Friday Finishes!

 

This has been a busy week, but keeping busy, keeps me from letting all the crazy in this world, stress me out. I made a few new things and finished an old item. I made this rug, years ago but never bound it. I actually enjoy binding, I find it relaxing and it was so nice to see it done. The pattern is by Mad Hen Primitives and the kit was gifted to me, by a friend. I am still unsure about the bold blue on the wing, I may just change that.

I also saw a free pattern for cloth carrots, but of course I just made them myself. I just made some triangles, sewed them together and added strips of cloth for the top, fast and easy.

And I made another set of rocks, to hide. I love doing fun ones, an hopefully they will bring smiles to the recipients.

Last weekend we did a drive around the beach areas, it was cooler so we just enjoyed the views. Along the way we spotted a group of Red Breasted Mergansers. They are so funny, trying to impress the females.

On the way home, we decided to go to the old base, to see if the owl was around.  I was thrilled to find her in an area that I could get some nice shots. She is so beautiful, but it won't be long before she leaves.

We also spent a few days at the beach. Beautiful weather and great way to get some exercise, as we find treasures.

Today Bill had the day off, so we took a ride to Newport and spent our time at the bird sanctuary. As usual they all flew off when we got close, but I was able to get a few shots of a Northern Mockingbird and a Song Sparrow.

The walk around the point is beautiful, surrounded by the ocean. You can see a lighthouse in the distance, even though it was foggy around the little islands. On the way home we stopped at my favorite beach and found more glass. The Newport Beach has mostly white pottery, so it was fun to spend a little more time on my favorite beach.

I hope everyone had a nice week and fun plans for the weekend.

Friday This and That!

This week I have been working on my quilt panel, almost there, so hopefully I can have it made into a pillow, next week. The weather has been hot, way too hot or humid is more like it, so my energy level is down and even with the air conditioner on, it only cools down certain areas, so I am limited on what I can do.

One thing about a not so great week is receiving gifts from friends. My friend Kelley Belfast made me a whale rug for my beach room and surprised me with a wonderful heart rug. The whale is perfect to hang on the wall, but I think I would like to frame it somehow, either a barn wood to place it on, that way I can use rug pins and not hurt the rug. Or a frame that would look good against the barn wood wall, will see what area I want to place it on and then decide. The hearts will make a nice table topper, it is a beach room, but also filled with heart items, so they are both perfect.

The whale rug is 23" x 16".

I also was able to get out as the tide was going out. My Sister in laws beach is rocky and on an island, so lots of glass gets trapped in the rocks. I even had double the help, and with the showers that day, we had the area to ourselves.

Bill and Natalie found me lots of big chunks and I found some fun shaped rocks.

I am not sure what I will do with this rock, I may paint it. Can you see what it looks like? It has more definition than shows in the photo.

A fun fact about my SIL's house, it was in the movie, Moonrise Kingdom. In the movie, two kids run away and the local police are looking for them, so they stop at her house to ask if she has seen them. And standing there on the porch with my SIL is Bruce Willis. The movie is shot in Rhode Island, some on the island and some in the boy scout  camp where we hike.

And another fun thing I did this week, shave Izzy, haha. She lets me shave her top areas, she does like to be groomed, but she was not too happy when I started on the back end.

I had to coax her, tell her how beautiful she was looking and I was almost there. Today I got more underneath, and smoothed out the choppy areas, so just the longer hair on her belly is left. Now if I can find a way to get her to roll over so I can get that, she will be all set. She pukes up, all over my house and this is one way to stop that, so well worth the trouble.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

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.

Weekend Wanderings and Surprises.

We had rain on saturday, so no day trips. Instead we went to Best Buy to look at cameras. I wanted something small and simple and of course nothing fit the bill. When you have a good camera, it is hard to compare with the smaller models, but I found the new mirror less cameras that give the same quality with a lot less weight. The camera fits perfectly for me and I can hold it without shaking, and it does take beautiful pictures. But, I am noticing by comparing online, that I am missing some parts and cords and since I took the floor model to save money, I am realizing, it looks more beat up than I thought, so considering taking it back. The following photos are taking with the phone and the new camera, so you can tell me what you think. I do need to learn the settings better, I am sure I could get better quality if I get that figured out.


Since we were getting high wind gusts in RI and Massachusetts, we decided to go to Devil's Hopyard and avoid the winds. The foliage hasn't turned much, but it was still beautiful and we got in a good hike, mostly uphill.

Lots of old bridges and underpasses in the park. Taken with new camera.

