No finish Friday!

 I am sure I am not the only one who had less time to work on projects the past week. With the holiday and Bill being home, we were out and about, more than in.

One thing I did do was, make a new recipe. This is Pineapple corn bread and it is delicious. It will be a nice bread to make for the holidays, maybe Easter. The recipe is from our local mill, the only corn meal I like. You can find the recipe and more, at  Kenyon Grist Mill.

The recipe calls for a half cup of crushed pineapple and a half cup of jam, but I just put in a whole cup or small can of crushed pineapple.

We did a lot of rides to the ocean and salt water ponds, so we saw lots of birds this week. One day we actually spotted a Red-tailed hawk, sitting in a tree next to Dunkin donuts. He wasn't. happy with having his photo taken. The one in the smaller photo, we saw in a farm field.

As we were driving down a back road, another Hawk flew in front of us, luckily we didn't hit him. He had just caught his dinner and of course when we stopped, he flew back across the street. So, I stood in the road to catch a shot.

We had a lot of days out, so I cannot remember the order of all of them, so I will show you some of my favorites.

This Great Egret was in the pond area and closer than usual, so I was able to shoot from the window, so he wouldn't fly away.

And then I noticed in the far distance, a blob on a pole, this is what I saw. Not too bad for a long range shot. Someday I will find a Kingfisher, that is closer and doesn't fly away.

We also had good luck with the smaller birds, some at the bird sanctuary and at the ocean area. Yellow romped warblers in both areas.

This Mockingbird was happy to pose for me. 

And I was lucky enough to spot a flock of Horned larks in the parking lot area, so I was able to shoot them from the truck, but they still move around so fast, they are hard to get clear shots.

Another day we stopped at another beach and it was still closed, the storms did a lot of damage and carried sand across the roads. Now it is mostly cleared and people have been cleaning the clutter on the beaches. I was able to spot the local Kingfisher in the pond.

From there, we went to Galilee to see if the seals were in, but not that day. We did catch some fishing boats coming in with their hauls. You can always tell when they have catch aboard, the seagulls are a dead giveaway.

And one came in behind this one.

And on the last day of holiday, we went to the island. We went to the lighthouse and I took a short walk around the cliffs. In one spot I was able to catch A group of Common Eiders that were closer to the cliffs.

And mixed in with this group, was a group of Surf Scoters. It was definitely a busy week, but nice to get out and enjoy the birds in our area. It seems we have snow and rain coming, our area is more rain prone. I am looking forward to a little more snow this year. I got the kids snow boards and last year, I got a few sleds to use when they come here and they have been sitting in storage. 

I hope you all stay warm and safe with the storm coming through and can enjoy some time outside to enjoy time in nature.

Monday Freebies Galore!

I recently joined a group called Wool Applique to share my love of wool work with others. What I didn't realize is, the group has a lot of talented crafters and generous designers. One of the things I was able to make this week was a free BOM by Stacy West of Buttermilk Basin. I love the first design and can't wait to see what other ones we will be doing.

I used a flannel suede on this piece and have woolie flannels for the other blocks. I am not sure if they are all the same size or what they will be, it is a mystery BOM, so I got neutrals so I can mix and match.
The only thing I changed on mine was the star, I used a button instead of wool.

The bad thing is, they only had one piece of the blue suede and I messed up my cuts, so I may be able to do two more.

The reason I used this blue was, I made a trip to the folk art quilt store and when I saw this, I knew it was perfect for the pineapple. Since she had a supply of woolie flannels, I was able to get three neutral shades to add to the mix. I also found monks cloth on sale. It was two yards that had gotten wet, but it is dry now and nothing wrong with it, so half price was worth it. I also found some homespun to add to my stash and a fun art print for a future art piece. I have been avoiding going to a quilt store since i want to use my stash, but also fun to treat myself;) The seagull print is to go with a charm pack, I bought. This will be perfect for the border, of a quilt I have in mind.

Since we had a break in the snowstorms but too cold and deep to enjoy being outside, we went to the antique barn. It is two floors of booths with antique and new items. I found a wooden box that is perfect for my canisters. It was slightly used, but looks new and less than half the price, so well worth it. It is in the mustard/black shade that I am painting my noodle board.

Our kitchen is a work in progress, I am still debating on how I want to do the walls.

Bean is still growing and being good this week. He gets out for some play in the snow, and I play with him in the house but it is nice that he is calming down and relaxing more often. Of course he decided he wanted my chair and there is not enough room for two. I hope everyone had a nice weekend and it looks like we may be hit with one more storm this week. I guess I need to get snowshoes next;)

Braided Rug Finished!

I finished my rug this weekend, at least as far as I wanted to go on it. It was done with thrift wools and smaller braids so I just wanted to use what I had and make a smaller rug with it. The braided rug was done  years ago, so it is a bit worn, but with the scrappy wools, it all goes together.

We have had rain for days so I wasn't able to get an outside photo. There are so many shades in the wools it is hard to get the camera to recognize all of them and get true colors, but I got pretty close. The finished size is 39" round. Too small for some areas and too big for others, so I put it in front of a table, for now.

The center going from light to darker the way it did, offset the look of the circle and I am not great at ending my braids, still working on that technique.

Here is a closer look so you can see the colors and textures I used in the rug. Men's jackets make great braided rugs and hold up well.

Friday Finishes and Progress!

I have been busy this week working on projects and I finally cleaned up my sewing room so I can make a mess again. On the previous post, some thought those were photos of me, they are my daughter who is living with us again and now she is paddling with us.

