Category Archives: Vermont

The Space In Between in Vermont

Snow finally in VT

I love my Vermont week in between Christmas and New Year’s. For the past 12 years, we load our tired Christmas bodies, winter gear and all kinds of books and movies into the car and drive for 13 hours to our second home in VT. This happens the day after Christmas. As the kids have gotten older, it comes with lots of grumbling and complaining as to all that they are leaving behind and activities they are missing out on. Especially this year when the snow forecast was non-existent, the grumbling reached epic proportions.

I have to admit I was kind of apprehensive of what would happen without snow. I am the non-skier who stays nice and warm and sews. And sews. I typically bring the biggest bag of sewing projects and lots of books. They ski and I make dinner and sew all day while they ski. And I take long, thinking walks in the woods. It’s a win-win situation. What would they do without skiing? Selfishly, would I be able to sew?

But so far, they sleep in epic proportions and read by the fire. The days are broken up by playing games, reading and eating. No worries without snow. We are all relaxing. And I was able to sew. My sewing space is much simpler here and I really love that. It has made it very clear I need to purge in my large sewing studio in Michigan!

My simple sewing space

After working on 2 exhibits for the past 2 years, I am loving this state of being-relaxed and planning for the next year. I forgot what it felt like. It is pure bliss. I appreciate the week between the holidays with newfound appreciation. I will plan for next year. But not right now. I need to find my spot by the fire and my people in the week between.

Re-entry Fast Approaching

All ironed and packed up!

The car is almost fully packed and I am just waiting for the last 2 loads of wash. (It would have been one load but I found a bucket of 2 scarves soaking in soda ash so I went ahead and dumped some dye on them. ) My record breaking 9 weeks in VT is coming to a close . We load up at 4 am to drop my daughter at the airport ( she was the lucky winner of the airline ticket home) and then make the 13 hour trek back to MI with dogs, husband driver and all the sewing studio in the car. Whew!

a goofy girl tie- dyeing some shirts with my dyes

This summer seemed particularly crazy. With the work I had to do, it seemed like summer swirled around me. I was an observer and a sometimes participant in all the activities. I enjoyed it but it was different.

taking care with her project

Plus my kids came and went from here depending on what things they had going on at home. Gone are the days when we enjoyed all of the summer together! I felt nostalgic about that and realized it will only continue. I cherish my time with them as sassy as they can be…

one of my favorite farms on our walks

I spent yesterday whizzing through some motifs for the class

making motifs for the upcoming workshop

at Muskegon next week. I think /know I was supposed to spend more time on them but I just didn’t plan right. It felt good to play with black and whites as much as I dreaded/procrastinated doing them all summer.

cleaned up lots of fabric messes yesterday

Nancy Crow is teaching her Sets and Variables class next week at the Muskegon Museum of Art. She has a solo show opening Thursday night with a lecture . If you are in the area , don’t miss it.

One more Vermont picture for you…see you on the other side!

top of the hill

Wrapping Up Summer Fabric Dyeing

It was steaming hot here this past week. It’s the kind of weather that the cotton fabrics and dyes love. I definitely have been in love with my newfound knowledge of fabric dyeing after my Carol Soderlund class last May.

Processing the fabric in the barn

Carol recommends processing in a plastic bag for low water immersion. But I am way too messy with that. I can’t get manage to get the fabric folded without having the dye all over my legs while I fold it up for the plastic bag. Or maybe I am just too stubborn to not waste all my plastic containers.

Reds on the line

For the first time, I used full immersion for these two yard cuts of red. I ended up loving full water immersion for absolute solid coloring! It does take an hour of full tending to the pots though.

Lighter neutrals on the line

I need a few more neutrals but that will wait until a nice fall day.

Wacky over dyeing of the “ickies”

And the dry results…

Neutrals ready for ironing

Brights ready for ironing

No ironing until after I enjoyed the weekend with friends.

Hazy VT summer days

It’s summer after all.

From my garden

My husband has been with me in VT for longer than usual this summer. He said he’s amazed at how much time I spend working on my art. How did he not know this? 🙂

What are you working on? Can you settle into a summer time routine with your art or do you take break?

