Doings At the Aerie

Nothing much going on around here the last two days. We enjoyed some lovely 70 degree weather on Thursday bit the wind shifted and brought rain and colder temperatures overnight. The rain ended early on Friday and the sun eventually made an appearance in the afternoon but the temperature never got above 54 degrees. Tonight's sunset was spectacular! Bright reds lit up the western evening sky for almost half an hour.

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Not much new on the birding front. Thursday we had winds out of the south-southwest and skein after skein of geese and Tundra Swans were taking advantage of the favorable tail winds. to head north. Every time I stepped out on the deck there were three or four that flew overhead. We still have the same old birds at the feeders however. The Pine Siskens, Chickadees, White and Red Breasted Nuthatches, and Tufted Titmice don't seem to have decreased in number. That can't be said for the Goldfinches. While they are still pretty numerous, there seem to be a few less than a week ago. Perhaps they've started to look for other sources of food and/or nesting areas.

I'm going to go out tomorrow and hit some of the better birding areas in the county. I need to build my species list for this year before I fall too far behind.

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I didn't mention it the other day but Terry is down in Louisville, KY for an executive board meeting of the Embroiderer's Guild. She's a regional director and a member of their finance committee. She says things are going smoothly and they may even finish a day early.

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I spent a few more hours in the workshop straightening things out and got the paint situation pretty much in hand. I put a set of shelves under the stairs and managed to get (almost) all the pan and stain cans on it. That alone freed up considerable room.  The majority of the plastic drop cloths along with rollers got put into a box. Brushes got sorted and some chucked. What I'm going to do with about eight or more paint rollers and trays is yet to be determined. I think the bulk of them will end up being taken to the dump. (If I ever have to paint walls I will NOT have to buy much but the paint..and even that is doubtful if I stick to white.)

I may rearrange the position of the one work benches and the bandsaw so the sawdust from the sander and router is kept under better control.

I should be able to get back to building stuff next week. I better hurry up and get some birdhouses outside and clean up the ones that are already out there. Very little in the way of cold and snow in the forecast for the next 15 days.

Some of Terry's Projects from 2014

While I've been out doing manly things like hunting, fishing, gardening, tree felling, wood cutting and yard maintenance, Terry has been cranking out projects in her little (over stuffed) sewing room like crazy this past year. They type of project varies with whatever inspires her at the time. However, she has been sticking to small stuff for the most part. Things she can pretty much do in half her lap while a cat is occupying the other half. Even then things can get a little dicey. Many projects contain some cat fur but that's a recognized hazard of the craft.

She has been doing a lot of beading work lately. (Something not usually associated with either Embroidery or Smocking, but which seems to show up quite frequently when they talk about what skills they would like to learn or projects they would like to complete. Call it a shiny distraction from the norm if you will.)

In the bracelet above, the smaller beads actually form the bezel that holds the larger stones in place. (To me, this looks like something Wonder Woman would use to deflect bullets.)

 

This bracelet is a little less massive. Again the smaller beads from the bezel and tie the three larger stones together. 

Far lighter still was this necklace that appears to be made form a series of shells or flower petals.

Terry likes doing her "bling" projects because when she wears them to a meeting, they always get comments from the ladies.

That doesn't mean she has ignored her Smocking, however.

 This piece of smocked fabric (with beads!) is destined to become a tree ornament...soon.

And Terry even branched out a little this year doing some quilting. With the Messingers turning out grandchildren at a rapid pace (two or three a year!) Terry knocked together two baby blankets for this year's arrivals.

The embroidered panels were actually done by someone else. Terry picked them up at a fundraising auction for a couple of bucks which saved her quite a bit of time on completing these particular projects. Time she eventually had to use to fight Julie the cat off the material as she was trying to sew it together.

The items above are only a small sample of things she has worked on this year. Several have been sent out to be framed. Others have found their way into the jewelry box or gift boxes.

The calendar has flipped to 2015 and more projects are stacking up in Terry's sewing room. (Faster than they are getting done!) And the Messingers are still producing grandchildren while we've one of our own on the way so Terry better get cracking!

