Friday Finishes!

This week I worked on the newest stitchery in Kathy Schmitz's One Stitch at a Time Club. I love this design, it was fun and was perfect to use for some fall pillows.

I did one with a wool background and rick rack, the other I made into a simple pillow and tea stained it to get a more darker look.

I also found a piece I made last year, so it was time to finish it, so I could enjoy it. The pattern came from an issue of Primitive Quilts and Projects. It fit perfectly with my hammered rooster candle holders.

We had a couple of nice days this week, perfect for some time at the beach with Bean. There were no people so he was able to run off leash and he loved it. Tomorrow will be the annual craft and art fair, and I already have two items on hold for me, love the Folk Friends, the Doll maker will have a booth and I love her mice, so I have a couple of halloween ones saved for me, they sell out quick, so she was nice enough to keep the two I wanted so I won't miss out;)

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and for those effected by the hurricane, prayers for you and your families.

Bean looks like one of the walking dead and his shadow looks like a wolf, catching him in action produces some funny poses.

Weekend wonders!

I hope everyone had a nice weekend and maybe even thought about exploring your own part of the world. This weekend we had rain and when it finally stopped, I wanted to get out and enjoy some fresh ocean air.

I left the house stiff and weak, so I planned to go to the lighthouse and just relax and enjoy the views. But, I changed my mind and wanted to go to Fort Getty so Bean could play on the beach and I could still relax. Well, as you can see, I started walking and before I knew it, I had walked down the entire beach till we hit a dead end. The ocean seems to be my healing place, I feel better mentally and physically and I did get a bit tired at the end, but it was well worth the mental boost, I needed.

On the way to the park, we stopped and enjoyed the views from Newport side of the island. Even on an overcast day, it is beautiful. We even saw two cruise ships, moored outside of Newport.

We have been to the park and walked around the main area, but we have never walked down the beach, I was amazed at all of the beautiful rock formations and coloring, and textures that reminding me of something you would see in the canyon areas.

I always see shapes in things, but I noticed them more when I looked at my photos, at home. A few faces and I love the sculpted look of the third formation. It is amazing how the rocks range from sand colored striations to jagged shale.

I wonder if the Jimmy Hendrix face will look like that in a few years, and with a storm coming our way, we may see some new formations.

This shows how the sea and weather forms ridges and impressions in the rocks, and it comes with an alligator on top;)

Further down the beach, we found a lot of sand colored rock formations. You can see the smooth, rounded areas and the tiny holes formed from hundreds of years of sea carving. A ridge of quartz runs down one area, it is a very diversified coastline.

It was a wonderful day to walk on the beach, no crowds and we could let Bean run off leash at the beach inlets we found along the way. 

When we came back we stumbled on a wedding party, they were taking photos of the couple, I bet those will be beautiful. It was the perfect way to spend our day, relaxing and magical as we walked around the different rocks and I even found some sea glass and heart rocks.

Friday Finishes!

This week was a slow one, been fighting off the flu and it finally got me, so I have been taking it easy and today was a couch day, hopefully that means it is on it's way out.

I was able to finish my blocks from Cheri's Facebook Group. These are fun to do and work up quickly and she still has all the blocks and instructions in the files, so  you can still get in on the fun.

I oversized mine since the cloth is thin, next I will cut them down to size and add the sashing and work on the log cabins to go with them, a great way to use up scraps.

Since I had extra time and I wanted to take a day to just make something, I tried one of my cats as a halloween kitty with a moon and stars. I was trying to make it scrappy by changing the heights, and more loosely, a no thinking day of punching;)

We went to pick out our prize and there were no baskets left, was hoping to get a nice gift basket, but there were other prizes available. Some were just not my style and then she looked up and said, oh and this beach window. Well, that was fate, the perfect piece to put in the beach room. A bit shabby chic, and thinking I may put an ocean print behind it, or I can just paint a simple ocean and sky? It is on the wall shelve for now, not sure if i want to hang it, it does have a heavy chain on it, but I like that space and I can decorate around it. I also have a double oar to hang on the wall above it. I like how my starfish lights look, around it.

