Slow Stitching - Door Decor - First Robin

With more light these days, at least till Sunday, I have been inspired to update my Door Decor.

I created a slow stitch piece of art for spring.  The first robin reminds of my walks around the lake in the city.  The apple blossoms are out and the birds are singing and the sun is shining.  Definition of a great morning walk.

I chose a turquoise piece of the sky and deeper blue for the lake.  I created a tree trunk and branch for the apple blossom and a place for the robin to perch.

A bit of cloud in the sky and the sun in the upper right hand corner.  

I added running stitch to the water which represents simmer on the light. I put cattails/bulrushes in the bottom right hand corner. The path around the lake in tan.  Spring flowers in pink and yellow all over the grass area. The robin has several layers light grey body, dark grey wing and orange breast covered with running stitch.  A black bead for the eye. The flowers are French Knots, the cloud is a bit of cheesecloth, the sun stitched with concentric circles of running stitch.

I added a green backer with was brought to the front and stitched with the sewing machine. I added a twill tape hanger on the back which was stitched on by hand.

I am feeling hopeful today as the sun shines and the temperatures is above 0C.

Sylvia's Simple Shots

The fruit trees are all in bloom.  The crab apples, choke cherry, apple and cherry trees are sporting great colors this week.  Deep pink, light pink, white and some shades in between.

It is feeling like summer.  I was out for my 1.5 hour walk this morning and visiting my favorite park and garden for the first time this year.

Can't beat those Alberta blue skies.

I heard then saw red winged black birds at Paul Kane park this morning.  I have not seen these birds so far into the city.  The pool was filled with water so that may have made the difference.  Generally, the city is later in filling the pool.

There was a male and female so I expect there was a nest in the dry bullrushes. This is so exciting!

There were Canada Geese, Mallards, House Finches, and magpies all making an appearance.

I received a bouquet of flowers yesterday.   It was really nice to get flowers on the remembrance of my Dad's passing on May 12th.  We celebrated his life on May 24th.  He was 92 and passed quietly in his sleep which is exactly what he wanted.

It was a couple of weeks of funeral arrangements, visits with Mom, and the first in person funeral in 2 years for the funeral home.  I pray that everyone remains well following that get together.

Mom and Dad celebrated 68 years of marriage the day Dad passed.  He had tested positive for COVID so it was in full PPE no less.  At least they were together as Mom had been in isolation earlier, had brain surgery and had not be able to see him regularly.

I brought Mom some purple pansies this week.  She has been given a raised flower bed at the lodge so she will have pansies, tomatoes and  Osteospermum - African Daisies in her bed.

Unfortunately, she will not be able to see them from her room so she will see them when she goes into the dining room 3 times a day.

It will be good for her to have something to tend to now that Dad has passed.

She is gaining strength every day following her surgery.   She was thinking about sewing again when I saw her on Monday.  That is a very good sign.

I found these at the community garden.

I found an Aquarium BluRay DVD the other day at the thrift store.

I am enjoying the sights and sounds on the TV when there is not too much else that is very good on.

There are about 6 different scenes and well as quite a few fish swimming around.

It's like putting on the fireplace at Christmas time.

I finished this book this week.  P is for Peril - Sue Grafton.

Kinsey Millhone is hired by Fiona, the first wife of Dr. Dowan Purcell, to move along the stalled investigation by police of his disappearance. He disappeared nine weeks earlier. The first wife is more concerned than present wife Crystal. Fiona, embittered by the breakdown of her marriage, is convinced that Dow has engineered his own disappearance, as she alleges Crystal is having an affair and admits that Dow has gone missing a couple of times before. In support of this, his passport and thirty thousand dollars seem to be missing. In contrast, Crystal, a former stripper Dow met on a trip to Las Vegas, is convinced he is dead. Not impressed either with Fiona's haughty personality or the chances of turning up something on a cold trail, Kinsey accepts the case with misgivings.  Kinsey ends up finding the Dr., having a brush with some really bad characters and is trying to find new office space.

I found this book a little slow but it may have been the distractions in my life the last couple of weeks more than the book itself.

Check this duck out on the small pool at Paul Kane.  It is a Greater Scaup - a diving duck.  The male and female where casually swimming the water.   

