Friday Finish!

 

I finally finished a piece I started, made with one of my patterns, Catch of the Day. I made them for punch needle or rug hooking, but most work with stitchery too. I like to have simple things to do at night, while I watch tv and during the day I try to work in my room with the machines and prepping pieces. I really need to start pulling out all the old and unfinished projects, a few that I really want to finish for summer.

We are finally getting some nicer days. Bill had an early appointment this week, so he took the day off and we headed to the beach. The tide was lower, than usual and it was good for Bean to get out again.

At another beach, I walked along the length to the rocks. When the tide is super low, I can walk over the cliff area to another area, on the other side. Lots of rocks in this area, looking down to town. I wear heavy winter hiking boots, so it makes it easier to walk on the rocks.

I have been looking for glass and beach treasures, when we go out. Not as much with the strong tides, but here are a few things I have found, from a couple of trips. 

I hope everyone had a nice week and can enjoy some nicer weather. I do see that some of you are in the storm's paths for tornadoes, so my prayers are with you all.

Working on Friday!

 

I wasn't able to get my new piece finished, but I am almost there. I won a pattern in a Facebook group, called Church Cat and I still have to do the binding and finishing touches. I also made up a quick wheel chair top and plan on doing another, these two will be for guys and I plan on hand quilting them. Normally I would use the machine, but I was able to get a camping spot at the state park, so I wanted something to work on while camping. 

I have been spending more time at home with heat and enjoying the birds, a Chipping Sparrow, Black Capped Chickadee and a Goldfinch in my neighbor's yard.

And to my surprise, one finally came over to enjoy the seeds on my Cone flowers.

And I have seen more House Finches lately.

And my resident Cardinal is letting me know that he is not happy, that the feeder is empty. 

We also got to spend a day at my favorite beach, the harbor is always busy with boaters.

And I never leave without a nice little treasure of beach goodies. I hope everyone has had a nice week and cooler temperatures. We have gotten better with a few rain storms, so it is nice to be able to open the windows again. May you be able to get out and find your own peace of heaven, in your area.

Friday Finish!

 

This week I have been slowly working on my sea piece, and need to cut the rest of the pieces and hopefully finish it by next week. I am in a patriotic mood, so I have put out my summer decorations and seeing areas that could use some new things. The first thing I made was a rag wreath.

I had a wire frame in stock and plenty of fabric, so a no cost project. I saw one that had the red, white and blue to represent the flag, so I made something similar. I also added a star to the side. I rip my strips so they are more raggy, but easier than cutting so many.

One afternoon we headed to the bike path to see the baby owls. Of course they were not in their usual spot when we got there and I couldn't find them anywhere. I did see quite a lot of different birds, these are the ones I was able to catch.

And a Great Blue Heron flew overhead and we spotted him in a tree further down.

After we went over to another area to see the Osprey. She was sitting on her nest and he was looking for their next meal.

We also spent time at the beach. We had a rainy day so once the rain stopped, we headed to the beach. The skies looked ominous, but the waters were calm.

 And I was able to find some nice pieces floating in the water and further up the beach. I think more people are finding this beach and I am finding less on the beach.

I hope everyone had a good week and enjoy the weekend ahead. We are getting higher temperatures, so I will be avoiding the crowded beaches. 

Anniversary Week!

This was not our best week to take off, it rained a lot of the time, so I was afraid to make any good plans, just to get washed out. If it was free, I might have, but for the cost of going to the island or Newport, I hated wasting money. Of course when we stay home, the sun comes out and when we go out, the rain comes, can't win.

We usually head north for the week, but with Moki on shots, I would have to pay more for our sitter or leave him with the vet, so for now, easier to stay close to home.

This year makes Forty Four years. It is funny to see how we looked then, Bill with his full head of hair, my dad told him he had to cut it, if he wanted to marry me, lol. That is short compared to the long mane, he had.

We spent most of our dry time, at the beach. The good thing was, we had the beach to ourselves, most of the time. Just being outside in the fresh air was a nice change.

Yesterday we got out late, after the rain stopped, but the fog was thick.

We did find some nice glass on Monday, we spent 5 hours that day, a bit of clouds and sun, so it was a nice day to hunt and enjoy the beach. We also walked the entire length of the beach, so I got some exercise too.

Yesterday we walked more, than hunted, but I did find some nice treasures. The blue piece is my favorite and Bill found a green heart shape. The oyster shell has two holes in it, not sure if it is natural or a piece of lost jewelry.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. We finally have sun and heat coming in, but that also means, the crowds will be back.

Friday Finishes!

