Snowless Winter?

Design - "Baby It's Cold Outside" (Snowbelles)

Designer - Lizzie Kate

Fabric - 28 count Amber linen

Fibers - Crescent Colours, GAST, & WDW - 2 strands over 2 threads

Started - 12 January 2014

Completed - 16 January 2014 

This may be a snowless winter in the southern Willamette Valley. I'm a kid at heart, so I enjoy a snow day or two.  

The Steller's Jays would be fine with snow.

They are extremely hardy and pushy at the feeders.

They are mimics too.  Most of the time when I think I've heard a new bird, it turns out to be a Steller's Jay testing out some new vocabulary. 

Yes, you guys!

Little Ones

Design - "Old Man Winter"

Chart - "Little Cuties" Volume One CS125

Designer - Val's Stuff

Fabric - 30 count WDW Putty linen

Fibers - WDW - 2 strands over 2 threads

Started - 23 January 2013

Completed - 24 January 2013

The little birds are getting louder.

Look closely at the bright spots in the brush - lots of Lesser Goldfinches.

Here's a closer look.

And the Bushtits swarmed in too.

When it Rains...

When it rains the creeks rise!

We had a long, hard rain Monday night and most of Tuesday.

You can hardly tell that there's a beaver dam underneath the waterfall.

This is part of the Big Creek. 

It then flows through a culvert and gushes out wide nd fast.

Lots of white water.

This is a smaller creek that flows down a hill from our old house.

It too run through a culvert - this one beneath Lorane Highway and pops out as this deep pool on the other side.

It eventually flows into our section of the Big Creek on upper right of the photo.

Another culvert beneath our driveway leads to another large pool. I am wondering if there is possible beaver activity here as well in creating this pool.

And the final rushing water of Dorothy's Creek. 

It wanders along our driveway, then twists away to enter the Big Creek close to the original beaver dam in the first photo.

So Very Mild

 

Design - "Snow for All" (kit)

Designer - Shepherd's Bush

Fabric - 10 count Stardust Heatherfield

Fibers - DMC - 3 strands

Started - 8 January 2014

Completed - 11 January 2014

Even though I'm featuring snowmen, the weather this month has been crazy mild. High temps in the 50's and lows in the 40's. It seems more like late March than January. 

Yesterday I had a couple of Downy Woodpecker show up first thing in the morning. This is a male. 

He headed straight to a suet cage and a bite of breakfast. 

The female Downy lurked at the edge of the backyard with a Junco.

She flew off without having any breakfast.

Hard to Believe

It's hard to believe, but after several months' hiatus, I've started a new small stitch.  It's ca;;ed "All is Calm", a Christmas stitch by Heart in Hand.   

The photos I'm sharing today were taken years ago, but I was not able to get any photos of the Varied Thrush I saw Sunday morning.  

So here's my photographic celebration of the lovely Varied Thrush.

The op left and center photos are of a male, the top right is a female.

The generally hang out in coniferous forests, which edge where I live.

Isn't that a striking bird?

He's a Pretty Boy

Open wide!

Eyes closed.

Starting to shine.

He's a Pretty Boy!

Male Anna's Hummingbird. 

Small Bird Thursday

Design - "January Stamp" (Flip It F34)

Designer - Lizzie Kate

Fabric - 28 count Light Mocha Cashel

Fibers - GAST & WDW - 2 strands over 2 threads

Started - 2 February 2013

Completed - 4 February 2013

Small Bird Thursday

Bushtits and a Junco

Chestnut-backed Chickadee in flight

Perched Chestnut-backed Chickadee

Junco looking left

Looking right

Male Lesser Goldfinch

Wednesday's Walk

A warm and rainy day...

HAzel catkins

Mosses

Mushrooms

Fresh mole hill

Daffodils

Moss and fungus

Douglas fir cone

Teasel

Hawthorn

Mushrooms

Small But Reliable

Design - "Chill Out" (kit)

Designer - Heart in Hand

Fabric - 32 count Dirty Belfast linen

Fibers - WDW & GAST - 2 strands over 2 threads

Started - 19 January 2012

Completed - 25 January 2012

The Downy Woodpeckers are reliable - at the feeders most days.

This guy looks oh so smooth and sophisticated.

This guy is rumpled.  I have to believe there are two males.

Maybe this is a younger bird and thus the bed-head look.

Here he looks rather frenzied here with wide-open eyes.

You can see that Downy Woodpeckers are small birds.

I do know I have two females.

This one on the deer fence...

And this one at the edge of the yard waiting her turn.

Counting birds - it's a thing for me!