Sinking Into A Vermont Summer: #2

I have decided to embrace the chaos of summer. I woke up on Wednesday and had no idea what the date was or the day of the week. Or what house I was waking up in until I opened my eyes- Vermont or Michigan? It was Michigan but I needed to get ready to return to VT which takes me a day to organize and then a day to travel. So I thought I would l give you a re-cap of the past two weeks.

– A silly but cute parade that my kids still wanted to be a part of:

A reluctant parade participant 🙂

She still loves her cows

— A trip to the Vermont Quilt Festival

Greta use of color with lots of pieces!

I ran into a fellow classmate from the Barn Lee Sproul and I was pleased to see her piece which was one of my favorites from the show.

Lee Sproul “Orange Link”

Details of Lee Sproul’s piece “Orange Link”

Nice job Lee and nice to see you!

— A trip to the Shelburne Museum to see the Nancy Crow exhibit

Hat and Fragrance Gallery entrance

A link that reviews the exhibit as I took lousy pictures:

Heather Dubreill

—–A proud mom who is excited and happy that her boy ‘s team won the regional division and will travel to Phoenix in February . Only four teams left in the nation so good job Ben, my goalie man. Congrats!

——Lots of walks

Mountains in the distance

—–goofy selfies

Hope and I with the top down

I am making the most of every free minute and every not so free minute and keep working and sewing. I am now working on making lots of lines this week-which I can’t show you.

Summer continues to be

Sign at the Shelburne Museum entrance

Next week a little more fabric dyeing as I need reds and greys. Never enough hand dyed fabrics!

All Things Summer

I have been in VT for 16 days already and you haven’t heard a peep from me!!! So I owe you a quick re-cap. Marc, I and dogs arrived on May 31st which is the earliest I have ever come for the summer. Marc and I came to celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary with out kiddos. However, i promptly came down with a tremendous cold…so good thing he still loves me.

Lilacs in June

It was beautiful here and I have never seen this lilac bloom in the whole ten years we have owned the house. I did a really hard prune of it about 4 years ago and Iam amazed that it has re-grown so quickly.

Yes, the cows are just across the street.

We had the house painted this spring and I have to admit, it has never look this pretty so I will share it with you. Off to the left you can see my chairs where I watch the sunset and have glass of wine. Come anytime and join me!

Vermont home

My sewing room is in the right front corner and I can hear those cows as I sew.

Lucy enjoying VT

The barn is in the back and to the right and that’s Lucy, my sweet one. The Lab, Mandie, is obsessed with the woodchuck and has pushed the word obsession to a new level. She is not in the picture because she can’t stop pacing… The dogs love it here as much as we do.

Crazy girl

Marc left after a few days and my daughter Hope joined me. I knew when I saw her get off the plane that she was really sick. An ER visit diagnosed the very sick kid with mono. She wasn’ t happy though as all her plans of milking cows and working as a deli were on hold. as were my plans of working away. But I was so grateful that she was home from college and not sick 11 hours away. Best case scenario if you have mono: Be with mom so she can take care of you. I am not sure she quite thinks so.

Nice neutrals in the bunch

I have been working hard. I started dyeing fabrics with my new dye knowledge. However, I had less than successful results with my colors turning out much lighter than the color swatches. I suspect old dyes and cold temps. I have replaced some of the older dyes and will see if my theory is right.

Lighter than expected-too cold and dyes old?

I am also machine quilting my Artprize piece. I did get accepted into Artprize 2014 this year and really look forward to it again.

Rooflines #15 under the machine

I try to take a walk each day and this is one of my favorite spots on the Stowe Recreation Path.

Stowe Community Church

And I always watch the sunsets here.

My nighttime view

Hope you are sinking into those long summer days. What are you working on?

All Things Winter

Lake Michigan shoreline

The last few weeks have been a bit of a struggle. I am slogging through this historical winter we are having here in Michigan. I can’t quite remember shoveling this much snow before and I admit the dreariness is getting to me. So my husband and I planned an impromptu trip to Florida for four days to visit long time friends and I was super excited to exit MIchigan for a brief glimpse of warmth.