This week I worked on an art piece. Something I have been wanting to try and practice a few techniques on. I decided to go with a small 5" x 7" canvas board. I used a new product, Liquitex matte medium. It went on a lot easier and nicer than the heavy gel, but I noticed bleeding right away.

The end result for my transfer was a bit more faded than the usual, but I did use plain copy paper and a design from one of my photos, that I put through an art filter. So, it wasn't that bold to begin with and gave me the effect I wanted as a background image. Once I cleaned off the paper, most of the red went away, so I was happy with that, as well.

This is how it looked, I did enhance the buildings with colored pencils.

I decided to further enhance some details by painting over the buildings and some of the surf. Then I started playing with things I had in my beach finds. First was the driftwood log, then I found a rock that looked like a body with an arm and some shapes and rocks that I liked and it became a little scene of me at the beach. I used wool for the hat and gloves, small pieces of glass and a shell. It was fun to do and when done, I added glass gel beads to the sand and under the boats. The boats are also my photos, I printed them out and cut out the boats.

I also finished my rug, I decided to stop since I was running out of the dark blue and truthfully, it is hard on my arm and slow going. It is 36" x 26" and I decided to put it at the top of the stairs. I gives a nice pop of color in a dark area and Bean can lie on it when he is waiting for us to get home.

This was done with precut wool, that someone had given me. It is a bit thinner than I usually work with, so the next one I will do in thicker coat weights.

And of course we went beach hunting last weekend. I am trying to keep from over doing it and making sure I get some straight walking in, great exercise and gives my back a rest. We found some nice pieces on Saturday.

And Sunday we got a bit more. I will definitely be making more mixed media art and using some of the fun pieces I find, as well as the glass.  I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

Friday Finish!

I always love a new month, it means a new stitchery from Kathy Schmitz, for her One Stitch Club. Lately she has been doing bird themed stitcheries that are the same size, so we can make them into a quilt. This month, she went with a sweet bunny and as an added bonus, another bird theme to add to a quilt. I have so many blocks to make into quilts, I am just making mine into small pillows, fun to make and great for gifts.

This week I made the bunny, a fun piece to display for Easter. I colored him in with colored pencils before I stitched. Once he was done, I didn't like how the bunny himself, was too start with all the color, so I colored him in, after I made the pillow. I didn't have gray with the Faber Castell pencils, so I used an old Crayola pencil and was pleasantly surprised at how smoothly it went on and how nice it shaded, so cheap pencils work just as nice.

This one I reduced slightly, I didn't want another large pillow, so it fits nicely on the shelf with my other easter smalls.

I am still working on my rug, it is slow going with the stitching, but I am almost done with the braid I made, then I can see how much more I need to do. I find it harder to stitch it together, than the braiding, so I will stick with small rugs.

Of course last weekend was spent at the beach. We found a lot of nice pieces on Saturday, always seems to be the best day to find glass and not as many people.

On Sunday we went back, I couldn't resist. It was a little cooler and windy, so the waves were whipping up, so it makes it harder to get glass on the edges, with the waves crashing up. Not as much this time, but still a nice haul to add to the stash.

The dark piece on the bottom left, looks like a rock, but something told me to keep it. When I got home, I used the flashlight under it and it is a piece of olive sea glass. I might have to take the flashlight with me next time, they are so dark, you cannot see through them without a strong light.

Afterwards we rode around the island to enjoy the views and stopped at the cove, overlooking Newport. A nice place to relax and get out of the winds. It looks like another nice weekend, so I am sure we will be hitting the beaches and hopefully get the boys one day, to join in, on the fun.

Even though Bill is sitting on piles of rocks, it is actually comfortable, so many that they are more cushioned, lol. Have a wonderful weekend and enjoy exploring the hidden gems in your area.

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.

Testing and Finishes!

This week I practiced on some glass jars and tried some new mediums. I previously used spray on, sea glass paint, but that only works if it is nice out and no wind. So, I tried another product by Ceramcoat, frosted glass paint.

I was able to get some at our local Michaels, but it is hard to find different colors in the store, so I ordered more this week from Create for Less. I had a green, called sea grass and was able to find Jade, which is more like a blue.

In the photo, the ones on the left and right were done with the glass paint, mixed with antique decoupage. The ones in the middle are done with just the glass paint. It is hard to see in the photo, but I found that the straight paint works best, with decoupage, the glass chipped off when I was working on it. You can also bake them, after you let the paint set and that makes them washable, so I will have to try that next.

Here are the results of the paint and the colors.

I also tried another product from Golden, called glass gel bead. It makes a nice sparkle on the glass, which looks pretty with a candle or lights in the room. I have been using flicker lights for now, later I will try a candle, outside, to make sure it doesn't cause fumes or explode, lol.

