Anniversary Winners!

First of all, I will announce the winners. Patti of Winding Vine Wanderings, the first comment and the first right answer is the winner with Piping Plovers. Now, the island has fences all around it and signs that say, not to go in the areas of the piping plovers, so duh to me, lol. They are so cute, they look like little chicks, but with pretty markings.  Patti, please send me your choices of two epatterns or ebooklets.

The winner of the random number generator is #11, Valerie of The Wooden Acorn!
Valerie, please send me your choice of an epattern or booklet.
Thank you to everyone who commented and played along and for the Well Wishes. This year was our 37th and hopefully we have many more ahead of us.

As for yesterday, I was going to take it easy, but I loved going to the island so much, I had to go back. During the weekends it is too crowded, so being able to go when there is room to park, was a treat for me.

If  you noticed the scenery behind the gull in yesterday's picture, you will see a point, off in the distance, that was our destination. Things look a lot closer than they are and this was no exception, lol. The paddle up was nice, we stayed close to the shoreline and enjoyed the views.

Here Bill is enjoying the views and watching the boats coming through the channel. I think he should move;)

We made it to the point, here is the Stonington Lighthouse Museum, if you visit the link, you can see some interesting displays that they have there. When we got to the end of the point, the water changed, a lot rougher and windier out in the open waters. I decided it was too much for me, so it was time to turn around.

As we paddling back down the coast, I decided it would be quicker and fun to surf back to the island. Well, when you enter the channel, the waves got a lot higher and were churning back and forth between the tide changing and the boat waves. I don't know if you call it surfing, but I was paddling like a mad lady and bracing with my legs to keep the boat steady and flying across the waves. And it was a lot longer across than I thought, so I was exhausted by the time I got to the island.

Since I could not take photos and paddle in this water, I made Bill go back out and paddle in, so I could take a photo, lol. I am such a mean wife, but he loved it, his boat is larger and taller in the front, than mine.

And here is a photo of the waters in the main areas, this is more my style, nice rolling waters.

At the island, we enjoyed the views, a swim in the calmer waters, all types of sea birds and a nectarine for lunch. Fresh fruit is a great pick me up, after a tough paddle. In all we paddled about 6 miles, so today was a rest day, if cleaning and cooking is considered rest;) This weekend, I will be back out on the water and paddling along the coast in our bay.

Sailors pray, For fair winds and a following sea The smell of salt in the air, The feel of their skin as it's touched by the spray An albatross soaring above, Dolphins in the ship's wake at play To witness a work of art that only God can create, The sunset at the end of day At night a million stars in the sky, Safe anchorage in an islands lee When the time comes to die as for all it must, To awake in Sailors Heaven where nothing ever rusts And always there would be, Fair winds and a following sea

Happy Anniversary Day Giveaway!

Today I decided I wanted to go back to Barn Island again.
What is that saying about, too much of a good thing? LOL
More about my adventures tomorrow, tonight I am ready to collapse;)

The only thing to do on a hot day, go for a walk on the beach.

I saw this little guy, he didn't want his photo taken and kept running away. I have no idea what he is, he looks like a baby gull, but his beak is too small. I am too lazy to look it up so tell me, what kind of bird is he? The first winning answer will receive their choice of two free epatterns from my ecrater site. I will also draw a name from all of the comments and guesses and the winner will receive one free epattern. I will announce the winner tomorrow night along with photos about our adventures today.

Barn Island Paddle!

Today was hot as heck, so we headed to Barn Island in connecticut. It was worth the drive, less than an hour away and the temps were 10 degrees cooler and a nice ocean breeze.

Here is the launch site. The big boats get a ramp, we get a tiny space, filled with dead fish heads and flies, ick.

This is the view from the launch, looking out to the ocean, the island we headed to is in the distance.
It is called Sandy point and it is mostly sand.

Standing on the island, you can see Long Island NY in the distance.

Looking left, you are in Connecticut.

To the right you are in Rhode Island, weird state lines.

The inner island is perfect for swimming, shallow and calmer. That is Bill's head out there.

The Island in back of him, is where we headed when we left this island.

This little island has a few homes and beautiful rocky shores, would love to live here.

After we went around the cove, we headed back to the launch, then decided to go out to the other point towards RI. The tides were changing, the wind was blowing and the fog was creeping in, I loved it. Nothing like rolling water and splashing waves to cool you down on a hot day.

