Friday Finish!

 

This week I finally finished the baby quilt. I hand stitched around the designs, to keep it simple and I wanted it to be puffy and soft. The panel was gifted to me by my sister in law, so I would say it is vintage. The only problem with it is, there is a tiny dark spot on one of the outer edges. I washed it and it faded a bit, but still there, so hopefully the recipient won't mind.

For the back, I used a cute flannel. Slowly using stash I got, and this flannel was perfect for a soft backing.

Last week we got out for another walk at the farm. It was beautiful with all of the lupines, lining the pathway.

We also took a stroll down the back road, that follows the river and back around to the farm. A lot of beautiful homes along the way, with views of the river. 

Lots of birds along the way and this Song Sparrow, followed us a bit and sang to us.

Today my husband got stuck at work so we didn't get out for a paddle. Hopefully we can get out tomorrow if it is not too windy. I have been painting a few more rocks and started another project, so hoping to get those all done, next week. I have a lot to do around the house and getting the trailer ready.

I hope everyone is enjoying the summer weather and not in the stormy areas. Here is has been too hot, so I can't get outside as much, but on weekends we can get down to the cooler end near the ocean.

Friday Finish!

 

As usual, someone got me sick, and we have horrible weather, so it's a stay at home weekend. This week I was able to make two more stuffed animals for the kids. And as usual, I cannot post my blog with photos, until I clear my cash and restart Safari.

It was a pattern I found online, they come in a set with a photo of the dog and the dog shape. I added a few of my own touches and a ribbon. I am not sure if ribbons are allowed, but I just tied it on, so it can be taken off. These are really fun to do and they work up quickly. 

Last week we were able to get out, when the weather was above freezing. Still a bit cold, but the bay side was less windy, so it was nice to get out on the beach for a bit.

The tide was coming back in and I spotted a group of gulls, trying to catch some food, on the rocks. 

I hope this finds everyone well and staying safe at home. It seems the whole country is getting hit with bad weather. Hopefully this will be the last of it and Spring will arrive soon.

Friday Finish and Finds!

This week I finally finished my snowmen and geese piece. But, I am not sure I like how it looks, some areas are too dark and not enough contrast in some, so the geese get lost. I am thinking on it, I also don't like the off white I used in the clouds, seems too yellow for a winter sky. I may fix a few things, but not go too crazy.

I like the green in the trees, it is an over dyed floss that I did. The darker area is a mix of brown to green that I also overdid, but maybe too dark. This is a design by Michelle Palmer.

My piece is 8.5 x 10.5, an inch shorter on the sides since I cropped a bit of the background, on mine.

I have been busy, getting the rest of Christmas down and cleaning up as I go, so I needed a rest day. I decided to make another punch by Michelle, this one is a free design. You can get a copy on her site or the punch needle sites. I changed the colors a bit, I use what I have, and I do like how the variegated red looks in the background.

While I was cleaning, I found this piece, at the bottom of my chest, hidden beneath a ton of fabrics. This was probably one of the first, so called quilts, that I made. No idea what I was thinking, it is a rose flannel and the squares and hearts are felt. I blanket stitched them on, so not exactly a practical material for a quilt. The flannel is nice though, half is unfinished, but I think if I rip off the blocks, it may ruin the flannel, will have to try one. The flannel would make a nice backing for a baby quilt.

And we got a day of treasure hunting in. I basically scan the length of the beach areas, hunt a little and once my hands go numb, we quit, lol. I was thrilled to find the two pieces of turquoise at the bottom. No beach hunting this weekend, it is below freezing and I need to go treasure hunting in the consignment stores, my house looks sad without the decorations and it was time to get rid of old junk, so hoping to find a few new things to decorate with.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Quilt show photos!

There were a lots of nice quilts but I know we all see the same things most of the time so I picked a few of my favorites that are unique for different reasons.

The first is an angel, but Barbara Barbara. She had a few of her painted pieces in the show, but this was different from what she normally does. Nice idea if you are interested in doing a piece for your church, lots of free angel images online.

The next few quilts were done with quilts bought from the New England Quilt museum. Love seeing old quilts and these were tops that were sold and the ladies quilted them.

This was my favorite, love the design and fabrics.

Unique quilt and great for scraps.

 The next  two are examples of quilts you can make from used clothing, especially from a loved one.

Something to cuddle in, when she misses her dad, all from his flannel shirts.

A unique way to use ties in a quilt, love the fence idea and ties could be made into other types of designs for art pieces.

