From bright to blight!!

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

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!!)

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!!

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!

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!!

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!

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!

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

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.