Projects and Freezing Fun!

I am thinking about the new year and new projects. I have patterns that I have been wanting to do for years and this is the year for Christmas projects. I want to have quilts for different areas of the house, so I am starting with some applique projects that are fun and can be hung on the banister.

This project will be my first, something simpler and easy to appliqué, the designs are very large. The design is in the book 'Tis the season. There is another project with stockings and trees but it has basic blocks on the bottom with the design at the top, so that will be my second project.

The pattern calls  for a black background and now I have to decide, do I want to use a homespun, dull black and go with homespun fabrics for the stockings and make it prim, or go with the heavier, shiny black and do brighter, fun fabrics. What do you think?

We also got a chance to take Nick out for the day. We got both boys some new clothes and we still wanted a coat for Nick, so this way we could try them on. Unfortunately, it seems there are none in his size, so it is a little big, but at least he can wear it next  year.

Even though it was freezing, we took him to the park to have a little fun. About a half hour of that and I was frozen, but he loved it, so worth the frostbite.

They had lots of fun slides and all the walkways had fencing so we didn't have to worry about him going up alone.

He really loves to try new things and he has great balance, these steps are on a pendulum, so you have to keep your balance when they swing, but he did it all by himself.

They had a climbing wall, with a chain to pull yourself up on.

They also had a children's garden, of course the flowers were gone, but a fun place to explore. It is a wonderful park, we will definitely go back, and when it is not so cold. I think this photo would make a fun art piece, will have to work on some ideas.

Today was cold, every day is cold and I am not liking it, lol. We went for a drive and enjoyed the different ocean views, then stopped at the rocky beach. I had my hood and my gloves and I was still freezing. I didn't last long but I got some fresh air and found a few pieces of glass, so it was nice, even if it was short.

I hope you all had a wonderful week and have a wonderful holiday weekend.

Merry Christmas!

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend, no matter what holiday you celebrate. We had a nice weekend planned, but I seem to have gotten sick and it seemed to happen after I ate dinner on Saturday, so I suspect the food.

Not matter, I wasn't going to let the fact that I felt miserable, ruin the time with the kids. I had the house clean and dinner prepared, so that left the day to relax and it was just warm enough for a little walk on the beach. It really helped to get out in the fresh air and and I found a few heart rocks and some more sea glass.

Of course Bean was thrilled when he realized we had headed to the beach. He has no sense, he just went into the water, even though it is freezing. We all had fun exploring the beach.

Sunday we had the kids at our house. We went to the early mass, since none of us wanted to stay up till midnight. Then a nice dinner and we opened presents. Nick was thrilled with his new harmonica, I think that is the only thing he cared about, lol.

Alex was having fun playing with his new electronic phone and learning toy.

Bean was allowed to open one present, but he was more interested in playing with the kids. On Christmas he was more into presents and loves his new ball.

We planned on spending a little time at the kids. I was feeling wretched and tired and learned that they only made a few dishes I could eat and no meat that I could eat. We went and played with the kids and ended up staying and I just ate some potatoes, but I enjoyed being with the family and kids.

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

Merry Christmas Finishes!

This week I took it easy and worked on some new projects. I just wanted some down time to make things for fun and not think about anything else. Last year I made a mitten with a pattern from The Teacher's Pet. This year I used the same pattern and made some punched ornaments and another felted ornament with a few changes.

I reduced the pattern to make the ornies, perfect size for my pencil tree. For the back I use a piece of wool. I like to keep them bright instead of staining, since I may regift them later and my sister who loves snowman has a tendency to buy my snowman pieces when she comes to visit.

I also made it in a felted version. I used a loose weave piece of wool and punched the snowman and hat. For the scarf, I felted in a bit to tack it on, then I did stitches to keep it from falling out. If I over felted it, it would fall apart, and I wanted a 3D effect. A few buttons and a felted cuff and it was all done.

We have snowy weather coming in and I am hoping it stays further north, since we are going to the kids. Just in case, I decided I better buy some extra food in case we get stuck at home. 

This is the house I grew up in, it was one of the original farm houses in the area. May the light of love  shine on you and your families and your home with blessings.

Christmas at my House!

This weekend we got out, mostly shopping and a drive, but it was way too cold to get out for walks. No new projects to show, a few I need to finish before Christmas and a few to start.

