Working on Friday!

 

This week has been more of a planning week. Dinner plans, cleaning and getting out when we can, so not as much time for projects. I have been working on a Christmas quilt. I am hand sewing, since I want to keep it prim, so just a simple outline with an X.

Last weekend we went to a concert, that Nick was playing in. Usually he plays the Glockenspiel but this time he played the Cymbals. 

The next day we went for a ride around the beach areas. We saw a lot of Ospreys, I thought this one was funny, the way she was looking at her mate.

This pair had quite the look, as well. 

During the week we had extra time for a local walk. We went on our bike path and enjoyed a long walk and water views. I spotted this Great Egret on the way back.

A squirrel along the path.

A Mockingbird, giving me the look.

And we spotted a Belted Kingfisher in the cove. It is a nice bike path, but walking gave us the opportunity to enjoy the nature along the way.

Today we had time to do a little shopping and ride around the scenic route. As we were riding past the marsh, I spotted a hawk, who was on the hunt so it was hovering as it flew. We were able to ride ahead a little, so I could catch a shot as it came up. The first time I was able to get a shot of a Northern Harrier.

Tomorrow will be spent getting things ready for Easter and some time for a walk. The weather will be nice, so we can do an Easter egg hunt for the boys. I hope you all have a wonderful Easter.

Working on Friday!

 I am still working on my summer quilt and making good progress. I did outline stitching around the sailors and will decide if I want to go around more, after I finish the other sections. I am also thinking it would be fun to, put little ties at their necks and a couple of buttons on the shirt, since it will be a wall hanging.

It has been a rough week, I lost my friend after a long battle. She was a dear friend and I will miss her. I was able to get out for a hike on Sunday, a good way for me to reflect and find my inner peace. 

We walked on a new path which was nice, but I did have to remove a few ticks that tried to crawl up my pants. I guess I need to stay off paths that have too much brush. It is land that had a few homesteads, so we found a lot of remnants of homes and the people who lived here.

It also had a few streams and a hike up a rock for a view of the surrounding area.

We also went back to the refuge that we took the boys too. This time we hiked the entire trail and a side trail. A beautiful place to walk that is close by.

Today we went to another bird sanctuary. This time it was teaming with birds and wildlife, so I was able to get a few shots of the birds.

We also met up with some critters, as well as more birds.

One of the older nests was being occupied by the female, while the male watched over things in a nearby tree. 

Here is a close up of the male. 

I also wanted to have something to remember my friend by, and her favorite color is purple. I saw this lilac bush and it was perfect. It was a nice way for me to process my pain, the day I heard and something I can watch bloom every spring.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. We have rain coming in so maybe some shopping and relaxing with my project. 

Friday Finish!

 I hope everyone had a nice week and are enjoying some cooler weather. We got a good amount of rain, so everything is greening back up and now we have warm sun and cooler breezes, perfect fall weather. I was still recovering from the flu the kids gave me, so I rested a bit and was able to finish a new piece, while working on my wheel chair quilt. I have a few more blocks to finish and then I can put it together.

This design is another from Kathy Schmitz. It was perfect for a gift box that is going out this month, something fun for fall and practical. It looks more wonky in the photo and I did cut off angle, but in person it looks straighter.

Since Alex and I had the same flu, we took them for a bit during the weekend to give the kids time to get things done at home. We spent one day at home, watching tv and Nick wanted to take photos of the birds, so we sat on the porch and took some photos.

Here is Nick's photo. He was using the kid's camera I got him, a few years ago. Maybe this year I can get him a better one, he loves taking photos.

And one of the cardinal, when he was sitting in the tree, that I took.

The next day I had plans to go paddling, but the boys asked if they could go out with us, so we took them to the beach. I think it did them good, they need more fresh air.

Nick loves the beach and digging holes.

Alex had fun, filling up the bucket and adding water to the hole.

I did some walking on the beach and found a few treasures, my first find was a light blue bottle stopper.

