Friday, August 15, 2014

Orbweaver

When the sun was setting and the rays of light came into the back yard filtered through the trees in front of my house, it highlighted the stands of a once intricate web.  I have a healthy respect for spiders, but don't fear them.  Whatever wrong my parents did, they didn't instill an unnatural fear of insects.  Snakes, yes.  Insects, no. 

And I was rewarded with this beauty.  She, yes it is a she, is a golden orbweaver spider.  Specifically, a black and yellow garden spider.  The girl was HUGE!  At least 4 and maybe close to 4 1/2 inches legspan.  Not poisonous.   The ladies are brighter and about 4 times larger than the males.  And they often keep the males on the periphery of their webs and they control the food that comes in!

Their webs are pretty intricate with a lot of zigzags.  Mine was destroyed before I got to see it, but Frank saw it intact and said it was beautiful.  Orbweavers produce those intricate circular webs


One of the characteristics of my spider lady is the zigzag components she  puts in.  and there was a piece of it left by the time I saw the web yesterday. I think this might be a wonderful quilting pattern for a spider quilt or even a wholecloth quilt.  It would be amazing to have a piece start with a blank canvas and then develop the web as the quilting.  In the end stick a golden orbweaver spider.  Hmmmmm.........that might just be my entry to the Quilt The Swamp this year!!!!




2 comments:

  1. Love the spider webs. We have the yellow and black garden spiders here in Iowa and they always have a zig zag in the center of the web. They are facinating to watch as they weave. When my boys were little, they watched one for an entire afternoon weave a web outside out patio door.

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  2. That spider is huge! I have never seen anything like that in Ohio. You idea for Quilt the Swamp is very cool!

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