Friday Finish!

 

While on vacation I couldn't resist getting a few things at the quilt store. One item was a pattern by Patch Abilities. This was a fun one to do and I was able to have something new to add to a wall, that needs a few things. 

I didn't follow the pattern exactly, but I never do. I added some glitter thread in the light for fun and a flower box window on the building. 

Today we finally got out of the house and went for a walk. It has either been too hot or too smoky to be outside. Today we had a break and it wasn't too hot for a short walk at the bird sanctuary. Lots of birds and critters and we had fun standing on the deck and watching 3 snappers, two were males competing for the female.

The Green Heron flew by and landed in the tree.

We also spotted two young Red Bellied Woodpeckers.

It was nice to get out and hopefully we can do more this weekend. It is hard in the summer with all the tourists, and the beaches reach capacity early in the day. I hope everyone is doing well and not stuck in the smoke zone, it is horrid here, so I cannot imagine being in areas with the thicker smoke.

Friday: Almost finished

 I tried to push my punching so I could finish my piece. It is finished, but a mess. I did use less floss and that tend to be more puffy, so it looks sloppy. Since I am tired and don't want to leave it like that, I will fix up the problem areas and bad contrast on some areas, so it stands out more. The photo makes it look worse, but you can get the idea, this is what happens when you rush.

Last weekend we took the boys fishing. They love to fish, but have no luck. I think it is because they have small lures and no weight to cast out, far enough. Others were catching fish, but they were using live bait, so we will have to get some better gear for them.

The park also has a lot of hiking areas. The boys enjoyed exploring the areas around the pathways. There are a lot of birds there too, but with noisy boys, it is hard to get any shots. 

The next day Bill and I went for a ride into Connecticut. We stopped at a few places and did some hikes, but couldn't catch any birds that day. We enjoyed getting out and Bean got to have fun too. I really want to come here with the RV and spend the day. The problem is, the road has been collapsing so there is no way we can get it there. 

During the week, Bill had to take a day off for an early appointment, so we had the day to get out. We went to a new place that is owned by the college. They have several areas for gardens and fisheries and allow visitors. 

We walked along a path to an area that is full of trees, all types that the students plant and study. It is also a place full of birds. We heard a lot and saw a few that were too quick to shoot, but I was able to catch quite a few,  and the grove is so peaceful, that I enjoyed just walking around, under the trees. 

In some areas they also had bee hives. It was warming up and you could hear them, so we kept our distance. I think I will go back and bring my portable seat and just sit there.

We took the scenic route home and as we were heading out of the Lighthouse road, we saw a few cars and people milling around. This is why, a Snapping turtle was crossing the road. I got out and took a few shots and then a local lady and I walked along his side, till he got back to the pond side. 

And at home, I have seen an influx of new birds and our summer visitors are returning. Today we spotted a huge Woodpecker, so hoping it will come back for a photo. It looked like a Downy, but bigger than a Hairy should be, so not sure what it was. 

I hope you all have a nice weekend and good weather. We have Alex's first communion tomorrow, and possible rain on Sunday. I am looking forward to nicer weather, but not the heat of summer.

Friday Finish!

 

I actually made time for stitching this week. I always love getting the new stitchery each month from Kathy Schmitz and this one wasn't my usual like, but I decided, if I reduced the size, it made the perfect tea cup mat. Sadly, this is the last year of the club, she is going to end it, this summer. 

Last weekend we got out for a ride and enjoyed a nice walk on the beach. We watched the sail surfers in the bay, looks like fun, but a bit cold for me, to be on the water.

We also went to the point to look for birds. I saw quite a few and a new looking hawk, flew over head, but I couldn't get a shot in time. We enjoyed walking on the inner beach and seeing the fishing fleet, across the  way.

At home, I am enjoying the birds who are coming to my feeder. The Red-bellied Woodpecker even came to the porch, while I was out. I have gotten a lot more visitors this year, so hopefully I can get photos of the others.

And while I was watching the birds, I noticed, I wasn't the only one watching. The Red Shouldered Hawk, was sitting in a tree, checking them out. I was surprised he stayed so long, usually if I look at him, he takes off. 

A lot of rain this week, but a nicer weekend, even if it is cold again. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and can enjoy some crafting time, in the winter months.