I had plans to take them out on my new board,  this weekend but it seems they have gotten sick again. We have a nice weekend coming up, so I plan on being outside as much as possible. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

Friday Finish and weekly friends!

 

This week I finished a piece I was working on, a design by Cheri Saffiote. It is fun to do Christmas throughout the year and I will have lots of gifts for next year. I do plan on selling some things this year, so I need to organize what I have and what will sell.

This piece was done with colored pencils and DMC floss, then I used a bit of glitter floss in each design element to add a pop. I am not sure what the black line by the glove is, but it doesn't belong.

And what is not showing is the edging along the outer border. I did a feather stitch in red and love how it looks on the piece.

Last weekend we took a drive to the ocean and sat at the breakaway. Of course the seagulls were abundant, there are several restaurants in the area, so lots of scraps. They are the same seagull, the darker one is the younger one.

And I always have fun watching the common Eiders, they are great fishermen. The female has a catch and the males are white and black, the other is the younger male.

And we got to watch the seal as it swam in, as the tide was going out. Someday I will get a close up of some seals.

And another thing to enjoy on the docks is, boats, and ferries. Someday I would love to do some art pieces of the fishing boats. I cheated and added a blue sky, not much sun lately.

On the way home, I spotted a few hawks. Bill drives and I saw Hawk and sometimes he actually hears me and stops, lol. This guy was closer, but when I opened the window to shoot, he took off, so I was able to catch him further in the field, high up in a tree. This is a Red Shouldered Hawk.

No sun but lots of snow lately and more today. I enjoy seeing all the birds who come in the snow, they seem to be more active when it is snowing.

And a few sit in the trees, too shy to come to the feeder when I am around. The chickadees are the friendliest, they sit and chatter at me.

And a visitor who is not allowed on the porch, but I let him sit for a photo. I have food in the other feeders that they are allowed to have, but they know there are peanuts upstairs.

And last but not least, time with the boys. Mom and dad were car shopping so the boys spent the day with us. Too cold to go out, so we had fun playing at home. Of course Bean wanted everyone to play with him, he is such an attention hog.

I hope you all had a good week and staying warm. It won't be long before Spring is here, I can't wait.

Friday Finish!

This week I worked on some new stitcheries, both from Kathy Schmitz. When she sent out the newsletter, she showed a fun halloween piece, that was featured in, American Patchwork and Quilting. I had received a few magazines from my friend when we camped together and that issue was one of them.

It was a fun piece, so I decided to use fun colors and I even added glitter paint to the cape and hat. I also antiqued it, so it has that vintage look. I like making prim, but a little whimsey and color for the boys to see, when they visit.

My second piece, I did in simpler colors and kept prim. I enjoy making a few new pieces for fall, to decorate with.  This piece was the offering for the monthly stitch club. She also gave us an extra with a pumpkin to put on a tea towel. I only have a red stripe left, so I guess I need to get more, in different colors.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. Hopefully Bill and I can find some new places to explore and see the start of foliage. The temps are dropping, so perfect time for hiking.

The two pieces have more dark spotting, but it doesn't show up in the photo.

Working on Friday!

Not a lot got done this week, seems I am still dragging from taking the kids out. I really have to stop lifting Alex, it does me in, every time. Add the heat to that and it is just miserable, so mostly resting, swimming and a little stitching.

I am finally getting close to finishing my stitchery, by Kathy Schmitz. Since it is so large, I have decided to make it into a lap quilt. I will add a border, than blocks, then another border. I have lots of precut squares that will go nice with it. The design is 16" x 20".

I have also been enjoying the birds in my yard. I showed you a photo of the baby robins, well this is what they look like after one week, they sure grow fast. The other day I noticed them standing up and ruffling their wings and yesterday they were gone.

Mama robin is still close by and feeding them, until they are ready to go out on their own. I think they are in my neighbors yard, since I saw her go behind the fence with a worm.

