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 Finish!

 

Another slow week for creating, but I did get my garden done, just in time for the rain, coming in tomorrow. I have been working on my quilt, and making progress. I went with a shell design for the larger triangle and a modified version for the corner blocks. I have a template for the outer outline, but I have to hand draw the inner portions, so it is not perfectly uniform, but that is ok.

On the weekend we spent some time with the kids. I got them a set of bows and they had fun, playing in the backyard. Alex loves to do puzzles with me. I help with the outer edge and he did most of it himself.

I have a lot of bird activity at home. The old bird house has babies, almost ready to get out on their own. Today two babies from another nest, came to visit on the porch.

I hope you all have a good weekend and are enjoying the spring weather.

Working on Friday!

 I am still working on my summer quilt and making good progress. I did outline stitching around the sailors and will decide if I want to go around more, after I finish the other sections. I am also thinking it would be fun to, put little ties at their necks and a couple of buttons on the shirt, since it will be a wall hanging.

It has been a rough week, I lost my friend after a long battle. She was a dear friend and I will miss her. I was able to get out for a hike on Sunday, a good way for me to reflect and find my inner peace. 

We walked on a new path which was nice, but I did have to remove a few ticks that tried to crawl up my pants. I guess I need to stay off paths that have too much brush. It is land that had a few homesteads, so we found a lot of remnants of homes and the people who lived here.

It also had a few streams and a hike up a rock for a view of the surrounding area.

We also went back to the refuge that we took the boys too. This time we hiked the entire trail and a side trail. A beautiful place to walk that is close by.

Today we went to another bird sanctuary. This time it was teaming with birds and wildlife, so I was able to get a few shots of the birds.

We also met up with some critters, as well as more birds.

One of the older nests was being occupied by the female, while the male watched over things in a nearby tree. 

Here is a close up of the male. 

I also wanted to have something to remember my friend by, and her favorite color is purple. I saw this lilac bush and it was perfect. It was a nice way for me to process my pain, the day I heard and something I can watch bloom every spring.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. We have rain coming in so maybe some shopping and relaxing with my project. 

Working on Friday!

 

This week has been busy with walks and bird watching, but I managed to start a new project. I got an appliqué top from a friend, with a nautical theme and I wanted to work on that now, so I can have it for the summer.

The piece is square, so I decided to leave it as is and do some fun quilting. It will make a nice wall hanging. I got the design from a book I have, then I had to freehand it onto the quilt, since I didn't have any transfer pencils. Not bad, a little wonky, but I don't mind. I started with a blue marker to fit it in, then used the white chalk pencil to redo a few parts to even it out. I am working with white pearl cotton so the designs stand out. 

Last weekend we tried a new hike. It was a beautiful area with lots of hills, but it was warm and buggy, so we only did 4 miles. I will go back to hike more of the trails in this area. It is old farm area, so a lot of cellar holes and I spotted some old cars near an old foundation.

We followed a few streams which was nice, since those areas were cooler. Lots of birds in the area, but they were all hiding in the tall trees.

Another day we went for a ride, to find Osprey nests. I found a lot of nests but here are a few unique ones. This guy was nesting on a light pole and moved over to this one when I got too close. 

I found this pair in someones chimney. I guess they won't be using it, this year.

We made a stop at the beach and I got a wonderful surprise, when I spotted this guy, laying on the beach. It is a Northern Gannet, which live in areas like Newfoundland. Not sure if he was lost of making a stop on his way home, but I thought he was hurt since he could barely walk. I found out later that, they do not do well on land. They stay in the water and only go on rocky cliffs to nest, so once he went to the water, he seemed fine.

We also spotted some Sanderlings. They are fun to watch, running in and out of the water.

And this gull was funny. He got a crab, a live one. He found out the hard way, the crab did not like being eaten.

In the marsh, I spotted this Snowy Egret.

During the week, we went for a hike to see the seals before they leave. It seems the point is always windy, so hard to hold steal for shots.

This seagull was making faces for me.

On the way out, we spotted a family of deer. There were five in all, and this one posed for me. I hope you all had a good week and enjoy your weekend. We have one decent day and then rain, so hiking day and rest day for me.

Friday finish and starts!

 

This week seemed to go by too quickly and as usual, I didn't get as much done. More time spent getting ready for Easter and getting out on nice days.

I did put a new piece together, I have had it for years and decided it was time to make it. I have most of the pieces cut out, so I could make sure I got the layout right. The design is by Crane Design, called Lighthouse Landing.

I also painted some new rocks. I enjoy doing happy pieces that make me smile and hopefully, will make others smile when they find them.

Last weekend we took a drive to Connecticut. A few nice walks at a few parks.

One park still has the old farm buildings left.

