Beach Bags

I've made a birthday gift for a friend. The pretty purple hat sticking out of the top of the bag was the inspiration for the colors, and since she now has a new beach hat, I thought a bag would be nice too. And I don't think a person can have enough bags, frankly.
I had a few little scraps feft over and some of these beautiful beads that Hannah shared with us so I made another little bag for Loel's little granddaughter who will undoubtedly help her open her gifts, so a surprise tucked under the big one. I used Sarah's easy method for sewing up the sides and having the lining material show.
And the button. Love it!

Shrinky-Dink??

Shrinky-dink!! Isn't that some craft substance from the 70's? And notice how Deborah coordinated the handmade pin heads with the ribbon. Nice touch! And a heartfelt thank you for this simple pleasure-giving gift!

Lucky us!

Morning coffee....doesn't this picture of Deborah say it all? Lazy, take your time getting the day started morning coffee. Friendship. Too long since we were all able to get together.

Seattle

We're on our way home this morning. Early. Our flight leaves at 6:45 for the trip back to the east coast and it's VERY early considering the late nights we've had. Having fun of course. But I wanted to post some pictures of things that made an impression on me. Unfortunately, Mt Rainier was not one of them since we've had mostly cloudy or overcast days.

Dungeness Crab Cocktail for lunch. Wine for lunch. Perfect.

Pike's Place fish market. This is an amazing city. Fresh fish, fresh food, fresh flowers, healthy looking people...could there be a connection???

Check out the price on these beauties... and they lined at least 2 blocks.

Walking back from dinner last night we found this beauty. It's covered with little animals, an art car with wild animals inside and out.

I've Been Tagged

So here are the 7 habits/facts about me:

1. I have to have my morning coffe in the presence of nature. If i can't go outside I have to be in a window with a view. I think it's my form of daily meditation.

2. I would get so upset when my kids would leave cupboard doors and drawers open. My kids have been gone for 10 plus years and the doors and drawers are still staying open...oops.

3. The older I get the more I need organization. Is it the virgo in me or the need to create an environment where it's easier to REMEMBER where i put things?

4. I can spend days working on a piece of fabric art, but please don't ask me to hem a pair of pants.

5. In a large group I tend to gravitate towards the kids, preferably under the age of six. They are so entertaining. Me and Art Linkletter think so anyway. (And you say,"who's that?")

6. I read/listen to more than one book at a time. Right now I have 3 going. I always finish them and I always seem to keep the stories straight, though in other parts of my life multitasking doesn't come as easily as it once did.

7. I am blessed. With good health. With a patient and loving husband. With incredible kids. With a family that gets bigger and better with every new baby.

But not with 7 blogger friends that haven't already been tagged for me to pass this on to. Oh well.

Art Quilts Maine Exhibit

It is a beautiful show in a beautiful space. The Saco Museum is a mixture of the old and new...old , traditional quilts followed by a new space and new artquilts. The first few pictures are interpretations of the log cabin square.


Kate's piece done with scraps of fabric donated by the family of one of our members who passed away a few years ago.

Home is Where the Hearth Is, by Pat Halpern. Wish I had taken a real close up showing the embellishments.

Water, by Annette Houston. the colors were stunning, (because they're blue?!) and the quilting lines were gold thread. Really nice.

Our own Sarah Ann Smith's trees. You may have seen this on her blog at one time or another.


This one is by Julie Weaver and I was so taken with it, I never got the title. I thought she did a fabulous job iof integrating the photo with the fabric.

Ginkos on a Moonlit Pond, by Sue Gehrhardt. The ginko leaves and dragonflies were made using water soluble stabilizer with threadwork on top of sheer fabric.

It's always so interesting to see a group of quilts in one place, to see how the makers themselves have progressed in their work. This show will be up till the end of June, I think, for anyone living or traveling in Maine who wants a treat. Saco Museum and Dyer Library, Main St., Saco.

Coffee and Chocolate

Staples.

First Bouquet of Spring

...nothing more to say.

G Street Fabrics

Yes, for all my quilting friends who understand the quickening of the heartbeat as you get close to a fabric store, you'll certainly understand how I felt as I approached, for the first time, G Street Fabrics. I thought for sure I'd come out with bags and bags, but as it turned out I had two little pieces in hand. I think I'm liking and using my hand painted/ hand dyed fabrics these days, so commercial fabrics are taking a back seat. For now. Anyway, it was nice to finally get to see firsthand this huge landmark outside of Washington.

