down to earth living and thinking

Aprons, aprons, aprons!

2011-11-02T14:52:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, we made these adorable pillows in a class at Pieceful Quilting. Our teacher, Colleen, came up with the design while she was shopping for a dress! How smart is that? It requires 2 inch strips and I had this jelly roll with Halloween fabrics, so I made it for Halloween. My daughter loved it, so she will get to keep it now that Halloween is over.

Just look at that great fabric!! I love it.

I made quite a few aprons this fall. This is a 50s pattern I got while in Washington state last summer. A little more complicated than usual, but still pretty easy. I made this for my friend Kathy who always does so much for my family and is very generous with her Vermont condo!!

The pocket is a flower!! So very cute (and it was easy).

Same pattern, different fabric! Don't you just love the jello? I have this one hanging in my mud room with the other aprons. I still want to make one more before I move onto another pattern style. Maybe next week.

I made this at a class a few weeks ago. It is a super easy pattern. Evelyn picked out the fabric so I made it for her. It just looks too cute on her.

Don't you love the fabric? I cannot believe Evelyn chose this instead of something more modern! It made me so happy!

This is a cranberry cherry pie!! It was fun and easy to make. I just had to make it look like a jack-o-lantern!! It was gone in one night!

A Quilt for Michelle!

2011-10-23T15:00:00.000-07:00

My friend Michelle from work was diagnosed with breast cancer last spring and is finishing up her treatment now. She is expected to make a full recovery, which is such a blessing, but she has had a lot of trouble with the last few rounds of chemo. I made her this quilt to keep her warm and cozy as she gets rest and healing before coming back to work this November.

I had actually made this quilt as part of a mystery quilt series a few years back. Even then I knew that I was making it for Michelle since it was called Mexico, and she is our Spanish teacher. When she got sick, I decided it was time for me to quilt it and give it to her.

Last weekend Evelyn and Ali were baking together and they made these cake balls. They were so delicious! Ali put them on sticks after Evelyn poured melted chocolate on them. They looked like a little bouquet when they were all done. How cute and yummy!

2011-10-01T05:39:00.000-07:00

You know how sometimes you have to be at the right place at the right time? This happened to me last weekend. I just happened to look up at the sky while I was cooking outside and there was this HUGE full rainbow over the eastern part of the sky. Kenny was outside unloading the work truck and he got to see it too. If you click on the picture, you will get an even better look and see the colors more vividly. After I took these pictures, I had to run inside for a minute, and when I came out, it was gone. To think that I could have missed such a sight!

The sky over the back yard after the rainbow. After the hurricane that blew through here last month, we have a few trees that have no leaves. This is a walnut tree that looks funny because there are really only nuts hanging and not too many leaves. The squirrels are having the time of their lives with these trees now. They climb up, knock the nuts off and eat them all over the yard.

Did I tell you that we already decorated the inside of the house for Halloween? Yup..about two weekends ago. I wanted to be able to enjoy it for a longer time, so we cleaned and then decorated on a Sunday evening a few weeks back.

Millie really does smile in her sleep!

2011-10-01T05:27:00.000-07:00

Millie smiles whenever she is sleeping lately. Must be having good dreams!

I made this little quilt one night while I sat at the sit and sew at my favorite quilt shop! When Kenny and I went to Vermont, we went to a quilt shop in Chester and I saw these little pictures on fabric. Of course, since they were chickens, I had to have them. Sorry about the picture being sideways, but for some reason, I could not align it correctly. This was an easy little project.

Back to school!

2011-10-01T05:05:00.000-07:00

My niece had a little baby girl this summer, so I made this cute girlie quilt for her! My mom and I went to some amazing quilt stores on Cape Cod this July, and I got tons of jumbo rick rack to use on my projects. The pink was perfect for this quilt.

I embroidered the baby's name on the center panel.

I am back to school already (after what seemed like a super short summer vacation) but it feels good to be working again and being with the little middle school kids. This year the kids are great and it looks like we will have a wonderful year.

Over the summer, I did do quite a bit of sewing, but no blogging. I have a quilt that I am making Kenny and it was my mission to get it done so that I could give it to the quilter who does my important quilts. While I do a lot of my own quilting, I only trust Debbie (Divine Quilting) to do the ones that I think will be real heirlooms that take me a long time to piece, embroider, etc.

Later today I will try to post a few of the other things I have done lately. See you soon!

My first ever pickle day~!

2011-07-09T12:19:00.000-07:00

This morning I went out to the garden and there were a million sorta large pickles on the vine! I had just picked a bunch the other day, but did not do it yesterday. We had rain last night, so they were really ready today! So, I decided to try making kosher dill pickles for the first time. I searched around for recipes, but some books seemed a little complicated. Then I remembered that book called Country Wisdom and Know-How, which I use as a reference for everything all summer and fall. It had a super easy recipe for a million kinds of pickles and they were easy to follow. So, I packed the two dogs into the truck and went out for dill, mustard seed, garlic and a new jar-grabber (to grab the hot jars from the canning pot). Then it was time to pickle. Seeing the pretty green pickles in the jars on the Hoosier makes me happy. I hope they taste as good as some other pickles that I have gotten from my friends.

There is very little cooking time with these, so they should be crunchy when we open them in three weeks. So, besides pickles today, I had to do very little housework. The whole house is almost sparkly clean since I have been off from school. I did the bathroom upstairs yesterday and then I started my bedroom this morning. Ken is vacuuming the house now, and then it will be time to start dinner already. Then a little sewing time is in order. Oh, I have been listening to the podcast called "Within a Quarter Inch" which I started a while back and then had a friend remind me about. It is fun to listen to that while sewing and cutting. I can't get the Alex Anderson one to just play without downloading (it's still free though), so that will have to wait for a while.

Has it already been six months since I last posted?!

2011-07-05T17:15:00.000-07:00

My friend Brad got married this June, so I made him and his fiancee this wallhanging. He is our band teacher, and the quilt has fabric with musical notes, and songs on it. I thought he would like it because the colors are bold and loud too. He did love it.

I did an all over loopy pattern with the quilting. This quilt was made during a mystery quilt session at Pieceful Quilting. We did not know what we would be making until we had all of the pieces made. The clues were that it was related to a famous singer. It turned out to be Kenny Rogers and the song was the one about knowing when to hold them or fold them (cards). The pattern for the quilt is called card sharks or something like that.

I was happy when he saw it and loved it. It's hard for a quilter when the gift is for a guy, especially one in his 20s. They don't always realize what goes into something like this, but he did. Oh look, Millie and Penny are sleeping on the couch together. Aren't they cute? Ok, they do this all of the time, but I still think it's cute!

My Aunt Ellen had a battle with lung cancer last year and now she is all healed!! She was an amazing patient who just knew she would be ok. Boy did that make it easy to help her and deal with it alongside of her. Anyway, she was a little baldie bean for a long time and now she has HAIR!!! Look at how cute it is!! It came in all curly, which is not her normal hair texture.

This is a quilt I made in a class last month. It came out so lovely!! Our teacher, Alice, is so patient and kind with people like me who kind of rush through everything. She made me slow my machine down and really make my points perfect. We had to cut and measure several times to achieve perfection. I had a great time and finally finished it today.

Here is the corner piece. I hung the quilt on the clothesline to take this picture so you could see the shadowing from dark to light.

I used only three colors, which I think made it work for me!! I loved making this project because it reminded me of my past, which many of my friends know about. However, I am working on a story for a magazing about the significance of the design, my color choices, etc. so will discuss it later! (Oh, a cliff hanger!!) A fall wallhanging just waiting for binding. It's been waiting a few years already, so I guess it's time!! I just found this when I was cleaning the sewing room in my attic. For all of this time, I was wondering where all my pretty fall wallhangings went. Finding them was like going shopping and finding something I just had to have!

We made this quilt in a class in the spring. Dresden plate is a great quilt block and this is a HUGE one. It will eventually be hanging in my kitchen between the doors. This one will be
quilted as I attach the dresden plate to the background. Right now it is all just pinned on.

Now that it's summer, I hope to keep my blog going. It really is a great source for me to see my work over the years. Even though I did not post, I was still sewing every night!

Holly Lane, some runners, and Calendar Girls Block of the Month

2011-02-27T14:56:00.001-08:00

Holly Lane is a six month block of the month project that I started four months ago. This is a very pretty quilt for the Christmas season. The fabrics are so Victorian and sweet. However, it takes a long time to make each block because there are a ton of very little pieces! I usually cut and label each piece one night (or afternoon) and then put them together the next day. You have to be so careful or the pieces won't line up properly, which will make crooked houses. Only two more months to go, and it will be ready for quilting.

Yesterday there was a class at the quilt store that taught us how to make a table runner in 15 minutes. The two shown below are from the class. It is such a nice, easy runner that I will probably make a bunch more. They really are that fast.

Once a month at the quilt shop we go to a class called Calendar Girls. Each month you get a different pattern to make a wallhanging or a part of a whole quilt that will have a block for each month. I am making mine as a whole quilt. This is February. Very easy and fun, plus you use your own fabric. It is great and inspiring to see how everyone does theirs each month.

This was a fun vacation from school. Kenny and I went to see my parents in Florida and had a great time there. We go to go on the boat, Kenny went fishing with my dad and the weather was perfect. It was a nice break from the serious winter we have had here. Only another month or so and it will be nice here, but it was great to get a preview this week!!

another quilt done totally!!

2011-02-15T15:59:00.000-08:00

Years ago, we did a Block of the Month at Pieceful Quilting that was so pretty and soft looking. I loved these colors and fabrics, so this past November, I put it all together and quilted it before Thanksgiving (actually, I quilted it the day before Thanksgiving!!). I did a cross-hatch design, but instead of straight stitching, I used my specialty stitches. I changed them every other line, so it looks like a sampler of quilting stitches too. If you click on any of the pictures, you can see the quilting more closely. There are NO puckers on the back or front of this quilt!

My friend, Colleen, at the quilt shop picked the binding out for me. I love it. I made the binding last week and put it on last night since I have been super busy at school doing the play and other stuff until this past weekend. Now I am free again, so will be able to come home and sew a little more each day.

The butterfly block is one of my favorites!! I plan to make an entire quilt with them this year. In the 30s and 40s, it was a common quilt pattern, so I have to make one for my collection!

My friend Debbie has never sewn in her life, but wanted to learn how after her mom passed away this October. Her mom was an excellent seamstress and Deb wants to sew in order to feel another connection to her. She cut and sewed this quilt top together using all flannels. She cut one for my son's girlfriend while she was at it. I will have her sew that one together too so we can give it to Ali this spring. Finally, after dragging Deb to all those quilt stores for years, she is getting hooked!

If there's snow, you might as well sew!

2011-01-30T13:08:00.000-08:00

One winter when I was in Vermont, I saw these beautiful appliqued patterns for all of the seasons and I had to get a few of them. Last Saturday, Kenny was working on a puzzle at the dining room table, so I took this pattern out and started working on it. Applique used to be my favorite thing to work on (with my machine, of course! Even in the old days when I only had a Kenmore that did zigzag stitches!), but over the years, I have done it less than I would like. I kept to my promise and finished what I started!! It is quilted, bound and hanging already! I am in a great BOM program called Holly Lane. It is a six month program with all of these adorable houses and shops in Victorian fabrics! I have two done so far and I am pretty much up to date with them. Just to keep me in the mindset, I hang them up in my sewing room when I get them finished.

At our quilt shop in town, we are in a BOM called Calendar Girls. Each month, we will be doing a block that matches the season, so that we will have an all-seasons quilt when we are done. The cool part is that we have to use our own stashes, which will make them all so unique. I love the snowman! Of course, he will get button eyes when I have finished quilting the whole thing next year.

This is the second block of Holly Lane. The quilt really is beautiful when it's done, so I am excited when I get the kit each month.
A closer look at Winter's Song. I had a great time working on this project. I have a lovely one for Halloween, which I will make next fall.

We have so much snow outside that it seems like we are in Alaska. This week is supposed to bring more snow. It's like a blizzard a week this year. Won't that make spring more enchanting? I can't complain...I like the snowy winters. We still get outside and go for walks if there is a path at the refuge. Also, we have to bring firewood in, so Kenny and Rob make paths for us to walk outside! There is a path to my chickens, so at least I can get around. It does get slippery when it ices up at night!

Snow day..a little sewing day

2011-01-12T13:19:00.000-08:00

We got up this morning to about 15 inches of snow. It was a nice, quiet world outside and the dogs enjoyed being the first to assault the new mountains of snow.

