Stuff

What does your desktop look like? This is a photo I took a couple of years ago of sunrise on the Myakka river behind where we used to live. I sure miss that place but only for the photo ops! I've had this photo on for quite awhile now. Time for a change.

We have a lot of baby Mockingbirds around right now. Here is one of the little noisy buggers. Sometimes that squealing really bugs me.

Published

I was contacted by Pegasus News to use one of my photos for the day, Wednesday, on their front page. I guess they are going to be talking about how the June bugs are early this year in Texas and are using my June bug photo. This is about 4 times now in the last year someone has contacted me. An Orlando magazine used one last year and sent me the magazine. Such fun to see my photos in print.

Photo Monday

Where does the time go? I used to have such fun sitting here adding photos. Now it seems I have no time at all. I'm really sorry about not getting to your blogs lately. Hope it calms down soon!

This is a moth. It's called White-tipped Black - Hodges#6616 (Melanchroia chephise). The caterpillar is known as Snowbush Spanworm. I do hope you enlarge the photo so you can see the bee flying above the moth.

Isn't this a beautiful flower? It smells so wonderful! It's called a passion vine.

This is my daughter Rhonda and son-in-law Gil.

For my daughter Theresa

What's wrong? **EDITED**

This is the quilt on my makeshift design wall that I did in class the other day. 45 blocks done, 42 in the quilt. I'm just not happy with it. It doesn't look right.

I thank you all so much for your input. I am trying it all! Here is what the teacher has to say: "However, from what I can see in your photo, I think you need a few more medium value greens and browns. It seems to have too much contrast with so many lights and darks with not enough medium tones. Are those blocks already sewn together? I hope not. I would invest in 2-3 more mediums or just use more of the ones you have and make some more blocks that incorporate them. Avoid making more blocks with a light, med & dark in each blk. Maybe some new blcks would be med/dark/medium. Throw some of those in the mix and I think you'll be much happier with the outcome. Also, how about adding an accent color to spice it up? maybe an orangy brown / rust? or gold? You may just need an additional contrasting color to give it more interest. Often it is hard to see the outcome until you start putting it all together on a board like this. This is why I cannot live w/o a 'design wall'. "

Meet Anna Grace!!

Granddaughter Anna was born today C-section. Theresa sent these photos to my daughter Rhonda and she forwarded them to me. They were taken with her camera. She is so sweet!

Photo Monday

I took so many photos this last week! Several hundred at a wedding. I won't bore you with those! LOL One of my favorite things are classic cars. There was a car show downtown yesterday. It was really hard to choose just a few cars to show you. They were all so cool!!



1936 Ford Truck, so cool!!!


Ooooohh Rolls Royce!



Gorgeous classic Zimmer


Forgot to write down what this one is but I love those tires!


Saturday I had a quilt class that I had to leave early to do the wedding but here is a photo of the quilt designed and made by the teacher, Janine Ward. I'm going to do mine in greens and browns mostly.




Yesterday we walked to the jetty and this little Ruddy Turnstone followed me. Later, it got into some guys shrimp bait and taking off with the bag LOL


Lastly, here is a little bee on a tiny wildflower. The flower is 5/8 inch wide.

Mid-Ohio Quilter: One Pretty Thing.....

Mid-Ohio Quilter: One Pretty Thing.....
Is having a give-away. A Moda scrap bag! I love Moda fabrics. Sure would be nice to win some!

My Birthday Flowers

I'm surprised my hubby, Mike, got me flowers. I love mixed bouquets. Daughter Rhonda and SIL Gil came over and she cooked chicken and steak kabobs for me. They sure make it hard to lose any weight! Rhonda brought a sheet carrot cake that would have fed at least 20 and Mike bought a chocolate covered cheesecake! I really hate to see the carrot cake go to waste but no one eats it but me and her.

Photo Monday

Last week I showed you the larva of a Ladybird Beetle more commonly known as a lady bug. This week I would like you to see it as it is turning into an adult.

To the memory of Kooky

In order to see all the photos, please click on it. Darn blogger won't let the whole thing be seen.

