They're back

Sorry... more turkey news. But there are some interesting photos, so I hope I'm not boring you. I'm not fond of the turkeys myself... but I do like taking pics, and if I can get some great or unusual shots, I'll do it... even if they're of turkeys. ;)

I hadn't seen the hen and chicks for nearly two weeks. I was hoping they'd found a better place to live permanently... like over at the neighbors' or something. However, Saturday evening I happened to see them along our driveway again.

It was roosting time, and one by one, they were heading up into the trees. They flew effortlessly. Here goes one of them, as one on the ground awaits its turn...

... higher and higher...

... till it made it up into the tree!

Mom flew up, too, but they were pretty wary of me and my camera...

... so she called them all back down again and off they went.

There were two hens out there. I don't know if they each had some chicks or if they all belonged to the one. I saw at least six chicks, but I may have missed a few. They hide so well in the long grass.

Unrelated, but... down at my feet there happened to be a baby robin who kept calling over and over to its mama.

Do you know how hard it is to get a photo of it at the exact instant it has its mouth open in that call?! I took over a hundred pics of that little birdie! (Thanks to the continuous shooting setting.)

Okay, enough turkeys! (In more ways than one. "Calling cards" left behind on the deck railing lead me to believe that the young'uns are getting drinks of water from the birdbath early in the mornings. Ugh.)

I do have some sewing photos to show you... even some of an adorable little project Courtney made for 4-H! I'll try to show them soon. However, I'm testing a new pattern this week, and it needs to be done as quickly as I can (and you know I'm not a fast sewer), so that has to take priority. And on that note, I'd best get busy!

Belated update

I meant to post this shortly after my last post, but didn't get the job done. So sue me (as if there's anybody reading anymore besides Geneviève). :)  Anyway, here's an update to that post. These first two photos were taken the same day as those in that post, later in the day. The empty nest and eggs had been found by our pasture renter, and thanks to him (also unbeknownst to him), I managed to brave the long grass, tick potential and nettle to get the pics.

The nest had been hidden just outside the cattle yard fence next to a corner post, in the middle of a patch of nettle.

A closer look revealed the empty eggs plus two that hadn't hatched.

Three days later, I had stepped outside early in the evening, and I heard the mama turkey clucking to her chicks. I couldn't see her, but I happened to look up and saw the chicks lined up on a tree branch across the driveway! I ran for the camera, but by the time I got back, there was only one left up there.

I couldn't believe they were big enough already to get up that high to roost, but this last one flew down quite easily. Apparently their mom decided this wasn't the best place to spend the night, so off they went.

They grow up so fast! Look below at the second from the left one, how it's stretching its wings. It must be a male learning to strut already! ;)

Off they went, but only 7 of the original 9 chicks. Predators can be hard on them when they're that little, and no doubt it's hard for mom to defend that many at once.

They ambled in the direction of the garden...

... as I headed back to the house... and I haven't seen them since. That was a week ago.

Cuteness

I must show you some of what's keeping me occupied around here. I don't want you to think I've fallen off the face of the earth!

This is Buttercup, who has somehow managed to become a resident of the garage. She's an adorable little brat (but looks so innocent, doesn't she?) who keeps managing to get herself stuck up in trees and needing to be rescued - 4 times already! She has a LOUD cry that lets me know. LOL

Next we have Patches and two of this year's litter. She always keeps them hidden until they're about 6 weeks old and too wild to get close to. She has two others for sure, but I thought I'd seen five the first time. I had to be very sneaky to get this photo. But have you ever seen a cuter face?!

This is the face of the other one. Kinda reminds me of Annabelle a little.

I hung around (hidden behind machinery) long enough to catch them napping (while the others remained hidden also).

Then we have this little loner. She's Mia's kid. I'm sure there must've been others at first, but this is the only one left. Her crazy mother keeps hauling her in and out of the old hog barn via the fan hole in the wall. It's gotta be a rough ride up that wall and down the other side! She's such a fat little thing, I'm surprised Mia can still do it!

Just this morning I managed to catch a glimpse (AND get photos) of this little group crossing the yard.

Can you count the chicks? There are 9 of them!

Fortunately, I've only seen one other turkey around the yard in the last few weeks. It's a tom, who is apparently the father of this little flock. I don't appreciate him gobbling outside the bedroom window around 6:00 a.m.! Grrr!

I'll very soon be showing you some cute sewing projects, too. Two are done, and I should be able to get the other one finished up today. At already 90°, it's too hot to be doing anything outside today or for the next few days, so hopefully I can get lots of sewing done. I certainly have a lot of projects on my to-do list! They're mostly pretty quick things. Sometime in the next few weeks will also be a fun pattern test. I'm really looking forward to that one!

Newport cooks

No, I didn't forget that I'd promised you one more round of photos from our trip to Jess & Alex's in Newport. I only said that I'd hopefully get around to showing you before we went there again. Well, we haven't gone there again yet, so I didn't lie, either. Ha!

We ate a LOT of good food while we were there. Yes, we tried out some restaurants, the best of which was the Red Feather, where we got to sit at a bar right next to where they were cooking all the food. Wow, were those guys (yes, all males) good... organized, efficient, and fascinating to watch! The food was scrumptious, too.

