Nuisance Calls from the Mood Ranch

Back from Somewhere

2011-07-27T11:39:00.002-04:00

I have been in kind of an off and on fibromyalgia/arthritis adventures. Some new meds seem to be helping.
Right now I am working on two little doll quilts to enter in the Houston Quilt Festival. The requirement for an entry is that you have a bed for the quilt to be displayed on. You can enter up to ten quilts, I have been working on two little ones, different sizes, so I needed two little doll beds. My friend Michael, who is a master carpenter, made them for me. They were done today, I feel lucky because he is the busiest person in the universe. Now I just have to everything done by tomorrow morning so I can overnight a CD with pictures on it to the judges. I just have to make two little mattresses and pillows and then I can take some photos.
I bought a new memory card for my camera and then dropped my camera on a stone floor, that was the sudden death of that old friend. I have a new little camera so if I can figure it out I will post a couple pictures tomorrow.
I discovered Online Quilt Museum, a wonderful site headed up by a terrific quilter, Karen Griska. You should definitely take a peek, and be sure to look at Karen's quilt gallery. She is the author of a really fun book, Selvage Quilts, and has some amazing pictures of her selvage quilts .
Right. Back to work, the sewing studio is howling my name.....

Owlet

2010-11-05T15:03:00.000-04:00

This is such a wonderful little adventure, do check it out...

Cheap Thrills in the night Sky

2010-08-13T03:25:00.003-04:00

My son woke me at 2 a.m. to go sit on our balcony and watch the Perseiad meteor showers. A clear night, and a beautiful array of meteors. Usually it is foggy every time I haul myself out of bed in hopes of seeing this annual display so I really appreciated the chance to see the sky at its best.
Here's a sort of lousy picture of my entry in this year's Hoffman fabric challenge. I just learned my quilt is in good company with many other that will tour the country in trunk shows for a year. A nice surprise...
We got fresh wild blueberries today, they are such delicious morsels. All in all, a lovely day.

My latest sewing room adventure

2010-03-28T13:04:00.005-04:00

Just because I have four unfinished projects in hand doesn't mean i can't start another one, I decided I'd like to try some pineapple blocks, haven't made any of those for many years. Hector decided he's the quality control officer so he settled in to see how well the blocks were made, and of course since they weren't connected so he was quite disappointed.
The weather keeps jumping around, confusing my bones and making me even more grouchy, I am so tired of winter, and though i know spring is creeping its way towards us, I would appreciate a bit more speed on this front. i did notice my columbines and lungwort have sent out little green bits and the daffodils and the narcissus are coming up, but in general the landscape is brown, One of my favorite colors when it comes to quilting, but I would like a huge extravaganza of GREEN now.
A neighbor's blueberry field was covered with robins yesterday, I'm always happy to see them put in an appearance.

Busy as i can be

2010-03-25T23:35:00.002-04:00

Well, I'm not all that busy, but I am trying, I've been sewing up a storm, have four unfinished things I am quilting and so of course, I started another one. When I can't sleep at night i sew for a bit and the last couple of nights I've been working on some pineapple blocks, they are coming out a bit wonky, but i am enjoying the process of sewing, using the seam ripper and resewing. I have created quite a mess around my sewing table again. i always roll up my leftover log cabin strips into big rolls of light or dark one and a quarter inch strips. I try not to trash them right away, but I just start unrolling like mad when I am piecing things and it is a real nest of trouble at the moment. The cats are enjoying it, they love to come supervise when I am sewing.
My yard is covered with big drifts of snow drops, and now the crocus and the siberian squill are appearing as well. The blue of the scilla is just such an exquisite color, and i noticed some perennials coming up too, lungwort and columbine mostly. I have to get out there with a rake and remove the big piles of dirt the snow plow guy made, covering up one of my flowerbeds. We had torrential rain for a couple of days, transforming my driveway into a bit of a mud pit, but it was lovely today, sunny and breezy. Spring is definitely approaching, it did snow for about an hour yesterday, but just those big fluffy flakes that disappear almost instantly....

It's official, it is Hanging Season, aka The F Month

2010-02-07T10:43:00.003-05:00

Yessiree, Hanging Season is in full swing. It has been so cold my brain refuses to function sometimes. I have started a small quilt for the Hoffman challenge and when my fingers and brain cooperate I work on that. It is nice to have a small piece to work on. I finished a mini quilt for January, and eventually I will take a picture of that, two friends and I have decided to make one quilt a month this year, and we'll swap one or two, that should be fun.
The picture of the cats is just like my backup heating source, so I couldn't resist passing it along.
In the sumer, the frequent complaint is:it's not the heat, it's the humidity, but this winter I am screaming:It's not the arctic cold, it's the fRIgging wind! My house sits up on a little knoll, so the wind makes some noise when it whips around the back. And since my storm windows keep falling off, we get gale force winds in the downstairs bathroom and the bedrooms upstairs.
The key to being able to drag yourself out of bed this winter is to layer as many items of clothing as possible, And wool blankets, thank heaven for junkstores, I have gotten some wonderful old blankets this year. Well, I'll stop this blather and get back to today's excitement : LAUNDRY

Making Progress. sort of

2010-01-16T15:25:00.002-05:00

I have been doing some applique and embroidery on my quilt top that I will probably label Winter Flowers. It is starting to look pretty good to me, just a bit more and then I'll be ready to quilt it. The little eagle quilt was fun to do, I based the eagle on a picture of an old quilt in Sandi Fox's Small Endearments, a wonderful quilt book with lots of children's and doll quilts in it. It is about 16 inches square so I managed to finish it. Cheap thrills.
Two friends and I have decided to make one mini quilt a month for 2010. Then at some point we will exchange one quilt with each other. I'[m almost done with my January quilt, a tiny scrap quilt with a little vine border. I find hand sewing very therapeutic, especially in winter.
I fell down a couple days before Christmas and snapped a rib, well that was quite uncomfortable and I was finally feeling better and then the day before yesterday I fell and smashed my ribs on my left side. I'm going to have to be more cautious I guess. People have suggested a thick layer of bubble wrap;, which is starting to sound like a brilliant idea. Oh well.
We've had incredibly cold weather, my driveway turned into a luge run, but now it is warming up so I hope some of the ice will disappear. My car wouldn't start in the really low temps, but it is still crawling around today, so i'll try to be grateful for that....

2009-12-05T19:04:00.002-05:00

I haven't been feeling very energetic, i've been spending most of my time hunched over the kleenex, but I did manage to make a couple quilt tops this week. I plan on appliqueing something on the borders. it was fun to play with color and avoid things I really wasn't in the mood for.
It has been raining a lot here and the wind has been howling at night. It is very dramatic, and the cats are enjoying the noise , chasing each other around the house all night long. I hear a crash now and then, but they haven;t managed to smash anything yet.

