Potpourri or A Lot Of Stuff

Potpourri ... a preponderance of flower petals perfectly positioned in a pretty piece of cloth, a mix of magical music or just a lot of stuff that doesn't fit with anything else.  That's what yesterday was.  

The weather has cooled off a bit, especially at night, making for some nice morning coffee times on the patio.  I do love listening to the sounds of the birds waking up.  It's even better when I remember to take the hummingbird feeder down and don't share company with the bats.

It's getting close to their time however since Halloween is right around the corner.  I think I purchased this quilt about 3 years ago and just finished putting it together.  What was I thinking?  It's bright enough to scare away any Halloween bat, or vampire for that matter.

This particular piece of potpourri went pretty fast as far as sewing quilts goes.  It's made up of scrap fabric I had from a failed project.  Never buy the outside fabric for a panel ahead of time, especially when the panel is on order and you find they sold out.  

In fact this quilt is so simple ... let's call it a quilt-in-a-day kind ... I made TWO.  Rather than shuck out maybe $1800 for the eight quilts I have ready to be quilted, I'm looking at buying my own quilting frame ..... with the computer that gives you all those fabulous patterns.  It's not cheap, but maybe I can go into the quilting business ... kinda sorta ... on a part time basis.  

In the meantime, I challenged my mechanical skills to the max.  So far I'm able to mow the lawn with the electric lawn mower dragging 75 feet of power cord behind me.  Thankfully I have been lucky enough not to electrocute myself.  

This time, it's so bad around the edges that I tried to wrangle the electric weedeater.  These things scare me.  They throw up rocks and dirt everywhere, probably because I never know just how you are supposed to hold the darn thing. 

I admit, I made a mistake by trying to eat the weeds at the bottom of the palm tree where little palm fronds were growing.  Instantly, my weedeater was sucked in and attached to the tree.  I ripped it away with all my strength.  Apparently the frond was a tough one.  It had wound itself completely around the string casing and refused to let go.

Thirty minutes and three pair of pliers later, I finally got it out.  This time I stayed away from the trunk, but wait ..... it's not working now.  Apparently I ran the thing out of string.  Oh boy .... this should be a fun trick replacing it.  

I think I saw something in the garage that might be string.  When I returned to the yard, I found this weird thing hanging on the gate.  I knew immediately it was a stick bug!!  In fact (I looked it up) a walking stick bug.  

When I moved the gate, his long antenna (or so I thought) turned into legs.  How cool is that?  He's well over six inches long.  Apparently they eat leaves and plant material.  I was hoping they dined on moths and flying things.  I quietly closed the gate and left him alone.  Thirty minutes later, he was gone.

I actually found the spool of string stuff for the weedeater and was finally able to put it together, but I didn't have enough nerve to plug it in and hit the start button.  Maybe I'll give it a shot next week!!

Cooper and I went on a nice evening walk.  I have to say I'm pretty proud of him.  There are about ten big dogs in our neighborhood and they all bark like crazy.  Luckily they are behind big fences.  Cooper never makes a sound, although he would love to run over and say hello.  

His favorite thing is to water all the weeds along the road, which he's really good at.  What he missed was the rabbit sitting stock still just ten feet away.  I'm glad he didn't see or smell it, or I'm sure he would have drug me down the hillside.

Today I'm off to the quilting machine store.  I'm excited but hesitant.  I've looked at many used machines, but there's the problem of having to go get it, tear it down, haul it here, then put it all back together when I know absolutely nothing about setting them up.  The other thing is warranty.  For the price, I definitely want to know that if it breaks, someone will fix it.  It's a big ticket item, and will I get good use out of it?  

I suppose I have nothing else to spend my money on and basically no one to leave it to.  Might as well enjoy it while I can.  Instead of sitting on the porch rocking away in my favorite chair, I'll be trying to remember how to program the computer!!  I better take good notes!