Almost finished!

 

I got all the stitch work done on my new piece. I still need to add the buttons on the color area. I have a small red heart for one and I wanted to use an anchor button on the other, but can't remember where I put the extras. I am not sure if I should make it into a pillow or a hanging, but I have time since it will be a Christmas present.

As far as the trailer fiasco is going. I joined a group for that type of trailer and saw that the same trailer with a question about towing, with the same truck we have. They all said not to do it, the weight was too much, so now I am debating again. To just cancel and give up for now or go look at a smaller one tomorrow. One has most of the same things, but a big outdoor kitchen, but no indoor table. One has a smaller table, so will decide tomorrow. I really wanted something the family could go in, but if I get bunks I lose the larger kitchens, comfy seats and storage, and that would be nicer for Bill and I.

The photo looks light and bright but the colors are much deeper than they show. I will trim down the border when I decide how to finish it.

We seem to spend more time at the lighthouse, since it is always cooler and the air is so refreshing. It also doesn't hurt that I never tire of the ever changing views.

Lots of wave action with the passing storms.

And with the tide coming in, not the best place to be fishing. It amazes me, how many people stand close to the edges of the cliffs with waves coming in. Every year people are lost who get too close.

Another day we enjoyed a longer walk and just stood and enjoyed the views, along the way. Lots of boaters were out.

Sailboats, Working boats and Skidoos.

And to me, waves are mesmerizing, a few shots with a longer shutter speed.

And in the field, people were flying kites. These two were fun ones. This weekend I need to get things ready for our trip next week, we will be gone till Saturday morning. I am hoping I can just relax, sit in the cove in my kayak and enjoy nature. I hope you all enjoy your weekend and are not getting hit with the smoke, we have had it here, but not too bad.

Still working on!

 It seems the weeks go by and I don't get as much done, as I wanted. Our trailer buy turned out to be disappointing. It seems the previous owners didn't mention that they had a leak, so the whole slide would have to come off, new flooring put in and then back together again. Our dealership was going to do it, but we decided to look at a newer one. I love the new version, but then what do I see in the bedroom, a puddle of water. So, if you ever want to buy a Wildwood, make sure it doesn't have a leak. So, we ended up getting a better trailer that we had before, much better quality. It is a little smaller, but has a real kitchen, recliners and plenty of storage. Perfect for us and enough room for the boys to stay, but might be a bit cramped for the whole family. 

I have been working on my stitchery, lots of work on this one, but almost done. Working on the final touches and embellishments. I plan on doing a multicolor border, so I will be done by next week. Since I am not sure yet, if we can get the new trailer in time, I will be getting the RV ready. It seems a few spiders have moved in and I do not sleep with bugs, lol.

We also went to the town beach, love that it is close so we can go, just for a swim. While we were swimming, the Ospreys were flying overhead and catching fish. It is amazing to watch them as they dive down and splash into the water.

I also noticed some birds at the end of the beach. A family of Laughing gulls and always fun to see the young ones as they learn to fish on their own.

One day we went to the island for a swim. This is what I spotted on the beach, made me wonder if I wanted to go in the water. It is a Sand Shark, so not too scary.

The water was rough and wavy, but fun to swim in and no crowds.

At home I have enjoyed seeing more young come in. The Cardinals had 2 girls and a boy, but they are shy and fly off when I come out. The other is a female Cowbird, she has been on her own now, and knows where the food supply is.

I hope you all had a good week and not in the flood zones or storms coming through. We have a lot of wind tonight and some heavier storms expected overnight. A nice week coming up, so I hope that you all get better weather and can enjoy the rest of the summer.

Weekend Wanderings!

 

This week I didn't get a lot done on my new piece, so hopefully I will finish it this week. I am thinking it is time to start Christmas. I have a few unfinished pieces and ones I wanted to make, along with crafts to make, so a good time to get started.