The main feature of course, is the waterfall, never fails to amaze me. I would love to just sit there and relax, but it seemed everyone was at the park. Trying to  take a relaxing walk with Bean and people and dogs, can be rough on my arm. Taken with my IPhone.

Of course we have to cross on the covered bridge. Taken with the new camera.

And for fun, a crop of the above photo, the new camera has a higher resolution so it is great for cropping to get close in.

Our final destination, the overlook. You can see the foliage is just starting in the valley areas, so we will have to go back when it is full. We hiked a new path which was going in the wrong direction, so we had to hike up, then down and back up to get to the main path, so we did over 5 miles. Taken with the new camera and a filter, I think the filter washes out the colors a bit.

To end our day we stopped at the apple orchards. They are nearing the end of the season, so all the apples were at the end of the orchard. They offer free rides, so we too advantage of a little fun ride. Of course I felt bad since Nick missed out on a tractor ride;) Taken with my iPhone.

The rest of the photos are from the IPhone. The other bad thing about the new camera is no built in flash and my old flash doesn't fit the mount, so another thing to buy, it does add up.

Kelley has been working on some gifts for me. I wanted to make hit and miss chair pads with stars to use up my stash, but Kelly wanted to make them to get back into hooking again and use up her worm stash. She read my mind and made them better than I imagined, here is one on the extra chairs. The others go at the table and I need to design a nice table topper to match them.

She also made me two runners, love them both and surprised me with some sand colored hearts sachets, perfect for the beach room. I put them on the table for the photograph, but they do look nice there too. They look much better in person, bad lighting for photographs in that room. Kelley does such a beautiful job with prim cuts, and she is also offering free designs this week, so be sure to visit With Hook and Needle.

And I also won Sandi's giveaway, she sent me a beautiful fat quarter. I guess I need to start planning some quilts and table toppers.

Friday Finishes!

Well, I guess our flu wasn't over yet, Bill woke up coughing bad on wednesday, so I made him go to the doc and he got medicine for both of us. I got the sore throat and sinus, no cough and now that I am on meds, I won't have to worry about that. Hopefully we can enjoy the weekend, Sunday is going to be beautiful and I really want to get out and enjoy a day of nice weather.

The good thing is, I had plenty of time to rest and work on some new pieces. I am still working from the Kindred Spirt books and made an easter pillow for me and two that I can give as gifts next year. It is fun making up things I can give next year and sometimes I like to have things to give just for fun.

Now I am going to have to buckle down, I have two weeks to make a baby quilt for the new baby and since I know it is another boy, I can get to work on it. I have an idea, now I just need to draw it out, figure out sizes and get it made, lol.

I had one more piece that I stitched, but didn't have time to finish it today. I have some ideas on ways I can change the finishes, fun to experiment and try different things.

Another thing I love, is to see the work from those who use my patterns. Deirdre of The Old Rose Cottage made a beautiful rug, using my Spring Chicks pattern. I love the lighter chicks against the dark antique background.

Friday Finish!

First I would like to thank everyone for your wonderful comments. I wish I could answer them all, but if you are a no reply, I can't email you back, but I wanted to let you know that I read them and appreciate them.

This week I made a chair mat for my new chair. I wanted something that was primitive, simple, but a little artsy since this will be my creative room. I looked at ocean paintings and saw some backgrounds that I liked and then drew up my own with elements that I liked.

The rug is 14" x 11", wool hooked on linen. I did the edge with wool yarn and left the backing folded under. Since this is for me and I may want to change or fix it in the future, the extra backing allows me to put it back on a frame.

Now I need to find a rug to match the room. It is a beach room, whites, grays and distressed pieces with touches of color. So, I am thinking that blue may not be a good choice, but something in an aged white look? What do you think? If you see something that you think would match, send me a link, so far, nothing says, that's the perfect rug. I am looking for 6' x 4' rectangle and would prefer a pile, since it is a basement room.

Now we are getting ready for the storm, we are getting more than they predicted, but we are all set with a new generator, just in case. I hope everyone stays safe and warm tomorrow.

Friday Finish!

This week I decided to hook a rug from a pattern that my friend Cyndi sent me. I wanted to be fun with it so I used wool roving cord to hook the bunny. It still looks hooked, but I am thinking of fluffing it up a bit to make it more 3D. I also wanted the flowers to show like that too, so I might hook those over to raise them and maybe even use wool yarn for the flowers. It will be a wall hanging, so no one will be walking on it.

