Winter, Birds and Fun Stuff !

Winter has finally arrived in the Northeast ! (At least for a day or two..)

Cold, blustery, windy, snowy, chilling Winter!  We've been a bit spoiled the past few months with traces of snow -- and mild temps.  Today we awoke to 13 degrees, winds gusting to 40 mph and 3-6 inches of  "lake effect" snow expected.

Thankfully for me when winter arrives the cardinals flock the feeders.  We were graced with 6 or 7 pair of Northern Cardinals this morning -- I captured a few quick shots here:

Foreground - Male Northern Cardinal with Female Cardinal in Background

In addition to beautiful Northern Cardinals, we have a special friend that returns each year.  Pictured below is a "One Legged" House? Finch !  Last year the damaged part of his leg was just hanging there -- this year (as you can clearly see in the photos), it is gone and there is but a stump of a leg.  It always amazes us when he shows up at the feeders -- determined to make a go of it and continuing to elude the predator birds that use our feeders as their feasting station.

The stump hanging to his right.  He uses his left leg for all balance and function.

Here you an see the claws of his left foot on the feeder.

One more "Bird Note" of interest -- there was also a flock of Cedar Waxwing chowing down on the fruit of our flowering crab apple trees -- I picked up the binoculars to take a closer look and what did I see ??  Two American Robins in the flock of Cedar Waxwing -- the poor things missed their ride south this fall -- and are trying to survive with a flock of birds that know where the fruit is found...   Simply amazing.

Finally -- I took a class at a local QS yesterday, a Wool/Cotton applique from Kim Diehl's book "Simple Graces".  In class we prepared the background, the wool, and the cotton applique pieces -- and we were able to place some.  I finished up placement this morning and it's now ready for sewing. Nice thing about wool applique -- it works up fast -- cut, place, baste, glue or pin and use a blanket or overhand stitch to finish !!

Isn't it beautiful ?  We're very fortunate to have a local Quilt Instructor (and friend) that does an extraordinary job of choosing fabric, hand dyed wool, and lovely over dyed floss for completing beautiful projects like "Yesterday Remembered" from Kim Diehl !!

Lots to do -- thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day !

--Karen