Friday's Here

Promises are like crying babies in a theater, they should be carried out at once.  

~Norman Vincent Peale

Mother Nature struck again this week.  We went from almost 100 degrees on Sunday to a high of 68 degrees yesterday.  Wednesday night she provided a brief light show followed by rolling thunder and a couple of wonderful spring showers.  I would love if we could have one of these storms roll through here at least once a week!  Our weekend looks to be a lot calmer than last weekend.  Maybe we will finally get around to checking on the drip system in the garden (some of it's not working).  At least with the temporary cooler weather we won't feel like we are melting to a puddle while working outside.  I have to make a couple of small purchases in preparation for the next workshop I'm attending next month and, of course, we will be making our weekly run to the Farmer's Market.  Oh, and we will be visiting the local SPCA's book sale and hope to find some future reading material.  What are plans for the weekend?

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LITTLE FACT OF THE DAY

Butterflies

With spring definitely having arrived, I'm seeing more and more butterflies in my garden.  These delicate creatures come in so many colors and fly so gracefully.  I love the tickle of the their feet when they land on my skin.  Here are some interesting facts about butterflies:

* Butterflies range in size from a tiny 1/8 inch to a huge almost 12 inches.

* Butterflies can see red, green, and yellow.

* The top butterfly flight speed is 12 miles per hour. Some moths can fly 25 miles per hour!

* Monarch butterflies journey from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico, a distance of about 2,000 miles, and return to the north again in the spring.

* Butterflies cannot fly if their body temperature is less than 86 degrees.

* Representations of butterflies are seen in Egyptian frescoes at Thebes, which are 3,500 years old.

* There are about 24,000 species of butterflies. The moths are even more numerous: about 140,000 species of them were counted all over the world.

* The Brimstone butterfly (Gonepterix rhamni) has the longest lifetime of the adult butterflies: 9-10 months.

* Many butterflies can taste with their feet to find out whether the leaf they sit on is good to lay eggs on to be their caterpillars' food or not.

* Butterfly wings are transparent. How can that be? We know butterflies as perhaps the most colorful, vibrant insects around! A butterfly wing is actually formed by layers of chitin, the protein that makes up an insect's exoskeleton. These layers are so thin you can see right through them. Thousands of tiny scales cover the transparent chitin, and these scales reflect light in different colors. As a butterfly ages, scales fall off the wings, leaving spots of transparency where the chitin layer is exposed.

* To supplement its diet of nectar, a butterfly will occasionally sip from mud puddles, which are rich in minerals and salts.

* Butterflies don’t have lungs. They breathe through openings in their abdomens called Spiracles.

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HAD TO GIGGLE

Last night while watching SMASH (yes, we DVR everything!) my sweet DH said to me "You really have me brainwashed with quilting.  Here we are watching a musical dance section of the show and I notice the design on the floor and I think 'that would make a cool quilt design'.  It reminds me of the quilt that one Best In Show up in Lindsay."   I've told you before that he really enjoys attending quilt shows and this sure proves it.  He was referring to the quilt "Floral Fantasy".  The design painted on the floor definitely resembled one of the flowers in that quilt.  I just love my husband!! 

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STITCHERY UPDATE

As you can tell, I was able to get some stitching in this week.  This is right before I had to roll my scroll up again.  I just love the colors in the sky and the lightening strike coming down.  The tree is done in Treasure Braid and I'm not thrilled with the results - the stitches are much to open for my liking.  The picture doesn't show the glitter from it or the gold or silver stitched into the side units.

Design:  Desert Mandala

Designer:  Martina Weber / Chatelaine Designs

Fabric:  Antique White Belfast (linen - for those of you who do not stitch)

Stitched:  2 strands of DMC floss over 2 threads

1 strand of Treasure Braid over 2 threads

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CROSS STITCH KIT REVIEW

I was recently contacted by a small cross stitch shop owner in the United Kingdom, Yiota's XStitch, to do a review of one of her products.  Yiota sent me the kit of my choice, Forest Scene, to review and enjoy.  

Forest Scene

The cross stitch kit arrived quite quickly in my mailbox.  What a wonderful cross stitch kit!!!

The kit comes with a very easy to read black and white chart, evenweave fabric (or you may select Aida cloth), needle, and the necessary threads pre-wound on card bobbins.  This kit came with Madeira threads but has a conversions for DMC floss colors.  I've never used a kit with the threads already sorted and wound.  All patterns are designed with full stitches only.

I spent at least a couple of hours browsing through counted cross stitch patterns and kits available from Yiotas-XStitch.  There are so many to choose from.  She also carries stamped cross stitch, latch hook, fabrics, needles, threads, and accessories.  There are also some wonderful free patterns available on her site.  The prices are very reasonable and if you don't want to pay the over seas shipping, most of her patterns are available to download for a very reasonable price.  Thank you for allowing me to do this review, Yiota.  I look forward to stitching this up some time in the near future.

Visit Yiotas-XStitch!!

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TODAY'S GOAL

Today I plan on starting the two little Loving Hands quilts for my May donation.

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GIVEAWAYS

AccuQuilt is having a giveaway.  You could win a GO! Baby Starter Kit.  This giveaway ends ?

Sewing Miles of Smiles is having a giveaway.  You could win 2 finger puppet patterns from Floral Blossom. This giveaway ends Thursday, May 3.

FaveQuilts is having a giveaway.  You could win a copy of Kaleidoscope Kreator 3.  This giveaway ends Tuesday, May 1.

Quilting Gallery Blog is having a giveaway.  You could win a copy of the Garden Dance Party pattern from Studio 180 Designs.  This giveaway ends Wednesday, May 2.

One Piece At A Time is having a giveaway.  You could win a copy of Ties That Bind by Marie Bostwick.  This giveaway ends Wednesday, May 2.

Fish Creek Studio is having a giveaway.  You could win a charm pack of Vintage Modern.  This giveaway ends Sunday, April 29, at 9:00 pm EST.

Doodles and Designs is having a giveaway.  You could win a copy of Quilting Modern by Jacquie Gering and Katie Pedersen.  This giveaway ends Monday, April 30.

The Jolly Jabber is having a giveaway.  You could win 4 mini charm packs of Seasonal Little Gatherings.  This giveaway ends Tuesday, May 1.

Bitter Sweet Designs is having a giveaway.  You could win a fat quarter bundle of Flock from Fat Quarter Shop.  This giveaway ends Tuesday, May 1, at 9:00 pm PDT.

Quilt Taffy is having a giveaway.  You could win a Vintage Baby charm pack.  This giveaway ends Saturday, April 28.

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FINAL THOUGHT