Friday working on!

 It seems I haven't had as much time to work on projects lately. I spend more time cleaning and reorganizing and figuring out what to get rid of, I have too much stuff. I work on hand quilting at night. This is an old quilt, I had sitting on the shelf. Now I wish I had used the machine, the quilt was made on an old machine and not the best quality, but I find hand quilting relaxing, so I do that for my more primitive quilts. I am just doing an outline stitch, and working a row at a time, so slow going.

We get out when we can, but with so many storms, the ocean areas are getting slammed with damage. A lot of the beach parking is closed as they clean them up and tonight we have another storm coming. Some areas are still under water and the river areas are just as bad. 

We are able to enjoy some birding in the pond areas, they move further in, in the winter. I was thrilled to spot a Merlin at the cove.

And a few of the birds, we say along the way. I even spotted a seal, but he went under before I could get a shot.

Today we had a nicer day and went to the island. One area was still undergoing clean up, but our favorite beach was a protected area, so we got to enjoy time on the beach without any people.

And I found a few treasures. The dark heart is green glass, I found a few pieces of dark green today. Even a dog tag, which I have an idea for. Hopefully I can get organized and start making some art pieces with my finds.

I hope you all have a nice weekend and the weather calms down, so much destruction in so many areas.

Working on Friday!

 

Not much going on this week. It has been so hot, that we have been staying home and out of the sun. On weekends, the beaches are so crowded, that it isn't worth going. One more day of heat and the weather will be better, so we can get out more.

I have been working on a new project. It is a design by Cheri Saffiote and I got it from the group, Quilts by Cheri on Facebook. I wanted something quick to work on, that I can use now and this was the perfect piece. It is actually a pillow, but I am making it into a wall hanging. With it being so hot, smaller projects are best.

I have also been practicing on my new machine. Free motion is something I need to practice to get the right speed. I am waiting on a table to fit it, so that should make it easier. I also like the idea of doing machine appliqué for kid's quilts and modern ones for the family.

I hope you all have a nice weekend. This seems to be the worst summer, lots of rain, then smoke, now high heat and humidity. Hopefully next month will bring better weather for all of us.

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.

Friday Finishes!

This has been a busy week, time seems to fly by which is good, maybe the bans will be lifted soon and we can all get back to a new normal. I am not making any big plans, I am happy to just be, to create and spend time with the boys when I can.

This week I finished a runner I made for the new trailer, which I am doubting will happen at this point. I have no idea what is going on and they don't answer my questions, so I may just take my money back and keep looking. I am not even sure if I can travel with the way things are, so not worth it if I cannot go camping and it just sits in the yard.

I wanted something prim and would work with brown shades, so I used blocks from two pre-cuts. I did the black blocks in the middle, since that is where I plan to put a basket to hold salt and table items. I did one design in the center, then butterflies at the end and outer corners and a floral design in the rest. Nothing fancy, but it will be used, so I want it to be easily washed.

Speaking of washing, the backing is a heavy black material and it did not shrink, so it has a big bulky puff underneath. I will take the binding apart and recut it, or I may replace it with something thinner, but not good as is, way too bulky.

As usual, a horrid photo, I love how it looks and it is longer than it seems.

Here is a close up to see a little stitching, I did this by hand with a tan floss.

And I made more masks. My DIL loved the ones I gave them and so did her sister. So, I made two each for her family, and Ivy will ship them to England. The dark reds and blue jean will be for the guys, Nick wanted the pretty colored one.

And for the girls I used an old print from Barbara Brackman, gifted by a friend. The pale yellow with blue feathers are for them. Then my son said he wanted a cat one, he wants to wear it for fun at a meeting, lol. One is upside down, I was trying to save material and forgot about direction.

I also tried a couple with a slot for a filter. It was a pain and I will stick to my two fabric masks. I heard that a good test is to try and blow a match out, with the mask on, and I could not blow it out, so I guess mine are nice and tight, but still comfortable and breathable.