I finished the hooking, so now I will decide if I want to change it to 3D and also a border for it. I am thinking this would look nice with a braided border and even thought I braid rugs, I have never done a braided border, so something new to try. The rug is 10" x 13" and a design by Star Rug Company.

I love how the colors pop against the black, but still a bit muted on the flowers. The camera tends to make everything look bolder than it actual is. The white rabbit is lighter and I will keep it that way, happy pieces are what I seem to be gravitating towards, lately. I will still be doing prim, but I would like to do more folk art primitives and try some new designs of my own, this year.

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend. I think it is time to finish the last rows of the flying geese quilt, that I was working on this year.

Friday Finishes!

This week I got a couple of projects done, one was my noodle board, I finally finished it.
Bill made the board for me and I painted it black. I was going to do mustard over black, but decided that would be too busy in the kitchen and left it black.

The problem was, the board had been sitting for months and the paint was really set into the wood and I do not have a lot of strength, so I didn't sand it very well.  My stain was old and I had to water it down, so that didn't help and my spray varnish was way too old, it wasn't going on right and left a messy finish, but it will do.

This is how it looks on the stove. We made it to cover up the old stove, it was a mess and this would have looked nice on it, but I think it is too much for my new stove and I love my new grates and don't like covering them up.

Then I used the broiler without taking the board off, not a good idea. The varnish started melting, so never use the oven with a board on top;) I decided it would be better to use it elsewhere and now it is sitting on top of my chest. The chest is another future project, I think it needs to be painted and antiqued. I like how it looks on the chest and keeps things from being knocked over by the kitties.

The hooked rug and cat pieces were gifts from my friend Kelley, With Hook & Needle.

I also decided to try another needle felted project and I needed an eyeglass case. I used designs from online coloring book pages. If you use white wool for the backing, you can trace designs onto it with a light box. I like to have the outlines to follow, even though my version is definitely not as detailed as the original. I made the case in one piece, doing a design on each side. It has a fabric liner inside, then I added a twisted cord for the edging.

This is what I did as the front side. My seagulls are sad looking, I think I should have gone with simple black outline gulls;)

And this is the backside, I kept it simple and had fun with the fibers for a sunset look. I think it is time I dye some roving so I can do more shading and details in my pieces. I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend.

Monday Finishes!

This weekend I was able to get in my sewing room and clean it up a bit. I have projects that need finishing and some to put together so I have projects to work on later. This weekend I sewed borders onto the little quilts, that my friend Kelley sent me. They were all finished and quilted, I just needed to add the border and I have two new table mats.

I love the pattern and colors on this one. Now that I have a blue couch, it is nice to have blue pieces to match it. It is hard to see because of the flash but this and the next piece, were tea stained after I finished them.  It doesn't darken them up as much as the walnut ink, but it gives it a lighter aged look.

The second piece was quilted, as well but not on the seam lines so it puffed up a bit. I decided it would be fun to add a feather stitch to the edges and I like how it came out and gave it a new look.

Here is a close up of the stitching, I used two strands of DMC floss. The quilts look crooked because of the borders. I thought I had bought cotton but when noticed how hard it was to push a needle through it, feels like lightweight jacket material and it puckers. The white materials are actually yellow, so you can see how the flash washes out the staining.

Another project I started is a mini rug for my Grand Niece. She got a doll house for Christmas and everything is pink and blue. I looked in The Rug Hook Book and found the perfect rug, it was done in pink and blue and will match her doll house decor. It is larger than most of my pieces and I am doing it in 3 strands of floss, so I am working on it, a bit at a time, so no hurry.

Monday Freebie: Easter Bunny Punchneedle Egg

I was going through my old files and found a bunny that I had made for a group booklet, that we did years ago. We each did a pattern and everyone that made a pattern, got a booklet with all of the patterns in it.

The bunny has two flowers in the original and I wanted it to fit an egg shape, so I redesigned it a bit to fit. I started it yesterday and finished it today, and I used what i had in my scrap box. I finished it off with a twisted cord of green and yellow.

The background was done is varying shades of pale yellows, then I stained it with walnut, and the flash lightened it back up. The finished egg is about 6" x 4 1/2".

You are welcome to use the design for your own use or sell the finished product. Please do not share or pass around in groups or make multiple items for sale at shows. I would love to see your finished pieces, mine is a bit of a mess since I rushed it and didn't think it out;) You can use it for appliqué or hooking, as well as stitchery.

I redrew the design and my hand was not connecting with my brain, so it is a bit off in shape.

Friday Finishes!

