Passacaglia Progress, Last Stack and Whack and a Bird Break!!

Well, this is the last of the quilts made with the 104 blocks I had and it measures about 40 x 60.  I was convenient to have just dyed some bright green that was 60 inches wide and got used right away!

This is the left half of the Passacaglia just laid out on my design wall but the two halves are not sewn together.  I just wanted to get a glimpse of where I needed to add some more "stuff".  First,  of course, was that half done block on top.  As I mentioned before, the author has you chop off large portions of the rosettes to finish it and after all that stitching, there is no way I would do that!  I didn't have the fabric I used down here but managed to find some that is almost identical and made two more stars and diamonds to finish off that rosette.  I am also going to put rosettes in those two spaces on the left.  

Here I am auditioning a yellow that I think might make a good background.  I doubt I haqve enough in this piece but can dye some of the 60 inch wide cotton close to this color.  This was my experiement to get close to the tangerine color -- a dye I had run out of.  It was 4 parts sun yellow to 1 part golden yellow.  

I am now sewing together the large rosettes on the right side of the quilt and when I have the four sections completed I will sew them together.  This is taking much less time than I thought it would!  I have had to make some more diamonds to fit into places but that has been a piece of cake compared to getting some of those rosettes together!  My stitching is not delicate so the quilt will be one best viewed a couple of feet away!

I try to get over to my daughter's for a swim each day while the weather holds and always take my camera.  She spotted these two Pileated Woodpeckers who entertained us for easily 15 minutes.

This was my favorite of the pictures she took!  Mine were nowhere near as good!

The above is a Catbird and one of the pictures did show the red under his tail.  He was far far away!

This is an Eastern Phoebe and he has appeared multiple times in her yard.

There was quite a flock of Ibis on the corner the other morning!  There were about 20 of them -- adults and juveniles.

This is a Common Buckeye in my daughter's garden.

This is a gardenia bush which I didn't expect to see blooming this time of year!

The above is a Long-tailed Skipper butterfly.

This is a Red-bellied Woodpecker off in the distance.  She has trees all around her yard and has frequent nests and all sorts of critters including red fox this year and oppossums last year!