We also had a lot of good food cooked right in J&A's kitchen (where we also got to sit and watch them cook). Here's Alex preparing his special banana french toast, as requested by Jess for her birthday.

It was soooo yummy!

One night he also made us a deep dish pizza from scratch. He was a good sport and tossed the crust in the air when we asked him to, just like a real pizza chef. He did very well for a first time! Unfortunately, I don't have a photo for you. I do have a video, but it's on the iPad, and it's complicated getting it onto my computer, so I'm not going to bother. It was fun, though. The pizza turned out yummy also.

Grandpa has gotten on a bread-baking kick recently, since he has more time on his hands these days. He gave several demos while we were there, and here he is with one of his finished loaves. It was very good.

I don't remember what Alex was making in this next photo, possible the topping for the fabulous filets he grilled for us on my birthday on their green egg grill. Jess was making us cocktails from a recipe sent by Aunt Audrey. Can you guess what was in them? I bet not.

It was rhubarb juice... made from fresh rhubarb! Don't they look pretty (especially on that brand new countertop)?

The taste? Not bad. Very drinkable. But probably not worth the bother, since there are lots of other drinks that are better and easier to make. But, it was worth trying, and now we can say we've had rhubarb cocktails! :)

Okay, I'm done. That's all the Newport trip photos I have to show you. At least I finished what I started, even if it did take me over a month. ;)

Glenda Convertible Clutch #2

I finished this sewing project a few days ago, but I couldn't show it to you until now because it was a (belated) birthday gift for my "boss" (a.k.a. Jess - you know, of How About Orange fame? the fabric designer? not to mention, also my daughter), and she had to see it first so this post wouldn't spoil the surprise. 

Now it would hardly be much of a gift if it were made from her own fabric, right? So I chose to use something different (very different!) this time. Well, for most of it, anyway.

Here is the Glenda Convertible Clutch, from Swoon Patterns. I've made one before, and if you want more details about it, you can read the post about that one here. This one has some firsts for me. This was the first time I've put a turn lock into a bag. It was pretty easy to do, a lot like putting in a magnetic snap. It was a little scary cutting a big hole right in the flap of the bag, but I was very careful, and it worked out well. I think it adds a lot to the plainness of the fabric, don't you?

It was REALLY hard getting good photos! There was so much contrast with the dark fabric, and the fabric itself was... well... you'll see.

The strap is adjustable for shoulder or cross-body, and it's also detachable if you want to use the bag just as a clutch. (Look closely at that fabric!)

The lining of the bag IS one of Jess's fabrics... barkcloth from her In Theory line. The center of the bag is a zipper pouch that divides the bag and draws the sides into a nice little pleat.

Now, here's the most exciting part of the whole project! The outer fabric is actually cork! Yes, real cork! It came directly from Portugal. I ordered it from an Etsy shop called Orkideas. The seller was great - she shipped it immediately, and it only took 10 days to get here. I love that she also included tiny samples of her other colors of cork!

Yes, it's expensive. Very expensive, as far as fabric goes. But I've seen so many gorgeous bags and great reviews about it in the few months since I first heard about it, that I just had to give it a try. (And this was, after all, a very special birthday.) The fabrics are soooo pretty - photos don't begin to do them justice. Will I be buying more cork? I think so. Definitely not a lot, but I might just have to have a bag out of it for myself. Now, which color??? :)

The cork is a thin layer, and it's backed with fabric, a lot like pleather. It also handles much like pleather. Consequently, I once again appreciated my Wonder Clips!

My old sewing machine's bottom stitches don't look quite as nice as the top ones, so to make the strap (above) I had to very carefully clamp the strap so that the edges butted tightly together in the middle, and then sew it from the top side, hoping things stayed together like they were supposed to. It worked! Whew! I think I held my breath all the way along every row of stitching! (Not really - it's a long strap, and I went pretty slowly. I needed to breathe.)

Doing it that way, so there were only 2 layers to the strap, I was able to get it through the slider to make the strap adjustable. Those two little tabs next to the strap below were what gave me the most trouble of the whole bag. They were sewn into the top seam to hold the D-rings for the strap attachment, and they made for some VERY thick layers to sew through. But my good ol' faithful 46-year-old Kenmore came through for me again (even if I did bend one needle and have to hand-crank very slowly through those thick spots). I don't even know how many layers that was... something like 10 or so... and then folded over again for the final topstitching. Yikes!

The cork is navy, but so dark it mostly looks black. Below is a photo I took out in the sun, just to see what the color did there. It's probably the most accurate of all the pics - at least it looks blue.

This was a great project, albeit with some challenges. Would I do it again? Yep! And I just might, because I really like the bag and might eventually make one for myself.

Jess received the bag yesterday. She knew it was coming, but she thought it was going to be made out of pleather. She was surprised and excited about the cork fabric, and I do believe she loved the bag. ;) She took some more photos for me, to try and capture the fabric color and texture, also for a little size reference. Here are her pics.

I hope by now you get a little idea of what cork fabric is like, even though the photos still don't do it justice. Below is a photo taken by photographer Alex, for a little more size idea for you.

I'd say that's a pretty pleased look on her face, wouldn't you? That makes me pleased, too. :)