Monthly Archives: July 2010

Yes, I am Sewing…

     The question was asked by Betsy-so are you doing any sewing this summer? Well,  I admit I have been a stuck. Not really having any focus and distracted by the craziness of my life lately. I know it’s summer and I do have less time to sew but just stuck —But just stuck. I start things and don’t push through that one spot you get in when it doesn’t make sense and I just stop.

     So I decided to work backwards and see if I could make sense of anything. I just created more chaos as I now have about 5 different things started. So I sat down last night and told myself I would not go to bed until I just finished something. Just a top -machine or hand quilting will have to wait until fall.

I committed to myself to finish the other four in the works by next Friday. Less than one a day and they aren’t big. This one-no name yet-is about 17×26.  Just to keep moving forward in some way. I had lots of goals for this summer. Maybe I can reclaim them.

It started pouring as I was trying to take a picture.

Lots of inspiration. Time to move on. No more excuses. I only have two more weeks here. I know I can enjoy my time here and still have time to sew. No more excuses.

Happy Summer, my friends!

Vermont Days

   It was so nice to have my whole family here this past weekend. Also, some old friends came to enjoy the weekend with us. They are marathon runners and they loved the hills..(my fat butt just likes to walk.) Anyway, we took some time to go blueberry picking after we dropped Marc at the airport.

 
(She looks great despite her near death car accident!) 20 lbs of blueberries later and stuffed with blueberry cobbler and ice cream-what is a girl to do?

I wanted to see what happens if I dyed my fabric with blueberry juice. I found 3 great old enamel pots to try some natural dyeing. I forgot my book though so if anyone has any info for me, let me know what my mordant should be-salt,vinegar,alum?  Crazy most days, I know.

Off to enjoy a great day of sunshine- the beach and finding old barns today. Don’t want to waste the day inside.

Happy Summer, my friends!

Time to Relax Now

     I finally feel like I can relax a little bit. Erin, my 19 year old, had her MRI done today of her neck and amazingly enough, everything looks good. She can return to normal activity gradually and can return to driving. Does she have to? I don’t want her to. Good luck with that right? She will be coming to Vermont this weekend and I can’t wait to see her. I have been blessed!

     We keep busy here getting ready for another 4H show. This week I cheered my 14 year old on as she completed her crafts for the show. She has never used double pointed needles before nor has she ever done an increase or decrease. Look at her cute sock monkey!

  She also took the picture of the flower above for one of her entries. Now to get a needle and thread into her hands this summer…. I joined in on the knitting to finish a pair of felted slippers. I now need to stick them in the washing machine for the felting process. My knitting basket is empty which is great.

    My son helped me make a design board. Just took scrap wood from the hardware store which is heavier than plywood and backed it with a few pieces of wood so it wouldn’t warp. I added grey felt from Joanne’s and am ready to go. It’s 4×4 which should should be a good size to work in here. I had been hanging a piece of flannel over the door but my pieces keep blowing away.

I like the grey background as opposed to white to work on. Forgot the glue though. I have three pieces right now in process. Having lots of fun with them.

Better go. I need to vacuum next . I plan on enjoying time with my family for the next week. I am hoping calm is the word of the week . I have reached my quota of stress for the summer. (Did I tell you about my dog who got her choke collar stuck in a radiator causing a bit of a flood? Or the fugitive who dumped his motorcycle in the field above us and ran for the woods?)

Happy Summer,my friends!

She Is Safe

     I keep saying those works over and over again…My husband called me at about 7:30 am on Thursday morning to let me know that my 19 year old daughter Erin had been in a car accident. He had seen her at the scene after a call from an unnamed good samaritan. He let me know right away that she was awake, alert and talking to him. She was on her way to work on the interstate , felt a swerve and rolled the Volvo station wagon 3 times. I was ok until he said the car flipped three times. Then the physical therapist in me kicked in and was asking all kinds of questions to make sure her spine and head were intact-which they are.

 She is at home with Marc and resting with a hard collar on until she goes to the orthopedic doctor on Tues. The car was totaled but the box which held the driver was intact. A definite miracle. It has always been one of my fears -not being there when one of my kids got hurt. But my husband has handled this very calmly(he’s shopping for another car-it was his….) and has taken good care of her.

    I desperately want to go home but she wants to come here as scheduled next week. And I knew after the comments-“Mom you will just sit here and make me crazy looking at me and asking me if I am ok.” I knew then that she was ok for now with dad until we have more information.  And snapping at me like that was understandable-even brought a smile to my face because I knew if she needed me she wouldn’t hesitate to ask me to come home.

     I don’t know if she will be ok to travel. Then I will go home.  But for now I just keep saying over and over in my head-thank you God for keeping her safe and with us. I can’t wait to hold her in my arms and let her know how much I love her!

  
  Everything looks a little brighter today. Even these fabrics that I dyed this past week. They aren’t ironed yet but that really doesn’t matter, does it?

Sewing is keeping me sane at night so hope to have some tops done soon. And if not, that doesn’t really matter either. She is safe.

Happy summer and if you pray, please keep us in your prayers.

New Treats

     Every once in awhile, you need a treat. And the ones I really enjoy are the treats that people have made. The art that they have made is even better. I ordered two things for my little table here in VT. I am always losing my four most important tools on my table- I am messy but once I get started I don’t want to stop to look for things. So I ordered this recycled pipe vase from my new friend Paula. I have never personally met Paula-but she has been a great help to me.