I also need for ties and no old T's so I found some T-shirt yarn on eBay, I did make sure I got name brand instead of imported ones. Not the colors I wanted, but good enough for the masks and will be easier for me to make more. We have a few people in town who are charging for them, and a lot of people cannot afford them with loss of pay, so I will make some for those who need them.

We were able to get out for a nice hike last week, I got in 5 miles with lots of hills. It would have been shorter, but we took a wrong path and had to back track. There was a lot of downfall along the trails which made it hard to tell where the paths were so a few dead ends.

But it was all worth it when we got to the swamp and our reason for going. Can you see all the blobs in the furthest trees?

It was amazing to see the blue herons. There were at least 30 nests and some would come out and fly around but not close enough. It is also very swampy so no good places to stand along the shoreline, but I was able to get one decent photo. I will definitely go back to this place and take the easier path.

And a funny for today. Nick wanted to show me the new mask, I made. I keep thinking it looked big on him and something was not right, then it hit me. He has it on backwards, lol. Alex will not wear one, he is a fuss budget, so I may try making him a ninja mask and seeing if that works.

I hope you all have a good weekend. The weather is warming up and the sun is out again, so even if we have to take shorter walks and stay close to home, I appreciate every minute that we can.

Friday Finish!

Years ago, my friend Kelley, With Hook and Needle,  sent me some quilt tops and I finally finished one. She wanted me to have some tops that I could practice on my new machine, but this one just screamed, hand stitching. She hand pieced the entire quilt, it needed the same hand work for finishing.

I wanted to try something different and easier to see how it worked, so I put on the backing and hand quilted the flying geese blocks and around the borders. Once that was done, I put on the back and did tacks, down the strips, in-between the flying geese. That way I tacked down the backing without over quilting the back. I will be using it and it makes it a lot smoother and softer on the skin. I used a thin striped brown, homespun for the back, so it is nice to lay under.

I don't think it is the best way to quilt, but it worked and I didn't have to worry about pinning or puckering, if I did. I finished it off with a black edge.

I love how it came out, it is more prim in person, just fits the bed, so not sure how much it will shrink when I wash it. The top has been washed, but not the backing. I realize I should have washed both, to avoid puckering when the new materials shrink.

I laid it across the couch, it will be nice to hang on my railing too.

A little closer look. I had to use my wide angle to get it all in, so not the best shots. The bed is extra long, so this longer quilt was a nice size for it and will be nice for the summer. I used black pearl cotton, #12 on it, I like the heavier thread for doing prim quilts.

The turkeys decided to come through our yard, and I wanted to get a photo of the babies. Of course the babies started walking off, but the parents wanted to grab the goodies that fell out of the bird feeder.

And I didn't realize Bean had come out with me and the minute he saw them out there, he opened the gate and running after them. The babies got  upset and  you can see one as he is flying up to the fence. The rest followed and then the parents were stuck, so they flew the other way and went across the street. I could hear the babies calling to the parents and eventually they came back, but walked through the neighbors  yard, I don't think they will be visiting any time soon.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

Not much Monday!

This weekend went by fast, and one day was rain. The good thing is I got some shopping done and one thing we bought was a sink for the basement bathroom. I want to use my room to paint in, but no place to get water or wash my brushes, so hopefully it will be done before the summer is over;) I looked at sinks and they were all small and then I saw a laundry room sink, it is just the right size with a large, deep basin. It will also be great for rinsing wool when I get back into dying.

I did work a bit on my Laurel Burch panel. I decided it is going to be a bolster style pillow. If it fits, I may use it in the trailer for the dining table. We need a couch more than a table, so I will put it down and use the pillow for the back area, so we have a comfy spot to sit while we watch the one channel we can get, lol.

I am hand quilting, keeping it simple by following the gold lines and some of the insides of the leaves and leaving others, as is. It is more of a project to keep my hands busy when I have down time, I find it relaxing and I don't have to worry about getting up for supplies, just a needle and thread.

