Friday finish!

 

This week I was in the mood to paint some rocks. With camping trips, I like to hide them in areas we visit, so I want to make as many as I can for the summer. I find ideas on the internet and there is also a Facebook site, where she gives step by step instructions. Of course I just take the finished one and free hand it myself, so not always the best, but fun enough. The problem was, I realized all my old varnishes are thick and no good, so I have to wait to finish them.

Last week we took a walk on the beach. The tide was low so I was able to find some treasures and then we walked to the other end.

 Along the way we ran into this crab, who didn't want to be seen, so he ran to the surf and buried himself in the sand.

Today we took a walk at the bird sanctuary. It is a never ending joy since each time I see new birds that are coming in and we get a good 3 miles in. The weird thing I spotted today was a large dead bird in the osprey nest. Her mate was in a nearby tree, pruning himself. When a pair of geese tried to come onto the island, he chased them off, he is not one to mess with.

I also saw that the long term couple, finally made a new nest on a lower branch. 

Another nice surprise was, catching a Palm Warbler, who sat still for a second. 

We went by the marsh and I caught a group that were foraging. This one got itself a crab.

So far the weekend looks good, so hopefully we can get out for some more walks or maybe a bike ride. I am bummed about next weekend. The weatherman said rain, now he is saying warm and sunny. I had to make. decision yesterday when I thought it was going to rain or I lose all the money for camp, so I cancelled. It used to be that I could cancel up to 2 days before, so it makes it harder. 

I hope everyone is doing well, I heard the news about the tornadoes and bad weather and hope that no one was affected. 

Friday finishes!

This is the second time I have come in to post my blog and it wouldn't let me. I find the solution is to clear my cache and restart, then it works again. 

This week I worked on some more ideas for a pillow and a doll. I like trying different ones, to see what ones I like, before I make more. 

The first one is a kitty pillow. I need to reshape it better to make it a bit larger and better placement for the face. It looks wonky because of the angle. Today I redrew the face so I can use that for the next ones.

Another fun one, was a silly monster doll. I wanted to try the extra kid's fabric and it is fun, but a bit busy, so hard to see the details.

With the cold weather, we are home more than out, but we were able to get a decent day during the week, to spend time at the island. It was a beautiful day and I did a little glass collecting and bird watching. The birds were eating what they could find in the seaweed.

Today we got more snow, so another day in. Now it is freezing and windy, so not a good time to be outside. I hope everyone had a nice week and our weather gets warmer.

Friday finish!

 This week I finished the other Christmas pillow. It was from a design in my Christmas patterns booklet. I did the originals in rug hooking. They are fun to do in any medium and stitchery was something I never did with them. I liked using fun colors, since this is a whimsical design. I used glitter yarn for the edging.

Last week we spent time at the island beaches. It was a little cooler, but still nice to be out.

We spotted this starfish on the beach, it had washed in with the tide, so we threw it back in the water and hopefully it survived.

I also found a few treasures  on the beach, including a little ceramic dog.

This cove always has wildfowl, that winter in our area.

At another area I spotted a lot of White throated sparrows.

Today was a warmer day, so we went to the park for a walk. There was a bit of mud and some leftover ice, but we were able to walk along the dryer paths and got in 6 miles. A bit more than I have done in awhile, but it was worth a few stiff muscles.

After we drove the breakaway and saw that they were dredging the channel. The past storms had washed away all the stone borders and poured sand into the channel, which is where the boats come out to the ocean. They are doubling up on the rocks and getting the excess sand out of the channel, to get the depth back.

And we got to enjoy watching the Long-tailed ducks, diving for fish in the channel. I think these are young ones, they are a bit mottled in color.

I hope you enjoyed your week and are enjoying nicer temperatures, even if for a short while.

Friday finish!

 

I hope every one had a nice holiday. We had a nice time, even though everyone was still sick. The good thing was, we didn't have to worry about getting sick or passing it along, we already did. 

