Iris Table Runner

Life is like a coin.  You can spend it any way you wish, but you only spend it once.  

~Lillian Dickson

Saturday was a long day of running errands and attending an ALS support group meeting.  We left the house just before 9:00 and didn't get back home until almost 5:00.  Add in the heat of the day and I was exhausted.  We did visit the SPCA book sale once again and ended up buying several more books.  It's hard to pass up $1.00 each for paperbacks and $3.00 for hardbacks.  My bookshelf is full once again so I don't have to worry about having nothing to read.  Mother's Day was much more restful.  I was able to get in some stitching and enjoyed talking to both of my daughters by phone.  I'm ready for a new week - ready to start a new project.  Are you starting anything new this week?

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LITTLE FACT OF THE DAY

Bat (and, no, the picture is not upside down)

Bats.  Those silent fliers in the night sky.  I try to avoid these creatures but am amazed at how quickly they maneuver in the dark.  Here are some interesting facts I found out about bats:

*  With over 1,000 species, bats comprise one fifth of all the mammals in existence.

* Bats are omnivores, but the diet of one kind may differ from the other; like, the British bats only eat insects, but the bats found in tropical countries consume many other edibles; such as, fruits, flowers, frogs, fishes, and at times bats of different species.

* A bat species is the world’s smallest mammal – the tiny bumblebee bat that weighs less than a penny.

* On the other hand, the Malayan fruit bat has a wing span of up to five feet!

* Bats are the only mammals that fly.

* At least a few tropical bat species are monogamous, sharing hunting and family duties. Vampire bats even adopt orphans, unusual for any wild animal.

* Using sound alone through their ability to echolocate and in total darkness, many bats can detect obstacles as fine as a human hair.

* When exposed to the hot sun during the day, bats cool themselves by flapping their wings, licking their chest and wings, and panting. In cool weather or during heavy rain, they almost completely wrap themselves with their wings.

* Bats give birth to the largest babies in mammals as at the time of birth a bat baby can weigh around one fourth of the total size of the mother bat. But this is with an exception that a bat can give birth to only one baby per year.

* A bat on an average consumes anything from 2,000 to 6,000 insects each night.

* As compared to their size, these creatures live a long life. Their age span can be anything from ten to twenty years depending upon their species. Some species can live as long as thirty years too. The oldest known bat was recently recaptured in Europe at 41 years old.

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MOTHER'S DAY GIFT FOR MY MOTHER

I finished the gift for my Mom on Friday, just in time for Mother's Day.  

Both my mother and I love iris so I knew this table runner would be perfect for her.  The pattern comes from   Nature's Beauty in Applique by Susan Taylor Propst.  The pattern is made for hand applique but I made it up in raw edge applique.

Here is a close-up of one of the iris.  Maybe you can see the tiny zigzag stitch I used for the applique. Now I need to make one for myself.

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TODAY'S GOAL

I am going to start a new project

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FINAL THOUGHT