Friday Finish!

 This week I worked on my bed quilt and was all excited when I got it all together, then I saw it is too short. The guest bed is a long, so I need at least two more rows, then with a border, it should be the right size. Luckily I found some more old fabrics that I can add to what pieces I have enough of, to blend it in.

At night I do hand work and finished a little mat to put on my old bench. It was from a Need'l love book with a Christmas theme, so I changed it a little to make it more Americana.

I also finished the rose I was working on. As usual, I over painted it by trying to follow the instructions and made more of a mess, so I gave up. The next one I am working on is a design I redid from a photo I took.

I have also been working in my gardens. My DIL gave me strawberry plants a few years ago and this year they are finally producing. Some are growing strangely and a lot have bites out of them, but I still get a few for myself.

On nice days we are getting out for walks. The bird sanctuary is one of our favorite places. Always a nice walk and lots of birds. I caught an Eastern Towhee along the path.

At the end of one point, you can see an Osprey nest. I am not sure what they were doing, but the dad was moving a large stick and the female was helping. 

We also stopped at the ocean to check out the waves and caught this fishermen, coming around on the rough side of the rocks. 

With rain on and off during the weekends, we get out when it stops. We went to another bird sanctuary that is down the road and enjoyed walking around the pond. Lots of birds in the area, but none sit still or are hiding in the bush.

I hope you all enjoyed your week and have a good weekend. I need to get going on old projects and now I have to get ready for a trip in two weeks. We will be celebrating our 50th anniversary this year, but keeping it simple by going camping. 

Weekend Wanderings!

We are finally getting some beautiful weather, warm and sunny with a cool breeze, just right for getting out and enjoying some exploring.

On Saturday we did some shopping first to get some camping gear, though we may not go if the weather goes downhill. Looks like rain on Sunday so we won't be able to have the kids down for a picnic, so my son will do the cooking and that way if we do go, we can just go there for dinner and not worry about cooking.

We decided to take Bean for some fun time at his favorite beach. No one was around since it was a bit cool, so he could run off leash and he had a wonderful time.

We had a low tide so we could explore the shoreline and I found a few new heart rocks and some sea glass. Bean was happy running around and pushing rocks in the sand.

On the way back I spotted the Osprey on the perch, next to his nest.

Sunday the kids stopped by and Nick stayed with us for the day. It was so nice that we decided to go to the beach. He was so cute, jabbering away and saying Wow, over and over, when he saw how big and long the beach was. We got him a pail and he had fun digging with grandpa and collecting rocks.

Someone left a row of roses, some going this way and then on the other side, there were more. Not sure why.

The minute we got back in the car, Nick fell asleep. I wanted to visit another area nearby so I got out for a few shots while Nick slept.

No people in this area either, so I got to enjoy the piping plovers who were busy picking at plankton with the low tide.

On the other side, the sandpipers were getting their share of a meal in the water. They are fun to watch and these guys didn't seem to mind that I was so close.

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend and enjoying sharing my adventures.

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.