Friday Finish!

 

A new month and a new stitchery by Kathy Schmitz. This one was a bit generic so I decided to reduce it a bit and make a lavender pillow and have fun with colors. I enjoy stitching at night while I watch tv, so these are fun to do. Tonight I started on another new project, Church cat by Cheri Saffiote. I won it in the weekly contest and had it ready to start, so now I can just enjoy stitching it together.

With the heat that never ends, the only place to go, is the beach. We have been going to the same beach on the island and usually there are only a few people. I was finally able to get out in my little kayak, I love to just put around in the cove and ride on the waves.

Another day I enjoyed swimming, sometimes It is just too hot, and the water is the best place to be. 

A view from the rocky cliff, something I never get sick of seeing.

On this day I found a few more treasures and a large piece of colored pottery. The whale shaped rock was a fun find.

And at home, enjoying my feathered friends. The heat seems to have bough out more visitors and more. young. I love seeing the Goldfinches in my neighbor's yard, but I still want to get up close without them flying off. Flowers are from my side garden.

Today I stayed home, too hot to be at the beach and I needed a rest. I enjoyed some time in the side yard, watching the birds at my other feeder and the bird bath area. These two crows are quite the characters.

I also had a lot of Blue Jays, the young are eating on their own now and less shy than the adults.

A White Breasted Nuthatch, Mourning Doves, a crow and my resident Chipmunk, all came to visit today. I also saw a few others who were either too far or too fast to catch. I hope everyone had a good week and fun plans for the weekend.  

Weekend Wanderings!

 

We have been keeping busy with drives and finding new places, as well as visiting old places. A lot of foliage is showing now, but I can never find a place to get good shots. Today I found some nice places and of all times, my camera has stopped focusing. I will have to take it in to see what is going on, hopefully not an expensive fix. I am looking at buying a new body to hold my zoom lens so I can just grab and shoot and maybe not miss shots, like I did this week.

Our first stop Thursday was a graveyard, always fun when I find a new one. Lots of old grave and we enjoyed walking around and reading some of them. To the side was this sign and small stones to mark the graves.

As we were walking on a hillside area, I looked down the hill and saw a grave, all by itself. Of course I had to see what was on it and why it was there. As you can see from the stone, he committed suicide after he murdered a Doctor's daughter. I read that they were lovers and the family didn't approve, so he killed her, then himself. Another says he loved her, but she didn't feel the same way, so it was unrequited love. 

Our next stop was a pond. As you can see in this photo, there are two hawks, battling it out. One zoomed by my face, one over my face and I grabbed this shot with a regular lens. Then an eagle flew over my head and before I could get my zoom set up, he was gone. The sky was full of crows, they were chasing the hawks and eagle.

We walked along the path to a big field and walked through that to old cornfields, but no eagle in sight. I did find a few wasp nests, and glad it was cold and windy. Definitely not a place to go to in the warm weather.

Our final stop was the fabric store. They have tons of fabric, but nothing that I was looking for. I did find a fun kitty print, to make a few masks for me and the boys. Then a rustic flag print for Bill and the ghosts glow in the dark, so the boys will love that.

Today I wanted an easy day, a ride to the quiet side of Connecticut to stop at a few places and the primitive store to get a new pump for my soap jar. We stopped at a dam first, that is when I went to use my camera. I think dropping it the other day didn't help, I did notice my photos were not the usual quality. Then we stopped at Roseland park to enjoy the views. It is a beautiful park and the colors were coming in nicely. The iPhone did a fairly nice job though.

Our last stop was Wolf's Den. I wanted to do the hike we couldn't do with the boys and I figured it was an easy 2 miles. I was wrong, we walked 7 1/2 miles, up and down steep hills, lol. My legs got tired and weak, but I made it to the Wolf's den and the other interesting sites. I seriously think I need a rest day tomorrow. It will be warmer, so sitting at the ocean for a few hours will be fine with me. 

Friday Finish and Fun!

This week I finished two pieces. One was a comfort pillow for a friend, but I forget to get a photo of it. I will do similar ones, so I will share those and basic patterns so others can do them for friends.

I finished my pillow stitchery, this one I made for spring and summer, it will fit with both seasons and look nice, sitting with other items on my chest.

The design is from an old Kindred Spirits book, called Homespun Stitcheries. I made mine into a pillow and kept it simple and prim. It measures 9" x 12". I use my Faber Castell art pens to give it a touch of color. I like the markers since they are archival ink and quick drying. I alway do the coloring before I do the stitching.