I got a reservation at our favorite spot in a few weeks for four days, so a great midweek break to get out and try the new trailer. Yes, a new trailer, a much bigger one, so we have room for the whole family now. We will keep the RV since it is great for weekends and day trips and some parks have a size limit, the new one is 32 feet. 

We did get out a few times over the weekend and week. We tried the new double kayak around the lake and did much better this time. I like that we can go to the far coves and have a private spot to relax and swim. This is an old camp that closed down and the state just left it, so a great place to stop.

We got to the lighthouse for a nice walk, lots of butterflies now.

And a Monarch

And lots of birds

And a group of kayakers coming in to practice kayaking and landing at the rocks. 

We went to the beach for a swim at the park, afterwards, but I was so busy trying to get photos that I never did get a swim in.

During the week we went to the town beach, close by so perfect for a swim before dinner. This weekend is iffy, rain on and off, so hopefully we can get out for a paddle before it hits. I hope you are all enjoying your summer. I can't believe it is almost over, but we always enjoy being out in the fall, when the crowds are gone.

Working on!

 

This week I have been fighting off something. I am seriously thinking it was from mosquito bites I got when I was working in the garden. Luckily I had meds and Lyme meds, so took what I had and rested a lot. It affected my bones and joints, so I didn't have much energy this week.

I decided to make up a stitchery to work on, when I felt better. This is an old Cheri pattern and thought it would be nice as a gift. I will add buttons and maybe do a pillow or small wall hanging, will decide on that later.

Last weekend we went out for a little ride around the island and enjoyed seeing the birds in the coves. 

I also got some shots of the new Osprey. I guess they only had one this year. Dad bringing in the catch.

Coming in with dinner

And feeding time

At home I have been watching a lot of new arrivals. Unfortunately I spotted this juvenile Coopers Hawk with its meal. They are not the best hunters, so they tend to go after birds. The photos are at dusk, so a bit odd looking.

And this is what he had, another Flicker. This one was enjoying bugs in my yard, so hopefully the hawk doesn't get him too.

And another new arrival. This is a juvenile Cowbird. It can fly on its own and eat, but it's a bit confused. It is all alone, so I think his mother left her egg in another birds nest. Once they get too big, the other bird will stop feeding it. It also calls out constantly, but no sound comes out, so it lost its voice. 

Today we went back to the island. I am feeling better, so enjoyed a nice walk around the cliffs. Lots of sailboats are out now.

We also had company, thousands of Dragonflies. 

We decided to explore the inner paths and got a closer look at the Osprey on the radar tower.

After we went to the other park and I got to enjoy a swim in the cove. The tide was going out, so I swam in the channel, against the tide, so I stayed in one place.

There were a lot of Egrets in the surrounding area, so I had plenty of company. Bean was enjoying swimming too, but he won't go that deep. I hope you all had a good week and enjoy your weekend. 

Quilt progress!

 

Not a lot got done this week and no weekend fun, since it rained on and off. When it is not raining, it is so hot, the beaches are filled to capacity early in the day, so not worth fighting the traffic and crowds. 

I was able to come up with a new idea for my quilt. I added some more appliqués, going up the quilt. I think I need to fix the pointy cloud, that is what happens when you work when you are tired. I hand drew and cut out the shapes, keeping them simple. 

The next step is to do the quilting. I am thinking of doing straight lines along the strips to keep it simple and more puffy, for kids. After I will add some sail lines, so I can quilt across without having to go through them, and a whale eye and water spout. I tend to change my mind as I go, so we will see how it ends up.

We did get out one day, an hour at the town beach. Going later in the day is nice, since there are less people and the tide was high, so we could swim without having to walk out too far. I was surprised at how clean and sandy the bottom was, a nice change from the rocky, seaweed beaches we usually go to.

Looking to the right of the beach. 

And to the left side. The area has picnic areas, a playground and treed areas to sit under. 

I hope you all have a good weekend and enjoying good weather. It seems it is a summer of weather extremes for all of us.

Friday Finish!

