Prizes and Surprises!

This week I was the lucky winner of Cheryl Lynch's giveaway. I won a package of goodies that she got from market and it was filled to the brim. I got three bags, beautiful rick rack and ribbon, a pattern to make a bike bag, a ruler and as you can see, so many things that I will have a fun time using them and making some fun pieces with them. I can't wait to try the Trans web fusible for my art pieces. Be sure to visit Cheryl's blog, she has wonderful inspiration and a wonderful new book for embellishing your quilts.

This weekend my husband got me a screen house for the porch, but I think it is a giant bug catcher. I saw this guy flying around, he was interesting and weird with the long tail in back, have seen anything like it. I have never seen a bug this big.

Then I saw this one, later one. I think I found it's mama, lol. It is a Giant wasp, something I have never seen before.

And Moki is being Moki, it was humid again, today. 

iPhone Case!

Yesterday I rested and wanted something easy to keep my hands busy, so I made a new punch needle piece. I used Laurel Burch design from my book and reduced it a little to fit the size I needed. After I did the punch, I sewed on a cotton lining and left an opening at the bottom, so I could turn it. I didn't really plan it too well, I wanted to sew the entire piece but need to figure out how to do that. So, I used a piece of wool for the back and used a blanket stitch to attach it to the front piece. It works and it fits my iPhone, so good enough;) I wanted something I could keep it in when it is in my purse to keep it from getting banged around.

The floss is dmc that I over dyed, so a bit bright. I decided to antique it to tone it down. Of course the flash lightened it back up. It is sitting on a mesh chair, not a great background choice.

Sunny Sunday!

Another beautiful day, warm sun and cool breezes, perfect for a paddle. Any excuse is a good excuse to go paddling;) The tide was high, so we were able to paddle in all of the inner coves and got in a much longer paddle, and I am definitely sore, but a good sore.

Bill enjoyed himself and here he is in front of one of the old building at Smith's Castle. It is right down the road from us, but I have never gone there, maybe someday.

I was walking in the water and stumbled upon our old friend, the horseshoe crab. He was swimming around the bottom and a few times tried crawling onto Bill's foot. Here are a few fun facts about the Horseshoe crab.

1. This is a crab that isn't a crab!  It is distantly related to spiders and scorpions.  To avoid confusion, let's call it by its correct name, Limulus polyphemus. (Pronounced Lim-u-lus poly-feem-us)

2. The Limulus is a "living fossil" whose origin dates back to Triassic times, over 200 million years ago, a time when the first dinosaurs and primitive mammals appeared.  Few other well-known animals can claim that record.  It is not easy to be a living fossil.  To apply for this category, that animal can only have, at most, a few close relatives.  The body form should not have changed over the years.  A true living fossil's family tree must be tens, or preferably hundreds, of millions of years old.


3.  Its tail is NOT a weapon.  The animal almost never carries it in an upright position so there is little chance that people might step on the upright tail.   This tail, or telson, serves one real purpose: to assist the animal in turning over should a wave tip it on its back.


I hope everyone is enjoying their weekend!

Antique Kitty, Lazy Kitty!

Our ebay group USAPRIM has challenges and each month Kelley gives us a design that we can make, and this month she found an antique kitty that we could punch or hook. I decided to punch mine and make it into a piece I could hang on my peg rack.

It also looks nice hanging on my black cupboard.

 And today we put the air conditioner in, it was really humid today. Moki likes the air, my other cats hated it, but he has been laying there, all day. When I turned it off, he left, so we know were he will be spending his hot summer days. I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday weekend.

A Repurposed Quilt and Giveaway!

Last week, My friend Kelley, sent me a goody box and one of the items was an unfinished mini quilt. She had sewn the squares together and decided she didn't want it, so it came to my house. I decided it was the perfect size for a table mat, so I added a border and hand stitched the squares and added some stitchery on the borders.

It was something fun to do while I rested my hip, which decided to act up after our last paddle trip.
I used black pearl cotton to do the hand quilting and floss for the outer stitchery. I also antiqued it, I like how some places got darker, like an old stained piece. The appliqué came from a Whimsicals book, I modified it to fit the corner of this piece.

I was hoping to finish it earlier so I could get a photo, outside, but it got dark before it was dry, so the flash messed it up a bit. No idea how the edge got so crooked, I could say, I did that on purpose, lol.

