Baskets, Bears, Eagles, and Cardinals

There's not much sewing getting done at my house, but there's a lot of spring cleaning going on.  I always dread cleaning, but I always like the final result.  I also get out a different quilt to put on my bed.  Below is my "Baskets and Bears" quilt that I made about ten years ago.  The baskets are machine appliqued with a blanket stitch.  The quilt was machine quilted at a local quilt shop so we could enjoy a new quilt on our bed.

I remember being so happy to finally have this project done.  It was a time in my life that I was so busy with raising my two sons, but I made time to do a little sewing on the side.

There's a wonderful secret in our neighborhood!  We have an eagle's nest about a half mile from our house.  A nice neighbor let us borrow his spotting scope that magnifies things up to 60 times.  I've enjoyed many moments looking out my window watching our eagle.  They now have babies and you can see them tend to their young.  It will be fun to watch the babies grow up.

My neighbor, Steve Shoemaker, took this picture west of our house this winter.

(Note: Steve owns all copyright privileges.)

We don't know if this is the eagle near our house or another one, but it doesn't matter.  It's just something that has been a joy in our neighborhood.  With eagles on my mind I found a pattern at the Chicago Quilt show that I want to try out.

So there's a future winter project.  The pattern is called "Spirit" by Toni Whitney.  The Bigfork Bay Cotton Company sells the pattern.

Well we've talked about baskets, bears, and eagles.  I also wanted to share that we have a cardinal's nest outside my kitchen window.

I haven't been able to photograph the male, but here is the female.  I guess he's like most of the guys in my family--they hate cameras!

Happy Quilting

Kay