Holiday Finish!

 I was able to finish my Christmas quilt, just in time. I machine quilted the edges around the blocks and then I hand quilted around the mittens with black and used white in the patterned blocks. I didn't use any pattern, just made up a mitten template and used a variety of wool textures. It was a fun way to use up wool and some fun fabrics I had gotten, last year.

Last weekend we went to the mill to pick up corn meal. I spotted this guy, outside of the mill.

We also made a stop at the thrift store. This store always has fun things and great prices. I found fun snowmen to add to my collection.

And a nativity set, that I couldn't resist.

After some shopping, we drove around the salt water ponds and I spotted this guy. He was busy fishing, so he didn't mind me, taking photos.

Yesterday we went to the island and walked on a few beaches and around the lighthouse. Lots of Common Eiders and a few Harlequin ducks, braving the surf for a meal. A Downy Woodpecker was enjoying the berries at one parking lot.

We also got to spend time with the kids. Mom and dad went shopping, so the boys stayed with us. While here, we did a family shoot so Ivy could sent photos to her family in Malaysia. This was one of my favorites, the background is AI generated.

Now it is time to get ready for Christmas. We have the kids on Christmas Eve and go to their house on Christmas. I hope you all have a wonderful holiday, in whatever way you may celebrate. May you find peace, love and joy in the coming days.

Friday finish!

 

I hope everyone has done all they need to, so they can enjoy some time before the holidays without the stress. As usual, I seem to have picked up another flu bug, but doing ok and will be fine for Christmas. I am glad I got all my shopping and wrapping done, so I could relax this week and not do too much.

I hung the new quilt I was working on, on the banister. It is a cheater piece and I added a border to make a lap sized quilt. It was something I could work on at night, by quilting around the black lines. Nothing fancy, but the design is fun and a nice way to greet people when they walk in.

We were able to get out for a bit last week, mostly driving since it is too cold to be outside for long. I finally caught the Horned Larks in the parking lot, at the beach.

In the breachway, there was a large group of Common Eiders. The black and white male seemed to be the leader and wherever he went the females followed him.

We also take drives around the island. It is even colder there with the ocean breezes, but the views are always beautiful and a way to get out of the house for a bit. We ran into this doe, that was walking down the road.

Today I tested a recipe, cranberry cornbread. I wanted to make something a little different for Christmas and the cranberries make it more festive. I really liked how cranberries gave it a bit of tartness. I use Monks sugar and the recipe called for buttermilk. I don't use that but a trick I learned. I warm up milk and then put a bit of fresh lemon juice into it and let it sit, instant buttermilk. If you want to try the recipe, you can find it at Spilling the Tea. 

Tomorrow will be a rest day, we got a bit of snow, so hoping to get out and get some photos with snowy backgrounds. Then it will be time to get the house ready and start cooking for Christmas Eve. The kids come here for dinner and we go to their house on Christmas. I give them presents at our house, then save some for their house. 

My hope is that everyone has a wonderful holiday, no matter how you celebrate it. Even if you cannot get out or be with family, take the time to make the day special, for yourself. Christmas blessings to you all.

In the works!

 

This week I have been getting some pieces ready to finish for Christmas. I have a lot of unfinished projects, so for now, I am working on ones I really want to finish. Then I can decide what to do with other projects later. 

One project was a tree skirt. I made this years ago, all pieced by hand. I decided to sew it inside out with the batting and backing. My idea was to do ties in each hexagon, but not so sure now. I am wondering if it would look good if I quilted around the design elements from the outside in, then left the gold pieces, as is. Any suggestions are appreciated, but I am lazy, so simple is best, but I want it to look nice. I messed up the center, it's a bit wonky, but not noticeable when it is around the tree.

The second project is a large wall hanging. I have a rod hanger over our front entry, so this will be perfect to hang there, hopefully it will fit. I have the stockings and stars done, so next is sashing to piece those together. Next will be side pieces with trees and stars, then the top and bottom will have a saying. I realized I didn't have enough of the original black, so hoping to find the same type at the store this weekend.

I decided I wanted to have fun this halloween. We don't get kids anymore and live on a road, so no one stops by. So, we went to the kids and got to have fun with them. I changed my look a bit, went with an ugly witch look. The black spots on my face are spider stencils and I used the face paint to enhance my wrinkles. The kids live in a rural area, so the houses were more spaced in some areas. We took our truck and I got out with the kids and walked to houses when they were closer.

The funniest thing was, Alex would not go near me when I came, I guess I was a bit too creepy for him. Once he realized grandma hadn't turned into a real witch, he was fine.

Some of the neighbors had some cool displays and at one house, they had beer and pizza for the adults. It was fun to see the boys having fun and see the displays and other kids. This is one of the best displays we saw, they had a lot of other items in their yard and a fog machine.

I hope you all had a fun halloween and enjoy your weekend. 

Friday Finish!

 

Another week has zipped by, but I was able to find time to finish my Christmas stocking quilt. I used pearl cotton to do simple quilting around the blocks and stockings. This is one I will use on the couch and let the boys use, so I kept it simple and durable with the heavier block fabric. It was a great way to use older fabric and scraps.

