Fleece-backed baby charity quilt

What a nice week we are having here in North Carolina, with a cool crisp hint of autumn in the air!

Maggy was full of energy and we walked way across the street to the new Heritage neighborhood. There are many new paved roads since my last walk through there. For awhile, new construction had halted due to the economy.

At home, my fall garden is shaping up with some nice purple beauty berries

and autumn joy sedum.

I have been quilting a lot of charity quilt tops for the Capital Quilters Guild in the past few months, mostly Quilts on Wheels for the rest home wheelchair-bound citizens. However, because this donated fabric has "Care Bears" on the print, it will go to the Quilts for Kids program. Sharon did not have any backing fabric for this one, so I used a piece of lavender fleece along with some regular batting.


The top really drew up during the quilting and looks kind of puffy. I quilted in clouds, hearts, four-leaf clovers, suns, and stars.

But, oh, the back! I love the sculptured look of quilted fleece. Don't bother using your expensive variegated thread...it won't show. The stitching sinks into the fleece.

I have one more charity quilt to do before picking up the next four, but the backing on it needs to be pieced. I am thinking more like taking a nap than hitting the sewing room!

A Pretty Quilt and WIP Wednesday: Zen Garden

Since today is Wednesday, I'll start with a Work-in-Progress: my Zen Garden art quilt.

I have slowly been adding more beads to the gold "structure" area

and the blue "water" area. Even a little sparkly fishy!

Next up is the last of Teresa's quilts that I finished quilting yesterday. This one has lovely Moda fabrics with floral and cross-stitch motifs. I got to do my favorite kind of quilting...flowers, leaves, feathers. We selected King Tut "flax" cotton thread.

This quilt has a pieced back, with patchwork perfectly centered. I tried my best to keep it centered by pinning the top and lining together at the center, and then putting pins where I should start the top. It is really hard to keep it centered, though, because the quilting draws up the backing. It looks nice on the back, though, with the quilting really showing up.

In other news, when I walked Maggy yesterday, I discovered that my street is now a cut-through street connecting us to Rogers Road. They finally removed the barricade at the former end of the street. You can still see the bent-over red sign that warned you to stop. There are only about four houses built so far in the new neighborhood.

The new road still needs a little work, as the manhole covers are still sticking up. You rusted-fabric lovers would have fun with this one...I love the "quilty" design, and who would have thought of a manhole cover named "Dancer?" I didn't actually know they had names!

And while you were draping fabric over rusty items, there is an old rusty fence over an old family cemetery in this neighborhood. I would not recommend draping fabric there to be rusted...just not respectful...but it is a very attractive fence.

Yesterday when I was eating lunch on my front porch, I was startled to see a great blue heron fly by just beyond the porch rail. I think he was pond-hopping and was considering a stop in my little garden pond. These birds can have a wing-span of almost seven feet, and are often seen in inland ponds as well as in coastal marshes. Here is a picture borrowed from the Internet that looks exactly like what I saw from my porch rocker.

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

It was so nice the other day that Maggy and I walked the entire neighborhood, instead of just to the end of our street and back. The reason we do not usually walk farther is that people keep their dogs in their front yards on invisible fences, and they all charge at us and bark like crazy. Because of the recent bitter cold, most of the dogs were inside, so we had a great morning walk.

First stop is the duck pond at the end of the street. It is fed by a spring, and so far has not suffered much from our area's drought. For the past week, the mallard duck family has been feeding in the area closest to the street, where the spring waters enter.

This pond was supposed to be surrounded by a greenway, but the developer of this section of neighborhood passed away. No greenway, in fact the owners have built a fence and it is almost unviewable. The lady of the house by the pond is crazy about the ducks, and even built them a duck house and dock. In the summer I have seen her out in hip boots, cleaning out the duck house. She keeps a wading pool on the dock for them. Check out the electric light.

Next stop is the former end of my street. This was once a huge field filled with deer and other wildlife. I have seen a gray fox, hundreds of goldfinches, you name it. Now there will be a new neighborhood, and the road will become a thoroughfare to a busy road. Look closely at the houses at the far back of the field on the right. You know they are not happy about this new development.

If you keep walking up the street with the barking dogs, you will see that the road ends in a line of boulders. This is to prevent the common folks of my neighborhood from actually driving through to the adjacent golf course neighborhood.

Turning left, you can see that Mother Nature has decided to decorate the corner sign post with a smilax vine. And some careless driver apparently knocked the sign down and ran over it at some point!

As soon as you turn left on Springflow, you can see the largest lake in the neighborhood. This one is on the developer's property. Check out the boat dock, which is currently not even near the water. That is a common sight here in North Carolina with our extended drought.

I have seen all manner of wildlife on this lake, including herds of deer, muskrats, turtles, and blue herons. It is dominated by the Canadian geese, which have become a nuisance bird in this area. They like it here so well that they have completely forsaken the yearly flight back to Canada. They fly over my house twice a day in the famous Vee formation with up to fifty birds, honking and pooping like flying dogs. Don't let this stately pair fool you---there are dozens of geese on this pond.

Across from this lake are the four large houses visible from the picture of the new neighborhood. Two of them are for sale. Wonder why? It's a shame, because the homes are beautiful and face this nice lake view. But their back yard will face houses on quarter-acre lots. Doesn't every neighborhood have a house that is too large to fit it? Here is our winner for ostentatious house. It is for sale!