I hope everyone had a nice week and holiday. We stayed home and got some things done, which we usually don't have time for, when we are running around. We have family coming in next week, so plans for a family get together for next weekend. 

I have been working on my seaport piece, still in the works and I may add a few of my own touches. I got the new stitchery from Kathy Schmitz, so I decided to make that this week. I am sticking with a theme for her yearly contest, mine is hot pads. They will be nice for gifts, at Christmas.

This one is a garden bunny and I have a few relatives that like gardening and bunnies. I like giving them a pop of color since others like bright and cheerful decor. I still need to stitch up the outer edge, I like having a bit of a bump there, so they can place things on it, without them sliding off. For some reason the blue marker does not want to go away, so I keep pressing it with a damp cloth and eventually it will go away.

I have been getting a lot of new birds at the feeder, lots of young on their own now, but I still get the ones who make a racket to be fed. In these photos are, a Baltimore Oriole, a Northern Flicker ( first time photo of one in my yard), Red Bellied Woodpecker, and a Blue Jay. 

I hope everyone has a good week. Hopefully I can get out for some paddling and time with the boys.

Vacation Week!

Vacations do not last long and it seems, all my plans fall through and we end up doing something else. Today it was nice out but when we got to the beach, it was cool, so we walked a little and headed home. This weekend will be hotter, so hopefully some swimming with the boys.

Yesterday we headed back to Newport to visit some a few places for hiking and birding. The first stop was at Miantonomi Park. I found the back area with pathways and lots of birds in the area, but they were either hiding or flew off.

There is a tower at the top of the hill, and it is a nice walk. It would be nice if the tower were open, I can imagine how great the views would be. The tower is a World War1 Memorial.

The third photo is a beach we stopped at. I had heard it was a good glass beach. It is called pebble beach and I could see why, nothing but rocks and pebbles, no glass and the tide was high. Beautiful views though.

Our main stop was at Sachuest Point Wildlife Refuge. It has paths that run along the point and some that go into the bush, for bird watching. This is the path leading to the point.

A few views along the way, as well as a few beach heads, that we stopped to explore. With high tide, no glass was found.

And we saw a lot of birds and a few I had not seen before. Did I get any photos of them, of course not, they hid or flew away, not my day for bird photos. But I did get a couple who stayed still long enough for me to focus and a few baby bunnies were along the paths.

I haven't had any time to stitch at night, so I will catch up on projects next week. I did get to see the new baby Red-Bellied Woodpecker. It was flapping it's wings like crazy and squawking for food, but Dad didn't seem to pay attention and just filled himself. 

I hope you all have a good weekend. 

Friday Finish!

 

Another week came and went by too fast. I was able to finish a new project, a design by Kathy Schmitz. It  was the perfect design for a hot pad and I had fun with bright colors. The pattern was wonky with the lines, so of course, it came out more wonky with my bad cutting, but still fun.

Last weekend was windy, so we took a drive and checked out a state beach that also has a campground. It is more like a giant parking lot, but nice since you are on the breakway and an ocean beach. I tried to get a few shots, but hard with the wind blowing me.

We also hit the new beach on the island. I love going there, rarely anyone around and great views. The area is getting busy again so we won't be able to use it, since it is a private beach.

And even with the tide higher up and coming in, we found some nice treasures.

Today I spent the day cleaning and cooking, then we headed to the beach for a few hours. Came home and got dinner heated up, had the boys dropped off, and they just left, so quite a busy day. I should sleep good tonight. The fog was heavy today and the tide was coming in, but it always throws in some nice pieces and Bill found an old rooster head. I found a Purple Sea Urchin that had washed up.

At home I have enjoyed birding. A few of my regular visitors. The Red Belly Woodpecker is twice the size of the Downy Woodpecker. 

I was in the yard and spied the resident of the new birdhouse, a House Wren and a shy Catbird. It looks like the heat is coming in this weekend, so the beaches will be crowded and too hot to hike, so not sure what we will be up to. After today, maybe sleep in, lol. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

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.”

 I hope everyone had a nice week and enjoying your New Years eve. We don't make a big deal of the day, a nice quiet night at home. We did enjoy some time with the boys. Yesterday was a rainy day so we stayed home and the boys enjoyed swimming in the jacuzzi. Today we got a late start but enjoyed some time at the beach. Rain is coming in, so it was good to get out while we could.

