Hawk

I happened to look out the window this morning and there was a hawk in the front yard. It sat there for at least 10 minutes studying something which gave me a few minutes to get a photo.

f/14, 1/125 sec, 85 mm

St. Patrick's Day Tic-Tac-Toe Table Topper

Another project finished for My Girlfriend's Quilt Shoppe! Designed, pieced, embroidered and quilted by me :)

f/14, 1/40 sec, 85 mm

Kitty on the Coop

Black kitty was crouched on the roof of the chicken coop this afternoon. I didn't see anything he might have been stalking, but he must have seen something!

f/6.3, 1/30 sec, 105 mm

Rusty Gate Chain

This is the chain on our front gate. I love rusty chains, except when the rust gets on my hands!

f/5.6, 1/30 sec, 105 mm

Cicada Shell

I found this Cicada shell on my walk today. It's just the casing shed when the Cicada turns from a nymph into an adult. Pretty interesting!

f/6.3, 1/8 sec, 105 mm

Craters on the Moon

The moon was out early this afternoon! I darkened the sky in processing so the moon would show up better.

f/7.1, 1/320 sec, 28-300 zoom @ 250 mm

Outside with Alaric and Barrett

I watched the boys this afternoon and they had fun playing outside. It was a nice, warm day again! So happy to have our Texas weather back!

They played in the sandbox...

f/5.6, 1/125 sec, 28-300 zoom @ 180 mm

f/14, 1/320 sec, 28-300 zoom @ 50 mm

Alaric rode his bike...

f/7.1, 1/320 sec, 28-300 zoom @ 150 mm

They just enjoyed playing outside and being silly after such a cold week!

f/5.3, 1/200 sec, 28-300 zoom @ 100 mm

f/5.6, 1/320 sec, 28-300 zoom @ 145 mm

Alaric even showed me some of his Ninja moves!

f/7.1, 1/320 sec, 28-300 zoom @ 32 mm

f/7.1, 1/320 sec, 28-300 zoom @ 32 mm

Robins

There seems to be a lot more robins in the yard than usual - maybe because they are having a harder time finding food. Steve sprinkled some sunflower seeds out for them. They don't seem to have found them yet though!

f/5.6, 1/320 sec, 28-300 zoom @ 180 mm

Shamrock Wall Hanging

I finished my Shamrock Wall Hanging for My Girlfriend's Quilt Shoppe. I designed it, pieced it, and quilted it. I love the process as well as having a finished project!

f/13, 1/25 sec, 105 mm

Ice Ice Baby

It's starting to warm up a little! This morning there was still some snow on the ground in the shade of the trees and there was some ice. But this afternoon most of the snow is gone! It has been so pretty but I'm ready for warmer weather again!

f/4, 1/500 sec, 105 mm

f/3, 1/400 sec, 105 mm

f/3, 1/2500 sec, 105 mm

In House Sewing Retreat

Alisa and I had our own little sewing retreat yesterday and today. Braxton and Steve both braved driving to work today, so we spent the day sewing. It was a fun day! We both worked on finishing up some unfinished projects.

Photo to come soon!

Braxton and Alisa's power came on late last night so they went home today after Braxton came home from work. So glad we are surviving this storm with so many blessings! It was fun having them all here for a couple of days!

Baths in the Sink

Since we don't have hot water in the bathroom, the boys took baths in the kitchen sink tonight :) Alaric barely fit in the larger of the two sinks and it was an even tighter squeeze for Barrett since the other sink is smaller! They had fun playing with cups and a funnel and getting water everywhere. But at least we got them warmed up after playing outside in the snow. Steve ordered a new water heater and it should be here in a few days.

Taken with my Samsung Galaxy 10 Plus

Taken with my Samsung Galaxy 10 Plus

No Hot Water

It has been a rough time here in Texas! We lost water this morning. Apparently, even though Steve wrapped our pipes, there were still some that froze out by the pump. Luckily they thawed by mid-afternoon. But, it was so cold that our tankless water heater for the bathroom froze and broke! So we have hot water in the kitchen, but not in the bathroom. Braxton and Alisa also lost power this afternoon, so they are staying with us until their power comes back on.

f/11, 1/30 sec, 35 mm

Snow in Texas!!