After Kenny and Rob went out and plowed, I let the chickens out for their daily free time. I also fed the stray cat who eats the mice by the chicken coop. I never usually feed him, but since there is nothing in the garbage to eat and there will be nothing on the ground, I owe it to him to give him a meal.

The chickens were not exactly crazy about the snow touching their butts, so they just stood in the pen for a few minutes wondering what to do next.

In the end, the girls preferred to hang out in their house and eat grains. I stayed indoors most of the day myself, cooking and cleaning. Did a little sewing on a monthly project I get at the quilt shop. Tonight if I can tear myself away from the woodstove, I will sew it all together.

Fresh spinach from the garden in January!!

2011-01-10T13:28:00.000-08:00

This is my first winter of using the cold frame Kenny made me a while back. I planted some lettuce and spinach seeds in here back in September and October (just sort of threw them around--broadcast style) just to see what they would do. I kept checking on them and saw that they were growing, albeit slowly, and decided to see how long they would last. They have been under snow for a few weeks and we are expecting another huge storm here tomorrow, so figured I would use them in tonight's supper.

I planted onion seeds at the far end, and they never did too much. Next year, it will be all lettuce and carrots and spinach.

We still have snow on the ground and more is coming tomorrow. I am not leaving the top open, just left it open to harvest the spinach, and to remind myself that the spinach grew in the snow!

The sky this afternoon was very bright, but with clouds starting to build up. We will see what happens tomorrow. I had to cancel a night out for dinner tomorrow already, but will stay home and sew instead. At school, we are being prepared for a day off or a snow delay for Wednesday.

Funky chicken wallhanging DONE!

2011-01-09T13:55:00.000-08:00

I was back to work this week, and Boyo was I tired every night. It was so hard to keep myself from just plopping on the couch and falling asleep, but I really wanted to make this paper-pieced chicken wallhanging. I did not put the sleeve in the back yet, so it is hanging on the rod using straight pins (that's why is looks uneven on the top). I saw this pattern at Common Threads in New Preston, CT a while back and knew I would make it someday. All of the fabric used on this project was purchased when Evelyn and I went to Washington state this past summer. It was fun to think of the time we spent together while we were there as I worked on the chickens.

The fabric under their feet is chicken wire! It came in several colors, so I got them all with this pack of fabric from Olympia, Washington.

Don't they look funny with those button eyes? These fabrics are so bright and cheerful, aren't they? I used stitch-in-the-ditch to quilt it. Very easy and very fast. Lengthened my stitch to 3 instead of 2.5 and it was a breeze and looks good too.

I like paper-piecing and this was an easy and fun project. The next one I am doing is a teacup wallhanging made from paper-piecing. That pattern is from about 5 years ago when I went to the local quilt show. See, you think you are buying too much stuff, then you realize you need it all so that when you get inspired at ten o'clock at night, you can run right up to the attic and get started!

Another busy week coming up, but I still plan to sew every night and play with my iPad! See you all soon!

Sunbonnet Sue totally done!! I amazed myself today!

2011-01-02T15:00:00.000-08:00

I have a whole ton of projects that I want to get done this month, but I promised myself that I would not make any more tops unless I quilted the ones I am currently working on. (That does not include anything made prior to this week---that would mean I could NEVER make another new top:) I had these adorable Sunbonnet Sue embroideries and just could not wait to stitch them out with my machine. They are so cute and the way that Embroidery Library shows the colors to you, it tells you what part of the design you are stitching, so I could change their colors into ones that I wanted. This is Sue at her embroidery machine. Here is Sue with her knitting basket. I don't knit yet...maybe some day.

Sue at the regular sewing machine. She is just so busy!!
The camera I was using did not make the whole quilt come out as dark as it really is. But this is what it sort of looks like.

Rob held it up in the kitchen. Maybe if you click on it, you will see how nice the colors are. This is quilted and bound already. I did it all today since I go back to work tomorrow and wanted to start a cute paper-pieced wallhanging this week.

I will sure miss being home. It is nice to know you have all day to get your stuff done and to work on things that you enjoy doing as a hobby. At least I do love my job, so once I am there, it goes by so fast. Will miss my sewing time and my Ipad!!

Connecticut quilt shops

2010-12-30T06:07:00.000-08:00

Yesterday my friend Jean and I took to the roads for the day and headed to Connecticut. The goal was to see at least four quilt shops and to go out for lunch, which we did! Of course, no road trip would be complete (for me anyway) without a stop at McDonalds to get a large Diet Coke.This was our last quilt stop. Thimbles is a great little quilt shop in a lovely little town called Woodbury. Jean is getting Christmas fabric that is 40% off. We both decided that we would spend the month of January finishing all of the Christmas projects that we did not get done.

Of the four shops we visited today, Common Threads was by far the best!! This shop is packed with great fabrics that you cannot always find everywhere. For example, she has a huge selection of homespuns, plaids, and wool! She also has kits for a million projects that range from easy to hard. The owner was an absolute doll, so spending money with her was a joy!

This is the owner, who was so helpful, friendly and gracious. I blabbed forever about my new Ipad (I am not ashamed to say that I am obsessed with it. I even told Jean that I could not wait to get home to my Ipad!) The owner and I discusssed different podcasts that we like and she told me to check out Mark Lipinski's. Even though I am not too crazy about him, I did listen to one for a few minutes when I got home. I liked it. His voice is nice and even though he is hyper, it was fun to listen.

Jean and I both got a wool project. Plus we are going to do some paper piecing next week, and got some patterns for that.

After a great day, it was time to go home and dream about quilting and fabric and Ipads. Today I am going to work on my Sunbonnet Sue. I got three done the other day and want to get at least three done today. They are actually coming out really cute.

clean sewing area!

2010-12-28T11:21:00.000-08:00

You can tell I am off for a week!! First of all, I rarely get to post anything on my blog during the week because I have been so busy with school this year. Don't really know why except that I do tutor a student a few days a week until almost 5:30 and by the time I get home....you know how it is. I am done with the tutoring though, so should be able to keep up with it a little more often. Our parents do like to see what we are up to since we are all long distance and all, so I will make a good effort.
Today I cleaned out my little sewing area by the dining room. It really is teeny, tiny, but I do all of my work in there when it is too cold to sit in the attic or at my machine out on the front porch. I promised my friend Colleen at the quilt shop that I would show pictures! Of course, I had to show my new Ipad, which was playing an Alex Anderson podcast while I cleaned and then sewed. She is a great quilter and I love the sound of her voice.

All neat and tidy again after Christmas sewing and wrapping. You can see my sewing room from the dining room and kitchen, so I like to keep it neat (which I usually do since I work better that way anyway.)
I used to have this green cabinet as our entertainment center, but it is now too small for the current televisions, so we moved it into the sewing room where it houses my ancient computer (with a tower and everything!!!LOL) which I use for my embroidery machine. I usually hang projects I am working on right on the door so I remember to finish them and so they are handy.

The doors do close all the way to keep it looking neater, but today they will be open all day.

Here it is with the doors open. I have my big cases of thread in there with a little set of drawers which hold my ribbons, buttons and velcro. On the screen is the embroidery piece that is on the machine right now. I have always wanted a Sunbonnet Sue quilt, so that is what I am making with embroidery. All of the scenes are of her doing something sewing-related. This will be a wallhanging. I know A LOT of people just hate Sunbonnet Sue, but as a long-time quilter, I thought I should do at least one with her since it is tradition. I am using a yellowish background fabric that I thought I hated, but it looks pretty cute. Then I will use 30s fabrics as frames around each block.

Workers and slackers

2010-12-27T11:02:00.000-08:00

When Evelyn's boyfriend Jon came over today, all the kids were done plowing, shoveling, cleaning, etc., so they went sledding down our driveway and in the back fields. Evy is pulling Jon (who is about a foot taller than she is!) down the driveway. Jon had to shovel for hours to get his driveway cleared out! Plus he had to make a space for Evy's car so she can come over later----he said that took the longest! Penny knows how to stay warm in the blizzard! Although she was a maniac when she first went out this morning. It is funny to watch the dogs run wild in that snow. They are like puppies again.

Millie is 12 years old today!! She never has a problem finding a warm couch with a blanket on it. Let the two legged animals do the work if they want to--that is her motto.

It sure is nice to have a grown son around to help out on days like today. He enjoyed it so much that he went to three other neighbors and cleared their driveways secretly.

A snow day

2010-12-27T10:47:00.000-08:00

I made this VERY quick quilt top yesterday for Evelyn (she doesn't know about it yet though) from a kit I got in Connecticut a few weeks ago. It is all flannel and the fabrics are so pretty. It literally took about an hour to cut and sew. I have tons of flannels in my attic sewing room, so will use them all up to make these for people.

Rob took these pictures of a bird on our woodpile on the front porch. Smart little birdy knew to get close to the house.

Rob did most of the snow plowing today. He had to chop a tree that had fallen in the driveway before he could finish. It is still blowing hard out there, but it is not too cold even with all the wind. Evelyn wanted to make something fun for her boyfriend's mother, so when she saw this owl clothespin hanger, she had to have it. We had some fun laundry fabric, so she cut it all out, did the fusing for the eyes and some of the sewing. I sewed most of it though, and I am glad I did because even though the pattern said it was easy, it really was tough at times and a novice would have thrown it into the woodstove after a few hours of fussing with it.

On Christmas Eve, Rob and his girlfriend Ali made a gingerbread house. It came out so cute. Ali is pretty cute too!

Bargello table runner and some aprons

2010-12-26T17:50:00.000-08:00

Last month we started this bargello table runner at Pieceful Quilting. I had never even tried it before, so a few of us signed up. Once you get the hang of it, it really is easy. You just have to be careful to cut and sew very accurately (not one of my best traits!:)
I also made a few aprons for a friend right before Christmas. I had some great vintage fabric for Christmas, so used them for these two aprons.

I love this apron pattern. It is called Vintage or Totally Vintage...can't remember. It was easy, and I thought the little scalloped front piece was adorable!

A few days ago, the weather channels were calling for a nor'easter, but we were not supposed to get too much snow. Yesterday, that had all changed and we are sitting in for a major amount of snow. This is how the sky looked this morning.

The snow has been falling now for about 10 hours. I have shoveled out the walkway and the steps by the door at least four times. The wind is howling, and I am sitting here all cozy by the woodstove. I made a super easy quilt today (8 inch strips all sewn together---gorgeous flannels too) and I played Scrabble on my new Ipad!! I love that thing. Hope you all had a wonderful holiday.

The best sister-in-law!!

2010-12-05T14:06:00.001-08:00

Kenny's sister is one of my best friends in the world!! We have had a very close relationship since the minute he and I started dating, so I consider myself to be very lucky to have her (and her lovely family) in my life for all of these years. She is very talented in the needle arts and has made me a lot of beautiful things over the years. Two winters ago she and I picked up a gorgeous needlepoint picture and she made it for me that year. Well, I finally had it framed at Micheals and you should see how it looks!!! The wooden frame is rustic and then I had three mats put around it to bring out the colors in the picture.

I still squeal when I look at it!! When my friend Deb came over for her weekly sewing lesson last week, she could not stop raving about it! Both of the kids have claimed it when I pass on! :)

We plan to hang it upstairs in the hallway in a spot that will make it the first thing you see when you go up there. I cannot say enough how much I love it!!

Pumpkins and witches

2010-11-09T17:39:00.000-08:00

My Auntie Ellen has just finished treatment for lung cancer and is now cancer free!! She was finished the week of Halloween, so I made her this crazy quilt pumpkin to hang in her house to remember how special this season will always be to all of us. Seriously, she was amazing before, during and after her surgeries and treatment. She knew she would beat it and she has. That sure made it easy for the rest of us to be positive and hopeful.This little wall hanging is all paper pieced! I never did hang it up for Halloween this year. Maybe next year. Or I will put it in Evelyn's hope chest for her as a surprise. I do love it and it was a really fun class at the quilt shop. Now I am onto Christmas projects. I have a few classes coming up and a few things I am working on here at the house. There is always something to make with my sewing machine!!

Oh!!! We had a little blizzard here yesterday morning. I was not sure, but thought I saw snow on my way to work, and within an hour it was blustery and snowing like crazy. There was about 1/2 inch on the ground, and it snowed for a few hours, but went away by lunch time. You could not see far in front of you while it was happening. How weird!! The kids at school were so excited, but no early dismissal for them! :)

Look what I got from mom and dad!!

