The Blue Bird of Happiness!

Yes, the Eastern Blue Birds have descended on my Quiet Backyard in Southern Indiana....


Bringing lots of energy to the usual flock of characters..


Incoming!!!!!!!


Hanging out...with the 'peeps', so to speak.....


Very unhappy Carolina Wren --- there goes the neighborhood!  Hogging her suet!


Little Boy Blue.  Thinking hard about joining Red Bellied Woodpecker and enjoying some of that suet but taking a second look at that big and sharp beak!  
FEELING LUCKY, PUNK?
Sir!  No Sir!  No Mr Woodpecker,SIR!

Good.  Now go away, kid, you bother me....


A nice Blue Bird couple...
But having a bit of a bicker...

What an amazing addition to the Backyard Birdy Bunch! I hope they stick around for awhile.

For the Beady Eyed Bunch - moving on - flower pattern

I am getting faster!  I thought these came out well enough to consider the pattern a success.  I decided to add some 'flourish' to the ends of the petals.   I thought I would go ahead and post them and then move on to making the bracelet.   I haven't timed how long it takes to make a flower but, after having made 4 of them now, I think I am familiar enough with the pattern to do that today. 

Just a reminder - the beads she lists in the pattern are very shiny!  And hard to work with for a first attempt.  These went much faster and were more comfortable and fun to work with.

If the bracelet turns out as well as these did I will post that when I am finished.  If not, you may never see this pattern again!






Happy Beading!

For the Beady Eyed Bunch - my practice pieces are done

Very easy pattern, I haven't timed it yet but will see how long it takes me to make one flower  tomorrow. Starting off with shiny silver beads was a big mistake - very hard to work a new pattern and barely be able to distinguish between the beads! The set I am making now is much easier. But if you want to give it a try, the pattern is very well written and very well illustrated, you wouldn't have a problem.

For the Beady Eyed Bunch - starting a Garden

It's going to get cold again, we have enough pictures of birds....what else to do but post some beadwork for the Beady Eyed Bunch!

I have been following this bead artist for quite some time.  She has an amazing talent with bead design - from flat work to shaped objects - she has a blog, a website, and is on Facebook.  She has now placed a FREE pattern on the internet, one that I have been hoping to learn.....here are some pictures from her website of the piece:





And the beads in the center are new beads called - you guessed it - gumdrops!

A Beady Eyed Beader would want to cruise her blog:
http://www.kerrieslade.blogspot.com/

AND - her website:
http://www.kerrieslade.co.uk/

Maybe download her free pattern:


I started it last night and am 3 petals in! It isn't hard, the Beady Eyed Beader Bunch know all of the stiches I think. The only stitch I am not sure we have practiced is the 'brick stitch' aka 'Comanche stitch' but it is a very old stitch and if you google it you will find lots of examples. I can tell you this - it's much easier than Ndebele!!! Here is my effort so far:



Happy Beading!

Oh goody! I got a collage app

Trying it out with some of the Backyard Birdy Bunch pictures. I don't know what bird that is in the lower left frame. It looks like a wren/sparrow but loves the suet feeder and will hold on, upside down, to peck at it!  He/she has quite a pointy little beak on him/her as well!

Backyard Birdy New Year's Party!

Still not done with bird pictures!   I caught some good light and was able to capture the backyard bird party this week.    I got some good shots of individual birds, a couple of them new, but those will have to wait until another time....meanwhile, the party commences with Mr. Cardinal peeking out from behind the feeder and, apparently, acting silly!


Lots of zooming back and forth, birdy conversation.


Celebrating the New Year!


Even Mr. Red Bellied Woodpecker joined to get his daily fill of suet.

One is the loneliest number.....

More snow on the way - to add to the 2-3 inches more we got on Friday. It seems we will get about the same tomorrow evening - New Year's Eve! I will be huddling happily here at home....

Meanwhile, I took the opportunity of a clear day and some decent light to try to capture some of my favorite subjects! These guys just looked lonely today. I took almost 200 shots so there will be more!

Stay safe. If you drink don't drive. If you drive don't drink.  Or text...or look at your iphone....!

 

 

Looks like Blizzard 2012 is behind us

Some pictures from this afternoon as I was out shoveling the deck and the yard and getting the birdies food they didn't have to try to chip out of ice and snow.

12:30 p.m. ET - it ain't over

Just saw this on FaceBook - looks like it is going to circle back around and hit Indianapolis.

IndianaWeatherOnline:
All of the snow in Ohio - yes it is moving back West/Northwest. That's why areas across Eastern Indiana that haven't seen huge snowfall amounts yet - you will. Just be patient :) The forecast is right on track with no changes

And a new map! I don't know what it means and I am tired of looking at the darned things but.....well, it's pretty!

Snowsnowsnowsnow

It is a little after 11:00 a.m. EST, we have been getting about 2 inches of snow/hour but it looks light it might lighten up for a bit. The worst of the weather is supposed to be between 1:00 and 3:00 p.m. So - well, we have something to look forward to! I still have electric! Hooray!

The bird feeders were frozen and covered with snow this morning. The cardinals, finches, junkos, were digging their little hearts out and getting no where! So I put on my snow boots and waded out to change feeders. But, first, of course, some pictures. I have others but these will do for now. The feeders are in a place that has been kind of protected from the wind so they are wearing little snow caps.

The snow is beautiful and heavy on the branches. I didn't want to get my camera too wet so didn't stay out too long. Maybe after 3 the snow will stop and we will get some good light and I can take some more. Or maybe the branches will start breaking off under the weight. One or the other...