Lots of birds this week, I think most of the houses are empty now, except for the beach house, I can still hear chirping. It is fun to see the new ones, flitting about the trees, testing their wings.

And today I saw 8 large birds, flying over head. I was all excited, thinking they were hawks, but after closer inspection of my photos, I realized they were turkey vultures, lol. I have never seen so many in our area.

And the final visitor today was a surprise. Two guinea hens came across the street and they had a group of Keets with them. Of course I worried that they would get hit, not sure why they are allowed to wander around. I kept an eye on them and the minute dusk came, they hunkered down in the thickets behind our trailer. Hopefully nothing comes by tonight, the hens are known for leaving their young, the birds are a bit daft.

I hope you enjoyed seeing what I have been up to this week and the feathered friends in my area. I hope everyone enjoys their weekend and be careful in this heat wave.

Friday Finish and Finds!

I finished my turtle, that was it for this week. I am working on a new stitchery of the month and other projects and gardening and keeping up with the house and animals, it seems I have less and less time lately, to do it all.

I love how he came out, not perfect but he is fun and makes me smile.

And one thing keeping me busy is, stripping and sewing strips for rug braiding. The great thing is, it will cut down on the old wool stash from the thrifts and I will have it ready whenever I want to make a little rug. I think I will make a mat for the cat dish next, the thinner wools will be good for that. This is just a start, I was trying to sew on my machine and the bobbin messed up again, so I think I need to get my little Juki out and use that, not worth wrecking my good machine, sewing on wools. Sew by hand is relaxing while I watch tv, but it will take me forever.

And of course we went to the beach on the weekend. We stopped at the southern beach after shopping and the tide was almost in, but we still found some nice pieces. The second day we went to our favorite spot, at low tide. There were a few beach collectors that got there first, but I found quite a few pieces that they missed.

And I have been enjoying some time on the porch, my way to relax and unwind. Lots of critters and birds are enjoying the feeder. The squirrels are a pain, they knock all the seed out of the feeders and I have seen them batt a few birds to get it all for themselves. The Guinea fowl have been spending more time in my yard, even taking naps. There were six and now there are only two, not sure if they got hit by cars or predators.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. We have rain coming in, but I am s sure I can squeeze in some more beach time.

Giveaway Winner!

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. Mine has been busy, it took a few days to recover and then days of catching up with cleaning and decorating, but I was able to get it done before my sister got here. Now I am busy or more like, my time is being eaten up by a sister who talks non stop and it is literally exhausting.

I was able to get my stitcheries done, one for me and one was a gift. It is a design by Kathy Schmitz for the One Stitch Club. It was fun to do and a nice addition to my fall decorations.

And of course I have been glass collecting, the first two are from my SIL's and the larger, last one was from today. We took my sister to my favorite glass beach and luckily no one had been there today, so I found some really nice pieces and some nice old chunks. If you can see the one in the center, it is almost a heart and has red on it. There was something about it that was interesting and it wasn't until I picked it up after cleaning that it looked off, so I shone the flashlight and believe it or not, it is a piece of brown glass. Not sure where the paint came from.

We took my sister to Jamestown and hit the usual beaches and lighthouse, so she could get photos and I took lots of her at different locations. She did find one nice white piece, I just seem to have a knack for seeing and finding it;)

At the lighthouse she wanted to climb around the cliffs, she is braver than I am when it comes to heights.

And she took some photos of us, we never get ones with both of us, since I always take the photos. Here we are, being a bit silly.

 And of course we had to get another batch of apples, she loved doing that and they still had peaches, so I got a bag full, love fresh fruit.

And now for the giveaway winner! The lucky number was 4, Mindy of Raymond Homestead! Please email me your address and I will get your table mat in the mail. Congratulations! I do plan on doing more, I do have a lot of Christmas goodies too. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. Hopefully my sister will find some friends to hang out with, I really need a break;)