This piece is wonderful, a style I would love to make. She used a resist to bleach out some color in the background. 

And for you wooly lovers, a Heart to Hand design, it was really gorgeous in person. Beautiful wools and beautifully made.

And last but not least, was a quilt made by my friend Tina. She does beautiful work and I loved how she used the graduated colors for the background and then hand stitching around the blocks, then beautiful quilting around that. I like the idea of doing hand stitching to enhance some of the designs, mixed with machine quilting.

This is just a section of the quilt, it is huge and i wanted to show the work close up. 

Weekend Finishes from Freebies!

This weekend I was able to get the new Wool blocks put together and done. I missed last month, so I did both and it was fun to do them and two more blocks towards a finished quilt. The block is offered by Stacy of Buttermilk Basin for our Facebook Wool Applique group.

Last month was the sewing block and this month was the kitty block. I think the kitty one would be fun to do as a wall hanging too.

I also did the ornament for last month, tonight there will be a new one, so can't wait to see what this one will be. I messed up on the bird placement, but I do like how I used a blue background on this one. They are going to look nice hanging on a swag line, next Christmas. This free ornament is offered each month by Trish of Attic Heirlooms.

Vintage Heart Quilt!

I have been working on my new heart piece and I finally finished the stitching tonight, so hopefully I can have it all done this weekend. I realized I didn't have much for valentines so trying a few new pieces this year before I move onto spring and summer pieces.

One thing I realized is, I had this quilt hanging on the ladder in my bedroom, I guess it fits well enough for a valentine piece. I am not sure if this was my first one, might be my second, but it was done in the 80's, so I guess it is vintage now. As you can see, I had no idea what I was doing, my hearts are wonky, the stitching is bad and I used tacks since I had no idea how to quilt.

The fun thing about this piece is I used clothing from my kids along with scrap fabrics. The kitty fabric was a pair of corduroy pants that my sister gave me. The red floral corduroy was my daughter's farmer jeans and some flannel and pant material from my son's cloths. Lots of memories.

This is a closer look at some of the fabrics, there are a few pieces of ticking. I used ticking a lot in my early days, especially for rag animal dolls. The materials are darker and more worn, since it was used at one point, but I notice some seams are coming apart, so I just display it now.

Weekend Wanderings!

I love a long weekend, Bill is home and we get out and go for walks. Saturday we needed to look at counters and we hit a sale on cabinet microwaves and got a simple but nice one to put up. Now I will have a new counter space to work on, I really need it. We also stopped at Savers and I found some fabrics. One is Maywood flannel, plenty to use on the back of a few baby quilts. The other is a batik cat fabric, it looks hand dyed and the print is all the way through, so a fun fabric to design around.

We decided to go for a walk close to home and it was a cool cloudy day, perfect for a longer quick walk. My daughter had the day off so she came along and got to enjoy the cool breezes off the bay.

Saturday was a little warmer and I wanted to go for a hike in the woods near the boy scout camp. Our first hike was around the smaller pond, since I had never done that path. The trees are still turning here, and the mix of colors with the greens is stunning in person.

The paths were narrower and steeper than I realized, but fun to explore and bridges that spanned the wetlands. I should have thought of that when we hiked the next part. I hit a patch of wet moss and did a belly flop into the mud, lol. All I noticed was my cheekbone since that slapped into the dirt first, but last night my back, rib, and my hand let me know what else I hurt;)

See the orange shirt? I sent Bill to the store to get us some hunting vests, since it is hunting season. This is what he comes back with, lol.

We got around the pond and I decided to keep hiking. The stiffness hadn't set in yet, so we went along the pond till we came out to the rocky overlook. Nice place to stop and relax before we headed back.

Today was another beautiful day. We wanted to go to the bird sanctuary since it is an easier walk. It was closed, I never knew it was a national park. The state park was open, but the walks are national property, so they are closed, unbelievable.

So, we went to the ocean and walked along the rocks and paths. It was a perfect day and the waves were crashing over the rocks, great place to relax and get my center back.

On the way home, we stopped at the bike shop. We needed oil for my chain but we got more than oil, I got an early birthday present. I want to ride again and my old bike is a guy bike and tall, so I cannot put my feet down and with my bad balance it makes me nervous. Now I have a bike that fits my leg size and I can ride around easily and turn better too, lol. And if we all go for a ride, I can use my old one and Dani can use my new one since she is shorter than I am.