Friday working on and camping!

 

It seems this month went by fast and the end of the month is here, last weekend of camping at this campground. The good thing is, I might get more done now. I have been working on a project that I was hoping to finish for my Daughter in Law's birthday this week, but still working on it. The good thing is, we postponed the party till next week so I may still be able to. 

I plan on doing a nice floral print border and making a wall hanging with it. The design is by Kathy Schmitz, one of the patterns I got with my winnings.

Most of my time at camp is spent on the water or going for walks with Bean. I just love hearing all the birds around me, I just wish they would sit still. Even so, I was able to take a few photos last week.

I was finally able to catch the Baltimore Oriole, and hopefully I will be a closer, clearer photo one day.

I also enjoyed watching the Great Blue Heron, fishing. That is until, another larger one came diving from the nearby trees and attacked it, and chased it away. I guess that was his fishing spot.

And I always know when a Blackbird nest is nearby, the males yell at me, the minute I get close to one. Not the smartest way to keep the nest a secret, lol. Most just yell a lot, but the one near the bridge, has decided to dive bomb me, when I paddle by.

One day we went for a ride and decided to come back along the fire road and stopped at Hells Hollow Pond. We were lucky enough to come when a family of Geese were swimming nearby.

And another nesting pair, Mallard ducks. Today we got to camp early, so I was able to get some photos and spend time outside before the rains. I will save those for next week. I hope you all have a wonderful holiday weekend and find something that you love to do.

Friday Finish and Fun!

 

Another week has gone by and I feel like I just started. I was able to get a few things done this week, one was the stitchery by Kathy Schmitz. She offered it along with the design for the monthly club and I thought it was perfect for the sewing room.

I also made some more masks. Some extra for Bill since he is working and does the shopping, he can use at least two a day. The others are for my son, he is using Gaters and they do not really offer protection. He has a larger round face so the mens didn't fit him. I went up a size and used blue jean fabric on two and black broad cloth on the others, so we will see if they are big and stiff enough for him.

Last weekend we took all the boys out, my son wanted to go for a walk and we ended up tiring them all out with a hike at Barn Island, for 4 miles. 

On Sunday, Bill and I went to the Patchaug forest in Connecticut. We took a new trail that took us down some old fire roads, then a path through the woods to the overlook. The cabin is a shelter for hikers, nothing fancy but nice when you want to get off the ground.

We also took some short walks up paths on the other side, to see what they were like. I will definitely want to come back to the boardwalk when the flowers are in bloom. The long trail with the pines goes for miles, so we may try more of that path, the next time.

At home I have been enjoying the birds. I got a new feeder for them, so hopefully I can get clearer photos of them. It is one of the joys I can enjoy at home. A Tufted Titmouse, a red Breasted Nuthatch and a Downy Woodpecker.

And the leaves have fallen, which is Bean's favorite time. It is useless to rake with Bean around. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and stay safe and enjoy some adventures of your own.

Friday (Almost) Finish!

It seems the holidays took up a lot of time with cooking and cleaning and spending time with the boys, but it was all worth it. I worked on several projects that are larger, so they are still in the works.

One project I was eager to try and finish was a pattern by Kathy Schmitz. She had a sale, so I treated myself to a pattern I had my eyes on. This one was so fun to do, that I am making another in a different color scheme.

I used Dmc blue for this one and for a pop of color, I used the new DMC sparkle thread. It comes in different colors and shades, so I know I will be trying it with my punched pieces too. I went when they had a big coupon sale and got a supply to try out, it does look better in person, so hopefully when I make it into a pillow, it will show up better.

We did a lot of drives and explored some old places and some new places. I took this photo from the middle of the bridge. The river runs through a good portion of Rhode Island and ends at the ocean. It is a dividing line for Rhode Island and Connecticut, so I am in two states at the same time.

We enjoyed some. walks through some old cemeteries. This one had some beautiful old stones and lots of history with the founding families of Wakefield.

I also wanted to see a waterfall at a dam in the upper half of RI. Sadly, it is also a reservoir, so the signs said no trespassing, but. you could park and view from the top or take a walk on the old road, that goes along the pond. Too cold that day, but we will go back for a walk with Bean.

I noticed a road on the other side, so we tried that and I was able to get a partial view of the falls. As you can see, the guy in the white truck is there to patrol the area.

The fun thing about old back roads is, you never know what you will find. There were three old cemeteries, overlooking the pond.

This day we were on the hunt for eagles, but not one sighting. Later I saw that there is an area below where we went, that is also a hatchery, so a place to take the boys. But, I found a wonderful old cemetery with some unique stones, for future patterns. This is a portion of the cemetery, which was on a river, so a nice walk to end the day.

At home I have been relaxing and catching up with the house. I love watching the birds in the winter and it is easier to spot them with the bare trees. I noticed this guy sitting in my neighbor's yard and was lucky enough to get closer for a better shot. It is a red shouldered Hawk.