I tried taking photos of some of my Christmas decorations with the lights on, but hard to get, since light ruins the effect and dark, you cannot see anything. Not the best photos, but I thought I would share a few with you.

This year I went with more lights, I love having them, it warms up the house and has a calming effect. I also found some clear plastic trees that have changing lights, great to put with groupings. This is my nativity, we bought it a few years after we got married. It came from a discount store, plastic pieces that cost a dollar a piece, so I could only get so many, lol. Now I wish I had bought a lot more, it is hard to find this type and size, but I have found a few animals over the years.

A shelf my husband built, sits on the wall above the dining table. A nice place to decorate for the seasons. Some day we will tear down the wall with the odd cut out, to make room for an island. The cats tend to move things around, so most of my decorations are crooked. The 3 larger stitched pillows are gifts from my friends.

I found a new christmas piece in our local consignment. I love nativities and this church has the nativity, going around each side and you can put a battery candle to light it up. I do love a bit of folk art too.

Above my larger windows, I have garlands, angel lights and a banner that says Joyeux noel. This year I want to make a long banner quilt, depicting the nativity, to hang here.

A find this weekend was this cute snowman that holds photos. A fun piece that I can change out each year, with new photos.

I hope you enjoyed seeing a few of my decorations. I wanted to put out more items and fun ones for when the kids visit. This winter we will be taking everything off the walls, time to repair all the damage and repaint.

I will leave you with one final photo, my son and grandson Alex, he is such a happy baby and I can't wait to start taking him on adventures with us.

Friday Finish!

The presents are done, the cards are out, though I didn't do as many as previous years, I did what I could and now it is time for me to relax and enjoy working on Christmas projects. This year will be my Christmas year, I will be working on larger quilts to put around the house. I still like to do small projects and they are nice to do at night while I watch tv, so that is what I did this week.

This is an older pattern that a friend gave me, called I Believe by Country Stitches. For this one I used 3 strands of floss, so it would stand out more. No antique medium on this one, I wanted it to be lighter and bright, something the kids will like when they visit.

The pillow is 11" x 15". The filling is a mix of battings, mostly from a pillow I bought. I needed a smaller sized pillow for my whale, so I bought a pillow form, took out stuffing, till it was the right size, then sewed it up and cut of the excess. A great way to get the size you need and there was a lot of stuffing, enough to fill another pillow.

Another project I will work on after the holidays is a quilt for my ocean room and now I have another one to make that I can enjoy, as well. My friend Karen sent me this piece that she had started. And she sent the material she bought to use with it. I am going to add more border to it and make it into a quilt, maybe even some extra appliqué around the first border area. I also have some whale and seagull fabric, so if it matches, I may use that.

Not the best photo, the fabrics look so much better in person, love the colors and fabrics. This will be a fun one to practice quilting on, something with a nautical theme.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. I am in the mood to find a new Christmas sweater to wear, so hopefully I can find something this weekend. My closet is filled mostly with black, which is my favorite color to wear, but I think it is time to wear something more festive for the holidays.

Weekend activities!

This weekend we got a little snow storm, so we stayed in and relaxed and I worked on a new project. I was going to finish it Sunday but the kids decided they wanted Christmas pictures, so our plans changed.

Of course we dressed up Bill as Santa and of course one child decided he was not having any of it, lol.

Once Santa was out of the picture, Alex was fine. And I had to take a lot of photos to get some that had everyone looking somewhat normal, but we got a few nice ones.

And then we went outside to get a few, and a few I made into cards so they could print them out at home. This is my favorite.

And Nick and Bean were thrilled to be outside, lots of fun to be had.

 And inside Alex was being silly, he has such a happy personality and I think he is taking lessons from his brother, on face making.

Nick decided to stay with us while his parents went shopping. We had plans to shop too, but I decided to go to Jamestown and enjoy some outdoor time with Nick, even if it was freezing out. The island got less snow so I knew were could walk around there.

We walked around till my fingers were frozen, then headed to the lighthouse. We did the short loop and enjoyed watching the surf crashing on the rocks until we were freezing again. It was nice to get out, even if it was cold.

Today I finished up a few presents and cards and that will be it. Now I will relax and enjoy working on my own projects and making things for my house, for next Christmas.

Friday Finishes!

