Friday working on!

 It seems I haven't had as much time to work on projects lately. I spend more time cleaning and reorganizing and figuring out what to get rid of, I have too much stuff. I work on hand quilting at night. This is an old quilt, I had sitting on the shelf. Now I wish I had used the machine, the quilt was made on an old machine and not the best quality, but I find hand quilting relaxing, so I do that for my more primitive quilts. I am just doing an outline stitch, and working a row at a time, so slow going.

We get out when we can, but with so many storms, the ocean areas are getting slammed with damage. A lot of the beach parking is closed as they clean them up and tonight we have another storm coming. Some areas are still under water and the river areas are just as bad. 

We are able to enjoy some birding in the pond areas, they move further in, in the winter. I was thrilled to spot a Merlin at the cove.

And a few of the birds, we say along the way. I even spotted a seal, but he went under before I could get a shot.

Today we had a nicer day and went to the island. One area was still undergoing clean up, but our favorite beach was a protected area, so we got to enjoy time on the beach without any people.

And I found a few treasures. The dark heart is green glass, I found a few pieces of dark green today. Even a dog tag, which I have an idea for. Hopefully I can get organized and start making some art pieces with my finds.

I hope you all have a nice weekend and the weather calms down, so much destruction in so many areas.

No finish Friday!

 I am sure I am not the only one who had less time to work on projects the past week. With the holiday and Bill being home, we were out and about, more than in.

One thing I did do was, make a new recipe. This is Pineapple corn bread and it is delicious. It will be a nice bread to make for the holidays, maybe Easter. The recipe is from our local mill, the only corn meal I like. You can find the recipe and more, at  Kenyon Grist Mill.

The recipe calls for a half cup of crushed pineapple and a half cup of jam, but I just put in a whole cup or small can of crushed pineapple.

We did a lot of rides to the ocean and salt water ponds, so we saw lots of birds this week. One day we actually spotted a Red-tailed hawk, sitting in a tree next to Dunkin donuts. He wasn't. happy with having his photo taken. The one in the smaller photo, we saw in a farm field.

As we were driving down a back road, another Hawk flew in front of us, luckily we didn't hit him. He had just caught his dinner and of course when we stopped, he flew back across the street. So, I stood in the road to catch a shot.

We had a lot of days out, so I cannot remember the order of all of them, so I will show you some of my favorites.

This Great Egret was in the pond area and closer than usual, so I was able to shoot from the window, so he wouldn't fly away.

And then I noticed in the far distance, a blob on a pole, this is what I saw. Not too bad for a long range shot. Someday I will find a Kingfisher, that is closer and doesn't fly away.

We also had good luck with the smaller birds, some at the bird sanctuary and at the ocean area. Yellow romped warblers in both areas.

This Mockingbird was happy to pose for me. 

And I was lucky enough to spot a flock of Horned larks in the parking lot area, so I was able to shoot them from the truck, but they still move around so fast, they are hard to get clear shots.

Another day we stopped at another beach and it was still closed, the storms did a lot of damage and carried sand across the roads. Now it is mostly cleared and people have been cleaning the clutter on the beaches. I was able to spot the local Kingfisher in the pond.

From there, we went to Galilee to see if the seals were in, but not that day. We did catch some fishing boats coming in with their hauls. You can always tell when they have catch aboard, the seagulls are a dead giveaway.

And one came in behind this one.

And on the last day of holiday, we went to the island. We went to the lighthouse and I took a short walk around the cliffs. In one spot I was able to catch A group of Common Eiders that were closer to the cliffs.

And mixed in with this group, was a group of Surf Scoters. It was definitely a busy week, but nice to get out and enjoy the birds in our area. It seems we have snow and rain coming, our area is more rain prone. I am looking forward to a little more snow this year. I got the kids snow boards and last year, I got a few sleds to use when they come here and they have been sitting in storage. 

I hope you all stay warm and safe with the storm coming through and can enjoy some time outside to enjoy time in nature.

Friday Finish!

 I hope everyone had a nice holiday. As usual, ours was a bit hectic, but I was able to get everything done and enjoy time with the family. I have been working on hand quilting and a puzzle that I got for Christmas, nice ways to relax. I also need more sachets to replace my old ones that I use to keep my items fresh smelling. I made up this little pillow and stuff with lavender. The pattern was free and you can get this one, along with many others at Pinker and Punkin blog.

We got out for some rides and bird watching, but this week we had more rain, so we were stuck home more. I was able to catch this gull, enjoying a snack on the cliffs. 

I took a few photos of the family at Christmas but the quality is bad in low light. Alex wanted me to take a photo of him with his new gun, so I took the photo and had some fun with editing.

