A UFO Finish! - Unicorn Dreams - and loving this property

Well, I should have been reading the last two chapters of my English Civil War history book, but I needed this quilt to be finished in time for us to take it up to Devon tomorrow for her birthday. Priorities have to be made! Plus, I needed to get it finished while there would be daylight for photos, right?   ;D  

Love, Love, Love our swing and its view of the pond across the street

It's overcast today, but I still had fun snapping shots in our back yard. We are so in love with this property. It sits on a wooded hill that overlooks a meadow. It's very busy with squirrels, birds (mostly Stellar, Scrub, and Blue Jays, Spotted Towhees, Slate Juncos, and Mourning Doves right now), bunnies, and deer. Everybody disappears right at gloaming time. That must be hawking hour, for I've seen Peregrines and we often hear Great Horned Owls. Plus, there's a coyote clan that lives in some rushes in the meadow. Some evenings they serenade us with a really lovely song. You can bet our cats never set foot outside here! I Love It All!

3 of the 7 mule deer that were frollicking like overgrown
Pepé  Le Pews in our yard Monday

This is our next-door neighbor's house on that ridge - Liz is a one-time quilter turned fiber artist, which was really handy when we moved in, because her 20yo son didn't even blink an eye at the TWENTY-FOUR large moving boxes of quilting stuff that he helped heft out of storage.

The house came with the swing, picnic table under the Ponderosas,
and a hot tub that we have yet to open!

In 5 more days we'll also own this hill adjoining our lot. Can't wait for the next great snow, as the backside of the property is a wonderful slope into the commonly-owned meadows. This means I can't buy a long-arm for another 4 or 5 years, but I think it's a superb trade-off.

(We just couldn't bear to let the contractor build a house in our faces.) 

This is a pattern from the book "Variations on a  Theme" by Terry Martin.

"Unicorn Dreams"
51" x 51"

I was looking for a way to showcase this dreamy unicorn novelty fabric. It's a girl's dream lap quilt, with silver sparkles in all the fabrics except the fuchsia that I threw in for contrast. 

It's apropos to use this quilt's post to journal some of our new property, because this house is a dream for us. The half-tower is wonderful. The top floor is part of the master suite, and the way it's laid out, if I'm still in bed at dawn, my view is the sunrise.

On the main floor it is the breakfast room (which will someday actually have a table - right now it's the staging area for the furniture rehab painting that I'm doing).

On the basement level, it's the exercise nook. So while you're treadmilling away, you can see out the half-windows to watch the birds and bun-buns that may be hopping around under the deck there. 

I've got a food dish under the deck to ensure entertainment
for the downstairs cats and workout sessions.  :)

 Just the other day Scott made an extension arm coming off the deck railing to the left there. It holds a corn-wheel feeder out so we (and the cats!) get a great view of its visitors from the family room windows. 

Look carefully, you can see the corn wheel feeder off the deck
to the left and one of the ground feeders by the window,
placed to draw entertainment for the cats.

So far, the wheel mostly feeds a crowd of 9 or so various Jays. It's funny watching them wait for turns - sometimes patiently, sometimes not. These guys's blue shows much brighter in real life. I love watching them.

The 7:30 am crowd.

Our black squirrel gives it a go sometimes, but Rambo here is sadly way too fat now to do anything but send the wheel spinning as he falls into the branches below it. He's been hogging that ground feeder by the window under it too much!!  lol

I just have to throw in this phone shot of the Halloween sunset reflected on the front of the house. It was gorgeous. 

Halloween sunset reflected on the front of the house.

Now back to "Unicorn Dreams" - Since the fabric is so busy, I had Patty do an edge-to-edge with the Clematis panto from Cloth Werx. It's really lovely and looks gorgeous on the mint minkee.  

Oops!!  Got Dev's quilt a bit dirty taking pics out back. Into the wash you go!

I am so excited to strike another UFO off the Firing Range. This one has been around for quite a while. The top was sewn waaay back in December 2008, and I finally had it quilted by Patty this past spring. Then it got stuck in storage and had to wait until now for its binding. Devon's happy that it sat for long, though, because in 2008 I wouldn't have splurged on the luscious minkee backing.  :D