This week I made a new project and finished one I had started. The first one is a design by Kathy Schmitz for her, One Stitch at a Time Club. Each month she sends a new design to stitch, for two dollars, a month. I decided to join since I love her stitcheries and it is fun to get something new each month. There were a couple, I never did, but I still have the designs that I can do another time, but I do love ones I can make for the holidays and ones I can give as gifts. You can also buy the designs for a dollar more, after she releases them, if you want to buy individual ones.

This one I made for me, loved the design and I happened to have a little hanger and christmas clothes pins. Perfect to hang on my peg rack. She had three words to choose from and I love to use Joy, though I did the word myself, so not the best layout, but good enough for me. I used her crackle fabric and then antique medium, love how it came out.

Another piece I finished was a quilted wall hanging with a design by Cheri Saffiote. This was a free pattern on her Facebook page, Quilts by Cheri - Friendship Group. This will be a gift and I wish I could have gotten a better photo, but the lighting is bad in my house and it is freezing outside. The wool textures don't show up as nice or in true color. It is a little wonky and I used scraps for the border, not perfect, but made with love.

I added the words in the upper two areas to fill in that space. I also received a wonderful gift from my friend Karen. She had made a top with sailors and never finished it, so she gifted it to me with the backing, so I can make something for my beach room. I love it so much, I may make a quilt with it, or a wall hanging, something fun to work on.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. We have snow coming in tomorrow, so it will be a stay at home day. I will finish up cards and things and then I can enjoy the rest of the season and work on new projects for fun.

Weekend this and that!

can't believe Christmas crept up on me again. This year is the first year I felt like decorating more and I love having the house lit up, especially when the kids come over and see it. I got a pencil tree this year, since a large one would get in the way of the tv, lol. I also have smaller trees around the house, as well as garland and string lights.

I found a new thing this year, string lights with remote control, I love it. I can use one remote and turn them all on at once. No more walking around and flipping switches.

Here is my tree, I put ornaments that are more prim and given to me, by friends, over the years.

And since I do not have a tree topper yet, I decided my kitty was prim enough. When we redo the basement into a family room, I can put up a bigger tree and do a tree with all my kitty ornaments and topper.

Another thing I needed was something to put on the sled, under the buffet table. I had this puppy I got for Nick a few years ago and he loves it, so it was perfect to put there and he and Alex can play with it, when they come over. The problem is, Bean is scared to death of it, so he will not go in that area and hides by my feet. Tonight I decided to put it under the tree, he is still afraid of it, but it won't keep him from sleeping on the couch, but it does keep him away from the tree and bothering me to play ball while I am trying to relax, so a good solution, at least for Christmas.

This weekend we picked up our DVD tapes. I was surprised that we had good video still, but it does not do well on large screen televisions. Bill and I watched them when we got home and it was fun to see the kids when they were little, one had our first halloween and Christmas at our new home.

This clip is Danielle and Billy at our Neighbors, she was like a grandmother to them, but passed away a few years back. Danielle had a witch mask, but she was getting hot wearing it.

We also did a little shopping, a few outfits for the boys and a few toys, we are keeping it simple this year. One fun thing we found was indoor snowballs, so we got a small box for Nick and a large pack to give the kids who spent Thanksgiving with us. They will be spending Christmas with all of us, so I got some stockings at the dollar store and I can put snowballs and some candy in each one, a little gift for them too.

The nice thing about shopping is getting down to the beach. We were able to get a nice day for walking and enjoying the views.

We saw this boat go by and at the same time, hundreds of cormorants came flying by. I guess they were chasing a school of fish.

We watched as it went by the sun, love the effect on the boat and the colors when I shot into the sun.

This guy was by himself, the tide was out and just starting to come back in, so I caught the waves coming up on him. We walked along the rocky beach and I found a few pieces of glass, it was nice to get out in the fresh air and get a little exercise. I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. Time for me to get busy with cards and presents, so I can get them out this week. I have a few projects to finish, so those will be done by friday, then that will be it for gifts. I will be making things for fun and maybe a few gifts and items that I can hide as surprise gifts for those that find them.

Friday Finishes and a free pattern!

This week I have been busy cleaning up after the holiday and decorating for the next one. I find myself more in the mood this year, I put out more of my decorations and more lights. I think the kids will love seeing all the decorations and lights when they visit, kids do make the holidays more joyous and I am blessed that I can spend as much time with mine, as I want.