I rested when I could and made up a couple of stitcheries to work on, I finished one. This is one of my designs from the Christmas booklet. A lot of my designs can be changed into stitcheries, even though I made them for rugs or punch needle. I added glitter paint on the star, for a fun touch.

We got out for a few rides, but not as many birds at the ponds. The winter ducks are coming in and even Pelicans have been spotted at the wharfs, so hoping we can get down there before they leave. I was able to spot a Red-shouldered Hawk one day. He flew right in front of us and landed on a post.

We enjoyed our time with the kids. We had dinner at our house on Christmas Eve and the kids got their main present along with others, then we spent the next day at their house and I saved some for them to open then. 

The boys got instruments, Alex was trying out his trumpet and Nick got an electric guitar, but I didn't get a shot of him. 

Tonight we are getting snow, so hoping it will be clear tomorrow so we can go out for a ride, to enjoy seeing everything covered in white. I hope you all enjoy your weekend.

Friday finish!

 This week I made up a simple, quick project to keep my hands busy and I needed a table topper for my guest room. I had enough left of a cheater print, to fit the table. I just hand quilted around the blocks, something mindless but relaxing.

The weather is still cold and most of the time, windy. Way to cool to do much, but last week we took a walk at the park on the back side, since it is more protected from the wind. It was an old air force training base, so remnants of the runways are still there.

Along another path, signs still dot the area. It is a nice place to walk with several areas and paths to explore.

Today I stayed home and got my quilt put together and quilted. Now I just need to do the binding and I will do hand stitching around the mittens. I might just finish it before Christmas. I hope you all are enjoying some crafting for the holidays and enjoy your weekend.

Friday Finish!

 

This week I have been working on hand quilting, so that will take awhile. I have a box of projects that I made, but never finished, so I took two out and finished them. I made them into little pillows and added a yarn edge. The fox will be a Christmas present to a friend. I have a lot of finished pieces, so I may need to do a craft sale someday.

Last weekend I was still recovering, so we did a few rides to get out, and then rain. Today I was ready to get out for a bit and wanted to get some apples before they ran out. It was not too crowded, so a good day to go. I got a large bag and a smaller one for the kids.

We took the scenic back roads home and made a few stops. One is a pond with an old sawmill. With the drought, they have not been able to open for visits, since the falls are not flowing. It is a nice spot to stop and walk around the pond.

There were a few Mallards enjoying the pond and this couple had a friend, sharing their log.

We drove by the farms.

And a stop at another pond. Lots of colors popping in Connecticut, but a lot of areas have narrow roads and no place to pull over, so I couldn't get shots in a lot of areas. Hopefully tomorrow I will be up to a bike ride or a walk, to catch more foliage.

I hope everyone had a good week and can enjoy the fall weather in your area.

Friday Finish!

 Christmas is coming and as usual, faster than we would like. I have done my shopping and the house is decorated and packages and cards are all done. Now I can relax a bit and plan our meal, we eat at our house on Christmas Eve with the kids and give them some presents, then on Christmas we go to their house and I save some presents to open then. 

I am working on finishing up my cheater quilt and after going through some of my old books, I decided to make a small piece from a Whimsical quilts book. It was fun to do and I still have plenty of wool to use up, so I grabbed most of it from my scrap drawers. I added the snowflake buttons for fun.

Last week after shopping, we drove around the beach areas. We saw a boat coming in.

And one going out. 

And as we drove by the town beach in Narragansett, we just missed seeing Santa, as he rode by.

With Bill working days, he gets up early and falls asleep early, so hard to get out at night to see the lights around town. He does have a long week off for the holiday, so hopefully we can get out more to see them before they are gone.

I hope you are all enjoying the holidays and can enjoy some time for yourself and Christmas around your area.

Friday Finish!

 I was able to finish a project this week, a design by Cheri Saffiote. The original was more of a colored drawing on fabric, so I colored mine and outlined with black floss. I changed the layout by adding the saying and mittens to the side, to make it a bit longer. 