FYI: Great graphics

2009-11-13T12:04:00.001-05:00

Just a quick post to recommend a very good etsy shop., wilson graphics, it is the first link in my list of links. I received some beautiful decals of moths, dragonflies and butterflies in a giveaway from this site. They are really lovely, and then I spent some time browsing the site, which is filled with all kinds of fantastic images, and they do custom work. Definitely worth your time to check through all these offerings....

Finished Something...

2009-11-12T19:32:00.004-05:00

I have spent the last week or so cranking out a small quilt, an example to be used in a book being published by a woman in my quilting group. I finally finished quilting it at five thirty this morning. I hope that tomorrow I will feel like starting in on a few holiday gifts. Today I am seriously overtired and slightly giddy. Could be worse. Zan and I paid a couple more visits to a local graveyard to capture the last of the leaves. They are gone now. It is always such a shock to my system. Of course we have lots of evergreens everywhere, but brown is definitely covering most of the landscape. Now I look forward to the first real snowfall, but not to the unending visits by the snowplow guy to make my driveway clear. And of course I have to hunt up the snow tires, etc.

Of course the real item at the top of my list is putting plastic on the windows. Most of the storm windows have fallen off my house, so it is time to provide extra insulation. I'm not going for the shrink to fit kind, I figure the cats will make short work of that, I'm thinking more of something a serial killer uses to package cadavers....

Quilt Show items

2009-10-21T15:35:00.003-04:00

Well the quilt show we put on was really good. It looked wonderful when all the quilts were hung and pumpkins carefully guarding the quilt stands so people wouldn;t trip over them. I did, but fortunayely I didn't tip over any of the big hanging racks, just bumped off the pumpkin stem. It was cold and the wind was pretty strong, we were right on the bay, but the threatened rain showers never appeared.
I sold three things at the show, a wonderful surprise for me. I'm going to miss the big Guadaloopy one, but it has found a good home.
I'm pretty sure everyone had a good time and I received lots of compliments, a rare occurance for me because I am kind of a full time professional hermit.
i just received a large box of fabric, silk ties and other goodies from a friend. I'm going to have to thin of something to make out of them, I lean toward crazy wuilt items when I get a little silk in my hands.
Our phone was out for five days, but the phone company guy finally showed up today and fixed it at the outside junction box. He told me I must be doing something weird inside to amake the wire short out. Yeah, you betcha.
We had a few days of heavy rainfall last week, I think that may have played a part in this. Ah well, they are working now so I should just stop complaining.
Sun is out here today, beautiful weather, just the way fall is supposed to be. The leaves are still putting on a pretty great show. Oh, and the first picture is of two of my quilts, the others were made by friends in my group...

I Finally Found It!

2009-10-14T20:22:00.003-04:00

This is an apron my grandmother made for me when I was two or three years old. It used to have a companion pillow sham with a big ruffle, but that disappeared years ago. My mother had my apron and she wouldn't give it to me because she was sure i would lose it. After she died I moved into her house and I looked everywhere for it and after eight years I gave up. My cat Tubby decided a cupboard with old quilts in it would make him a nice private pissoir. When I discovered what he was doing I yarded everything out of there to clean it up and lo and behold! at the very bottom of the pile was my tiny panda apron. It has been washed and revived and I am so happy to see it.
Tomorrow I am heading down to the big boathouse to help put the quilt show together. I am missing one of my quilts that I wanted to put in, it is driving me nuts hunting for it. I am an expert at making things disappear but I thought this was such a large item I would find it. Ah well.

A couple weeks ago when i pulled into my driveway and got out of my car a sobbing kitty came bounding up to me. A sleek tuxedo kitty, he looked very healthy, but very skinny. And so friendly. So of course, I being an idiot, I fed him. He was so excited but kept headbutting me and Zan, wanting the snugs most of all. The next day we discovered he has been fixed and has no front claws, and he's healthy so he must be somebody's kitty. I worry that he was dropped here, tomorrow I'm going to call the vets locally and the animal shelter to see if anyone lost a kitty. In the meantime, Pegleg (my daughter named him, always a bad idea) has been enjoying getting fed , and getting lots of affection. I told the kids I would fix up an insulated house for him in the barn if he is still here come winter, but Martin thinks he needs to move inside. OH yeah. Just what we need, and talik about a pissing contest, we have two males in the house (neutered) and they will not be happy, and a few loony Siamese ladies who will also be quite pissed.
A story which will be continued...

Fall Has Arrived

2009-09-20T15:35:00.004-04:00

My quilt group, Friendship Sampler Quilters is holding a two day quilt show for two days in mid October. We all had to make two mini quilts for a raffle, and I thought I'd post a few pictures of the little quilts. And I made a doll this week. I like making dolls, she is almost done, she just needs a ruffle on her petticoat and some shoes. I always sew the clothes by hand, I find that very soothing.
The air has turned crisp here, the sun is out, yesterday the wind was howling, and the swamp maples have started to turn. I bought a bag of early apples from a local orchard and they are wonderful. I still have my tomato crop, two large tomatoes, started to turn a bit red. Not much of a garden this year.
My daughter and I went to Farmer;s Market yesterday and bought some wonderful tomatoes, some pears and a bottle of rhubarb chutney, They have nice plants for sale too, organic meat and cheeses, baked goods, etc. That is my idea of a good time...
My two mini quilts are the second and third ones one the right bottom of the first picture. It was great to se al the little quilts laid out. I suspect the raffle will go well.

Summer is making a brief appearance!

2009-09-05T18:08:00.006-04:00

Yesterday i picked a bunch of wildflowers in my back yard. The purple asters are seven feet tall. My mother dug up a little clump of them years ago.
We would drive around with a couple of trowels and buckets with water, liberating a few ditch filling plants that were just going to get clobbered with poison and then the roadboys show up and scrapes the edges clean. I'm just trying to keep some of these old plants from disappearing. I find a lot of my favorite flowers live in ditches, lupines, asters, dame's rocket and my all time favorite, chicory. My god, the color of that plant is so intense and lovely,, and i have never been able to successfully transplant any. I would dig up plants, cut them back, plant them and water them regularly, but the chicory just not want to live in my yard.
The other two bad pictures are a watchband I made, it actually doesn't look too grotty off xcreen, and them a couple of tiny aprons I made out of some antique material a friend gave me...these are the things I do in the middle of the night when sleep eludes me. And then there is the picture my daughter took of me, i look almost ok! so I figured what the hell...

The sun is out, the breeze is ruffling the leaves and the video store called to tell me I have a free rental, so you know what that means, I'll have to go rent something, at least if it stinks I won't have wasted money on it.

Button Madness

2009-08-28T12:35:00.002-04:00

I've been enjoying looking at all the old buttons on eBay, the ones I like are inevitably way too much for my purse, but it is fun to run my eyes over the assortments. I especially like the old bakelite and celluloid buttons,k and of course mother of pearl, and plastic has lots to offer as well. Having had this horrid plague bug for almost a month, I resorted all my buttons into jars and lined them up on the windowsill of my sewing studio. It was about all the energy I had available, and of course it is so therapeutic to run your fingers through the buttons.