And since we had a whole day to play before our flight left at 9:30pm, we spent a big part of the day at the National Arboretum. The sun was shining and the azaleas were in bloom, and there was REAL GREEN GRASS that needed to be cut! Lovely place.

Azaleas.

Lilacs.

Dogwood. Oh my.

McManus/Flatvoll Wedding

Spring in Virginia surrounded by family and extended family can only mean one thing...wedding! And to make this one even more special the groom and his family are from Norway. There were a lot of people who came a very long way to participate in this momentous event. And several of them wore traditional dress:

These are called bunads. Your bunad shows what part of Norway you identify yourself with. There are hundreds of different bunads, each district, valley or town has its own, some in several varieties (colours). One of these ladies is in blue and the other is in green. There are many appropriate times to wear a bunad, one being a wedding. Considering it was a very hot day, these women not only handled it with grace, but danced up a storm at the reception.

Love it!

The bride and groom , though, wore traditional american wedding attire and were stunning.

And of course there were cute kids at this wedding. Keilly, Bridget, Seamus and Ella are all sporting their new tattoos:



Two hearts. What a great idea.

This is the beginning of my project proposal for the new Lark book on embellishing with beads, coming out next year (?) My Frayed Edges group was asked to submit ideas and all of us had at least one of them accepted, some 2 or 3! I've started out with hand painted fabrics and in the end will use lots of beautiful fibers and beads to top it off. Actually, it's done and ready to be mailed off, just waiting to share at our next meeting before it goes.

On another note: series. I've never done one. I'm thinking about it. Everyone says you learn a lot from doing a series, but I flunked perserverence in grammar school. I didn't even know what it meant then. I'd like to think I have more staying power in these adult years. And I think I'll choose a subject that's not about blue. Stretch a little out of my comfort zone.

Little Persian Rug

Twenty years ago my mother was creating beautiful hooked rugs. At least that's what I always called them, but I think the correct term is punched needle rugs or sheared punch needle rugs. She sometimes used commercial patterns, but there are several we collaborated on, me being the designer and her making the actual rugs. Traditional quilt patterns lend themselves very well to hooked rugs. Nearly seventeen years ago she was diagnosed with alzheimers, and it will be 2 years this October that she's been gone. Physically. When she was losing some of her motor skills my dad and I were grasping at straws, trying to keep her 'present'. So I contacted one of her old instructors and we put together this Little Persian Rug kit. Needless to say, it was an exercise in frustration for her. She couldn't make her mind tell her hands where to go. The kit has been in the back of my closet for years, and now I'd like to give it to someone who will make this beautiful little rug and send me a picture of it completed. Yours for free. If you're not interested, maybe you know someone who would be. Size: 2'x4'; 100% wool. Please just leave a comment saying you're interested or you can email me.

I've just finished reading The Poet of Tolstoy Park by Sonny Brewer. It was given to me by my sister, Maureen, who is in a reading group and this was one of their choices. I was in a group once, but I didn't feel like I was carrying my weight: I'd rather listen to what others had to say, unless of course I felt very strongly about something. At first I felt awful about not contributing, but then I didn't care; after all, it's not about me. And in that frame of mind, this book echoes that feeling for me. It's the fictional story of Henry Stuart, (a real life character), who moves through life trying to "perfect the soul awarded him". A philosopher poet. There are lots of little tidbits to chew on at quiet times during the day, like "the more we think we know the more we think we matter. We become obsessed with our own cleverness...and with a constant desire to prove that we matter." If someone else read this book, I'm sure there'd be a different part that spoke to them. It was hard to hold in mind the fact that this was a work of fiction, and I finished it shaking my head in awe that Sonny Brewer (or anyone) could write something so real? Heavy? Poignant? Deep? I guess it's no different than creating a piece of art and people saying how did you do that?!
Speaking of art, that's my direction for today. That and finding a pair of red shoes to go with a new red skirt for a wedding this weekend. The art part will be easier, believe me.

Wildlife Everywhere

Home from our mini vacation in Florida with lots of new birds to add to my lifelist:


Little Blue Heron
what a gorgeous beak.

Sand Hill Cranes
never even looked both ways before crossing the street and walked right in front of us. Guess this is their neighborhood.

Limpkin
and the roseate spoonbill, Great White Egrets, little ones too.
And then there were some other characters along the Myacca River:

It was a great trip.

Leaving it all behind

Tomorrow we leave this:

taken moments ago. I'd say that's a good 12 inches on that granite block that was naked this time yesterday morning. No chance of seeing the sun today. But TOMORROW!!! We trade it all in for this:

Walking the beach in Florida for a long weekend. Ahhh, warm sand, warm water, perfect timing.