Grandpa has been keeping Nick busy in the mornings, though he tends to do things that put Grandma's nerves on edge, lol. 

Bean doesn't like it when he isn't getting all the attention, so he decided to show off some of his skills. He will catch one ball and hold on to it and when I kick the big ball to him, he catches it with his hands, he would make a good soccer goalie.

We also took Nick shopping and decided to give him an early birthday present. He will be 4 this month and his mom won't be home till the end of the month, so I wanted to get him something he could have fun with, at our house and take home to ride, when Ivy comes home. He tried it in our yard and I realized it was not a good idea on grass, small bikes and little legs do not peddle well, but he still had fun and then played on the porch with it.

Today we took Nick to the bike path, though it was more hilly than I realized. He did really good though and got up the incline and had fun going down again. It was nice to see him enjoying his bike on a better surface so we will have to take him to areas like this, next week. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and mother's day. I plan on resting and Sunday we are getting pouring rain, so no day out. I guess Bill will just have to cook me a nice dinner while I relax and work on some projects;)

Friday Finishes?

It looks like another week of not enough time. With Nick here during the day, I have little time for myself and by the time they leave, I am catching up around the house and only have a few hours to stitch, but that is ok, I love having Nick and hopefully we can get on a better schedule.

I finished one more angel, from my old set and started a new one, which will be a pillow for me. I like making larger pillows to set on my chest and Moki loves them too, it is one of  his favorite spots to sleep.

I received two packages this week, I guess it was my lucky week, last week. I won Kathy Schmitz's giveaway on the One Stitch at a Time Club. I enjoyed spending my money and got a lot of wonderful patterns and a pack of threads and material to use for the club. She also sent me some additional prizes, bookmarks, gift cards, a banner pattern and an acorn pin. I felt like it was Christmas, she is so generous with his giveaways and special surprises for me.

I also won a bag from the Green Bag Lady. Not only did I get the beautiful floral print bag, I also got a bonus Christmas bag. I want to make my own, so this way I can use her pattern and see the finished bag, to help me out. I think it is a wonderful idea to use as a gift bag, then I can put gifts or a pillow inside the bag, instead of wrapping paper. I also think it is a nice idea for the cancer heart pillows, then they can carry their pillows and items in the bag, lots of possibilities.

He loves to help, we got a couple of daisy plants to get a start on the garden area. He also loved spraying Bean and Grandma, lol.

And or course Nick, he loves to play outside and that is fun if it is nice out. It is also more relaxing for me if he is playing in one place, instead of running around the house. We took him shopping and he wanted the wheel barrow set, he loved pushing it around the yard. Earlier this morning he and Grandpa where pushing their wheelbarrows around the yard, wish I had seen that, but Grandma slept in so she could have more energy;)

Friday Finishes!

This week was a slow one, been fighting off the flu and it finally got me, so I have been taking it easy and today was a couch day, hopefully that means it is on it's way out.

I was able to finish my blocks from Cheri's Facebook Group. These are fun to do and work up quickly and she still has all the blocks and instructions in the files, so  you can still get in on the fun.

I oversized mine since the cloth is thin, next I will cut them down to size and add the sashing and work on the log cabins to go with them, a great way to use up scraps.

Since I had extra time and I wanted to take a day to just make something, I tried one of my cats as a halloween kitty with a moon and stars. I was trying to make it scrappy by changing the heights, and more loosely, a no thinking day of punching;)

We went to pick out our prize and there were no baskets left, was hoping to get a nice gift basket, but there were other prizes available. Some were just not my style and then she looked up and said, oh and this beach window. Well, that was fate, the perfect piece to put in the beach room. A bit shabby chic, and thinking I may put an ocean print behind it, or I can just paint a simple ocean and sky? It is on the wall shelve for now, not sure if i want to hang it, it does have a heavy chain on it, but I like that space and I can decorate around it. I also have a double oar to hang on the wall above it. I like how my starfish lights look, around it.

The saying is perfect for my room. I hope everyone has a nice weekend, we have rain, so maybe another rest day and hopefully some sun and a walk on Sunday.

Fourth of July Special!

I am still working on my flag, might actually get it done tomorrow, lol.
Today I found a dead bird in my trailer and the mess it left all over the place.
So, it is going to cost to restore it, from that and the mouse damage, but at least it is cheaper than buying a new one.
No camping this year, we will have to clean it out, throw some stuff away and then fix it back up for next year.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Holiday weekend and for a special, I am offering........
Buy one pattern and get two of equal or lesser value, great way to get patterns for the upcoming holidays at a fraction of the cost! The special runs until midnight tomorrow, July 4th. Buy one pattern and let me know what two patterns you would like for free, in the comment section. You can see all my epatterns at my ECRATER SITE.