The sun is out today, the air is almost clear, and I'm not completely exhausted (yet). We have to run into town to buy Dayquil for the lingering coughs and dishwasher soap. What excitement....I'm hoping I haven't missed the union Fair, the fair of my childhood, I like to go see all the animals, the award winning veggies and all the handcrafts. if it is on this weekend, I'm dragging myself there no matter what, i need some visual stimuli.

More Bits and Pieces

2009-08-18T19:06:00.003-04:00

My brother is coming to visit this weekend. That will be a treat. I was fiddling around in the studio and found an old painting I'd done about thirty years ago. That was a funny surprise...I'm supposed to be tidying up for company, but I got distracted. A common problem for me, I must need more vitamins. aOr brain cells.

I keep trying to make a few little things for my quilt group's show in October. I think maybe the little orange and ocher anvils might be acceptable . I'm working on a very scrappy little broken dishes pattern, and I made another anvil top but I think it is too big. I kind of love the pattern so perhaps I'll make a couple more. I made a little courthouse step pillow for someone, quilted it by hand, but it is hard to tell, the stiiches disappear in all the dark colors/ Not such a bad thing, since I am no prize winning quilter. I love to hand quilt, and I love the way the quilts feel when they are done, very soft. Well I don't know why I inflicted the Bad
Apples painting on anyone, but I could not resist....
Very muggy and unpleasant here today. My son's asthma is driving him nuts and I'm still prety close to the kleenex and the ricolas......

Cooties!

2009-08-13T21:05:00.002-04:00

We've been cut off at the knees this past ten days. A friend of my sonn's came to visit, we'll just call him Typhoid Ross, gave everyone a big hug and then said, "Stay away from me, I've got a horrible bug." Little too much information a little too late. Martin was the first one to start feeling wicked, and coughing and wheezing and sneezing and whining, but it only took a couple more days before Zan and I also fell victim to the evil cooties. It must be some kind of flu bug, we are all aching, exhausted and cranky. Martin''s asthma has kicked in as well. Kleenex bills are going to be outrageous. I suppose sooner or later we'll feel better.

I had fun making a little doll quilt for a little girl, of course I forgot to take a picture of it, but it was pretty cute, mostly thirties repros, you know, all the cuties, with the Mother Goose figures, flowers, Alice in Wonderland. I love making the teeny quilts because I get them done, And I finally made it to the post office just as Bob, the postmaster was taking the flag down, He was very nice and took all my packages. He said the meter was closed down, but he dug out lots of stamps, my favorite a 48 cent polar bear.

I think tonight I'm going to make a little wool felt needle book. I seem to have lost my needle roll and so I don't have the quilting needles I like. I suppose it may turn up spmeday. I've spent a lot of time the last few days sorting buttons, between naps. It is always so soothing. Last night I went through a big tin I had labeled "scummy old buttons", and actually there were a lot of nice ones, after I'd sorted and washed them all. Of course there were a few scummy old ones that I gave the heave ho.

Some red bee balm I planted last year vbelow my ailing lilac bush are doing really well, a nice change from weeds. My daylilies are doing well too, some sild phlox is tall and beautiful and locust trees are popping up all over the yard again. I'll have to get Martin out there to uproot them. I love locust trees, they grow so fast and are very beautiful, nice smelling blossoms too, but they spread like wildfire.

Well enough of this silliness. I feel compelled to post a few pictures . Now go wash your hands a couple times....

Old Bits and Pieces and the odd kitty or two

2009-07-23T19:19:00.003-04:00

it is clammy and gray here today and I am nursing some sore ribs so I haven't accomplicshed much. I am making a tiny quilt that I like the pattern of, I think it is an anvil block, but it probably has many variations. I made the snail trail one for my daughter's cat. Yes, I know it sounds insane, but these are the activities that get me through the f month every year. I was tying a quilt on my kitchen table a couple of years ago and so the kitties came to help. I think. I feel so out of tune with the seasons, we seem to be in a very extended wet season at the moment, and any amainer know there are only the two seasons, so I'm ready to jump ship...

My garden is just wretched, everything is so waterlogged and soaked and slug infested. It is very discouraging, so I try to enjoy what surviveas and what weeds are taking over..........................

I Finished Something

2009-07-12T10:52:00.002-04:00

Here it is, a finished item and a close up of my adequate quilting. It just feels really soft and sweet, that's the big treat of hand quilted items.I am really pleased with myself...

The Sun! The Sun is Shining!

2009-07-11T10:34:00.002-04:00

Three days and we've had sunshine every day, what a wonderful treat. I was really losing the will to look out the window. Of course my yard is still filled with slugs but I'm hoping they'll disappear. Yesterday i went to a little cemetery in Sandy Point. My father always said that cemeteries had the best views. It certainly is a lovely view of Penobscot Bay from this spot.

Trapped in the DANK!

2009-06-11T11:19:00.004-04:00

Here's a few more pictures from a local graveyard, the third one is the stone of a man who participated in the original tea party. I just love old graveyards.

I finished my string top, put a red edge on it, for the longest time I put red binding on lots of scrap quilts I made. It always looks quite spiffy to me.

The weather is positively horrid lately, my head is just a pounding mass of cement, and we won't even bother thinking about the rest of all my endless complaints.....One advantage of all the rain is that my flowers are getting well watered, lots of early stuff blooming, columbine, nicotania, creeping petunias, the two big pots Zan and I filled with stuff from our local greenhouse look so great to me. I love instant flowers, especially this time of year.

I am getting ready to start quilting what I think of as the circus baby quilt. It is a bqaby quilt, but really too big. I always seem to let these things grow too large, but i really like this one.

Time to get one or two of these things completed!

My String Quilt - A Work In Progress

2009-05-07T19:10:00.004-04:00

This is what I've been working on for the past few days. It has a ways to good, but I am happy with it. It is a good way to use up some of the strips left over from log cabin quilts. For years I have always sewed the acraps together, light and dark and rolled them up so I have a nice variety of colors to work with.

Rainy here today, I didn't sleepmuch last night, just listened to the rain coming down and i got to break up a couple of cat fights. Such an exciting life I lead....

My Clothespin Apron Swap Apron...

2009-04-30T10:49:00.004-04:00

I finally got an apron made for the clothespin apron swap that didn't look too bad. My first attempt was really loony looking, so I just started over.

I was astounded at this woman's name, Electaphene Turner, so I just couldn't resist posting a picture of her gravestone.

Zan and i went to the beach again yesterday, I picked up smaller bags of rocks so I wouldn't be whining too much, and today we're going to haul them out of the car and extend the pathway to the back garden. It was so beautiful yesterday, sunshine and nice breezes, the beach just talks to me in any weather, but all the rocks were sparkling in the sun. This little beach we've been going to has lots of mica in the rocks, lots of different color granite and of course smoothly polished gray stones. i am always trying to collect a dozen rock eggs, but I soon lose my train of thought.

