Weekend Wanderings!

A long weekend means a lot of activity and we kept busy, each day. We were lucky enough to have nice weather so we could get out.

On Saturday we did an easy day and went to the beach. It was a little cooler, but that meant less people. We have been making friends with the regular beach combers, so Bean had fun too, meeting up with his friends.

We got a few nice treasures, I just enjoy being outside and chatting with people, so anything I find is a bonus.

With the recent storm and winds, we wanted to check the girl's graves to make sure there was no damage. Everything was fine and the cemetery was full of fall colors.

We made one more stop at the pond and let Bean go for a short walk and enjoyed the views and the colors were starting to pop in some areas.

On Sunday we went up state and visited with my nephew who was camping, so we got a late start to the day. The colors popped in some areas and some are still green. Of course, I see a cemetery and have to stop for a look. I loved this memorial and the fall colors.

We stopped at a few ponds and headed to Putnam. The falls and surrounding area are worth the stop. They also have a lot of antique stores and historic buildings, as well as a river walk. A few sights along the river.

Today I woke up late, so we went for a shorter ride and stayed in central Connecticut, near the city of Norwalk. The first place we headed to was Occum, a small town but the ride up, is along the river and beautiful views. We stop at the Dam to see the falls and this time we drove to the other side and found a little country church. The larger church is in the city of Norwalk.

Next on the stop was Yantic falls. We always love going there, unfortunately the leaves were just starting to turn.

And another stop at a nearby cemetery, Connecticut has plenty of churches and cemeteries. And cemeteries are the best place for old oaks, maples and color.

We ended the day with a trip to the apple orchards and filled our bucket. The orchards are almost bare, so that is going to be the last batch that we can pick. I hope you all had a wonderful weekend and enjoyed exploring with me.

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;)

Weekend Wanderings!

This weekend was good and bad. On Saturday we stayed home, it was raining and we had to wait for my wood to come in, so Bill could work on that. Well, it did not come until 7:30 at night, so too late to use it and that didn't matter, because the wood is junk. I wanted rustic wood, but this was so rough, Bill got a splinter, picking one up. Their were 8 boards in a box, and they were all crooked, so they went back today. We will just get our own wood and do the sanding and painting, not worth the cost of finished when they did a horrible  job on the wood.

Sunday was our day to get out. The bad thing was, I was sick, a combination of fighting off the latest flu and inhaling toxic smoke. I could hardly breath and I was coughing, so I took some med and headed out for the day. The med cleared up my lungs but I am still sick, but at least I can breath a lot better.

We headed to the apple orchards in Connecticut, but our first stop was an old prison building. We always see them on the way and I wanted to get a few photos. There are several building complexes along the road, but this is the only one without fencing. It is falling apart and all the windows are broken, such a shame to let buildings like this go to waste, lots of beautiful architecture on them. Also a bit creepy.

Of course we stopped at the orchard next and I got a large bag of apples and a few pears, they weren't as good as last time. Golden delicious are Bill's favorite, so half the bag is filled with those.

Afterwards I noticed a pull over at the river and then a sign, I can't pass by a historic cemetery. We walked around and I took a few more photos, sadly a lot of the graves are sinking into the wet ground. 

Since I was feeling better, I decided to head down to Groton and enjoy the views from the beaches. On the way I saw a tall stone tower, so we took a side road and headed up to see what it was. What we found was Fort Griswold. It was the site of a battle in the Revolutionary war, involving Benedict Arnold. This is the tower that I saw, it was erected later, as a monument to the men who fought in the wars.

We walked through the gates and entered into a large depression surrounded by earthen mounds. There was a door and an opening, so we checked it out.

It was a tunnel, that led to the other side.

On the other side was the area were the men were stationed with the guns and lookouts for enemies coming up the river. The tunnel was their escape route, they could run up and through, to the area we started in, to protect them from incoming fire.

On the edge of the banks, we could enjoy the views of New London and the ferries.

Some of the buildings are still there, the old furnace, where they heated up the canon balls, so that they would burst into flame, when they hit.

And the powder house, were they stored the munitions. It was a fun place to visit and I left a rock at the gate and it was found by a wonderful family, so they posted a photo of their little boy on DSmiles4miles on Facebook. It is fun for us too, when someone posts and we get to see the smiles.

Our last stop was  Eastern Point beach, it is at the end of the Thames River, so it is a nice spot to relax and enjoy the views and of course the boats and ferries, come and go.

A fishing boat coming past the Haunted lighthouse.

And to end the journey, a funny story. Maybe not for one seagull though. I was taking photos of these two guys, fighting for some reason and the other gulls seemed to be egging them on. Just as I was readjusting my focus, the one gull threw the other one off the roof and the gull went falling down the side. It was comical, especially when the poor guy got up and walked off, the flew away, no harm done. I also left a few rocks on some ledges on the house, on the backside, rough sea areas are not good places to hide things.

I hope you all had a good weekend. I am working on finishing a few more pillows and a new stitchery of the month.

Weekend Wanderings and Surprises.

