skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Thanks to some great teachers -- Jeannette DeNicolis-Meyer (Jeannette's website), Karen Eckmeier (Karen's website) and Cynthia Corbin (Cynthia's website) - I have conquered curves pretty much. The technique I use the most is one from Janet with modifications from Cynthia. However, Karen was the first one that introduced me to the joys of lots of curved seams!
I thought I would try to show the step by step approach which I have been employing a lot recently.
1. the first step is to overlap two pieces of fabric generously (about as wide as the curves you want to create).
2. Step two is to just take a rotary cutter and free hand cut a curve along the length of the two fabrics.
3. The next is to free hand cut across the top of the fabric as well.
4. Then I use a chalk marker about every three inches along the length of the cut.
5. I then flip the piece over and match the marks which are now on the inside (some people do them on the outside instead). I pin at each mark and sometimes between so that the two fabrics are eased together.
6. Sew about a quarter of an inch down on the sewing machine using your fingers on both the bottom fabric and the top where necessary to make sure you get both stitched.
7. Finger press to the darker fabric.
8. Place the "finished" piece on top of another fabric and repeat the process, using the line you free hand cut to trace along with your rotary cutter. Then again free hand cut the top of the new piece..
9. Press every few rows.
This was the piece which is supposed to be a beach scene. There is a horizon line where it was just straight. I have not yet decided whether to add anything onto it or maybe just stitch something. We shall see. It is about 30 x 50 right now.
I cut the above apart and put it back together keeping the horizon line the same. Boring...
I have now auditioned it with the horizon line broken apart too which I definitely like better but still don't like the order of the pieces so I will be re-pinning tomorrow. I think the middle piece will be moved down and the left end piece moved up but we shall see.
My husband is an avid kayaker and I am continually nagging him to take his camera with him to get some bird pictures for me. This week, he went to a local creek with some friends to explore rather than his normal places and he DID take his camera to capture some pics of the fall foliage which hasn't quite reached the island yet (he was on the mainland). Of course, it was one of our beautiful October days.
This was one of my favorite shots.
I also liked this reflecting one with the moss on the water -- looks like a quilt to me....
The turtles were sunning!
This was an unwelcome visitor -- a Copperhead snake which dear husband thought was about three inches in diameter and about six feet long -- he decided he wouldn't get too close as his feet were only six inches above the water line and wasn't sure how far a Copperhead could leap in the water... I had just heard from one of the birders about her killing a Copperhead in her garden recently. She said she wore snake boots when birding around in the woods. Hmmmm.
These next two are pictures I took at Ft. Fisher of the American Lady butterfly. The top one is the back and the bottom one is the front and certainly looks very different!!
Just another Clouded Sulphur -- lots of those down there the other day.
This is the side view of the Long Tailed Skipper -- I do like this butterfly a lot as it is bright blue on the body on the top side.
The ladies were a bit better about holding up their quilts so I could get pictures this week!! This is a quilt done by Bobbi who is one of the few people whose name I know. I am sure they will become more familiar! This was after a class with Karen Kay Buckley from whom I have also taken a class.
This was called something like 50 Shades of Grey and pink or something similar. I did like the colors and she did the same shading I did on the king quilt for down here.
This was another scrap quilt that I really liked and very simple block.
I can't remember whether this was one of the Quilts of Valor quilts or not. Certainly the right color scheme and this group is active in doing these kinds of quilts.
This was put together from Block of the Month blocks.
I think another of the Quilts of Valor quilts -- looks really nice!
Loved the turtle quilt!!
The program was one of sharing hints from group members and I was very impressed that there were so many different hints and the group was very well represented. I had my hints but since I was sitting in the back, someone did it before I did!!
The weather down here has been wonderful -- bright sunny days, very slight breeze and temps in high 60s or low 70s. I spotted these two immature Ibis in a small pond down by the basin at Ft. Fisher. One is a lot further along in his change to white feathers.
My dear husband is feeling much better and is out on his kayak enjoying the day. If it is this nice tomorrow, he will be heading out again!
This is a closeup of the more immature of the ibis.
This one is a lot further along!
I believe this is a common Song Sparrow -- a lot of those down by the Ferry.
This is probably a Palm Warbler although there are a ton of Yellow Rumped Warblers around.
I think this is a Savannah Sparrow as other pictures I took show the stripe over his eye as distinctly yellow. He was down on the beach and might just be another Song Sparrow -- too close to call!
What really surprised me is that there were different butterflies down in Ft. Fisher today than just a couple of days ago. I know Monarchs migrate and today I saw multiple Monarchs for the first time down here. There were nowhere near as many today as there were the other day, and they were a different mix as well. Very cool!!
I have taken a lot of pictures of Cloudless Sulphurs but this is a Clouded Sulfur!! I hadn't seen this one before.
And this one was also new to me -- a Sleepy Orange.
The American Lady finally decided to show here colors on top as well. There were a number of these both at the Ferry and down parking lot at Ft. Fisher.
This is the underneath view of the above butterfly -- how different it looks!!
