Friday Finish!

 This week I worked on finishing my quilt. It is a panel, so I stitched around the black lines of the designs and then used red and green for the smaller areas. It is hard to see the stitching since it is on the lines, but looks quilted in person. I was thinking of doing a couple of large snowflakes in the empty spaces, so I may try to do that this week, before they come for dinner. I really wish I had machine quilted, it took weeks to finish and I have more to do. At this rate, I might get one done.

Last week we went for a ride in Connecticut. The new bike was great on the rougher trails, I do love having shocks. We did a section going up and turned back to the other side and did a few miles on that side. It was a beautiful trail, lots of wooded areas, riding along hills, and along ponds and swamps. We will definitely go back and do more of the trail. 

Today I turned 68 and I wanted to do a bike ride. The weather was a bit cool and my joints a bit stiff, so we went for a walk at the bird sanctuary. It was cloudy and cool, but perfect for a walk. Along the field we stumbled onto this young doe. She was not afraid of me and let me take a close up.

On the other side was her sibling. 

The pond was full of ducks today. I am not sure what we were seeing in the big blocks, but I am pretty sure these were American Widgeons.

We also saw a few that were swimming closer to us. I guess the various ducks flock together as they head south. 

I saw a lot of birds today, but most were high in trees or flew off, when we startled them. With the clouds, I couldn't get clear shots today, so I just enjoyed a walk in nature.

This week I am going to be busy. Three days to get the house organized and cooking. Then three weekends to get the house decorated, get the cards out, last minute shopping and making time to finish at least one quilt. 

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Friday Finishes!

 

This week I have been busy, being Lazy. I spent more time working on projects for fun and got a few new things made for the boys. The first finish are a pair of pillows with Balsam filling. I love having some for the house and giving them as gifts, nice for those who don't have a real tree.

The design is by Robin of Bird in the Hand Primitives. She offered this as a free design years ago and again on her Facebook page. It is a fun design to do and would be fun in punch needle too.

I also dabbled a bit with needle felting. I bought a pack of cookie cutters and used them to form a base for some little ornaments. I do find it easier to free hand but it is fun to try the cutters to get started.

I saw a cute little reindeer and wanted to try one for the boys. Mine did not come out the same, and this photo does make it look funny, but it is cute in person. I have a variety of wool roving and some is harder to work with. I think it would have been easier if I didn't use a scratchy wool.

And on nice days we spend our time at the beaches. Not as much glass lately, but just walking along the beach is enough.

This area has another beach we visit, beautiful views of the bay and Newport.

And during the week I enjoy sitting on the porch and watching my feathered friends. This is the brother and sister of the adult pair, I guess they decided to stay. The yard photo was enhanced a bit, but it was beautiful with the setting sun, beaming down on the tops of the trees. This week will be busy, cleaning and cooking, for Thanksgiving. I hope you all have a wonderful week and holiday.

Friday Finish!

This week I was resting but I needed something to keep my hands busy, so I made up a little piece to work on. It is from a Kindred Spirits book and was part of a grouping of pieces, that would be hung on a stick. I decided to take the reindeer appliqué and add the saying to that for a small wall hanging. 

It was fun to do and I am thinking I might do another, but this time, use a different reindeer and make it more fun, for a piece for the kids. I have a lot of projects I want to finish and start, but I can only stand for so long and sitting isn't much better, but my tailbone is a bit better than earlier in the week. 

We got out for a bit on the weekend. We went for a scenic ride and stopped at a bike trail, this time I walked a small part of it. The views were spectacular from the top of the aqueduct, but hard to envision in a photo. We also stopped at a pond, that we pass by and enjoyed the fall foliage that was coming in. Not sure why, but I guess you could call it a delayed reaction from my fall. The pain got so bad, I could not sleep and I had to get a butt cushion so I could sit. 

The next day we stayed closer to home and visited a reservoir. The views are beautiful and they have a nice walk around the pond. We walked a little way to a bridge before turning back. It was a painful walk, but nice to get out for a little while.

