and people say it is boring in phelan!!!

heck,, what do they know??!!  how many of YOU woke up to find an emu egg on your front porch?  and, how many of YOU got to herd cows tonite??  didn't think so.....

i got up and drove patience to work.  when i got home, i noticed something dark green on my chair i made on my porch.  (that little fisherman basket my sister gave me holds my clothespins!)  i thought, what the heck is THAT?  it looked like a packers football to me, i brought it in and caoin knew immediately that it was an emu egg.....we have neighbors that have emus, other poultry, cows and horses....tadggain loves to go over and see their animals....they much have brought it over.  it is amazingly beautiful, very dark hunter green, but with little flecks of a lighter green....really beautiful.



here it is next to a chicken egg.....but, it really looks bigger in real life.

 so, that was a nice excitement for the morning....then, i stitched for a while and did some chores....then, tonite, randi's boyfriend jose's brother called and said he was here to pick up jose, but was not coming down our road coz there was cows in the road....so, i grabbed the keys and some kids and went for some more neighbors so we could help them round up the cows--the owners were out in the desert with only a few flashlights--the owners are the ones with the emus!!!   providence was out there running around with em trying to herd them back home....finally, success!  what a fun little bit of excitement for the night!  it is nice to know that we live in a place where we have good neighbors that are willing to share emu eggs with nice little boys, and that are willing to stop what they are doing in a heartbeat to go help round up the cows....sure gives me a great feeling! 

ok, since i promised tara i would show her bag i am working on (she designed it, and is sharing the pattern on line with us) and she even came and looked, but i had not posted the pictures as of yet....so, here it is...




today we boxed the corners on the bottom....doesn't it look nice with those nice little boxy corners??  next comes the pockets and zipper......can't wait!!!

next comes  a bit of the things that i have been working on this week.  mostly ALOT of hand stitching, and that seems to be pretty time consuming!  lots of time goes into just a little stitchery....

that large cream thing  near the bottom is an irish blessing that my friend carmen designed, and of course i had to stop the presses and get that transferred first thing after i saw it.  started the stitching, and also made 3 sets of blocks for surrounding it, but so far was not happy with any of my fabric choices....geez!  3 attempts....i wonder what has happened to me and my sense of color etc....but, i know that these attempts will also find their way into something....here is what else was in that picture above, a little closer up.

i still need to hand quilt this, and add a teeny pinch of stitching in the bottom give thanks block too, as well as add the button for hanging the quiltlets and a hanger for hanging the bit itself to the wall....



this is now also bound all the way and is ready for it's hanging string....



 jenny of elefantz designed this give thanks little wall hanging.  she is gonna design MANY little quiltlets to hang in the upper part, so you can change it out as your mood hits....cool little deal!

she also designed the first block for a new block of the month (BOM) from gumtree designs.  i used it for my dorinda block.  it is similar to the give thanks bird above, but better....

i am gonna have to do a better close up picture of that coz it deserves it!  she did such a nice design.  i thought it was nice for my scrappy stash forest block.  the rule was to use embroidery and make a 5 x 20 inch rectangle that you would add to the left or right side of your first two blocks....i did 3 pinecones, and boy howdy did they take forever!!!  i don't know why, but they did.  here are all 3 blocks put together....

it is a dark picture, but it will suffice for now!  i am really liking this way of making a quilt.  really stretches me in my design and creativity.  i am loving how it is turning out so far, but i have more spare parts made from things i have attempted but was not happy with, but am sure that i will beable to incorporate them into the quilt at a later stage....when it comes time for paper piecing--and it WILL come time--i will already be ready with my un-used prim pinecones!  we shall see what next clue brings for us to do...

whew, i'm beat....all that great stitching, the egg, and cows....too much excitement for this woman!  i am ready for bed!!!