Friday Finishes!

 

This week I was able to finish a little quilt I was working on. I had the striped fabric and some star fabric, so it made the perfect flag to hang on the wall. I added a few patriotic sayings that I like and a couple of wool stars. The little stars are rustic metal and gave it a nice touch.

I wanted to have something to do on my down day, so I made a little felted raccoon. It was a from a kit, so I didn't follow the directions exactly and I messed up with my perspective, but it was fun to do.

Last weekend we took a few short walks. The heat keeps us from doing long hikes, so we went to the park near the ocean. It was cooler in some areas but hot in others. Lots of birds but they always fly away when I spot them. I was able to catch an Eastern Towhee in the bush.

We went down the road to another area that has a path, that leads to a little tower. The views of the beach and ocean from the tower. 

After we went to the pond, but both areas were crowded so it wasn't worth going for a swim. Tomorrow we head to Maine. Unfortunately I got another tick on me, while gardening and this one seems to have affected me. I am back on meds and going through ups and downs, so hopefully I can beat this one too. 

I hope you all have a wonderful week and I may do an extra blog this week, since I will be taking lots of photos. 

Friday Finish!

 

This week I finished a painting I had been working on. I had a photo of the boys at the beach, so I removed the people and just added the umbrellas and houses in the back. It was fun to do and good practice. I will need to get better paper, since this paper tends to pill when you add too much water, but it is good enough for practice.

Last weekend we got a nice walk in at the park. We spotted a turtle, half way in a hole. Not sure if it was resting or laying eggs.

I also spotted a female Eastern Towhee.

Today we did our walk at the lighthouse. It was a beautiful day and we lucked out, when the Newport Regatta came by.

These two boats were neck and neck.

When they come around the lighthouse, the waves get rougher. 

It was a nice walk, though we went back and forth and side to side to watch them. They race around the island, so we got to watch the last of them coming around the other beach. I always enjoy getting out in the fresh air, and always a fun day for Bean. 

I hope you all had a nice week and aren't stuck in the rain. We have rain coming tomorrow, so hopefully we can get out on Sunday.

Friday Finish!

 This week I worked on my bed quilt and was all excited when I got it all together, then I saw it is too short. The guest bed is a long, so I need at least two more rows, then with a border, it should be the right size. Luckily I found some more old fabrics that I can add to what pieces I have enough of, to blend it in.

At night I do hand work and finished a little mat to put on my old bench. It was from a Need'l love book with a Christmas theme, so I changed it a little to make it more Americana.

I also finished the rose I was working on. As usual, I over painted it by trying to follow the instructions and made more of a mess, so I gave up. The next one I am working on is a design I redid from a photo I took.

I have also been working in my gardens. My DIL gave me strawberry plants a few years ago and this year they are finally producing. Some are growing strangely and a lot have bites out of them, but I still get a few for myself.

On nice days we are getting out for walks. The bird sanctuary is one of our favorite places. Always a nice walk and lots of birds. I caught an Eastern Towhee along the path.

At the end of one point, you can see an Osprey nest. I am not sure what they were doing, but the dad was moving a large stick and the female was helping. 

We also stopped at the ocean to check out the waves and caught this fishermen, coming around on the rough side of the rocks. 

With rain on and off during the weekends, we get out when it stops. We went to another bird sanctuary that is down the road and enjoyed walking around the pond. Lots of birds in the area, but none sit still or are hiding in the bush.

I hope you all enjoyed your week and have a good weekend. I need to get going on old projects and now I have to get ready for a trip in two weeks. We will be celebrating our 50th anniversary this year, but keeping it simple by going camping. 

Friday Finish!

 

I finally finished my sailor quilt. The original piece was appliquéd by my friend Karen, who gifted it to me. I hand quilted it with white pearl cotton, with nautical designs. I had to make a template for the outer edges and hand draw the inner lines, so nothing is perfect. I decided to add an extra touch with ties on two and nautical buttons on the other two. I really do enjoy hand quilting, but it does take longer and I have some larger quilts, that will need to be machine quilted. The original quilt design is larger, in the book, Collections One, by Red Wagon.

We got out for a walk last weekend and I caught a few birds, as we walked along. A Cedar Waxwing, an Eastern Towhee, a Catbird and a Great Egret.

At home, the Cedar Waxwings are back, enjoying the mulberry tree. 

We have gotten to enjoy a few days at the beach. Not as much glass since the tides were higher, but always a beautiful place to walk and enjoy the local birds.

I never got around to making reservations for our Anniversary week. It will be 48 years on Wednesday. We have beautiful weather at home this week, so I rather stay home, then take the chance of bad weather or heavy smoke areas. Today we got a kayak trailer, so now we can go to the launches and not have to lift the kayaks onto the truck. It is also nice since the big launches only allow trailers in the parking spaces. 

So, I have plans to visit a new bird sanctuary, paddling and at the end of the week when the boys get out and it gets hotter, beach time. I hope everyone had a good week and were safe from the storms that swept through.