Not So Wordless Wednesday (La Conner, WA)

We saw our first juvenile Bald Eagle!  He was sitting in the tree on Lone Tree Beach.  A popular spot for Eagles hunting for fish.  Except for his feathers and beak, he looks full grown.

Caught plucking out his white feathers.

And like most typical teenagers, he is in a hurry to grow up and be an adult.  I watched him pluck quite a few of his white feathers out.

Practicing his Regal pose

And to prove he was an adult, he did several regal poses just to impress his viewers.

Lone Tree Beach

California Poppies

On The Cutting Board

Introducing Bear Lee an Angel

Bear Lee is not perfect as you can tell from his crooked halo and droopy wings tied on with twine,....

I used high quality muslin of 200 count

....but that doesn’t keep him from trying with all his heart to put a smile on everyone’s face.

His heart is filled with his favorites: berries and flowers.  A friend visiting Alaska told me about her experience of watching a black bear grazing on dandelion heads.  It had me wondering how many dandelion heads does it take to fill a black bear?

all hand-stitched embroidery

Of course, my flower doesn't look like a dandelion, but I would like to think that Bear Lee would enjoy a variety of flowers to munch.

I used coffee to stain the muslin

Twine is used to keep Bear Lee's wings on his back and his halo upright

Batik backing on the wings for a nice finished look

• Body ~ 16 inches long (doesn't include halo)
• Sitting ~ 12 inches tall  (doesn't include halo)
• Wing span ~ 14 inches
• Heart ~ 2 3/4 x 2 1/4 inches

Bear Lee's arms and legs have minimal movement.
He can stand or sit.

So, what do you think?  Would you pay $35 for him?  Too much?  Too little?  I plan to post Bear Lee in Etsy soon.  I need to work on his photos.  They are not the best.  My light box is too small for him.  Maybe an outdoor photo shoot would be better.

Once Bear Lee has sold I plan to make another one.  I think I'm going to try a different bear pattern.  In the meantime, I'm also thinking of creating some more crazy quilt items.  I had a lot of fun creating Bear Lee's wings and heart.

Happy Quilting!

Crazy Quilting in La Conner (La Conner, WA)

We traded in our 2005 Subaru WRX for a 2012 Honda Fit Sport with 5 speed automatic transmission. We made the trade on Monday and so far, we are quite happy with it.

Dan's left ankle has been deteriorating over the years, and we needed to move from a manual transmission with clutch to an automatic transmission. Cars with automatic transmissions that can be towed four wheels down behind motorhomes is much more limited than manual transmission cars.

The Honda Fit is small, light weight, handles well, and has good interior space for a small car. I like how sharp it turns. The best part is that I no longer need the seat all the way forward to push the clutch all the way to the floor. Oh! And shifting! I don’t mind manual driving, but I am so happy to have an automatic.

We will miss the all wheel drive of the Subaru, and the turbo charged engine power. The turbo Subaru did require premium fuel though. It will be nice to use lower price regular fuel in the Honda, and more miles per gallon as well.

La Conner, WA
We moved to La Conner, WA yesterday - Wednesday. We were so happy to be back that as soon as we setup our site and ate lunch, we went for a quick walk. I wanted to look for the residential Bald Eagles and Dan wanted to look at a couple of different sites since we are thinking of staying 3 weeks here.

Dan sighted two Eagles sitting up high in the trees near the bay…all right! Of course, I did not have my camera and had a prior engagement to walk two of the four cats before they tore up the rig trying to get outside. And they swear they are not spoiled.

After the cats did their exploring and were happy enough with their outdoor time, I headed back to the bay thinking that I would not be so lucky the second time around. The Bald Eagle was still there and he had his wings out. I’m not sure if he was hot or drying off his feathers…hmm either way it made for a good shot. I just wish the sun was not behind him at the time, but better than no photo at all.

Do you see Mama?

Maaaaa!  We're hungry!

On my way back, there were quite a few song birds singing their favorite tunes. My favorite photo was of the baby birds waiting for Mama Bird to return. I was hoping to get a couple of photos of her feeding them. When she did return, she would not feed them with me standing under the tree so I left.

On The Cutting Board
Here’s a sneak peak at what I have been working on lately. It is a Crazy Quilt made from Batiks. I wanted the background to be more subtle so the embroidery showed up a little better.

I don’t want to say what this project is...... just yet.

Happy Quilting!

When A Bald Eagle Sits On A Rock (Blaine, WA)

The past couple of days have been very overcast with lots of rain so I haven't been taking a lot of photos. Which also means I haven't been packing all my camera gear.  Well, that turned out to be a mistake.  

We sighted this Bald Eagle sitting on a rock during low tide and not too far from the road....just far enough though to be out of range for my 300mm lens...darn it!  I took the shot anyway, because I wanted proof that I actually saw the Bald Eagle sitting there...

and then a Great Blue Heron started flying by.  I thought what a great photo that will be if he flies close enough to the Eagle...but he did see him and he moved to the other side of the water.   I barely got the two together.  I think if the Eagle wanted the Heron, he could have got him.  As you can see, he only watched the Heron fly by.  No interest in having bird today, he was fishing.

After that exciting sighting, we drove out to Semiahmoo Resort and point.  We viewed Canada from across the water with a bunch of Seagulls watching us.

I like this old boat.  It has a lot of character and those are Seagulls sitting in a row on the rooftop.

We also took a stroll through the Peace Arch Park.  Within the park, we were able to walk across the border into Canada and back.  We walked out to the center near the arch where we could see both border gates staying busy with a long line of cars.

 They have some beautiful gardens to stroll around in and artwork on display from both countries.

Canadian Gothic ~ Spaghetti Fork

Big Bird

On The Cutting Board

I have been transferring my new embroidery project to some high quality muslin.  I'm using a very fine point (.20mm) permanent pen this time.  

 The designs have very tiny details and I was afraid that using a mechanical pencil would merge some of the details.  Doing the embroidery will be quite a challenge.  I have never done such tiny work.  I might need to pull out my magnifying glass!  :0)

The best part of today was visiting the Tangled Threads Quilt Shop in Lynden.  I was greeted by a very cheerful person.  After asking if I needed help which I did not, she invited me to browse as long as I liked and she would be in the back.   I had a fabulous time going from room to fabric-filled room.  Too many choices!   One room had a couple of shelves filled with fat-quarters (buy 5 and get 1 free).  I decided that was my best bet since I could not make up my mind.

I feel I made the right choice.  I just love these colors!  Not bad for a little over $10!

Have a safe and Happy 4th of July!