A couple of hours ago I got a call from my daughter Rhonda telling me Kooky was gone. He just never got over getting hit by a car 3 July, 2008. There were internal injuries that the doctors didn't catch. They took him to emergency a couple of weeks ago and they gave him medicine but it just couldn't help him. He was such a beautiful guy and my son-in-law Gil is devastated. Kooky was his buddy. Well, now my Buster has someone he knows to play with at the Rainbow Bridge.

Meet Pat

Isn't this just the sweetest face? This is Pat. I met her online through Pat Sloan's yahoo group. A couple of days ago we decided to meet for lunch and check out a new (to us) quilt shop . We had a very good time and can't wait to do it again. It was only a 15 mile drive for me to get up there. There is also another gal in Tampa that wants to meet us. Such fun to get together with others that share the same likes.

Anna Grace's baby quilt....

....is done! Well, not quite. It still has to be quilted and I don't know how so I'm going to find someone to do it for me. Sure hope it isn't expensive! The quilt measures 44x37. I did one quilt a few years ago and it could have entered the world's worst quilt contest. I'm really happy this one turned out half way decent. A couple corners didn't miter that well but I couldn't find any decent directions so I did it my way.
I had some bad feelings going on with my daughter and her pregnancy so I had my oldest, Rhonda, call Theresa to see if everything is ok. Anna Grace will be introduced to the world on April 20th! Tree (Theresa's nickname) will have C-section. How how I wish I could see her. Well, I'm sure Anna Grace will be a beautiful baby. Anna will make the 4th for April birthday. Mine is 12th, Theresa is 13th, Theresa's daughter Paige is 17th and now Anna, the 20th. LOL Lots of Aries.
Here is the quilt. Not your typical baby colors but I guess this is the nursery colors.

Fabric giveaway!

Could you use 30 fat quarters? Well, go here and sign up and PLEASE say Carla sent me. You have until April 20th.
Pigtales and Quilts

Birth Day!!!

I sat at the pc this morning without looking at the cocoon. Usually it's the first thing I do. About 15 minutes later I looked up and thought it looked strange. Well, it was because the butterfly had hatched and was hanging from the top of the jar on the lace. Oh how I wish I could have gotten photos of the birth! It was at 8:45 am when I saw it. It took one hour for it's first flight from tree to tree and another 25 minutes to fly out of my site. What a wonderful gift to see from start to finish. I hope you enjoy the photos. Some you have already seen but I wanted to put them in order.
#1. Just layed 2/14


#2. Ready to hatch 2/24


#3. Out of the egg. 2/24 About one quarter inch long.


#4. 3/3 One week old

#5. Sixteen days old. 3/12

#6. 3/14 Last instar. The old skin is laying beside him (he will eat it) and the black face that is too small is being shed. The green is his new face.

#7. 3/17 is over 2 inches. 21 days old.

#8. 3/20 ready to pupate

#9. Change complete

#10. 4/6 Birth day. They have to dry out and get fluid pumped into their wings before they can fly.

#11. Birth day continued. He was not in any hurry to leave my hand. Hubby was afraid he was going to fall off so had his hand under. :) I will transfer him to a tree now so he can finish his thing.

#12. Cocoon for size comparison.

#13. Face close-up.

These next 3 photos are showing front and back. His body is still swollen. He releases liquid a few times before he flies.

Hope you enjoyed as much as my husband and I did. :D

Check out my Monarch sequence: http://carlafinley.blogspot.com/2009/01/from-caterpillar-to-butterfly.html

Photo Monday

I can't believe it's been a week since I posted. I just can't get with it. I start projects, mess with them for 5 minutes and put them aside. Still not feeling great. Constant headache and blah. Guess I need to get off my duff and do something.

Here is a photo I took yesterday of a Multicolored Asian Lady Beetle (Lady Bug) Larva.

Here is the larva in the process of morphing into the lady bug:


This is a pyramid bag made for a swap. It measures 5 1/2" points to points and high. I added beads just about everywhere there was a dot on the fabric.