We have got hay bales in the back yard, ready to plant potatoes as soon as we get to the nursery up the road a piece. We've got seeds for the raised beds, and I'm trying to move some ground cover into the front yard. I have a dead lawn mower so I don't need a lawn, I just need ground cover.

We had a bob white in our yard a couple days ago. I hadn't seen one for years. Mostly I just get the large flocks of turkeys swarming through the yard... my neighbors' horses are across the street now from my house in my other neighbor's cow field. It is a wonderful assortment, a big work horse, maybe it is a Percheron?, some smaller horses and a pony. I love to see them cavorting around the field.

Today I'm feeling pretty close to human, had my yogurt, my fistful of meds and now I need to make some coffee, then I can leap into action here....

What was I Thinking, or maybe what was I drinking?

2009-04-20T15:03:00.004-04:00

So I've been putting together all these goofy quilt tops and I cant seem to get this one to work, I pinned some yoyos on it on the top picture, but something is off, methinks we need more caffeine and brain cells. I just love playing with the colors, but I think I'm going to have to readjust the section under the whirling star. These things always look okay to me in the middle of the night when I am sewing away. i know that it will change considerably when quilted, but it is driving me bonkers. Oh well.

Today we decided to go to the beach. it was sunny here, but here's the beach today, very foggy. I got a couple loads of rocks anyway, but just too cold and DANK to spend much time there...

Sunshine Rules!

2009-04-19T12:45:00.004-04:00

I trieed to get a picture o9f the cutest lambs ever but they weren't cooperating. I turned it to black and white, still didn't help. And the tiny quilt top is for Zan's cat, Pye. I have made a little quilt for all my cats. I should probably not admit that.

The sunshine is so sweet today. I just went to town to get my son, Martin. He and his sister are going to get some hay bales for me. I plan on trying potatoes on top of the soil, I'm too wimpy to dig holes any more.

The bees are having fun feeding on all the little flowers in our yard. It is just so sweet to see things moving right along. well, I beetter go back outside and see what I can do...

First Trip to the Beach this Spring!!!

2009-04-15T16:05:00.004-04:00

Well it was cold this morning, but the sun came out and the wind died down and Zan and I decided to go to the beach just to check on the situation there. I always have a couple bags for rocks, and one for picking up garbage, if necessary. Early days, no rubbish on the beach yet....

I did manage to get a couple bags of rocks for my semi imaginary rock path to the back yard.

The sun felt so good, and I took off my shoes and dunked my toes and feet into the Atlantic. I think the shock is good for one's immune syndrome.

When i was a kid we always went swimming in the ocean, not any more, I prefer to go to prince Edward Island, where the gulf stream makes the temperature of the water quite lovely. I wish i could visit P.E.I. again, it is one of those really special places, so beautiful, so serene.

Yesterday's mail brought me Gwen Marston and Freddy Moran's new quilt book, oh it is so lovely. Beautiful quilts, beautiful colors. I hope to go to Gwen Marston's quilt retreat in october, it has been the high light of my year the last five years. It is held in a wonderful old lodge, on a lake, tons of room to sew, all kinds of interesting people to meet.

Okay, enough babble from the puckerbrush, time to head for the sewing machine....I flung a few pictures on here because it works, the only place I can manage to post, the crocus are in my yard today, that's part of my pantry wall, and the little tiny quilt I made for my friend Victoria.

Random Bits and Pieces

2009-04-14T09:33:00.002-04:00

Well the wind is howling day and night here, went outside yesterday, watched my hat launch itself into the neighbor's field, and decided to come back inside. The sun is out today too, but I think it is very cold again. I got about three hours sleep last night, so I'm close to brain dead today...

Here's a couple more unfinished items. I really like the baby quilt, though it is a bit big for a baby, oh well...and I just unearthed the old hexagon top that I pieced by hand years ago, I'd forgotten about it.

Cemetery Ramble

2009-04-10T17:17:00.006-04:00

Zan and I went on a cemetery ramble to enjoy the sunshine and the wonderful old New England graveyards around here. Some of the stones are so beautiful, some so old you can't read a thing on them, and some covered with lots of lichen. I think the saddest one was the little stone that just read : INFANTS. It was in a family plot in a little lakeside cemetery. The children's memorials are always so heartbreaking. Isabella Longfellow's stone had the message : Bell is Dead on the side of the plinth atop her stone. Then there was the grave of two brothers, aged 8 and 4, who died a day apart. I found one gravestone that memorialized three wives, all in the same plot, a thrifty New Englander at work there. Too many photos probably but I was just so moved by all these little stories...

Well, I better get started on supper. i promised my daughter something tasty, so I need to get in the kitchen and hop to it.

Spring is Here

2009-03-31T15:29:00.003-04:00

Today we saw the first crocus blooms in the lawn in front of my house, the daffodils are getting bigger too. The air feels lovely, and that is a treat.

Here's a picture of a catbag tote I made and a couple others, the little baby quilt colors don't look right to me, but I am hand quilting it and hope that will spiff it up a bit. That first picture is the view off my little upstairs balcony, I took it a couple days ago, but now the snow is really starting to melt, so it looks a bit more cheerful than the picture.

Time for some more coffee...

More Quilting Messes

2009-03-23T16:14:00.004-04:00

Lucky woman that I am, I always have some help when I'm sewing. Buttercup was testing the possibility of using my top for a tent, but I made her get out so I could get a picture. I've been making smaller ninepatch blocks today and I set some on the floor to see how they looked, didn't really get a chance, Buttercup and her sister Mabel decided to look for trouble.

The wind is howling here today and I heard ducks this morning. My pond is still iced over so I guess it was just visitors flying overhead.. The cats were immediately on alert and pressing up against the windows hoping for a look at dinner as it flew past.

The Clothespin Bag

2009-03-15T13:07:00.004-04:00

My pictures keep getting blurrier and blurrier. The top one is of an old clothespin holder I got years ago, I like it. The next is a work in progress, a strippy quilt. I saw a picture of an old top on eBay and it was so sweet, of course my colors are a bit more yaha so it bears no resemblance to the one I loved. Ah well, maybe next time...I have lots more nine patches made so i can do a few variations. It just cheers me up to get something done, well that;s an overstatement, I'd have to actually complete it. I'll probably tie that one, just for the nice puffiness and it takes only a few hours to do.

The sun is out today, the air is lovely. I feel like I got run over by a logging truck, but if I just keep moving I'll be okay.

We got skunked the other night, not a really overwhelming attack, just a whiff to let us know THEY'RE BACK!!! I am hearing birds that I haven;t noticed lately. Canada geese were honking yesterday. My friend Michael came over today to give me a hand with a couple things. He is going to fix my mailbox too, now that will be a treat. I'm hoping the big snows are done.

The other sure sign of spring is my road falling apart, the macadam is all seized up, pot holes and cracks everywhere, it is like an obstacle course trying to avoid the worst of the holes. When my pond thaws and floods the road in front of my house, that is always a disaster too. Ah well, life in the country.

