Notes from the Lake

Notes from the Lake - Southwest

It stopped raining for a day and a half so it was nice to be able to get out and get some mowing done. I had to quit though since I broke the mower.... again! Just goes to show I am not good with machinery and I should be stitching instead. This little guy sneaking a snack from Oreo's dog dish is a Striped Ground Squirrel, what we call a gopher here. The stripes are unusual though - usually we have Richardson's Ground Squirrels, which are tan all over without the stripes. This guy is really cute and looks quite like a chipmunk. We have christened him Southwest since he reminds us of the patterns you see in the southwest style of decorating.

I had been wondering why Oreo had been ignoring his dog food and then running and eating Bear's as soon as he came inside. I had put it down to being perverse but now I think I know what he is up to. Oreo has, well, shall we say, a taste for gophers and now I think he is using his dog food as bait. Southwest has been hanging around our campsite for a couple years now so hopefully he is too clever to fall for Oreo's trap.

I thought it might be interesting to see how the beavers take down the trees. Basically, they just chew right through them with those big front teeth of theirs, shaving off a bit at a time. Once they bring the tree down, they take the smaller branches to eat and build their dam. This was a big tree they took down and, sadly, when it fell it broke one of the other trees off - one of the few that had wire around it to protect it from their teeth! You just can't win sometimes!

Comments

Giveaway Day! (CLOSED)

I am very happy to be joining in the Giveaway Day through Sew, Momma, Sew . I have chosen to share one of my finds from a shopping trip, or treasure hunts as I think of them. This is an antique sewing box - I could not resist it when I saw it for sale! Were you able to guess the item from the sneak peek earlier in the week? The box itself is fairly small, 8 inchs X 6 inchs and 4 inches high (20 cm X 15 cm and 10 cm high). From my research it is of Asian origin. Inside the sewing box is lined with hand-painted silk. The inside of the lid features a neat little needlebook. In the bottom of the sewing box there are more beautiful hand-painted blossoms and an attached pincushion. I hope you are as charmed by this little box as I was when I found it and that you will enter my giveaway. I will be pleased to mail internationally so everyone is invited to enter. To enter, visit my Etsy shop and then come back and leave me a comment telling me which item you like best. Feel fr

Save the Stitches Finished!

I finally finished my "Covid Project"! I worked on Elizabeth Almond's beautiful blackwork sampler design, "Save the Stitches" for much longer than I would like to admit... I have to say though that it was very satisfying every step of the way. I have not been able to concentrate on stitching in any significant way for some time now due to chronic pain and the dullness that the pain meds cause but having finished this piece gives me hope for my stitching future. I also love the framing which was lovingly done by MJ of "Art Effects" in High River, Alberta.

BAS - Week 79 - Feather Stitch Variations

I have about the next twenty BAS stitches scheduled and by happy coincidence this week's BAS is a series of Feather Stitch variations which coincide with this week's TAST stitch if you are following. So, we can hit two birds with one stone! These hardly look like feather stitch but they are. They are created by making the "v"'s of the feather stitch vertical on the inside. Very simple to do but a different look to an old stitch. The second variation is created by doing two feather stitches at a time on each side, again making sure the inside of your "v"s are vertical and line up as much as possible. Same thing again in this one except they are in series of three. To me these have the look of stitching on old crazy quilts so they are nice to add to your stable of stitch variations. Hope you enjoy them and have fun!

kerrykatiecakes

Search This Blog