And I finally felt up to going to the beach for a bit. I only walk up and down for a bit and stick to looking for large pieces so I don't bend too much. The fresh air always makes me feel better, but I do limit myself for now. I actually found a huge hunk of white, just sitting on the beach, it is 1/2" thick. Bill always finds a few pieces too, so just finding some nice ones, makes me happy.

Tomorrow the kids want me to go with them to a park, an hour away and take photos for their Christmas card. Then Sunday it will be a drive to find more foliage. It is popping in some areas and some are still green, so hopefully we will have a few more weeks to enjoy the colors. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

Friday Finish and Finds!

 

This week I got two free designs from Theodore Cleave Designs. I receive her newsletter and she offered them if you emailed her, so I couldn't resist. Her designs are fun and whimsical and a joy to make. I still have a bunch of stitcheries that I need to make into a quilt, from years ago.

These are nice since I can work them up into pillows and they will be nice as gifts or for sale. I went with a black outline and bright colors, perfect for Christmas.

I also spent the afternoons at the beach, the tide was midway most of the time and the waves were high and powerful, so not the easiest way to find glass, but I found quite a few nice pieces.

Most of the time, the beach was empty but a few people came to enjoy the beautiful weather on some days. Today while we were there, they were having a wedding on the beach. On this day, we had a sky writer who did some music symbols over Newport, where they are having the folk festival.

I hope you all had a wonderful week and fun plans for the weekend. 

Friday Finishes and Freebie!

I have been busy this week, finishing up things and now I am done with gift making. I will make more Christmas for fun, which I love doing at Christmas and I will have them for next year. I have tons of snowmen stitcheries that I can do. One thing I am thinking of is, making the larger ones into pocket pillows, so I can just send that and the recipient can put in their own pillow form. It will be easier to ship and less cost, what do you think? Would you be happy if you received just the pillow cover?

This week was the new stitchery from Kathy Schmitz, so I had to do that and have one more gift. I wasn't happy with the bright colors so I antiqued this one.

I also made the last of the snowmen pillows. I wish I had more to give, it seems everyone likes this one, especially my family members, but I will have to decide who gets one, since there is no more time to do more.

Another project I worked on was, my pillows I made last year. I never got a change to send them out and I decided I should add a touch of color. I used a red and gold trim, so it pops, but not in the photo.  I like how it looks on the square pillow better, the wonky one would have looked better with a bulky yarn to hide the bad shape.

And this week's freebie is by Diane Knott. I made mine more simple, in the penny style, but it is a fun idea to use with thick wools and small designs. We all have patterns that can be reduced and fit into a smaller circle, so it is a great project to use up leftover wools. You can find the pattern at her facebook page, with the link above. I over cut the scarf pieces, so they are not placed right.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and time to enjoy holiday making, without the stress. We did some early shopping for Bean. We got a new couch and I am retraining him, to stay off. He is not happy but he loves his new bed and gives him his own comfy space.

Friday finishes and Freebie! - Plus a Holiday recipe!

I have been busy this week, a great way to keep my mind and hands busy while I finish off the last of the flu. My first piece is the second of the set from Blueberry Backroads. I colored this one with pencils, but it didn't pop, so I used my ink markers and love how that looks. I will recolor the first one, as well.

The second piece I finished is a stocking with a design from Cheri's Friendship group on Facebook. The design is free and another member did a design on a stocking and gave us the template to copy. She had machine sewed her stocking and I left the seam allowance on mine, so a little fatter, but it is nice for those wider design elements. The stocking measures 10".

I also tested some recipes, this one is my new favorite. It is Sweet Potato flat bread and so easy to make and only two ingredients. I was doubtful that it would work, but it does and it is delicious. Today I made up some apple - pineapple jam and it went great with them. For Thanksgiving I plan on making small ones and using cranberry and fruits to go with them. It stays moist in a sealed container, so you can make it ahead and just reheat before dinner.

And for Friday's freebie, a cute little reindeer. I found the photo at another foreign site and no pattern, so I did up my own. The wools I used were not as dense as I thought, but they still came out nicely. I will definitely make more of these, great to hand out or add to gifts. These are about 4 1/2 x 3 1/2.

And here is the design that I used. You can add your own buttons, different appliqués and colors. I hope you have fun, making your own. Have a wonderful weekend!