So i guess my thrill for today will be to go purchase a new mailbox. At least I'll be able to drool over the seed and plant selection. I'm getting way ahead of myself here, can't really plant anything until May.

The Snow is Disappearing!!!

2009-03-08T18:44:00.003-04:00

The wind is howling today ,it has been windy and raining on and off all weekend. My driveway is no longer an ice rink, it is now a frigging mud pit! I thought I was going to get mired but managed to back up and get up the other side of the drifeway, Since my house is on a little knoll, the water just heads for the driveway. Ah well. The roads around us are falling to bits. A bit of a spring thaw has wreaked havoc, lots of pot holes and crevasses. Happens every year, but I still like to complain about it!

I always like to look at the quilt tops and the quilts on eBay. I used to buy one every once in a while when I just could not resist. However now I just download pictures for inspirational purposes. There was a wonderful loony looking nine patch strippy quilt last week that has inspired me too create something to liven up mud season. I spent several hours cutting blocks and now I'll have to go lie down in a sensory deprivation tank for a few days, The colors are truly zippy, my heart belongs to scrap quilts. I am always impressed with the wonderful things people create with some really unusual materials...

I was going to post a picture of a really silly clothespin bag I discovered in one of my fabric shelves. I forget where or when I got it. Maybe tomorrow.

Well, that's enough blather from me. Now I'll have to see if I can find a picture to post, I understand some people get cranky if they don't get a visual treat on people's blogs. Firstis a little wallhanging I made, not a very good picture, but I'm bad at the close ups. Next is a picture of my back field taken last summer, then a lovely shot my daughter took of our cat

Rootabega and added a little graffiti for excitement value. And last, but not least is Zan's kitty Hector when he was just a little fuzzbomb.

Some mini-aprons

2009-02-21T21:27:00.004-05:00

Here's some of the mini aprons I have been working on, for some reason all the color looks wrong, but you get the idea...

And then, just in case you haven't gotten two feet of snow in the last few days, here's part of my front yard. Fortunately I finally got plowed out today. I'm not sure how much snow we are supposed to get tomorrow. Probably best not to think about it......

Mid F Month Drivel & pictures

2009-02-15T17:13:00.004-05:00

Not so cold today, just sort of gray. I thought I'd post a few pictures to liven up the day. The first one is the town line sign in Misery Gore, a little town near the Canadian border. Doesn't it sound like the setting of every Stephen King novel ? There is Misery Knob and Misery Township as well, but they don't rate a sign.

The pillow is one I made years ago for my friend Michael. He's a fan of crows. The sheep are his too. Michael does work every year for some people who own an island nearby. He is a master carpenter and has done all kinds of building for them. Every year they get four sheep and let them loose to keep the greenery down. They used to take the sheep to the butcher's at the end of summer, but for the last few years Michael takes them to his house to winter over. He and his wife Linda are really goofy when it comes to animals.

I've been sewing by hand today, trying to catch up, but I don;t seem to be making much progress...

One More Little Challenge Quilt

2009-02-04T18:44:00.004-05:00

This was the result of a color challenge my quilt group did years ago. We each got a piece of fabric from someone else and were told to make a small size thing. I donated the medium blue fabric, and my friend ellen made the middle. I added the border and handquilted it. It is one of my favorite little useless items.

A little color

2009-02-02T11:13:00.003-05:00

Well, I am not enjoying this day, too cold and bad news about my car. Ah well, it could be far worse, i'm sure. So I found a few more little bits and pieces to post. My first little saw whet owl hanging, my tribute to joe Hill quilt, Buttercup trying to blend in on my daughter's shelf of Hello Kittys, a quilt, not done in this photo, which I made for a local non profit teen center that they raffled off, and finally, beech trees in the spring. I can't wait to see that green again.

Right, back to sulking about my car.

Closing in on the F Month

2009-01-29T11:37:00.005-05:00

Okay, it's still January, what my father always called Hanging Season, and the F month can't be far behind. This midwinter siege has been especially hard because it has been so brutally cold. So I thought i'd put up a few more quilts, two done, two not, and my favorite town in Maine, Misery Gore. There is also Misery Knob, but it doesn't rate a sign...

I'm trying to become interested in some sewing project, but I'm finding it difficult to get started. Possibly I need more caffeine, I'm not sure. Ahe well, I guess the best bet is just to head upstairs to my sewing studio and see what I've got to work with....

a Few Pictures

2009-01-17T22:10:00.005-05:00

The quilt is a round robin I did with my quilting group, I did the center and then appliqued a few things on the borders. I love doing round robins, it is always such fun when the end result is revealed. The chicken is a pincushion I made that got too big to use really. And of course the cats, Hector is the fluffy one, his son Tubby is the elegant white kitty and Mab is my daughter's little Siamese.

We are still freezing here, however plastic on the windows should make a difference, I'm really tired of this and it isn't even the F month yet.

Household Madonna Second attempt.

2009-01-16T18:14:00.004-05:00

I just posted this a while ago, but the first image just looked so blurry, not sure this one is any better, but I had to try..

Some jeezly cold !!!

2009-01-16T14:28:00.007-05:00

There is ice on the inside of my bedroom windows. It is someJEEZLY coold, as we asy around here. However, my phone and car are working today, and that is great. I thought I'd put up a few more pictures, one ismy greatnephew, Cameron, snuggled in one of the quilts I made him. The next three are tow unfinished quilts and one finished wallhanging and the last one is my Household Madonna, that I'm going to put on etsy. Whoops, they showed up in the wrong order, oh well.

Here's some UFOs

2009-01-13T14:23:00.005-05:00

My car won't start and my phone won't work. It is just one of those days so I thought I'd just show off a few unfinished bits and pieces.

Some small Wall Owl thingies

2009-01-10T17:00:00.003-05:00

I made these for a little shop in
Belfast last year and managed to sell some, that was a treat for me. I had forgotten about some of these...

A Few More Quilt Pictures

2009-01-10T09:46:00.004-05:00

Since i am on a roll here, I'll put up a few more pictures...The big dresden plate one was a round robin in my quiollt group several years ago. I made the middle, other people added borders. The spinning star one was my friendship quilt, people made blocks for me so aI could have this fabulous quilt. Of course I lost half the blocks, so I ended up paper piecing about ten more. And I hate paper piecing. I backed that one with an old damask tablecloth, it was so lovely and smooth, but then when I washed it it started sprouting holes, so now I have applique bits on the back over the missing spots.
Right now I am washing eight yards of red fabric so I can use some to put some other bits together ....

Dimsdale, the wonder kitty

2009-01-09T11:43:00.004-05:00

Oh oh. I'm getting confused now. I just thought I would post a picture of Dimmy, but I may have lost my touch...

