Friday Finish and Fun!

This weekend we got to enjoy time at the beach and time with Nick. He loved visiting his Great Aunt,  especially her new puppy. And of course there is nothing better than exploring the beach with Nick.

It was a beautiful day on the beach and lots of sailboats enjoying the breeze. Grandpa and Nick were being silly.

Nick found a shell tree and added his own shells.

And he loved exploring the beach, he even found some glass for me and a few hidden crabs.

And we had a nice haul, lots of larger pieces too and some fun new shapes.

And that gave me inspiration to make some new things. I used a couple of the larger pieces of glass and painted some nautical designs on them. I used acrylic paint and a coat of gloss over the design to protect them. I left the rest alone, so the frosted glass shows. I like the idea of mounting the larger pieces and working on some ideas for ornaments I can give as gifts.

And used some of the rocks to paint more smile rocks. We will be hiding them this week, when we go camping. If you want to know more about my group, you can visit at DSmiles4Miles on Facebook. The heart rocks are something fun and easy, that anyone can do.

And after all that work of hunting on the beach, we took a swim. Nick loved bobbing up and down on the waves. We will be camping locally, our cat sitter isn't feeling well, so we will stay close to home. That way we can come back every day to take care of the kitties. I hope you all have a wonderful week.

Friday Finish and Fun!

I didn't get much done this week, been resting my arm, though I tend to do more cleaning and things, so not sure if I am really resting it. But it is good to give it a rest from repetitive sewing. I decided to do a few more rocks since I want to have enough for when I get out. We may also go on vacation in a few weeks, so the choices are maine or stay at home, I am still debating.

I used designs I found on the web, and then went off on my own and made a mess, lol. Even if my hand isn't steady and I make mistakes, I still have fun and I am sure the people who find them, won't mind the imperfections.

Bill had to work the weekend and It was pouring, so I missed the kid's birthday party. Since the job was finished, he was able to take a day off and we took Nick out for the day. Peaches and some apples are in, at the orchard and it was the only day we could go and get peaches.

Nicks loves the tractor, and this one was bumpier than usual, had to hold on tight.

Nick loved the apples, he ate two while we there and took his own bag of apples and peaches home.

On the way home, I saw a sign for a boat launch, so we stopped for a look. This was a fishing area, to the side of the launch.

We hiked down a little trail, Nick loves hiking with us. That is a really big mushroom in front of him.

We came out to a little peninsula, a nice place to enjoy the views. We will definitely come back to paddle.

We ended the day with a stop at Beach pond. It has been closed for years, seems too many people were coming and partying and fighting, so no swimming now. People can still fish there and there were people who were swimming. It is a shame, it is a beautiful beach and crystal clear water. We go to the other end with our kayaks and swim off a little island.

Nick wasn't too sure about the dog, who kept dropping his toy in front of him. He just wanted to play, but Nick is not used to strange, large dogs. It was a wonderful day and just what I need to recharge for the week.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

Friday Finish!

I worked every day this week to finish a quilt for Alex. I never got a chance to make him one and since he is two now, I made it a bit larger. Something fun for now and I did add double batting so he can use it in the winter.

I hand quilted the motifs on the panel and machine quilted the borders. I really think I should have used the machine, it is a lot of work and with a time crunch, it was a killer on my joints.

The finished quilt is 48" x 32". This was from a bundle of fabrics that I won, by the Whimsical Workshop, years ago.

For the back, I used flannel, to make it snuggly. I also made up a quick tag, I was being lazy.

I did get some beach time in, last weekend. My SIL's beach has a new supply of glass, every day.
Day one yielded some nice pieces. I really don't need the new glass pieces, those I took to get off the beach and I will see if my friend can use them in her glass works.

Day two I was excited to find what I thought was yellow depression glass, but it amazing what bleach will do, it was just colored from the seaweed, it was clear when I cleaned it. The house shapes will be fun to paint, will be trying some beach houses.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. The kid's are finally getting their party, but Bill may be working and if the weather is bad, I do not want to drive into a flood zone by myself, so we shall see. Otherwise, I will be resting and working on some new pieces, if Bill is working.

Friday this and that!

This has been a hectic week. My car died on Saturday and Bill decided our car was getting too old to trust on trips, so we went car shopping, or more like truck shopping. I am a minimalist, I don't like a lot of fancy things that just confuse me, but most cars now, have it built in. I also was shocked at the prices and payments, I am not used to that either, so I said I would think on it.

Of course if you say that and walk away, they start making deals and calling you, so we ended up getting a deeper discount and with a trade in and Bills work discount, we got a deal I could live with and lower payments. Now I need to learn how to drive it, I have been sick this week, so no desire to go out at all. It will carry more weight, so in the future we can get a larger trailer with room for the kids.

I also finished my jungle panel. Now I need to get some thick foam so I can make an over sized pillow cushion, but was also wondering if I added a matching sized seat, if I could make it into a mini couch for the kids, when they come over. So, I will look up patterns and see if I can figure it out.

Here is a bit of the stitching, hard to see since I used black pearl cotton, but I stitched over the gold lines to tone it down a bit.

And what is that little guy, peaking from the side? My newest project, I decided to hand sew the shapes on the panel and it needs to be done by next weekend. I will machine quilt the sides, so hopefully I can do it.

With the rain and car shopping, I didn't have much time to go beach combing. We were able to go to his sisters for a long swim and as the tide was going out, I did a quick search and found some nice chunks that had just washed up.

And I painted a few more rocks, these are hearts I found on the same beach, this month. There are lots of rocks with shapes, so I will have to find some more and stock up for later. I kept these simple, it takes forever to get coverage with some colors, so I did dots to decorate with and it works up fast that way.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend, we have another soaker, coming in tomorrow. Really miss going to the regular beaches, so hopefully with school starting, they will be less crowded.

I also cannot answer some comments, but I do read them all and appreciate each one. With people using new readers, I cannot find email addresses.

Friday Finishes and Finds!

This week seemed to fly by, I had lots of plans and didn't get as much accomplished, but I was able to do a few things. I think the heat is getting to me, and it is continuing into next week. Of course we may get showers finally, right at the same time as the boys belated birthday party, lol.

One good thing is the first of the month and a new stitchery from Kathy Schmitz's club. I decided to do some more lavender sachets and I kept them simple, omitting the extra stitching in the basket and some outer pieces.

One I did with pearl cotton and one I did with DMC variegated red. I think I like the red best, the blue is a bit light, but fine for a sachet that I will be hiding in my wool.

I also got out over the weekend to hunt for glass. We found a lot the first day, and we spent 4 hours looking, and I had my helpers. I even found an old rusty hook, not sure what I will do with it. If you look towards the bottom left, you will see a face rock, complete with 3d nose and a smile, that will be fun to paint.

The next day I found less, but some nice pieces and the big rock at the top will be an owls head. I ended up throwing away the piece of bottle, too new and it was cracked and sharp, so not worth keeping.

And as you can see from the first photo, I used some of my rocks. I did some simple ones this time and the hearts were a design I saw on a cookie. The problem is, I was supposed to make the stripes in the opposite direction and my brain went backwards, but they still turned out, ok.

The chick and dog came from the first finds. I have the others ready to go, but wanted to finish a few this week and I can do some more, next week. One the back I write my group name, DSmiles4miles and ask them to smile at the next person they see, that is the payment for finding and keeping the rock. I am hoping to get a large batch made, then when it cools down, I can hide some on our walks and maybe take some on vacation.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. The boys had to postpone their birthday in May, so they are finally getting a party. And Bean is on house rest, though he seems to be getting back to his old self. He injured his leg and had an inflamed tendon, so no jumping for now.