2010-11-02T14:48:00.000-07:00

The flowers are from my neighbor, Kathy, whose daughter is getting married this week!! She left them on my steps today to say thanks for the help with the party last month. How sweet (and unnecessary!!) was that? It was more fun than work for me, but the flowers are so lovely and add a nice touch for the fall. When my parents came here last month for their 50th anniversary, they brought me this AMAZING old-fashioned telephone table/chair. Remember when your phone was stationary and you had to sit there to talk? Well, this table was made for those conversations!! The phone went where the flowers are in the previous picture. My mom made the pillow, cushion and little table mat! How fun that both parents worked together on this project?! I am so lucky. Can you believe how the colors match my dining room perfectly? Whooo hoooo!

My black Lab, Penny, got in the way here, but I wanted to show you the big opening on the bottom. I will probably put books there, but left it empty for now. This piece looks like it was made for my old house!! I love it.

Final Halloween Pictures and Fun

2010-11-02T14:32:00.001-07:00

My kids had a Hillbilly Halloween party last weekend over at the river. Everyone had to wear a plaid flannel shirt and listen to country music (which many of them do anyway). They went pumpkin picking together and then sat at the river and carved them. We were invited to come along too, but I was feeling a little sick, so I stayed home. Kenny was happy to carve pumpkins though, so he went for a while. Here is the table with some of the finished masterpieces.

I thought they were all so adorable. How about this owl with branches on top!!??

I got the job of awarding prizes for the top three and I picked this howling wolf as one of the best. It was hard to choose. The kids were not near their work, so I did not know who made them.

This is Miley Cirus!! She had a singing card next to her that you had to open to listen to!

This is vomiting pumpkin. I thought that was funny when I saw it with all the beer bottles surrounding it. Of course I found out that Evelyn made that one. She has a sick mind like me!

The Saints are even represented in New York. This was so nice!

Kenny chose this one as one of the winners because it was so old-fashioned like the ones we used to make when we were kids.

This turned out to be a fun day for the kids (who are really not kids anymore, but still have fun like they did when they were young). I like the way they all look in their flannels.

A surprise for Kenny's momma!

2010-10-28T15:58:00.000-07:00

My mother-in-law has always been wonderful to me and my kids, so when she loved the last Halloween wallhanging I put on my blog, I thought it would be fun to make one just for her. She is like me and Kenny...she LOVES Halloween. There was a great embroidery disk with beautiful cross-stitch pictures on it, so I used that one to create the pictures.

I made the pictures every night for two weeks, which was fun because while I was making it, I thought of how much she would love it. Aren't the colors just lovely? If you click on the pictures, you can see the faces, and shading on each one.

This was probably my favorite! I loved the greens in the hat and on the pumpkin!

This design took two nights to do because of the number of color changes. It was amazing to watch it come to life! :)

On Friday nights, we have a "sit and sew" at the quilt shop for 4 hours. We have pizza, garlic knots, and snacks and we can work on whatever projects we want to while we are there. I brought this little quilt last Friday and had my friends help me decide which pictures went in each section. Then they picked the border fabric too. That made it even more fun!

I was able to post this today because I just got a call from her that it finally arrived. She loves it and was surprised to get it. I was happy to send it to her since I knew it was going to a good home! LOL

Christmas cardinal for mom

2010-10-27T14:04:00.001-07:00

My parents came to NY to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary at the beginning of the month, so we had a party with all their friends at my brother's house. His wife did a great job decorating and arranging the whole thing and we had a great time. Since my mom would not be here for her birthday (which is New Year's Eve), I wanted her to have this quilt ahead of time so she could hang it for the holidays. I made it in a class at Pieceful Quilting during the summer. The quilting was done by me mostly on my embroidery machine. There is a disk with holiday quilting designs that I use. It was a fun quilt to make and I know she likes it

The Happy Fisherman

2010-10-17T18:12:00.000-07:00

We had a pretty big Nor'easter here last week and the winds were howling up until this morning. Kenny figured that all those winds from the south had to push baitfish up here to our neck of the woods, so this afternoon he loaded his fishing gear into my truck and went fishing while I was working on an embroidery project. He said it was like a fishing dream out there tonight!! He was catching one fish after another and was able to bring home this huge striper for Rob and me to eat for MANY dinners! :) I was so happy for him when he called from the ocean to tell me how much fun he had. Sort of made me wish I had tagged along to snap a few pictures while it was going on. Last week, I went with him one night and really enjoyed sitting there while he fished. It was very relaxing

Old-fashioned pig roast! A neighborhood affair!

2010-09-25T17:58:00.000-07:00

My friends/neighbors had a grand pig roast for their daughter's wedding shower. It was a big party instead of a shower just for the ladies. They had it at their house on the lawn, and it was picture perfect!

Here is a picture of my son Rob and the father of the bride (Mike) as they started roasting the pig on Saturday morning at 6:30 AM!! Kathy, my friend and neighbor, is in the peach outfit. Of course her daughter, Leah, is the one in the green with the tiara! Robin is the groom's mom. Leah used to babysit my kids!! She was my mother's helper for a number of years as well. Can it be that all of these kids are old enough to be getting married?

The night before the party, we all went to help Mike and Kathy get ready. As we ate dinner together in the tent that night, I said it reminded me of an Amish barnraising. It really was a neighborhood event, which made it even more special.

Getting the arbor ready. Keith and Barbara used this for their kids and are now putting it together for Leah. It had lights and sheer fabric on it later.

Sue lives across the street. We all helped each other raise our kids. Since they all turned out great, I guess it's true that it takes a village! She was taking all of the pictures, so I stole her camera to sneak one of her.

Keith had a good system to get the arbor together.

Of course I am messing with the toys for the kids. This megaphone would be great for school.

Barbara is good at making things look beautiful. She is also very patient!

Adam's parents putting the sides on the tent. It was so pretty at night with the lights on in there. We all sat together and had Chinese food once everything was done.

It was exciting to help get ready for the party! We were all looking forward to spending the next day and evening together. Kathy and Mike spent weeks and weeks getting everything just perfect. It all paid off when Leah saw what they had done for her special day.

Getting ready for Halloween!!

2010-09-09T14:04:00.000-07:00

Today was one of those perfect days!! I am off from school for the Jewish holidays, so I got up, did my chores and went to visit my auntie down the road for a few hours. Then I played with the dogs. By afternoon, I was sitting at the sewing machine making this adorable quilt for Halloween. The blocks are all machine-appliqued, which I did this weekend. The middle border is a black and orange polka dot!! I love polka dots! Here is a closer look at the center. You can click on the picture to make it larger. It is so easy and quick to do machine applique. Putting on the borders took most of the afternoon, but I was also making meatloaf and mashed potatoes while I was sewing. The weather today is cool and windy, which made it all the more perfect to work on Halloween projects.

Last night there was a class at Pieceful Quilting where we are making a wall hanging with paper pieced witches and pumpkins. Today I made four of these witches. Cannot wait to get eyes on her and to get the pumpkins done.

Curtains and a quilt that took a long time!!

2010-09-03T05:29:00.001-07:00

A few years ago I got this great rooster fabric from The Fabric Mill, which is a store for people who make curtains, do upholstery, etc. It has been sitting in my sewing room waiting for me to do something with it. Last month, there was a class on making these napkins, which are reversible.

Here are the curtains I made to match. The red fabric is from that failed slipcover attempt a while ago. The curtains are easy to make and are lined which makes them nice and sturdy. This is a lovely quilt pattern from the Nickle Quilts book. You take five inch squares and cut them and sew them together to make a variety of different quilt designs. While I love this quilt, it took a long time because you have to do a lot of cutting. Each time you do a little piecing, you have to cut it again to make it perfect. So, it took a long time, but it was perfect when I finally put it all together.

This must have been my summer of green. Almost every quilt that I made had green as the main or coordinating color.

Summer is officially over!! We had to go back to school this past Wednesday for meetings, and room set-up. The students will be in on Tuesday and Wednesday of next week and then we are off again for four days (Jewish holidays). A rather disjointed beginning, but it will be a good year. I look forward to seeing the kids every September, and I am ready to go back. I have not gained weight this summer, and have only ten pounds left to lose!! It is easier during the school year, so I hope to have it gone by Thanksgiving.

Cheater quilts for quilting practice

2010-08-10T16:09:00.001-07:00

I have so many unfinished quilt tops in my attic!! The truth is that I am always afraid to ruin them when I think about machine quilting them myself. Although I have done several over the past few years, and they came out pretty well, I still always get myself worked up with just the thought of putting that machine to my quilt tops! So, I got some "cheater" panels a while back and decided to try my hand at different quilting styles on them. They are printed panels, and even though they are beautiful, I had no part in making them, so if I ruin them, it was only about $10.00 instead of like 80-100 or more dollars in fabric, batting, etc. On the side border, I simply followed the lines of the flowers. On the outer border(the green one), I did a double loopy design that is free flowing. I just quilted in the ditch on the corner basket design.

Following the lines on each flower was easy and fun.

I outline-quilted the center picture of the girl and chickens and then I stippled all over. That was fun, but you have to keep moving pretty fast, or it gets too clunky and ugly. It looks like a million little puzzle pieces.

I love the panel and will use it as a wall-hanging somewhere in the house soon. Just need to bind it up now. I have at least 8 more panels to practice on. I have done feathers in the past, but really need to work on that. Maybe on the next one. Kenny got me two DVDs of quilting lessons, so will use them this week.

Shadowbox quilt and a new shelf from a mantle

2010-07-24T17:13:00.000-07:00

At Pieceful Quilting in Riverhead, I took a class called Shadowbox Quilt. You use a novelty fabric and make window panes around it. The fabric I used was pictures of houses with quilts on the line.

The boxes in the quilt are all different sizes, which made it like a puzzle when it was time to put together.

I have it hanging in my pantry window now. Once it is quilted, I am going to hang it there since I love walking into the pantry and seeing it there. Our teacher Alice made the project fun and easy. Maybe I will make another one.

About 5 years ago, I saw a shelf that was made from a mantle and I asked Kenny to make me one. It had doorknobs instead of hooks, so I got some nice ones at an antiques store and have had them in a box all this time. I painted it white, then brushed red paint over it and then put that crackle stuff on to make it look old. Kenny HATED it when he saw it and would not put it up for all this time!! He begged me to change the color, but the other day I said, "Ken, it's time to get this old shelf put up in the mudroom." He asked me to paint it again and I said that I liked the red, so he just went along with it finally:) Here it is with the aprons hanging on it and a few farmy things on top. I am really happy with it and Ken probably is too.

With the whole house clean as a whistle, anyone can just pop on in anytime and I won't be embarrassed. Better hurry though, as it won't last long!

Vintage Fourth of July fabric for an apron

2010-07-18T14:12:00.000-07:00

The quilting shop I practically live in, Pieceful Quilting, had this great patriotic fabric so I made a reversible apron for my friend, Diane, who is the manager there. She is a great teacher and a good friend, so I love to make aprons for her.

This fabric has little white stars all over it, and looks good as the other side of the patriotic apron. I actually got it done so she could wear it for the Fourth of July!

Evelyn and I on an excellent adventure!!

2010-06-20T11:26:00.000-07:00

My daughter graduated from college this year, so we wanted to go on a good trip together. We decided on Washington state since we had never gone there and probably never would have the chance again once she is a full-time something (still working on which direction she wants to take professionally). There was one condition for me and one for her: quilt shops for me and Starbucks for her (plus she made me promise that we would not be in any car for hours at a time!) So we will go to Seattle for a few of the days, and the island of Whidbey for a few. This is a view from our window at the Saratoga Inn on Whidbey Island at Langley. We have to take a ferry boat just to get there!

This is the inn I found for us to stay in for a few days. We will be there for two nights and three days. We will be riding bikes all over and can walk to everything we will possibly need--including the quilt shop!! YAY! A view of the inn from the road we will take to get there!! Right on the water. Mountains in the close distance!

We will arrive at Seattle airport and this hotel is the one we will stay in on the first night. Evelyn can walk to the first Starbucks in the world right from our hotel. I have not booked most of the nights yet since we are not sure where we will want to spend all of our time. The Pacific Ocean is calling us, so we will scout that out once we get there.

