Friday Finish and Fun with the Boys!

 

This week I have been working on finishing a couple of projects. One is still in the works, but I was able to do the binding and add the quilting to that. This is a panel I bought years ago and decided to hand quilt the design. Originally I was thinking a long pillow but it is too big for that. 

I just finished the last stitching tonight, so I need to clean it up, chalk marks and pet hair. I have a plan for hanging it over my desk, so when Bill makes me a hanger, I will show you what I came up with. It is hard to see the stitching on the piece, the outlines are gold and I did a black stitch around all of the designs. Someday I might make a straight quilt, but so far, that isn't happening.

Last weekend we got to spend some time with the boys at the beach. The weather was nice, but it got cold after we got there, but they still had fun exploring and playing.

Nick was a bit disappointed that he couldn't find any treasures. The tide was just going out, so not much on the beach. He was happy that there was a playground, he loves playgrounds.

Alex is at a fun age, and he loves to have his picture taken. He is happy just being a boy.

I also have been enjoying my backyard birding. This weekend is the great bird count. Anyone can join in,  you just sign in and they have a bird ID program if you are not sure what you have seen. It helps them with statistics around the states. Check out, The Great Bird Count.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and maybe enjoy birds in your area. There are lots of different feeders, and that is the best way to attract them. 

May The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace.”

Friday this and that!

This has been a hectic week. My car died on Saturday and Bill decided our car was getting too old to trust on trips, so we went car shopping, or more like truck shopping. I am a minimalist, I don't like a lot of fancy things that just confuse me, but most cars now, have it built in. I also was shocked at the prices and payments, I am not used to that either, so I said I would think on it.

Of course if you say that and walk away, they start making deals and calling you, so we ended up getting a deeper discount and with a trade in and Bills work discount, we got a deal I could live with and lower payments. Now I need to learn how to drive it, I have been sick this week, so no desire to go out at all. It will carry more weight, so in the future we can get a larger trailer with room for the kids.

I also finished my jungle panel. Now I need to get some thick foam so I can make an over sized pillow cushion, but was also wondering if I added a matching sized seat, if I could make it into a mini couch for the kids, when they come over. So, I will look up patterns and see if I can figure it out.

Here is a bit of the stitching, hard to see since I used black pearl cotton, but I stitched over the gold lines to tone it down a bit.

And what is that little guy, peaking from the side? My newest project, I decided to hand sew the shapes on the panel and it needs to be done by next weekend. I will machine quilt the sides, so hopefully I can do it.

With the rain and car shopping, I didn't have much time to go beach combing. We were able to go to his sisters for a long swim and as the tide was going out, I did a quick search and found some nice chunks that had just washed up.

And I painted a few more rocks, these are hearts I found on the same beach, this month. There are lots of rocks with shapes, so I will have to find some more and stock up for later. I kept these simple, it takes forever to get coverage with some colors, so I did dots to decorate with and it works up fast that way.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend, we have another soaker, coming in tomorrow. Really miss going to the regular beaches, so hopefully with school starting, they will be less crowded.

I also cannot answer some comments, but I do read them all and appreciate each one. With people using new readers, I cannot find email addresses.

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.

UFO Friday!

This week I have been getting ready for a camping weekend. The weatherman said it was going to be a beautiful weekend, and now they are talking a rain shower and rain on monday, wish they would make up their minds.

We do need to test the trailer and make sure everything is working ok and I have had a rough week, so a few days of resting, will be good for me.

I wanted something to work on at camp, that is simple and keeps my hands busy.

I decided on a baby quilt, I made years ago. It is not perfect, and I went with a lot of black, so I am just going to do a prim black stitch on it. I may do hearts in the larger  dark red squares.

Another quilt I had forgotten about was this Laurel Burch panel. I guess I was hand stitching it and planning on making it into a wall hanging. Now I am wondering about that. I didn't do too much stitching yet, so I could take out what I did and redo it. I was thinking about a quilt, but then I thought, what if I kept the panel and made a giant bed pillow. I could use it on the side of the guest bed, to make it into a day couch. Any ideas? The panel is 42" x 23".

And one reason why I felt horrid this week, I killed my back, going glass hunting. I overdid it and did way too much bending, so I need to take a break, lol. At least the camp beaches are more fun to walk and enjoy the views, not much glass on rocky beaches, it usually breaks up into sand. I did get some nice pieces, though.