Okay, here are a few more Old Quilts

2009-01-09T10:41:00.004-05:00

Gosh, that was almost too easy. I feel like an electricgenius when i get this machine to cooperate with me. The old repro one patch was inspired by a quilt top I saw on a dealer's table at a quilt show years ago. It is one of my favorite quilts, it is on my bed now. I spied a giant pinwheel on the edge of a magazine photo and thought, hey that I can do. So I did. I love my churn dash, it is so cheerful. The purple log cabin?court house steps I made for my friend Carolyn. The
Canada houses was my second schoolhouse quilt. I gave it to my brother Bill.
Now that I have my car firmly stuck in my driveway I guess i might get something done today.

Quilts, some done, some not

2009-01-08T17:47:00.004-05:00

Okay, here are a few quilts to look at. I really should finish the large strippy quilt, well come to that I have lots of things to finish....
Today is a nice day here, snow plow guy came, car people came and took my car and returned it much improved. The snow looks good, not too much but so bright.

That was interesting

2008-10-18T01:51:00.003-04:00

Well I keep trying to add to this blog, and put a couple pictures up, but I have to figure Blogger just doesn't like me because I can only do one thing at a time. Aha! My luck is changing, I'll try one more photo...Nope, I guess these are the only pictures I get to post today. I can't capture the colors very well, but I was so dazzled with them I had to try. The colors are so beautiful and the light is like magic. I like to drive around drinking in all the color, because when it is gone I'm going to be so sad. It is okay in the winter here when there is snow on the ground, but a great brown landscape and evergreens is not very cheerful to me.
I am working on a giant pillowcase for my body pillow. I made blocks for a swap and then discovered they were all too small, I figured there had to be something I could do with them. I took a picture, but won't try to post that just yet
I went to farmer's market today and got a big bag of lovely organic carrots. It is always such fun to look at all the great produce and cheeses, baked goods, handmade baqskets, gleaming jars of honey, etc. but i only needed carrots today so i behaved myself. What an exciting life I lead....This picture is of Seven Tree pond, so named because of a little island in the middle with seven trees. Those Yankees are so imaginative. It is a beautiful body of water and the pictures below are from near my house. I love old cemeteries, and this is a large one in Belfast.

Local Color, maybe

2008-10-18T01:31:00.003-04:00

2008-10-15T18:45:00.001-04:00

Common Ground Fair

2008-09-28T18:28:00.006-04:00

Well I managed to upload one photo, here is some yarn, still on the hoof. I love all the fuzzy beasts at the fair, there wer llamas and alpacas too, but the photos I took of them were dreadful.

Aha! I got my daughter to upload these so you can see some of the yarn, I love all the colors, there was lots of fancy alpaca and mohair and angora, but my camera was not cooperating....

This fair is put on by the Maine Organic Farmers group, so all the food is organic, comes from Maine, and on the whole is terrific. Years ago thtey didn't have coffee, but they have reconsidered and now have it. Lucky for me, as I wouldn't be able to stagger around all afternoon without an extra caffeine jolt.

Off to my quilt retreat tomorrow, I'm not sure if I'm supposed to have this much fun.....

Raspberry Festival

2008-07-30T18:34:00.002-04:00

I am having such a wonderful time collecting raspberries from my back yard. The first time I planted them, several years ago, the yardboy ran them over with the mowing machine. I was very angry, but figured they would eventually recover. Last year we had a few handfuls, but this year i'm already getting to make my third batch of jam. Of course this meant I had to go down cellar and find my jars, at least I didn't find any salamanders this time.

A few days ago i made plain raspberry jam, then two days later raspberry and blackberry, and now i'm making a batch of raspberry blueberry jam. I love making jam and canning things. years ago when i had a big garden I used to do a lot more of it, but I have to pace myself these days...

That is about all the excitement in this neck of the woods. it is still hot and very very humid, which i find incredibly tedious and I am on about day five of a major pain episode so i;m just going mad. It is hard to get much done when you are feeling lousy.

Emerging from the fog

2008-07-05T16:04:00.002-04:00

Whooh I haven't been here for a while, June sort of wrapped me up in a blanket of fog and major pain episodes, but I'm feeling better, two days of sunshine and nice breezes are good for the soul. We are getting a few strawberries , but the birds are quicker at locating the berries than I am. I have learned to pick them not quite ripe and put them in a little idsh to ripen in the kitchen.

All my old moss roses are finally blooming, they are loaded with thorns, but the fragrance of the roses is divine. My daughter and I picked a huge bouquet today, yarrow, bolackeyed susans, daisies, yellow clover, purple clover, purple vetch, pink mallow, white mallow, trolius, and some little tiny wildflower i can't identify. It would be good if I could find my old wildflower identification book. It has them sorted by color, which is brilliant.

Finally got my patriotic minis in the mail, now I'm trying to figure out what a birthday mini might look like...

Can't locate my camera cord that lets me download pictures. I need to go to organization school. Ah well, it'll turn up soon I'm sure. Enough of this random babble, I need to get off this machine and get to work!

Green,green, green

2008-06-01T15:24:00.002-04:00

Well it really is finally turning green here, here's a rather bad picture of my back field. In a couple of months it will be covered in timothy and my neighbor will come and bale the hay.

Went on a binge at the two local greenhouses that I like to frequent, got a couple of annuals, some big white geraniums for my dooryard pots, and some of those nice drippy flowers for the edges of the plant pots and the windowless window boxes. got a couple of sweet old groundcovers, hot pink phlox and some mother of thyme. Sun's out, there's a breeze, I better get outside and get the plants in the ground, and I know those black flies are waiting for me....

It's Starting to Look Like a Garden!

2008-05-27T14:56:00.002-04:00

Well, things have really greened up around here, the trees are almost all the way out, and my garden spots are looking good. Lots of little flowers out front and the ferns are shooting up and we're transplanting all kinds of stuff. My daughter dug up my rhubarb, which had ended up in a back field when we were building an addition, and put it in one of the giant raised beds for the moment. I'm planting rocks in a little walkway out front, boy does it need a lot of rocks, ah well the beach is full of them.

Apple trees are blossoming all over the place, the few trees I have are pretty scraggly, I probably need to do some severe pruning. It is lovely to look at all the trees blossoming and the landscape greening up finally. All the sheep are out in the fields, with their sweet little babes, it's such a treat! Mother Nature comes through again.

I have been sorting out my buttons, and it has turned into quite the adventure. I had them all in cns for years, neverrealized how many I had and decided to put them in jars, by color, to be able to see them should make my life easier. Except, I'm running out of jars.

The sun has been in and out all day. Went to the beach with my daughter on a rock gathering adventure this morning, as we headed down the coast to the beach we like, the sky turned gray.

We got some rocks and then the rain started spattering lightly so we figured back to ther house, by the time we'd gotten back on the main road, it was a huge thunderstorm and heavy rain. Ten minutes later, we are home and the sun has returned.

Warning: This Post contains a bit of Whining!

2008-05-19T09:19:00.002-04:00

I just had the best time yesterday digging holes in the garden, falling down, digging more holes, and tucking flowers into my little bed under the kitchen windows. Later in the evening, I realized I had overdone it, and this morning I fell like I'm oh.....754years old. Ok, end of the whine....