We got out for a bike ride on Saturday. We rode up to the town of Bolton in Connecticut and rode the rail trail from the park, to the town of Vernon. It was a nice ride through forests, past a pond and into the town of Vernon, a stop on the old railroad. 

On Sunday we stayed closer to home, rain was headed our way and I wanted to go hiking before it came. We hiked around a pond, where the foliage was coming in nicely and along the river.

We hiked along the bike path and old railroad bridge.

And we ended up in the fields, surrounded by amazing fall colors, and back to the pond.

We were getting ready to leave when I spotted a white spot in the trees, across the pond. What a nice end to the day, I was able to get a shot of the eagle just as it started to rain.

Unfortunately Bill and I woke up on Monday with a flu or bug, but we are fine now. Another nice weekend ahead and hopefully more adventures to be had. At home I enjoy watching all the new visitors who have come to stay for winter. This Blue Jay was nice enough to sit and pose for a photo.

May your weekend be filled with blessings and joy.

Friday Finish!

 I am still working on my charity quilts and I wanted a break from sewing, so I made up a halloween piece. I find that I can sit for hours while felting, so it is a good activity when I want to sit and rest. I always start with an idea and it comes out differently, but still fun to make and have something new for the season.

I also, finally, put my scrap quilt together, so now I just need a border and get it ready for quilting. This will be another hand project, I want the stitches to show and it should work up quickly enough, that I will have it ready for Christmas.

Last weekend we went for a few walks. The first was at our local bird sanctuary. Always a nice walk and lots of birds in the area.

A few views on our walk.

And a few of the wildlife, we saw along the way.

On the way out, we spotted a hawk, flying overhead.

And also flying overhead, were a group of World War II planes.

The next day we went to a park in Connecticut. A nice walk along the coastline with views of the ocean, along the way.

We spotted quilts a few groups of birds, who are resting on their way south.

And more shore birds along the way.

Lots of Monarchs, flitting about, gathering nectar for their trip south.

And quite a few dragonflies and bees, as well. Unfortunately we also ran into quilts a few mosquitos and I got bit, way too many times. It was a hot day, so to the best time to be in a swampy area.

Today we went to the island to do a little walking and glass hunting. It was a bit windy and cool, and the waves were higher in the inner bay, due to the hurricane, passing by. I found a few treasures and was delighted to see that the black piece I found was a cobalt blue piece.

I hope everyone had a nice week and plans for fun this weekend. A lot of the places we visit, are ones I found by using Google maps and exploring closely to find walks and parks in the area. See what fun things you can find to do, in your own backyard

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 finishes!

This week I found a free pattern and of course I had to try it. It is a design by a site called Imanufatti. It is in a foreign language, but her instructions and pattern are easy to follow. She has a lot of other tutorials, I will have to check out the rest of her blog when I have a chance.

These would be fun to make up for bowl fillers, to give away or the kids. I made a couple up in a day. I also took the pattern and made it into one shape, instead of separate ears and tail. I was thinking of doing a few more for the boys with a little heart, instead of flowers.

I used a piece of old felt that I had over dyed with yellow. It has a nice mottled and fluffy feel, since I washed it a few times.

I also finished 8 more blocks for my Christmas stocking quilt. If I add three more to the side, it measures 35" x 54". I will pick three new colors for variety and then sew them together. That way I can see how the size fits and how much more I need to add. I don't plan on making a border, just a regular binding on this one. I want it to hang over a rail or couch and still be used, so big enough to be a large lap quilt.

This is such a fun quilt to do, great way to use up scraps and it works up quickly. I am still debating on wether to machine or hand quilt it. Something simple and maybe a good project to take camping, I find hand quilting, very relaxing.

I hope everyone has a nice weekend. Bill has to work again and it is going to be cold, so I am hoping my crackle comes in tomorrow and I can finish my angel painting.

Friday Finish and Works!

This week Kathy Schmitz gave us an extra, free pattern for those who are in the club. She had made it up for the club and realized we would like to make it now. It was a fun pattern and worked up in a day, I think I might make more. Actually I wanted to make a boy bunny and she gave me permission to redo it as a boy, but I found one of my old patterns and made a couple to work on this weekend. I think it will be fun to make little cut out bunnies for the boys.

Not thrilled with my finish, so I may do two more, a boy and a girl in the method she used, as bowl fillers or shelf sitters. I used my Faber Castell art marker for the yellow and for the pink, I used my watercolor pencil. I was worried about it running, but I just dabbed my brush in the water, then dabbed it on a paper towel and it blended the color without going out of the lines.

I also made up some more stocking blocks. They are fun to do and I know I can actually put this together and finish it, so a good project to get me back into quilting. I am not sure on the middle stocking, maybe too bright, it is a gray check and my sewing skills were lacking this week;)

And I have been playing with my beach finds. I like trying them on different backgrounds and taking a photo to see how I like it. This way I can keep playing, until I get the look I want. I do like how it looks on the patterned paper, but I think the blue is too dark, so I will have to look for some lighter barn wood papers.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. We have nice weather and of course Bill has to work over time, so no beach combing. I think I need a break and it will be nice to relax and work on my projects. The angel and dog wings are brown sea glass, that we found last weekend.