Friday Finish!

 

I can't believe that it is November, the months have flown by. The good thing is, we are getting unseasonable nice weather on the weekends, so we get to enjoy being out for a bit longer. This week the new stitchery came out, so of course I had to make that. It was perfect for Thanksgiving and I can use it to place a hot dish, on the. table.

I added extra border stitching for fun, and I like how it came out. I can never seem to get the right colors in a photo, it is bright, but in a nice way.

Last weekend we got out for a ride, closer to home. I was able to stop at the quilt shop and pick up some nice Christmas fabric and a panel to make a nativity. On the way home we stopped by the Veterans Cemetery. The trees were bursting with vibrant color.

On Sunday we went to Connecticut to check out a new area. We went to a park on the river, but ran into an event, so it was a bit crowded. We walked around a bit and watched as the Scullers came in. This is definitely a place to come back to, perfect place to go kayaking.

As we passed through the town, we saw beautiful foliage and a few fun Halloween displays.

The last place we stopped was an old mill site. It was a nice walk through the woods, following the river and seeing what was left of one of the old mills.

I hope you all had a good week and a fun weekend ahead.

Giveaway Winner!

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. Mine has been busy, it took a few days to recover and then days of catching up with cleaning and decorating, but I was able to get it done before my sister got here. Now I am busy or more like, my time is being eaten up by a sister who talks non stop and it is literally exhausting.

I was able to get my stitcheries done, one for me and one was a gift. It is a design by Kathy Schmitz for the One Stitch Club. It was fun to do and a nice addition to my fall decorations.

And of course I have been glass collecting, the first two are from my SIL's and the larger, last one was from today. We took my sister to my favorite glass beach and luckily no one had been there today, so I found some really nice pieces and some nice old chunks. If you can see the one in the center, it is almost a heart and has red on it. There was something about it that was interesting and it wasn't until I picked it up after cleaning that it looked off, so I shone the flashlight and believe it or not, it is a piece of brown glass. Not sure where the paint came from.

We took my sister to Jamestown and hit the usual beaches and lighthouse, so she could get photos and I took lots of her at different locations. She did find one nice white piece, I just seem to have a knack for seeing and finding it;)

At the lighthouse she wanted to climb around the cliffs, she is braver than I am when it comes to heights.

And she took some photos of us, we never get ones with both of us, since I always take the photos. Here we are, being a bit silly.

 And of course we had to get another batch of apples, she loved doing that and they still had peaches, so I got a bag full, love fresh fruit.

And now for the giveaway winner! The lucky number was 4, Mindy of Raymond Homestead! Please email me your address and I will get your table mat in the mail. Congratulations! I do plan on doing more, I do have a lot of Christmas goodies too. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. Hopefully my sister will find some friends to hang out with, I really need a break;)

Friday Finishes!

This week I got an idea that I had to try. One of the things I love to do is, stop at old graveyards and photograph unique stones. For some reason this one caught my attention and I always like the designs on the stones. I was going through my files and thought, wouldn't it be fun to reproduce it in stitchery and make it a gravestone shape, so I did.

I was going to make it thinner and hang on a wall, but once I turned it inside out, I thought it made a fun pillow and I could stand it up, that way. I did the design exactly like the original stone, mistakes and all, thought that made it more fun. I was thinking I might do a booklet with gravestone designs and this would be a fun way to finish them and have grave pillows to decorate with, what do you think?

I used a darker stain on this piece, I wanted it to look like an aged stone, but my stain had a mind of it's own and kept pulling into the center when I dried it. I loved making this and will try some more and redo some designs to make them more fun for decorations and add my own touches. It will be something I can work on for next year.

Another piece I made was a mini pillow with a design by Cheri Saffiote. She was part of the Buttermilk Basin's blog hop and this piece was fun to do. I used coffee stained muslin by Moda for the background.

I also took my camera back, decided it was not smart to buy the floor model, too many dings that I hadn't noticed. They ordered me a new one and I got it in two days, so fast service. The photos today are with the new camera, taken outside since I have to buy an external flash, but I think the quality is much improved over my other camera and since it is lighter, I don't shake so much and the photos are clearer. I took it out yesterday for a practice run and this is one of the shots I took.

I Took a full photo of the boats in the harbor and cropped out these two boats. Another thing I like about this camera is it has a much higher resolution so you can take regular photos without zoom and crop out the section you want and it still looks close up. I got a Sony mirrorless camera, they come in different models so not sure which ones are good in the lower price range, this is one of their newest ones, but not the newest since that is double in price and this is just right for me. It is an early Bday present from Bill;) I am hoping we can find some nice foliage and new places to take photos tomorrow.

Friday Finish!

This week I wanted to make another fall piece and I got the idea of using my star pattern from Buttermilk Basin with another of her appliqués from another pattern. I reduced the size of the pattern to fit the star. The fabric for the star was some old cotton that I over dyed with grungy browns but it doesn't show up too well in the photo.

It is a fun piece to make and you can see more of Stacy's designs at Buttermilk Basin, she has patterns with Christmas and fall, as well as, wool appliqué and stitchery types on stars. She also has a new free pattern on her Blog.

The American Made Contest is still running and I would love to see Stacy raise her votes. I hope everyone has a nice weekend. Bill has the long weekend off, so we will be doing some exploring, so we shall see where we end up;)

This was a fun piece to make, and great for a shelf sitter. The star looks light but it is actually a grungy brown.

Blackbird Sings Stitchery!

I finally finished my blackbird stitchery, design by Kathy Schmitz. It was really fun to do but it is harder to do the large designs and keep them straight since my light box is not that big, so I had to trace it on my glass door.

I changed a few things, the berries were stitched, but I used wool. I also added a little stitching in the middle and the outside to tack it to the backing. It was way too bright for me, so I had to antique it, lol. The blues are not so bright, but hard to get all of the colors to show up nicely with a flash.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Mother's Day! Bill has to work, so it might be a good day to get the baby quilt done. I was about to finish it and realized I didn't have anything that was big enough for the back and I wanted a nice solid piece for this. I got a nice flannel that is cream with splotches of pale yellow, so perfect for the backing.

I kept this photo larger so you can see the details, not sure if blogger allows large anymore. It seems they keep changing my photo options. The border has also been changed, instead of a larger border, I made mine smaller so it is a combination border/binding.

Wool Quilt and New Stitchery Progress!

Today I played around with my wool pieces until I got a layout, that I liked. I had some spaces so I added a patchwork and a striped block and at the suggestion of a follower, some pennies. I also added the green blocks and the plan is to stitch words on those. I am doing a blanket stitch to keep it simple and easier than trying to do too many stitches on one big piece. I did a little bit today and got tired so I grabbed my stitchery to work on and what did I find underneath, a kitty block that I had set to the side. Now I need to rethink how that will fit in, but I am sure I can redo the top area and shorten the long piece. I added the longer piece and planned on making the applique later, which is good, since I will change that out to fit the kitty in.

What do you think? I realized I started this in 2009, time sure flies by;)

Another project I am working on is a stitchery called Blackbird Sings which can be found in Kathy Schmitz's book, Simple Pleasures in Redwork. After I find the stitchery, there will be a border and it will measure 23" x 26", the largest stitchery I have done but perfect to hang for spring and summer.

The original is done in lighter colors with a touch of black, I am going with black and a touch of color.

Contest and Freebie this week at Babycakes Blog, be sure to visit and wish her a Happy Anniversary!