Birds love Snow!

We got a snowstorm today, now it is raining, so it is all melting.
The birds seem to love snow and rain and they were all out today, so I tried to get some snow shots.
Unfortunately, the snow left blurry dots all over the photos, lol.
Mr. Red was visiting as usual, he always comes when I got outside.
I think the birds know that when I am out, there is food.
I took a few days break to wind down and rest my sore fingers, tomorrow it is back to my projects.

Angel Quilt Finished!

I finally finished the quilt yesterday. There are things I wished I had done differently and things I could change, but I needed to stop, so I can get it out. If I was making it for me, I would have done more quilting and taken the time to do the blocks, but I also want it to be soft so she can use it, so less stitching is better for this one.

I added some extra stitching around the hearts and some swirls coming out and then added a saying and words to the angel and moon block. Hopefully she will like it and it will comfort her when she goes through the tough days ahead.

The quilt was adapted from a pattern in the Angels book by Jan Patek.
I tried different lighting with the flash, but it didn't work as well, since I had to stand back to get it all.
I also hand stitched tan around the inner black border, but for some reason it isn't enlarging when I click on the photo?

Confused Dog!

My sweet Casey is not himself lately. He has lost most of his hearing and he loves it when I talk to him and understands the important words like Out and Go for  walk and now he just stares at me and looks like he is trying to read my lips. He is also sick, low protein and kidney problems, so he is on a special diet and aspirin so he doesn't throw a clot. Sadly our pets get older and since he has lyme too, he has problems caused by that. But he is a happy dog and he gets lots of love and likes to sit on the porch with me and watch the birds.

For some reason, after I washed the cat bed and put it upstairs, he thinks it is for him. No flash, so a bit  yellow.

Today we went to best buy, I had free money, so I finally got myself a flash for my camera. It is small and lightweight and does the job without the high cost, so very happy with my purchase. I had to hit savers while I was up there and found this wonderful fabric. A yard each at 1.99, so a good deal for fun fabric to make some sewing items with. This I took with the new flash. It is so nice to get truer colors.

Windy Day Shopping!

Today it was gusting like crazy, so good day for a drive and shopping. I still don't drive myself, since I still get spells, but I love to get out when Bill has the weekend off and we can go to my favorite quilt store. I really  need some filler fabrics in green and prim yellow/golds, but can never find what I want. I was able to get a nice light gold and found some extra fat quarters that would be fun to work with. Once I finish my sister's quilt, I need to start on some blocks for Lynda Hall's  Block Party. The blocks will be made into a quilt, for Quilts for a Cause and will be auctioned off. I got the tan with red flowers to go into that. If you go to Lynda's blog, you can learn about her back door friends and sign up for her birthday giveaways.

Another fun thing about  going to the south end, is the ocean. 

The first stop was Galilee to see if the ferry was coming in, but it wasn't. But, we did get to watch some wind surfers braving the waves and wind in the channel.

The wind was wicked and that is not an exaggeration. We went to the light house at Point Judith next. I went to open my door and it flew open and slammed into the car next to us, ugh. The surfer was just coming out and we told him what happened and he said it was no big deal. Did I mention it was a BMW, lol. 

There were a lot of surfers by the lighthouse, but with the rocks, it is not the best place to surf.

Then we went back to the breakers and half the road was gone. It seems the winter has eroded a lot of the beach area and the road is starting to go with it. 

I always enjoy seeing the lighthouse, something I love about New England.

 And a closer look, the gulls were flying into the wind so I was able to catch one with this shot, since they were't moving too fast. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. I had a bad day for sewing, so had to take a break, hopefully I can finish the quilt tomorrow.

Hand quilting!

I finally finished all of the outline stitchings in the blocks and strips and now I am stitching around the appliqués. I decided it needed it and as you can see on this piece, it needs something else in the empty spaces? I was thinking of adding some scattered words, of encouragement?

It is not as cockeyed as it looks, it is lying on the couch.Yes, I forgot to take out the pins. I used iron on batting, but added some pins to the middle of the block to keep it from shifting.

And this is my red buddy, he knows I want to take a nice photo of him and he sits on the branches and looks at me, all the time, but the minute I get the camera out, he hides. I guess he is camera shy.

Two new visitors came today. They were shy too, but I was able to get a shot of them while they rested in the neighbor's tree. With the warmer weather, it seems our area is filled with birds and today it was a cacophony of songs.

Mini Moki!

I am still sewing, and my fingers are killing me. Hand quilting is fun to do, but not when you are in a hurry and sewing for hours and hours, but I am near the end of the quilt and then some stitching and fixes in the blocks and I will be finished. Hopefully I can get the stitching done and show you a photo tomorrow.

I received this cute photo in the mail, from my friend Kay MacKenzie. I was fortunate to win one of her contests for a book and another where I won Kay's appliqué book, so more new projects that I will be doing this year. She got a new kitty and he looks just like Moki, he is so cute and I can't wait to see how he looks as he gets older.

Angels Quilt Top Finished!

Today I finished the quilt top and made my quilt sandwich for quilting. I added a new block with a sisters saying which I found as a friend saying and changed the one word. I added some strips, cut a little here and there and fit them all together. It measures 68" x 47" with the border/binding. When I finish the quilting I will fold the border to the back to use as the binding.

I decided to do this the easy way and used fusible batting, a bit stiff but I wanted to put it together without pins, though I did add a few just to stabilize it  better. My plan was to do black running stitches on the inside of the quilt blocks, but I need to decide how to quilt the rest? I left some things undone, so I can do that stitching with the batting in, to give it more depth and more areas that are tacked down.

My sister is still waiting for a time to have her mastectomy which is the next step, so I have time to quilt it before she goes in and comes home. I will start quilting tomorrow, so any ideas or suggestions are always appreciated.

I had to take a photo in a darker room, but once I quilt it, I can take a straight shot and hopefully show all the detail. The appliqués are from pattern books by Jan Patek; Angels and Say it with flowers, and a few of my own touches.