My New Friend!

Last week I was the lucky winner of one of Pam's wonderful creations. Some of you know her as Soft in the Head. I have always loved visiting Pam's blog to see what new creations she comes up with each week. She has a wonderful way with creating unique, one of a kind characters and each one has unique details and acessories.

You can see how much everyone love's her creations by the fact that her pieces sell out, the minute she puts them onto her selling sites. I have always wanted one of her pieces and I was so excited that I actually won one and I just love this guy.

His name is Posthumous PODD and he looks wonderful with my fall decor. He even has his own death certificate, morbidly fun. I decided to put him up on a shelve so my kitties don't try to eat his hair, lol.

No riding or walking this weekend, still sore and then Bill got sick from eating bad food. This is when I am happy that I can't eat food like that;) Today I made up some coloring book stitcheries, so they should be done in a few days.

Be sure to visit, Soft in the Head, her blog is very inspirational and she also sells patterns, so you can make your own.

Friday Finishes!

I had a slow week, a bit of sewing a bit at a time, but I was able to finish one project and make two small ones.

I have been working on the stitched pillow for months, and I finally finished it. It is nice to have a large project that I can work on when I am done with one and waiting to get the next, ready. This is a design by Kathy Schmitz in her book, Simple Pleasures in Redwork. I have made a few of the projects from her book and have a few more that I like, a book that has a lot to offer with all types of projects.

I added the border with a reproduction print to match the blue couch. I do wish I had looked at the border before sewing it on, it should have the top and bottom with the longer pieces to balance it out, but it will have to do. It is an odd sized pillow so I cut up an old pillow to fit the size.

Since my hands are still bothering me, I did up some small stitchery pillows. I can't just sit and do nothing, so hopefully my hands will heal soon and I can get more done. At least I will have lots of gifts for this year:)

The angel pillow is a design from the book Heart Warmings by Pieces from my Heart. I reduced the design for a mini pillow. The deer is a design by Robin of  Bird in the Hand Primitives. Robin has a lot of wonderful free designs that she changes with the seasons.

I antiqued these and then added some stuffing and Balsam. I add stuffing to keep the pillows from being too heavy for shipping.

Weekend Wanderings!

We had a beautiful weekend to be outside, so of course I had to take advantage of it. Saturday we watched Baby Nicholas while his mom went to an interview, so we enjoyed out time with him and went for a late drive to the lighthouse.

We walked around the road and Dani had fun scrambling around on the rocks.

The tide was out, so the seagulls were soaring with the winds, looking for anything that washed up, for dinner.

This guy was enjoying crab for dinner.

Sunday was bike riding day. We went to a bike path that starts at a historical rail station. It goes through  swamps and even towns. It is a beautiful place to ride in the fall.

Lots of winding rivers, we have actually paddled down this one.

The bike path still has one section that isn't finished, so we kept going and went to Narragansett Beach.
We sat on the wall and this was our view to the right.

 And our view to the right. We did 15 miles on this trip.

Today we finally got to try the bike path in town. It is a new one and was surprised at how nice the path was, all paved and new plantings where the old base used to be. It goes past a cove and ends at a beach, so perfect for riding close to home.

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. This afternoon I caught up with housework and working on a stitchery.

Christmas Pillows!

This week I worked on some pillows. I wanted to try some stenciled pillows and these are the result. I got stencils on a sale and used acrylic paints. I mixed the paint with fabric medium to make them waterproof and it also keeps them from being too stiff.

I made the pillows to fit the size of the stencils, so you can do them in any size that you want. After I stenciled them, I put them in the dryer for 25 minutes and heat set them. Then I sprayed the lighter pillows with walnut spray. For those I used a stark white fabric and you can see it ages it nicely. The snowflakes were done on coffee stained fabric from moda. With the snowflakes, I added a little sparkle paint, but it doesn't show in the photo.

Once they were dry, I cut them to size and added a piece of batting to each side and sewed them, right sides together. I use the batting so when I fill them, the balsam sits in between the batting. You can leave an opening at the bottom for turning, or you can make a slit on the backside. I used a slit and covered it, after they were stuffed.

I added the border stitching, after they were stuffed. I hide the stitches by pulling them into the edges.

I stenciled them with a stencil brush and used a smaller brush to get into the smaller areas.

The snowflakes were done with white, then a glitter paint over that, so it has a light sparkle to it. The white is not as bold in person, the camera tends to heighten paint colors.

For my backs, I sewed the slit up with a basic slip stitch and then added a penny to cover the area. My camera was acting up today and the flash wasn't working right, so the colors are way off. This is tea stained cotton ticking, a great way to finish christmas pillows. I used green on the others.

Weekend Wanderings!

I love a long weekend, Bill is home and we get out and go for walks. Saturday we needed to look at counters and we hit a sale on cabinet microwaves and got a simple but nice one to put up. Now I will have a new counter space to work on, I really need it. We also stopped at Savers and I found some fabrics. One is Maywood flannel, plenty to use on the back of a few baby quilts. The other is a batik cat fabric, it looks hand dyed and the print is all the way through, so a fun fabric to design around.

We decided to go for a walk close to home and it was a cool cloudy day, perfect for a longer quick walk. My daughter had the day off so she came along and got to enjoy the cool breezes off the bay.

