Progress and my hummingbird experiment

I backed the Christmas blocks with rigid Peltex as I want them to stand up. I used double sided fusible to attach the gold ribbon binding. The next step will be using wide velvet ribbon (probably meant for holiday wreaths) as the connecting element..  Doing it on the grid of the cutting mat will help me keep everything all in line... hopefully.

 

I tried a green and red ribbon for the binding as well as the gold but much preferred the gold.. After they are all attached I will do the "over the top" gold embellishing with more gold cordings and braid.  It will all go on with a hot glue gun as stitching through the Peltex is too difficult.    Now where is that glue gun which I have not used for 10 years at least?

 

Remember my discovery that clustering hummingbird feeders is the solution to hummingbird territorial wars?  Well it works... I have seven feeders on my little sitting porch and not only is there a minimum of aggression, I have many, many more hummingbirds.  I have also had many types of hummingbird feeders over the years but this type by First Nature is by far my favorite.  It is the easiest to clean and refill of all I have used.  I disposed of all my others and use these exclusively... I ordered them from Amazon but I've seen them at Walmart also.  Next year I will add a couple more.

My morning rant... It is a week until the 4th and already this morning I can hear fireworks.  We are in  extreme high fire danger now with a heat wave.  Fireworks are illegal in the state but people can go on the Indian reservations and buy them...  idiots.

Santa and gift from the birds

Now that I have a plan I'm so sorry that I have waited so many years to do something with these blocks.  They are really extraordinary.  I will have to see if I can find out who was in the RR.  The upper right is my block and I added the ballerina, soldier, Raggedy Ann to the others, but the rest of the work was RR participants. I mounted them on Peltex (a rigid fusible interfacing) and now going through my thrift store stash of Christmas ribbons to finish the edges.



I only know of only one other farm within a 5 mile radius that has flowers and it is at least 2 miles away as the crow flies...... but yesterday these fabulous poppies appeared in a patch of weeds near the old sheep pasture..  They are at least 6" across and you can bet I'm going to save the seed.

A lesson learned and a problem to solve!

I ran into this very problem in the recent Diva round robin.  Blocks arrived to be worked on which had skimpy seam allowances and no "stop" line clearly indicated.  I learned this lesson the hard way in a very early round robin years ago.

A Christmas round robin was a tie for my very favorite round robin  (and I have done many many over the years).  As you can see from the arrows on these finished "squared" blocks that there is not even a 1/16" available for a seam allowance without cutting away  beads or trim.   Five of the blocks are like this. I have never finished the set of 6 because I wasn't sure how I wanted to address this problem...

 

It was really my fault...

 1. I didn't allow enough extra material around the outside edge of the block to allow any adjustment.  2. I only allowed for a 1/2" seam allowance.

3. I didn't clearly define the "stop" line for all beading to end

 

.Now I make sure -

1. there is plenty of extra material on the block,

2. There is an ample seam allowance - at least 1/2".  

3.  That the "stop" line is clearly marked front and back.  Now I even baste along that line with a highly contrasting thread.

 

I have always wanted to finish these blocks into an accordion-fold book which I could put on the mantle during the holidays.  Now I have some ideas how I am going to solve this problem and I will share as I go along.

 

And I have a new gadget.  I just love tools and gadgets.  My hands are always painful with arithis all the time and shaking the little paint bottles makes them even worse,  And when I have gone months without painting (like recently) the paints either settle or thicken and all need a LOT of shaking.  I found this delightful little machine and it is absolutely perfect for this task...  It is made for manicurists to use with nail polishes but it suits my needs wonderfully.

The War of the Roses.

My most aggressive roses wage war on me, all structures and each other.  This is all one rose and actually starts a little to the right of the arrow and was growing over a large arbor.  It collapsed the arbor (see arrow) and just keeps heading north.

 

This is another plant of the same variety on another arbor which is leaning badly(see arrow).  The huge white Scotch rose on the left is holding its own..  Luckily the big juniper is supporting some of the rose on the right.  But if I had to place a bet on which will win I would have to put my money on the rose on the right..  It will eventually collapse the arbor and engulf the white rose AND the juniper and continue on its way.

This unnamed climber below is intent on consuming my chicken house.. Although I try to it from the door and going over the roof, it is a losing battle.  It also creeps under the eaves and tries to fill the inside of the chicken house.

 

 

 

But the very very worst is this rose.  It is named Darlow's Enigma and is actually sold on the internet. There is a 30' long and  8' tall cedar  fence.  I unknowingly planted about 10 of these roses along that fence and haven't seen the fence since..  There is no doubt it will collapse the fence and I need to hire someone with a machete (or chain saw) to cut it down and then spray it with round-up.  And it is loaded with thorns.

This is a view of the fence on the other side.  The rose grows up over the  8' fence, down the other side and into the pasture.