It snowed! It really did! We wondered if it would come to pass and we got more snow than we've ever had before. We also got freezing cold weather to go with it. Our low tonight will be 9 degrees! And the high was only 27 degrees. We also woke up about 3:30 am when the power went out :( Steve started up the generator in the late morning and the power came back on after about 9 hours of being without it. I am thankful for our heater!! Here's what it looked like . . .

Our driveway looking out towards the street from the house

Our house and front yard

The road to the back of our property

Steve's Mustang - he covered the window with a towel because when you open the door the window comes down just a bit. Could cause some serious problems if it was frozen!

One of the chicken coops

There was a lone mushroom peeking out of the snow - I loved the ice crystals on top!

Saw this bird in one of our pine trees - I think it's a Pine Sisken

Snow-capped lichens

We even had a few icicles on the tractor barn!

The tractor disc out by the barn

The old gate by the cow pasture that isn't being used at the moment

Clover Bloom

The clover is beginning to bloom in the yard. There's just a small patch of it near the barn and the goats enjoy eating it when I let them out to roam. It won't last long with this approaching winter storm!

f/3.5, 1/250 sec, 105 mm

Home Grown Asparagus

We have some asparagus growing in our garden! In February! I planted it last year, but didn't expect it to come up so soon. Probably due to all of this 70 degree weather we've been having lately!

f/3.5, 1/100 sec, 105 mm

Crazy Busy Stores

After my Baby Lock class today, I went to the grocery store. They are predicting a huge winter storm with snow on Sunday and Monday! Snow!! We don't really get snow here. So I thought I'd better stock up on some milk and bread for Steve and a few other things. The store was just as busy as right before a hurricane! People were lined up at every register and the lines went back into the aisles. It was crazy! Glad I decided to go before shelves were empty!

Baby Lock Class - Day 5

Sadly, today was our final class. We learned how to repeat and tile a design and have it match up to the previous designs perfectly using the camera on the machine. It was amazing how perfectly they lined up! We also learned how to line up designs to create a border. I learned so much! I wish we had a few more days of class! Hopefully, they'll create a level 2 class as someone suggested :)

Baby Lock Class - Day 4

Today in class we did some more scanning of "coloring book" images and adding decorative line types and fills to them. I can see how I could even take the grandkids artwork and turn it into an embroidery design :)

Alaric Making Faces

Alisa and the boys came over to visit this afternoon. I was needing some company so it was great! The boys wanted to play outside a bit and I took my camera out. Alaric loves being silly!

f/3.5, 1/100 sec, 105 mm

Baby Lock Class - Day 3

Today in class we learned how to scan in a "coloring book" designs and add decorative fills and line types to the design before embroidering them. We also learned how to add a background quilting design around a motif. Again, not my favorite designs, but I can see how fun this will be to play with!

Baby Lock Class - Day 2

Today in class we learned how to add a decorative fill and skew and distort it. We also learned how to create an appliqued embroidery design. Even though the designs aren't exciting, I'm learning a lot!

Baby Lock Class - Day 1

This week I am taking a class from Baby Lock on all of the wonderful things I can do on my new Baby Lock Solaris 2 Sewing/Embroidery Machine! It's done through Zoom and it's recorded so I can watch it later and take notes. Every morning from 9 am until noon we have class. Then we have homework to complete in the afternoon. Today was so much fun! I can't wait to see what we do the rest of the week!

Here's what we made today - we learned how to create shapes and change the outlines to have different stitch properties and stitches.

Sunday Drive at Sunset

Steve took me for a drive this evening so I could take some photos with my new 35 mm lens. It's a wide angle lens and there isn't much I can use it for at home. We drove north on some back roads and didn't find much but when we got to New Waverly we found this old church.

f/11, 1/50 sec, 35 mm

Then I took this photo of the sunset as we headed back home. It was just north of Willis.

f/11, 1/40 sec, 35 mm

Thanks for the nice drive, Steve!

Valentine's Wall Quilt

I finished designing and making this Valentine's wall quilt just in time for Valentine's Day. Probably won't sell too many patterns for it this year since it's so close, but it will be listed on my Etsy shop for next year or for people who want to get an early start for next year!

f/9, 1/13 sec, 85 mm

Fountain at Dusk

My new 35 mm lens came in the mail today :) And then it poured rain all day. So tonight I drove towards town to see if I could get some sunset photos. Unfortunately we don't get to see any sunsets living in the middle of a forest. The clouds hadn't cleared enough after the storm to get a good sunset but I did find a little color at this fountain.

f/1.4, 1/1000 sec, 35 mm