And this one, was edited with the new AI in photoshop too. I love how I can tell it to make backgrounds to have fun with family photos. I hope you are all enjoying your weekend and hopefully the rains will stop and we can get out before it gets too cold.

Friday Finish!

 

I finally finished my quilted wall hanging. I added a few snowflakes and thinking about adding a few more on the empty black border. It is another wonderful design by Cheri Saffiote. Just in time to hang on my window rod, for Christmas. I do wish I could get a better photo of my quilts, more prim in person.

Last weekend we went to the seaport to see the events. It seems whoever put the event on Facebook, put the wrong place. It was actually at the village so we missed that. But, we got to see the Mystic firemen in action. One of the buildings caught on fire, but they were able to get it under control without too much damage. They think an ember from the nearby fireplace, might have gotten on the roof.

It was a nice day and only a few people were around, so it was nice to walk around. We even found another building that was open with more displays. I also had fun taking photos of Bill.

We had a lot of flooding after the rains. The beaches and ocean areas had the ocean running across the roads, but most of the mess has been cleared, so we were able to spend some time at the beaches. A bit cold but nice for a quick walk.

It is a bit too cold for glass hunting, but we did get some time in this week. I got a few pieces but higher tides, when we went. We did spot this odd scene along the cove, not sure what they were thinking with this guy.

I was also able to do some birding and get a few good shots. I decided to make a card with one of them. I wish all of you, a very Blessed Christmas.

Working on Friday!

 

I am still working on my Christmas quilt. I am quilting it now and almost done, so I will definitely be finished by next week. I think for next year, I need to work all year to get all the other projects done. The colors are a bit off in this photo, so hopefully I can get a better one, when finished. I had to hand write the saying, and I think I made mine a bit larger than the original, but I like how well it stands out. 

We got out last weekend and spent some time at the ocean. It was warm enough to walk along the beach and enjoy watching the Sanderlings, running along the beach.

Today it warmed up a bit, so we got to spend some time at the beach. The marina has their own Christmas decoration. I bet it looks beautiful when lit up at night, the lights run down, along the crane.

And I found another odd object that got washed up with the tide.

And I found a bit of glass and some pottery. It was nice to be out again and tomorrow will be nice, as well, so some time at the seaport for some Christmas activity and maybe a hike on Sunday. I hope. you all have a nice weekend and able to get out and enjoy some of the holiday festivities.

Friday Finishes!

 I finally finished my pillow. It was a large design, so lots of stitching. It is 36" long and I love being able to have it done and displayed on the back of the couch. The design is by Bird Brain Designs.

I also finished a piece that has been sitting in a box, way too long. It is a gift I made for a friend and this is the year, she will finally get it. This is a design by Kathy Schmitz.

Last weekend we went to the seaport to see the Mayflower. It came from Massachusetts to have some repairs done at the seaport. She is docked for now, but they have a large dry dock to put her on.

We walked around the village and saw the decorations on the buildings.

And the old Mercantile.

We also got to see the Garda. Last time it was in a spot, we couldn't see it.

And the fascinating story behind her.

Another building we were able to access was the museum. This is one of the examples of the glass models. Some are so realistic, you cannot tell the difference. These were done in the 1800's.

I hope you all had a nice week and are enjoying the holiday season. We have gotten most things done, so I can enjoy it more without the stress. I still have to do up cards and a few gifts that are going out.

Friday Finish!

 I am finally at the point of finishing my long pillow, but I still have the details with glitter threads, to do. I like putting a pop of glitter on some pieces, especially for Christmas pieces. I wanted to try a few ornaments, so I made up a couple this week.

For the snowman head, I used a foam ball to start and wrapped it with roving and felted it in. I placed it in some greens for the photo, but I will add a topper so I can hang it on the tree. The star started out with one idea, but I couldn't get it the way, it was in the photo, so I just made a simple hate on mine.

I am still trying to get good shots with my camera, not sure why I cannot get one, but most were at a distance on cloudy days, so that is one reason. I know I tend to move when I press the shutter, so I need to be more still, it's a shame since I had lots of great bird shots but they were too dark and blurry.

I decided to try some in my back yard, that way I had a sunny day and I could brace myself better. I have a lot of winter visitors and a group of doves who like to hang out in a tree by the feeder.

I also have way too many sparrows, they keep multiplying, every year. This one was in the back and nice enough to sit still for a photo. These came out a lot better, so I know I need light with this camera, to get sharper photos. 

I hope you all had a good week and enjoying the holiday month. I got a lot done early, so I can enjoy working on a few projects for fun and most of my shopping is done, so I can relax and enjoy it more.