And lots of birds at the parks, but as usual, they hid or flew away when I got the camera out. I found an owl in a tree, he stayed still.

During the week we spent time at the beach, in the afternoon. The tide was always coming in, but I still found some nice treasures and got nice walks in.

Today we got out for last minute shopping and spent the rest of the day, at the beach. This is a Long Beach, so we got a nice walk in and found some nice treasures, which are in the 4th glass photo. We walked as far as we could go, which ended at a rocky barrier. Next time we will have to find a place to park and walk all the way to the lighthouse area.

I hope everyone has a nice weekend and a Blessed Easter Day. 

Friday Finishes!

This week I decided to do another little Pillow with a design by Deborah Cade. These are really fun to do and they work up quickly. There are others that I plan to do in the future. With the summer heat setting in, it is nice to have smalls to work on.

The designs from the pillows and from another project that I am working on, are from the Facebook group, Primitive Folk Art Quilts and Projects. The one I am working on now is a summer project from Julie Porter. She did hers with log cabin blocks, but I might use my seagull fabric. I will do the stitchery first, then decide on patterns and layout. These are two I worked on, I may use star buttons so didn't finish all of it for now. There are also some sailboats and a lighthouse in the series.

I also made more masks this week. It seems more people are going without but I rather be safe when in public and there is still a mask order in place, so if I see people without proper masks, such as store workers, I will have some on hand to give out.

The camping ones I will save for trips and sell at camps. I will need to replace some supplies and have my machine serviced, so the extra will go towards that.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. We have hot days ahead, so hoping we can find a less crowded beach for the boys, they do love digging in the sand. We also got some real lures for Nick to try and we will stick with the plastic fish for Alex.

Friday Finish!

This week there was a new mitten I wanted to do. Each month there is a new one and this one was perfect for me. It will be nice with my beach theme room and for relatives who love nautical items.

I did make a mess of my layout, a bit crooked, so I do need to pay attention to how I set things on, before I sew them down. It makes me want to do more with my own nautical designs on each, for a beach tree.

You can find the stockings at Christmas Present on facebook.

I also finished the top for my runner, another item that is a bit wonky. My brain is wonky lately, so are my finished items. It will be used and prim, so a little wonky is ok. Since we are just going for a weekend, I will wait and take it on the longer trip. I have my stitcheries I can work on, but I know I will be on or in the water, most of the time.

The edges will be  trimmed down, after I quilt it. I like extra edge just in case it ravels. And if you notice, there is a new fabric in the mix. I decided to buy a yard to use, so I have two of each pattern. It was the perfect shades with acorns and leaves.

I thought you might like to see a photo collage of me and my family, through the years. They are all at the same camp and beach area. I was around 3 and in clothes. My mom would put dry clothes on me and I would be back in the water, I still love water. Danielle was 4 and Nick was 4 in his photo, so we were all close to the same age in the photos.

The weather looks great, no humidity, so I can enjoy being outside and later in the day we will head to the ocean, across the street. No dogs at the beaches, but no one cares after they close. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

Whale and Driftwood Punch Needle!

It seemed to be too long of a week. Our anniversary week and Bill took it off, but it rained on and off, so we never got to do anything we had planned. We got some time at the beach, but I never got to relax or work on anything, so today I made up for it, lol.

I have been collecting driftwood and thought it would be fun to design something to go on a flat piece. Today I made a whale with Jonah inside, based on old drawings I had seen. I wanted to keep it simple and see how it would look, so it is not perfect, but I like how it came out and with a few tweaks, I can make it into a pattern. I have already gotten interest in a pattern, so I will be working up a new one, that may be different, so I can make two in this set.

I would love your input, what you do and don't like, anything you would like to see in nautical or beach pieces? I antiqued this piece, the blues were too bight and light, I tend to grab floss out of my scrap box, to use them up. I also had to go with 6 strands, since I can't seem to find my smaller tip, so I will look for that tomorrow.

I want to thank everyone for the anniversary wishes. I try and answer comments, but some are anonymous and some have no email, and not all come to my email. If you have a question and I cannot answer you, I will answer those in the comment section.

We had planned on taking the kids out a few days, and on Saturday I got too sick to do anything. Sunday they came over and had a fun day at our house, I was still weak but having them, always picks up my spirits. Unfortunately Bill put way too much chlorine in the pool, so my son bought one of their small ones to play in. That along with squirt guns and we all got cooled off. Bean had a blast too, but he got so excited listening to the boys screaming that he tore off the lower half of my screen tent, ugh. I hope you all had a wonderful weekend and made memories of your own.

Friday Finish!