It was so great to see them there.  There were about 10 mallard males just sitting in the sun.   I have seen this before so I am not sure where they have left Momma and the ducklings.   There is not a lot of water nearby.

Wishing you a great week!

Sylvia's Simple Shots

I went for a really long walk Sunday morning but a bit more about that later.

The fruit trees are all in bloom.  These are the blossoms of a small crab apple tree.  It was full of flowers.

I love the deep rich color of the blossoms.

I found these at a park I normally visit once or twice a year.  It  has a large man made storm water pond and generally supports many waterfowl.  

The trail that surrounds it is 1.7 miles long. It was originally built in 1977 so an upgrade is due.

Unfortunately, with the significant renovations done to the path way which goes around it things will be disrupted most of the summer.

My regular entrance was cut off so I had to walk a ways just to access the water and the start of the grey line in this picture. 

Then I got to the end of the grey line which is where I found this sign. It led me to the neighbourhood to the north.  I should have paid more attention to the map because I spent the next 40 minutes walking on city streets trying to get back to my car. 

The best option would have been to turn around and go back the way I came, at least I would have seen more birds and wildlife.  I have learned my lesson.

These are some of the birds I did find walking along the trail on the edge of the water.

An American White Pelican but only one.  Generally there are a lot of them here.  No Cormorants.  

The House Finch was singing her heart out which did my heart good!

Many Mallard Duck couples were feeding and swimming.

As you can see the Red Neck Grebe was sitting on her nest with her partner very nearby.  In the past I have had a hard time finding nests but I found 2 on Sunday.

This is the book I finished this week.  I can always count on Nicholas Sparks for a family friendly story with heart.  

True Believer is a story about a science journalist, Jeremy Marsh from New York who visits a small town in North Carolina to investigate mysterious ghostly lights in a local cemetery.  The phenomenon brings much needed tourism to the area. Lexie Darnell is the local librarian who has returned to live near family.   She has had her heart broken and is not interested in going down that road again.

Lexie serves as local guide for Jeremy and the sparks fly but Lexie is cautious about getting involved.  Jeremy is head over heels. He works out the mystery but can he convince Lexie his love is true?

It all works out in the end.

We have had some gorgeous warm +20C days in the last week.

It was time to dig out the trusty Keens sandals which came highly recommended by my niece when I bought them.  I can vouch for this brand of sandals.  I have had worn a pair for at least 10 years. 

When I put them on yesterday but the elastic on one of them broke!  With a closer examination there were other issues so they needed to be replaced and quick!  I search on line and found a store in my neighbourhood, called to be sure they had my size and headed out to purchase a new pair. Yellow with black and grey, perfect!  In all of 10 minutes they were mine. They were pricey but worth every penny.
 

I had a challenge this week on Flickr which was letters.  I decided to do a still life and put words out into the universe that are life giving.

I created a small bouquet with dried flowers and grasses.

The letters are by Tim Holtz and I have had them for a long time but lost them for a while and recently rediscovered them.

Love the letters.  Wood blocks at least 1/2 inch deep so they stand on their own.

As you can see a variety of colors.  Love them and I have added them to the photography studio props.

Deleted Blog Posts! 

Did anyone else lose blog posts this week?  I had 14 posts deleted due to possible contravention of Googles Community guidelines.  I later got followup emails saying the posts have been reinstated but they are still gone.

The challenge on Flickr Macro Mondays this week was soap.  This is one of a few shots I took for the challenge.  A lot of potential in this subject matter.  You can check out my Flickr Photostream (SMDPics) to see the shot I submitted.

I am  sharing with Angie who hosts Mosaic Monday #131 and 

Mersad who hosts Through My Lens #289.

Have a good and safe week!

Sylvia's Simple Shots

I visited one of the man made lakes in my city this week.  It is large enough to have a good selection of birds and sure enough I found a few.

Here's a male Mallard Duck going by behind the bullrushes.  I managed to capture him in focus!

I saw Red Wing Blackbirds, A Hooded Merganser,  & Red Necked Grebes as well.

It was a great day and the weather was perfect at 7:00 am.