My favorite Things I like to collect

quilts, tops and blocks

buttons

green pottery

aprons

books

globes,the more beat up the better

crocheted potholders, actually any goofy old potholder

fabric,old embroidery, new embroidery

old tin pie pans

I am your basic magpie, I am attracted to shiny and colorful things. I have been sorting through my buttons lately, I decided to put them in jars assorted by color. Oh my, I keep finding these frigging tins of old buttons everywhere, I am amazed at the crap I have in my house/barn/the back of my car. The thought was if I see what I have, I won't buy any more. Oh well, they do look nice in jars, but I really had no idea there were so many lurking in my house.

Yesterday I got up early, took all my Rxes, and hit the garden. I dug holes (not a good idea) and transplanted some plants a friend gave me, and tucked in some annuals , and started a rock path to the back yard. Today the only planting I'm going to do is to plant my ass on the couch and read, or sort more buttons. I am now a retired hole digger.

The sun is trying to find its way out of the clouds. That would be nice....

Lovely, lovely day

2008-05-18T13:13:00.002-04:00

I just fell over in my garden yanking up what appeared to be the root system for something huge, ah well, we'll see what eventually appears. I've been planting impatiens in my shaded garden in front of my kitchen windows. It is hard to plant with all the bulbs from my scilla, if I get energetic I'll transport them to another location. The plan here is to eliminate the lawn, make a stone path to the backyard and get some ground cover bits put in. I already have tons of wild salvia, which is a sweet little periwinkle ground cover so part of my work has already been done for me.

Later today I'm going to beg some horse manure from my new neighbors for my rhubarb plant. I have an old fashioned one called "valentine" and most of the stalks are red all the way through. And all our strawberry plants we put in last year are back. This years I'm going to put up netting and some kind of bird frighteners so that I get a few strawberries to eat. I'm hoping my raspberries will do better too. An old friend of mine told me to be sure to scatter a little ash from the fireplace on them, it is meant to keep off some bug, but I no longer have a woodstove for heat. I suppose I could beg some from someone, but I'm thinking I have better things to do.

I've nailed some orange halves to my birdfeeder's roof, hoping to entice the Baltimore orioles, it usually works like a charm, but this year the stinking little squirrels keep stealing the oranges. I wonder what I could do to keep them off. Maybe leave a boombox in the yard playing some really bad music....but that would be too cruel, I don't want to drive the birds nuts.

Okay, that's probably way more drivel than anyone needs to know. I'm off to my garden again....

A Really Wonderful Day

2008-05-14T19:56:00.003-04:00

Today was really a treat. The sun was shining and there was a light breeze. First we went to the beach, still collecting rocks for the firepit and the garden. Zan and I just sat on a rock and enjoyed the sunshine and the beauty of the beach...

We decided it was such a beautiful day that we should take a ramble so we drove around for a while checking out the leaves that are finally starting to come out, the greens of springtime are just so intense and luscious . Then we stopped at our favorite nursery. My daughter said :"We can just look. We don't have to buy anything." That's pretty funny. Of course within seconds we were drooling over all the possibilities. We got creeping phlox, three bee balm plants for the hummingbirds, some herb plants, a really weird looking hens and chickens, and a beautiful shrub, the old fashioned bridal veil spirea. It sends out these arching branches with sweet little white flowers.

We have a old green canoe with a big hole in it. We're considering how we might use it as a planter. I'd have to get an awful lot of dirt though. I should probably start with something a bit smaller. Zan told me she'd seen a dinghy in someone's yard last years bursting with flowers. This is what happens to people who live in a cold climate, we finally get some sunshine and we just go nuts in the garden.

My New Mailbox

2008-05-10T01:17:00.002-04:00

Well the postmaster was getting kind of steamed with me, because I didn't get my mailbox put up right away. Now I had purchased a lovely black metal basic rural mailbox, but since the snowplow had , and it took them seven tries, totally destroyed my mailbox, including the supporting post, I just couldn't think what to rig up because I don't dig holes any more. My knees protest. Today I decided that no matter what I was going to rig up some sort of mailbox that was at least summer/fall ready for use. I propped up the smashed up post, put the one and one half cinderblocks from my barn as support lumps under the post. I took some old crutches from my knee operation and put those towards the back for extra support. I had nailed a piece of clapboard to the remains of my post and then I duct taped the mailbox to it. Of course I still have the lovely plastic swan that I put on it last year attached as well. If there was an award for the worst mailbox ever, i would have a pretty good chance of winning something....

After I got the mailbox up and running Zan ( my lovely daughter) and I went to the beach, again, to get more stones for the garden and to help the mailbox stay upright. Cool today and a bit of a wind, when we got there it was just high tide, but there was enough of a stretch of beach to get some rocks so I was glad we went. I keep meaning to get a tide chart at the bookstore, but I kind of feel like that is cheating, it's like looking at a map when you are maybe lost. My children used to get quite irate when I always insisted on taking all the little back roads and once we ended up at the Razorville sand pit, they were very cranky.

when

Zan lived up by the Canadian border, there were all these strange little mostly uninhabited townships with the most wonderful names. Misery Gore, Misery Knob, Sandwich Academy Grant. I love the back roads, as long as I have gas in my car...

Planted a few more perennials and tomorrow I'm going to put out the bee balm seeds I saved from last year and the wild columbine seeds too. The columbine in my garden has shot up little bouquets of leaves almost overnight, and lots of other plants are starting to show up.

My neighbor down the road apiece called me the other day to tell me that her husband had spotted a mountain lion down by the town dirt pile (life in

Belmont is some exciting) while he was taking their dog for a walk. I was amazed, but I have heard bits of conversation about mountain lions, just didn't pay much attention at the time. I lived in Arizona for a while when I was a child, and I thought that was a good place for mountain lions. I feel bad for all these poor animals who are losing their habitats and being pushed into unfamiliar territory.

we have lots of coyotes here, they've been here for a long time, and I remember the first time I saw a

Western jackrabbit here, I couldn't quite believe it...

The birch trees are sending out tiny luscious green leaves, I guess spring has sprung.

Here are most of my kittys

2008-04-18T20:46:00.002-04:00

Well, once again, my finely honed computer skills let me down. This is Hector, father of four. Maybe I'll figure out to post them later. Hector was the kitty we got for my daughter after she lost her kitty, Abe. We had also gotten these two dopey Siamese sisters, Blanche and Rootabega and everyone (my so called friends) said " Oh how cute, let them have babies, we'll take some, they'll be sooo cute...." They were cute. They still are, which is why we have so many cats, because those that swore they would take a kitty, possibly two, weaseled out of the deal. Needless to say, every kitty at our house is no longer able to reproduce. It was lovely to have that experience of little teeny kittens, but they have gotten BIG.