I started the braided rug again, but this time I added a hooked chair pad to the center. I have never done this and thought it would be fun to try. I sewed the braid around the edge of the rug by catching the edge of the backing. Once I got a few rows on, I folded the leftover backing in half and sewed that to the braids. I did it that way because the rug was a bit thicker than the braids and this evened it out by raising the first few rows of braids to the same height. I am just going to sew it around until I run out of braid and then use it on the living room floor. Later I will start a thicker braid and make a full sized rug for the room.

I have a broken tail bone from riding on a toboggan without a pad, not a smart thing to do. My new couch is not comfy on my tailbone so I got a travel pillow to sit on and today I made a quick cover for it. I just made it to the size with a little extra and left a small opening and stitched that up by hand. Nothing fancy, but it does the trick.

Another surprise this week was a gift from my friend Fannie Narte. She is a wonderful artist and does beautiful paintings which she has printed into panels to use in sewing projects. She offered a panel to anyone who asked and not only did she send me a beautiful panel to make a sachet with, but she sent me a finished one that she personalized with my name on the back, I love it. It is filled with organic french lavender. Be sure to visit her Shop, she has a lot of wonderful designs that are perfect to use in gifts for friends.

Giveaway Week Continues!

Today I finished an item that will go into the giveaway box, I hope you like it. It is a design by Primitive Blessings and I made it into a candle mat. I decided to use wool for the noses and gave it a touch of antique spray but kept it lighter than usual on some. I just noticed that the site is gone, pending renewal, sure hope Tiffany hasn't quit designing.

Another item I finished was a stitchery I made, a few years ago. I used a darker tea stained fabric, then stitched it with a wool lana. I was not pleased with how it came out, hard to see the design in one way, but once I made it into a pillow, I liked it better. What do you think, should I add this to the box, would you like it? I reproduced it from an old fraktur and hope to do more new patterns in the future.

If you would like to be entered into the giveaway, leave a comment on this POST!

I have been getting things done around the house and cooking. I want to find things I can eat and make ahead of time and this time I tried a banana/pineapple cake and added my cookies with butter as a crumble topping. It wasn't bad and it was really good with strawberry ice cream on top, lol. In the summer or when I am sick, I treat myself to Bryers strawberry, it is all natural and a little sugar once in a while, won't kill me. Now I need to think of ways to moisten the cake and make it more of a snack cake that I can take on trips or a treat when we kayak. I am thinking this would be a nice cake to make strawberry shortcake with.

So Many Blessings!

This month has been filled with wonderful giveaways and I have been the lucky recipient of a few. I wanted to share my wonderful prizes with you and the wonderful people who have made the giveaways possible. Winning such great prizes allows me to enjoy quilting and eventually make charity quilts with the money I save, I have been stocking up on batting.

One book I have always loved was Jacquelynne Steve's book, Fruitful Hands. I fell in love with the pineapple quilt, a simple but fun piece and something that would look great as a wall quilt for my dining room. The book also has recipes and patterns for quilts and smaller items that would make wonderful gifts. You can visit her blog, The Noble Wife for inspiration and she also has some wonderful freebies.

This is on my to do list. The giveaway was sponsored by Henry Glass Fabrics. If you love quality fabrics and giveaways, be sure to sign up for their blog.

Another giveaway was hosted by See How We Sew. I won the book "Quilting 101", by Sue Rasmussen. It is a wonderful reference guide for quilting and it is definitely something I need lol. I am always forgetting the basics and what types of needles to use for projects, so now I have a reference that I can refer to, as I quilt and things I can learn to do better.

And today I received another fun prize, something I can make for myself and as gifts for my friends. I was able to choose any pattern from Cath's Pennies. I have always loved her designs and not only does she make wonderful patterns, but she gives directions with photos on her blog to help  you in creating your own pieces. 

It was a tough decision, I love all of her designs, but this one is perfect as a gift too and I have gingerbread buttons, so they will be perfect for this design. You can see this and many more at her website, Cath's Pennies Designs.

New Fabrics and Prizes

Last week I won a contest from Tak of Saltbox House Quilter.
Imi makes beautiful lace doilies and not only did I win that, but she sent me some beautiful fabric and a charm pack from Jan Patek's line, plus a pattern, I could use them in. Now that is a package that I loved opening and winning.



I also got down to my local quilt store that has the best prim fabric. I needed some black for my pineapple quilt, so I got two types to try out. When I laid them out, I liked the right side pattern, but looking at the photo, I am leaning towards the bottom.
This will be a border around the design, then additional squares and triangles go around that. What one do you like?

Pineapple Quilt

I wanted to make a quilt to hang on my dining room window and thought something with pineapples would be perfect.
I found this pattern in a Better Homes and Gardens, American Patchwork and Quilting magazine. It is in the April 2001 issue and is a pattern by Kris Kerrigan.

This one called for proper placement and overlays, so I decided to use wash away and glue to set the first pieces down and get them straight. As you can see, it didn't help, I am still off and crooked, lol. I think it is easier to sew without the wash away, but it would be a good product to use for machine applique. I am used to needle turning as I go and as you can see, I messed up in spots and lost my shapes and some parts don't fit together right. I really need to fix that one flower, way too square on one side. I still have to add borders and it will be setting at an angle once it goes into the back piecing. It isn't perfect, but it will do and a good test for the wash away. I am wondering what happens when I wash it and how the appliques will look then.