Alpacas! (sewing and knitting too)

I finished knitting the whale baby facecloth this week and wrapped it up with these other two cloths I made earlier to give to a friend's new grandson. I'm pleased the pictures show up well on each cloth.  I must be getting better at making these as there was only the odd stitch to unknit...not whole rows like I used to have to do. 

I finished making the rest of the heart blocks and added sashing to the blocks to make the hearts float.  I am not adding an outside border as it is the perfect size for a baby quilt without a border. This flimsy will be added to the "to be quilted" pile... Some of the fabrics are going the "wrong way"--the issue was trying to get two pieces out of each fabric using the fabric that I had so sometime I had to orient the ruler in two different directions to cut out the pieces.  To me, this just makes the quilt more interesting!

I finished the last of my Blue Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks this week--the Drunkard's Path blocks in bright and navy blues. 

Rug Hooking was on my agenda this afternoon. I added the pink flowers and leaves at the bottom of the picture.  I only have to fill in the grass and sky backgrounds now.  Someone asked if this hurts my hands.  I tend to only work on this project for a short time to avoid RSI problems.  In fact, I do this with all my crafting--knitting, sewing, ironing, cutting, etc. I switch activities often and do not sit still in one spot for very long to avoid problems. 

My husband's sister's family gave him a gift certificate to meet and walk the Alpacas at a local farm for his birthday this year, so we cashed it in on Friday.  We learned about Alpacas, fed them shredded carrots, cooled them off with the hose and took Nicholas and Gibson for a walk down the road and back.  The gray and white one is Nicholas.  The black one is Nicholas.  All of them had names--this brown one was quite happy to eat carrots out of my hand. They were all sheared about three weeks ago, leaving hair on the top of their head as well as on their lower legs, which made them look like they were wearing leg warmers. 

Our daughter said Finn was getting inspiration for his next haircut from the Alpacas!  This is Finn refusing to walk home after going to the pet store with our daughter.  He likes it there because they give him lots of attention and treats. She had to carry him part way home before he would walk again!  

We had some wildlife in our yard this week. This toad was beside the flower pots on our front porch.  The rabbits have been busy nibbling on my perennials but they were moving too fast to get a picture. 

Tonight, while watering my parsley plant, I noticed there were several of these striped caterpillars munching on the leaves.  I googled "striped caterpillars on my parsley" and found out that these cuties will become Black Swallowtail Butterflies someday!  I have decided to share my parsley with them!  I will harvest some for me and they can eat the rest. 

My thread leaf coreopsis is in bloom this week.  Love the lemony yellow colours of these little flowers. 

 I'm linking up with Angela for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge and with Kathy and the Slow Sunday Stitchers.