During the week, Bill and I got out to the beach for a few hours. The nice thing about going later in the day is, we got to watch the sunset. A few more blues this time.

Another day we spent at the southern beach. Even on cloudy days, it is nice to be at the beach.

And another day at Fort Getty. I can never get sick of going there and Bean loves being able to go, as well. Now that it is getting colder and rainy, I guess I will be doing more crafts and finding ways to use my glass.

And I lucked out while I was sitting with my camera, on the porch. A female Red Bellied Woodpecker stopped for a moment, before she realized she had company. She and the male are very shy and fly off if I go out.

I have been working on a new project, and it seems a lot of new free BOM's are coming up this year, so I will be staying in more and working on projects. Lots of quilts to finish and maybe a few hooked pieces this year.

May the new year bring you good health and many blessings.

Friday Finish!

 

This has been a tough week, a lot can happen in a few days and Bill is back in the hospital. He developed blood clots that went to his lungs and got pneumonia, so he was rushed to the hospital and has been there since. He is doing good but they are keeping him until he levels out and his lungs clear. With his knee surgery, coming home would be hard since he cannot walk well, but also sick and weak. So, I am glad they are keeping him, he is getting good care and it is easier on me. 

I have been keeping busy with the house, catching up on cleaning and getting as much as I can done, so I am hoping I can get out and enjoy a few nice days and have some me time. In the meantime I make time for me by watching tv and working on projects. I was able to finish one this week, a stocking design, by Cheri Saffiote. This was a fun one to do and I think it would make a nice gift idea.

Another thing I do for myself is, sit on the porch and enjoy the birds that come to visit. I also have some unwanted visitors, the local squirrels. I swear they are sitting in their nests, watching for the moment I put food in the feeders. I let them feed at the other feeder, but not at the porch one. For the first time, this little guy showed up. He isn't as brave as the squirrels, and took off, a few seconds after I got a shot.

I also try and walk around the yard and play with Bean each day. I noticed the neighbors had a lot of birds in their backyard, so I snuck through the bush and caught this robin.

And a new regular to the feeders is the Red Bellied Woodpecker. They are twice the size of the Downy. I don't always get a nice sky, so I cheat and use the new sky filter in Photoshop. The deeper blues make a nice background for the lighter birds.

And of course my regular visitor, the juvenile Downy Woodpecker. He was the first to visit and is quite comfortable eating, while I am on the porch.

With warm weather this week, I am hoping to get out for some hikes and maybe catch some of the birds, that are coming back from the south. There has been a lot of sightings of the Blue Herons and Ospreys this week, so they are heading home and nesting. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and experiencing nice weather in your part of the country.

Friday Finish and feathered friends!

 

This week I worked on finishing a new piece. I finished the stitching, but I still need to make it into a pillow, or maybe a wall hanging. I am not sure if I want to add a saying, it depends on what it looks like when I cut it down and add a border. The photo makes it look grainy but the colors are much brighter and smooth looking. I was trying to go for a pen and ink, with watercolor look.

We didn't do anything exciting last weekend. We rode around and realized we couldn't stop on the side of the road or down a back road with the trailer, so time to use the truck for exploring. We stopped at a bike path, but no parking so not sure how we can walk on it without parking, but we can park at the other end if we ride our bikes. I really wanted to explore a bit on the end, since that is the part that follows along the river.

I have had a lot of visitors this week, something to enjoy during the week. I think the young Downy Woodpeckers are the most fun. They are less afraid of me and they will hide behind the rails and peak out at me, but sometimes they are still enough to catch a shot of.

I also had a new visitor, a female Red Bellied Woodpecker. I had to shoot through the window, or she would take off. 

Today I was able to catch the male. He is a lot more skittish and it took three tries, just to shoot through the window. The minute he sees me move, he takes off, so I have to be sneaky.

You can see his belly in one photo, that is why they are called, Red Bellied Woodpeckers.

And a few others that I was able to capture. I used a different camera body with the zoom and in some ways, the photos are better, but it seems the camera has problems, so I may have to take it back for a fix. The focus wasn't always working and the menu wouldn't work sometimes, unless I shut off and on again. Luckily it is under warranty. It could be the lens, since I didn't have the problem with the other new lens. I guess I need to read my manuals, lol.