It was a delightful day of sewing yesterday at The Flying Pig with the VOS group.  Lots of socializing, and yet everyone still seemed to get a lot accomplished.  I finished binding Marilyn's placemats, and then had time to bind 3 sides of a charity quilt for Ellen.  (Always surprises me that people don't enjoy doing that step - and that they are 'amazed' at how quickly I get it done.)  

I mentioned to Cindy that I had to remove the colorful thread (that I'd gotten from her) from my suet feeder after learning that it was a hazard to birds.

Please DO NOT offer yarn, string or human hair for birds to build nests! Every year St. Francis Wildlife receives wild birds, both babies and adults, with this material wrapped around their feet. It can sometimes result in the bird losing its foot or entire leg from the yarn/string/hair slowly tightening and cutting off circulation .

DO NOT offer laundry dryer lint either. The lint collected in your dryer filter may seem like ideal nesting material, but it isn’t. It will soak up water and may be steeped with chemicals unhealthy for birds, such as remnants of detergent and softener.

Also a warning about offering pet fur. If your pets are treated with flea/tick/lice treatments which stay on the fur, this can be harmful to birds collecting it for nesting material. DO NOT offer pet hair that has been exposed to any chemicals. 

Birds have plenty of natural materials for nest building: twigs, dried leaves, grass and flower stems, pine straw, shed snake skins, Spanish moss, lichen, etc.

When I mentioned that I was bummed because I still hadn't been able to find any roving, Cindy popped into the back and returned with a tub of alpaca roving, so now the hummers will be able to build nice cozy nests!  Maybe it came from these guys? <g>

Denise's feed-dogs weren't happy, so Ellen helped her clean her machine.  MY feed dogs aren't happy (when Tom moved the lever back and forth the other day it didn't seem to move them at all), so at the end of the afternoon Ellen followed me home and helped me clean out my machine.  It wasn't as dirty as I'd expected, though I still haven't tried sewing to see if it's any happier.

Denise showed off her pretty new prosthetic. The technician had gussied it up with some colorful fabric she had provided.  While she's still getting the hang of walking (after years of using a wheelchair) it's a wonderful step forward for her!

  

I'm amazed that I slept through the night  (AND until after 6:00 this morning!) since I had "practiced" sleeping on the couch after dinner last night.  Must have been worn out from my dream, which included a long hike, a wedding, a search for roving, and a transformation of my flip phone into one the size of a laptop and about a foot thick!