Our room at the Doubletree Hotel in Seattle. Looks nice! Of course, we will do the Space Needle and go to a baseball game at the stadium for the Seattle Mariners. We do sporting events every place we visit, so can't miss out this time. This is my last week of school, so the trip is coming up soon. It will be a great way to celebrate a great school year for me and a hard-earned college graduation for Evy. So exciting!!

Can't wait to get started on this adventure!! Then I still have most of the summer to sit home, garden, kayak, sew and read!!

Broody girl and a new quilt top

2010-05-27T16:41:00.000-07:00

This poor hen just wants to be a momma so desperately! She sits on eggs all afternoon and when I go to collect the eggs after work, she gets all fluffed up and annoyed with me. She is sitting on nothing right now, but will sit there all night. Since we no longer have a rooster (I might be wrong about that because one of my "girls" is crowing and mounting the hens --this can happen with a female when there are no males, but it's a little too convincing), the eggs are not fertile, so she sits for nothing. Right here, she is giving me the evil eye for taking her eggs. At Pieceful Quilting in Riverhead, this was a mystery quilt back in 2009 sometime. I was not sure if I liked it, but decided that I do. It was super easy and this past week I cut the borders and then this afternoon I attached them.

The design was called Mexican tiles. I have two more that have to be finished before I take another mystery class (scheduled for the end of June). Both of those are almost done too. Maybe this weekend I will spend some of my three days off working on them. This coming week I am in a class that uses tons of scraps!! It will be so much fun!!

Hand embroidered project for 2010

2010-05-24T14:27:00.000-07:00

Every year I like to work on a few hand embroidered projects. This year I am working on a stories from the Bible quilt. There are 20 blocks all together, and so far I have nine done. I should have ironed them since I store them in a basket, but you get the idea.

The story of Ruth is one of my favorites!! I enjoyed this piece a lot. The fun part of this quilt is that I try to read each story as I work on the embroidery. For the most part, I only work on this project at night when I am watching tv or listening to the radio, so sometimes I just don't get to it (like when I am so tired that just watching tv is enough to do!).

I got these patterns at the quilt show in Lancaster last spring (2009). There were two that were related to the Bible, so I thought I would work on this one for this year and the other one, which is mostly verses with symbolic pictures, would be my 2011 project. Someday, they will go to grandchildren when I have some.

Circles and twists

2010-05-02T10:31:00.001-07:00

Last week there was a mystery table runner class and this is what it looked like when we were done. (Of course it needs ironing!) The cool thing about table runner classes is that you are done when you leave and all you have to do is quilt it. I might just put a backing on it and not quilt it at all. I am thinking about that. Two Christmases ago, Kenny got me a magazine with the circles quilt in it. I made it that same weekend and love, love it!! Finally I got it quilted by a professional quilter who lives right by me. She does the most glorious work in the world, so I tell her to do whatever she wants with my quilts. In each white center, she quilted a flower. She stippled the alternate blocks.

Look at this feathering she does freehand!! I just about squealed when I saw it. It is perfect on this quilt.

She did a straight line across the blocks going around the entire quilt. I love the effect of that as a border.

I just love this quilt. I knew the minute I saw it that it would be one of my favorites and now it is all ready to be bound (I actually had binding ready for it and will put it on tonight!!) Anyway, the girl who does this quilting is named Deb and her company name is Divine Quilting. Obviously, she has a huge following, so the waiting time is very long. Totally worth every little nanosecond you have to wait though.

Fan quilt ready for quilting

2010-04-18T16:04:00.001-07:00

I took a new class this past week and will take the second half this Friday night, so I thought I should get this quilt ready for quilting this weekend before the next one has to be done. The colors did not really come out in this picture, but the background is a pale lavender. It is such a soft color and it looks so peaceful for this quilt.The border fabric is the same one I used for the fans. The dark border on the inside is a fabric I had in my stash.

Every time I go to take pictures outside, it is windy. I always forget how the wind is always blowing here! Stack and whack was a ton of fun and really easy. I think I will keep the quilting kind of simple and do it mostly in the light parts of the quilt.

Today Ken made some repairs to the chicken coop. New roof, some walls replaced. It was an all day job, but at least it will be like new for my girls!

Halloween in April

2010-04-03T15:52:00.001-07:00

Today was a five hour class called Slice and Dice at Pieceful Quilting in Riverhead. What a great time we all had making these quilts. I used a bunch of vintage Halloween fabric to make this for Ken.

Don't you just love these fabrics? I plan to make a bunch of these for other holidays and some babies I know are on the way. We just LOVE Halloween here and I make things for it all year long. These colors were great to use today. Some of the other ladies made quilts with deep colors which were gorgeous. They looked like real stained glass. It is so cool to see how all the quilts come out different even though it is the same pattern.

I promised myself I would start it and finish it today and it was easy to do. Tonight I am working on an old project I want to get done. During the Christmas vacation, I made a list of all the things I had to finish and so far I am making some serious progress. Of course, I always find something else I just have to make, so I tell myself it's ok, as long as I get it done in a few days. :)

The ark is coming for us...

2010-04-03T15:42:00.000-07:00

When we had all that rain on Monday and Tuesday, our little town was overwhelmed. These two cars were left in the road because they got stuck in the water.The water at the river was almost up to the road by Wednesday and is still there. The Red Cross had to come in to help some people who lost their houses. We never had anything this bad before. Our neighbors are still having water in their yards at this time.

The water covered area is where the grass usually is. This tree is where Rob's garden is in the summer.

View of the river from the road on the first day of rain.
My neighbor's backyard! The water went into his garage.

Well, I guess the ark isn't coming after all. At least we have canoes. They are tearing up our road AGAIN to fix wiring and pipes that are always getting flooded when it rains. It's a mess.

Spring projects

2010-03-29T13:13:00.001-07:00

This weekend I made a table runner for Easter. I found some cute Easter fabric in the attic and then embroidered this cute little chick with flowers onto a pale lavender center.

Some adorable Easter fabric I used for a new apron. It is the cutest vintage fabric. I got some for me and some for an apron that was ordered from a friend. I will get hers done tomorrow so she can have it for Easter too.

This is the other side of the table runner. I just loved the little chicks!

This is my apron. I have a million different patterns for all styles of aprons, but this is my favorite. Something about it just reminds me of an old farm grandma who loves nothing better than to make cookies for all the grandkids! Maybe that will be me someday:)

You know how sometimes you just buy something because you "have to" have it? Well, this little trim is one of those things. I saw it when I was in the attic and knew it was perfect for the pockets of my apron.

If you don't hear from me again soon, it's because we have washed away here on Long Island. The rain is coming and coming and bringing fierce winds with it. The river across the street is creeping closer to the road every hour. It's probably already 20 feet onto the grass and we have two days of rain left.

Oh, about a month ago I decided I had gotten fat enough for one year and marched myself into the nearest Weight Watchers to start the program. It's not really hard at all and I don't feel deprived in the least. So far, I have gotten rid of 12 pounds!! YAY!! Maybe I will wear shorts this summer after all.

A chicken loving convert

2010-03-21T15:23:00.001-07:00

My sister-in-law and brother-in-law (Kenny's sis) came to see us for a few days last week. I took one day off so we could spend a full day together. What a beautiful day it was too!! Temps in the high 60s and lots of bright sun. I cleaned the chicken coop and gave them new straw in the morning while everyone else got ready for the day (we planned to go for a walk at the wildlife refuge, go to the ocean and then to lunch). When Pat came outside, she said she had never held a chicken before, so I handed one of my new girls to her. It was true love for both of them! :) My in-laws loved watching my hens line up to lay eggs and listening to their incessant cackling and clucking. They took the eggs laid that day home with them to enjoy for breakfast.

Do you stack and whack? It's fun!

2010-03-07T16:54:00.000-08:00

Last month I signed up for a class in stack and whack. We had to get fabric that had a repeat at least six times, which I did not totally understand (except for the times I did wallpapering at our house), but the owner of the quilt shop I visited knew what I meant, so I picked out this fabric for the project and it was good. For stack and whack, the goal is to cut your fabric in six layers (all at one time) so that when you piece it together later (mine was going to be a fan), it will look like a kaliedescope.

This is one version of the fan that I cut out. I love the way it all lined up so well. If you know me, I am not always worried about perfection (a little tug, or some steam from the iron goes a long way to making things fit), but I had to make sure the layers were all perfect before cutting. It was not too bad actually once it is all pinned to match the exact same spot on all layers.

See how they all look a little different? Some look like vines going across the fan and others have a bigger design across the top. You use a see-through template so you can see which part of the fabric you are focusing on.

Our teacher, Alice, helped me pick out the background fabric for the blocks. I wanted it to look really soft and elegant when it was put together, so she immediately found this very pale purple and it looks great. Across the top and bottom of the fan will be a tiny, tiny bias binding that I made out of dark purple. It should make the blocks stand out, but not be too loud.

Another block. Honestly, when I came home from the class I wanted to start cutting up all of my fabric to make stack and whack designs. You can do stars, squares, and all manner of cool stuff with this. My quilt is actually pretty tame compared to some of the fabrics the other women in the class were using. They were making some awesome fans with their fabrics. I will be putting this together on Friday at the next class where we will finish the tops.

Kitchen dishes quilt and a swim for the dogs

2010-02-28T10:56:00.000-08:00

I made a promise to myself to get a lot of projects that I either got kits for or fabric for, done this year. This is called Kitchen Dishes which was made with Jennifer Chiaverini fabric (a favorite author of mine). The manager of the quilt shop designed this quilt for her fabric line. I made it over the vacation and finished putting it together this weekend. Mitered corners!! I have not done this in a while, but a quick look at some directions online and it was a snap to do.

Working with these colors during the snowy days and nights we have had was really a great thing for my eyes and mind! :)

The plain colors are a tone-on-tone print which is pretty to use in this quilt.

Kenny and the dogs worked at the farm (shooting preserve) today at a big hunt. They retrieved about 62 birds between them and were a little dirty when they got home, so Kenny and I took them to the river to clean off. They are shaking the cold water off now.

They are just like polar bears sometimes. Even though they worked all day, they were nagging us to throw the bumpers (training tool-they are orange) for them.

We got about 8 inches of snow the other day, but it is melting away now. It's a slushy mess at this point and gets pretty slippery when you walk on it. The weather channel is warning of another potential snow event this week, but it might blow away before it gets to us. Wouldn't that be unusual?

Portrait of a lady (or two)

2010-02-24T14:53:00.001-08:00

My father-in-law was asking us for some pictures of the "girls" a while ago and I thought it was so cute that he wanted to have a picture of our dogs to look at! I mean, really, aren't they the cutest dogs you ever saw? Who wouldn't want their own pictures of them? Imagine our surprise when we got a huge flat box with this lovely portrait of Millie and Penny in it!!
Here is the painting from the Penny side. I hung it on the wall right across from our bedroom so it is the first thing Kenny sees when he gets up and the last thing he sees before he goes to sleep for the night. (No, I am not jealous!!)

The Millie side. Look how serious she is!!

When we open our bedroom door...there they are!! The artist is a man from Wake Forest, North Carolina. We are so happy with the portrait!!

Happy Birthday Mom!! Today is Ken's mom's birthday, and we hope you are having the best night!! We have more snow on the way for Friday, so you all enjoy your sunshine and tropical weather (yes, 60 is tropical compared to what we have here).

A few things I've worked on this week, and a cute chick

2010-02-15T12:51:00.000-08:00

Last week we got about 8 inches of snow. We are expecting a few more inches tonight, but it won't effect me since I am off for the week!! Schools were closed for the storm here in the picture, which meant another day of sewing and movie viewing (Ken and I watched The Hurt Locker and Julie/Julia--he did not like Julie/Julia though. I thought it was ok.)Remember my babies? Look at how big they are. These chickens are so cute and friendly that they actually like to be picked up and carried around. As soon as they are let out of the pen, they run right over to the house and call me!

Today's project was this quilt for Evy. It was so easy and quick to put together. I thought she would like the colors and fabrics and I was right.

The picture below is a hand-embroidered piece I started in a class. At night when I am watching tv, I enjoy working with my hands on a quiet project like this one. The flowers and leaves are all wool. I love wool! I have to decide if I want this to be a wallhanging with pieced blocks around it (red and white) or if I want to make it a pillow. I am doing a series of these for each season, so maybe I will make up my mind after I have the next one done.

