Bathroom Curtains

Steve seemed to think it was time to change the bathroom curtains, can't imagine why? We have only lived here 16+ years and they looked fine to me. I decided that if I were going to change the curtains it would be on my terms......
1. I was only going to use fabric from my stash.
2. I was not going to buy a pattern, I was going to wing it.
Of course neither of these conditions included spending money so he was all for doing it my way.

I think both sets of curtains turned out pretty well considering the aforementioned conditions, but the challenge was how to take pictures and prove I really accomplished the task. Have you ever tired to take a picture facing into a window? It doesn't work...... so I waited until dark and tried again. They aren't masterpiece pictures, but you can get the idea.

This is the downstairs bathroom, typical window treatment................

The upstairs bathroom has tile, so the curtain rod is one of those tension kind that fits inside the casing.

Well it was a fun diversion, but I won't be taking any commissions for curtains, so don't even ask.

Hummingbird Stories - Truth or Fiction??

Well here is the hummingbird story I promised. If you have read my previous humming bird post you'll remember that the Alpha male had performed his intimidation dance in front of me while I was watering the garden. He did the same thing one time after that, and I squirted him again with the hose. Now before you yell at me for being mean I should tell you that the hose has a setting for shower and that is what I use to water the garden and flower beds. The flow is very gentle and wouldn't hurt him if he was right up against the nozzle.


Up until last week we had not had any rain to speak of for over two weeks and things were pretty dry, big cracks in the ground all around the house and in the garden. One evening while I was watering Alpha male(now named Alfie) came by and sat on a branch near where I watered. He flew at me but stopped about three or four feet in front of me and hung there like he wanted to get my attention. He didn't dive at me or even squawk at me, just hung there. I held the hose up so that the water was near but not on him.....he flew into the shower and hung there a few seconds and then went back to his perch on the branch. He fluffed his feathers and shook himself off and then flew back to the spot he had gotten showered before and hung there.......so I slowly moved the shower over and he again hung in the water and then went back to his branch, shook off the water, fluffed his feathers and buzzed away.

Now is that one smart bird or what??? He knew I would squirt him, but he also knew I wouldn't hurt him, so he got a much needed bath without having to share the birdbath with all the other dirty birds.......

They still have their hummingbird wars, and he stands guard on a branch near the feeder waiting for the unwelcome dinner guests. But I guess that is just the way it will be, Alfie is after all Alpha male and in charge of this house, garden and feeder and the occasional handheld birdbath shower.

New Work

Wow, it's been almost a month since I posted last!!! Today is August 1st, the summer is flying by, I don't know how I could have missed June and July.

This post is about the beading I have been doing this month. A week from Monday I'll be teaching a class on the Dutch Spiral technique. It is an easy stitch that can be used for bracelets or for necklace ropes. When I did the Recycle project I did a dutch spiral for the rope for the large center cab.

This green one has a toggle and loop closing.

This red, white and black one has an antique glass button and loop for a closure.



I've also been working on this odd count peyote stitch cuff bracelet. The pictures don't do it justice, most of the delicas are metallic hex beads and they reflect the light and make it hard to get a good photo. I have about half an inch left to bead and the I need to add some beads on the outside and decide if I will use two buttons as the patten suggests or some other type of closure.

I love the way the designer had incorporated the triangles and the curved lines. Pattern is from Bead & Button Magazine and the designer is Eileen Spitz. You can find it on the B&B website.

This bracelet was really fun to do, I think it was 14 colors of delica's all together. The pattern is from the Bead iMag, a UK publication you can subscribe to and read your magazine on line and print all or just the parts you want. They have some really interesting projects and with a subscription you have access to all of the issues ever published plus all the ones published during your subscription term.

I have some bird news and pictures of the new awning on our deck to post too. Hope to get to that later today.......