Friday Finish!

This week I finally got in my sewing room and finished something. I won fabric from Minick and Simpson in 2011, called Banner Rose. I had it for a few years and decided to make a patriotic runner. I got as far as sewing the strips together and it has been sitting since 2013.

I kept it simple with a darker blue border, which frames it nicely. Then I machine quilted it with a straight stitch around the inner strips. Not perfectly straight stitches, but I can live with my wonky sewing, I tend to stray on occasion.

The finished runner is 23 1/2 x 65". Moki has already taken over half of it, which is why I didn't put too much effort into it. I do have some nice patriotic fabric so I may do one with squares and stars for next year. Things do not last in my house, so having another, just in case, is a good idea and always fun to make them.

I guess I need to work on a fall one next, that I can put more effort into, as well as one for Christmas. This week Bill has off, so hopefully we will get out and have some fun on the water and maybe take a ferry ride. I also want to explore the bird sanctuaries in Newport, always a nice walk and amazing views. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

Must be Monday!

It seems I do so much to get ready for a vacation that it takes all week to relax and then it is time to come home and clean up after the vacation, now I need another one;)

One thing that is fun on a vacation is shopping and buying some goodies to bring home. I spent more time outside and enjoying nature but we did hit a few stores along the way.

In Jackson, we found Flossie's General Store. They had a lot of different gifts and local items. I got some Christmas items, a miniature handmade creche and angel chimes that move with a candle flame. I also found more balsam, so I will be making lots of pillows this year. In Center Harbor I stopped at Keepsake Quilting and bought a little wool pillow kit and next door they had yarn and roving, white to dye myself and the beautiful dyed roving will go into some art projects.

On the way home we stopped at Calefs in Barrington NH, which has food related items and Bill got a sandwich and some goodies for my son. Next door is Elfmade and Company, primitive heaven, candles and scents and I was in heaven. I had to smell all the different scents, they have them in bowl fillers and the matching sprays are available so you can use that when the scent dissipates. I got lemon merringue and it smells so good, as well as coconut crunch, I love candy smells. A few small items for gifts and some scented items for my son, he loves their candles. I also got a large primitive pump bottle for the kitchen, now I have something nice to keep my dish soap in.

Across the street was a store that was like an over stock store. Lots of Carhartt clothing and miscellaneous items. I found primitive picks at a fraction of the cost and some fun potholders, great place to find some bargains. This is a great place to stop if you are in the area, a lot of fun gifts in one place.

I will use the blue picks in the basket, in the beach room.

I decided I wanted to put some of the scented filler in the beach room, but I didn't have something to hold it in. After church we went down to a gift store that sells a lot of beach items and I almost gave up, when I spotted this shell shaped pottery dish, hidden behind some other items. It is the perfect blue green shade for the room.

And a few more photos from our trip. This was a stop along the Kancamagus, a historical homestead with a walk through the woods to a pond and you can visit the home and grounds, as well. This was such a peaceful place, I would love to live here.

And for those of you who have never gone over a covered bridge, this is what they look like in the inside. If  you ever travel along the Kancamagus, you must stop at the ranger station and pick up a map. It is only two dollars and it shows all of the scenic points and trails along the way.

Friday Finish!

This week I have been doing a lot of stitching. I wanted to make a runner for my dining bureau, so I used similar materials on this pieces, as the one on my dining table. I did the half square triangles with the first method on Jennifer's Blog. It is an easy way to make more blocks quickly but I still had to cut and press and then sew them all back together. I even made them larger and cut them down, but still didn't match up my blocks, I am a lost cause, lol.

I hand stitched it with black pearl cotton #5. It took me most of the week to do that and tonight I decided not to stitch on the border and just finish it, as is. It is slightly larger than I wanted, but I know it will shrink, once I wash it. I am also working on finishing my mail box, which will go on top, so hopefully I can finish that, this weekend.

I added some things for the photo, love how the orange shades look with the dark woods and white walls. The runner is 56" x 20".

Of course my shaky hands and flash, ruin the colors, so here is a close up, showing the fabrics I  used. I  wanted to do a big stitch, but I keep making tiny stitches. I think I should do machine quilting on my next runners.

Now onto Christmas, I have a lot of things I want to make and hope I can do at least half of them, lol. I also bought 3 bags of Maine Balsam. I plan on making pillows and ornies for gifts and I think a giveaway for Christmas would be fun too;)