Sunday was a cloudy day and foggy at the ocean, but a great day for the beach with no crowds. We get a discount season pass for the state beaches, being old has its benefits. And it has its disadvantages. What was supposed to be a walk on the beach, since the tide was high, ended up in a treasure hunt, so my joints are paying for all the bending. I got some nice pieces and I am sure I could have gotten more, but rain was coming in and we had to miss the full low tide.

I need to have Bill get some of the old boards I have been saving. They are from a bureau that belonged to my grandfather and was falling apart, so I saved the good boards. I think they would be perfect for making beach art.

Friday Finish!

This week I worked on my baby quilt. I wanted to hand quilt it and I actually find that relaxing, though it does take longer than machine quilting, so not a good idea if I want to make charity quilts. I noticed that I was not going through the backing, so I decided to just quilt the top and attach the back with the ties.

It made it a lot easier and faster to quilt, but not the best way to attach the back, since there are only a few ties. I did quilt the back on the outer edge. It is not perfectly pieced, but I like how it came out. The outer edge is a darker black, the flash messed with the colors and print. The finished quilt is about 34" x 28".

And here is a close up of the stitching. I decided to add a heart in the center of the solid squares.

And here is the back. Here you can see where the problem with attaching the back last, has happened. Once I washed and dried it, it puckered up, worse on the outer edges. I am not sure what to do with the quilt, I really don't want to take it apart and not sure if anyone would want it. Time to start using my quilting machine.

After Christmas Chaos!

This week has been slow and unproductive, but I am finally getting back into the swing of things. I spent most of the week thinking about what to do and then decided it was time to finish my quilt top. I finally finished the last row. What I did was, quilt the front with the batting and no backing, next I added extra batting and will attach the back by adding tacking to the rows.

I thought it would be a good experiment to quilt without the back to make it easier and add the back, later. Not sure if that was a great idea, took me forever to hand quilt and still have to attach the back. I think the next one will be machine quilted and the future hand quilting will be done the right way;)

I got out my snap frame and realized I have no backing that fits, so I need to sew a few pieces together, then I can work on it this weekend. The quilt top was made by my friend Kelly, she sent me a couple to practice my quilting on.

I really make a mess at Christmas, making gifts and fun things for myself and I get messier and messier and now my room is total chaos. It is so bad, I hate going in, where do I start, lol. So, I got some new boxes and a lot of the unfinished things and excess will get put away for now and the extra boxes that are cluttering up the room will get cleared out and removed. I have plenty of fabric and patterns on the shelves, so I will work on using my stash and doing the patterns I have been putting off, the rest can wait. My tables are becoming storage units, so those will be cleared and things put where I can find them and maybe some wall bins to put in my scraps of wool. I like having the scraps nearby so I can use a piece when I want something for a small piece. I will also sell anything I have lost interest in, time to do the ones I want and not worry about having to make it all. Maybe use some of the material to make curtains, should be on my to do list. I used my wide angle, so the room looks wonky.

I also wanted to make a rug for my beach room, but I also know I have a long list of things I want to make and a rug would take up a lot of that time. I found a small blue jean rug in the store and got it since it was cheap and wanted to see how it looked in the room, I loved it. So, I searched on the web for the same brand and of course I couldn't find it. I inspected each type of jean rug until I found one that was closest to it and I love the new rug. It is darker than the other, I did like the lighter shades and it is larger than I wanted. I was looking for a 4' x 6' and this is 5' x 7', but it fits perfectly.

Now I feel like the room is a room and I will start working on cleaning out the junk that was in there and a blue jean quilt and matching pillows for the couch. Someday I will replace that with something I can use for guests, as well. Of course I need to make things for the walls and I have some quilts I have been wanting to make, folk art styles with ocean themes, so that will be my winter projects and the room will be ready for summer. It is a lot cooler down there, so it will be a nice retreat in the summer.

