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.”

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.

Friday this and that!

Another week of projects that haven't gotten finished, but no hurry, and some weeks I just can't push like I usually do.

One thing I did was start painting the rocks I found, a few finished and more than a few, not finished. The lyme is affecting my eyes this week and my arm is still messed up, so it is slow going and I end  up making more messes, and having to fix them, so I do what I can and take a break.

These I did freehand, two are Laurel Burch designs, I have a couple of her quilting books. The other I just drew up, using my quilting chalk pencil. That is nice since I can draw on the design to see how it looks and not worry about following lines since the chalk disappears.

Then I started with one batch and decided to do them all. At this point, I just want to get them done and put the supplies back into my beach room. I have a million things to finish and projects I want to do, so time to get working on my quilting and I need that table back. Painting rocks is fun, but time consuming when you are slow, so later I can do more and maybe do some folk art designs that are simpler. I think doing pumpkins for halloween would be fun and easy to do.

You can see I have some odd shapes, and my brain wasn't working, so I have to remember to relax and just enjoy it and not try so hard, kids will love them.

I also started a punch needle. A free design by, The Old Tattered Flag. Here is the back, not very pretty, but much better on the front;) I wanted it to look like brick on the house, but brighter than I wanted, good thing for walnut stain, that will go on to dull them down and blend them into the house.

And the animals keep me busy, Bean always wants to play and the kitties leave tons of hair and dirty litter boxes for me to clean. But, moments like this, sharing dinner with Bean. Moki is like Bean, he thinks everyone should love him and he loves to say hi to company.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. I am hoping to get out more this weekend, great weather for the beach.

Needle Felted Art!

I have been working on my needle felted piece and I think I am done with the piece. I always see things I should have done differently and wish I had the right types of roving, so something to think about when I make a piece that I want roving that works best with wet felting. Some of the roving is thicker and great for molding animals and figures but not great for working into a wet felted piece.

Another thing I tried was a wool felt background. It is white and looks like batting but it is a thicker wool felt. It is great to work with, the felt goes in nicely and it is thick enough to hold the fibers without too much going through to the other side, but not a good choice for wet felting. You want longer, loose fibers so you can place them on your piece, then use the wet felting process to blend them and work the fibers together. I will have to try a small piece with my longer fibers and see how it comes out with wet felting. It is fun to experiment and try new things.

I used what colors I had, so not the best choices but I wanted it to be bright and fun. I used embroidery floss and pearl cottons to embellish, trying different stitches to see how it looked. Now I have to decide what to make with it. The piece is 9" square and I still need to trim it down, but if it is a little wonky I will leave it that way, I like the artsy look of uneven felt. Would love ideas, what would you do with it? I am thinking of a tote or use the piece as the front of a folder style case, for sewing or something that is 9" square.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. Bill has to work tomorrow and it is too hot to be outside, so I am going to try to reorganize and catch up in my sewing room. I also need to decided about simplifying my crafting, since I have too many things, that I can't do it all. I am tempted to sell off my rug hooking equipment and supplies. I have an original Townsend lap frame and cutter with two blades, as well as backing and hooks. I loved hooking so I could create my own designs, but now I prefer to do designs in punch needle.

This piece is a beautiful art quilt design by Laurel Burch but mine look like dodo birds, lol. I will do the piece in quilting too.

Monday Finishes!

This weekend I was able to try some projects and spend time relaxing. Nothing like another snow storm to keep my in the house and with Bill home, I had someone to play with Bean so I could get things done.

I had received a notice about a sew in to make pillows and bags for breast cancer patients. The pillows are to hold under their arms to reduce pressure and upside down, work as a cushion so they can use a seat belt. The bag is to hold and hide the drainage bag. I love the idea of helping woman who are going through  tough time and if you are interested in helping others, you can visit Jennifer's Facebook page for contact information, or email me and I will be happy to send you the pdf file, with the patterns and information.

I am not happy with my sewing skills, I measure and leave the correct seam allowance and still get the wrong size. I also think I made too big of an opening. The bag is the wrong size, I am short 1/4" on both sides, so I need to practice on some other fabric till I get it right;) I did mine with an inner lining and I am still thinking about how to attach the handle so it looks nice.

The beautiful cat fabric is a gift from Marylou Weidman. I thought it would be nice to pay it forward by using it to make some fun pillows and bags and I have more prints that she gave me.

Another piece I finished was the free design offered by Cheri Saffiote for the Buttermilk Basin Spring Blog Hop. I love Stacy's hops and all of the wonderful artists who offer free designs for us, to use. I made mine into a pillow and antiqued it, it was a fun project to do. Today there is a stichery and I can't wait to see what tomorrow brings.