Friday Finish!

 

This week went by too fast and as usual, I didn't get as much done, as I planned. Christmas is still up, but I have been taken a few things down at a time. This year I need to repack, with things to keep and things to get rid of, way too many years of collecting.

I got some fabric markers to try, so I made up a little Valentine piece to try them. They are ok, but more for kids and the boys will have fun, using them to make their own items with. I also used cheap thread, which was ok, but tends to get a little fluffy, as I stitched, so I will stick with DMC.

We spent some time at the beach last weekend. I just wanted to get out and was surprised at all the hawks we saw. I was able to catch one in a field.

In the same field, a windmill. Someday I will have to stop when they are open, to see inside.

At the beach, I enjoyed watching the seagulls and a house on a small rock island.

Of course I collected a few things on the beach and found a few strange items.

On the road to the beach, I spotted this guy, up on a pole.

We also went to another beach and I got a shot of the lighthouse on Dutch Island. Trying different photos that I have taken before, to see the new camera's capabilities.

And at home, I finally got a shot of the female Cardinal, she has such beautiful coloring 

I hope you all had a nice week and enjoy your weekend. We have one nice day, then more rain. No real snow in our forecast. 

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.

Getaway Fun!

 It's the end of the week at camp and we still have three more days to go. I wouldn't call it a vacation, I still cook and clean and have made a few trips home to get things done, but we find ways to have fun when we can.

This is our campsite, nice space with partial views of the salt water cove and the ocean.

One of the many visitors to the campground, a hungry Woodchuck.

We cannot take Bean to the main beach during the day, so we enjoyed some time at the dog beach. Today it was too crowded to go in. We also enjoy spending off hours at the main beach and watching the sunsets. A view of the Point Judith Lighthouse from the beach.

Yesterday we enjoyed the day with the boys. We took them to the pond for a swim, and Alex loved going out in the kayak with me. Then we headed back to camp, where they had fun playing and then a trip to the main beach after dinner. They loved exploring and finding treasures along the beach. 

Lots of birds along the beach, it is hard to get quality photos at dusk. I spotted two types of Sandpipers and Black Bellied Plovers.

Today was another day back at the house to do some laundry, pick up food and water the plants. After dinner we got to the beach, right before a storm rolled in. We went to leave, as everyone was scurrying away and found a nice skimmer board that someone left behind. The boys will love that find. This is the calm before the storm.

I hope everyone had a nice week. I plan on resting more this weekend and hopefully get some swimming in, but I know the beaches will be swamped during the day. The kids will be done on Sunday, so we may have to take Bean home for the day so we can all go to the beach together. Enjoy your weekend and I hope this finds everyone doing well.

Working on Weekend!

Not a lot got done this weekend. A bit of shopping, I found a Jan patek book at a thrift store and got some new, larger paint brushes to work on my angel. I also worked on a stitchery by Kathy Schmitz, it is one of the ones, I had picked out with my winnings.

It is a large one, so it is a nice project to work on a bit at a time and keep my hands busy. I am keeping the colors simple, so I am working in sections and deciding on some, after I do the rest, so I can keep it balanced.

We also went to the beach one day, caught it at low tide, so I was able to gather up some more rocks for my collection. I think I have enough now, time to try some pieces.

On Sunday we did another drive and watched a fishing boat come in, then hit the rocky beach for more rocks, but I realized most were rough and not the type I wanted. The ones on the steep sandy beaches are like being in a rock tumbler, they are smoothed by the sands, so perfect for little art pieces.

The seagulls were following the boat in, they know they will be treated when the fishermen throw their excess fish, over the sides.

Today was cleaning day, I would have rather been painting and creating, but it has to be done.

Weekend Wanderings!

This weekend was good and bad. On Saturday we stayed home, it was raining and we had to wait for my wood to come in, so Bill could work on that. Well, it did not come until 7:30 at night, so too late to use it and that didn't matter, because the wood is junk. I wanted rustic wood, but this was so rough, Bill got a splinter, picking one up. Their were 8 boards in a box, and they were all crooked, so they went back today. We will just get our own wood and do the sanding and painting, not worth the cost of finished when they did a horrible  job on the wood.

