Tuesday, June 04, 2013

Sadness. (Now with bonus free pattern!)



 Well, that's that. 'My' baby hawks are no more. Not sure what happened but things were fine Saturday morning - but by Sunday afternoon the nest was abandoned. After watching them intently for almost a month I can't tell you how positively morose I was all Sunday over this. Not sure what that says about the state of my mind of late (nothing good, probably) but there you go. I think I'm mostly over it now. Mostly. Other than having to stare at that empty nest while I'm sitting on the deck, year after year, as a reminder. (Seriously. The nest they had on the edge of our property two summers ago is still fully intact, though you can only see it in the winter when the leaves are down. This new one is in clear view all the time though as you can see from this photo I took while sitting where I usually sit on the deck.) On the plus side though, the adults are still around, at least for the moment. They woke me up early this morning with their squawking, just like normal. So at least they weren't killed or anything. That would be even sadder.

This was a nice little pick me up to my mood though. :)
An amazing little stitched fob from Carol as a surprise thank you for a pattern I gifted her. Just so generous and so EXQUISITE. Her finishing is jaw-dropping perfect. I am in awe. And so thankful for the gift. I will treasure it.

The backdrop in that photo is from my latest visit to WEBS. We were way up in northern Massachusetts for something else and managed to swing by the (epic) WEBS store before they closed. This stripey goodness was part of their anniversary sale so I got it for a song so I REGRET NOTHING, even though I clearly don't need any more yarn.

Heart of America - LHN

And finally, another long-mouldering WIP is put to bed, rest, and FINISHED. Yay! I do so love getting these WIP's out of 'storage' and finished as part of my 2013 'plan'.

The last bit of stitching this was not without incident though. I did the 'land of the free' letters on the bottom last and ran out of the color for that with ONE letter to go. SO CLOSE TO FINISHING. What a bummer, right? And then I looked at the sample and realized I DID THE WHOLE THING IN THE WRONG COLOR. @@#$#
On the good side, I had PLENTY of the color I needed to do it correctly. 
On the bad side, rip. rip. rip. rip. 
Oh well. It's done now and I really do like this piece.


This pattern was originally gifted to me way, way back in, mmmm, 2011? (Or 2010?) 
So continuing with that, I'm going to pass it along to someone else who wants it. Just let me know in the comments if you want to stitch it and I'll draw a name for it at the end of the week. (Or around there.) Don't be frightened off by the size of it or anything because I can TOTALLY see stitching up these blocks individually for smalls or scissor fobs, etc. That 'Old Glory' block in particular seems ripe for a small finish, if I must say. :)

And with that I think I'm going to go sit on the deck some more and try NOT to stare at that black hole of sadness in the tree that taunts me. It is AMAZINGLY beautiful today, after a run of hot and sticky-ickies, and I intend to get out there and soak it up.


17 comments:

Beth said...

Oh Melanie - I SO SO SO feel your pain. Lsat summer my barn swallow couple had three babies on my back patio. For weeks all was good until the day suddenly all 3 babies were dead (yes I got a ladder to see). Like you I PLUNGED into mournful tearful sadness (I HATE movies like "Bambi" too for the same reasons). Anyway, I don't think it's a bad thing to feel for the hawk parents and the baby hawks.
Now: way cool gift from Carol, and you are to be commended for frogging out and restitching your very nice piece too. Such an accomplishment to finish off a WIP.

Julie said...

Gorgeous gift from Carol, I was lucky enough to win one of her finishes and they are jaw droopingly perfect!
Love your finish, well done on completing an oldie.
Fab wool, nice lush colour.
:-( sad about your birdies, finger crossed momma and poppa have better luck next time.

Vickie said...

Yes, I saw your gift from Carol. So well done. I am going to pass on the LHN pattern. It is great, I just have tooo much!

Kellie from Indiana said...

I would love to stitch that pattern! I love it! Great job with the wips!

Robin in Virginia said...

Fabulous finish! Sorry to hear about the birds! Enjoy your gift from Carol!

Robin in Virginia

Anonymous said...

So sorry for your little hawks. :-( Maybe they will have time this year to raise another brood.

The scissor fob is beautiful. Carol did a great job with the stitching AND the finishing.

I would love to be in the running for that pattern. I could see it making some mighty cute kitchen towels as well as a great big picture.

Margaret said...

So sad about the baby birds. :( At least the adults are ok. Love your finish -- gorgeous! Nice fob too! Nice yarn! I almost panicked when you said WEBS had closed. lol! Then I realized you meant just for the day. Whew!

valerie said...

Oh no! Poor birdies! Great gift from Carol! Love that little fob and congrats on your finish! Too bad the frog had to go and make an appearance. Pesky frog. And your new yarn look like fun! Bright colors. :)

Penny said...

I'm so sorry to hear about the baby hawks! What a beautiful scissor fob from Carol! Congratulations on a lovely finish!

Annie said...

Sorry about your baby hawks. Life is tough in the wild I guess.

Carol's giftie is lovely. She is both thoughtful and talented.

Your finish is very pretty. I never manage to avoid at least some frogging these days. I'm pretty tolerant of mistakes but even I have limits. Now that's done you can be even more satisfied that you persevered!

Cole said...

Poor birds :( They sure can be fun to watch.

Lovely gift from Carol, she's such a sweetie!

Love the yarn, and your finish is a beaut! The frogs have been hanging around me too, they're driving me crazy!! lol

Dani - tkdchick said...

What a lovely gift from Carol and congrats on your finish!

Catherine said...

So sorry about the baby hawks.
Love the gift from Carol and what a sweet finish!! Perfect for this time of year.

Catherine said...

So sorry about the baby hawks.
Love the gift from Carol and what a sweet finish!! Perfect for this time of year.

Maggee said...

Congrats on finishing that WIP! It's a big one, so Big Congrats! I do not wish to be entered to win it tho, as I also have 'enough' stash for years! I am working on a WIP, and two new pieces...and want to start a few more!! Sorry to hear about the birds. Put your chair in a different position so as not to be seeing their nest for a while, to ease the pain... Hugs!

Carol said...

Oh, that is indeed sad--I hate it when birds abandon their nests :( I wonder if some predator ate the eggs--that is what happens a lot around our place very year.

I'm so glad you liked my little fob, Melanie--had no idea your favorite color was purple, but I'm glad it worked out so well :)

Your finish is wonderful--well worth the time to frog out the lettering and replace it. I so love patriotic stitching and would love to throw my name in the hat to stitch this one. You know me, I would probably make smaller things rather than the large sampler. Thanks for the chance :)

Hope a new nest pops up for you to watch very soon!

Leslie said...

Isn't it funny how much pleasure we get from watching animal life. I hope the hawks come back. I love your finish.