And for those of you who would like to win some fun patterns, check out Cleo and Me. They have two contests going, so look at both posts. And there are no entries, not even me, lol. I have enough cute ones, so here is your chance to get in on a wonderful giveaway with a  great chance of winning.

And here is how it looks as a mat. Goes nicely on this bureau, might just leave it there. The mat is 21" x 15". 

Sunday Paddle and Freebie!

Yes, I was out on the bay again, it was just too beautiful to be inside and I had no desire to do any real work, like cleaning or yard work;)

We went back to the cove, it is close by, nice launch and no traffic. It was hotter today, but nice cool breezes on the bay.

At the beach stop, there was a family having an outing and they pulled this guy out of the water. He was not too happy about that and was crawling back to the water.

Since it was low tide, we couldn't get into the coves as well, so today we did a short practice run into the bay. I love paddling in the bay and riding the waves, so maybe next week, we will try a short run in the open waters.

And if you would like a wonderful freebie to make, check out Kathy Schmitz's blog, she has a beautiful sewing roll to make, definitely on my to do list.

Saturday Paddle!

Today was a perfect day for paddling, warm sun and a cool ocean breeze. My son came with us and he really had a good time and enjoyed himself. 

The guys paddling and chatting.

Father and son, enjoying the view.

It was low tide, so a lot of gulls enjoying the beach today.

This guy found himself a nice fresh conch shell. He would fly up and drop it on the rocks to get the meat out. Now I know why I can't find a nice conch shell that isn't broken up;)

There were a lot of boats out today, especially sailboats, perfect day for sailing and most were heading out to the bay.

My son was having fun walking in the water and looking for crabs. This guy was not happy to be taken out of the water, but he posed for me anyways. I hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend. I am working on a few new projects, so I will have at least one done by monday.

Davis's Girls Progress!

Today I pieced the middle three blocks together and then I was able to add the butterflies and birds.
On the original, they are left plain, but I might do some simple stitching in them, later, we shall see.

The original has orange butterflies, so I used some of my hand dyed wool that is more of an orange red.
The tree pattern was done by folding the fabric in half and then cutting them out, I think mine came out a bit too thick. Three more ladies to go, then I can start adding the sashing.

The pattern is from the book, "Civil War Woman", by Barbara Brackman.

Yesterday we were able to get out for a walk, before the rains came. The swans were out, but no babies yet.

Fabric choices and Giveaway Prizes!

Last week I went to the quilt stores to find something that matched the blue and white that would match what is in the Jefferson Davis's Daughter quilt, by Barbara Brackman, that I am working on. Of course there was nothing like it or in the shades I wanted, so this is what I found. The darker blue will be the sashing, it seems a lot brighter in the photo. The reproduction border fabric is from the abe lincoln collection, that is all I remember.

What do you think of these fabrics? I am finishing up the second tree and then I can sew the middle section together and add the rest of the appliqués.

I also won a few wonderful giveaways this month. Deborah O'Hare has a wonderful blog, actually two and I have been following her for over a year, her pieces inspire me to create my own art pieces. I won the book, Seaside Home, and I love it. It has a lot of patterns to make things for the home, or summer cottage.

This is Deborah's pattern, I plan on making it and changing it a little by adding inspirational words to the stones. Deborah has done that in one of her patterns and she said it was ok, if I used her idea in my piece.

I also participated in the 100 blocks, blog hop and I did win a copy from Nancy at One Stitch at a Time, I also won a free pattern from Cyndi of Carter Creek Quilts. It is a wonderful pattern and will look beautiful in a lot of different colors and fabrics. 

I was finally able to get out for a paddle, a nice way to spend Mother's Day. It was a beautify day and there were so many wonderful birds out, and I didn't have my good camera with the zoom. I had to use my waterproof camera, so this is the best I could get from the photos I took. I need to find a larger, waterproof case for my  new camera.

This is my bow, as usual, it got windy and I had to paddle against the wind, most of the day. I also had a tetanus shot friday, so you could say, it wasn't an easy paddle, but well worth it;)

One of those Days!

Today the sun was out and I was ready to go paddling. I went to put my  new camera into the box and it didn't fit, the box is too small, so I figured, I would just have to use my point and shoot for today. Then I couldn't find my gloves, I need my gloves to paddle or I can't get a good grip and I get blisters. Then Bill couldn't find his life jacket, I think we threw it out since it was falling apart and he needed a new one. So, that killed our plans for paddling and ended up in a day long shopping trip. By the time I got home from getting what we needed, I was too tired to go out, lol.