The saying is perfect for my room. I hope everyone has a nice weekend, we have rain, so maybe another rest day and hopefully some sun and a walk on Sunday.

Weekend Haunts!

This weekend we did a little exploring. On Saturday we went to Connecticut to Hurd State Park. It is a large park with an adjoining park next to it, so a lot of area to explore on the Ct. river. We only did a short hike, about 3 miles but a lot of uphill, so I got a good workout.

Or course Bean loved this park, the minute he saw water as we walked down the trail, he got more determined to pull that way. We let him have some water time before we started our hike. This area is a picnic area, so lots of grassy open spaces on the river.

We climbed up the hill to the rocky ledges, beautiful views of the river.

On the way up, we noticed another park, so we stopped at Machimoodus State park which is just down the road. I looked it up on the internet and saw that it is supposedly haunted, but no weird noises while we hiked, lol. I found it peaceful and with another hike up, over 2 miles total, we got to enjoy views of the Salmon River. You can read more about the park and the legend at Road Trippers.

On Sunday we went apple picking. I used the older apples to make apple crisp and got a fresh bag since I love eating them for a snack. It was crowded and it seems everyone was picking from the bottom of the trees, so I had to have Bill's help to get the apples up top.

On the way back we stopped at the Bee's Buzz. I didn't find any goodies this time but they were having a raffle and I made Bill fill one out, well, he won a basket. They said to come in and it is first come, first pick, so hopefully there is something good in the ones they have left.

We passed a park on the way up and it is an Audubon sanctuary, so no dogs. We left Bean home this time so we decided to check it out. It was another uphill climb and this one was rocky and full of roots, and I wasn't wearing my hiking boots, so we took it slowly.

I didn't want to go to far, but I saw photos of waterfalls. We got to the stream which was dry and I had a feeling there wouldn't be water with our drought season, but up ahead it looked like some interesting rocks and I love rocks. It wasn't just rocks, it was cairns. The sign said there are over 100 of them in that area, and they are not sure how or why they are there.

On the way back I wanted to take a photo of Bill on the bridge. When I got home I looked up the park and they said it is haunted and have gotten high readings in the area. Well, I didn't see any ghosts but when I looked at my photos, I noticed a strange foggy mist at the top of the photo and in that is a blue orb. What do you think, haunted or not?

Another fun thing I enjoyed this weekend was time with the boys. The baby is still leery of me but Nick was ready to explore the house with me and look for the kitties. They went out to do some shopping so Nick and I took Bean out for some play. He is disappointed that the tractor is broken, he loves it when Grandpa gives him a ride.

I hope everyone had a fun weekend. This week will be more rain on and off, so I am working on my blocks for Cheri's free BOM.

Friday Finish!

Well, just one thing this week. I seem to have lost a day, lol. One moment it as tuesday and the next thing I knew, it is friday, thought I had one more day to work on some blocks. I finished the newest block from Buttermilk Basin and have Cheri's blocks started, so hopefully I can finish sewing those this weekend and get the pieced blocks made up next week and be all caught up. Did you know Cheri offers free patterns on her Facebook page? She just uploaded another from her Christmas book, a nativity pillow and a christmas quilt.

One more block to go, it is a longer panel that will go above the W, so almost done and I actually kept up with this one;)

I found a few old photos in my slide box, this one is me and a girl named Amy Sherman. I spent my summers with my grandmother in Amagansett, Long Island. She would make me new dresses and I have a feeling she bought me new sneakers since they match Amy's. We got hand me downs and I was the youngest of 6 girls, and shoes were worn as long as she could squeeze our feet in them, lol. In those days, I could walk around the neighborhood and up to the store, now it is a highway and big houses with pools.

I hope everyone has a nice weekend.

New Blocks Finished!

I finally got the newest blocks done and some embellishments, I am thinking this will be a wall hanging so I am adding bells and buttons to make it fun. The hard part will be quilting it, but the good thing is I have my new machine and it will be able to quilt around any bumps.

I love this BOM, it is from Stacy of Buttermilk Basin. There are two more blocks, the W and the longer side piece, can't wait to see what is coming this month. Stacy is at a show so it should be coming soon. I will also have to start going through my stash to see what I will use on the sashing.

