March has departed, not like a lamb...or a lion, but like a grumpy grey old man, who is cackling madly and yelling April Fool! Because this has been the chilliest and wettest weekend of the entire winter! Almost---wintery? Or should I say typically nasty muddy spring at the beach?
Anyway I slogged down to check on my birds....there's been one little lady, I was so worried. She seemed to have only one leg! Yes, she flies well, and hops nimbly, but I felt sad. Concerned.
Shore birds often stand on one leg, even hop on one foot at times. But I just never ever saw her stand on two feet, not since she arrived three weeks ago.
Here she is again, with her mate. This pair has been coming now for at least 6-8 years! (So she's no spring chicken! Lifespan is, what?) They nest on the outer face of the dunes below my house, and they are the tamest of the oystercatchers here. (You can see they let me get fairly close for photos!)
I wondered what happened to her foot. And yes, I worried.
Hmmm. Now both birds are only using one foot, as is the pair further behind them down to the west. And yay! My first little lady finally did scurry away...on two big pink feet. Is this some mating dance or ritual? New to me.
The next pair over has already set up their nest! She is the bird who always sits in haughty dignity, right in the most open exposed and widest section of the beach! She disdains the fenced, protected areas, seems to say "Dunes are for sissies!" and always has to get a small fencing enclosure of her own!
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| nest 2011 |
And, shh....I tiptoed away! I think she was trying to lay her eggs! She scratch-scratch-scratched with thosebig neon pink feet, then she'd hunker down and, well, push! If you've had kids, you may remember "Push!"? That's what it looked like. The male hovered closely, and both birds did the wounded bird distraction dance when I ventured too close. I left them quickly in peace, no pictures...
Back home,
...since I had made great progress with my Goodwill recycled fabrics, I decided I could take the afternoon off and make a tiny challenge doll quilt, miniature quilt that I'd fallen in love with. I thought I'd treat myself.
This is a new quilt blog, an artist I love. here So adorable and tiny! That one pink triangle is the charmer!
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| Cheri's Apple Brown Betty reprinted with Cheri's permission |
You can scroll back on her posts to see the details, if you're interested. Cheri does her quiltalongs in just One Week! It takes me a couple weeks just to choose the fabrics, lol. Then I had to dye some to get the exact prim look.
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| the large scale print is a backing "possible", or it may be used to break up the tiny prints in the sawtooth portion. Or both? |
So I'd bookmarked the pages and printed out some crucial info. Haha, laugh is on me! Brain blip. Cheri rightly assumes her followers know what the heck they are doing, but for some reason, the on-point tiny 3" blocks confused me. I ran through ALL the first cutting of the main blocks, trying to get the darn things together!
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| Cheri's 3" stars photo used with permission |
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| mine---on the left, the brain blip one[s] |
But, no...
Finally yes, yes, I know!---I drafted a pattern, at about midnight Saturday night.
Oh.
Well.
Now I see. And next free day I find, I hope I can make my tiny stars quilt too.....
love
lizzy
~~~~~gone to the beach
Many thanks to Cherie for her wonderful tiny FREE quiltalong designs and tutorials! And for generously letting me show her photos.
Here is her blog link again: Quilts by Cheri
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