Sun is out today, daffodils bloomed en masse by this afternoon when the temperature hit 80 degrees. I went on a hellride with my daughter, she needed sandals and I needed to cast my eyes around a fabric store. We both got what we wanted, a nice surprise. So now I should go back to my sewing and get something done....Hey the photo finally loaded, it's Rooty, Blanche and the babies. Tubby, Mabel and Dimsdale are the bigger kittens and the tiny one is Buttercup, Blanche had only the one tiny kitty about a month after Rooty presented us with her little brood.

Color in my yard!

2008-04-16T15:50:00.002-04:00

Not too much green yet, but the crocus, the scilla siberica and the last of the snowdrops are providing some color to the otherwise brown landscape. I went out in my yard to take a few pictures, tripped, fell over a 35 pound bucket of ice melt and ended up on my back in the driveway. It did allow me a view of the upper branches of my silver maple and there are buds up there. I had plans for this afternoon but I think I'll be laying low for the rest of the day....maybe a little sewing later , or maybe not.

The geese are Honking

2008-04-15T18:03:00.002-04:00

It has turned into such a beautiful day. The geese are honking. I have a small spring fed pond by my house, but there is a huge one out past my across the street neighbor's faarm. It is hidden by trees, but when you start hearing the geese honking you know the loons are not far behind. Sometimes we get strange visitors in the pond here, after a huge storm one day a beaver was in the pond, slapping his tail, I presume to send messages to his family.

My daughter has a friend whose dad is a lobsterman, and there's a huge pond behind their house with lots of beavers in it. The beavers stole some lobster traps to decorate their lodge, and one old wooden storm window. I saw this huge beaver wandering around out back of their house one day. They are such fascinating animals. (or I'm easily amused, or both)

I took some storm windows down today and it is lovely having the screens on and feeling the soft breeze. of course it'll probably be freezing again tonight....

I am trying to get all the old dead stuff out of my raised beds. They are really raised and not terribly wide. my friend Delia says they look like viking graves. My mom was Danish, so I guess that explains my design.

The Sun is Shining at the Moment

2008-04-15T09:01:00.002-04:00

Here's a picture of some of my hen pincushions I made last year for gifts or for sale. I was inspired by a picture I saw on the cover of an old catalog of Amish things.

And here's a very cool website to check out :maryjanesfarm.org

I have had Mary Jane Butters' books for a while and some of the magazines from Mary Jane"s Farm, She is a remarkable person and has created an amazing place to learn about organic farming and many other things.

Yes the sun is finally shining here, so I better hop outside while it lasts.....

Here's a picture I tried to post the other day....

2008-04-09T22:08:00.003-04:00

This is the beach where my daughter and I like to go look for rocks, it is almost low tide in this picture (fascinating, eh?) I was going to post a picture of my pond, all covered in ice, but apparently I can't manage more than one computer trick a day. Life is as fascinating as ever here on the back road, today i spied the first "roadboy" of the season, he was out shoveling macadam into the potholes, now THAT is a true sign of spring.

2008-04-05T12:55:00.002-04:00

This was the one I was going to post some pictures with, but I seem to not be able to figure out how to do this, so much for that idea!

Enough Already!!!

2008-03-28T17:56:00.002-04:00

Gosh it would be nice to have something to think about besides the cold, the snow, the slush, the toll this weather takes on us all.

I have a lot of sewing to do, so I guess I should hop to it instead of complaining bitterly all day long. This morning I made a couple miles of binding to use on my pale log cabin quilt, all I have to do is figure out where the hell I put my machine needles. all I know is I put them in the little tin with the lurid robin on it, but where it has moseyed off to beats me.

For some reason I am compelled to put my sewing things in various tins or boxes, fooling myself that this will help me organize the chaos.My favorite tin is one with a Scottish golf course on it, old, green and cream colored. I put something I rarely use in it, soutache braid, because I had to have an excuse for it. Of course I practically dislocate my shoulders trying to pry it open, but it is so sweet. I like the old brown tin with a coffee cup on it, I keep my safety pins in that one.

I had a Rowenta professional iron when they first appeared in the quilt catalogs. I loved it, it was heavy, it produced huge clouds of team, but the cats knocked it off my ironing board one too many times. I got anew one a couple of years ago and for some reason whoever designed this model went ballistic on the knob you have to turn. It is all I can do to move it, so i usually leave it where I want it and unplug it. And it is located directly under the handle so it is difficult to maneuver. I think someone who seldom irons designed this model. It really makes me annoyed, newer isn't necessarily better. I gues I should write them an irate letter. I'll put that on my list of things to do (it's lost already). Enough.

Let's hope spring hurries on in.

First Visit to the Beach

2008-03-18T17:07:00.002-04:00

Today is so beautiful, calm, warm and sunny. Yesterday it was howling winds and much colder.Today we went to the beach to take a walk and get a few rocks for our garden. I love to sit by the water , smell the seaweed and feel like maybe spring will make an appearance eventually.

My daughter always finds the best rocks.

There is lots of granite, sometimes with lots of mica in it, the beauty of a single stone is like magic to me. When i was little we lived in a house very near the ocean, and I spent many summer days at the beach.

Ooh the air is so soft and sweet today, I'm going to go back outside and put some more rocks in our walkway. Later I'm going to see if I can post a picture here.....

Foul Weather Jamboree

2008-03-12T15:41:00.002-04:00

OOh it is wretched out today, freezing rain and gray everywhere. I am trying to get some sewing done, but mostly I'm just feeling old and arthritic.

However I did get a wonderful surprise in my mailbox, well at the post office since my mailbox is just a crushed bit of metal right now, a package from Nancy Jo, one of the fabulous farmgirls at MJF. The sweetest little half apron with tiny red rickrack and the most beautiful embroidered pillow were nestled in great purple sparkly paper, it made my day! Someday I'm going to figure out how to do the picture posting, my brain just doesn't understand the written instructions.

I was up late last night watching mindless rubbish on tv and it seemed to me every other commercial was the soup add with the slavering idiot chugging soup and moaning. For some reason I find this ad revolting and I just wish I had an ax or something to hurl at the television.

Later today I'm going to put a binding on a pale log cabin quilt I made. It looks good to me, but when I took a picture if it, it looked kind of wretched to me. I guess I'm going to have to get some remedial digital photography advice too.

Well, enough whining from the nether regions....

A sure sign of spring...

2008-03-09T12:47:00.002-04:00

Well usually we consider the end of February the end of hanging season here, but I've suffered a couple of casualties this week. After seven tries my mailbox was successfully beheaded by the snowplow, and when I turned out of my driveway yesterday, there was a dead skunk lying by the side of the road, right in front of my pond.

When the skunks start showing up, dead or alive, I know spring is inching its way toward us.

The sun is out today, the wind is howling. The snow has receded enough from the front of my house that I have snowdrops blooming under my kitchen windows. They are so lovely.

I have made three tiny quilt tops, also known as some things for the cats to sit on, this morning and I hope to get those done before I lose them in my sewing room.

Our motto here at the Moodranch is "The Moodranch - where almost everyone is almost always in a very, very bad mood" Actually I find life quite amusing these days....