Friday Finish!

 

Well, I just realized it was Friday and I almost forgot to post. Quite the hectic week with holiday preparations. We had a nice dinner with the kids, and today we mostly rested.

This week I Finished a nativity, that I started last year. I thought it would be fun to try and have something different to add to my collection. 

The bad thing with this panel was, the pieces did not line up exactly so I sewed them by following the front facing pieces since they are the ones that you see. I stuffed them and sewed the bottom after, seemed easier for me to do it that way.

One new thing I did this year was, make corn bread with a mold. I like how they looked and fun for the table. They actually tasted better than when I do them in a pan. The silicone mold was also nicer since they popped right out, no sticking. 

We did shorter rides lately, not as many birds to see, so no photos. Next is pulling out all the holiday decorations and getting the house ready, Christmas is coming fast. I have done a lot of online shopping, so most of the gifts are here and I can enjoy relaxing a bit and getting my cards out. 

I hope everyone enjoyed their holiday and can enjoy the upcoming holidays.

Friday Finish!

 

This week I wanted to try something new, a silverware holder for our table setting. I didn't have any good fall fabric, so I used a christmas one, that looks a lot like a fall one. They were not hard to make and I did them in a day. I cannot remember where I got the original pattern from, but I just used it to get the idea and figured it out myself. Here is one with diagrams you can use, if you want to make your own. You can also do a search and find a lot of different types. I definitely plan on making more for Christmas.

Last weekend we took the boys for the day. We stopped at a farm that was having an event, but everything cost money, and the rides were more for toddlers. They did have fun feeding the farm animals and they got apple cider slushies, which they loved.

Since the farm had their own brand of corn meal, we headed to Kenyon mills, the only one I will use. I got our supply of corn meal and then we got to take the boys to the mill for a little tour. This mill still does stone ground cornmeal.

The next day we headed to a new place in Connecticut. I was interested in finding, what was left of an old mansion in the woods. Luckily it was easy to find, though the trail was rough and rocky. It was a cool old mansion that was there during the mill days. It is also said that they had their own electric system in the house. 

The trail was too rough for me, so we headed back to the parking lot and we walked a little way up the road, where I saw an interesting wall and my instincts were right, it was an old cemetery.

From there we walked to the old mill area, and then across the street on another path. It is an interesting area, with rivers and ponds, so it is another place I will go back to in the spring, when the birds come back.

I hope you all had a good week and can enjoy your holiday. I will be busy with cleaning and cooking, so hopefully I can get all that done and another unfinished project done, during the week.

Friday Finish!

 

As usual I am working on several projects and started a new one. Most are taking time, so I always like to have a smaller project to finish for the week. I found this design from Dearie Dolls, who seems to have disappeared from the web, but still has her blog with freebies.

I made this for the kids, so I wanted it to be fun. I am still trying to get the blue pen out, but once that is set, I will use glitter in the snowballs. It is still wet, so it looks discolored.

Last week we went for a ride and stumbled onto a ceremony at the Westerly cemetery. It was for an area that only had one grave and later it was found out that there were 172 people buried there. They had veterans from each era represented and this group did the 3 gun salute.

On the weekend we drove into Connecticut so I could get some fabric and then stopped at a park for a walk. Lots of birds along the river, most were far away or constantly moving, but I got a few decent shots.

After we drove to Eagle landing on the Connecticut river and I was surprised when I saw the nesting eagles, hanging out in the trees nearby.

The next day we went into Connecticut again to visit the fish hatchery. They have paths along the river and into fields, so a good place to walk and enjoy the birds. 

Today we went to Jamestown, a nice place for a walk and enjoy some beach time, Beans favorite. I caught this bird, hanging out on a rock. I hope everyone had a nice week and nice weather for this weekend. 

Friday Finish!

 

Since I am working on several large projects, I like to have something that I can make up quickly. This Christmas mat is a pattern from BareRoots. I have been gifted a lot of items on top of things I have bought over the years, so trying to finish them, a bit at a time.

Last week we went to the pond, to see if we could find the eagles. None in sight this time, but I did catch a Killdeer at the water's edge.

After we went for a walk at the bike path. Would love to try my new bike there, but it is either too cold or too windy lately. Lots of Chickadees at the park.

Today we went to the lighthouse. It was windy but warmer. Lots of seagulls were enjoying, floating in the winds.

We ended up taking the back paths and found out they go a lot further in the opposite direction, so we got a nice long walk, along with views of the bay. 

Most of the foliage is gone now, but we still see pops of color, here and there. My backyard came in late, so this was last week and now they are bright yellows and falling with the wind. I hope you are all safe from the horrible storms, crossing the middle states. We have good weather this weekend, so hoping to get out for long walks and maybe a bike ride.

In the works!

 

This week I have been getting some pieces ready to finish for Christmas. I have a lot of unfinished projects, so for now, I am working on ones I really want to finish. Then I can decide what to do with other projects later. 

One project was a tree skirt. I made this years ago, all pieced by hand. I decided to sew it inside out with the batting and backing. My idea was to do ties in each hexagon, but not so sure now. I am wondering if it would look good if I quilted around the design elements from the outside in, then left the gold pieces, as is. Any suggestions are appreciated, but I am lazy, so simple is best, but I want it to look nice. I messed up the center, it's a bit wonky, but not noticeable when it is around the tree.

The second project is a large wall hanging. I have a rod hanger over our front entry, so this will be perfect to hang there, hopefully it will fit. I have the stockings and stars done, so next is sashing to piece those together. Next will be side pieces with trees and stars, then the top and bottom will have a saying. I realized I didn't have enough of the original black, so hoping to find the same type at the store this weekend.

I decided I wanted to have fun this halloween. We don't get kids anymore and live on a road, so no one stops by. So, we went to the kids and got to have fun with them. I changed my look a bit, went with an ugly witch look. The black spots on my face are spider stencils and I used the face paint to enhance my wrinkles. The kids live in a rural area, so the houses were more spaced in some areas. We took our truck and I got out with the kids and walked to houses when they were closer.

The funniest thing was, Alex would not go near me when I came, I guess I was a bit too creepy for him. Once he realized grandma hadn't turned into a real witch, he was fine.

Some of the neighbors had some cool displays and at one house, they had beer and pizza for the adults. It was fun to see the boys having fun and see the displays and other kids. This is one of the best displays we saw, they had a lot of other items in their yard and a fog machine.

I hope you all had a fun halloween and enjoy your weekend.