The Tuesday Chicken Report

First up... how about this? 

This Workbasket chart combines two of my current obsessions passions...chickens and Quaker motifs!  If I can manage to count correctly there should not be any mess ups as it just uses one color of Belle Soie silk.

On Saturday my father and I attended the Eugene Celebration Parade.

There were not one, but two, chicken entries!

The Friendly Street Neighborhood

Hundred Hen March

Adults, kids, chickens, and bicycles

Note the boy with his extremely calm hen.  He carried her the entire parade.

  

A hen-den.  It was rumored that hens laid two eggs during the parade.

The Friendly Street Farmers have an amazingly dense web presence too.

  

These might have been the cutest chickens in the parade.

This was the 2nd chicken entry in the parade.

They are nameless as I cannot recall the group's name.

Continuing on the chicken theme, my friend Bev sent me updated photos of her girls.  They are now beginning to lay - very small eggs.

They look to be very content young ladies.

 They have a nice coop and a wonderful yard to explore.

 

And so ends your Tuesday Chicken Report!

Christmas in August

It's Christmas in August!  At least for me.

A friend, who has moved on from cross stitching to

knitting and quilting, sent me her stash of charts.

I'm especially pleased to have these older charts.

Even though it is late August, there are still some young 'uns.

 

I'd like to say the combination of Parvati and the "Deer Stopper" behind her kept all my plants safe last evening...

But I'm afraid that Spot had no fear...and a strong nose.

She ate every bit of my moss rose.

Before

After

Such is Country Life.

Further Serendipity

The onions in my sister's kitchen garden are throwing themselves up out of the ground.  So my new stitch "Wild White Onion" is highly topical! 

I'm still mulling over the GAST color to use for the onion - not sure Pineapple Ice is the right color - may go with Oatmeal. 

This morning there were birds ... everywhere.

My chrysanthemum is all budded up.

Soon it will be the star of the Front Porch.

And another instance of serendipity. 

I planted the grass in this small container.

Out of no-where this bright yellow moss rose appeared.

It grew and grew and now is blooming profusely whilst elegantly draping over the edge of the pot.  Stunning!

Padma is an indoor cat. He enjoy sniffs of fresh air whilst he observes the action at the birdfeeders.

Reuben Rooster

Design - "Reuben Rooster"

Designer - The Goode Huswife

Fabric - 32 count unknown linen

Fibers - DMC

Started - 26 August 2010

Completed - 26 August 2010

Reuben turned out pretty well I think - an interesting use of colors and forms to make the border.  The chart came with a small polka-dot frame.

Ta-Da!  Does this count as a "finish"?

We've had a lovely, if cooler, couple of days. 

Very pleasant mornings.

Front Porch - I like this perspective - it looks very large and long!

More Front Porch - note the chairs to keep out the deer. 

Front Porch - just watered everything.

Bright Summer

Design - "Bright Summer" (A Quaker Year)

Designer - Homespun Elegance

Fabric - 28 count Amber linen

Fiber - Belle Soie Silks

Started - 25 August 2010

Completed - 26 August 2010

Love it!  Love it!  Love it!  Several "firsts" with this project.

I've never stitched anything with Quaker motifs before.  I've been looking at Quaker-style charts for about a year now, have bought a few, but this is my first Quaker stitch.  Also, I believe this is the first time I've used Belle Soie silks - Chester's Blue and Espresso were used in the above design. Loved working with the silks - they are expensive in comparison to cotton floss, but the feel and texture are superior to cotton.

Oh but we enjoyed the morning sunshine!

Parvati was in heaven...

...and smiling too!

This Anna's hummingbird did not move as I approached the feeder.

All the nectar-lovers were out and about.

The Tale of the Turtle

"Summer-time and the living is easy"...

So another start called to me.

This is "Bright Summer".
It is part of "A Quaker Year" series by Homespun Elegance.
I'm looking forward to using the Belle Soie silks. 

We had a Nature Adventure last evening!

This guy (gal?) was climbing up our step gravel driveway in the heat of the early evening.

Don't know where he came from...

Don't know where he thought he was going.

Up hill is not the right way to go in search of water!

 

He was a good sized turtle...

And as our seasonal creeks are dry right now, we took him over to a neighbor about 1/4 of a mile from our house.  Their property has a good sized pond.

Turtle seemed to approve of our decision!

He was so pleased to find water, he forgot to say

thank-you! 

I found The Native Turtles of Oregon website and I think that our visitor must have been a Western Pond Turtle.  Interestingly Oregon has only two native turtles - the Western Pond Turtle and the Western Painted Turtle.  Both species are listed as "critical" on the state's sensitive species list.

Here are some facts about the Western Pond Turtle from the Native Turtles of Oregon website:

"Habitat includes streams, large rivers and slow-moving water.

Not fully aquatic: may spend part of the year in upland forests.

Prefer living in areas with large rocks and boulders, and use them to bask in the sun.

Basking in the sun is an important behavior and is crucial for thermal regulation, digestion and other life requirements.

Can survive drought by digging into the mud in dried up riverbeds.

Diet consists of insects, larvae of caddis flies, dragonflies and nymphs."

So I guess it was not so unusual to find Ms Myrtle the Turtle so far from water! 

Fuana Wednesday

I've stitched the butterfly and moth on Prairie Schooler's "August" and have begun the flowers - bird, bee, snail and frog to follow! The color selection is wonderful - very unique.

The following photos are from earlier in the week, but they also are representative of Outdoor Wednesday. 

More Outdoor Wednesday offerings can be found here.

Yesterday was in the 90's, and today is supposed to be more of the same. So I was outside by 7:30am and began watering the plants on the back patio.   

The large California Quail family was out and about this morning...quietly roosting on an old piece of wood while the Dads stood guard.

A doe worked on spilled sunflower seeds.

California Quail youngsters on a pile of mowed grass.

I was so pleased with the result of this hummingbird "action shot"!

I also watered everything on the front porch this morning, and potted up a couple of replacement plants for some "spent" sempervivum.

Now inside for the rest of the day, until it cools in the evening - heat and I are not good companions!

Tuesday Texture

Design - "Curious Carrot"

Designer - Ewe & Eye & Friends

Fabric - 40 count Sandstone linen

Fibers - Anchor

Started - 9 August 1998

Completed - 12 August 1998

I present the above cross stitch piece in honor of Tuesday Garden Party.

The Symra Crosses around the border provide a textural interest.

In case you were wondering how I know what I stitched twelve years ago, it's pretty simple.  I'm compulsively organized, and years ago I created a spreadsheet for my cross stitch projects.  I record the name of the design, the name of the chart (if different), the designer, the fabric, fibers, and start and end date.  It's pretty useful information and keeps me from stitching the same pieces over and over again.

My current compulsion involves scanning all my finished pieces.  I've six large archival boxes of "finishes" - I've scanned four, and have two left to go.  Then I hope to print them all out at Shutterfly or some such place, and create a small cross-stitch photo album.

Now on to the Great Outdoors.

Continuing the study in texture...  

Fern - Soft Shield Fern 'polystichum setiferum'

Hebe 'McKean'

Fern - mystery - no tag

Hebe 'Sutherlandii'

Fern -Southern Shield Fern 'dryopteris ludoviciana'

Baby's Tears

In my years of gardening, I've discovered that I can have as much visual enjoyment from texture and form as I do from blossom and color.