And just so you know I've been staying on task, here's a picture of fibers I'm using in my top secret project.

Not so secret, really. Just an excuse to NOT say this is as far as I've gotten!

I've Been Trying:

1. to spark my creativity by reading this book, Kaleidoscope with the most beautiful cover. It's one of those books that FEELS so good just to touch it. Well put together. And it has a chapter by a woman named Susan Tuttle, (who is a good friend of my friend Kate). I've met Susan once and in that one brief moment knew she was one of those women who looks you in the eye and is genuinely interested in what you're saying. Her part asks us to "Explore the Landscape Within", a self portrait. But I REALLY can't wait to get to the chapter called "Set Your Brain On Fire"...that's just what I need.











2. to walking every day. I found a new hill not far from home...15 minutes up and 15 down. I get so bored doing the same walk that I've taken to driving to some of the backroads, parking and walking in a new place with new things to look at. Whatever works. I've lost 10 pounds of unnecessary stuff.

3. to be patient during negotiations for a piece of property near the coast. To NOT get my heart set on it so much that I go into a funk if it doesn't work out. Moving after retirement has always been in the back of our minds, so this will be the first real concrete step.

4. to knit, to read, to clean, to put christmas decorations away (pitiful me). They're off the mantle and made it to the couch...TODAY the attic!

New Projects and Inspiration

This is my new project. Knitting a sweater for me. I don't trust making one for someone that may be disappointed if it comes out not quite the right size, or a little lopsided. But for this one time, I'm determined to do it the right way, so much so I've already ripped part of it out once, emailed the designer once with questions, and know I need to rip some out on the other finished side. The designer, Jill Vosburg, was very helpful and very patient with a neophite like me. The funny thing is, I'm not really new at knitting. My mother taught me when I was 8? But I've always knit "my way", meaning never EVER taking time to do a test guage square. Duh. Making changes to a pattern because I like it "this way instead". I guess that's okay if you know what you're doing. :)

So hopefully, before too long I'll have a finished product to show.

I'm so surprised to see that crocheting is also making a big comeback. I have an afghan, (or 'african' as Stephen King calls it in his new book Lisey's Story) that was made by my Aunt Maddie and given to us as a wedding present. But the one I wish I had was one I grew up with. It was beautiful multicolored squares surrounded by black. It was always on the back of the couch and when I was home sick from school it would entertain me for hours, just looking at the color arrangements. Nice memory. Hope everyone has one of those special memories.

Signs of Spring

When I was younger and my kids were little I worked with my friend Loel in her nursery school. Every spring she would send the kids away at the end of the day with the assignment of looking for 'signs of spring'. I still do it. All by myself. And besides the first crocus, first pussywillows, first green grass, there are three BIG ones I look for in anticipated excitement. We've got number one:

Tapping the maples. I particularly love this stand of maple trees with the real old fashioned buckets attached, not the new efficient plastic kind with the tubing attached to each one.

They line the road for a good stretch, with this beautiful old stone wall running behind it. Quintessential New England in spring.

Numbers two and three are a ways off yet. I'll let you know.

Knitting Bag

I went away last weekend and came home without the cord to download pictures from my camera, so I feel like I'm missing some major part of my blogging life. What's a post without pictures, I say. At least I need the crutch of pretty pics enhancing my words. But, until my cord comes home I do have some to show you...a knitting bag I made for my sister's birthday.

She can organize all her needles and patterns in one place:and I got to use one of my beautiful new buttons:Can you tell I'm having a hard time with the new beta blogger and moving pictures around...and what's with this blue text? Anyone have some words of advice for the technically challenged?

We pause for a moment...

...to bring you a few pictures of the last days of winter here in Maine. These are two of 5 ruffed grouse in my crabapple tree that is right outside my kitchen window. I love that tree. Last weekend we had a 'herd' of turkeys eating off of it...some in the tree and some standing on the ground jumping up to reach the fruit...pretty funny.
And this is daughter Sarah with her housemates, Maslow and Buca. Big dogs. We had a great day on the lake and the house didn't suffer too much from wet dog. I bought a new bathing suit today in preparation for a trip to Florida in a couple of weeks. And when we get home, it will be warmer here. Sap hasn't started running yet because the days are not that warm, ( warm days/cool nights) but March 25th is Maple Syrup Sunday around here so it will be SOON!

So Close...

This is 99.5% done...all that's left to do is hand quilt the log cabins, and think of some very clever title for it. It's about 26x26, hand painted fabric, using washers as embellishment....I'm happy with it.

The real color is more like the top photo.