Photo Monday, Gifts, Give Away

I had forgotten I won a prize and when it came in the mail Saturday I couldn't figure out why I was getting a present. Well, a few weeks ago Vickie at 2 sisters and me had a little contest and I won! Look at what she sent. I forgot to put the cute little heart note pad in the photo. The candy hearts too. See the empty candy wrapper. Mmmm it was good. The little button angel is sitting on the windowsill overlooking the sewing machine.


This is a Goldfinch. When we get them down here they are no longer the beautiful yellow that you see in the North in the summer.


Here is a Giant Swallowtail. She is laying eggs in the orange tree. Soon we will have caterpillars that look like bird droppings LOL


You know it's spring soon when the bees start pollinating the orange blossoms.


Sure wish you could smell this orange blossom. Such a lovely fragance!


Here the bee is on a very tiny wildflower. I hate to mow the yard. I don't like to mow down all that the insects eat from.


One of the little baskets I've been making. It is only a few inches high and about 6 inches long. Pattern is listed in my free patterns under cute basket.


Last but not least. This is my 100th post. I am going to give away 3 things. This bag I just finished is one of them. It is quite large. 18 inches by 13 inches with the pocket you see on the outside and 2 large pockets on the inside. The other 2 gifts will be ready to show hopefully tomorrow.

I will draw 3 names from this post on March 1st.

Coffee ring snowflakes

I don't think I've been so amused in awhile. I must have played at this site making snowflakes for 30 minutes and went back for more. This would be fabulous if done on fabric!!

http://www.mccafesnowflakes.com/

Just a couple more photos

I just had to show you the moon tonight. I normally wouldn't have seen it but Mike was outside and told me to bring the camera. ---A few people have asked me how I got the moon and not just a white circle. I put my camera on manual and set my speed to at least 125. This one is 1/200 at F6.3. This one is still a little dark. Remember, the moon is bright like the sun so you need a faster speed.---


This is one of the hibiscus in the back yard.


Last one I promise!! I finally got a good photo so I can rest easy now.

Monday's photo of the week

I didn't get out to take as many photos as usual this week. Mostly all the same thing... birds. I've been a birdwatcher for many years and a nature photographer for almost as long. I love all nature, especially bugs. On my flickr you will see snakes, spiders, bugs, birds, and, well, anything that moves. I have sold many of my dragonfly photos and a few others. What a thrill when someone appreciates something you have done. Since we moved back to Florida I haven't been out as much as I was in Georgia. I will though as soon as it warms up.

Here is a baby quilt I'm making for my granddaughter, Anna Grace, who will be born in April. I can't wait to get it finished.

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Here is the Painted Bunting again. Such a pretty bird. I hope he stays around for a while more. Sure wish I could get a decent photo before he leaves.

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Pinkie is bored.

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Star jasmine outside my bathroom window.

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I'm not sure which post this is but it's close to 100. I'm going to have a give away but I'm not sure what yet. Probably a doll. If you are interested keep an eye out for the post. It won't be long now.

Edit: this is post 97. OH!! I forgot. Look what I won from Vickie! I'm so excited. It's so much fun to win things!

Caution.....!! Cute Overload Ahead

I saw this on another blog and had to go to youtube and find it. I must have said awwww 50 times!

DUH!!!

Hey there!!! Boy do I feel dumber than a can of dew worms. Color and font have been found. All this time I've been composing in the edit Html thing and doing things the hard way. SHEESH!! Never thought to look in the Compose tab.
Who knew that just before they hit the water, pelicans turn upside down?

Wear Red!

Tomorrow is National Wear Red Day!! Everyone can support the fight against heart disease in women by wearing red. It's a simple, powerful way to raise awareness of heart disease and stroke. Check out their site. http://www.goredforwomen.org/national_wear_red_day.aspx


OH, an after thought here. Would someone on Blogger Please tell me how to change colors and fonts in the posts. Pretty please? My grandson has it set up with a mess of html so like when I did the red in this post I had to do a bunch of other stuff.

Michael Miller Fabrics

Great blog with lots of tutorials HERE. I love the childrens aprons and chefs hat and first sight quilt. The fabric is so colorful!