New embroidery piece by Terry

Terry will be picking up a newly framed piece of hers today. It's embroidery but in a 3D mode. The "trees" are created by snipping some of the horizontal threads on the even-weave and then gathered the verticals to create the trunks. They are placed in front of a scene from a birthday card I got in September.

Looks pretty nice.

Aerie Report, August 10, 2009

Lorraine and Nancy left around 8:30 AM today (just slightly after I headed out for Cabela's. They planned to head over to Ashley, PA before turning southward and back to their home in SOuth Carolina. It figures that they should choose to leave just as some of the hottest weather of the sumer arrives. At least they got to enjoy several days where the high temps were only around 75 and the lows were in the low 50s. Today's high was 87 degrees (better than the 95 the truck recorded down at Cabela's!) There are some heavy storms to the south of here stretching from Williamsport down to Harrisburg and they are drifting eastward--right over Cabela's in Hamburg. Here, in Tioga County, we are enjoying a reprieve from the heaviest rains while experiencing the drop in temperature that usually accompanies a squall line.

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Seven hours round trip from the Aerie to Cabela's in Hamburg, PA today, two hours for lunch and shopping with my buddy (and squash pusher) Joe. Neither of us found everything we wanted, either. It should be a crime when you travel as far as we did (Joe had a four hour round rip from eastern NJ) and find out that the store doesn't have what you want and its shelves where what you want is supposed to be are literally bare. Joe was looking for primers to do some reloading. I wanted a copy of the Deloreme maps for PA to put in the Jeep. Nada. Zero, Zilch. At the cash register we were handed that age old fishing line we've heard time and again: "You should have been here yesterday!" Seems this weekend was a big promo thingy and everyone--and I mean EVERYONE--was there to stock up. Hell, we tried to boost the economy! Oh well, we'll just have to go back again when they restock.

I did get myself a nice Nikon ProStaff 550 Laser Rangefinder and some additional Magnus Snuffer broadheads. (The new bow and/or pistol will have to wait until 1) I feel more comfortable with the sizable cash outlay 2) I can figure out how to sneak it in the house past Terry.)

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When I got back from Cabela's, Terry and I had a quick dinner and headed over to the Tioga County Fair. She entered four pieces of needlework--one stump work, one black work, one sampler, and one smocked infant dress--into the fair this year and, since I'm heading up to the Bolt Hole tomorrow, I wanted to see how she fared.

She got three first place ribbons and one second. She does say, however, that there were not that many entrants. Still, the judges seemed impressed.

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As I said, I'll be hooking up the utility trailer in the morning and heading up to the Bolt Hole for a couple of days. The grass needs cutting and there are other chores that need to be around the cabin and out buildings. I plan on being up there for five or six days. Then I'll haul the ATV down to the Aerie and start moving some of the firewood I've cut out of the woods. Weather permitting, (and if my back doesn't go on strike against me) I've got some pretty busy days ahead of me.

Yet More Ornaments

Here are a couple more tree ornaments Terry has put together over the years.

This one's a sorta quilted star.

A smocked bell done up in shades of peach.

An example of embroidered work.

Tree Ornaments

I mentioned that we decorated this year's tree using only handmade ornaments, most of which Terry made. There are about 100 ornaments nestled in the branches of our tree and Terry says she counted only about ten that she did not do. These ten came as gifts from others in exchanges at her clubs, from relatives (Jessica and Ruthann), or were purchased from folks in her clubs.

The ninety or so that Terry did are almost evenly split between those which have some form of embroidery and those that are smocked.

Embroidered ornamental sachet.
(counted cross-stitch)

Smocked Christmas Ball in Red and Green.

Needlepoint Angel on canvas.

Embroidery by Terry

So, while I was out hauling a ton of flat stones out of the woods, Terry was baking zucchini bread and sittin’ and stitchin’. Here’s the piece she was working on:



It’s an embroidery piece of Cinderella seeking comfort from her friend the cat. (Of course bribery in the form of a saucer of milk is involved. Come on! It’s a cat!)

Everything you see against the white background is stitched on the fabric. None of it is printed there. Terry said the hair was the most difficult part to do.
 


I’ll take her word for it.