Sunday was our day to get out. The bad thing was, I was sick, a combination of fighting off the latest flu and inhaling toxic smoke. I could hardly breath and I was coughing, so I took some med and headed out for the day. The med cleared up my lungs but I am still sick, but at least I can breath a lot better.

We headed to the apple orchards in Connecticut, but our first stop was an old prison building. We always see them on the way and I wanted to get a few photos. There are several building complexes along the road, but this is the only one without fencing. It is falling apart and all the windows are broken, such a shame to let buildings like this go to waste, lots of beautiful architecture on them. Also a bit creepy.

Of course we stopped at the orchard next and I got a large bag of apples and a few pears, they weren't as good as last time. Golden delicious are Bill's favorite, so half the bag is filled with those.

Afterwards I noticed a pull over at the river and then a sign, I can't pass by a historic cemetery. We walked around and I took a few more photos, sadly a lot of the graves are sinking into the wet ground. 

Since I was feeling better, I decided to head down to Groton and enjoy the views from the beaches. On the way I saw a tall stone tower, so we took a side road and headed up to see what it was. What we found was Fort Griswold. It was the site of a battle in the Revolutionary war, involving Benedict Arnold. This is the tower that I saw, it was erected later, as a monument to the men who fought in the wars.

We walked through the gates and entered into a large depression surrounded by earthen mounds. There was a door and an opening, so we checked it out.

It was a tunnel, that led to the other side.

On the other side was the area were the men were stationed with the guns and lookouts for enemies coming up the river. The tunnel was their escape route, they could run up and through, to the area we started in, to protect them from incoming fire.

On the edge of the banks, we could enjoy the views of New London and the ferries.

Some of the buildings are still there, the old furnace, where they heated up the canon balls, so that they would burst into flame, when they hit.

And the powder house, were they stored the munitions. It was a fun place to visit and I left a rock at the gate and it was found by a wonderful family, so they posted a photo of their little boy on DSmiles4miles on Facebook. It is fun for us too, when someone posts and we get to see the smiles.

Our last stop was  Eastern Point beach, it is at the end of the Thames River, so it is a nice spot to relax and enjoy the views and of course the boats and ferries, come and go.

A fishing boat coming past the Haunted lighthouse.

And to end the journey, a funny story. Maybe not for one seagull though. I was taking photos of these two guys, fighting for some reason and the other gulls seemed to be egging them on. Just as I was readjusting my focus, the one gull threw the other one off the roof and the gull went falling down the side. It was comical, especially when the poor guy got up and walked off, the flew away, no harm done. I also left a few rocks on some ledges on the house, on the backside, rough sea areas are not good places to hide things.

I hope you all had a good weekend. I am working on finishing a few more pillows and a new stitchery of the month.

Weekend Wanderings!

It seems someone gave Nick and I a cold, luckily he is just sniffling and I got stuck with the joint aches, lol. Of course that did not stop me from getting out this weekend, I always feel better when I am at the ocean.

On Saturday the wind was kicking up the surf, so we went to the fishermen's site and walked in, and enjoyed the views of the ocean surf. I can't wait until they finish cleaning up the parking area so we can drive in again.

The seagulls were gathering at the shore, waiting for the horseshoe crabs to get washed in, they had a feast that day. It was nice getting out and I was happy to go home early, to relax and do some stitching, but my son decided to come over for dinner, so no rest that day;)

Sunday we went to the island, it was Bean's day and the beach is the perfect place for him to run off leash and play in the water. Funny how he was afraid of water at first and now I can't keep him out.

We enjoyed a ride to the lighthouse and then went to the forts on the other side and enjoyed a walk around the cliffs. It got colder and started to rain, so that was the end of the day. We did get to enjoy watching the ships come in.

Today I am beat, luckily Bill works nights so he watched Nick this morning so I could rest and get going on a new project I started today and finished, thanks to his tiring Nick out and he got a good nap in. Bill is tearing down the old fence posts so we can get the new one up, Nick loves helping, cart the rocks to the garden.

