Originally Posted by JEGsgirl
Originally Posted by Quilter7x
Hi Shannon and welcome. My hubby and I love watching the birds. He feeds them black oil sunflower seeds all year long and just put the suet feeder out. Within minutes he had a Downy Woodpecker on it. We get chickadees, titmice, juncos, house finches, gold finches, cardinals, blue jays and all kinds of other birds. We just love it!
How did you get started in quilting? I sewed doll clothes as a little girl and then clothes for myself as an adult and wanted nothing to do with quilting until after I turned 30. Something clicked in me then and I though, ooooh that pattern looks nice and so does that one and that one and then I was "bit" by the quilting bug! What got you started?
Hi Quilter7x! Thank you for the tips on feeding birds in the NE. I shall be moving there within the next six months and am quite excited about a whole new life in New England. It is exciting to hear that there are so many varieties of birds in your backyard-birds are fascinating little creatures-love 'em!
Ever since I was a little girl, inspired by my great grandmother's hand-quilting masterpieces, I wanted to learn to quilt. Never made the time for me to learn/take lessons. The Christmas after my brother's suicide in 1993, my dad gifted me with a "Brother" sewing machine. I've never been able to get this machine to work. It's been into a couple of different sewing machine repair/cleaning and works fine there. So last year, I purchased a Singer for myself. Now I just need to make time for me to jump in and make a quilt. It sounds like there might be a number of how-to videos that may be helpful. Pretty sure I have the necessary supplies to get me started at least. Once I'm far enough along to learn about binding, batting, and quilting I can learn about those things as well. Last Autumn, I made twenty-two fabric coasters as gifts for the women in my women's wisdom group. They turned out quite lovely and were well received. Yay! Guess, I'm in inspired beginner.
Thank you for sharing your story of how you became a quilter.
The quilt used for your avatar is stunning. Is this a quilt that you made?
We have many more birds as well. One of my favorites are the rose breasted grosbeaks that come in the spring for about two weeks. This year, they stayed longer, so we think they nested here. They're such a pretty bird and they aren't afraid of you much. We also have lots of woodpeckers; downy, hairy and red-bellied to name a few. In the spring, we had a swarm of bluebirds that went from the woods behind us to the neighbor's back yard and then back into the woods, so beautiful! We have robins, flickers, ruby throated hummingbirds and in the woods, I hear orioles, but don't see them much.
My avatar is called Center Stage, it's put out by Pieced Tree Designs. Look just below this post and you'll see that info in my signature line. It's a table topper and it's supposed to have a 12" square for the middle, but I was making so many of them and got bored with the center being one piece, so I made extra half square triangles and played with them till I got a design I liked. I love the Pieced Tree designs; they go together quickly and are very easy to do.
So sorry about your brother, suicide is not an easy thing to deal with. Time does help though, so hopefully you can reflect back on the good times and it brings a smile to your face.
You are so lucky to have had a grandmother who quilted. There isn't anyone in my family who does and it is absolutely my passion.