What has been happening here

I think I am all ready for Christmas.  Decorations are up and gifts have been mailed.  We are staying home this year, dog sitting for my son while he is on vacation.  All of our other kids are far away, so it is just DH and me this year.  I will try to get a picture of the puppies when they are here.

 I've been working on a new project.  Here is what I'm working with:

It has lots of HST's and flying geese.  Since I took the picture I have done quite a bit of sewing and am now putting together the border.  I love how it is looking and can't wait to have it done to show you!

Another project I worked on was for a small quilt swap.  My swap partner and I have both received our quilts so now I can show them off.  My partner lives in Wisconsin and enjoys spending time at her cabin.  Here is what I made for her:

It is about 17" square, each of the leaves is a 3" block.  Each of those little 1" blocks was fun and challenging to work with.  The stems are embroidered in colors to match the leaves.  It turned out so well I want to make one for myself.  I love the fall colors in it.  Best of all, she really likes it, too.

My swap partner made this quilt for me:

When we were discussing fabrics and colors we like, red white and blue was one of my choices.  This quilt is about 20" square and made up of HST, rail fence and 9 patch blocks.  All traditional blocks but when put together they form a New Mexico Star!  I had never heard of this block pattern but it so pretty and fitting since I live in New Mexico.  I love it, too.  This is the first little quilt swap I have participated in and it was so much fun.    If you are interested in more information about Small Quilt Talk, you can find it here.  It is sponsored by Kathleen Tracy of A Sentimental Quilter .  If you like doll quilts you might enjoy her blog.

I found another interesting little quilt blog, too.  There is a new button on my side bar for Building Houses From Scraps.  Jeanneke in The Netherlands made an adorable little house quilt and decided to share the pattern and set up the blog.  Her goal now is to make a little house block each day throughout 2012 for a large quilt.  I joined because I thought her doll quilt was so cute.  I don't know if I will make all 366 house blocks but I do want to make some.  She has over 800 people signed up to join her.  It will be fun to see how the quilts turn out.  Most of her blog posts are translated into English, so it is easy to read.

Last Sunday we got up real early and drove to the Bosque Del Apache  .  The sun had just come up when we got there so it was still cold.  We drove around the refuge to see how many birds we could see.

There were lots of snow geese and sandhill cranes.  These are some of the snow geese taking off and others still waiting on the water.  They are so cool because they look mostly white on the ground but when they fly the tips of their wings are black.  They take off in huge groups that are so fun to watch.

Sandhill cranes in the field.

Bald eagles in the tree.  These are two mature birds.

Here are a couple of juveniles just landing in another tree.  They don't have their white feathers on their heads yet.  All total we saw 7 bald eagles.  We were quite impressed, they are such regal birds. 

Besides the roads where you can drive, there are some hiking trails thru the refuge but they are closed for the time being.  Besides it being cold, there have been some mountain lions spotted in the area.  I'd love to see one, but not up close and personal!

It was a great little trip and neat to see the thousands of birds that migrate through the area.  We did see about 6 deer, too, but not close enough to get good pictures.

Hope you are all ready for Christmas and have wonderful times with your families!

Marsha