I loved the thicker blue shade and thought it was the perfect background for painting on. I used a design from one of my books for the ship and the lighthouse came from a free pattern at Artist's Club.  My sister is already trying to buy them from me, but she also is having a light weight flute made by a tribe member in her area, so I will make her a box of goodies in exchange.

I also wanted to try some simple ornaments. I was able to find the wood pieces at Michaels, I like the white tag the best, it is a nice size to work with and already painted. The angel on blue was another experiment with the glass bead gel. It shines when you move it around, so I think that will be nice to add to ornaments with the tree lights, shining on them.

I used a new glue too, tacky clear gel. It is not as thick as the regular tacky, so it took some patience to place things and keep them from moving, and on the brick, it does show where I moved the arm. I am also wondering how the glass gel will look on items like the white pottery dress, another thing to try.

We went out for some rides this weekend, but the foliage was being elusive. It seemed some areas had nice spots of color, while others were still green. Tomorrow is going to be stormy, so hopefully their will still be some foliage left on Sunday.

This is in Rhode Island, outside the village of Westerly.

In Connecticut, we saw some foliage at Goodwin Forest.

And we ended the day with a visit to Mansfield Hollow, with a view from the top of the dam.
I hope you all have a wonderful weekend, filled with your own adventures and experiments.

Vacation is Over!

It makes me laugh when I use the word vacation, not sure if I would call it that, more of a get away, lol. I get less sleep, I go all day, run back and forth to take care of kitties and basically the same things I do at home, but in a trailer. I think this week is more of a vacation, at least when I recover.

Today was catching up and lots of resting, my body finally gave out. But, it was good to do something different in a different place, it makes you appreciate home more. For me, I remember the moments, and we had some nice ones.

The area has a lot of estuaries and lots of birds, frequent the area. We were treated to a couple of egrets who foraged and danced.

A juvenile Cormorant made me smile, he would submerge most of his body in the water to look for fish and then make the funniest movements, trying to keep it in his bill. The adults all stay on the rocks, but the young ones are not afraid of people.

And the starlings are migrating and there were thousands at the beach. We would walk in and they would be all over the beach, then take off and fly all around us, what a magical thing to experience. From the beach we could see the formations they made, as they flew around the area.

Bill snuck a photo of me, searching for glass, even Bean found a few for me, by digging up the area. A lot of seaweed comes in, which covers the pebble beds, so harder to find glass. We also had to search more in the twilight, so it was harder to see, but we got some daytime searching at the end of the week.

We met a couple who were waiting for the sunset. It reminds me, that no matter how bad things seem, at times, there are others who are going through, much more.

The clouds came in that night, but I was awed by the rays beaming through the clouds, onto the ocean.

And on the weekend, there was a charity swim.  It as just ending as we got there.

And after the sunsets, we walked along the beach for a bit. We found lots of beach toys and even found a nice chair, I guess people don't want to take them home after vacation. And of course, before the last light, we admired the castles along the shoreline, before the last of the tide, swept them out to sea.

And of course, my favorite activity is glass hunting. We found a bit of glass, pottery bits, brick pieces that will be used for roofs and houses and I got a couple of large shells, to try some paintings on. I have been finding ideas to use with the glass, so will be trying those soon and I think it is time for a giveaway, so look forward to that, maybe a beach glass ornament.

I hope you all had a wonderful week and prayers for those in the hurricane's path.

This and That Tuesday!

It has been another one of those weeks, hopefully things will settle down now and I can try and relax again. It was also stressful for Bean, he hates loud noises and having an air show with jets, did not help. He kept trying to run to the car and get in, I guess he thought we would drive him to the beach and the noise would go away, lol.

Another thing that happened was with Alex. Last night he got into his brothers hot sauce and had a reaction. I am not sure of the details, but his dad had his surgery this morning, so I haven't been able to talk to them yet. I am glad it was not a bad reaction and this way they can figure out what he is allergic to, so it won't happen again. I am almost suspect that he rubbed it into his eyes, it seems the rest of him is ok.

Today I decided I needed a fun day, so we went to the beach. This is my favorite spot for now, but I know more people will find it as the summer goes along. It is mostly rocks, so not a great beach site, it is just one section in a row of sections that go for miles, so lots of room for the regular beach goers. We enjoy swimming there as well, the other sections are sandy and start out shallow, so you can play in the waves without going too deep. It is a bit warped looking, not the actual layout.

And of course my favorite pastime, beach combing. We found a lot of nice larger pieces and old pottery. Some is just laying on the beach, some we dig for and some washes up with the waves. Tomorrow looks like rain, so a good day to find some more glass jars, I am almost out of room, for all the new pieces.