Sunday, January 23, 2011

Whooooo .... Meow .... Whoooooo .... Meo ..... Mmmmmmmmmm

Sophie could have been dinner the other night. There is a pair of hooters who like to sit in our neighbor’s tree – no, I don’t mean a couple of noses – and we hear “whooo, whoooo” just as it’s turning from dusk to dark. I left the patio door open when I went onto the deck to take a picture and about two minutes after I’d come back inside I looked over at the door and saw Sophie pacing back and forth. I thought I’d done a better job of sneaking out to take the picture this time because the owl just sat there looking in my direction instead of flying off which is what usually happens. But after seeing panicky kitty pacing I realized he was probably just distracted by the possibility of “Kitty



Our new deck rails have become the favorite place for doves, pigeons, sparrows and all kinds of birds to sit and sun themselves and leave small presents after they’ve gorged themselves from one of the birdfeeders in the yard behind us.


This morning we had a woodpecker on the deck. He was pretty but every time I see a woodpecker my first instinct is to run outside, spread my body in front of the house, look him in the eye and dare him to come near the wood siding with his beak. “Just try it Woody. I don’t care if you are one of the babies that grew up in the space between the siding and the wall inside our living room.”








I was thinking about another bird this afternoon when I was working on Pierce’s “baby” quilt and wondering how Leslie and Ryan could have known how much he would be like his middle name, Kestrel, when they named him. He’s small but fierce and when he circles Emerson and Myra before he dives in, grabs a toy and then swoops out, he is just like that small falcon that “hovers over its prey and then drops down on it”.

I still have hours and hours of quilting ahead of me but the piecing is finally finished. Here’s how I went about making it.






First I had to come up with a plan ...







... and then, since (as is apparent from my “plan”) I can't draw a bird, I searched on-line to find a line-drawing of a Kestrel ...












... which I traced it onto paper.













I had to find photos of kestrels so I could search for the perfect fabric ...




 









... and then it was just a matter of cutting the pieces, appliquéing them on ...











... adding the borders and ta da!



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7 comments:

Abby said...

Nice quilt!

I'm glad Sophie didn't become dinner.

Abby said...
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Leslie said...

I love it and I can't wait for Pierce to see it! Really it's quite amazing...right up there with quilt "artists".

Paws2Help Foundation said...

Amazing quilt! Sewing machines and I don't get along! Wanted you to know that Sarah/Maisie is doing GREAT, growing and gaining weight and doesn't exhibit any signs of the leukemia at all! I'm confident that in a month she'll be back with you and Dean and Sophie and Shadow! In the meantime we're giving her lots of love and good care.

Art Elser said...

What a beautiful quilt. I love Kestrels. We have them out at PCC, usually at least two breeding pair, so we have babies later in the summer. Noisy critters those babies when they think mom or dad has food.

Glad you kept Sophie inside, although it sounds like she knew she was meals on little feet. Those great-horned owls are some of the most adept killers in the gird kingdom. They'll even kill and eat other owls. But I love them too for their size, magnificent camouflage, and skill in hunting.

Al said...

I didn't find the "email me button" so I am just now seeing this post.

Hooters in a tree. A hooter tree. What man could ask for anything more?

Deb said...

I wondered where the other cat was!! Also - are you having trouble with this or just not posting stuff right now? It says that my RSS doesn't work to you - although all the rest do. Miss you - hugshugs.....