We did get out for a walk on Friday, nice weather without being too hot. This is a photo of the inner cove, the mill is a historic mill that has been turned into condominiums. If you would like to learn about it's history and see more photos, you can see a slide show here.

Hopefully we will be able to get out tomorrow and then have a nice afternoon cookout with the kids. I hope everyone has a wonderful Mother's day, whether with family or the furry babies;)

This is the front of the building, and there are other extensions of the building in the back.

Hexagon Progress!

Last week I was working on my hexagons and now I am wondering it if it worth it, to make a full sized quilt and if I have enough of the gold to finish it. So, I laid it out, as it is now to show you how it looks as a quilt. I planned on filling in the outer sections with the gold, then going around with the red and greens in a border, than one more border in gold. It just doesn't look right to me, what do you think?

And here is what I came up with, for a nice tree skirt, which I do need. I can tuck under the opening and use trim around the circle for the tree opening. Then I can bind or use trim for the outer edge. This would be easiest to do, and what I am leaning towards. I will fill in the spaces with the gold, so not as much extra work to finish. Or I could use this as a middle design and keep building on this and not worry about finishing this year? Would love suggestions, ideas or layouts.

Giveaway Winners!

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. And for all of you who might not have noticed or were too polite to mention it, but Mother's day is next weekend, lol. It shows you how dense I am lately. I was looking at my new calendar and the events are listed at the top of the space, so I saw it as the date above it, duh. So, yesterday I finally realized that my kids were not ignoring me;)

I used the random number generator and the winner of two free patterns is.... Karmen of A Quilter Awakens. And for the winner or should I say winners of one free pattern, the winner is anyone who left a comment. Just send me an email with your choice of pattern or booklet and I will send you one! I really do appreciate your comments and a chance to laugh at your fun comments.

And for those of you who love the ocean, here are some scenes from our walk yesterday. It was a perfect day for a walk and I did double the distance, tired but a good tired.

We walked down a path, through the wooded  trails and came  down the beach and walked as far as we could towards the lighthouse.

This is the beach we walked down. The point at the end is where we have to go back to, then another long cove to get to the other point.

To get to this spot, we had to jump a small river that was coming out with the tide. The estuary is the perfect place for the birds to nest.

And for those of you who wonder where conchs come from, they grow on trees, of course;)

At the other point, the cormorants were enjoying the beautiful weather, as well. There were a couple of seals, but my photos were too blurry.

This guy had a place of his own. 

A few people were out in their boats. I love how the zoom made the background look so ethereal.

On the way home, we stopped at the town beach and checked out the kayak demo day. 

 The perfect way to end the day, everyone was enjoying themselves.

Mother's Day Giveaway!

I am working on my projects so nothing new to show you today. Before I get to the giveaway, I wanted to let you know about a few things, first.

I didn't make the top ten in the Stumbles and Stitches contest, not that I thought I would, lol.

The voting for the top ten started today, so make sure you vote for your favorite, there are some wonderful pieces that deserve a vote. I still love the kitty house, something that would be fun to make and design for my kitties.

Another wonderful giveaway is hosted by Teresa Kogut of Creative Whims. She has a monthly giveaway and this month is one of her beautiful prints. I am sure you have seen her wonderful art in the stores and also patterns for punch needle and rug hooking. 

And now for my giveaway. I will draw two winners, first one will get a choice of two of my epatterns and the second name will get their choice of one pattern. You can comment on one or both photos. Give these silly kitties a caption, what would they be saying! I will run the contest through the weekend and draw a winner on monday night. So have fun and leave a kitty comment! 

Jeff Davis's Daughter Three!

I finished my third lady today, love the fabrics from Barbara's 1862 Battle Hymn fabric. It looks beautiful for the dresses and this quilt. Her flag stick is bent, I might fix it, I might not, lol. On this one, I added some laces, what do you think? I was thinking of adding the laces at the top, but I wanted to keep it simple and prim.

Also, for those of you who would like to win some goodies of your own, Chris at We Love Quilting is having another monthly giveaway. You won't be disappointed, she send wonderful boxes of goodies, a very generous lady.