I hope the New Year brings many blessings to you all.

Friday Finish!

This week I worked on a stitchery from Kathy Schmitz's, One Stitch Club. This one was a fun one to do and I added some color for fun. I am leaving it for now, since I may add a wedding date and name. One of my nieces is getting married and I thought it might make a nice little gift. I will probably add a border and make it into a pillow.

Not the best photo, took with my phone, but it looks much nicer in person.

A short one tonight, my heart is heavy. I found out today that one of my daughter's best friends died. They found her unresponsive, so I am assuming it was a drug overdose. She had called me this week, out of the blue and now I wish I had the time to invite her over. I know the pain her family is going through and a loss for us as well, she spent a lot of time at our house too, when the girls were younger.

This is a photo of them together, now they are together in heaven.

New project!

We are getting ready to go camping for a 3 day weekend, so I have spent most of the week, getting ready. It would be much easier if I could eat out or quick food, but I have to cook with my allergies, so today I made chicken wings and macaroni salad, so all we have to do is eat, no cooking or mess to clean up.

Of course I need a project to work on, I do plan on relaxing more, so I made up a stitchery. This is another large one and it will be a gift for the kids, so I can work on it, a bit at a time. I had to just use short first names since Ivy has no middle name and it really was too small for me to sew. I also changed the sayings, they were longer and nice ones, but too small and this way it is more of a house blessing.

I am still unsure how I will finish it, I am thinking about making a nice reclaimed board to put it on. I think it is too big to be a pillow.

My tracing is horrid, but I try and stitch better than the marks look.

I have been keeping an eye out for the Guinea Hen babies, which are called Keets. I read that they will stay alone until the babies are old enough, then they rejoin the flock. The only others I have seen are the two, I call Laurel and Hardy, they are the daftest birds and very vocal.

Today I went out with bird seed and they let me get close, and just moved a few feet away. Once I dropped the food, they came running, so they are getting used to me. I love watching the Keets, they are so cute and just as busy as their parents, spending most of the day, eating bugs off my lawn, which is fine with me.

It is hard to get a good photo, they never stay still.

And if you look closely, you can see how funny their heads are, instead of a tuft of feathers, they have a horn on top of their heads.

I posted a day early since we are leaving tomorrow. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

Working on Friday!

Not a lot got done this week, seems I am still dragging from taking the kids out. I really have to stop lifting Alex, it does me in, every time. Add the heat to that and it is just miserable, so mostly resting, swimming and a little stitching.

I am finally getting close to finishing my stitchery, by Kathy Schmitz. Since it is so large, I have decided to make it into a lap quilt. I will add a border, than blocks, then another border. I have lots of precut squares that will go nice with it. The design is 16" x 20".

I have also been enjoying the birds in my yard. I showed you a photo of the baby robins, well this is what they look like after one week, they sure grow fast. The other day I noticed them standing up and ruffling their wings and yesterday they were gone.

Mama robin is still close by and feeding them, until they are ready to go out on their own. I think they are in my neighbors yard, since I saw her go behind the fence with a worm.

Lots of birds this week, I think most of the houses are empty now, except for the beach house, I can still hear chirping. It is fun to see the new ones, flitting about the trees, testing their wings.

And today I saw 8 large birds, flying over head. I was all excited, thinking they were hawks, but after closer inspection of my photos, I realized they were turkey vultures, lol. I have never seen so many in our area.

And the final visitor today was a surprise. Two guinea hens came across the street and they had a group of Keets with them. Of course I worried that they would get hit, not sure why they are allowed to wander around. I kept an eye on them and the minute dusk came, they hunkered down in the thickets behind our trailer. Hopefully nothing comes by tonight, the hens are known for leaving their young, the birds are a bit daft.

I hope you enjoyed seeing what I have been up to this week and the feathered friends in my area. I hope everyone enjoys their weekend and be careful in this heat wave.

Friday Finishes!

This week I have been busy with new projects and trying new things. I enjoy experimenting and seeing where it takes me.

I wanted to try two photo transfers with two different mediums. I am still not pleased with the results, but they didn't come out too badly, considering I am using an ink jet and it is recommended to use a laser printer. I also used my laid paper, which has ridges on one side, so I printed on the smooth side.

The first is a sailboat photo, that I took from Jamestown, looking towards Newport. I used heavy gel medium, and I think the heavy is what made it harder to work with. I had to smooth it out a few times to get out the bubbles. I also had to be more careful when I removed the paper, or part of the design would come off too. There was also some slight bleeding, so a little antique medium was applied.

The second piece is another one of my photos, an old one from a kayak trip. I used the glaze medium and it seemed to work better, but it does bleed out some color, always seems to be a red. The design adhered to the board, so that it looked like it had melded into the canvas, so it was easier to get rid of the paper without taking any of the design. I also think my prints come out a bit dark, so maybe lightening them up would help and make it look more aged.