Not the best photo, the wide angle tends to fish eye on the lowest setting, but I wanted to get more of the room in. It makes the room look small and narrow. There is also a large closet in the back, needs to be cleaned out and I will have storage for my excess that I can hide away.

Tomorrow is going to be a nice day so we will be off on a hike. I am loving the weekend weather, love being able to get out and explore. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend, and find your own adventure.

Friday Works in Progress

I started two new projects this week. One is a table runner for fall. I won a charm pack of Posh Pumpkins from This n That fabrics, which is now, Sauder's Fabrics. They are also doing another contest and giveaways this month to celebrate their anniversary, so be sure and visit.

It has a lot of fun prints with fall colors so I went with half Square triangles and then played with them to get a layout that I liked. It is funny how one design can look different ways when it all goes together. I used a fall leaf fabric for the border, than black for the binding, I think it gives it a nice touch and contrast to the oranges. Of course, the minute I laid it on the couch to take a break, Moki jumped on it. He never sleeps on the couch, but if i have a quilt or rug item on it, he is there.

I am hand quilting with black pearl cotton, so hopefully I can get that done this weekend. I will also add a little applique to each corner, I am thinking a simple wool sunflower.

Another project is a fall wall hanging. The original pattern is Sunflowers and Scarecrows by Jan Patek. It is in the Fall 2011 issue of Primitive Quilts and Projects and she also has the pattern on her website. I decided to change the middle section and put my scarecrow in the middle. He is found in my Ebooklet, Fall is in the air. I will add details after I add all the appliqués.

I also wanted to share a prize that I won from Whimsical Workshop. I love Heidi's designs and when I saw Under the Sea, I loved it. Of course I will make my sweet grandson a quilt with it, but there is enough to make more, so I think a few charity quilts would be fun too. I was amazed at how much fabric I got and how beautiful it looks in person.

Old Cats ... New Cats Giveaway!

I had a request to show the quilted piece that I made with the new design. This piece was done a few years ago and I added other things to this piece to make it into a wall hanging. For the pattern, the design is made to fit an eyeglass case, but it would also be nice to make into a hooked rug to hang on a wall, as well.

Moki is still fascinated by chenille candy canes, he loves playing with them and one of his favorite games is catch. So I throw it onto his tower and he climbs up to get it, he does need the exercise, he is a very big boy, lol.

As you can see he can stretch out with his long body. I measured the area that Moki is in and now you get to guess how many inches the area measures, from his toes to the top of his head? The person with the right guess will win a free epattern of their choice and I will pick a winner from all of the guesses, to win a free pattern, as well. I will announce the winners on Wednesday, the 16th. 

Lighthouse Quilt!

I wanted to use some of the jelly roll strips from the 1862 Battle Hymn fabrics by Barbara Brackman. I was thinking of doing a flag, using the blues instead of red and white. Well, I got stuck and forgot what I planned on making, so I came up with a new idea. I used the lighthouse from an old Jan Patek book, Ships Aweigh and then started changing it, bit by bit and adding a few of my own touches and came up with this piece. Something fun to display for the rest of the summer.

The quilt measures 27" x 15". I used walnut ink, watered down, to antique it. I lightened it up a little so you could see it better. The border is circles with stars in them and it says, From sea to shining sea.

Hexagon Progress!

Last week I was working on my hexagons and now I am wondering it if it worth it, to make a full sized quilt and if I have enough of the gold to finish it. So, I laid it out, as it is now to show you how it looks as a quilt. I planned on filling in the outer sections with the gold, then going around with the red and greens in a border, than one more border in gold. It just doesn't look right to me, what do you think?

And here is what I came up with, for a nice tree skirt, which I do need. I can tuck under the opening and use trim around the circle for the tree opening. Then I can bind or use trim for the outer edge. This would be easiest to do, and what I am leaning towards. I will fill in the spaces with the gold, so not as much extra work to finish. Or I could use this as a middle design and keep building on this and not worry about finishing this year? Would love suggestions, ideas or layouts.