Last weekend was Riverfest at Mystic Seaport. I was excited to take the boys, but was told they had a party that day. So, we went by ourselves and found out later, they had the wrong date, so the boys could have come. 

It was nice though, lots of fun for the kids with rides and activity, but we just enjoyed the cool breezes and the live music, while we walked around. One of the highlights was Newfoundland dogs, they pulled the kids in carts and also did rescue training, so that was fun to watch.

Today we went to the island and walked the beach and spent time at the rocky end. Bean enjoyed playing on the open beach areas and I did a little glass hunting and bird watching.

At home, I was greeted by our resident Cardinal. He wasn't happy that the feeder was empty and let me know. I see a lot of areas are having heat waves, we are hot, but we also have ocean breezes. Tomorrow is another big event at the seaport, a Jules Verne exhibit, with a submarine and other fun things for the kids. Hopefully nothing goes wrong and we will be able to take the boys for a few hours. I hope everyone has a nice weekend.

Friday Finish!

 This week was quite the week. We had a nice weekend and then got hit with snow on Tuesday. Now it is cold again, so winter is not over yet. I have been looking at old projects that I started and never finished and found one I could do up quickly.

I had made this design before and. used appliqués with stitching, this one is all stitching. I added a fun border and outer stitching. Even though the piece is primitive, I like how the brighter, fun fabric, works with it. 

One day we spent with Bean, he loves to go out with us, but sometimes we like to stop in shops, so he has to stay home. He enjoyed getting out and playing on the beach for a bit. We got to enjoy some birding, while out, as well.

While trying to get a shot of the Kingfisher, I noticed a bunch of cars, stopping in the road, then I noticed why. A Thick-Billed Murre was sitting in the road and didn't want to move. I have a feeling he got stunned by a car. I stood by him, trying to figure out how to get him back in the water, when a policeman came by. He had no idea what to do, so I explained that the bird has to be in the water, they do not walk on land. 

So, the policeman grabbed him and the Murre did not like that, so clamped onto his hand, with his bill, poor guy. But he held on and we walked down to the water and I told him to just throw it up in the air. He did and the Murre flew up enough over the reeds to get in the water and swam away. Our adventure for the day and a first time sighting for me.

After that, we headed to another beach. It was so nice out, that there were a lot more people than usual. I didn't find much on the beach until I spotted this guy. A baby blue lobster, a rare find. He wasn't moving but looked like he had just washed up, so I threw him back in the ocean, since it was going out. I am hoping that the ocean revived him and he lives to grow up, a happy thought.

Tomorrow a little snow flurry and we planned on taking the boys to the seaport, along with my son. They are having a winter fest, with reindeer, ice sculptures and other activities, so hopefully it will move out quickly and we can enjoy the day without freezing. I hope you all enjoy the weekend and find your own adventures.

Friday Re-Finish!

 

This week I was deciding on some items, I could donate to a charity raffle. I made up a potholder set and while looking through my box of items, I found an older item. It was a little quilt I made years ago and messed up the quilting, it was all puckered. So, I took it apart and remade it into a pillow. I also added a little lavender pillow to go with it. 

This was a design by Red Brolly, and I painted it with acrylics.

We did our usual ride over the weekend. With the cold weather, it is nice to get out and enjoy the beach, even on a dismal day, the beaches are beautiful. Looking across the breachway.

In the breachway, I watched two Common Eiders, trying to catch fish, as the tide was going out.

And in the coves, I was lucky enough to find a Great Blue Heron, that didn't fly away.

At home, my feeders have emptying fast. I was thrilled to finally see a couple of Goldfinches. They love the Nyger, so I put it where they would see it from the pines. I had to take a photo through the window, since they are shy.

And my resident Cardinal. He is quite the character and his mate will come too, but she is more shy. I hope you all enjoyed your week and are enjoying a respite from all the rain.