Here is how they look together, this one is for me;)

This weekend was the end of Bill's vacation. Saturday we had plans to visit the kids, then they changed it to visiting us and having dinner at our house so we had a cookout, they ate, Ivy fell asleep, the baby cried when I held him and then Nick finally warmed back up to me and we had some fun time together. I am hoping we can get Nick next weekend, maybe take him apple picking, he loves that.

On Sunday we had no plans, a storm was coming so we went shopping and bought our suits. It hadn't rained and I decided to go to the beach and just enjoy the fresh air. Bill went swimming and I just relaxed. We also got a show when hundreds of migrating starlings flew around the area in formations.

Here is one side of the beach, only a few people, best time to go to the beach. Blue skies and sun.

Here is the right side of the beach, cloudy and ominous. We spent a few hours at the beach and not a drop of rain, but behind us the storm had come in and rained at home, so the beach was the place to be. I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. This week I am hoping to get Cheri's Blocks made, another fun quilt with wool. You can get her blocks on her Facebook group, Quilts by Cheri.

Vacation?

I am sure a lot of you go through the same thing, wether you stay home or go away, we seem to need a vacation from a vacation;) This week was no difference, I think I am officially exhausted, but then again, tomorrow is another day and one more nice day before the rain comes in on Sunday.

Tuesday I decided to go for a ride up the Connecticut river and if we had time, over to Graig Castle in   Meriden Ct. We went along the coast to save time and then up a scenic road to enjoy the views and towns along the river.

Our final stop before we headed across to Meriden was Eagle Landing to take a break and give Bean some play time. I love the views from this side of the river, and a large park to walk around with access to the shore.

On the other side, a view of the swing bridge and opera house.

We finally got to Castle Graig, it is 976 feet high and the tower is 32 feet, so you can see for miles in all directions, in Connecticut.

We walked a bit on the trails that followed the cliffs, great views from every point.

Wednesday I needed a break, it took me awhile to decide what to do if anything and it was warmer, so we headed to the beach for a few hours. I think this was the most relaxing day, just sitting, swimming and walking along the beach. You can visit my You Tube page to see videos I took from our trips, including me getting thrown backwards by a wave;)

One way to amuse myself was to throw corn chips and watch the seagulls fight over them. The bad thing is, you end up with way too many feathered friends and half of them are flying over your head, luckily no accidents happened.

Thursday I decided I was going to brave a long drive and traffic and go to Woods Hole Massachusetts. We went through Newport and I picked back roads so it wasn't too bad until we had to connect with highways to get back on a back road.

I have been going all day and night and no time to really plan a day, so we just go and see what we can see, but I could not find anything once we got to Woods Hole and there was no parking and no beaches that weren't private and I just gave up and headed back up the coast.

We did find a wonderful town on the way down, called Mattapoisett. There are a lot of small towns and seaports all along the coast, so maybe we will visit some another time and explore the areas. We enjoyed views of the islands off of the coast and Bean got a treat from the Harbor Master, who wanted to pet him and give him a biscuit.

After we left Woods Hole we looked for a place to stop and relax. I had my phone map and each park I saw, was either private or impossible to get to. We finally found the perfect beach in West Falmouth called Old Silver Beach. Lots of sandy beach and shallow water, so Bean and I got to have some play time together.

The rest of the ride home was traffic, since we were hitting the shift changes and everyone trying to get home or out of the area so by the time we got to RI, the sun was setting and no where to park for a nice view and too late to head to the lighthouse. We caught a nice view as we crossed the Newport Bridge, minus the dirty window.

Today was a rest day, I wanted to stay closer to home and just enjoy some beach time and a hike. Yes that is rest to me, lol. But, we ended up walking the entire length of the beach, the regular walk around the trails and added on a new trail, so we hiked over 7 miles, way too much for me and now I am ready to crash.

Today my son sent a photo of Alex, they made it home safely, so we will probably be visiting them tomorrow. Can't wait to give my sweet grand boys some hugs and love. I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend.

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