And the morning that we were going to leave my son woke up sick. My daughter’s car was very sick and ended up in the shop. And the refrigerator/freezer which was fully stocked went out. All of those things are easily fixed but not in the four hours prior to leaving so we cancelled. Yup, I missed the sunshine and warmth and decided instead to join the winter. My husband and I took a trip to Lake Michigan to see how frozen it is which is at unprecedented levels of freezing. It was beautiful and we walked out on the pier which was really a weird feeling this time of year.

Ignore the sign and walk on the pier:)

Many others walking on Lake Michigan

This past weekend we went to Vermont for our annual President”s week ski trip. I sew, snowshoe and they ski. The first day here it rained buckets and skiing was impossible. The next day I was so antsy, that the minute I saw the sun, I strapped on my snowshoes. I didn’t even think of the temps in the 40’s and all the rain we had the day before.

As I trudged across the meadow to the top of our hill, I almost gave up. My snowshoes were sinking up to about my knees so it was as if I was on an elliptical machine. I laughed as it was such a touristy thing to do and I really do know better. Snowshoes sink in soft snow. But winter had made me crazy and I was going to walk on the trails no matter what.

And after lots of sweat and effort, I made it up the hill to the cross country trails which made for a little easier walking.

Nothing better than walk in the woods in February at my Vermont home. Winter is good as long as the sky is blue every once in awhile! We don’t have that in Michigan with all the lake effect clouds from Lake Michigan.

I was very happy to take the snowshoes off and walk past my neighbors home up the hill. She is 91 and still mows her lawn and has a garden. I hope I can be like her at that age.

After my walks, I went back to work on another Rooflines piece.

Peace in the woods and peace while piecing.

The Last Hurrah

I had given myself an assignment last time.

Make something. Check.

I really made the made the most of my last week here. I finally made an indigo pot and dyed some samples I made after viewing this new DVD. Great DVD on stitch resist technique .

Beautiful scarf from Hank and Spool shop which I will add some hand stitch to. This was my functional item. I also have another baby quilt pieced made from scraps that will go to a guild charity.

I also overdyed a few duds and dyed some nice greys for my neutral pile.

And lastly, I made a huge mess and was really rusty on design. I took out another pile of scraps and spun aimlessly for two days. Then I cleaned it all up and packed it in the car to go.

I will see you after I settle back into Michigan! It has been a really great summer.

An Assignment

I gave myself an assignment yesterday.

1. Make something.
2. Buy nothing new for it.
3. Make it functional.

This was after I was procrastinating on another assignment which I should have been working on. I am still in VT with my daughter and enjoying the sunshine. I have sent the majority of my newly dyed fabrics home with my husband last week. So it was more than a challenge.

Stay tuned.

Barn at Shelburne Museum

Shelburne Museum : Part One

Last week we ventured to the Shelburne Museum. I wanted to see the two exhibits there: Velda Newman and Wyeth Vertigo.

Velda Newman quilt: Sunkissed

Velda Newman quilt: Zinnia

Details of Velda Newman quilt :Zinnia

Her work is spectacular and the colors just as vivid as these pieces. They are large too, hence the title of the exhibit.

No photography at The Wyeth exhibit but seeing the work of the 3 generations of the Wyeth family was really a treat.

Both were excellent exhibits and if you can make the time to squeeze in a day there yet this summer, I highly recommend it. You might be able to see their new gallery and workshop space which will be open year round. It does not open for about another month.

I am still working on existing projects and making slow and steady progress on the gifts.

An Old Fashioned Parade

It was a hot steamy day for a parade. I haven’t gone to a parade in years. But this year the kids were asked to participate.

Girls with parasols.

My goofy son carrying a banner for the local creamery.

My daughter helping her friend with the pony cart.

I am not sure who this is.

The fireworks were cancelled tonight. It has rained so much since we have arrived two weeks ago. A few hours of clear weather mid day and then torrential rains. You can see the water in this field which was just re-planted last week.