Category Archives: Nature

A Blustery Day!

Posted on by
Reply

It’s a blustery day here in North Texas and the wind seems to be blowing good fortune my way!

I found out this morning that Barbara Brackman featured my Civil War Sampler on her Civil War Quilt Blog – how cool is that?  I am truly honored!!!

And Barbara’s current Grandmother’s Choice Block of the Week is a school house block – a fun and favorite!  The block is called The Little Red Schoolhouse – not a speck of red in mine but with such a blustery day I have owls, flowers, little birds and dragon flies in abundance.  The wind is even whistling through the door and window:

I’m off to watch the TCU Horned Frogs play Kansas State this evening.  Between the wind and Kansas State’s standing in the polls (#2), it will be a challenge!  Maybe the good fortune will continue to blow my way!

Go Frogs!!!

Bluebonnet Bonanza

Posted on by
2

The bluebonnets in Texas have been simply stunning this year!

We’ve had a mild winter and finally some decent rains so mother nature has provided us with beautiful views along the roadsides and out in the pastures.

I’ve always loved bluebonnets and back in the dark days before I found quilting, I stitched this little piece.  Seriously, that is what the fields around here look this year!  They are just covered with blue as far as you can see!

My bluebonnet quilt below hangs in our dining room – a bright and cheerful place with a constant reminder of the beauty we are blessed with each Spring here in Texas – especially this Spring.

I hope you find your Spring to possess a beauty as splendid as ours!

Cactus and Critters of The Desert Botanical Garden

Posted on by
3

Last month we made a quick visit to Arizona to visit my brother and his wife.  I’ve shared a lot of our side trip to Sedona in previous blogs but also wanted to give you a “tour” of the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix.  Here we found both beautiful and bizarre cactus and some cute little critters.

Cactus

At the entrance to the gardens are these gorgeous glass sculptures called Desert Towers created by Dale Chihuly:

The Saguaro cactus is the most conspicuous and prevalent cactus in the Sonoran Desert.  They look like armies standing on the hills.  Many have holes in them where birds nest (but as my brother says – it looks like someone’s target practice).

There were a bunch of cactus I don’t know the name of but some like the Prickly Pear we have at home in North Texas.

Some were just stunning with the surrounding hills as a backdrop:

Although we went in early Spring, some cactus were already blooming:

I’m sure the blooms are even more amazing now …

Critters

I was really surprised at the wildlife we spotted throughout the gardens!  We stopped for lunch in the little cafe and were visited by several quail.  This little guy managed to grab a snack!

We saw several chipmunks.  This one looks precariously close to that barrel cactus!

We have road runners at home and we like them a lot because they keep the snake population down.  I really don’t like the snakes we find in our back yard (see my Eeek! A Snake! blog).  I doubt the snaky-looking cactus below has this very camouflaged road runner fooled, do you?

We saw several lizards run across the paths as we walked around.  This one was cooling his heels under a rock:

And there were bunches of butterflies amongst the early spring blooms!

The best part of the our visit to the Desert Botanical Garden was time spent with my brother and sister-in-law.  They were amongst my favorite “critters” that day!  ;-)

 

Tree Sculptures of Galveston Island

Posted on by
3

After our fantastic visit to the Houston Quilt Festival we headed down to Galveston for a breath of fresh air.  As we were driving around the town heading toward The Strand I noticed a couple of tree sculptures.  Dear hubby recalled seeing a Texas Country Reporter show highlighting tree sculptures that were carved from the oak trees that had died after Hurricane Ike in September, 2008.  The terrible winds, waves and a tidal surge of sea water killed many of the huge oak trees that lined the streets of the city.

As the residents tried to deal with the cleanup, the idea of bringing something lasting, beautiful and positive out of the awful destruction was hatched. So now Galveston has something like this:

Two Crested Herons (Dale Lewis)

Rather than:

Tree Stump

The artists who carved most of the tree sculptures are Earl Jones, Dale Lewis and Jim Phillips.  Most of the sculptures are still rooted in the earth. The City of Galveston now has a tour of the sculptures.  While I was photographing one, another car stopped to take a picture – they told us about the tour and had an extra brochure which they kindly shared with us.  You can either enjoy the self-guided tour for no cost or a guided tour.  See their website for more information.

Here are some more of these awesome sculptures – but you really must go to Galveston yourself to enjoy them!

Birds of Galveston (Dale Lewis)

The tree that became the Great Dane below had actually grown around the fence which is where the paws are now resting.

Great Dane (Dale Lewis)

Pod of Dolphins and Mermaids (Earl Jones)

This cute squirrel was in a backyard:

Squirrel with Acorn (Dale Lewis)

This guitar was carved by the homeowner:

Guitar

This is one of my favorites:

Toad (Dale Lewis)

The photo of the Geisha below also shows off some of the fantastic architecture of these old Galveston homes:

Geisha (Jim Phillips)

Angels (Dale Lewis)

Yellow Lab (Dale Lewis)

I love the whimsy of this one:

Tin Man and Toto (Jim Phillips)

A close up of Toto, too :-)

Toto (Jim Phillips)

This sculpture was in the parking lot of a cafe:

Three Pelicans and Fish (Dale Lewis)

Mermaid Holding Clam Shell (Dale Lewis)

This angel was in a back yard, but a sign on the fence invited you in to photograph, as long as you latched the gate when you left:

Angel Cradling Bunny (Jim Phillips)

Large Pelican Holding Fish (Jim Phillips)

I was on Galveston Island about three weeks after Hurricane Ike for a conference.  It was a horrible mess!  But the rebuilding had already begun and now three years later you can see that the strength and spirit of the people of Galveston has triumphed over the worst destruction that Mother Nature could throw at them!

Scenes Around the Quilt Retreat Workroom

Posted on by
1

I’m home from the quilt retreat and after sorting through the mail, I’m sorting through some pictures.  It’s amazing how much we all got done with three dedicated days to sewing (and eating and cheering on the Rangers).  Shots of WIPs (works in progress) during the first day or so turned into photographs of completed works of art.  How cool is that?

The work room at the Compass Centre in Mt Calm was amazing.  As you can see each of us had three tables setup in a U.

There are design walls all around, with cutting tables and ironing stations.  If you run out of anything, there is a shop where you can most certainly find what you need.

Early on the design walls seemed rather bare.  But the girls were hard at work:

Lynda, Sally and Sue O'K

Of course, when the Rangers were playing, all work stopped.  Suz had brought a TV and it was propped up high for all to see.  Do you like our TV stand?

Lynda and I were “newbies” to this retreat.  Amongst other things we were required to make name tags for all the “retreaters.”  We decided to make absolutely fabulous name tags with all kinds of bling.  We stayed up until 2:30 am the first night finishing them.  Aren’t they wonderful?

But most of our time was spent sewing, chatting, sewing and laughing.  So the WIPs accumulated around the room:

Some WIPs went from this:

Suz hopes nobody turns on ceiling fan!

To this:

Suz and Santa

There were projects that had been worked on for several retreats that were finally finished.  Barb finished Janna’s t-shirt quilt and blogged about it too! Be sure to check out Barb’s blog!

Barb puts binding on Janna's T-shirt Quilt

There were lots of cute baby quilts:

There were many beautiful quilts to see but some sights were not appreciated:

Scorpion in the batting

But in the end, watching each work of art evolve was astonishing!  When asked, advise was shared as well as encouragement and  inspiration. Quilts, such as the one below, were results of the maker’s artistic ability as well as the contribution of the women at the retreat.

Lani's Quilt

I was asked as I was leaving if I would come back again – my answer – Absolutely!

 

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...