May's Wild Beauty

 It has been a while since my last post, to say the least. 

Here are a few pics of wild horses of the south Steens in May. 

These are just a few of my favorites from the hundreds of pictures I took (I was a little trigger happy) ....

 These youngsters played for about 15 minutes rearing and biting one another...

 Mmmm... (sigh) Lots of pretty horses

 Aahhh! It was baby season.

 The curious crew.

 Pretty, pretty color accentuated with sundown.

 Bleeeccckkk... what was that?

All images © Out West Originals

The Hummers Are Back

I decided that since I don't have any quilt-y things done for blogging I thought I would post a blurb and picture of our returning outdoor occupants... hummingbirds.

The other day the kids and I were sitting at the table eating lunch and gazing out the sliding glass window when we noticed a hummingbird buzz the feeders. (I didn't take them down over winter and didn't clean them out at the end of summer. So, whatever was in there had to have been yucky.) That little bird scoped out each feeder a couple of times before flying and hovering about ten inches from the sliding glass door as if to say "Hello in there. Weeee're back and need fooooood!" That prompted me to clean the feeders and yep, they were kinda yucky. One even had a spider living in it. I made some food for one feeder and hung it up.

The next day three hummers arrived and the grouchy, this-is-all-my-food, resident had returned. This little bird spends most of his/her time chasing the others away. Apparently, it needs lots of food. It may be one that knows me all too well, though. I have a tendency to go strong at the beginning of the season, filling the feeders regularly, then putter out. The poor things. So this little guy maybe staking claim to all he can and get it all while the gettin' is good. The picture above was taken a couple of years ago, 2009 to be exact, through the kitchen window. I really liked the morning sun shining on this little bird as it perched itself on the dinner "bell", soaking up the early sun. All of it's colors are were very shimmery and pretty.


This picture was taken on a different day that year, notice the Oregon "sunshine" (raindrops) on the dinner "bell". This little hummer was cleaning itself and doing all these contortion-looking moves. Maybe it was yoga, bird style. They sure are cute! They will be fun to watch this year and see their personalities shine. Maybe "grouchy" will have some equal competition show up... time will tell.
Happy Spring,
Ginger

And I pledge to not putter out this year and keep the feeders filled. :o)

Just the BOM

Just the BOM!

This year I have jumped in full tilt into the world of quilting/sewing (because I am between schooling). I am thoroughly enjoying all the time I get to cut fabric apart then sew it back together into something awesome.

I am involved in several Block-of-the month programs, one of them I am heading up for our local quilt guild. One of the other one's is with the local quilt shop in town and it is called "Splash" - name stemming from the fabric line. It is all batiks and colors are amazing together. The pictures are of a few of the "Splash" blocks so far.

I am currently on April's blocks. We get two blocks a month and can work ahead of schedule. My intension is to have the whole top done by mid summer - all 12 blocks, center motif, and borders. There are two options to choose from for the center motif, a pieced center or an applique, I will go with the pieced center. This will be one beautiful quilt when it is done.

I have had a lot of fun with BOM's this year (and it's only March). I would encourage anyone to try one of these. I have been quilting for 10 plus years and I don't know why it took me this long to jump in.

Happy quilting y'all.

Our silly dog

Cici, our bassett hound, joined our family almost a year ago. She is now two years old. Yep, as the math facts speak, we did not get to enjoy the cute bassett puppy looks. Fortunately though, we also passed up the chewing phase. That probably saved a lot of shoes and other chewy "treasures".

You might say we are experiencing some "terrible two" moments with her, or teenager years (if you count doggy years). Being the hound dog, her short little legs follow that nose and sometimes she will still be listening for us to call her back, but those other days the hearing is turned off. Let me tell ya, don't let those short legs fool you, she can cover some ground in a short time, sometimes right off the property.

This particular day, we had some warmth and sun, so outdoors we went. She is a fair weathered doggy, takes after me, and wants to be outside as much as possible. How else is she to keep up on the smelly trails of varmints and cats? Maybe with her aggressive sounding bark the deer will stay away and my tulips will bloom. Hmmm? I'll keep you posted. She enjoyed about half the day outside and was kinda whooped by dinner time. It's tough coming off of winter hibernation.

This picture of her just makes me smile. Those long floppy ears and the look on her face just says "I'm a happy dog". And that she truly is. She has also been a great addition to our family.

Quilted Greetings

Here is a small grouping of greeting cards that I created a couple weeks back. They are made with a small quilt square and a stamped image that I colored using markers and/or pencils. I enjoy making these little gems because I get to combine two passions - sewing and stamping. This is also a great way to use those scraps that accumulate in your work space. Enjoy.

Curly Bert

Several months back I found this pattern to make yo-yo animals. There were three in the pattern to choose from - lion, hippo, and monkey - I chose the monkey. I set out and purchased all the fabrics in the colors of chocolate and blue/turquoise. After cutting out all the circles of batting and fabric, there was quite a stack of circles. Then read the pattern directions for all the animals, come to find out I picked the most labor intensive project. This fits my character to a "T" - why start small. There ended up being 70 small yo-yos (15 for each arm and 20 for each leg) and 15 big yo-yos for the body. Here is a picture of all the parts of the monkey before assembly...

At this stage the light at the end of the tunnel is getting bigger, only assembly required....

I had named him Bert and my son said because Bert's tail is so curly that needs to be part of his name. So her is Curly Bert. He now sits in my sewing room overseeing the projects that transpire in there.

Spooks and Goblins

Spooks and Goblins

The pumpkins are carved

And lit up to see

Small candles reveal

Faces of happy and scary

The night of fright

Is just about here

The kids are ready to don

Their Halloween gear

They laugh and giggle

And run door to door

Passing up Frankenstein, Mario

A princess and Eyore

They will go up to each house

‘n say “Trick or Treat”

In hopes to get candy and

Not stinky frogs’ feet.

They have so much fun

And it’s awesome to see

We laugh so hard sometimes

We almost have to pee

So enjoy those little goblins

For they have so much fun

Running all about until

you say “We’re done”

Happy Halloween

Written by Ginger Harter