Valentines Apron and wallhanging

2010-02-07T12:00:00.001-08:00

I got an order for six aprons a while back and thought I would get working on them this week. I gave her two this week and will do two more next week when I am on winter vacation. Since Valentines Day is coming soon, I thought I would make her this one and I made one for me as well. Mine has a plain red waistband instead of the stripe. Once in a while I get the Quick Quilts magazine and this was a quilt featured a few years back. It was a snap to make and I have been using it for a few years during February. That same year, there was a cute one for Easter too, which I made and use for the spring. I am an instant gratification person with my sewing projects sometimes and these quilts are a perfect way to get that feeling of accomplishment. The Valentines quilt is not quilted or anything, but I hang it up anyway.

Runner finished! (Not quilted yet though)

2010-01-31T15:38:00.001-08:00

This morning after I got home from church, I got started on the table runner. I was going to make it square, but in the end it would have been too wide for the table, so it became a runner instead. The blue fabric framing the pieces is one that I bought many years ago and have loved it all this time!! I am finally out of it though:( but it has been used in many fun projects. The Valentines fabric is from a little shop up in the Adirondacks by my sister-in-law. Kenny got my little Featherweight out of the attic today so I could put the runner together while the embroidery machine was busy making more doilies. I have four done now and have two more to go before I move on to another size.

All together the runner is almost as long as my table, so it will be the centerpiece for a few weeks with nothing else. This week I will quilt it using something from the embroidery machine disks I have been collecting over the years.

My trusty little Featherweight is in the background. This is the machine I take to classes and to my friends' houses when I am not making something by hand. I got it on Ebay before they were out of my price range!! Now it seems that everyone knows how cute and durable they are.

More Valentines and some lace!

2010-01-30T16:49:00.001-08:00

This is a lace doily I made tonight on the embroidery machine. I am planning to make several sets of linens for my dining room table this year. The first set will be in pinks and blues. The table runner I made a few weeks ago will be a part of that one. These doilies are small and will be used for wine glasses. The white you see in the background is a stabilizer that is water soluble. Once they are all done, I will sit them in water and it will dissolve!! Amazing! I have several different sizes to make. Here is the third design for the Valentines Day table mat I am making this weekend. He is so adorable. Here is the final piece for the table mat. I am thinking of making this as a square-ish design that will be in the center of the table. When I was with my sister-in-law a few weekends ago, I got some cute Valentines Day fabric squares that I can use between the embroidery blocks. Tomorrow I will make it and see how it goes.

Today we did NOT stay home all day as planned. Ken was bored from sitting around all day yesterday, so we went to the big Fishing and Hunting Show at the coliseum. It was really a great show and we saw some friends there, so it was a fun day. Tomorrow we are going to some tackle shops in the afternoon...Poor Ken and Rob are just wasting away thinking about how far spring really is! Especially today and yesterday with temps in the teens and ice in the air!

Valentines Day is coming

2010-01-28T16:40:00.001-08:00

I just had to capture this picture of our little Penny sleeping between the two babies!! She does not carry them around like Millie does, but I guess she likes them.

She likes to pose for a picture too!

Right now, I am working on a table setting for Valentines Day. Kenny got me these embroidery designs for my machine as a Christmas present. They are so cute. One of the things I am making with them is a table mat for the dining room.

This is the one I made tonight. Each design uses about 20 different color threads and they take a few hours to stitch out. Since I can do other things at the same time, it's not too bad. There are two more designs on the disk and I will do them this weekend since we have no real plans because Kenny is feeling a little under the weather. It'll be a good time to just hang out at home and do nothing but cook and sew.

New table runner

2010-01-20T15:59:00.000-08:00

I took a class to make this table runner at the quilt shop last week. There is no new fabric in this piece since I am using up the stuff I already have (that should only take about 2 lifetimes) and trying to make things that will coordinate for each room. Normally I make things with colors and fabric that I just "have to have" and then nothing goes together, but I have a lot of gorgeous items. Not too useful when trying to tie a room together. So this year most of my projects will be made to match or go with something else in my vast collection. One of the things I want to do is make several sets of table linens for the kitchen and dining room. This is part of set one. The tablecloth will be rose color and there will be runners for the other tables in the room that will go with this. For the tablecloth, there is an amazing set of Polish folkart designs for my embroidery machine that I will use when I get started.

Close-up of the end of the runner. This was ridiculously easy to make, but fun!!

Christmas Quilt and an unhappy accident

2010-01-02T12:21:00.001-08:00

Yesterday was a lazy New Years Day here. We were sitting by the woodstove watching WWII specials on the Military Channel when we heard a loud bang. I looked out the window and saw Rob's car looking like it had been moved closer to the woods.

A kid driving to work smashed into Rob's parked car so hard that his own car spun around into the opposite direction. Rob's car was parked with no one in it, so there were no injuries here, and thank goodness the kid driving was not hurt either. We think he was texting or something because he just ran right off the road without even skidding into the car. He skidded after he hit Rob's. Turns out he was driving on a permit on top of everything else. Rob was not very happy with this all since it is his first nice car and he is still paying for it, but at least insurance will cover it and he does not go back to college for a month. We can make-do until then if he needs an occasional car to use.

This is a Christmas wallhanging that I literally finished on Christmas Day!! I have it hanging by the window so we can see it from all over. It is not quilted yet, but at least the piecing and applique are all done. It was a nice piece to work on.

It is snowing here again. We had no real warning about it and it has been snowing all day. Got another 4 or 5 inches on the ground, so Ken is outside cleaning it up for us. The dogs love it!!

The pre-graduation pictures and thoughts.

2009-12-22T13:43:00.001-08:00

This is actually at the end of the graduation ceremony, and it's blurry, but you can see all the balloons falling on the students.

Ok, so last week, Evelyn was on the Wendy Williams show and got to be on the "Ask Wendy" segment! Believe it or not, you have to audition for that and send pictures of yourself and a list of questions you would like to ask. This is the picture she sent to the show. Evy wanted to talk about the future and whether or not she had to focus on a career or could she still "explore" her options, even though she is graduating from college. Well, Wendy is clearly a mom and said exactly what I am always saying, "It's time to focus, girlfriend (she actually called Evy Sweet Peach!!) and get that career started. Exploring was what college was for!" No more Peter Pan, then. Oh well, poor Evy. She was just singing the "I don't wanna grow up, I'm a Toys R Us kid" song to us the other night.

Here she is ready to leave for graduation. I like her pink coat!

Outside of the gym with her cap and gown still in the bag. She said she will miss Stony Brook. I know I still do.

Evelyn's a college graduate today!

2009-12-22T13:32:00.001-08:00

This afternoon, Evelyn graduated from SUNY Stony Brook with a BA in English. Here is the gym with the red and white balloons in the front of the seats.

The program. When I went to Stony Brook, they were not doing everything with the school colors. I liked this.

The graduates waiting to be seated.

After the ceremony, the college let thousands of red and white balloons fall from the ceiling. If you click on the picture, you can see it. Since this was a winter graduation, there were less students than normal, but it was kind of nice to have a smaller group (about 1000) instead of the huge number it usually is. Much more intimate. I could see Evy in her seat most of the time and I was close enough to see her get her diploma.

Here she is with flowers from her dad. All done. Next stop, graduate school. She already has an internship/job opportunity lunch coming up next week, so she is on the move!! She has several things in mind, so if one thing does not work out, she will just move on.

White Christmas this year:)

2009-12-20T09:57:00.000-08:00

This is a neighbor down the road with his tractor cleaning his driveway. He is in the street here and you can see that we have not been plowed.

Evy walking to her car to help Rob shovel.

Ken with his snowblower. They put the little cover on this year so his face would not get all burned from the wind and snow.

Penny made this path. The snow is over her head.

View of the chicken coop and pen. I love the snow though and am glad I live in a state that has real weather all four seasons!! It makes the winter seem shorter when you have a lot of snow and have something to do (for us it's the cleaning it up part). It looks pretty too.

You know you're hearty people when this happens!!

2009-12-20T09:49:00.001-08:00

Well, that's what I get for being smug about the weather forecast!! We got a real blizzard the week before Christmas!! :)

We even had a Saskquatch (can't spell it!!) sighting.

I think Rob is a living snowman.

Good luck mailman!

Snow is almost as high as the garage. Ken and Rob have been snowblowing and shoveling all day so far. Evy and I did the steps and around the cars across the street. I know it's an inconvenience to have all this snow, but you do feel good being outside and working. Our road has still not been plowed and it's 1 p.m. The mall is closed all day too. So far, I have not had time to sew because we have all been outside, so that will have to wait until tonight when the chores are all done. We moved the younger chickens into the coop with the old timers last night, but cannot let them out of their crate since the older ones will not accept them yet. It's too small to let them all out together anyway since they would have nowhere to hide from their enemy! Once we get the pen shoveled out, then we can try it for a few hours at a time.

A blizzard comes our way, so I sit and sew

2009-12-19T15:37:00.001-08:00

Today we are expecting a blizzard, so it was a good day to get errands out of the way earlier in the day and then cozy up by the woodstove and work on some projects that need to get finished before the holiday season is over. I have been working on this table runner for a few weeks. The insets are machine embroidered cross-stitch vintage Christmas cards. They took a long time to stitch out, but they are beautiful.

One of the blocks that I loved and had to make. The borders are from another Christmas quilt I am working on. I took a class and started it in October and I am almost done with it. I thought it would look nice to have some coordinating things in one room.

The middle block of the runner.

The top block. She is really pretty when you see all of the colors used. These designs are hard because you have to use so many gradations of the same color to give it a realistic look. Well, I should get a lot done this weekend since we are prepared for the snow and plan to stay in tomorrow too. The mall closed at 5 in preparation for the worst to come, so watch...it will amount to nothing!! I'll tell you tomorrow!

Santa came early!! A lazy Susan to celebrate!!

2009-12-13T15:13:00.001-08:00

I asked my dad to make me a lazy Susan a while back, so I knew it would only be a matter of time before one headed for New York from Florida. Well, a week ago, this box came in the mail with BIG directions that I was NOT to open until Christmas. (My kids and I are naughty when gifts come in the mail for birthdays and holidays...we just cannot wait!) However, I did not open it even though I thought I knew it was a lazy Susan.

On Thursday, my mom sent me a text telling me I could open it that night. Oh boy, I could not rush home fast enough. By the way she was talking, I knew it was not just a run-of-the-mill lazy Susan. I was so sure that it would have a chicken or rooster carved into it, so I tore that box apart like I was Edward Scissorhands!! Can you imagine my total shock when I saw this instead? I almost fell-out with excitement. On top of that, I was heading for a quilt class within minutes of opening this amazing masterpiece. I quick called my father and let him know how crazed I was and that it was on its way to be fawned over by other people who would totally appreciate the hard work and detail he put into it.

Look, even the sides have intricate designs!! The girls at the quilt shop were in awe of this, and told me I could NOT use it on the table for actual FOOD! No way! LOL

In case you are not familiar with the design, it is called Lone Star and is made of 60 degree and 45 degree angles when it is made into a quilt. All of these pieces are separate pieces of wood that are not forgiving like fabric (which I have been known to steam and stretch into place when I had to), so everyone was stunned at how perfectly the edges matched and how each edge butted up against the next one exactly.

Today I got my dining room cleared of fabric and thread and other crafting stuff and placed lazy Susan in her place of honor on the table. We are having a dinner party again this week, so our friends will be able to admire it. I will probably cover it with a placemat though when I put the butter and salt and pepper on it. Isn't it awesome to have a retired dad who is a master woodworker?

A couple of chicks stopping by

2009-11-29T15:07:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was a cleaning/sewing/cooking day at the homestead. This is an embroidery design I bought on Thanksgiving day (online, of course) and worked on it a little all day long!! It is a cross stitch design and it really looks handmade. The machine started going crazy at the end, so I was getting frustrated with the thread breaking every few seconds, but finally it was done. There are 5 pictures in the pack, so will make them all and use them in table runners and mats for the dining room.

Well, you know how I have one hen who thinks we are friends (we are!!) and that she can come in whenever I have the door open. While I clean house, I leave all the doors open so things can air out and the dogs can run in and out. Lucy always comes in when the door is open.

She is checking out the cleaning job in the bathroom!

Inspecting the floors. She found a few crumbs!

Eventually Lucy invited her friend Ethel in for a quick walkabout!! I had gone out to clean the chicken coop and there they both were just milling about like they thought I should be cleaning my own darn house, not messing around with theirs. When I get Lucy out and close the doors, she will go around the house and look in every window and door to see if there is a way in. In the winter, she will sit on the woodpile and just stare inside at us. She is a laugh riot!