I hope you all had a good weekend, hopefully I can show you the new project on Friday, since it is a gift, I will wait till it arrives.

Catch of the Day! New Pattern.

This week I worked on a new pattern, I had in the works. I had to wear a wrist and elbow brace so that helped, but I think my punching suffered a bit and I really need to rest my arm this weekend, so light stitching for me.

The finished piece is 6" x 5 1/4" and it was a fun piece to do. The pattern is done in punch needle, but my patterns can be done in rug hooking, stitchery or appliqué, as well. You can order the pattern with the link to the left or visit my ecrater store. As a bonus, anyone who orders a pattern this weekend, can pick a free pattern of their choice, of equal or lesser value. Just let me know on the order form in the comment section, which pattern you would like.

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend. We have cold weather coming in, so no walks, maybe a nice ride and we can enjoy the views from the car.

Weekend Wanderings!

We had a beautiful weekend and it was nice to get out again. On Saturday we went for a ride to the ocean and spent some time at the wharf. It was a little cool for the beach but I wanted to get photos of the seagulls that were flocking on the buildings and check out the boats on the docks.

I caught this photo and thought it was funny, with the speed limit sign. It makes it look like the gull on the post is chastising the other gulls for flying too fast in the slow zone.

At the docks behind the building is why there are so many gulls. The fishermen were throwing the leftover fish to them.

And, I found out, it attracts the seals too. I never knew they came into the harbor and it was a treat to see them swimming around and playing in the channel.

On the way home we took a detour and stopped at Snuff Mill. It is where they ground tobacco and also the home of Gilbert Stuart who painted the famous unfinished portrait of George Washington. It is the one, seen on the dollar bill. The museum grounds are closed, so I took a shot from the road, I would like to go back and revisit it when I can go inside. I used to go as a child since I could walk there and it cost 10 cents to get in.

Sunday we had Nick for the day and it was an even nicer day, so we went back to the wharf and got to enjoy some time on the beach. We watched the sail surfers on the water, while Nick played in the sand with a toy he found on the beach.

Even though it was nice, it was still cooler at the beach, so we headed back up the bay and Nick had a picnic on the URI Bay Campus beach. It was a lot warmer and less people, so we could relax and Nick loved the fact that were were thousands of rocks he could throw in the water.

I have also been searching for a vacation place, for our anniversary in June. It seems the Acadia area is popular in June now and now openings on the water, but I finally found one in Stonington at Old Quarry Ocean Adventures. It doesn't have hook ups, but he will plug us in with electric and water and we will stop at a camp on the way home to dump the tank. Now all we need is nice weather so we can enjoy kayaking around the islands that are scattered all through the area.

I think the view is well worth it and there is a launch right next to us. Another bonus is, they will cook our lobster dinner and bring it to our site, so a nice anniversary treat. And, if Bean behaves, he is allowed to go leash free so he can play on the beach. I hope you all had a wonderful weekend and hopefully winter will end early this year.

Christmas is Coming!

Time sure flies by, but I am pretty much set for the holidays. There are a few things I might get this week, but the shopping is done and the kids are cooking, so I can relax and enjoy working on my projects.

Today I received a wonderful gift in the mail from my friend Anna. She made a beautiful hanging pillow with my free design. You can find the design Here!

I love how she finished the pillow, beautiful fabrics and stitching, I will treasure it.

This weekend we had snow on Saturday, so a day at home. Sunday was rain on and off, but not so much on the southern shores, so we headed south.

The nice thing was, not that many people so we were able to park at the ferry area and check out the fishing boats. The seagulls let you know where the boats with the fresh catches are.

The rain held off but it was really windy, so even though the temps were warmer, the wind put a chill in the air, as it came off the ocean. It was still a nice day to get out and enjoy the rough seas and fresh air.

We drove around to the lighthouse, and watched the surfers enjoying the waves. I hope everyone had a nice weekend. I am still working on my snowman, but he will be done in a  few days, lots of stitching on this piece.