Picture of the week

Here I am officially starting my picture of the week. Yesterday we had the most beautiful Painted Bunting visit our feeders. He was a hard one to get a good photo of. He is the most colorful bird of the U.S. I've heard. His back is lime green, belly bright orange, head bluish purple and a different green on his wings. It's a real joy to see one. Although the books say they are common, around here they are not. Here he is in the best photos I could get.

She's Got You

Patsy Cline is my most requested when we perform so when my son-in-law sent me this spoof video, I couldn't believe it. HOW FUNNY!! Well, I think so anyway LOL. I'm going to do this on the 13th when we play next. Hope you enjoy.

CPSIA lead-testing law is delayed

Quoting from Craftzine.
"Thanks to the incredible grassroots movement against the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act, which would have gone into effect on February 10, 2009, the commission that created the law has voted to stay the legislation for one year.

"The stay of enforcement provides some temporary, limited relief to the crafters, children's garment manufacturers and toy makers who had been subject to the testing and certification required under the CPSIA. These businesses will not need to issue certificates based on testing of their products until additional decisions are issued by the Commission."

Read the full statement here.

Senator Jim DeMint from South Carolina has sponsored an amendment in order to reform the law.

It's certainly not a done deal, but it's a step in the right direction."

Mermaids live in Florida and in the north too!

The pretty heart in my banner was sent to me from Elizabeth. She loves mermaids and has not been to Florida so I thought what better gift to repay her kindness than to send her a little bit of sunshine. I sent her a mermaid. I had to use her photo because I forgot to take one. Thank you E for being such a wonderful new friend.

A pretty heart giveaway

Isn't this pretty?

Crazy Ladies Primitives is giving it away. Head on over and sign up.

A visit to the landfill

When we want to go birdwatching, the Venice landfill is on our list. The Venice Audubon Society has many outings there. Mike and I went Tuesday. There weren't many varieties because it was 3 in the afternoon and hot. It's been so bad here that the lake dried up out there. We used to see Roseate Spoonbills and many different kinds of ducks and birds. Sure hope we get them back. What we did see though was fun.
Thousands of Sea Gulls.

Hundreds of Vultures.

Our favorite, the Eagles (one is the adult and the other is a teen-ager.

Even an alligator. :)

We even saw some wild boars. My pics didn't really turn out of them because they were a little far away.

No Reply

When I get an email of a sweet comment, it's so disappointing not to be able to answer back. chookyblue has a great tutorial on how to change from no reply.

Hummingbird video

When we lived in Georgia we had a lot of hummingbirds coming and going. Even had them follow me in the house one day when I was going to change the feeder!! That was scary. One immediately went back out, but the little girl got scared and was flying around in the window. I was so relieved when she finally went back outside. In the video below, the little boy sat on Mike's finger. He did later for me too. What a doggone thrill!!

I'm closing in on my 100th post already. Time flies when you are having fun. I'm going to have a giveaway but I don't know what yet. Stay tuned!

A sneak peek

It's just a little, tiny box so I hope it doesn't get lost with all those bigs ones on it's way to it's new owner.
♥♥♥Who could it be for?♥♥♥

Anna Bella

This is my latest little one. It's a De Powell pattern from Bowls -n- Annies. My dolls never seem to look like the pattern. In this case, I didn't order enough yarn for the hair and I didn't want to wait to get it. I still think she turned out pretty cute. I just hope the person getting her thinks she cute. Edit: Melinda received her doll. I'm happy she liked her. Thank you Melinda for finding my blog, your acts of kindness and sweet emails.

Diving Pelican

We took a ride to the jetty a little while ago to get Mike out of the house. He's only been out once since he came home from hospital on Jan. 5th. I love watching pelicans dive. It's amazing how they don't break their neck when they hit the water.

On the way home we stopped at Dairy Queen for some ice cream. Shoot! I was going to take a pic and forgot! Well, it was good. :D

Granddaughter Paige

My beautiful granddaughter Paige has started a flickr site. I just love her photography. She's been doing it for years and has a wonderful eye. I love the way she sets up her photos and uses a self timer. I totally love this photo! Selective color is one of my favorite things to do.