I decided it was time to make one of my patterns from Buttermilk Basin. I love the cut out shapes and they fit nicely on the wall, in smaller spaces. I changed mine up a bit, adding button eyes and snowflakes instead of stars.

Another thing I wanted to try  was an ornament that I saw in my Craft Gossip mail. I followed the link and there was no pattern, that I could see, so I made up my own. I found a similar shape and made a printable, and printed it out on card stock. It isn't real clear, but good enough to print and cut out. I had some music note paper and cut that out in the same shape and glued it on with Elmer's craft stick glue. I used buttons and a button carrot nose, as well as a scarf, all done with the same glue. I wasn't sure if it would work, but everything is staying in place. With the snowflake button, I sewed that on with a thin quilting needle. This was a fun and quick project and you can use different types of paper and items that you have around the house. Great for the kids too.

I am posting the template, that I used. It will print out clearly and you can easily follow the shape, to cut it out. This can be done on a wood cutout, as well, most craft stores carry them. Another option would be to use fabric. Or if you want it to be more prim, you can spray it with walnut spray or add glitter, lots of possibilities. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

Wanderings and Working on!

We had a nice weekend, and of course we had to take advantage of that, and get out for some walks. Since we went on a no dog walk, we decided to go somewhere with Bean, then we decided to take Nick too.

We took them to Tillinghast pond, which has a nice walk around the pond. It wasn't as easy as I remember it, but then again, we had Nick who I watch like a hawk with all the rocks and tree roots, lol. Then Bill put on Bean's short leash which is not a good idea on walks when he needs to explore back and forth. I am not sure who got tired out more.

Nick loved hiking, loved climbing rocks and jumping over trees that had fallen. On hills I worry about him falling on a sharp rock or sliding down an embankment, so I told him grandma needed help because it was hard to walk up the hills. After a few times, he would see a hill and turn around, and say, let me help you, I don't want you to fall, lol. The boy warms my heart, he is so caring for his age.

He and Bean played at the picnic area.

Here is a photo at the beginning of our hike, and one near the end, quite a difference in his expression. Actually he would not sit still for a nice photo and then said, I have to go to the bathroom, so that is, I have to go look.

We did 3 miles over rough terrain and he does really well, I think we need to get him a pair of good hiking boots for next year. Sadly we both started feeling sick when we got home, and Nick was throwing up all night, guess we were at the verge of a stomach bug and over did it.

We decided to buy a pencil tree, fits perfectly in the corner without taking up too much space. I realized my cat ornaments are heavy and bulky, so I am going with a rag tree. Today I made rag candy canes in a red check and then I will do mini rag balls with yellow and maybe blue, depends on what I have in my stash. For the candy canes, I took two chenille stems, folded them over and twisted them together, then wrapped a long piece of homespun around them, quick and easy. I used a glue stick to tack down the end piece.

I will add a few primitive ornies too, I have a few that were gifted to me, over the years and they will go  perfectly with the rag look. Now I have to decide what to put on the top. Maybe I can make a raggy angel?

Holiday Weekend!

I guess you could say I have been busy and enjoying my company, since I didn't get many photos. We had a house full and everyone doing their thing, especially the kids, so it was hard to get anyone to stay still for too long.

I rearranged the dining area and made room for everyone at the table, a bit snug, but we all fit.

Today was a nice day, a bit cool, but a nice day to get out for a walk. I wanted an easy day, and no stress, so we went to the bird sanctuary. I love the paths and the beautiful views of the pond and ocean.

Coming through the back path, I almost bumped into this deer. She was standing at the edge of the path and seemed used to people. I also noticed when I looked at the photo that she has a large hole on her back left leg, so I will send it to them, not sure if she caught it on something or a coyote tried to get her.

On another path I hurt a racket and discovered two squirrels, running up and down a tree to gather more leaves for their nest. Hard to catch them, they run at top speed, back and forth.

Back at the center, they have a little porch with a bench. A great place to sit and relax, while the critters enjoy the feeders and bird baths. It was a nice way to spend the day and we stopped at some small local gift shops, but nothing worth bringing home.

I hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving and a fun weekend planned. I am working on my stitchery and decided on what projects to make for me, for Christmas.