Gift containers for the holidays

2009-11-27T17:53:00.000-08:00

When I was visiting with my friend Bev a few weeks back, we made the nicest gift containers using paint cans (you can buy them at Home Depot or Lowes), vintage pictures and GLITTER!! Oh my, how I love glitter!!

Deb came over for the day today and we made soap (a really different blend with grapefruit and lime essential oils and ground oatmeal---will be a great pick-me-up for the long winter ahead), went to lunch and then we made these cans together. The best part is all the glittering we did. Deb loves glitter too, and went to town on her pictures. They are so Christmassy!!

This is a small paint can with a gorgeous picture on it. Deb will put a puffy bow on the top of the can.

This is a bucket I did with birds and holly and bells. I loved this picture and had to use it. I got all of the pictures online when I looked for free vintage Christmas clip art and cards.

These two buckets have the same winter scene on them. Deb's is the one with the gold ribbon. She used a lot more glitter on her picture, but it is not over the top. It looks great. I am working on some vintage embroideries with my machine tomorrow. There are some really beautiful designs out there,and I am making a table runner tomorrow with a few. Thanks for the great ideas for the paint cans, BEV!! We were inspired!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

2009-11-26T11:19:00.000-08:00

Of course I have an inflatable turkey on the yard!! This guy is so cute that I just had to have him.

This is the second to last wool embroidery block that I had to make for the quilt I have been working on all year. The last block is for Christmas and will be finished by this weekend if I try hard. Then I can put it all together and viola!! It's been a joy working on this at night while I am watching tv. Handwork is fun.

This morning I made this guy on my embroidery machine while I was watching movies and the parade. It's a towel for the kitchen. It's just for display though and will be put away this weekend as I get ready for Christmas. It's 2:30 pm and I am still in my pajamas!! I've got the turkey in the oven and the bread rising, so pretty soon I'll have to hit the shower. No one is coming over though so it will be us and the kids for dinner. I actually like that though since it keeps it all so easy and simple. Ken and Rob are fishing at the ocean (Rob is feeling pretty good already), so they are having fun too. Evelyn has to work on Black Friday, but is home doing homework for college now. Her boyfriend came over already to watch the parade and have bagels with her. Now she is hitting the books!!

Wisdom teeth OUT!!

2009-11-24T13:55:00.001-08:00

Doesn't Rob look like Santa??!! Only one month to Christmas. He even has the red clothes. He had all four wisdom teeth pulled today and the doctor said they were really impacted and hard to take out. So far though, he feels pretty good. We went to Borders while we waited for his prescription (for pain that will inevitably come VERY soon) and he got a new cook book (Alton Brown) from the tooth fairy. My mother reminded me that the tooth fairy needed to arrive some time today. His white beard is a towel with ice packs in it. He attached it to his head with a belt so that he could play his video game. Clever, isn't he? He has to eat soft foods for a few days, so Thanksgiving has to be a mostly mashed potato and pumkin pie event. Oh, he does not know I am posting this on my blog, so SSSHHHH!! I told him I was sending the picture to nana.

Thankful pilgrims

2009-11-17T17:41:00.000-08:00

I started this pilgrim wallhanging last week when Kenny asked me for one. There were no patterns available, so I looked online for some coloring book pages. Believe it or not, it was hard to find a picture that was not goofy or silly in some way. Eventually, I came up with this idea from a picture I saw on some clip art page.

Here they are with their faces and bodies outlined with black thread. I used a tight zig-zag stitch to make the outlines and contours on the clothes and hair.

Then I made some leaves and put them on the top and bottom of the pumpkin. They are three dimensional and have fabric on both sides of them.

The last step was to add an orange binding, which frames it up nicely. Overall, I am pretty happy with it. Since it was a make-it-up-as-you-go kind of project, there are some little mistakes, but no one else would realize it.

A few recent projects.

2009-11-14T16:55:00.000-08:00

I went to see my friend over at Bee Haven Acres last weekend and brought this reversible apron I made for Bev. She is the apron-making queen (even had one in a magazine!!), but I know it is still always fun to have someone else make us one! This is the Christmas side.

Evelyn came to the quilt shop when I was going for the fabric and she loved the little penguins skating on the ice.

This is the autumn side. The tan has wheat-like images on it. The big pocket has owls and pumpkins. Evelyn picked that out too. She has even told me that she would like to make an apron one day when she is done with college (in December she will graduate!!)

Today I took a class at the quilt shop on this folded star design. I did not buy ANY fabric for the class. Spent a few minutes in the attic going through my enormous stash and came up with these colors. Loved the way they came together. I had to leave the class early to attend an 80th birthday party for my neighbor, but came home later and finished it. It's in the frame and everything!

Kenny asked me for a Thanksgiving wallhanging with Pilgrims on it, and since there is no pattern available, I found some ideas from coloring books (always handy with easy designs) and created my own. It's almost done, but I am not sure how it will look! Maybe I will be able to post it tomorrow night. Or not!

Keeping a tradition alive. Dad makes Evelyn a Hope chest of her own!

2009-11-09T15:25:00.000-08:00

This is the front of the hope chest. Each panel is separate and on little rubber spacers so that it can expand and contract each season when the weather changes.

The dark line around the top is all inlaid.

Evelyn has always loved dolphins. Dad carved these and put them into the top.

A full picture of the front. I love it!!

These balloons are from Dad's party on October 4th!! They are still flying high at our house:)

THE STORY BEHIND THE HOPE CHEST

When my dad's 70th birthday was approaching, he was in the middle of making my daughter a hope chest. Remember how so many of us looked forward to having our own homes and families when we were young? A hope chest was a treasure that most of us wanted so that we could start collecting the things that would make our homes special. I don't think young women today have the same longings that we did back then, and they sure don't pine away for a hope chest! They have never even heard of them.

Well, dad made one for Evelyn and they made the decision to come here to deliver it in person. Of course, it was a surprise, so I could not tell her about it. For a few weeks I wanted to sort of mention hope chests and how we all wished for them when we were girls, but decided that would be too obvious.

She was so surprised and excited when she came home from work and saw her special gift. But, she had no inkling of its meaning or why she was getting one. (My dad made it clear she was not being coerced into marriage, but explained the tradition to her.) Evelyn was so touched by the gift and the letter my dad wrote to her about her and how special she is, that she told all of her friends about her hope chest and how grandpa made her one of her own. Now, they all want one too! Mom got her some new towels to put in there, so she is on her way to filling it with lovely things for her future home. It is sad when we forget the good traditions and just let them go. I loved (and still use) my own hope chest. Now Evelyn has her own family heirloom!

Now, that's a striped bass!! Pictures for my dad!

2009-10-22T17:35:00.000-07:00

We all grew up on this Island, so it's natural for everyone in the family to have done some fishing in their time. My husband used to surf cast, but does not have memories of catching fish. He decided to go with Rob to the ocean tonight to see if Rob would bring him any luck!!

Well, this is Kenny's happy face! Seven fish in one night!! The two of them had a ball!!

They are cleaning the rods and laughing like men who made a killing on the sea! Rob was the happiest ever....because...

He caught THIS!!! His biggest striped bass ever!! Notice the bumper sticker on his rear window..."Gut Fish?"

It was 39 1/2 inches long!! Boy, are the men around here happy. They said that they each brought luck to the other tonight! I had a quilting class in town that did not end until 8:30 p.m., and I totally expected to see them home and in the house long before I got back. But, no, they were just getting home when I did. I knew it had to be good when I heard their voices and saw their faces! Right now, Rob is cutting the fish up into several future dinners. They will sleep well tonight.

Halloween is coming!!

2009-10-20T18:22:00.000-07:00

Kenny made me these wooden Halloween decorations a few years back. I had seen them in Martha Stewart Living and just had to have them. We shine a big light on the front of the witch, cats, bats and crows. This is what they look like from the front.
The coolest part though, is that the shadow of the witch and one of the big cats shines right onto the top of our house! It is huge that it covers the house.

Yes, I do have one of those ghetto blow-up decorations! I just love them! We have at least one for each season. No one else is using them around here anymore, but until they die out, I will keep putting them up.
This is the cat that shows up on the house next to the witch. It is black, of course, but the flash made it look light.

About four years ago, I made this little wall quilt for Halloween. It hangs above the television so we can look at it all night while we watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer (we have all the seasons!!) or something else spooky. My mom tried to sneak this one out of the house before they left to go back to Florida, but I would fight over this one. I offered her my witch wallhanging, but no, this was the one she wanted!! :)

When my parents made the journey to Long Island earlier this month, my dad had a special surprise present for Evelyn!! I will devote the next blog entry to that one. You will love it!!

Mariners Compass quilt for dad's 70th!!

2009-10-06T14:44:00.000-07:00

My dad turned 70 this week and my parents came back to New York so we could all celebrate together. About a year ago, I started thinking about making him a Mariners Compass since he is an avid fisherman. I found this Quiltsmart pattern and started making it. This is the first section.

Two sections put together.

Half of the medallion together. My husband LOVED the colors in this quilt.

Here is the center medallion done. It is enormous!! For sure, it will take up the entire center of the bed. I have never done a quilt with just one center image, so it was cool to try it.

I put the center on this light blue (it's just placed on it here, not sewn on yet) and then put darker blue borders around it. The center is appliqued on and then it is ready for quilting. Since there would be so much blank space, I had the quilt quilted by a professional. She did the most amazing work on it. The blank space is a work of art by itself. Once the quilt is home at my parent's house, mom will take pictures of it and do a close-up of the quilting. I was stunned by that alone. Due to the weight of the quilt, the quilter said she would never do another one, so I guess I got lucky!!

Restless leg syndrome and "Why can't I sleep soundly?"

2009-09-21T17:11:00.001-07:00

My husband suffered from my restless leg syndrome for a lot of years. When I get this, my legs feel like things are crawling in them and they are all jumpy. So, the poor guy feels like he is sleeping with Bruce Lee as I spin around and around in bed kicking everything in my way! A few years back I read that it comes from a lack of potassium and other nutrients. I also read that rooibis tea can help this condition, so I started using it every day. It really helped me. For the most benefit, I started drinking it as iced tea all afternoon and into the early evening. When I make it hot, I do add milk to it. Otherwise, I just brew it up in the morning and then add ice and drink it like that--no sugar at all. I started bringing it to school too, and notice that I am not all shaky legged at night. Any red tea with rooibis as the main ingredient should work. I use any kind that I find in the store, but my all time fav is Organic Asian Pear Rooibis tea made by Bigelow. Can't get it here, so have to order it online or wait until I go to Pennsylvania for some! Since I also have A LOT of trouble staying asleep during the school year, this seems to help a bit then too. If I could just find a good tea for my busy brain syndrome! :)

Kenny is a huge King Arthur fan, and loves Merlin!! We watched that series on NBC this summer (wasn't it cool?). We decided to go back upstate yesterday for the last day of the Renaissance Faire, and I took Ken's picture with his favorite King Arthur character.

I think Ken felt like a kid again going to get his picture taken with a legendary character. Don't we all need to revisit the best parts of our childhoods once in a while? Now we have it on record!!

Merlin looking over the faire from his hillside post. He gave Ken a piece of wisdom from that pouch at this side. It was such a lovely day to go upstate for the entire day. Now we really do have to wait for another year.

Renaissance Faire

2009-09-15T15:21:00.001-07:00

The jousting match at the Faire! They have to compete in a variety of games, like catching rings on their lances.

Kenny competes in the strong man competition. He hits the bell up top every year.

Ken getting ready to throw his axes. He's ready to hit that bullseye.

His axes are all on his target! He hit more than anyone this time. Notice that my axe landed squarely in the middle of the red skull! I most definitely told my students about this on Monday (I might have exaggerated slightly about it).

I did, however, easily win the knife throwing contest! That is easy for me for some reason. Winning means I get a lovely little sticker and a skull and crossbones necklace. Yes, I wore it to school!

This is a picture of the human chess board. The queen decides where the players go and they have to fight it out.

More of the living chess game.

The maypole. Remember that when you were a kid? We don't do this in May anymore.

A dragon rising out of the lake.

A harpist. It was a lovely performance. We will not be able to attend the Faire this weekend, and since it is the last one for the year, we will have to wait until next summer to go again. It's a blast!

All good things must come to an end...to bring more good things!