This is a blossom on the Sakura Flowering Plum bush.  The branches generally have very close together clusters but I found this one a bit by itself.

Beautiful bush with a riot of pink blooms on it.  Welcomed sight in this grey time.

The neighbourhood has plenty of these so there were many bushes to choose from.

 Love the soft feeling to this photo.









I finished this book this week.  It was a great story about a black maid serving in a large house set in South Africa.  The lady of the house is Cathleen Harrington. In 1919, she has moved from Ireland to marry a man she has not seen in 5 years.  She now has grown children, a son and daughter. The maid Miriam has a daughter, Ada without a husband.  The apartheid is a background to the story.  The story is told from Ada's point of view - how she learns to read, to play the piano beautifully, to serve in the house as her mother does.  Cathleen has nurtured Ada, then upon returning from a long absence from the house Cathleen is broken-hearted to find Ada has disappeared.  They are eventually reunited and the truth about the circumstances of Ada's leaving are revealed.  Highly recommend this book.

More bizarre behavior by the Canada Geese.  This one landed on the railing of a balcony on a high rise building.  It looked like it was going to jump down to a nest.

I know that they ran a story on the news about 4 weeks back indicating that if Canada Geese are eyeing your property for a nest best to discourage them early.  They are a protected species so if a nest is built you will have to leave till the goslings leave it.

Last week I saw a set  of adults walking their goslings down the back alley.   Headed in the right direction for the river.  I guess with less traffic the road offer a clear path.

The perennials are blooming.  I have not seen Siberian Squills before but I found 2 this spring. Very small flowers which could easily be missed.  Beautiful color.  The tulips in the front yards are showing their color.  The apple and plum trees are in full bloom.

The challenge this week on Flickr Macro Monday is Wabi-sabi - The Art of the Imperfect. Wabi-sabi is a Japanese word roughly translating as 'imperfect aged beauty'. It is used to describe a particular philosophy that beauty can be found in the old, the everyday, the imperfect. And that everything is in a state of transition from or to nothingness.

The photo on the right is pieces of broken tempered safety glass.  I found them on the boulevard where a panel along stairs had been broken.  I gathered several pieces because I thought they were beautiful.   You can check my SMDPics photostream to see the photo I submitted this week.

I am sharing with Angie who hosts Mosaic Monday #80
and with Mersad hosting Through My Lens #241 

Recent Photos

There was heavy dew on the ground yesterday morning so I thought I would try to find some sunlit dandelions which should look great.

I did find some in a good place.

The fluffy ends of these dandelion seeds seem different to me than other years I have photographed them.  Maybe it is the moisture on them that makes them appear fuller.

I did manage some bokeh in the background from the other droplets of water on the grass.

There were not a lot of full ones and in this shot you can really see the individual seeds.

The crab apples trees were in full bloom. 

Gorgeous pink blossoms in beautiful clusters.

I managed to isolate this one a bit and it says SPRING to me.

The morning was gorgeous and I can go out walking with out an extra jacket. 

Great walk on Sunday morning.

This beautiful tree was found on my walk downtown one day this week.

Of course, I was attracted to the gorgeous color and variations in shades of the blossoms.

There were 5 or 6 of these apple trees lining a very busy road.


Great to see the river valley just below with the bridge going across toward the Conservatory on the other side.

As I took photos of the area I suddenly saw a shape that intrigued me.

Always on the look out of birds I saw this tail and had to investigate.

Aw, it was a robin and she is sitting on a nest!  Are there eggs or baby birds in there.

After waiting about 10 minutes I was rewarded by seeing Robin Dad show up with food.

Look at those precious hungry mouths just waiting for food.

It was a really special few minutes that morning. 

Amazing sight right next to traffic.

I finished the last bit of hand stitching on this quilt last night.  It is finished!

This features mostly Stampin Up 100% cotton fabric. It features Cherry Cobbler, Always Artichoke, and Crumb Cake as colors. I added the striped fabric in similar tones.  I created the accent squares with solids in Cherry Cobble, Soft Suede and Crumb Cake.

I sewed all the 2.5 inch strips together planning on a JellyRoll style and then changed my mind and cup the assembled strips into 9.5 inch squares.