I hope  you enjoyed going paddling with us today. Tomorrow promises to be, another hot day, so not sure if we will paddle, it depends on how hot it gets. It is our anniversary, so I want to do something special, but all this fun is wearing me out, lol. Today was another long paddle, three hours on the water, so maybe I need a rest;)

River Paddling!

Today was cool and cloudy, perfect day for the river. This is a river that snakes through the lower half of Rhode Island and comes out to the ocean. We only did a portion of the river, it was 4 miles one way, so 8 miles is a lot for me, wonder why I am so tired.

This is also why I get so tired, Bill just paddles at his rate, forgetting that I am half his size and strength:) That and the fact, that I had my big camera case which weighs a ton and I am basically pushing that too. I never did get to use my good camera, too hard to take out while paddling, so these are with my pocket camera.

This is our first stop, it is a wilderness campground for kayakers. The water was too cold and icky to swim in today. This is me waiting for Bill to get his skirt back on, he is sooooo slow.

This is where we stop, I don't do rapids, even small ones.

This is the old pump house area, someone actually lived here, at one time.

On the way back, we spotted this blue heron. They always fly away if you get close, but this one kept trying and stumbling, so not sure if it was hurt or a baby who hasn't learned to fly. We also saw lots of turtles and a hawk who flew over us, down the river in search of fish, but he was too fast to get a shot of. 

Monday Musings!

I love getting packages in the mail and today I got two, what a great way to start the day.
My friend Kelley has been making quilts for years and she sent me two full quilt tops and two smaller ones that I can use as table toppers. These are older tops, so lots of fabrics you don't see anymore and beautiful pieced designs that she must have spent hours and hours on. I feel blessed to be able to have something that she made and I can practice my quilting on them. I think I will do hand stitching on the geese and machine quilting on the stars. And, they have blue in them, so they look nice on the new couch.

The colors are not as bright as they appear on the screen. The red and white piece will become a runner and the red and greens, will be a christmas topper. They are sitting on my new couch, the color is called pewter, I call it slate blue, not really sure;)

I belong to a yahoo group hosted by This-n-That fabrics. Linda and Sandy have a wonderful group and they host challenges and giveaways for their members. This week I won a fat quarter and told Linda to surprise me. Well, she couldn't have picked a better fabric, it will go beautiful with my new american quilt as an add on, can't wait to use it. She also sent me a charm pack of little apples for a charity quilt, it will make an adorable quilt for a little girl.

Today was a beautiful day with a cool breeze, perfect day for a walk. We walked along the woodland paths and then onto the beach. It was later in the afternoon, so the fishermen were just finishing up for the day.

The seals are gone, and the rocks have been taken over by the cormorants. Just a beautiful day and just what I needed to relax and get some exercise.

Real Birds and Steal Birds!

This weekend was spent shopping for a new couch and today, cleaning before it got here.
It is so nice to sit in a couch that is comfortable and not falling apart;) I wanted something simple, so I got a pewter color, which is like a dark slate blue. I guess I need to rethink my quilt colors, and do some new pieces to decorate with to match blue. I have decided my new quilt will be perfect to put on the couch, so I will make it couch sized and finish it off. I do have my braid quilt that almost fits the bed, so I am thinking of adding more to the borders and using that on my bed. Good excuse to make more quilts, at the very least;)

The air show was this weekend, so lots of noise, but we got to enjoy some nice stunts when they flew our way.

The poor birds were having fits, flying back and forth between the trees and squawking most of the day. Poor mama just wanted to feed her babies and was sitting there wondering if she should go to them or run the other way.

Civil War Quilt Progress!

I worked some more on my quilt and I like how it came out.
I wanted to use the blocks that I cut out, but in a unique way, so I played around and came up with this design. I added the red border, without thought to size, so of course the blocks wouldn't fit evenly around it, so I added an extra blue piece, in-between. Once I got that on, I added another row of blue, with red in the corners. This is the result.

This is how it looks and fits on my bed. Now I have to decide on the outer borders, using the jelly roll. Maybe some keys going around, will think on it. I may add some appliqué in the center and I may do some free motion designs, will think on it;) The fabric is from Barbara Brackman's 1862 Battle Hymn line. The shirting is from Judy Rothermel fabrics.