 

This week I realized that my hoop idea wasn't going to work. The large hoop would go tight, so I had to come up with another idea. I looked online for ideas and found this one by The Old Tattered Flag. I have a larger frame, so I used the idea and on the part that I had punched, I laid a piece of batting on the frame, to keep the teeth from digging in. I was able to stretch the rest of the fabric on the teeth to hold it tight for punching. It will take me longer, but it works much better now and I will have more even loops.

Since I like to have something simple to work on at night, I made up a couple of stitcheries. These are from a larger design, by Kathy Schmitz,  that I have done and the smaller designs in it, work perfect for lavender sachets. The fabric is something I aged years ago.

This week has been hot and muggy, so not as much time outdoors. Last weekend we went for a ride around the beach areas and even though it was misting, went for a walk along the park path. The paths are dry and the views are always beautiful.

In the last photo you can see the marsh area. In the distance, an Osprey was eating his meal.  We like this area since we can go to several places along the route, to enjoy the views and the birds in the marsh. Lots of egrets this year and always fun to watch.

We tried a day at the beach on the island. The water is freezing, so I had no desire to go swimming. I walked up and down and enjoyed the cooler air. As you can see, we were the only ones left on the beach.

I hope you all had a good week and enjoy your weekend. We have rain tomorrow, so no outdoor fun till Sunday.

Friday working on!

 

This week I did not get anything done. With the holiday I was busy getting out and doing things around the house. I also spent a lot of time, looking for my smaller hoop. I still can't figure out where it is, so today I finally thought of a solution.

I added extra fabric on the top and bottom and now it fits on my larger Morgan hoop. It is the only hoop that will hold the fabric tight when you have the thicker punching started. What I did was, sew a thick edge so I can pull it really tight and it will hold.

Last week we were all set to go to the seaport and see the wooden boat show. We left early and when we got there, the lot was full and they were parking people on what grass areas were left. I figured it was way too crowded to bother, so we headed to the owl sanctuary.

We took all the paths we could for a longer walk and in the fields, we were delighted with the bird boxes and watching the parents, feed their young. One box had Bluebird babies.

Another had swallows. They were harder to catch, they fly in fast and leave fast. As you can see in the first photo, I was getting some dirty looks. They had enough of me, staring at their box and one covered the hole with its body, while the other threw darts at me. 

We also walked some new paths, further in the woods and stumbled onto a few critters along the way.  The deer let me get pretty close and the bottom right photo is a nesting Dove that I spotted, hiding in a tree over the pond.

With the humidity and crowds at the beaches, we spent more time on the island this week. The air is so much cooler and I am able to get in nice walks. This day the weather was kicking up so more boats were heading in, then out.

This guy was sailing alone and it looked like he might tip any moment, but he didn't.

A few more scenes while walking around.

Another day we walked around and we stopped in the lighthouse museum for fun. They had open hours that day and I really wanted to go up into the lighthouse, but that is a lot of steps and a ladder to get to the top, so I decided I didn't have the legs for that. The egrets I saw in a field, on the way back.

We also stopped at the park on the way back. There is a path that takes you to a platform to see the Osprey nest. I only spotted one baby, so not sure if more were hidden, but it seemed like just one.

They are very vocal when they want to eat. Dad was hanging out in the marsh.

And then there was today. It was cloudy with a chance of rain so we went to the beach, so bean could play in the water. It was way too rough to swim, I just went into my waist.

And then it poured, so everyone left and we hid under the picnic area. Once it stopped we got to enjoy the beach, all to ourselves. No good treasures, but Bean found a nice dog ball that washed in.

At home, the feeder has been busy with the new babes. I was even surprised when I spotted a new one, a Rose-breasted Grossbeak, in the lower left.

And since we put out an orange and grape Jelly, I have had a lot of Baltimore Orioles. First the parents were feeding the babes, now the babes come alone and they are less timid. 

I hope you all had a nice week and can enjoy the weekend. Hopefully the winds will die down here and I can get out for some paddling and swimming.