This, That, and the Other

Fabric Discovery Engine
A few weeks ago I was searching for fabric with clocks on it to use for the back of my Time Flies hourglass quilt.  I discovered a search engine specifically for fabric.  It's Fabric Discovery Engine.  It will probably not be the be-all and end-all for your fabric searches but I was delighted to see the fabrics it found with clocks on them.

Some links go to fabric stores, some to online stores, including etsy and ebay, and others link to pinterest (which isn't helpful).  Occasionally a link will be for an image of fabric on paper (as in a poster).  I suppose it's always worth a look if you're trying to find a fabric with a particular motif.  You can search by image, designer, company, or kind of fabric, among other ways.  Each time I visit the site the images across the bottom highlight different kinds of fabric.   If you click on one of the letters it will take you to a long list of fabrics, names of fabrics, fabric companies, etc.  In the screenshot above, below each image you can see a light grey link.  If you want more information about the fabric, be sure to click there and not the image itself (which will take you to a new screen with an enlarged photo).

Little Miss (or Mrs.) Cardinal
We have a little female cardinal who visits us every day. 

I've tried unsuccessfully to get a good photo of her.  She sits on our window ledge, flies up, taps on (pecks at or flies into) our window, then lands on the ledge again, only to repeat the process four or five times.  She's faster than I am with my camera.  Yesterday and today she's had twigs or bits of straw in her beak when she visits.  Nest-building material, no doubt.  I assume she sees herself in our windows and feels threatened.  She is quite beautiful when she flies up with wings spread and the sun is behind her.  We wonder how she has time to built a nest when she visits us so often and whether she gets a headache.  She comes to five or six of our downstairs windows every day and occasionally to our upstairs windows, too.

Monk
We're not big TV watchers but we sometimes watch DVDs of old TV programs.  Most recently my daughter borrowed "Monk" from the library.  I knew of it and remembered it was about a detective with obsessive-compulsive disorder.  My daughter and both commented that Monk was ahead his time.  He asked used hand wipes years before Covid made it necessary for us to be so careful.  I thought this clip was funny.  (I have to say that they in no way "make fun" of Monk and his OCD.  We may chuckle at his challenges but I don't think it's making fun.  Monk is only one of two other TV characters I can think of who have personality disorders.  The others are Mr. Bean and Shaun Murphy, "The Good Doctor.")  There's a minute and a half intro in this video.  To skip it, begin a 1:40.



Thrift Store Fabric
I don't often find fabric at the thrift store so was pleased to find the two different pieces below.  The shop charges $3.00/yard for cotton quilting fabric.

I thought this toile was charming (except for the children playing horse).

The prints are clear and detailed and I loved the roses.

There were two yards of this fabric, below. 

You can almost see a a house or cottage just to the left of the large rose cluster, below.

The roses in both of these fabrics reminded me about a sew-along Gay Bomers of Sentimental Stitches offered a few years ago, "Dear Daughter."  Many of the blocks in the original quilt had flower motifs cut out and appliqued into the blocks, either at the corners or in the center of each edge.  I asked to join her Dear Daughter Facebook page because I thought it would be helpful to see what fabrics other quilters used for the cutouts, but haven't heard back.  Maybe she won't respond because the sew-along is over.

I've been working on a little quilt made from scraps.  I'll post about it later.  Also hand quilting and some applique.  More later about both.  

I hope you have a great weekend.  I hope your weather is improving.  Ours had been crazy--days and days of rain; sun; cold, cool, warm, hot (not necessarily in that order); wind.  It's been a long, slow spring and I've enjoyed it immensely.  I've heard people complain, "When will spring come?!"  And I think to myself, this IS spring.  If you want 70 degrees or more, that's summer and it's too early for summer (in my opinion).  I think I'm in the minority.   We have some flowers in bloom--grape hyacinths, violets--but many more that will bloom in coming weeks. 

--Nancy.