I do think I like them better on the framed canvas, but the smaller hard boards are easier to work on and great for practice, since they are cheaper. Next I will have to try some on wood.

Another project was the Stitch of the Month Club pattern from Kathy Schmitz. I really enjoyed doing this one and used DMC 115 to get a variation. The color tends to run longer with one shade, so I cut off a long piece, then recut and mix the dark and light in two strands to get this look.

And yesterday I was in the mood to paint, but my brain wasn't up to finishing the angel. So, I found a fun design from Artist's Club. This is a free design by Sharon Bond. The club is an online store for painting patterns, lots of free ones and PDF patterns for sale.

A Valentine for Nick. I added glitter to the word love and the heart eyes have glass gel in them, so it shines when you turn it to the light. I also used the glaze finish, which leaves a wonderful glassy shine, but hard to get a good photo with it.

He loves things that I make so it was fun to do. Last week he asked me if I could help him paint some rocks he found. I used to teach kids how to paint, so it will be a fun project to do together.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Friday Finish and Finds!

This week was short with the holiday, but I found time to work on a new project and get out for some exploring.

This design is by Kathy Schmitz for her One Stitch Club and it was a fun one to do. I used Faber Castell art pens to color it in. A fun piece for Spring.

We were able to get out on the weekend, one day for a ride down to the ocean and on the road, I was surprised to see a Barred owl sitting in a tree. He didn't seem to mind me taking photos and was more interested in what was scurrying around in the swamp, nearby.

We also got to spend the day at the beach, glass collecting. The temperature was nice but the wind was blowing a bit too hard. It picked up while we were there and was blowing me down the beach, so we had to give up, but I found some nice treasures.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

Friday Finish and Finds!

This week seems to have gone by too quick. I had lots of things I wanted to do, while Bill had the week off, but most of the week, I was happy to have a few hours out and rest at home. I really wish we could have gone to New Hampshire to see the foliage, but we were able to enjoy some nice days at the beach and our foliage is still coming, so a few more weekends to enjoy the colors.

I was able to do another stitchery. My niece loved the bee pillow, but I know she is not into prim, so I made one with more color and crackle fabric. The design and crackle fabric is from Kathy Schmitz. I prefer to stitch without something in the way, and I think my stitches look better on this one.

And of course we got lots of beach time in and lots of hunting for sea treasures. On Saturday we found some nice pieces at the ocean.

On Monday we hit my favorite beach without the crowds and found some nice pieces, along with some pottery pieces.

Tuesday was an unusually warm day, so back to the ocean. We got lots of smalls, which will be fun to use in Christmas ornaments, that I have some ideas for.

Wednesday it was back to my favorite beach and we hit it, at the right time. We found a lot of nice pieces and even with a few people on the beach, I found ones they missed. I think I have enough to do a few projects.

We also went shopping and I got some new glass paints and sprays to try. I did a few and some didn't work right and some I like, so I will do a post with a review on the different mediums I have used and what works best, with some how to's.

Here is a photo of my first tries. The light green was a mess, so I washed that off and did a nicer job on the second try. The others are spray on sea glass paint. Never spray on a windy day, it came out too thick, so I will retry on a nicer day.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Friday Finishes and Finds!

This week seemed to fly by, I had lots of plans and didn't get as much accomplished, but I was able to do a few things. I think the heat is getting to me, and it is continuing into next week. Of course we may get showers finally, right at the same time as the boys belated birthday party, lol.

One good thing is the first of the month and a new stitchery from Kathy Schmitz's club. I decided to do some more lavender sachets and I kept them simple, omitting the extra stitching in the basket and some outer pieces.

One I did with pearl cotton and one I did with DMC variegated red. I think I like the red best, the blue is a bit light, but fine for a sachet that I will be hiding in my wool.

I also got out over the weekend to hunt for glass. We found a lot the first day, and we spent 4 hours looking, and I had my helpers. I even found an old rusty hook, not sure what I will do with it. If you look towards the bottom left, you will see a face rock, complete with 3d nose and a smile, that will be fun to paint.

The next day I found less, but some nice pieces and the big rock at the top will be an owls head. I ended up throwing away the piece of bottle, too new and it was cracked and sharp, so not worth keeping.

And as you can see from the first photo, I used some of my rocks. I did some simple ones this time and the hearts were a design I saw on a cookie. The problem is, I was supposed to make the stripes in the opposite direction and my brain went backwards, but they still turned out, ok.

The chick and dog came from the first finds. I have the others ready to go, but wanted to finish a few this week and I can do some more, next week. One the back I write my group name, DSmiles4miles and ask them to smile at the next person they see, that is the payment for finding and keeping the rock. I am hoping to get a large batch made, then when it cools down, I can hide some on our walks and maybe take some on vacation.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. The boys had to postpone their birthday in May, so they are finally getting a party. And Bean is on house rest, though he seems to be getting back to his old self. He injured his leg and had an inflamed tendon, so no jumping for now.