Missing My Babies (tortoise) and a Thank you Cushion for a Special Friend

Afternoon all!  How are you finding your Sunday afternoons?  Mine? Well not bad thank you for asking!! LOL

The weather is a wee bit unusual at the moment with blustery yet warmish days feeling more autumnal than wintery.  I am hoping that this weather will continue and that Spring will spring out sooner than spring has sprung in the past!  Although maybe this wish might be a little foolish as overall our climate really ought not to be changing quite so quickly.

Spring for me means Tortoises, lots of them, waking from hibernation, munching mounds of weeds and doing the spring time stomp around my garden. I can not tell you how much I am looking forward to that!  It seems too long ago now that they all went into hibernation.  Poor old Astrid with her snotty nose has kept me busy, but I think she has had enough of being cooped up indoors too.  Then there are the babies, they are all up and doing well, but I am sure they would prefer the spring time sunshine too!

From left to right we have Adah, Alba and Bronte.  Adah and Alba were 2008 babies, Bronte, 2009.  As you can see they are taking a little bath, which they do every day.  Water is very important to tortoises, you can see Alba in the middle is having a little drink.  Yet pet shops often tell prospective new owners that they don't need water as they get enough liquid in their food!  As you can see that is rubbish!  Many tortoise owners that I know of,  regularly fall out with local pet shops over the  awful husbandry advice they give out.  Its seems many pet shops suggest expensive glass tanks and all sorts of rubbish commercial foods when actually they are more harmful than helpful!  Sorry, rant over!!

   

As you can see this little WIP is going to be a Granny's Garden Cushion by the Royal Sisters.This is the second full cushion I have made in this pattern and I have also made an "in the style of" cushion which I will show another time.  It's a great little pattern, easy to follow and very rewarding.  But this cushions is a special thank you cushion.  A lady I  knew to chat to some years ago through work, turned up at the same quilting group as me.  We started chatting again and then the other day she gave me walking foot for my sewing machine, explaining she never got on with a walking foot and now she is having a new machine.  Now a walking foot is not cheap and she would not accept any money, so I thought a thank you cushion was in order.  It needs to be done by Wednesday, I best get hooking!  X