Wonderful

Isn't it wonderful how big they are getting!

And this is too wonderfully funny!

So wonderful to have a sunbeam to bask in.  I confess, I basked in the sunshine this morning too.  A bad night's sleep capped with an early morning dose of migraine medication meant I was snoring on the sofa by 9am feeling lovely and warm in the sun.

On the weekend, we first of all went to a wonderful Tony Bennett concert at the Durham Performing Arts Center (DPAC).  Basically....he's a little old man with an aging voice, a huge personality, even huger talent, and he can still blow an audience right out of the concert hall.  He even sang one song with no mike, just to prove he can.  And the audience loved every minute of it.  The Tramp and I very much included.

I also set up my wonderful new Bernina Record on the SewEzi table and rocked out a quilt top.

I need to order a 1/4" foot but for this top the regular foot was quite good enough.

I even got a whole lot of leader and ender pieces done on Bonnie Hunter's Blue Ridge Beauty quilt.  The Juki has an automatic thread cutter so I never think to use my leaders and enders!  No point really.

This is the top, minus borders.  I followed the Missouri Star Quilt Company's Double-Sliced Layer Cake video tutorial and it whips up very quickly.  The fabric is Seascapes, by Deb Strain.  I love it!

Not wonderful is that my car is in the shop waiting for a new transmission.  :-(  Poor Red.  But this means I'm stuck at home and can concentrate on sewing and vacuuming.  (always the vacuuming!)  So I'm getting back into the swing of things with quilt tops for Patchwork Memories.  I always like working on the purple ones.  :-)

The other wonderful new thing is a new zoom lens (70-300mm) for my "fancy" camera.  My wonderful Tramp has been watching for one and suddenly one popped up on Craigslist for a very good price.  Not that I understand all the ins and outs of the camera yet, but I had a quick photo session (132 photos! Ack!) while the light was still good.  So cool.

I've also been messing about a bit in Photoshop.  First thing I did was to blow up the kingfisher photo and found out it is indeed a female.

Madness is a mixed flock of over 50 pine siskins and finches.  They are eating us out of house and home!  :-)

The male flicker was eyeing up the madness at the feeders and decided to stay in the tree.

The new banner photo and these below were taken with the Pentax and the new lens.

I need to learn how to get good action shots though.

It's wonderfully addicting!   Consider yourself warned.  :-)