Weekend Fun and Almost Finish!

I am finally at the tail end of the flu that is going around, not something I would wish on anyone. I think I would get better if I could actually sit down and rest, that will never happen, lol.

This weekend I had Nick and Bill worked, but sometimes it is easier when I have him by myself, I am better organized and most of the time, things run smoothly. Since I am still weak, I saved my energy for play time and cooking.

Of course Nick and Bean love play time and nothing better than seeing them playing and having fun to lift my spirits. I am not sure which one of them has more energy, though Bean might be the winner on that one.

Nick found a new game, roll the tire around the yard.

Then he decided to clean up the yard, his wagon was full of leave and he picked up two of Bean's old water jugs. We let Bean play with them in the yard, he loves to push them around and when they get beat up, we have plenty of new ones.

Nick discovered the holes in the fence, wonder what is on the other side?

I realized I needed some rest time too, so I had Bill run out and get Nick a block wagon, it came with blocks and picks them up when you roll it over. He also grabbed an extra bag of blocks that has a wheel base, Nick loved them and played quietly for once. The best thing to keep a busy boy, happy.

On the crafting front, I made a small pillow stitchery, so I had something to keep my hands busy this weekend. The design is free and can be found, as well as others, at Free Christmas Coloring. The designs are great for stitching, punching or appliqué.

I didn't have time today to finish it into a pillow and the blue marker is still on it.

Friday Finishes!

I actually finished two items this week. I had so much fun making the first snowman, that I had to try another. I started out by using a drawing from a coloring book page, but then I messed up and had to redo things and change things and now he is, what he is.

I use a variety of roving, whatever I have on hand is what I use. Some is loose and harder to felt and others like the spongy type roving, work up quicker and they are easier to sculpt. I really messed up on his boots, the shape and position was not what was on the original, so I had to pull them off and redo them a bit smaller, but they still looked odd. So, I stared at it and thought, items would cover up the bad look, and the snowballs came into play.

I wanted to give him a shovel and I realized after, I forgot the handle, so I added a little topper handle, after I took the photo. The camera makes the roving look loose and fuzzy but it is tighter than it looks and some items are more like thick felt.

Here is a side view, you can see I sculpted the scarf. I felted the scarf before I put it on, then I did more sculpting, once it was on him.  This one may go to my sister, I have been making gifts one at a time, as thanks you, for those who helped us this year. It makes me much happier to make a gift and surprise someone than to sit down and write thank you notes.

I also finished another stitchery block, from Theodora Cleave. Two more to go and I will be making them into a quilt. I think it will be a fun spring quilt and I can use a floral print, with them, we shall see.

If you have not been receiving news or following Stacy's blog, Buttermilk Basin has started their Christmas blog hop, so don't forget to follow along. 

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend. I will be watching Nick again and Bill is working and our new bed is coming and I am not ready. 

Monday Finishes!

This weekend, my flu held on so no fun outings in the countryside. We did have Nick so I used what energy I had, playing with him or more like, keeping up with him, he is a bundle of energy. I decided to make a couple of simple Christmas pillows and used a design by Kelly Belfast of With Hook and Needle.

I was going to do them in stitchery, but decide on using wool appliqué and stitchery. I used a fabric with Christmas trees for the back. I use a piece of batting on each side and sew it as I sew the pillow pieces together. That way it makes it easier to fill them with balsam, so now they have a nice pine scent.

Nick loves playing outside and he is best friends with Bean now. The good thing is I can take them both out and wear them both out. The fall activity is raking up leaves and then throwing them in the air, their favorite activity.

On Sunday I decide I had enough energy to get to the furniture store. They were having a sale and I wanted to get a bed for the spare room so Nick will have a lower bed to sleep in and I will have a bed for company. She mentioned a lift bed which I had no use for, but I tried it and I liked it and then we tried it on a super soft bed which was like sitting on a cloud. It made me think of my sister who told me she has to have that type of bed, since she had bypass surgery and then a full mastectomy, so that is the only way she can be comfortable. So, no kid bed, but it is good for Nick, a nice space for me to sit back and relax and a nice guest bed, so I think I made a good choice. I saved money by getting a frame and buying an inexpensive head board. Now I need to think of some ideas to decorate the room and make a quilt for the bed.

The nice thing about this store is that they are kid friendly. Nick got to ride around while we browsed.
I hope everyone had a nice weekend and a fun halloween.

Friday Finish!

When I am sick, I like to keep my hands busy, but too lazy to get up and gather supplies or cut out shapes, so I like to work on projects I can just grab and create. Needle felting is one of those. I decided I wanted to try a snowman, so I got my felting box out, which holds my supplies and some rovings, picked out a few more extra colors and I was all set.

I started out at the beginning of the week, but I crashed for a few days, too weak and sore to move much and I didn't think holding a very sharp needle was a good idea;) Yesterday I finished it, and I worked a bit quickly and it didn't come out exactly like I wanted, but it was fun to make and I find that I can work for hours and the time slips away.

The snowman is about 5" tall, all wool roving from various sources. I do not use forms or wires in my pieces. I had an idea of what I wanted to do, but no pattern, I tend to work as I go, sort of like sculpting, so it isn't always perfect, since I am learning and it gives me ideas of things I want to do for the next one.

I may be sick and needing rest, but Bean doesn't think so, he still wants to play. He has been pretty good and stopped bugging me so much and then I can save some energy for outdoor play. We have large balls for kicking and some for throwing and we go back and forth in the yard as he chases them. Now the leaves are falling, we can make leaf piles. He basically flies through the air to catch them and we do that till his tongue is hanging to the side, lol. A great way to tire him out without me moving too much. This is Bean after a chase and jumping workout.

