Eagle Inspiration
Most people don't equate Bald Eagles with Syracuse, New York.
For a VERY short, VERY general geography/history lesson of this area. . . Onondaga Lake is at the (sorta) center of the city. In colonial times Syracuse became a city because of the salt deposits around the lake. Salt, being a valuable preservative before we had refrigerators, drew industry and population growth.
Over time, industry along the lake changed from salt-mining to heavy-metal manufacturing. Bad news for Onondaga Lake which eventually became infamous as the most polluted lake in the country for a time. Not good.
Fast forward to maybe about 10-20 years ago, after years of litigation, a complex plan to clean the lake was put into action. With the clean up now complete, Mother Nature is finishing the job and the lake is much better.
It gets cold here in Syracuse, New York in the winter time, and now that fish are repopulating the less-toxic lake, they like to hang out at the east end of the lake where clean water is released from the waste-water treatment plant, keeping the surface of the lake on that part of the lake from freezing.
Apparently, the Bald-Eagle Twitter feed went viral with news about the easy-access to fish, and Bald Eagles started to winter here.
Part of the Onondaga Lake restoration project includes a walking/bike path around the lake including a bridge and platform overlooking the Eagle-end of the lake. The bridge was completed just a few weeks ago.
History lesson over. . .
This past weekend, Dave and I donned our winter gear and walked over to the bridge with our binoculars.
In a tree along the trail, as a preview of coming attractions, this juvenile Bald Eagle was standing watch.
I have a cell phone camera. That's it. Sucky picture, but that's him (or her) at the end of the arrow.
We proceeded to the bridge overlook, and I know this is a terrible picture, but I think you get a sense of how many Bald Eagle there are. They hang out at the water freeze-line and watch for their next meal. We counted 28 adult and juvenile Bald Eagles on Sunday while we were there.
Tons of ducks there, too. If the fish don't show up, sometimes duck will land on the eagle-menu.
A bunch of photographers (with excellent cameras) visit the spot every day. If you're on facebook and have an interest in some really great eagle photos, I'd encourage you to check out this group to have a look.
Inspired by the Bald Eagles, I came back home, and after thawing out for a while, decided to work on something quilty/stitchy with my Bald Eagle block from The FLOCK.
Underneath the Bald Eagle block is a chunk of 32-count evenweave stitchery fabric. I'm stacking them to judge the size.
This is a slightly different spin on the Stitchery Crossover concept that starts with a stitched center instead of a quilted block center.
Simultaneously, I'm working on parts of the next course in the Stitchery Crossover online course series.
My inspiration for the second course and the eagle block border come from a Blackwork pattern by Peppermint Purple, which will be included in the second course when it comes available.
Clare Ardali of Peppermint Purple, designed Mia Rosa for the first prerequisite Stitchery Crossover course.
The second Stitchery Crossover course is still in development and will likely be introduced in phases. Ultimately, the next level Stitchery Crossover Course will be a quilted project - with two stitchy/quilty options - a smaller table runner and a full-blown lap-sized quilt.
As a reminder, Stitchery Crossover is a new, detailed process I developed to add continuous stitched borders to counted cross stitch or other counted stitchery on evenweave cloth.
The first Stitchery Crossover course is available now and is a prerequisite for future Stitchery Crossover online courses. The course comes with a complete kit, chock full of the exact supplies you need to complete your first project. The kit includes plenty of supplies as well as its own project pouch to keep everything corralled for your future Stitchery Crossover projects.
As for the Bald Eagle block . . . it is a complete experiment. I'm not sure where it might be going . . . or even if it's going to work. And there is only one way to find out . . . If it does work (and I *think* it will) it could lead down a path that includes framing all kinds of cool stuff with continuous stitched borders.
Join the Stitchery Crossover adventure with the Mia Rosa Course! You can learn more and sign up here.
Stay tuned . . .
Happy Stitching!
Joan Ford
Head Hummingbird
Can’t believe I just found you from the Bernina “We All Sew”. I was born and raised in Syracuse , went to High School on Tipp Hill . My parents live in Camillus (we have lived in Indiana for over 30 yrs. now). We do have a place in the ADK’s , which we hope to be able to get to this year. Didn’t realize there were that many eagles on Onondaga Lake. When we were there 2 summers ago we did spot one flying around by the bike rental area. I can remember what the lake was like when I was growing up so this is wonderful.
I will have to spend a little more time on your web site to see what really interests me.
Don’t miss the CNY snowfall at all.