We had rain on saturday, so no day trips. Instead we went to Best Buy to look at cameras. I wanted something small and simple and of course nothing fit the bill. When you have a good camera, it is hard to compare with the smaller models, but I found the new mirror less cameras that give the same quality with a lot less weight. The camera fits perfectly for me and I can hold it without shaking, and it does take beautiful pictures. But, I am noticing by comparing online, that I am missing some parts and cords and since I took the floor model to save money, I am realizing, it looks more beat up than I thought, so considering taking it back. The following photos are taking with the phone and the new camera, so you can tell me what you think. I do need to learn the settings better, I am sure I could get better quality if I get that figured out.


Since we were getting high wind gusts in RI and Massachusetts, we decided to go to Devil's Hopyard and avoid the winds. The foliage hasn't turned much, but it was still beautiful and we got in a good hike, mostly uphill.

Lots of old bridges and underpasses in the park. Taken with new camera.

The main feature of course, is the waterfall, never fails to amaze me. I would love to just sit there and relax, but it seemed everyone was at the park. Trying to  take a relaxing walk with Bean and people and dogs, can be rough on my arm. Taken with my IPhone.

Of course we have to cross on the covered bridge. Taken with the new camera.

And for fun, a crop of the above photo, the new camera has a higher resolution so it is great for cropping to get close in.

Our final destination, the overlook. You can see the foliage is just starting in the valley areas, so we will have to go back when it is full. We hiked a new path which was going in the wrong direction, so we had to hike up, then down and back up to get to the main path, so we did over 5 miles. Taken with the new camera and a filter, I think the filter washes out the colors a bit.

To end our day we stopped at the apple orchards. They are nearing the end of the season, so all the apples were at the end of the orchard. They offer free rides, so we too advantage of a little fun ride. Of course I felt bad since Nick missed out on a tractor ride;) Taken with my iPhone.

The rest of the photos are from the IPhone. The other bad thing about the new camera is no built in flash and my old flash doesn't fit the mount, so another thing to buy, it does add up.

Kelley has been working on some gifts for me. I wanted to make hit and miss chair pads with stars to use up my stash, but Kelly wanted to make them to get back into hooking again and use up her worm stash. She read my mind and made them better than I imagined, here is one on the extra chairs. The others go at the table and I need to design a nice table topper to match them.

She also made me two runners, love them both and surprised me with some sand colored hearts sachets, perfect for the beach room. I put them on the table for the photograph, but they do look nice there too. They look much better in person, bad lighting for photographs in that room. Kelley does such a beautiful job with prim cuts, and she is also offering free designs this week, so be sure to visit With Hook and Needle.

And I also won Sandi's giveaway, she sent me a beautiful fat quarter. I guess I need to start planning some quilts and table toppers.

Weekend Wanderings!

Bill had two extra days off so a nice long weekend. We made the best of it by enjoying our own area and were able to get out and enjoy a few good days before the storm hit. The weather is not bad here, but the winds were whipping up the waves and making it hard to swim at the ocean beaches. Today we got the winds and a little rain, hopefully we will get more rain before the warm weather comes back.

Saturday we decided to go to Connecticut and check out a boat launch we could never find, which I finally figured out. You drive over the border and go into Connecticut and then down a long back road and back towards Rhode Island and there is a nice big boat launch at their end of the lake.

Since we had never been and I wanted to walk a bit, we walked along the path that follows the shoreline. The path goes back to Rhode Island but we were just exploring. It was a beautiful part of the trail, lots of areas to stop and enjoy the views.

From this viewpoint I saw some little islands and people swimming, so we walked to that point and checked it out and went back to get our suits on and our kayaks. It was funny, Bean and I were waiting for slow poke Bill and Bean started whining and hopping into the kayaks, I guess he has decided he likes kayaking.

I also think he knows, kayaking means water fun and we had our own little spot on the island to relax and go for a swim.

After our swim, we did a little more paddling and enjoyed the shoreline, love the rock ledges in this area.

On Sunday we wanted to see the ocean and watch the waves from the storm that was approaching. We went to Fort Wetherill which has views of the bay entrance and ocean and on the other side is Newport.

This fort still has a lot of structures still standing, so we could walk around some areas and on the tops to enjoy the views.

We then took a path that led to the ocean cliffs, spectacular views of the outer bay and the sailboats.

We continued along the paths and came out on the Newport side, beautiful views from every angle.

We left the fort and headed to Battery Park. I found it on a map and wanted to check it out. A nice walk through the woods to an area that was once used in the American revolution and then for the world wars. There is not a lot left, but it was fun to visit and we even spotted the coast guard boat, anchored in the harbor.

On the path back we came across the fire control stations. I cannot imagine being stuck in that hole, looking out through the slats, all day and night.

Here is the sign that was posted nearby, it shows what it was like and a bit of history about them.

And today we spent the morning, cleaning out the yard and removing projectiles, just in case. I noticed that is was nicer in Connecticut and the orchards were open,  so we headed back over the border to go apple picking. Not only did we get some fresh apples, but some pears, as well.

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend and not effected too badly with the storm.
If you are bored and want to see the little slide show I made up, you can watch it at My Youtube Channel.

Happy Present!

Sometimes when we feel down or sick, we need something to cheer us up. When I was little my mom would get us a happy present when we were sick and stuck on the couch all week.

