Bird Brain Designs

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It usually becomes quite the project to gather all the stuff together before taking off for a quilt show.  Today we are going to New Mexico and the Albuquerque Fiber Arts Fiesta.  We set up on Wednesday and the show runs from May 21-23.  We enjoy the southwest and are looking forward to seeing more of New Mexico.  Packing Lucy, the motor home is always a project.  Sometimes it feels like we need a shoe horn to stuff everything in.  Check out this packing technique – the back end of the Calistoga Water Company truck statue in Calistoga, California.  Clever! Here is a photo of the truck complete with driver and his trusty co-pilot pooch.  A wonderful sight outside the Water Plant. Our Lucy is a little more sleek and modern with the garage in the back of our living space.  Mackenzie and Campbell find their second home just fine….we do too. See you at the Fiesta!

The Hummingbirds are back.  I don’t know where they go during the winter, but they are here again checking out my nectar feeders.  In the summer I need 4 that need filling everyday. Today I have just a couple feeders out and one daring little bird coming to visit.  I’ll keep watching for the rest of the gang! Tomorrow we finish packing up Lucy, the motor home and take off for New Mexico and the Fiesta.  If you are near by, please come to the Albuquerque Fiber Arts Fiesta - May 21-23.  We are looking forward some fun along the way and while in New Mexico.  Especially some yummy and tasty food. See you at the Fiesta!

While driving on a back road I had to turn around and go back and take a photograph of these “beauties”.  The baby Black Birds and Tina’s chicks in earlier blogs are really cute but these 3 feathered friends have a job to do.  They are the “clean up crew” outside.  We see them out our 3rd floor studio window over looking Clear Lake.  There “our” buzzards soar in lazy circles checking out everything below them.  We are nearly eye level with them and nice to watch.  Really very graceful if not pretty birds! Writing my blog has made me carry my camera and camera cell phone everywhere in case if find an interesting picture to share with all of you.  Share special photos back to me, too!

It is strawberry tyme here in northern California!  All the roadside strawberry patches have yummy, ripe fruit ready.  You have to buy and extra box to eat all the way home in the car! To celebrate, the FREEBIE tea towel design this time is a trio of fat strawberries on a Gold Stripe towel.  You can print the design and get stitching with a towel plus the #8 Perle Cotton to embroider on our web site .  The design would look great in RedWork too – quick to stitch too!  Tuck your Strawberry Towel in your picnic basket this summer. The fat strawberries in front of the towel are wool Strawberry Emeries .  They are modeled after the traditional strawberry emery hanging on the vintage tomato pin cushions.  The emery (a ground metal) will keep your pins and needles sharp.  Fun to make for yourself and gifts, too. Summer is really here now with sweet,  juicy strawberries to stitch and eat….enjoy!

Yesterday while visiting Tina’s house in Sonoma, Mother Nature gave us a lovely gift.  While picking fruit from the over loaded lemon tree, a nest of baby black birds was discovered.  Campbell is seen checking out under the sweet smelling tree. These fuzzy headed little ones are so very ugly they are really cute!  Tina thought she counted 7 hungry mouths.  I couldn’t help myself and poked my head into the tree many times to see the little critters.  They all immediately popped their little heads up, mouths open VERY wide in hopes of a yummy snack.  Mom black bird was busy most of the day zooming back and forth from her beautifully made home finding food for her growing family.  Mother Nature is a wonderfully clever gal – always a star on Mother’s Cay.  Happy Day to everyone, especially all Moms….enjoy!

We have received so many emails from our lovely friends and customers wondering where they can find some of the great things we have at quilt shows.  I have spurred myself to take photos and post them on our web site . These are REALLY cute vintage wooden cone shaped bobbins just 4” tall (or maybe small).  I have placed a pair of our embroidery scissors in one of the cones.  A great little spot to park your scissors on the table next to your favorite sewing chair.  Each one has some yarn wound around a small indentation on the bottom.  you can remove this color and add your own if you would like.   When they were used as actual bobbins, the entire cone was covered with the yarn or thread.  I don’t know the history of what machinery they were used on  or what ribbon or fabric they were used to weave.  Does anyone know anything about them?  Please, let me know! Our vintage-style Metal Clamp Make-do has been in our stash f...

Our NEW The Hen Delivers Tea Towel patterns are back from the printer and ready to be introduced to you.  There are 5 designs stitched on 5 di fferent tea towel colors.  BUT any and all would stitch up great on any one or other of the towel stripe colors show.  We have even bundled the 5 towels we used and offer them to you at a special price.  Make a  pillow with one of your towels just for fun.  Very easy to do and instructions are included in the pattern.  Another older but no less popular Chicken RedWork design is our Nest Friends pattern.  It ha s a couple of pillows to make plus a little hanger for you to present to your “nest friend”.   I made a band for a basket of ceramic eggs to decorate my kitchen.  I love chickens, too.  Have some stitching fun….we always do! For our Punch Needle Embroidery friends, The Polka Dot Hen design will be a welcome addition to your collection.  She is a plump, happy hen in a ...

I have had a number of email questions lately about how to find some of the little things we use for our RedWork embroidery and for other finishing design accessories.  We have a category called Stitching Accessories on our web site that has lots of goodies we find “necessary” for our love of needlework.    Pigma Pens – We have used and had in our stock of embroidery accessories these great Permanent transfer pens for years but I have just gotten around to adding them to the web site on the Stitching Accessories Category !   The lines drawn are VERY thin and will be covered by your embroidery.   The  transferred design lines will NOT bleed when you launder your embroidery after you have completed the stitching.  Great tools for a quick and easy transfer of your designs to your chosen fabric.   Choose the pen color you prefer – even combining one or more colors on your fabric. Emery is another treasure that took me ...

I just came across a web site that will really give you a LIFT when you play the music.  Check out www.PlayingForChange.com .  Turn your sound up LOUD to get the most happiness out of listening.  In today’s crazy world we all need to enjoy some bright and happy moments! Here is a serene photo of the lovely Goose Feather pond at Tina’s ranch here in Lake County.  I hope it will help to make you feel calm after the jazzy and upbeat music!  A pair of the geese who give the pond it’s name are swimming on the far side.  A nice place to relax with a cup of coffee and think nice thoughts.  Play that happy music and think nice thoughts….all in a day’s work!

I visited Tina’s chicken coop and snapped a few photos of her tiny new chicks and th e “older girls” now in their fancy chicken home.  The little peeps are cozy in their box with a warming light overhead.   Some of the little yellow chicks will become a nice terra cotta and others will be white with black on their wings.  The 2 little black chicks (one is hiding in the back) will be black and gray like the big girls out in the coop. The big sisters are now exploring their back yard.  They are not quite sure about hopping out the door and down the chicken walk but will get better as they grow.  Cute to watch them scratch the dirt to discover some yummy goodie! Here a Chick – There A Chick……a preview photo of one of the five tea towel designs on our “The Hen Delivers” pattern to be introduced on our web site and in the Newsletter next Friday.  Fun to stitch in several colors of # 8 Perle cotton or pick one color and stitch as RedWork.  All 5...