Friday Finish!

I have decided that if I want to get things done by Christmas, I better start now. I know I will never finish all the projects I would like to do, but hopefully a few of them. I also start making gifts, so it is good to get started early.

I received the new issue of Primitive Quilts and Projects and I loved Tonya's of Mad Hen Primitives, rug pattern and decided to do it in punch needle. It was fun to do and I was able to use up scraps, on most of it. I also used Lopi wool yarn on his beard in a higher height. I separated the strands to get a smaller piece for punching, it is white with gray flecks. I wish the colors and antiquing showed up better.

I received a nice surprise in the mail this week. Brenda from Rusty Thimble sent me two beautiful, velvet pumpkins. The stems on top, are real pumpkin stems, I love them. She has been making new things again, so hopefully she will have her Etsy store, up and running soon.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. I am hoping to go exploring again and find more foliage in the upper areas of Connecticut.

Friday Finish!

The presents are done, the cards are out, though I didn't do as many as previous years, I did what I could and now it is time for me to relax and enjoy working on Christmas projects. This year will be my Christmas year, I will be working on larger quilts to put around the house. I still like to do small projects and they are nice to do at night while I watch tv, so that is what I did this week.

This is an older pattern that a friend gave me, called I Believe by Country Stitches. For this one I used 3 strands of floss, so it would stand out more. No antique medium on this one, I wanted it to be lighter and bright, something the kids will like when they visit.

The pillow is 11" x 15". The filling is a mix of battings, mostly from a pillow I bought. I needed a smaller sized pillow for my whale, so I bought a pillow form, took out stuffing, till it was the right size, then sewed it up and cut of the excess. A great way to get the size you need and there was a lot of stuffing, enough to fill another pillow.

Another project I will work on after the holidays is a quilt for my ocean room and now I have another one to make that I can enjoy, as well. My friend Karen sent me this piece that she had started. And she sent the material she bought to use with it. I am going to add more border to it and make it into a quilt, maybe even some extra appliqué around the first border area. I also have some whale and seagull fabric, so if it matches, I may use that.

Not the best photo, the fabrics look so much better in person, love the colors and fabrics. This will be a fun one to practice quilting on, something with a nautical theme.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. I am in the mood to find a new Christmas sweater to wear, so hopefully I can find something this weekend. My closet is filled mostly with black, which is my favorite color to wear, but I think it is time to wear something more festive for the holidays.

Freebie Friday!

I decided that I would share some free things that I have found on the internet for those of you who like to find freebies to make for the holidays. I am working on a new project, but still working on it, needed a break today.

One of the fun things I found are free digital images from Dearie Dolls Digi Stamps. She has some wonderful images and they would be fun to enlarge and do as quilts or use for cards. You can do a search to find images or you can spend the day going through 100's of images, lol.

Another fun design I found today was from All People Quilt called 12 Days of Christmas Banner. This would be really fun to make for Christmas or if you don't have the time, make a few of the ornaments for your tree.

And here is one that would be fun to make for gifts and it could be done in more prim fabrics too. It is a free pdf pattern by The Red Boot Quilt Company. Now if I can only find the time to make all the fun things I find.

The last of the Christmas Creations!

I made up a couple of small things this week to have in case I have unexpected company.
I always like a little something that I can give, just in case. If not, they will be for someone next year;)

The appliques I used for the pillows are from Cheri Saffiote Payne in her older book, 301 Christmas quilt blocks. You can still get copies of her two older books on ebay for good prices, and they are great for making gifts as well as some beautiful projects, that I will make someday.

These ornies I made up from a pattern on Create and Decorate. I found the pattern in their section for pattern corrections. It was for additional snowflake patterns in the December 2011 link. I used the snowflakes and made up some more penny ornies. I liked the patterns on these, nice designs to do up and a nice idea for next year, to add one inside a card or to a package.

Birthday Buys and the Bay!

Today I wanted to go to our folk art store and treat myself. I saw lots of nice things, but I always talk myself out of buying things, lol. I found this panel and thought it would be fun to practice machine quilting on and make a quick quilt for the kids, at least that is the plan;) I may just use the center panel and the rest as pillows, we shall see.

