turtle quilt patterns
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Ooops. Oh those engineers. When they reconstructed the Congress Avenue Bridge in Austin, Texas in 1980, they inadvertently created a unique ECO-TOURISM DESTINATION, and an experience not available many places in the world. The bridge was evidently the perfect roosting place for bats and now houses the largest urban bat colony in North America. Yes, not only does Texas have the Alamo, it’s very batty! The largest bat colony in the world is also near San Antonio (about 60 miles from Austin).
Who knew?
A huge colony roosts under this bridge in downtown Austin, and when they egress of a summer night to go out and hunt for food, it is a sight to behold. I have taken visitors of all ages to see the spectacle and even the teenagers (you know how hard they are to impress, or admit it) sat spellbound. It’s just creepy enough. For driving directions and map, go here: http://www.batcon.org/discover/congress_map_outoftowners.html .
Popular? It’s estimated that over 100,000 people come to see the bats fly out every year, generating a healthy hunk of change for the city of Austin.
The spectacle has all the elements of a good watch – mystery, a bit of the creeps, expec-TA-shun, and results that don’t disappoint. Tension builds as dusk falls and all eyes turn to the bridge, waiting. Then you see one bat and the crowd cheers, then another, then a million. Silently they head out into the night and to think of where all those bats are heading – well, I often saw them dive-bombing my swimming pool at night.
Of course the City had to do some educating when the public became, um, upset about all the 1.5 million Mexican free-tailed bats that migrate from Mexico to call the bridge their home from mid-March to early November. I’d call that “wintering in Texas,” but, okay, it’s a migration.
Do we love bats? Well, we don’t like to touch them – no joke, don’t ever mess with a bat. But we must appreciate the fact that those bats heading out across Austin can each eat 600 mosquitoes in an hour and won’t poison the environment. They also pollinate plants. (Other favorites include many crop pests such as cutworms, cucumber beetles, and corn borer moths.) 600 mosquitoes x 1.5 million bats x 8 night hours? You do the math! For a quickie on bat lore, go here: http://www.nps.gov/wica/bats.htm .
Might you get rabies? According to the National Park Service, only 10 humans have contracted rabies from bats in more than 30 years. Most people who do die of rabies contract it from our much better friend, the dog. In the Austin-area, bat rich as it is, there have been no recorded human cases of bat-transmitted rabies.
It sort of adds to the excitement of the adventure, but when you’re sitting there looking up, how would you catch one? If one falls to the ground, it is probably injured or sick, and your animal-lore in general will tell you to leave any wild animal alone. In this case, just get away. And if you like to grub around under the bridge, assuming you could, well, haven’t you heard about guano? Ick!
According to experts, bats are rarely aggressive, even when injured, and do we appreciate them ecologically? I haven’t checked, but I doubt if you’re swatting a lot of mosquitoes as you sit there watching.
And, hey, it could happen anywhere. The BCI warns, “Persons who wake up with a bat in the same room [now where might that be?] where they have been sleeping are advised to submit it for testing, especially if the bat is unable to fly or seems weak.”
Now wouldn’t you rather have the bats out in the open heading for insects than in a room with you!
Yes, you would.
I’ll throw my personal experience in here. Incredibly my son and I were draped around a statue across from the Alamo trying to get a good view of some president who was arriving, when a bat torpedoed into the statue and fell, stunned, at our feet. While mothers and kids screamed, the former in fear, and the latter in delight, the poor bat just flailed around. You could’ve picked it up with gloves, but we just walked away. It was unable to fly, and uninterested in humans.
But let me stress again, there’s no heroism involved; the bats coming from the bridge are far away and they’re on a mission. You might suggest to thrill the older children, if you’re that type, that they are going to turn your way, but they have a plan and I guess they’re herd animals. What would you do anyway? Whistle?
One way you can view them is from a cruise on Capital Cruise Boats (http://www.capitalcruises.com/html/bat.htm ) or Lone Star River Boats.
Another way is sitting on the outside bat-viewing decks of TGI Friday’s in the Radisson Hotel on Town Lake, and the Shoreline Bar & Grill restaurant in the Hyatt-Regency Austin hotel. If I bring adults, we usually enjoy a gourmet meal at the latter. If I bring kids or teens, TGI Fridays is the place.
When do they leave? Depends on time of yea ...
