MARCH 30, 2017 WILLOW CITY LOOP TRIP

We decided to take off and head towards Fredericksburg, TX for the day and drive the Willow City Loop off of route 16 between Fredersicksburg and Llano.you can read about it here.  First we stopped at Old Settlers Park in Round Rock to get a few pictures of the girls in the bluebonnets.

There was another spot with more Indian Paintbrush mixed among the blues but there was some one else there with their 4- legged family member. Another day!

After getting these we drove to Fredericksburg. Made a quick stop at the quilt shop in Dripping Springs. 

At the intersection of 281 and 290 outside Johnson City the median was full of Indian Blankets. 

Taken through the fence at Wildseed Farm. Huge field of Poppies in front and Bluebonnets in the back.

We headed north on 16 once we got to Fredersicksburg and  found the Willow City Loop

I think we probably crossed 10 cattle guards on the 13 mile loop. The road goes through Texas ranches. Didn't see too many cattle but lots of signs posted "Loose Livestock" Fortunately for a few people who went speeding past in their little cars none of the cattle tried crossing the road. 

Not all flowers had to take a few pictures of the country side. Galen figures we could see a good 20 miles. It was a crystal clear day.

                                           

Pencil cactus. These thorns will grab on to anything.

Does not take much soil or good soil. 

This ranch and yes it is for sale had an old boot of just about every post lining the road

It was a nice drive during the week. Enough of cars and people. Would not want to take it on the weekend. The road is just 2 cars wide and of course people would stop to take pictures. Yes we did too! 

Design Wall Monday March 27, 2017

It has been 2 weeks since I last posted. It has been busy, but not much on the sewing front. As I have mentioned I am trying to sort, toss, find a place for a lot of sewing items. Among my discovery  was a plastic tote with the waste triangles from various snow ball block swaps and other projects.

This is approximately 400 such waste triangles that need to be trimmed and pressed. I know there is another container as well as a bag from a swap I was in a few years ago!

I did work on some crumb blocks. Have 15 made that 6.5 inches. Will put them away for a little while.

But over the weekend I did manage to get the binding on and finished on the last quilt. This is the bigger version of the one I showed last time. This one is set 5 x 6

We have been enjoying Mother Nature's flowers the past few weeks. We were able to take a drive over the past weekend towards San Saba. Later on this week will post pictures from our "flower trips"

So for now

Back to Patchworktimes

Design Wall Monday-March 13, 2017

Back home in Round Rock. Had a great week in Rockport, TX last week but now it is back home and to reality! Left there in the rain Friday morning and brought it back with us. Rained almost all of Saturday. We stayed put yesterday but feeling somewhat better today.

I have 3 finishes to report. Hooray for me! Finished binding 2 quilts while away and the 3rd one yesterday.

Pineapple Blossom a Bonnie Hunter free pattern on her blog.

PINEAPPLE BLOSSOM

This one is from the NY eve mystery group on Yahoo. Waiting for my larger one  from my quilter friend

This one is Chevron Pattern using Kaffe fabrics

If you look at my blog you know Galen (DH) takes pictures of birds, butterflies and dragonflies.

Why we spent last week on the coast. And he goes out here a lot too. The camera is always in the car. We have Burrowing Owls that winter here near Lake Granger. They will be gone by the end of this month.  While some do stay, these guys seem to take off. Love these little guys. He took this picture on Saturday.

Hoping to get back to purging fabric and patterns etc this week. Have accumulated way to much over the years.

OVER TO PATCHWORKTIMES

Thursday in Rockport, TX 3/9/2017

This will be the last posting from Rockport for a while. It has been a fun few days. Galen has managed to get quite a few pictures and when back at the motel I have been able to sew bindings on 2 quilts and partially on the 3rd.
                                                   Quilt number 2

                      Before going out of Rockport we stopped at one of the viewing areas

                      Then we took 1069 out of Rockport until we came to Camp Velero Rd.

                                You can understand why this is a good area for wintering birds.

Tiki has also taken up bird watching!

WHITE IBIS (JUVENAL)

                                                                    MALLARD

                                                             MOTTLED DUCK

                                                                  DUNLIN

                                                      ROSEATE SPOONBILL

                                                       TRICOLORED HERON

REDDISH EGRET

LONG BILLED CURLEWS IN THE EVENING PRIMROSE

Just to give you an idea of a field of 

Evening Primrose

BUFFLEHEAD

                                                               BLUE -WINGED TEAL

NEOTROPIC CORMORANT

AMERICAN KESTREL

RED-TAIL HAWK

These are taken from a Kayak put in spot on Port Bay Rd. Those white structures you see in the distance are on the other side of Swan lake and where we were on Tuesday. The aqua-cultural complex.

Got back to the room for a few hours before heading out for dinner. For dinner we took the recommendation of our friend and went to Paradise Keys. Another delicious meal.

                                         
                                                           SHRIMP SCAMPI

                                              VIEW FROM OUR TABLE ON THE PORCH

We were talking on the way there as far as weather this past week it was not great, Cloudy almost every day, a little rain but not much. But it was a good week.