As we hike the Texas State Park trails we are constantly looking for trash. We are always pleasantly surprised by the latest wildflowers
and this delicate little flower is actually a beautiful little fungus.
We're easy to please.
Louise and Duane
When not quilting on a quilting machine, the quilter always has to start in the middle and work outward, first in one direction then in the opposite direction, then the right angle directions to anchor the fabric. This requires me to constantly shift the fabric so that it moves freely under the needle in order to keep the stitches even and to prevent folds and puckers in the fabric. When I'm finished with a large quilt, I have strong arms and shoulders. Not a bad deal--finishing a quilt and upper body building at the same time.
A win-win is always welcome at our house!
Louise and Duane
First lay out the quilt back wrong side up on a clean, hard surface. Use masking tape to tape the back to the floor, stretching it so that all the wrinkles are flattened. (It helps to have a surface with lines like this tiled floor to make sure the fabric is straight.) If the backing has a pattern, check twice to make sure which is the top edge. (This step took 15 minutes.)
I was able to use a conference room at the Glass Center while Duane played pickleball in the gym across the hall.
Next, lay the batting on the quilt back, smoothing out all of the folds and wrinkles. Trim the edges to within an inch or two of the edge.
Carefully place the quilt top over the batting and back, gently smoothing all of the wrinkles and making sure that the edges meet. Make sure the top of the quilt is on the same edge as the top of the backing. (These two steps took another 15 minutes.)
Notice that the black-capped chickadees, the only piece with a "right way up" is upside down. Turn the top around and smooth it again.
The last and most tiring step is to use bent safety pins to fasten the three pieces together. (This step took 2 1/2 hours before I ran out of pins.)
There are two more steps to this process: the quilting, which is sewing the three pieces together in some sort of design, and the binding, which finishes the raw edges.
That's a project for another day.
Louise (and Duane)
August of 2018 found us hiking our favorite national park--Bryce Canyon . 
Utah has the best national parks.
Louise and Duane
When we were growing up in midwestern Ohio, it wasn't summer until the cicadas sang. Their shells were everywhere. Here in Texas, however, cicadas are few and far between and their songs are over too soon. Fireflies--lightning bugs--were also abundant. A favorite evening game was to snatch them out of the air and watch them flash as they walked up our fingers and flew away. This summer in Texas, I've seen one firefly.
Environmentalists blame overuse of chemicals for the decline of all kinds of insects. Whatever the reason, we think it sad that our Texas grandchildren can't enjoy these simple signs of summer.
We miss them also.
Louise and Duane
Since the burst of summer growth here in Tyler State Park we have been trimming back shrubs, vines and grasses that have been choking some parts of the trails.
Today we took off with the manly-man trimmer
and its attendant manly-man (very heavy) gas can.
They did the trick. We trimmed the heavy brush and had an upper body workout all at once.
One more trail to trim.
Louise and Duane
While we're walking the trails picking up trash here at Tyler (TX) State Park, we often come across stuff we can't explain, such as why people walk off without their flip flops or Tshirts, but this scattering of white feathers really left us scratching our heads.
Still wondering,
Louise and Duane
After another Sunday at home I decided to visit the family. These pictures were taken in April of 2018, but I had fun revisiting.
Kids are amazingly limber!
Louise and Duane
One day as we were hiking along, I heard a buzzing at the side of the path. It sounded just like the dragonfly Evinrude in Disney's The Rescuers. As I looked for the source, I heard the buzzing increase in speed and raise in pitch. I thought a bee had been caught in a spider's web. Instead I found this hornet-mimicking fly hovering above the leaf litter. I'ts wings were beating so fast that I couldn't see them!
Nature never fails to amaze.
Louise and Duane
I saw this at Costco and decided to give them a try. They were delicious,
and not bad for us!
We always enjoy a win-win.
Louise and Duane
From April 22 I first laid out my 2"x3" diamonds.On August 18 when I sewed on the last 16 diamond patch to complete the quilt top. The top consists of 146 large diamonds or 2,336 small ones. I estimate that it took about 69,520 hand stitches to sew it all together.
Amazing what we can accomplish with a bit of patience!
Louise and Duane
I bet Duane he couldn't do it.
He won his bragging rights.
I knew he could do it.
Louise (and Duane)
Pre Covid19 we would meet the family at Denny's for Sunday breakfast a couple of times a month, then go to their house for the afternoon to visit or to help Jeremy with one of his many projects. Today however, we enjoyed breakfast together then came home.
Hoping the "new normal" won't be normal for long,
Louise and Duane
An amazing thing happened at the grocery yesterday. After almost three months of empty shelves, my favorite shower cleaner suddenly showed up!
I only 1/2 hoarded--I left one on the shelf.
Simple things make smiling faces!
Louise and Duane
There's nothing like an Arizona desert evening.
We can't see the sunset here in east Texas. This beautiful sequence was taken in Arizona in 2018.
Can't beat desert sunsets.
Louise and Duane
The latest bit of color we've been noticing as we hike is the beautiful seeds of the Green Dragon.
They start out green. As they ripen they turn yellow,
orange,
and finally red.
Very pretty.
Louise and Duane