Last month I won a giveaway hosted by Brenda of The Rusty Thimble. Brenda makes the most wonderful prim items, from pillows and ornies, to dolls and holiday items. This month she is giving away a wonderful americana piece. If you love prim items but don't have the time to make your own, visit Brenda's Etsy Store, she has a lot of wonderful items for sale and she changes her stock regularly and seasonally.

Brenda waited to send my gift and I am glad she did, I was not ready to get a gift but today it arrived and it was perfect timing. I needed a happy present to lift my spirits, it has been a long day and lots of laundry and organizing clothes.

My bunny is so wonderful, I love her looks and clothes and she is a lot bigger than I realized, so she sits beautifully on the shelf with the antique crazy piece. I think she will stay up for the rest of the season and maybe she can be my garden bunny for the summer.

I have also been stitching this week, slowly but I am in no hurry, it keeps my hand and mind busy and it is nice to do something normal when I can. We also went to church with our son and my sweet grand baby, having happy moments with him helps me to get through the tough moments. I appreciate all of your comments and support and I do have future plans that I will work on when I can catch up on sleep and my mind is not so jumbled. I cannot dwell on the pain and the senselessness of it all. I will be starting a new blog in memory of my daughter to help others and for future charity events.

I hope you enjoy my little stitchery, it is a block by Theodore Cleaves and she has graciously offered the whole set for free. I love the designs and they make me happy as I work on them. I may make smaller quilts or a larger one, but for now I just stitch and enjoy the process.

Blessings to you all!

New Pattern Available!

No weekend photos this week, Bill had to work one day and the other was spent catching up around the yard. The weather was nice but too gusty for me to paddle in.

Today I finished working up the pattern. It is a pdf pattern so once you make a payment, you will receive it within 24 hours. Usually you get it right away, but I do have to sleep so no over night deliveries;)

I took a photo of the piece after I antiqued it, but it doesn't really show how nice it looks in person. It gave it just the right coloring to age it without ruining the design. The finished piece is 5" x 7" and I left it flat so I can stick it on anything I want. I use double sided rug tape and it is a nice idea if you want to put it on a basket and then change it with another design. The only thing you need to do is put on a backing or the tape will pull out the loops.

Here is a photo of the piece by itself, you can see how the colors are more aged and darker, compared to the first photo. I still had to lighten it up for detail, so that changes the actual colors, as well. For the pattern, I added two drawings, one larger and one that is the actual punch needle size, so you can just print it out.

I thought I would play with photoshop and color in the design to see how that would look. I am not a good computer artist, I think I would do better if I hand painted it. I filled in color and then put it through filters to give it a painted look. I lost a lot of the lines and sharpness, doing this, so not a good way to do up designs.

New Fall Pattern!

I started a new pattern this week but it took me longer to punch it, and I just finished it off today. I do not have the pattern ready yet. When I make a new pattern, I draw out the design I have in mind, then I punch it and change it as I go, so I need to redraw the pattern with the new changes and I need a steady hand for that. I use an artist pen to do the designs, so they print out nicely and I cannot make too many mistakes or ones I can't fix with photoshop;)

I like how it came out in some ways but I also wish I had been able to use variegated threads for this piece and do more of an artistic style with the design. This is something that can be done with or without the extra details and I like to keep things simple for those who want to hook them, as well. This would also work nicely in stitchery or appliqué.

The pattern is an adaptation of an antique quilt appliqué. Do you like ones with more or less detail?
I thought about adding a building but my hands get tired after punching so much. So, would you buy a pattern from a color photo of the design instead of a finished piece? I have thought about doing designs and watercoloring them in for a pattern so I could do better designing. My punching is not what it  used to be so I don't always get the look that I would like, when I first envision a new idea.

I always appreciate your thoughts and I hope you enjoy my newest piece. I made it into a flat piece with a wool backing. This way, I can use double stick rug tape and put it on a basket in the fall. This is a nice idea if you have a basket and want to change out a piece for the seasons.

The colors are off, as far as the primitive look, this was also before I antiqued it. If you look at his hair, you will see I used a longer setting to give him curly locks;)

A New Year, A New Quilt!

Even though I have a ton of unfinished projects I wanted to make something for me, just for fun. I started the Bible Quilt by Jan patek and got one block done. Seems to take me long to stitch with my stiff hands and my applique is pathetic, but I am enjoying the process, so imperfections are fine.

I am using older material that my friend sent me, but wondering if it is too thin for a quilt. I wanted it to look time work, so mixing up the blocks and if it seems too bright with the lighter fabrics, I can always tea stain it. The fabric I used on this one is the lightest, more of a yellowed white, but I wanted to lighten it, so you could see the fabrics in the appliqués.

No matter how much I measure and plan, my placements are always off, but that will just add to the naivette of it;) This will be a display piece so I am not too worried about it getting washed a lot, just so it hold together when I do.

I am using mostly homespuns and civil war type prints, so fun picking out colors for each piece. As  you can see, I make my circles by hand, so none are the same or perfectly round.

I hope everyone has a safe and wonderful New Years. Blessings to you and your families.