2009-09-09T16:01:00.000-07:00

Every September I lament the loss of my free time and total relaxation; the ability to drag my chores and hobbies out throughout the day and get them done whenever. Now that I am back to school, I have to make time to sew, clean and do my canning, read books and cook. In spite of the sadness at having to leave my home and especially the river, it is also a happy time of new beginnings. As a teacher, my new year is really in September!! I love the fall, the changing weather, the new books and students at school and the chance to work with young people every day. I also see my friends during the day, which is a fun part of being a teacher.

My babies are getting big! Kenny and Rob made them a really big pen to hang around in during the day.

They were all running towards a bug!! Yesterday, before Rob left for college classes, he said a hawk was really pestering the chicks and trying to get to them. He brought them back into the house while he would be gone. I guess without me and the dogs roaming around all day in the yard, the hawk is looking for a happy meal! These chicken nuggets are not for sale!

My mother-in-law wanted to see a picture of my Kitchen Aid attachment for straining fruits and veggies. This is how the seeds, skins and stems come out of the machine. I feed this to the chickens. Looks kinda like poop coming out!

I put the tomatoes in the top part and they go down into the grinder to get separated for sauce. The good sauce comes out of the white thing and into a bowl. I tried to make sauce without cooking it down the other day, but when it was done canning, the water and sauce had separated and there was only about 1/3 of a jar of actual sauce in there. It was all on the top though, so when I go to use it later, it will be easy to get out of the jar. This time, I am cooking it down again before I can it. Next week I will be canning whole and crushed tomatoes. Then it's applesauce time!! I seem to sleep better when I work like this all day, so I don't mind all the work. Even after teaching all day, it is good. Makes it seem like it is still summer!

Clean sweep!!

2009-09-05T15:17:00.000-07:00

Every September, before I go back to work full-time, we clean the entire house inside and out. We clean the cars, the porch, even the dogs get a bath on that day!! This is the bathroom floor with the white rugs my mom gave me this summer. On this big cleaning day, the only thing I use in the bathrooms is bleach. We have a few mildew spots that pop up in the tiles on the shower ceiling and nothing else does the trick. Plus, I have to confess that although I generally clean with organic cleaners, the smell of bleach means clean to me!!

Every surface is clean and fresh. I made blueberry cupcakes for a snack since we were all so busy cleaning. Fruit waits on the counter by the stove. So does my roobis iced tea. That really does seem to do the trick for my restless legs (we always called it shaky leg before it had a real name!!)

Clean bathroom!! I love when the house is all clean!!

Rob powerwashed the house and the windows too. Nothing escaped a mop, hose or cleaning rag today. Good thing no one came over...they would have gotten the treatment too! Needless to say, I am really tired now. It's a good tired though from a day full of good work that really shows. We had shrimp with bacon and goat cheese for an appetizer tonight and for our main dish we had pepper steak. When we are done digesting, we will head over to Westhampton for an ice cream. Tomorrow we are going upstate for the Renaissance Faire!! A very favorite thing we do each September (sometimes we go a few times even though it is a 2 1/2 hour ride).

Back to school!! A few days left.

2009-09-03T08:18:00.000-07:00

I love Halloween and creepy things. I put stuff up in September and leave it up all year. This lovely spider is hanging on my chalk board.

My cork board is covered with farmhouse wallpaper and is used to keep paperwork organized (for about one week--if you know me!!) I am trying a new system to see if I can keep it in order.

My bulletin board in the hall. I saw this idea online and adopted it for my room. Each of the plates has a good thought for life and a food image.

My tomato sauce is done. This took so much time!! Between the Kitchen Aid work (getting rid of skins, seeds, etc) and then boiling the sauce down to a halfway good thickness, it took days to do!! I did get 19 quarts though and will use it in the dead of winter to have fresh tomato taste when we need it.

Crock pot to cook the tomatoes so that I could put them through the food mill. Then I cooked it again in the crock pot (and some on the stove) until it was thick enough to use as sauce. It's a messy process, but now I am done and the kitchen is shiny again. The cool part was using all local tomatoes from my neighbor and all of the herbs and spices were from my own garden. You can't beat that.

Rainy day Saturday...time for cleaning

2009-08-29T11:19:00.001-07:00

I actually plunked down a bit of money to buy curtains this summer. Usually I make all of my own, but thought it would be a treat to buy some ready-made (if they matched my room, of course). These are the beauties I got at Country Curtains.

My friend, Ronna, sent me the tablecloth ages ago, and I got it out, ironed it all up and set it out. Very clean looking (German made, so that figures!!). The box on the table is my tea box from my father.

View from the kitchen. We love to eat in this room when we have company. It's so sunny in here.

A close-up of the colors/textures/patterns on the curtains. I had told Deb that I wanted something floral and striped if I could find it. They were set up in the store just like I had imagined I would do it!

The tomatoes, peppers and eggplants from my neighbor's farm!! I will be making sauce tomorrow and Monday!! He will bring me more when I need it too. Having the canned fruits and vegetables from summer on my pantry shelves makes me smile all winter when it is so cold and barren outside.

Thinking about the holidays already!! New Aprons.

2009-08-28T16:19:00.001-07:00

I made this apron for a swap at MaryJanes Farm. Of course, I love Halloween, so a swap for that holiday is always a go for me!! I used a panel from a novelty print to make the pocket, and attached a piece of crocheted lace along the top.

Isn't this pocket the best!!?? Reminds me of my teacher friends and me after school!! (At least that's what the kids probably think!)

Close-up of the top of the pocket and the lower part of the top.

To make it more efficient, it's reversible, with a Christmas holiday print on the back. The pocket on this one is along the bottom and divided into four spaces. I topped it with big green rickrack.

I hope my partner likes it! I almost hate to part with it, but rest assured, I did buy enough fabric to make more of the same one!! This weekend is going to be another stormy one, so I plan to stay home and make spaghetti sauce (a neighbor who farms left me a few bushels of everything I need!!) and put up new curtains (from Country Curtains!!!). This is my last week before going back to school, so I usually use that time to make the house all clean and spiffy so I can concentrate on cooking and sewing at the end of the day once I am working all day.

First day outside for the chickies

2009-08-23T11:33:00.001-07:00

Today was the first day outside for the chicks. I use an upside down laundry basket to keep them in one place. Of course, someone has to see how secure it is right away.

Here they are inside checking out the grass and bugs.

Caught 'ya!

When it's time for a nap, they fall asleep wherever they are. This one slept like this for a few minutes. Funny how they have the same exact grass inside, but they wanted the grass outside of the basket. Just like us I guess!

A look at the ocean

2009-08-22T15:07:00.001-07:00

Hurricane Bill is off of the Atlantic Ocean now, making some big waves not far from us. Kenny and I went to take a look this afternoon and saw some pretty big ones. No one is allowed to swim in the ocean this weekend because of rip currents. Of course, the surfers were still out there, but I think the park police were chasing them out all afternoon.

There were so many people out on the beach today! It was pretty hot and the sun kept coming out, so it was kind of cool to sit there and listen to the roar of the surf.

This afternoon I finished tearing out my summer garden to get ready to plant for the fall/winter (I cannot believe I am saying that!!) crops. I am only going to plant carrots, radishes, shallots and spinach this year. In another month, I will plant lettuce in the cold frame. We ate the peppers with dinner tonight and I made an easy eggplant dish that was so good. So far, I did have two good tomatoes for dinner. They are heirlooms called Black Krim. They were excellent. A few more are on the vine getting ripe.

It must be love!!

2009-08-20T05:47:00.000-07:00

Evelyn has really become smitten with the baby chicks!! She even asked how they were when she called from work last night.

Maybe she is a real farmgirl after all. She was attacked by a rooster way back, so she has a ligit reason for being afraid, but we only have females now.

Rob loves anything to do with farming and livestock! Wish we had a bigger place to have it all!

You know it's hot when Ken wants to go to the beach. The weather here was HOT and humid for the past few days. It looks like it will carry on for a few more days at least. We had a nice swim in the Long Island Sound after work last night. Usually it is freezing cold, but not now.

The meanest cat EVER and the babies are here!!

2009-08-19T06:35:00.000-07:00

This is our cat, Calisto. When Rob was a little boy, he loved watching Zena, Princess Warrior, and on that show, there was an evil warrior always fighting with Zena. Her name was Calisto and since Rob loved that character, he named the cat after her. By the way, this cat was purchased by Rob for one dollar at the church yard sale! Well, she is kinda nasty--most of the time. She hisses to go out, hisses when you feed her, and if she graces you with her presence on your lap, you had better not move, because she will hiss some more. She does love my mom, my sister-in-law, and Evelyn though. Always has. Well, at least she has good taste in people!~

How exciting to get a phone call at 7 am today that my chicks had arrived at the post office!! I ran right over there to pick the darlings up.

I only got six for now, just to add to my flock which has diminished ever so slightly due to aging out. Since it is so hot here, I will not need heat lamps or anything, which makes it easier than spring babies.

While Evy was sleeping, I placed two chicks in her arms to wake her up. Funny how she looks like a little girl when she is sleeping. Evy is not a lover of my chickens at all, but she was charmed by these two babes and let them snuggle for a bit with her.

A day at home

2009-08-06T05:48:00.000-07:00

Penny and Millie got these toys for Christmas last year, but I had to fix them because Penny likes to nibble at the seams to take out the squeaky thing. Today I sewed them up and gave them back. Penny was afraid of them until she saw Millie take one.

Millie is happy to have her baby back. She carried it around all night last night.

This pie was made by my neighbor who happens to be a guy!! Look at that lattice work. He is a construction worker, so I guess he is used to precision!! I had made him some supper last week because while he was at work, someone broke into his house and stole his television. We don't ever have that happen here, so he was really upset to come home to that.

Side view of the pie. My family was really thrilled with this pie--it was so good. He also brought us vanilla ice cream to go with it.

To round out the day, Kenny got me these flowers for the dining room table. He even picked them himself! Not a bad day!!

Quilt for a favorite baby!!

2009-08-01T17:04:00.001-07:00

I started this quilt in the winter for my friend's daughter who had had a baby in September. At first I really hated it!! Not the design, but the wild colors I was using. Surely they would never meld together the way I wanted them to...

The baby's name is Ryan Zachary, but I put his nickname "Oatcakes" in large letters because the baby was named after my friend's son who was killed in the car crash last year, and she has never been able to call her grandson Ryan yet since it is so painful. I put his real name in small letters on the bottom of the block.

Here it is all done. I hated it even last night, but once it was all together and the center block was done, I loved it. I chose a red and blue border to tie it all together and used a blue stripe as the binding. Right now, I am so happy that I saw it through to the end!

The blue stripe finished it off nicely!! Tomorrow is the christening, so we will give it to the baby at the party. I know the babe's mom will love it and it makes me happy to know in some small way, I will keep little Ryan warm and cozy.

From bright to blight!!

2009-07-27T16:58:00.000-07:00

We stay in a little studio apartment while we are in Vermont at Smugglers Notch. It is really so cute and cozy. We have a little balcony overlooking the mountains and fields.

The mountains on the road we stay on are really enormous.

We can see the ski trails from our balcony too. This morning I took these pictures when we got on the road to head home.

Then I came home to find my tomatoes all full of that horrible blight that is killing all the tomatoes on Long Island.

I had to go out and tear all the plants out and throw them into a plastic bag and put them out for the garbage man. I still have two or three big plants that look ok for now--they are both heirloom varieties, so maybe I can salvage them!! Plus, they are not near the plants that were infected. We will see. My cukes, beans and zucchini are all good, as are my herbs. Tomorrow I will check out the rest of the stuff I only glanced at and see what is going on.

Table runner and matching towel

2009-07-22T18:06:00.001-07:00

My friend Michelle came over today and wanted to do some sewing. She loves to sew and is really good at it, but has not done it in a while, so thought she would start with a runner. We each made one with the same fabrics so we would remember doing this together. I used a piece of the fabric to applique a matching towel.

This is the runner, with two borders. The fabric is a novelty print that looks pieced, but is not. When I quilt it, I will go around each square so it looks pieced. Easy and fun.

Quilt made in an embroidery hoop (mostly!!)

2009-07-21T15:48:00.001-07:00

I have an embroidery machine that I use almost every day!! It is a regular sewing machine as well, so I just keep it out all of the time. Anyway, I joined an embroidery club at the quilt shop and this time we made a quilt that was done almost entirely in the hoop, which means it was being quilted as we went along too. This is one of the blocks. It is all thread making the designs.

This little darling was all appliqued in the hoop!! It is so tiny, which I usually hate to do, but it was fairly easy.

