Oriental Braid Quilt and Backyard Goings-On

Here is a gorgeous Braid Quilt done up in oriental fabrics. The outer borders were quilted with clamshells. I chalk marked guidelines with a 1" grid stencil and quilted the clamshells freehand, using that as a base.
The inside background was quilted with molar flowers. The braids and the black frames were quilted with leaves. All black frames were stitched in the ditch to keep them nice and crisp.
My huge (HUGE) rectangular bale of straw was delivered last week. I spent the weekend completing the mulching of the veggie bed. I love the look of this when it's fresh. Almost makes me want to lay down in it. scratch, scratch, scratch.
I skipped harvesting on Monday. See what happens??? Another 5 zucchinis and now they're BIG.
I took the second smallest one, sliced in 1/4" thick rounds, floured, egged, breadcrumb/parmesan breaded, and then fried up in canola oil. I was trying to be all food-bloggy, taking photos as I worked. Then I forgot to take pics of them frying. Then I burned half of them. Then I forgot to take photos of a lovely plate of finished rounds before I ate them. So, I give up on the food-bloggy thing. The unburnt ones were pretty good. I force fed the first one to DH (man, he really does not trust me. "what is that?" he asked, and he repeated it twice before I finally told him.) He gave me a long sorrowful look and asked if this was supper. He perked up when I told him it was just h'ors doeuvres. After he choked down the first one, he ate two more all on his own. Wait until tonight when I feed him stuffed squash blossoms. He'll just freak, poor guy. heh, heh, heh. Bad wife, bad!!
Aaah, and now we get to...The stupid birds have decided it is THEIR backyard. Yes, I know they have babies in the trees. That does not entitle them to divebomb the silly dog and she's starting to get pissed about the whole thing. Yesterday she caught one. She finally let it go after I hollered at her for what seemed like several minutes and the slightly damp and tooth-tussled bird scrambled through the fence to safety.
By the way, you have no idea how long it took me to make up that little photo collage with text. I seem to learn these new techniques on mornings when I'm up at 5:30. I sure hope the next one goes faster.