I noticed this very orange looking sulphur and I believe it is an Orange Sulphur. I saw more of these down at Ft. Fisher but this was on my neighbor's beautiful flowers.
But alas, there was no Avocet down there today. There are so many people around on the weekend, he may just be in hiding somewhere -- let's hope he hasn't left yet as it looks like a beautiful bird that I haven't seen.
The Scissor-tailed Flycatcher is still hanging out by the ferry drawing a new group of birders today.
Last, but certainly not least, was this female Bluebird hanging out with the Phoebes and Yellow Rumped Warblers.
Well, our celebrity bird - the Scissor-tailed Flycatcher - is still down by the Ferry and I met lots of new people today trying to get a picture. Eventually he tires of the company and hides for a bit but if you back off and wait, he comes back. Sitting up in the tree is his favorite hiding place. It is extremely rare to see him in this part of the country!
Now, I am told there has been an Avocet down there for the past week as well so I have got to find him now.....and the Great Horned Owls as I know where they hang out now too...
This is his favorite place to hang out -- on this fence. One of the other birders got much closer than I did but I definitely did better today than yesterday. I am probably 35 feet away from him.
I even got a better picture of the Eastern Phoebe where you can actually see some whiskers by his or her beak. There are a lot of them that like the fence.
As I was heading out to see the birds, I spotted this Long-tailed Skipper on our hibiscus. Haven't seen one of these on the Island before -- only down by the battleship. He has a blue body like the Checkered Skipper.
My birding friend Bruce said he was going to be down by the Ft. Fisher Ferry to try to spot the Scissor-tailed Flycatcher again so I decided that grocery shopping could wait and met him down there. As I live so close by, I wondered down to the boat launch and saw all these kayaks waiting to go out on one of those guided tours to Zeke Island. You can see what a beautiful day it was. That is a Great Egret in the background (the white dot!).
There were five Ruddy Turnstones right by the ramp.
This lovely Snowy Egret was fishing in a little pond by the parking lot. I see lots and lots of Great Egrets but not so many of the Snowy Egrets.
By the visitor parking lot (which I didn't even know existed), there is a large field with a fence keeping you out of a federally patrolled area. There were lots and lots of Eastern Phoebe's perching on the fence. I couldn't get too close without them flying off.
I was still quite a distance but FINALLY saw the Scissor-tailed Flycatcher which has been hanging around for a few days now. You don't normally find these in this area so he was a bit lost. His tail feathers are not as full as they will be. There were of course other birders there. Bruce came down and joined me and pointed out a number of other birds in the trees. During the migration, this is a good place to come. It is a little late this year to see all the warblers, but I will know next year!
He is actually eating a fly in this picture!
As I got closer to him, he flew to the top of this tree where Bruce says he hides. Amazingly while we were there, a hawk was casing him out but he saw the hawk before we did and flew away. He has been here for almost a week now.
Not sure what kind of sparrow this is. The consensus is that this is a Song Sparrow, a bird I have seen a bit down here.
Again, I think this is a Palm Warbler. There were a ton of the Yellow Rumped Warblers around as well.
Bruce then showed me another pathway down by the aquarium where there is a small pond and several walkways. We saw Yellow Bellied Sapsuckers, Flickers, Meadowlarks, Titmouse and a Merlin (we think). There were no opportunities for good pictures though. I truly can't believe I live right next door to this veritable bird sanctuary.
At least I was able to show him where I took all the butterfly pictures as he was going to try for some as well!
It was a beautiful day for a walk down along the water at Ft. Fisher. The water was calm and a Caribbean blue.
This is one of the pathways leading down to the water. It is supposedly not safe for swimming here but people fish and the surfers love it for the long waves.
I have probably taken pictures of this view many times before but it is just so pretty!
As soon as I got down there, I noticed that there were 100's of butterflies all over. I have never seen so many butterflies congregated in one place outside of those museum exhibits!! I managed to identify 8 different species but I am sure there were others that I missed -- they do tend to flit a bit!! The most common one today was the Common Buckeye pictured here. I think all the butterflies know that cold weather is coming tomorrow -- it was glorious out today!
This is a male Common Checkered Skipper. You can see it is fairly small as it is resting on a painted daisy. I hadn't seen this one before.
This is a side view of an American Lady. I only managed one picture with open wings -- they aren't as pretty on top as they are on the bottom!
I now believe this is a Southern Skipperling as the European Skipper is really not found locally.
I believe this is an Ocola Skipper which I have seen at Greenfield Park Lake. Hard to tell but I didn't see any white spots on the side.
This is a Grey Hairstreak which I first saw just the other day at Carolina Beach State Park.
This is the Gulf Fritillary which was the second most common butterfly I saw today. I have pictured those many times and they do like to pose!
This is the Cloudless Sulphur, also very common around here and shows how butterflies got their name!!
This is a Buckeye and a Grey Hairstreak sharing a flower. I saw multiple butterflies inhabiting the same flowers, but usually the same species. The Buckeye looks very different from below as many butterflies do.
I believe this is a Grapeleaf Skeletonizer moth. Didn't want to leave the moths out altogether!
Posts