I also saw this Japanese fabric bundle and thought it would be perfect for some of the pieces in the wool book, even though it isn't wool, it would work great for the applique pieces and I have always wanted to try some.

Then we went to the ocean, a place called Black Rock. There is a path that you can walk on that takes you to the main beach and you can go down smaller paths and walk along the rocks.

We walked along the beach for a bit and spied this fellow, he had found a fresh lunch today.

The problem was, he did not like us near and would move off and the ocean would sweep in and carry it away.

Now where did it go?

Found it!

Heading back from a wonderful walk, we and our shadows.

Reindeers Finished!

I finally finished my reindeer piece. I added the word joy, but couldn't picture adding more words, so I went with snowflakes. Not really what I planned, but it will have to be good enough. I tend to make things and if I don't like them, that's life, I hate redoing things;) I think this would be fun to do in a smaller piece with wools or as a punch needle too. Maybe I will give this one to my daughter. I took a night photo, so kept it cropped so you could see the details better. The right side is the same and there is a darker red border on the sides. I didn't realize the other red was more pink but I actually like the shade with the yellowed homespun and blacks. If  you like the design, you can get it from Jan Patek Quilts.

Tomorrow I will try and do an outdoor shot and see if I can get true colors.

I wanted to try a video of the kitties and Izzy was in a playful mood. I thought I might be able to take video and use one of the frames as a photo, but they were all fuzzy, so need to figure that one out. Izzy is a jumper and will go to any length to catch things. It is hard to throw and shoot, so I will have to try cat nip next time;)

As you can see at the end, she stays away from Moki, who sits and gives her the look, he likes to intimidate her. Now that Dora is not harassing him, he has taken that position in the house.

Reindeer Progress!

I did some more work on my reindeers. I added the birds and used buttons for eyes.
I decided to make collars on the reindeer and used rusty bells for a fun touch. I added buttons on the tree and still not happy with my tree, so will have to think about that. The next step is to add the border, I am just going with the border on mine, not the stars on the top. Then the batting and some black outline stitch and maybe a christmas greeting around the tree area. The pattern is by Jan Patek.

Projects and Winner!

I decided to hang my fabric on the line, I didn't bother washing it, it smells fine, lol.
Plus when I use it in a prim project, it will probably end up getting stained again.
By letting the sun pull the dye into the fabric, I got some nice dark spots, a few areas of green from the black dye and an overall aged look. If you are looking for a true antique look, this is it. Most antiques are aged by weather and water and this is what happens;)

I plan on using some in a jean quilt, so the lighter is good for that and some will go as backings or wool applique backing.

I am also working on a Christmas project. This is a design by Jan Patek. Next I need to add the birds and then decide what extra touches I might add. I was thinking some words and maybe some rusty bells on a few antlers. I really wish I could figure out my lighting better to get the true prim look of my fabrics. Even if I take it outside, I can't get the true look, outside my photos tend to go blue, inside they go red or yellow. Eventually I will read my camera book and figure it out;)

And now onto the giveaway winner. In case you are ever wondering, I do use the random generator to pick a name, I never pick one myself. I have entered contests where I would swear that the person gives to people they know;) So, when I picked tonight's number, I was surprised when I went to look to see who number 10 was. It is Corrine of Quilt Taffy, the wonderful lady who I just won from. But I plan on having more giveaways in the future and some more freebies, finally getting back into the swing of things and getting more organized. So, Congratulations to Corrine! Pick out any pattern from my ecrater site and send me an email with your choice.

Giveaway Winners!

I will be nice and not write a long blog and make you scroll for the winnners;)

The first winner is SewCalGal!
Winner number two is Margaretha!

You can go to my ecrater site, link at the left, and choose a pattern for yourself. Then pick one for a friend and tell me which one and where to send it to.

Congratulations to the winners! I will try and have more contests and freebies this year, still coming off the bad flu, so recovery is slow. Today I received a lovely email from Rosa. She is from Spain and made a beautiful christmas pillow with my free reindeer cross stitch. I love to see your work, so please send me photos of your finished pieces.