I used a Crumb Cake 100% cotton fabric for sash between the squares as well as the back. I used flannelette sheeting as batting.  The 5 rows of 4 squares were quilted to the backing as rows.  Then the rows were assembled as the backer was larger than the front squares.  The seams were ironed to one side and I top stitched along the seams which gives each square 4 seams.
My final analysis.  I would use a wider sash, less strips per square, and a wider edge binding.  I love the solid accent squares. I have found a Quilt as you Go assembly tutorial which I think will work better for me so I will let you know how it goes on the next quilt. 

The challenge on Flickr Macro Monday is Superstitions. 

I took this photo yesterday for "Step on a crack, break your mother's back."  There is a limit of 3 inches.  I found,  with out a foot this was not as effective as it could be.

Check out my photostream to see the photo I submitted.

Sharing with

Angie at Letting Go the Bay Leaf who hosts Mosaic Monday #29.

Mersad who hosts the Through My Lens 193.

Cards - Thank You

I made cards for the ladies who have been working with me on a website project.

We had our final meeting today and I wrote each of them a thank you for the work the put into it.

The photo here is a spring blossom on an apple or plum tree.

I love the contrast of colors on this rose bush.  They are almost Christmas colors.

I'm not sure the fuzz adds anything to it but it becomes part of the natural world for a while.  I expect rains will come to clear the clutter.

The Alberta Rose in in full bloom and they are everywhere.  This one has a little antennaed visitor.

Recent Photos

The crab apple tree in the park is in full bloom.  It is gorgeous.

Love how I got a nice bokeh background with the flower in great focus.

Pinky purple tulips for my Mom on Mother's Day.

I love how the stems are sort of wavy.

These are red roses for Mom from Dad for their 64 year wedding anniversary!

It is always close to Mother's Day and she always gets flowers from her favorite guy.

Amazing to be married so long and still living together in good health.  So many couples end up living apart because health issues. 

Yellow and blue ginger jar from my sister who hit a rummage sale recently and thought of me.

It fits perfectly into my color scheme.

Thanks so much.

Sun setting behind a granary on my drive home from the country late Sunday night. 

I moved around till the sun was being cut by the roof of the building.

The rays were escaping beyond the roof to create the flair.

Share Your Cup

I found this Sunkist set of yellow items on thrift store visit this week.  It fits in my decor for the kitchen and I can now sent to the non matching stuff back to the second store.

It's that time of year with sand paper eyes if I don't keep up with the meds.

I was on an errand to the fabric store.
I found this navy botanical print and a watercolor yellow fabric which may be paired on a project for the kitchen.  More about that later.  My Mom and several sisters are great seamstresses and quilters. I'm not much for sewing but the store was was full of very nice fabrics.

The pink blossoms are just starting this week.  They are so beautiful.  I caught 3 in different stages of opening in this photo.


Supper was fresh cut veggies, a bit of kimchi, some whole brown rice crackers and a small dish of home made avocado dip.  Very good.

Posting with Sharing your Cup #196  hosted by Carol at Art & Sand.

Mosaic Monday - Apple Blossoms

I appreciate so much the time to go take a walk and shoot a few photos while I am out in nature!
This week it was lilacs and they smell so wonderful. A pink one and a very blue one. Apple blossoms in a couple of colors.  A beautiful yellow tulip poppy with the unopened heads glowing in the background.  The robin on a wire.  It was keeping an eye on me but it's not a bad shot.

Submitting this to Mosaic Monday with Judith at Lavender Cottage. 

Mosaic Monday - Walk Around the Lake

I took a walk around the lake last week and nature was bursting out of every corner.  Birds of all kinds and flowers were blooming.
The ring billed gull, female mallard duck, blue headed mallard duck. Pink apple blossoms and a well disguised sparrow. I loved this shot of the lake water just fading into white but check out the head of the Canada Goose in the bottom left hand corner. The red necked grebe with a fish in her mouth!!! White apple blossoms.  The sun setting on the mallard duck couple and the red winged black bird playing hard to photograph. 
It was a wonderful couple of hours in nature. Loved it!


Submitting this to Mosaic Monday at Lavender Cottage hosted by Judith.