Looking for a fun, new idea for making scrap pillows? I love the pillow that Jude Hill made and she has a tutorial on her blog. I am definitely going to try this, maybe a bit differently, but I like the idea of weaving a top and doing prim stitching and maybe some small appliqués on top. Great way to use up those scraps. You can find the tutorial at Spirit Cloth, as well as, beautiful work by Jude. She also has online classes and tutorials.

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend and a fun Halloween. I am better than I was days ago, so hopefully I can keep fighting this flu on my own now. We have Nicholas for the day, so I am trying to decide something fun that we can all enjoy without tiring me out too much. We still have foliage so maybe a ride to the orchards in Connecticut, since it is the last weekend to get fresh off the tree. One can never have enough apples, lol.

Weekend Wonderings!

Well, I am in a cynical mood tonight, I had fun plans with Nick for the weekend, and on Friday night I got hit with The flu that is going around. I was ok on Saturday, I was sick and weak but used my energy for Nick and Bean and I even fell asleep with Nick when he took a nap.

Bill had to work the weekend so no help there. Today he took the day off, no help there, haha. He did take Bean out for me, that I could  not do, too weak and woozy. And he cooked french fries and hamburgers, not what I really wanted, but I ate it anyways;)

So, Saturday had it's up and downs and fun memories with Nick, Sunday my son pulled a muscle so told me he wasn't dropping him off, even though the fact that I was sicker from pushing it on Saturday, that wasn't part of the equation;)

I am on meds and vitamins and my body is on overload and I cannot stand sitting still all day, so hopefully I can get my energy back tomorrow and work on some new projects.

I was out of apples and I knew I needed them now, so we took Nick to the local orchard. The apples are not that great, a bit small and not as fresh, but still better than the store's.

Nick loved it, he loves apples and walked around saying apple, apple, apple. Grandpa helped him pick his own apple.

He had his own two apples, he was not letting them go. This is a place that you pay by the bag, so we had a full bag and Nick's two, just try and stop us, haha.

Just walking and kicking the leaves, being a boy.

I am not sure if he has ever seen a chicken, but he was laughing and loving their antics. We also spent the day playing with Bean and they are becoming best friends, Bean even put some of his balls in Nick's wagon and he never shares.

Do you like free patterns and looking for a fun gift to make for your dog loving friends? Check out Connecting Threads and sign up for their newsletter. They are offering a free pattern each week and this week, they have a scottie dog placemat. Once you sign up, you can also look through their pattern archive.

Friday (un) Finish!

I want to thank all for the wonderful comments each week, it means a lot to me that you take the time to comment and I appreciate each and every one, even when I cannot answer or forget.

This week I worked on a punch needle that was a design in the winter issue of Primitive Quilts and Projects. The design is by Tonya Robey of Mad Hen Primitives. The original is a hooked rug. I love Tonya's designs and this was a perfect one to punch. My plan is to make it into  pillow for a gift. I am not happy with the kitty face, needs tweaking and I still have to add the border. This just made it into my punch frame so I will have to put it on my rug frame to finish off the edge and border.

I used Dmc threads, 6 strands. The design is done with a higher height and I went down in height for the background, hard to see in a photo. Once I finish it, I will give it a light wash of antique medium to tone down the brighter colors and give it a more worn look.

The face shows up in the photo since it gets lightened, but it is really too dark to show, in person.

This weekend I will have my grandson. Today I went out and got him a play set and some coloring items, so he has his own toys here. I was also looking for things to do with him and found some new free patterns that you might like to do, while I was searching.

Looking for a no sew pumpkin that you can make with the kids? Or for those of us who are lazy, I like this idea, you just need some styrofoam balls and scrap fabrics. You can find the directions at Think Crafts. I think this is a site that I will explore more when I have the time.

At Trish's Crafts, you can find a really fun witch that is quick and easy. It is a pattern that you could change and do in any style and have fun with the materials.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and lots of fun creating and spending time with your family.

Weekend Wanderings!

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. We had beautiful weather and were able to get out and enjoy the foliage.

We drove into Connecticut and got off in the town of Putnum. It was a beautiful old town with some beautiful graveyards. I love looking at the old stones but we had a long day ahead, so just enjoyed a short stop to take some photos.

This tree was gorgeous, love how it stood out among the gravestones.

We didn't go too far when I saw this gate to another old graveyard. Someday I would like to go back to this town and take photos of the gravestones and explore the area.

This is the area behind the arch, the trees and fallen leaves, made a stunning view.

It was a nice ride up to Massachusetts, we followed the river and found some great places to kayak and bike, in the future. We went through a lot of old towns with old mills and when we got into Sturbridge, we found an indoor flea market and there was a beautiful waterfall near the parking lot.

I got a beam of light in this photo, it has rainbow colors in it, so I like to think that it is a little bit of heaven, shining down on us.

We do stop a lot and one area we found with a boat launch, had beautiful views and it was a great place to get out with Bean. We also found an area with a dam and a beautiful blue heron, but he flew away before I could get a shot.

The last place we stopped was in the Bigelow forest, they had beautiful trails to walk on and a beautiful pond to paddle on, this will be a place, we come back to. The view is from the picnic area.

Sunday was church and then a drive to do some shopping and a ride along the coastline. The local farm had a new hay sculpture, isn't she fun.

The day ended at Point Judith fishing area. They are still repairing the parking lot from Sandy, but it is larger now, so more parking and the perfect place to relax and enjoy the views. This is a panoramic shot, a fun way to get more of the scenery.

I also wanted to let you know about a beautiful free pattern from Deborah O'Hare of Quilt Routes. Deborah does beautiful art quilts and also sells some of her patterns so you can make your own art quilts. Today she is offering a free pattern by signing up for her newsletter. Her work will inspire you to create your own pieces, so visit her website and you can receive a free pattern, just for signing up.