Quilting and Cooking with Moki!

I guess there is no escaping the cold that is going around, do not need to be sick right now. I got some more of my quilt done, though not as much as I would like, but it will get done.

I made this sunflower block, since my sister likes sunflowers and added a saying. I think it needs something in the upper part, but not sure what, maybe a few words like hope, strength?

Not a great color shot, bad light tonight and I am too miserable to try too hard;) This block was from a book by Jan Patek, called Say it with Flowers.

And I decided to make spaghetti for dinner, a good cold killer. I add hot pepper and a red pepper to my sauce, both great antioxidants. Before I knew it, Moki appeared and eager to help. Good thing I was done cutting and that was a piece I was throwing away;)

 Yesterday, the hawk was visiting. He perches on the tall tree in the back of my yard and watches the field below. Lots of field mice to keep him satisfied.

Reindeers Finished!

I finally finished my reindeer piece. I added the word joy, but couldn't picture adding more words, so I went with snowflakes. Not really what I planned, but it will have to be good enough. I tend to make things and if I don't like them, that's life, I hate redoing things;) I think this would be fun to do in a smaller piece with wools or as a punch needle too. Maybe I will give this one to my daughter. I took a night photo, so kept it cropped so you could see the details better. The right side is the same and there is a darker red border on the sides. I didn't realize the other red was more pink but I actually like the shade with the yellowed homespun and blacks. If  you like the design, you can get it from Jan Patek Quilts.

Tomorrow I will try and do an outdoor shot and see if I can get true colors.

I wanted to try a video of the kitties and Izzy was in a playful mood. I thought I might be able to take video and use one of the frames as a photo, but they were all fuzzy, so need to figure that one out. Izzy is a jumper and will go to any length to catch things. It is hard to throw and shoot, so I will have to try cat nip next time;)

As you can see at the end, she stays away from Moki, who sits and gives her the look, he likes to intimidate her. Now that Dora is not harassing him, he has taken that position in the house.

Mini Tumbler Quilt!

I wasn't up to doing too much yesterday, so I grabbed my box of scraps and made myself a little tumbler quilt. I found a template online and used the inside dimensions of the 2", then added the quarter inch to make it smaller. I was looking for a one inch tumbler, but didn't see any. I sewed the pieces by hand, but decided to sew the rows by machine;) Also the border was machine sewed, but the rest I hand stitched with floss. It is a fun project to do and I think it would be fun to do in Christmas colors too. Great way to use up those scraps and great gift idea for friends. I do have a Go tumbler die and plan on making a large one for myself.

This piece measures a little over 11" x 8". I also stained it with walnut spray, after it was finished.

New Welcome Quilt!

I finished my quilt yesterday and today I antiqued it, so all done.
I made this one to go at my entryway, to replace my bird piece.
I cropped the quilt, since I stuck it up quick for a photo, it looks distorted;)

This quilt is a design by Cheri Saffiote for the new magazine, Primitive Quilts and Projects Magazine. I decided to do this one first since it was perfect to put on the wall for the spring and summer season. This is one magazine that I didn't say, I will make this one day, I want to make a few now, lots of wonderful projects. Cheri does a lot of wonderful primitive patterns, so if you have never seen her patterns, visit Quilts by Cheri and you won't be disappointed.

Today I started a new quilt, a new one for my bed. I did not make my last one, large enough, so hoping this will fit better.
I am attempting a braided design, so once I get a few rows done, I will show you my progress.

As for my last posting.... I was a writer for a while, I wrote a weekly column for kid's science and medicine. I also wrote trivia questions for an educational site, a game site and a review for a Mac gaming site. I haven't written in ages, except for my blog, so I have gotten lazy with my writing;) There is always beach glass, but mostly from kids and people who don't care about our environment, not enough wave action on the bay to get smooth glass, unless it has been laying there for years.