A Suggestion

     I have a suggestion for Chip, Joanna, and the Discovery people.  I happened upon some gardening videos produced by Jessica Sowards.  I think she should be the star of a gardening show.  I wasn't wild about the home schooling and the churchy stuff, but the lady knows tomatoes.

What the What?!

  So, Chip and Jo-Jo left their "Fixer Upper" gig on HGTV because they couldn't balance the demands of family, their business, and being stars of a TV series.  And now they are going to have their OWN (no pun intended) NETWORK??  Again I say, what the what?!
     If you are impatient with Chip's shenanigans, fast forward to the four minute mark to get to the point of this video.

Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge

     Taking a drive through the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge is a great cold day activity.  It is not necessary to leave your car, but there are plenty of spots to pull over if you want to get out of the car to take pictures or stretch your legs.  There are also some walking trails that branch off from the main road.  The admission fee is $4.00 per car for private vehicles and $2.00 per bicyclist or walker.  You can use a National Parks Pass to get in for free.  I visited the Brigantine Division of the refuge which is located along the Mullica River about 10 miles north of Atlantic City. 

There were several species of ducks.  That's Atlantic City in the background.

There were many, many egrets in the shallow water.

There were also lots of swans.

This guy is a Great Blue Heron.

And these specimens are known as serious bird photographers.

Whose foot prints are these? 

More Ducks

Bottoms Up!  What a way to get lunch.

Coming In for a Landing

Splash Down

What a fun day.

     

Dog Quilts

     I think it's cute to see Mardi rolled into a ball.  Why do dogs do that?  A quick google tells me that they are conserving body heat.  Is my doggie cold?  If so, I could turn up the heat ... or, I could make her a blanket.
     Joann Fabric just had a sale on decorator cottons.  These 100% cotton fabrics are a sturdy medium weight, and they are washable.  Since I had a coupon which gave me a discount in addition to the sale price, I couldn't resist making a couple of canine quilts.
   
     The process was simple:

     Materials:

          1½ yards of 45" fabric for the front
          1½ yards of a coordinating 45" fabric for the back
          ½ yard of another coordinating 45" fabric for the quilt binding
          Polyester quilt batting
          Thread (I used quilting thread because I had another coupon for 50% off notions)

     If you don't feel artistic, you can skip trying to find three coordinating fabrics.  Just purchase 3½ yards of the same print.  If you don't have quilting thread, use any good quality cotton thread.

     Method:

     I washed, dried, and ironed the fabric.  I always pre-shrink before cutting.

     Trim the cut ends of one print so that you have nice rectangles with sharp 45° corners.  Lay this piece of fabric on top of the coordinating fabric and trim so that both pieces are the same size.  There is usually always some variation due to a possible cutting difference at the store or the shrinkage rates of the different fabrics.  Cut a piece of batting that is slightly bigger than the fabric.  Make a sandwich of backing fabric (right side face down), batting, and top fabric (right side face up).  Smooth the layers and use quilt pins (AKA extra long straight pins) to pin all the layers together.  Use lots of pins starting in the middle and moving out to the edges.  Then you can hand baste the layers together, but I skipped this step and went straight to machine quilting the layers together, removing the pins as I sewed.  In both cases, my quilt backing print was geometric, so I followed these lines as I machine quilted.  After machine quilting, I trimmed away the excess batting and attached the binding.

     Binding:  I cut the ½ yard piece of fabric into 3" strips, then sewed the strips together.  Here's an excellent video that demonstrates how to join the strips and attach the binding with an invisible join.

https://youtu.be/2egganTi2us

     Mardi seems to like her new blankets.

I machine quilted by sewing down the center of the white diagonal lines.

Mardi occasionally likes to snooze in this dog house.

Kismet.  I found a dog print!

If you sew it, they will burrow into it.

 
 

Hainesport Women Vote

     The women in my family vote.  We might not be able to predict what we will be doing on the other 364 days of the year, but on the first Tuesday in November, we will go to the polls.
     I was born in 1953.  I cast my first vote in November of 1971.  I was eighteen and able to vote because the United States Senate and the House of Representatives passed the Twenty-sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution in March of 1971.  I was a first semester college freshman living on campus in New Brunswick.  I decided there would be no absentee ballot for me.  We didn't have classes on election day, so I walked out to Route 18 and caught a bus into the Port Authority in New York City.  From there, I took another bus to Westampton.  My father picked me up, took me to my polling place in Hainesport, and I cast my first vote.
     My mother was born in Hainesport in 1923.  She was twenty-one years old in November of 1944 when she first voted.  She cast her last ballot in November 2000.  That year she voted by absentee ballot from her bed at the Virtua Rehabilitation Center.  Even terminal cancer couldn't keep her from voting.
     My grandmother was born in Hainesport in 1893.  Women didn't have the right to vote in 1893.  My grandmother participated in her first election in November 1920 after the August 1920 passage of the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution which guaranteed all women the right to vote.  On that election day, she was twenty-six years old, had been married for three years, and was expecting her first child.  She cast her last vote in November of 1976.
     Male or female, if you are age eighteen, you should register and you should vote.  Cherish your right to vote.  Exercise your right to vote.