On the Wall

 I made this little birdhouse quilt over ten years ago. It was a Thimbleberries pattern, I still love the fabrics I chose. I mitered (sewed the Y seam) instead of using all the HST used in the pattern for the roofs and base of the birdhouse. The morning glories and leaves are button hole stitched, there is a button in the center of each flower attached with embroidery floss, the 4 hole buttons are stitched in a square. I remember how sore my fingers were from pulling a large needle with floss through the quilt.
A red winged blackbird, killdeer and killdeer and pheasant tracks in the mud. The killdeer had a nest close by because they were not happy that I was near. The killdeer chicks look just like the adults only small. It must be that birds that nest on the ground have chicks that as soon as they are dry are fuzzy and cute and can walk or run as opposed to the birds that nest high up and have homely babies.
Another book I found in the elementary school library when I was there last week was The Boy Who Drew Birds a story about John James Audubon, written by Jacqueline Davis and illustrated by Melissa Sweet. Audubon was fascinated by birds from when he was a small boy in France. He came to America in the early 1800's when he was 18 years old. He would sit in the woods and sketch and watch until the birds thought he was part of the forest. He tied a thread to a birds leg hoping to find out if birds return to the same nest every spring. The bird picked the thread loose so he tried a silver thread, the bird couldn't pick it off so the next spring the bird with the silver thread returned to the same area. The scientific theories of where birds go in the winter was hilarious. The story and illustrations are delightful.

-- Ann --