I love it. It is smoothly polished yet it retains all of  it’s chips and worn spots to give it lots of character. In the past 48 hours of marathon sewing at night, it is trustworthy for containing my mess. Love it.

My other absolute treasure is this little clock. It has a temporary home in my barn while I work on dyeing and surface design. It keeps me on track when I get carried away at night. But most importantly, it just makes me smile. I am the proud owner of a Paula clock.  I had my eye on this one for awhile and finally did it. Smiling, I am and it’s perfect.

Not a great picture but I wanted to tell you about it as Paula is auctioning off a few of her clocks on e-bay. Just a few so go find out about her art. It all began with friend of her’s who handed me a card.

Thanks Paula for the inspiration. And the great new art I have purchased.

Happy Summer, my friends!

Vermont Days

     I am in absolute perfectly content state of happiness right now. It’s a rainy day and I am using the wi-fi at the local library.It’s the small things in life that really make me happy:)

     We are all settling in to the lazy days of summer. Just snippets from the past week of my favorite things to do here in Vermont. I love to watch the farmer hay our meadow and look at the rows left in the field before he tethers it and rolls it into bales.

I love to watch the kids show their cows at the 4-H shows. The show this past weekend was in Highgate, VT which is almost to the Canadian border. The kids work incredibly hard to get their animals ready and to show.

Yes, she is blow drying the cow’s topline which she cut the day before. The whole cow is shaved in preparation for the showing.

She placed second in fitting and showmanship-way to go Hope and Beauty!

Daylillies everywhere right now. This is the fence at the front of my house.

My favorite rocking chair for the end of the day.

Enjoying my days here now that it’s not so hot. Even a day of rain today is welcome.

A more art related post tomorrow as I spent a day with a friend fabric dyeing and received a package in the mail I ordered from another friend!

Happy Summer, my friends!

Hot, Hot and Hotter


     I know I am hot here in Vermont with a long stretch of 90 plus days this week . Absolutely no air is moving. We have one room with an air conditioner in it but other than that we are braving the heat. And then I quit fussing when I see how hard the farmers are working in this heat to get their hay in. I love seeing all the bales of hay on the fields. And I see how hot my fair skinned 14 year old is after working for a few hours at the dairy barn…and I quit complaining. She has been getting up at 5:30 this week just to get her cows ready for her first 4H show this week. It’s a little cooler then but not much. I am sweating just sitting here typing. Thank goodness it will turn this weekend.

     Computer fixed and much better. I always second guess my ability to know when things aren’t right with it and blame it on my lack of knowledge rather than feel for how it’s working. Oh well. Maybe my brain is just fried this week….

     One for my goals for this summer was to dye a lot of fabrics. I like to dye here in my barn and have myself supplied for the year as far as fabric is concerned. A secondary goal was to practice all of these techniques I have recently learned. And figure out if it is something I would like to use and how to integrate it into what I am doing. So I tried acrylic wash which I was introduced to from Velda Newman.

     I took a piece of fabric and placed it in a hoop. I wet the canvas with a clean brush.

Then I took just a little acrylic paint-very watered down- and began spreading it on the canvas. I only had three colors. Then I used  some miscellaneous tools and just played with these two pieces I let them air dry for about two days and then threw them in the washing machine, air dried them again and ironed. I was surprised how soft they were. There was a little fading but not much. It just softened it. Voila, two new pieces of very unique fabric.

    I would use this again. But wouldn’t buy more paint at this time unless I have a 50 percent off coupon!

  Had a bad day today. It happens. People just not acting nicely here and need to think of how to handle it tomorrow. I’ll just think of my double rainbow from last week instead! Isn’t it beautiful? 
Happy thoughts, my friends!

A Sick Computer

I started having problems last week with my computer and blamed it on my lousy dial up. Well dial up is still lousy and slow but my computer is just sick. It has gone to the computer hospital today. After I got my car keys back from my huband who mistakenly took them back to MI with him. The fed ex man was a hero this morning- he said three people don’t usually greet him in the driveway. Keys back, computer gone. So we solve one problem and another one comes along…no big deal but just an inconvenience.

So I’ll be back when the computer is back. It’s really hot here-95! Time to find some water.
Happy Summer, my friends!

Freedom 2010

Happy 4th of July my friends. Hope you enjoy the freedoms that we have here in America. I pieced this little flag this week and it’s not yet quilted. Ever since Robin Ferrier did a flag about a year ago, I have wanted to do one too. Super easy and just what I needed to get going again. Freedom 2010-22×28 unquilted.

                                                  

Happy 4th of July, my friends!

Sunshine and Fearless

         I am exhausted. The fun has not stopped here today. It was such a beautiful day that we decided we would try to round up enough strawberries for a pie tomorrow. It’s been a new tradition the past few years as I have the easiest strawberry pie recipe- I am not a baker. But the field was picked clean. I have never seen anything like. No pie for us tomorrow. Maybe ice cream. It’s easier. The yellow fabric is some sunshine for you this July 4th. I managed to squeeze this in yesterday morning.

And then a little earth and sky for you too. The blues were really pretty this batch.

A good week’s work and fun.

Fearless: I am deathly afraid of heights. Who knows why I agreed to buy a second home in VT. But today I hiked to the top of Mount Elmore. No it wasn’t Mount Mansfield but it was  a good sized mountain. So no not technically fearless was I, but I made it. The first time in the seven years we have had the house. ( I am not sure they will invite me again.) I was very slow…. Had fun though.

Happy Summer, my friends.

Next week I will have quilt show pics. I need to figure out how to re-size them.