This week I was behind since Bill had his cataract surgery, but all went well, so one more eye to go. It is so nice that it goes so quickly and easily and he won't need to wear his glasses anymore. When Bill is home, I never get much done, he distracts me too much, lol.

But, I decided to try a new piece for my beach display, a whale. I looked online for ideas and liked the more realistic look, so I redid the design a bit and enlarged it. I thought it was large enough for turning, but I was wrong, the tail would not go through and I ended up ripping more than a few loops. I had to slit open the entire back to turn it easily, but it is for me and no one sees the back, but the large slit made it sew up more tightly and turned his tail. I definitely have to rethink how I design something so it sews and turns easier. To fix the pulled loops on the tail, I used my ink marker and colored over the white, that was showing.

He is 6" long, so the next one will be bigger and thought out better. I would love to know how others turn small areas for shaped pieces, that are stiff like this. I was thinking I could sew by hand, by whipstitching the backing to the piece, so no turning.

I have also been making my yard more bird friendly. I bought a new house, a beach one and more peanut bricks, the birds love it. I learned that Robins and other species like an open house to build their nest on, so something to find for some future houses. I found this under my porch, the robin keeps leaving it, every time we go out there, so hopefully they will hatch.

And of course we got one last good weekend of glass hunting without the crowds. There is less glass to be found with everyone enjoying the nice weather, but I still found some nice pieces and a little plate of plastic corn. Nick went home with that one, he thought it was neat.

Tonight I watched the boys while their parents went birthday shopping. They are a handful, but we kept it calm most of the night. Tomorrow is their birthday party and then we will hit the beach for a little bit, before we go home. I hope you all have a wonderful holiday weekend!

Friday Finish!

First I would like to apologize to those of you, who have blogs. I see to be having a problem with my browser lately, so I am going to have to backup my data and clean out my computer and reinstall my browser and hopefully my computer will run a few more years without having to get a new one. I am not able to comment on most blogs, I comment and it disappears, but on blogs that have security pictures, they seem to work. So, I do enjoy reading your blogs, but I can't always comment.

This week I wanted to do something from my Seaside Ornies pattern. I made ornaments to hang on my tree, but I wanted something larger, so I enlarged the ship and lighthouse. The ship is 5" tall and the lighthouse is 6". Perfect sizes for shelf sitters and a summer display.

I added the pail and one of my felt starfish for fun, along with a piece of driftwood, I found on the beach. I think it would be fun to make smaller pails and items and make a whole scene. Maybe if I get creative, I can make an old salt man to add to the scene. Not sure if I would punch it or do one in needle felted, which would be a fun challenge for me.

Later I can make a better back drop for the scene, I do have plenty of larger canvases. If you have the pattern or would like to purchase this one, you can redo them into larger sizes, even for hooking, I was thinking, larger pillows would be fun. You can find the link to the pattern in the left column, or my Ecrater site.

Last weekend was spent with the boys, which is always something I love, no matter what we do. We took them to the bird sanctuary which they loved, but even the short walk, wore them out, so we will have to take shorter walks for now. The beach is always their favorite, they got to play in the sand and a small playground, just their size.

I am also enjoying my back yard, I am adding more flowers on my deck and garden, and the trees are full and green, and two of the bird houses have residents, so it is my own little sanctuary. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend, looks like we finally got away from the rain, so we can enjoy getting out, both days.

Friday Finishes!

It is nice to have a week where I can get more projects done and still keep up at home. I have been dosing for all the colds and it is helping with my lyme, as well. So, I still have my moments, but I have more energy this week and hopefully it will keep up.

The first thing I made was a pillow. I do enjoy doing stitchery while I rest and watch tv. Lori Brechlin offered a new pattern on the various Facebook groups. She also offered it on her blog, Notforgotten Farm, if you would like to make one of your own. I did half of the design, there is also a basket with strawberries, but I wanted to keep mine smaller.

I also finished painting a box for my new punch needle piece. I glued the piece to the box, which I sanded and antiqued, after I painted it. I like how it looks and might just keep this one. I put it on a table with my painting and now I need to make a topper for the table, to match.

Here is a close up of the box, I use folk art antique medium, mixed with water, to age wood.

And I had time to make the newest stitchery from Kathy Schmitz's, One Stitch Club. It is fun to get something new each month and only two dollars. I liked how the colors pop on this one. I used colored pencils but no fabric medium, so the colors stayed more intense. I had to rinse it off, quite a few times to get the blue out and it held the color.

And yesterday was my son's birthday. I find joy in the memories of him when he was younger and the joys since he has become a father and made me a grandmother. Tomorrow we will have them over for a little dinner party. With the weather and the flu's, I haven't been able to see much of them this winter, so hopefully we will all stay healthy and spring will be here soon.

May you all find your own joys in life and be blessed with good health.