Nature and a Little Creating

Hullo, hullo!
Today this little fellow came to feast on the sunflowers growing outside the kitchen window . . . perfect photo opportunity!

He and his mate are often to be seen in the near backyard; he will sit in the spruce tree and serenade with his little canary trill. Love this. I spend alot of time watching the many feathered visitors to the yard; this spring and summer there've been robins, starlings, finches, sparrows, swallows, tanagers, turtledoves, and quail. Of course, the state bird, gulls, do the flyover as do crows and red-tailed hawks. The pasture is home to killdeer and meadowlark too. Mornings on the patio with a cup of coffee are sometimes a symphony of birdie sounds but it is never unpleasant.
Today I went to my granddaughter-in-law's home to continue sewing lessons. She wanted me to help her put together a "minky" blanket for her sister's soon-to-be baby (she's going to her baby shower tomorrow!) so we measured, cut, pinned, and stitched it together all the while listening to Aubrey and her cousin Jaycee dance to some WII game, Lucas running around like a blender with the lid off (that's what Davi calls him! haha!), and Easton gurgling in his baby way. Quite the circus. Anyhow, here's how the blanket turned out:

The animal print is the "cotton" fabric
and the brown is the "minky."

I found this tutorial on Pinterest and it was very helpful. The fabric that Davi had chosen for the "cotton" was actually some kind of synthetic that when touched with the iron melted. So, as we stitched around the final time, we just finger pressed it. Pretty successful for the first try on this fabric (love the softness of this minky).
It was great-granddaughter Aubrey's 7th birthday on Sunday, the 21st and Papa and I missed it, so I put together a handcrafted card for her, stuffed in seven one dollar bills and took it over this morning. Here's the card outside and in:

I used paper from Carta Bella's Alphabet Junction collection, cutting out the banner paper to spell her name. The card base is from an old Lasting Impressions Collection Papers in Celery that I have in my stash, the sticker letters are from lily bee design, and the baker's twine is some from my stash. The inside stamp sentiment is from a fairly old HeroArts set, "From the Heart Greetings." I cut a little frame for the sentiment from the XO paper from the Carta Bella collection. Aubrey was more excited about the $7 that fell out of the card than she was the card! :)
Just finished feeding a crew of men and boys who were down here for some steer wrestling practice. Little Caesar's pizza is an easy and cheap way to go! Time to crawl into bed with a good read, Speaking From Among the Bones, by Alan Bradley.
Nighty, night!