This week I finished two ornaments that are being offered as a BOM from the Wool Applique Group on Facebook, by Attic Heirlooms. It is a free pattern each month, for just that month and for personal use, so no sharing. You can also download this months ornament which is the mitten, by visiting her website and clicking on BOM. Once the month is over, you cannot get it anymore.

I decided to make mine larger, it is a 5" circle. I wanted it larger to make it easier to sew and I will be having them from the homespun line for next Christmas. This way they will be the perfect size to hang in front of the window and be seen from a distance.

I also received a photo from Merrie of her hooked rug, that she made from my Spring Chicks pattern. I love seeing your finished pieces and Merrie did a beautiful job on her rug, that would be a fun one for the kitchen.

We are expecting a storm, again. I decided it was a good day to make chowder and clambakes, so we got the ingredients today so we wouldn't have to fight the crowds tomorrow. I hope you all have a wonderful Valentines day, whether sharing it with a loved one, a friend or yourself, we all deserve a little love and it is ok to treat yourself to something special tomorrow, because you are loved:)

First Christmas Finish and Rug Punching!

I finally finished my candle mat and it is my first finish for the new year and my first piece for my Christmas box. The design can be found on Q is for Quilter along with a second holly design.

I used Finca #8 on the leaves and it really is a nice floss, stitches nicely and smoothly. When I finished I used walnut spray and it seems to have made it's own design in the middle.

I also started a rug, which a friend sent me for Christmas. It is a fun pattern and I thought it would be fun to try punching with it. I am not so sure about the punching, it is way too packed, especially on the cat. The wool is thick and a dark brown with specks of white and black in it, so it is a fun yarn, but maybe I need to take some rows out and see if that helps. I was thinking of doing the design in punch and the background in wool hooking, but not sure? My frame is not big enough to do punching all around, so it is either that or pull it all out and start over with wool and regular punching, which I am leaning towards.

The design is by American Pie Designs. I also think it would be easier with a smaller rug punch, mine are size 10 and I find it hard to punch and tiring after a while.

Friday Finishes and Progress!

I have been busy this week working on projects and I finally cleaned up my sewing room so I can make a mess again. On the previous post, some thought those were photos of me, they are my daughter who is living with us again and now she is paddling with us.

I started the braided rug again, but this time I added a hooked chair pad to the center. I have never done this and thought it would be fun to try. I sewed the braid around the edge of the rug by catching the edge of the backing. Once I got a few rows on, I folded the leftover backing in half and sewed that to the braids. I did it that way because the rug was a bit thicker than the braids and this evened it out by raising the first few rows of braids to the same height. I am just going to sew it around until I run out of braid and then use it on the living room floor. Later I will start a thicker braid and make a full sized rug for the room.

I have a broken tail bone from riding on a toboggan without a pad, not a smart thing to do. My new couch is not comfy on my tailbone so I got a travel pillow to sit on and today I made a quick cover for it. I just made it to the size with a little extra and left a small opening and stitched that up by hand. Nothing fancy, but it does the trick.

Another surprise this week was a gift from my friend Fannie Narte. She is a wonderful artist and does beautiful paintings which she has printed into panels to use in sewing projects. She offered a panel to anyone who asked and not only did she send me a beautiful panel to make a sachet with, but she sent me a finished one that she personalized with my name on the back, I love it. It is filled with organic french lavender. Be sure to visit her Shop, she has a lot of wonderful designs that are perfect to use in gifts for friends.

Giveaway Winners and Works in Progress!

This week I have been working on my wool piece. It is a design called A Gentle Life by Threads That Bind. I fell in love with this, when I first saw it and finally got around to making it. The original is in a frame and I have an idea for mine, so hope I can make it work, and my husband can make me something I have in mind;)

I still have the words and some details to finish.

Another thing I decided was to redo my braided rug. I was going to make stair treads and gave up on that idea so kept going and the rug was going to be too long for what I wanted. I also used lighter weights and smaller strips and realized it would not make a durable rug for the long haul, so I took it apart. I have a pineapple chair pad that I made and thought it would be perfect to put in the middle and the braid around it, and have it become a circle rug. It will be good practice to do a circle rug and learning how to attach a braid to a rug, to see how I like it. Moki likes it just the way it is, the perfect cat  toy.

And now for the winners! I picked two winners and they are....... Wendy of Ravenwood Whimzies and Missie of Hallbrook designs. Email me with your epattern choice. I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend. As for the things in the water, I have no idea what they are, just that there were thousands of them in clusters, so I assume it was something that bloomed or hatched.