Saturday was a little warmer and I wanted to go for a hike in the woods near the boy scout camp. Our first hike was around the smaller pond, since I had never done that path. The trees are still turning here, and the mix of colors with the greens is stunning in person.

The paths were narrower and steeper than I realized, but fun to explore and bridges that spanned the wetlands. I should have thought of that when we hiked the next part. I hit a patch of wet moss and did a belly flop into the mud, lol. All I noticed was my cheekbone since that slapped into the dirt first, but last night my back, rib, and my hand let me know what else I hurt;)

See the orange shirt? I sent Bill to the store to get us some hunting vests, since it is hunting season. This is what he comes back with, lol.

We got around the pond and I decided to keep hiking. The stiffness hadn't set in yet, so we went along the pond till we came out to the rocky overlook. Nice place to stop and relax before we headed back.

Today was another beautiful day. We wanted to go to the bird sanctuary since it is an easier walk. It was closed, I never knew it was a national park. The state park was open, but the walks are national property, so they are closed, unbelievable.

So, we went to the ocean and walked along the rocks and paths. It was a perfect day and the waves were crashing over the rocks, great place to relax and get my center back.

On the way home, we stopped at the bike shop. We needed oil for my chain but we got more than oil, I got an early birthday present. I want to ride again and my old bike is a guy bike and tall, so I cannot put my feet down and with my bad balance it makes me nervous. Now I have a bike that fits my leg size and I can ride around easily and turn better too, lol. And if we all go for a ride, I can use my old one and Dani can use my new one since she is shorter than I am.

Friday Finish!

Today I finished two punch needle pieces. I had made one and this week, made another. A friend sent me the pattern, but my dull brain can't remember who;)

These will be Christmas gifts, so I finished them off, but left the opening so I can add balsam to them before I close them. I think it will be nice to hang on an artificial tree to bring in the pine smell or on a door or peg rack to fill the house with balsam.

I did one in similar colors to the pattern and three strand and one I did with 6 strand and a different color scheme. I do use three strands for the lettering. I decided they needed antiquing so I added walnut spray to them.

The pattern is called Joy, by Prairie Grove Peddler. I think the second one looks more like a top, lol. But, I do like the brighter color and the retro look it has.

Soho Bandana Fabrics!

Yesterday I received a most welcome package from Indygo Junction. A one yard collection of Soho Bandana Fabrics, designed by Amy Barickman. The Contest was hosted by Sherri of A Quilting Life and I was so excited to win this one. 

I have been talking with my daughter on ways to decorate her room and when I saw Amy's new line, I knew this would be perfect for a fun quilt and matching pillows. I am thinking of getting some quilting denim and using that with the fabrics and making her a fun quilt, then pillows to go around her bed. So far I am thinking of blocks with the bandana fabric surrounded by denim or maybe bandana circles. If you have any ideas or a link to quilts that would work well with denim and bandanas, I would love to hear about it.

Not only did they send the fabrics, but I also got patterns to use it with. These will be fun as gifts and I know my daughter would love a messenger bag for school. I have been wanting to practice my sewing skills, so these will be perfect to get me started.

This week I am working on some Christmas presents and a quilt, so hopefully I will have some finishes for you, by Friday.

Weekend Wanderings!

We had on and off rain this weekend, but a few breaks which meant a good day to go for a ride and stop by at our favorite spots.

I always enjoy going to the port of Gallilee where the ferry and fishing boats come and go, throughout the day. The parking lot faces the breach way so we can sit in the car and watch or go on the platform when the rain stops.

There were a few seagulls and this one came out pretty nice, except the gray day made it dull. So, I a little photo shop magic and I got a beautiful blue sky with a slight texture for fun. You are welcome to use the photo for your own personal use.

We caught the high speed ferry coming in.

The next stop was the lighthouse at Point Judith, on the other end of the coast line. It was a bit windy and this boat was trying to get back to port. The boat was going up with the waves.

 And back down again....

Since I was playing with photoshop, I decided to make a banner. You are welcome to use it, you can add your own words or use it as a header for your blog, just add your name. You can also use it for labels if you have a label maker. I hope you all had a wonderful weekend.

Friday Finish: Snow Angel

I got my first Christmas piece down, a million more to go, lol. This piece is called Snow Angel by All Through the Night. I love her designs and this one was no exception, it was fun to do and pick out wools to use in it. One thing I got when I hit the wool store this year, was a few yards or white shades, love the textured whites and they are fun to use in winter projects.

The wools are are a mix of new and thrift wools. I think this will be a happy piece to hang for the holidays. I decided to use snowflake buttons on mine, I think they are fun on this piece.

Whacky Wednesday!

I hope everyone is enjoying this wonderful weather we are getting on the east coast. We got out for a walk today and the seals were back. They were all huddled on two rocks that were quickly being covered with the rising tide, so we watched as one by one, they pushed each other off and then a line of seals swam and played as they headed down the bay. Of course all my shots were on high zoom so they came out blurry.

I did get some fun shots from our walk this weekend. I am working on some christmas pieces and the gifts for the giveaway I had.

I think this is a literal version of being, " Flipped the bird".

Seagulls can be fun to watch, and they seemed to be putting on a show for me.