Author: Susan Dunn, MA, The EQ Coach
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Timely help for turtle quilt patterns
About Quilting I like this scrappy miniature quilt. It's made from sixteen 3" foundation (paper) pieced whirlwind blocks and finishes at 21" square. The blocks are quick and easy to make, but you might have to experiment a bit with patch placement (for the neutral background) because triangles can be a little challenging at first if the technique is new to you. I get lots of emails from quilters who've never tried foundation piecing, and always encourage them to experiment with it -- most people love the technique once they've tried a few quilts. And after you've made a couple of foundation pieced projects, you'll know instinctively how to make them all. Newcomers to foundation piecing should read my Foundation Piecings Basics and Paper Piecing Tips before sewing the quilt. Photo © Janet Wickell Scrappy Miniature Whirlwind Quilt originally appeared on About.com Quilting on Wednesday, September 8th, 2010 at 09:00:16. Permalink | Comment | Email this Pictures of String Quilts Do you have bunches of leftover fabric from other projects? Do you like scrap quilts? If you answered yes, a string quilt might be a perfect next project for you. To make a string quilt, strips are sewn freehand-style onto foundations. You don't have to fuss over strip width, seam allowances or worry that strips don't "match." You can configure the strips in any way -- make square blocks or cut pieces into other patchwork shapes. If you don't have leftover fabric, no problem, lots of quilters cut new yardage into strings just so they can make one of these lovely quilts. String Quilts Gallery String Quilt by Momof11 Pictures of String Quilts originally appeared on About.com Quilting on Sunday, September 5th, 2010 at 11:39:18. Permalink | Comment | Email this Milky Way Quilt Pattern I'm not inserting an image of the Milky Way quilt for a couple of reasons. It's difficult to see the design as a small thumbnail, plus I've included two very different color and color value arrangements within the pattern, and don't have room to display both. Milky Way is one of many quilt blocks based on the traditional Friendship Star design, but Milky Way's unique alternating stars won't emerge when blocks are simply sewn side-by-side. The method used to make them appear is easy though, and it's simple to create all sorts of layouts, from subtle to dramatic. Related Quilt Patterns Milky Way Quilt Pattern originally appeared on About.com Quilting on Wednesday, September 1st, 2010 at 13:48:57. Permalink | Comment | Email this Thirties Pinwheel-in-a-Square Block This thirties-era Pinwheel-in-a-Square quilt block finishes at 12" x 12", large enough for the wonderful reproduction fabrics to make a bold statement. Of course, if you aren't into fabrics from this area, simply choose another theme for your quilt blocks. The design works well with any fabrics. Janet Wickell Thirties Pinwheel-in-a-Square Block originally appeared on About.com Quilting on Monday, August 30th, 2010 at 07:00:57. Permalink | Comment | Email this Woven Baskets Quilt & Quilt Block Pattern I've had several emails from readers looking for basket quilt and quilt block patterns. So here's something new, a Woven Basket pattern. Use the pattern to make Woven Baskets quilt blocks. Page 4 of the pattern includes yardages and cutting to help you make a 61" square wallhanging, but you can customize the size and layout to suit your needs. Like other basket blocks, Woven Baskets works perfectly with either scrappy or organized fabrics. Janet Wickell Woven Baskets Quilt & Quilt Block Pattern originally appeared on About.com Quilting on Wednesday, August 25th, 2010 at 09:23:02. Permalink | Comment | Email this Improved Four Patch Quilt Block & Quilt Pattern The Improved Four Patch quilt block is made up of a four patch central unit set on point, and then surrounded by triangles. It's an easy patchwork quilt block that's suitable for quilters of every skill level, even beginners. The block finishes at 11-1/4-inches square, and you'll find instructions and fabric requirements for single blocks and for an entire quilt. Improved Four Patch Quilt Block & Quilt Pattern originally appeared on About.com Quilting on Saturday, August 21st, 2010 at 05:57:31. Permalink | Comment | Email this Navajo Quilt Block Pattern The traditional Navajo patchwork quilt block makes a wonderful scrap quilt. Mix-up its colors, adding anything that reminds you of the western United States (or throw out tradition and choose an entirely different palette). Navajo is a block with a ready-made on-point appearance -- created by sewing corner squares to each patchwork center. Sew the blocks side by side, or put them into columns and separate the columns with colorful strips of fabric. Janet Wickell Navajo Quilt Block Pattern originally appeared on About.com Quilting on Wednesday, August 18th, 2010 at 10:07:32. Permalink | Comment | Email this Write About Machine Quilting for Us I'm excited to finally announce that we're looking for a contributing writer (CW for short) for the Quilting site. CWs are part of a new program at About.com, one that's helping Guides fill-in areas of specialized content, in this case someone to write about Machine Quilting (it's a fantastic method, but I love hand quilting, and have loads of work to do in order to develop that content). So if you love to machine quilt, and have technical writing experience, just follow the link to learn how to apply to be a Contributing Writer for the Quilting site. Write About Machine Quilting for Us originally appeared on About.com Quilting on Monday, August 16th, 2010 at 10:46:26. Permalink | Comment | Email this Aurora Borealis Quilt Block and Quilt Pattern I've only seen the Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis) once, from an open field in Iowa. They were beautiful, but had I not known what I was looking at, the constant bends and flashes of color that crossed the night sky would likely have been a frightening experience. I hope to witness the lights again sometime, but it won't happen in my southern state. I wanted the Aurora Borealis quilt to resemble those flashes of light against a night sky. The quilt is created by surrounding color-intense stars (a Friendship Star variation) with a mottled, multicolored fabric backed in black. A plain black background is added next, to make the colorful components stand out. There's not enough space here to show you an image of the Aurora Borealis quilt -- see page 3 of the pattern (and click on the image if you would like a closer look). Janet Wickell Aurora Borealis Quilt Block and Quilt Pattern originally appeared on About.com Quilting on Friday, August 13th, 2010 at 12:00:13. Permalink | Comment | Email this Ocean Waves Quilt Pattern Ocean Waves is a design that's packed with half square triangle units. The quilt isn't difficult to make, but it does have lots and lots of pieces. I'm only showing the block here, because scaling the quilt down to a size that fits the space makes it pretty much unrecognizable. The pattern is a natural for scrap piecing, but looks great sewn in an orderly fashion, too. If the number of patches the quilt requires seems like more than you want to take on, just assemble a small batch of the units each time you sit down to sew. Accumulate them in a box, keeping track of how many you add each time, and for a true scrap quilt sew the units with fabrics from the day's sewing tasks. The end result is definitely worth the effort. Ocean Waves Quilt Pattern originally appeared on About.com Quilting on Sunday, August 8th, 2010 at 15:47:01. Permalink | Comment | Email this Newsfeed display by CaRP |
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