Finished and ready for hanging or laying on the dining room table. The colors are a little muted in the big picture, but you can see the overall idea.

Wool and cotton BOM quilt and a cake!!

2009-07-20T13:02:00.001-07:00

My daughter has always been the baby of the street we live on. She was the little girl everyone took care of and looked out for. All of the other kids on the road were older than she was (by a few years or more), so she tagged along and got involved with whatever they were doing. As a result, she was always "Little Evy" and no one wanted her to get older!! My neighbor across the street loves my kids and likes to bake for them. This is a red velvet cake, which is Evy's favorite. So, once in a while my neighbor will call and tell me to come get a cake she made for Evy!! This was the most recent one. What a lucky kid, huh? Well, Evy wasn't home so we all ate some of her cake without her!! :) Ok, we ate a lot of the cake without her.

This is part of a wool quilt BOM I get in the mail from The Quilt Basket in Wappingers Falls, NY. They need to be ironed, but you get the idea.

This is the block for March.

This is January. My snowman does not have his little eyes yet, but soon he will.

April's block. I enjoy working on these and look forward to getting them each month. Of course, I am a little behind on them, so when I go to Vermont with Ken this week, I will try to get May and June done. Then I will be half-way there. I have received all but the last two blocks, so I need to get a move on!!

Cut them trees down!! A treeman's dream come true!

2009-07-13T14:43:00.000-07:00

We are inside of this tree right now. You can see the little tunnel you have to walk through to get inside.

We went to The Bayard Cutting Arboretum (A state-run park about 1/2 hour from us) yesterday. This tree is enormous and you walk around inside of it. You can see railings all around. Someone was sleeping on the railing yesterday!

Of course, Ken is always thinking in terms of his chain saw. He imagined cutting this bad boy down! Not sure the Parks Department would appreciate that though.

Here he is explaining why he needs a chance to use the huge chainsaw "just this once..."

This is the tree we were walking around inside of!! How cool is that? This summer has been so cool (record-breaking cold in fact), but we have had sun lately, so who cares? It was actually hot some of the time we were at the Arboretum.

pre-birthday day of fun!!

2009-07-08T15:09:00.001-07:00

Today I was taken out to lunch by a friend I used to work with at school. She is a librarian we hired last year and I was her mentor. This year she went to a different school (our school had budget cuts and an excessed librarian returned, so my friend had to move on:(, but we have maintained our friendship. My birthday is coming up, so we went to lunch at a cute place on the river.

Here is the view from the deck where you can sit and eat. This is the same river I live on. It is a nice little lunch/dinner spot that is impossible to see from the road, yet everyone finds it!!

In the morning, I did laundry and hung it out to dry. Love that!

Doesn't this look like a cloud? Well, it isn't. I brushed Millie this morning and all this hair came off (and then some!!). It was like there was a wild animal brawl in my driveway when I was done. At least now, there will be less in the house, I hope!

Scottish Mystery Quilt done!

2009-07-06T12:19:00.000-07:00

For the Scottish mystery quilt, I chose the colors of thistle ahead of time. We have no idea what the quilt will look like.

We cut out the pieces at the class, start to assemble the blocks and try to guess what block(s) we are making. No one guessed correctly on this one., not even Sandy (Sandyquilts) who always cheats and looks online or sneaks into the closet at the quilt shop!!

Here is the finished top. I used a floral border around the quilt, which my husband does not care for (although he loves everything else about it--especially the colors).

The blocks form a half-log cabin piece, which looks pretty nice all together. This is a nice spring quilt to put out for Easter.

What I do on summer vacation!

2009-07-02T15:39:00.001-07:00

During the school year, I am always rushing to get things done and clean. Big jobs like cleaning this pantry from top to bottom don't get the attention they deserve. Here is the cleaned version of the pantry.

Everything is organized by categories and uses. Now we don't have to tear the whole room apart to find that missing box of pasta or that long-missing mustard!

When I cleaned off one shelf, I put the contents on the center countertop. Then I would wash the shelf, go outside for a while with the dogs while it dried and then come back and restock it neatly. With about 6 shelves and the floorspace, it took all day:)

Starting to see the light!!

I make my own French bread using the sourdough starter I have had from a friend for years and years!! Something else I have time for now that I am not on any specific schedule. I love summer!

Feed sack quilt

2009-07-01T13:01:00.001-07:00

I have this book called Sugar Sack Quilts, which has quite a few really cute quilts using feed sacks or repro fabrics from the 30s-50s. I liked this one and decided to make it as my first project from the book. I used feed sacks I got on ebay a few years back.

On the edges I used a crocheted lace and topped it with tiny lime green rick-rack.

It needs to be ironed before it's quilted, but here is the finished product. Someday it will find its way onto my kitchen wall, but who knows when? To keep the look authentic, I used black thread to embroider the flowers on. Overall, it was a quick and fun quilt to make.

Fun at the house!!

2009-06-30T15:23:00.000-07:00

Here is the other apron I made yesterday with the same pattern I used for the MJF swap. It looks like the main fabric is black and white, but it is really brown with green/orange/white flowers.

Here is my niece, April, wearing the apron my mom made for me. We were making cookies today.

Evelyn, April and Edyta (Eve's friend) in our new "pool!" We got it today because Evelyn had to have one to sit in at home. She won't swim in the river because a turtle might bite her! LOL

At first they were talking about how cold it would be.....and took a while to sit down.

Attempting to get in. Since Evelyn made me buy it, she was the first to get in, just to prove she would not complain about how cold it is. We did pour a lot of hot water in there from the house first. They sat out in it for a few hours, so I cannot complain!

Patriotic apron swap at MJF

2009-06-29T15:08:00.000-07:00

I am just finishing up a patriotic apron swap at MJF. My partner, Toni, made this cupcake pincushion to go with my apron. It's too cute!!

Here is the beautiful apron Toni made for me!! The work is fabulous and everything is just perfect!! I wore it tonight and love, love, love it!! Isn't it perfect for Fourth of July, which is coming up really quickly?

This is the fabric I used to make Toni's apron. It is vintage patriotic and very pretty. I knew the minute I saw it that I had to make hers with it.

The finished apron for Toni. I never made this style before, but had seen it online and in the fabric shops I haunt all the time. It was easy to make once I had the pieces ready to go together. I hope she likes it. I cut another one out as I was making hers, but with different fabrics. Tomorrow I will finish that one and show you. Oh, I made trivets to match the apron, which will go in the package tomorrow.

Hi mom!! Hope your trip home was easy and that tonight you have a nice, restful sleep. Oh yeah!! You should see the apron my momma made me before she came up last week!! That is tomorrow's news, so will wait to show it til then!!

Happy Fathers Day!!

2009-06-21T15:09:00.001-07:00

Here is a picture of my dad when he was a little boy!! Sorry it is sideways, but I could not figure out how to rotate it in this program. Hope all the dads in your lives are being treated well today (and every day, right?) and enjoying their day of rest!!

reuse and recycle!

2009-06-15T17:33:00.001-07:00

This little blackcap chickadee was on the rug on the front porch plucking up the dogs' hair to use in the nest.

Almost a full mouthful!!

After the bird got enough, he flew off to line the nest with my dogs' fur. It's so cute how they use whatever is available to feather their homes.

Russian stacking doll tea cozy is here!!

2009-06-13T12:43:00.000-07:00

Jessica sent me this adorable tea cozy as part of a swap we did together at MJF!! It is so beautiful and goes with my little collection of these dolls!! I love it!!

It's a coincidence that I really love these dolls and have gotten a few over the years. The big one is from a Russian store I went to while I was in San Francisco about six years ago. There are at least 24 dolls inside the big one. The tiny one is only like the size of half of your pinky nail!! It takes a long time to open all of them though!

She is entirely hand painted, and the artist used gold in some of the details. It was just something I had to have when I saw it. Went to the store every day for a week before making the purchase, but I still love it and have great memories whenever I take her out. So, thank you, Jess, for such a great tea cozy to have next to her in the dining room!!

The mess on my desk!!

2009-06-07T18:28:00.000-07:00

My desk at work is always a mess. I can always find what I am looking for, but now it is time to clean it up as the year comes to an end (finally!). A few students like to come to my room every lunch period, and they are tackling the rest of the room (which is a mess, but I didn't make it-the kids did).

A pile of books ready to be put back on the shelves!! My students love my messy room!! That is so weird, but they say it's like their bedroom at home, with stuff here and there. If I try to clean it up, they get upset about it and make it a mess again, so now I will just get the two 7th graders who come in to get it ready for the end of the year. Next year they can make a mess again!! :)

This is an Italian grocery store about 40 minutes from my house. I have wanted to go there for a long time, so I convinced my friend Cara that we should meet there when we wanted to get together for dinner. So, we had dinner at a nice restaurant in the shopping center and then we went grocery shopping. Got some nice, fresh ravioli and some good pastries for my family.

The weekend is coming to an end and I am sitting here watching Ice Road Truckers!! I love this show and watch it every season. Jesse James is a Dead Man comes on after that, and so far we like that too. Mindless tv is a good thing!

Snapping turtle alert!

2009-05-31T14:19:00.000-07:00

I went outside this morning to feed my chickens and when I went to go back into the house, I saw this snapping turtle lumbering up the driveway!

The turtles usually come onto land to lay their eggs, so I guess she is looking for someplace to do that up by the woods.

My garden is coming in nicely!! String beans, zucchini, onions, tomatoes and lots of herbs to make tea and for cooking. I have eggplant, peppers, radishes, lettuce and spinach coming in again too.

Heirloom string beans that I grew in the coldframe and then transplanted. Can't wait to have some fresh food on the table. Not much going on here this weekend. Just planting, reading, sewing and hanging out. We had a bunch of people over for a BBQ Friday night, and that made the weekend seem even longer. Well, finally it will be June when I go to work. I cannot wait to be done with this year. Summer will be such a relief!!

Happy Memorial Day

2009-05-25T09:37:00.000-07:00

This is the Calverton National Cemetary which is a few miles from us. We are thinking of going there today to honor the veterans who fought for us.

Another shot of the cemetary. It seems weird to say Happy Memorial Day when you are honoring those who died. I never thought of it like that before. Hope you are having a nice day as you remember those from your own life who have moved on to be with the Lord. As I plant more veggies today, I will think of those whom I miss and have happy thoughts about them.

Memorial Day weekend means summer here on Long Island!!

2009-05-23T13:23:00.000-07:00

I finally got the front porch cleaned and ready for the summer. The weather here is nice and warm, with a lot of sun for the past few days.

My grandpa made this porch swing for me as a Christmas present about 30 years ago when I was really really young!! Did not have a house yet, but I knew I had to have one with a porch when I did buy one.

Two wicker rockers that do not match. They are pretty old too. This is where I sit to read and have tea.

My friend Ronna emailed me this fabric that was for sale on Equilter.com. Of course, I had to buy it immediately. Maybe I will make curtains with it, or a new apron.

I started this quilt earlier in the week. The prints are actual feed sacks that I got on Ebay during the past few years. The alternating blocks will be reversed from these, with a print in the background and the flowers plain colors. This quilt is from a great little book called SUGAR SACK QUILTS. One of these days, I will make them all!!

Nosey little hen!!

2009-05-18T14:26:00.000-07:00

I was outside with the dogs for a while after work this afternoon. When we came back in, I could hear "cluck cluck cluck" in the pantry!! This little girlie had walked right into the house while I was outside and was helping herself to dogfood!! When she heard us, she meandered to the dining room!!

She does let me hold her, so I picked her up by the hutch and took her picture. Don't you wonder what they tell each other in the henhouse? Now, I will never be able to leave the kitchen door open if the girls are roaming the yard!

My best quilt ever?? Maybe...

2009-05-17T15:40:00.001-07:00

At my quilt shop, we have a machine embroidery block-of-the-month each year. This was last year's project. It was done in a lot of solid colors, with the embroidery in various colors. I wanted a red and white quilt, so did it that way.

The quilt is a combination of embroidery and piecing. At first, we were all not sure if the red and white combo was going to come out nicely, but we all loved it when it was done.

It was really hard to find so many fabrics that were just red and white!! You would think it would be easy to find, but no!

Each section of the quilt is a flower pot of some kind, with different seasonal flowers.

Here it is all ready for quilting. I might do it by hand and take next winter to do it. My friend Sandy says this is the best one I ever did. I love it too. This year, I am planning a traditional blue and white quilt. Maybe a schoolhouse block or something like that.