Friday Finish!

 I am still working on finishing my two quilts, but almost there, just the binding left. I decided to take a break and try an idea I had. I was thinking of making penny ornaments with needle felting and fill them with balsam. Not so sure they will work with balsam, it might fall out and what I had thought in my head, didn't quite work out, a bit cutesy. I tried to put too much in a small space and didn't have enough room for detail. But, it was fun to do and helps me to decide on what to try next.

Last weekend we spent a day with the boys. On the way to the farm, I remembered the alpaca farm had an event for the weekend, so we stopped there first. The boys loved seeing the alpacas and I got myself a few bags of wool felt, from the alpacas.

Nick got to try out weaving on a loom, he loved it.

Then we went to the apple farm, always a fun place for the boys.

The boys got their own bag to pick and take home. Nick loves apples and Alex enjoyed helping him by picking out of a few of his own.

On the way home we stopped at the mill. Next month they will open for demonstrations, so we will go back.

The boys had fun exploring.

Sunday we decided to go  to Groton, Connecticut. We stopped at the point and enjoyed watching the boats and ferries.  Then we went for a walk at the boardwalk that follows the river. It was a nice walk without crowds.

We also spent some time at the beach this week. So much nicer without the crowds, even though it can get a bit chilly. Today I found some nice treasures, a piece of pottery and the top of a red glass bottle, probably from an old perfume bottle. 

I hope you are all doing well and safe from teh storms that have come through. We are getting the rains tomorrow, so a good day to stay in and finish my quilts. 

Giveaway Winner!

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. Mine has been busy, it took a few days to recover and then days of catching up with cleaning and decorating, but I was able to get it done before my sister got here. Now I am busy or more like, my time is being eaten up by a sister who talks non stop and it is literally exhausting.

I was able to get my stitcheries done, one for me and one was a gift. It is a design by Kathy Schmitz for the One Stitch Club. It was fun to do and a nice addition to my fall decorations.

And of course I have been glass collecting, the first two are from my SIL's and the larger, last one was from today. We took my sister to my favorite glass beach and luckily no one had been there today, so I found some really nice pieces and some nice old chunks. If you can see the one in the center, it is almost a heart and has red on it. There was something about it that was interesting and it wasn't until I picked it up after cleaning that it looked off, so I shone the flashlight and believe it or not, it is a piece of brown glass. Not sure where the paint came from.

We took my sister to Jamestown and hit the usual beaches and lighthouse, so she could get photos and I took lots of her at different locations. She did find one nice white piece, I just seem to have a knack for seeing and finding it;)

At the lighthouse she wanted to climb around the cliffs, she is braver than I am when it comes to heights.

And she took some photos of us, we never get ones with both of us, since I always take the photos. Here we are, being a bit silly.

 And of course we had to get another batch of apples, she loved doing that and they still had peaches, so I got a bag full, love fresh fruit.

And now for the giveaway winner! The lucky number was 4, Mindy of Raymond Homestead! Please email me your address and I will get your table mat in the mail. Congratulations! I do plan on doing more, I do have a lot of Christmas goodies too. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. Hopefully my sister will find some friends to hang out with, I really need a break;)

Crosses Wall Quilt!

Today I stained my quilt with tea, but it didn't come out the way I wanted. I wrung out the quilt and hung it on a line and sprayed a diluted walnut stain on it, to darken it more. Unfortunately it doesn't show the staining with a camera. 

After I let it drip dry on the line, I threw it in a dryer to finish the drying and it came out with a  nice crinkly look. I had to iron it to get it to lay flatter, so that took out some of the crinkling.

The idea came from an antique quilt, and I added the circle and leaves to mine. It is done with fusible raw edge and hand stitched, then hand quilted with dmc pearl cotton. For the strings, I used precut strips from a log cabin quilt, that a friend was making and she sent me the extras. I wanted to keep it scrappy and the strips were perfect, for the look that I wanted. The middle and border strips were done with Barbara Brackman's line, 1862 Battle Hymn.

The quilt measures 28" x 28".  It is darker in person with stain spots from the walnut spray.

Here is a close up of the stitching. I do a basic stitch, no thought to keeping it perfect, but I try to be something uniform;)

And here is a link to the original quilt. I really like how the strings look and think this would be fun to do with a bed sized quilt and change out the middle with a different appliqué design. A great way to use up scraps. The photo is courtesy of Quilt Museum and Gallery.