Contest Winner!

Since I haven't had a lot of energy this weekend, and I wanted to show some of my prizes that I won, I decided to have Betsy, my prize from Joyce at RagPatchPrimitives. I just love Betsy, she is so much nicer in person, pictures do not do her justice. She is so prim and there are so many details like the antiqued lace shawl and her twisty tail that has a bell on the end. Be sure to check out Joyce's blog and etsy store, she has a lot of wonderful items and also the T.P.I.D.T website. They have a wonderful group of talented artists who sell finished products and patterns.

Here is Miss Betsy, she is going to pick the name for the contest.



And the winner is.......



Busym1 (Michelle) is the winner of the signed book by Lynette Anderson. Please send me your address, so that I can mail you your book.

I really feel bad for everyone who didn't win, I am horrible at this and wish I could give you all a copy. The good news is, Lynette is also running a contest for a copy of the book, so you can enter at her site, as well. I appreciate all who entered and gave me feedback. I will be working on Christmas presents, which I won't be able to show you, but I will be working on my own things and hopefully some new patterns for the holidays.

Halloween Quilt

I thought it was time I made something for myself, for the fall season.
I used my cat and pumpkin design and then added to that to make a wall hanging.
It was a fun piece to do, even if it is crooked;)
I am trying to make more smaller items, to get more practice with my sewing skills.

New punched Pieces

I have been working on a few pieces this past week, some I cannot show.
I had a day when I was not in the mood to work on those projects and decided to make a small punch to fit a basket I had.
I just drew up a simple and prim design with my favorite fall things and then put it on this basket. It is a fun little piece and up for sale on ebay this week. Low start and no bids, a great time to snag one of my creations. I also have my Ghost cat up for sale this week and at a ridiculously low start. Originally I wanted 800.00 for this piece, but decided to take my chances on ebay, ugh, I must not have been in my right mind;)



I have been working on new punched pieces for Lynette's new book. If you have stores in your area that are going to the Houston show, make sure they check out Lynettes booth and get their own copies. It will feature crows from her quilted designs and punched pieces that I have done to match. For the show, I made Lynette a name tag with some of her crows on it. I will be working on some more surprises for her, this tag was the first, I wanted to try one and see how her name looked and fit. The tag looks much better in person, just took a quick shot and too lazy to do more;)

I love doing name tags and it is a fun idea to make for yourself. In the future I will make a booklet with alphabets and designs to do your own. I also will try and get the patterns done, that some of you have been wanting, just having a lazy few days this week.

A Day of crafting disasters!

Today I got it into my head to make a painted quilt. I found a design that I loved from Pumpkiin Seed Primitives. I used a tea stained muslim and then traced the design onto the cloth with my light box. I decided I wanted a flag, so I just used the main design and then added the length for the stripes.

I used my machine to stitch over the lines and then decided the greenery, needed to be done in floss, so I did do that with a heavier stitch. I made a mess with my free motion, my hand had a mind of it's own today. I need to get the open toe free motion foot, so I can see where I am going. Then I used fabric crayons, fabric markers and watercolor pencils. It looked horrid. So, I took my acrylics and watered them down and repainted over the designs. It came out much better that way.

So, this is the result, my mess, lol. I think I will see if I can find some blue or red faded ribbon or binding at the store, nothing I had looked right with it. Of course, after I finished it, I realized I made my stripes wrong and needed another red at the end.
Even though the fabric is tea stained, I sprayed a ton of walnut spray on it. It is amazing how grubby prim, can fix the worst looking quilts;)



Then I decided to make a little rack for my dog and cat piece that I mess up. I got the board the way I wanted, then came the nails. I used antique square head nails, that my husband cut down to size, but not enough, so I ended up hitting the back too soon. Now one nail shows a bit of metal on the back and the others pushed a split in the wood. The good thing is it is in the back so it doesn't show, the bad, I cannot sell it.

I am working on another horse punch and will do another rack like this, for those who requested a piece on wood;)
I will have to get the nails right this time.

Secret Project

Well, after that long kayak trip, I ended up sick and resting all week.
I have been working on secret projects and challenges, so I cannot show you any pictures yet;)
I thought I would put up a teaser of my secret project.