea.  Atop the dam was a very large Osprey nest.

Then we started back out and stopped at one more loop trail.  It was interesting, there were big sink holes everywhere.  

Great day in the Everglades!

CORKSCREW SWAMP SANCTUARY

 We continued on south to Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary operated by the Audubon Society.  We had purchased tickets online last night for the 1pm time slot.  They only allow so many people at a time on the boardwalk.  The boardwalk is a 2.25 mile loop through the swamp (a lot of which is dry this time of year) where you can see birds and animals in their natural habitats up close.

It was very warm and the sun was intense.

A lot of beautiful Bromeliad in the trees.

About a 4 ft brown snake

Egret

Alligator

a little alligator

And another alligator

I almost had Darrell convinced it wasn't real because it did not move or even blink.

A Turtle

It was amazing.

The Birds we saw:

Tri-colored Heron

Great Blue Heron

Little Blue Heron

Yellow-Crowned Heron

Green Heron

Night Heron

Egret

Great White Egret

White Ibis

Northern Parula

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Carolina Wren

Grey Catbird

Northern Cardinal

Grackle

Red-bellied Woodpecker

Black Vulture

Red-shouldered Hawk

Swallow-tailed Kite

Black and White Warbler

Northern Mockingbird

And Anhinga sitting on a nest of fluffy white chicks

I was able to identify a lot of these with my Merlin Bird ID by sound.

Afterwards we drove on south to Everglades City where we had dinner at the Diving Pelican Restaurant and spent the night at Everglades City Motel.

It was a great day.