Category Archives: Vermont

My Friendly Neighbors

         Just having my cup of coffee and enjoying my friendly neighbors. I love the Brown Swiss breed and this one’s name is Charm. We will go to the beach in the afternoon at a local state park but this morning I will do some machine quilting.

Settling In

     Just arrived in Vermont on Sunday for the week. I kept working on my Artprize piece the past few weeks and have driven my family mad with it.  I think I am now on version #2578 of the same piece and left it half assembled on my design wall. I promised them that I wouldn’t talk about it all week long. 🙂

Rooflines # 6 in process , 2012  Colleen Kole

 Nope not it.

Rooflines #6 in process, 2012 Colleen Kole

Nope, not done yet…

So where have I been?

1. I finished some over dyeing of last week’s fabrics before I left.

 2. Attended a wedding of my daughter’s best friend. My daughter was a bridesmaid and it really shocked me that I have a daughter with a married friend.  They just seem  so young.

my pretty girl 

3. Went to two SAQA exhibits at the Gerald Ford Museum.

4. I was interviewed by the Grand Rapids Magazine in regards to an article they are doing titled (?)The Quilt as Art. A photographer was sent to my studio to take pictures of me working. ( I really cleaned it up before they came and that took a few days! ) They are doing the article in preparation of the AQS show which will be in Grand Rapids August 22-25th.

I really don’t like have my picture taken-ok I hate it… but I hope I am not too much of a dweeb in this article. More importantly, I hope I have spoken somewhat intelligently.  It should come out at the end of July. At which point I could snatch all available copies off all shelves in all stores if it is horrid.

5. I was also interviewed by the experiencegr blog for the same reason. I was more relaxed and had an easier time answering questions for that interview.

6. Packed and rode 14 hours here.

Settling in to summer between Vermont and Grand Rapids. I hate lists in the summer. But I think I might need one this summer in order to get done what I need to do for the fall.

Anything fun planned for the 4th?

Something Different: Vermont Artisan Cheese

Mount Elmore

     Last week while we were on vacation, my neighbor asked me if I wanted to observe his artisan cheese making process. He started an artisan cheese making business last year, Mount Mansfield Creamery, using the milk from their Brown Swiss and Holstein cows. They have been very successful and now have award winning raw milk cheese which is being sold locally and on the East Coast.

     I observed for about a four hour time period and I know now that cheese making is as labor intensive as making a quilt. The milk is carried over from the farm in large steel mik cans-heavy milk cans. It is then poured into a large steel vat, heated slowly and enzymes added over time and at a specific temperature and pH. (? Don’t know exactly but I listened!) The vat is slowly stirred by the electric paddles and when a certain temperature and curd consistency, the curds are scooped out and placed in molds.

Stan, the cheese  man

Just after the stainless steel vat, curds in the molds

 The whey left behind slowly drains off over the next few hours as the cheese is flipped every thirty minutes which allows it to settle. The whey is collected for the pig farmers.

Flipping the cheeses in the molds

A proud cheesmaker

Beautiful cheese mold pattern

    I can’t believe I am showing you this picture but I did get to help.

making cheese:)

Over the next sixty days, the cheeses are placed in cold storage, their rinds washed  periodically and tended to. Then, after it is aged, you get to enjoy the most beautiful tasting cheese there is! 

I enjoyed watching and appreciate even more the cheeses that their farm produces and the labor it involves. 

Snowshoes and Sunshine

     I didn’t really know if I needed my snowshoes on but knew I would be deep in the woods so put them on anyway.

     No wonder I love coming to Vermont.  It was a  glorious day for a walk and I definitely didn’t need my snowshoes. I walked along the cross country ski trails on a neighboring property. Better go again today as it will soon turn bitter cold.

A Better Meadow

     I am trying in some small way trying to redeem myself from my last small piece. It didn’t really portray what I wanted it too. So I tried again- I just wanted a simple abstract piece which reflected the colors of my Vermont meadow. This is too simple for me so I guess I need to try again until I get it right.

Vermont Meadows
about 24×55 unquilted

     I always resort to this simple design of strip piecing to jumpstart my design process again. Sure wish I didn’t have to. But , I do and I did. It bugs me to slide backwards.  Kind of a warm-up? I don’t know but I just did it. But the best part about this piece-I am on my way back again to sewing. And it felt really good to sew again.  I will take it home next week when we go back to Michigan and start quilting it. Ever onward.

      Now that I see it here -I feel like it needs to be twice as wide and it’s missing the other half….Sometimes they just keep getting bigger.

     I have another piece on my design wall which I would love to get pieced before I leave…. don’t know if that will be realistic but it is a good stretch goal.

    Enjoy summer, my friends.

The Last Hurrah

     I have finished fabric dyeing for the summer of 2011. Oh,what a great feeling that is to say! At least until I get home from Vermont , unpack and sort it all and see what I didn’t dye to fill out my stash. So, I will feel absolutely amazing and kind of like superwoman -until I get home. I think the final count is 250 yards since May-craziness.

    This past week I dyed reds. And then an old friend from my Connecticut days,  Lynne, came to spend a few days doing some dyeing and surface design with me. And it wasn’t just some, it was many yards of beautiful fabric that we created.

  
    It was a hot day on Monday but our pieces dried nicely on the line. Lynne just didn’t stop and created lots of small pieces of fabric and I think her favorite technique was monoprinting using parchment paper.

Lynne’s beautiful hand dyed fabrics. My favorites were her top fabrics-  deep rich overdyes.

    I love these pieces that I clamped but should have used a higher concentration of dye to make the prints darker. Always learning something new each time I process a fabric.

Just playing ended up creating nice texture.

Using up the dyes on the last of my white cotton floss.

After many loads of laundry , caffeine, ice cream and lots of conversation, we created oodles of fabric to use the next year. Not much cooking got done but lots of fabric dyeing. Oh and my dog escaped to kill  the neighbor’s chicken(not good). There is always a dog adventure whenever Lynne comes!

     Lucy, my Bernese rarely chases anything…but I guess the chicken lost.

     Thanks for coming Lynne. Next time, no dog adventures. We both will  need a good nap after we iron all this fabric.

     Be creative, my friends. I can hardly wait to return to actual sewing again.

If I Had My Own Store




     If I had my own store, I would have one that looked exactly like a new store I visited this weekend in Burlington called Nido.  It was in a beautiful  second floor setting  of an old building with exposed brick walls in the heart of Burlington city.

    The brick walls set off the crisp racks of fabric and this was one of a kind fabric from Ink and Spindle, Japanese fabrics , Denise Schmydt fabrics , fabric packs and , of course, cotton solids. Despite being in an old building, it was light, bright and airy.  Everything was displayed so nicely. Too bad I spent most of my money at the Vermont Quilt Festival because I could have spent a lot on the cotton voiles  and yarns from local Vermont artists. Beautiful yarns.

     A few solid wooden tables were off to the right for classes and it was all part of the same space as the shop. What a great way for newcomers to catch the excitement of a class.

     Best of all,  no sewing machine sales. I loved that  the owner ( I think) wasn’t thinking about what machine she might like me to buy.  Just what I came in there for.  Fabric or yarn.

   If you are ever in the area, stop and see Nido. Otherwise , check them out on their website. They were eager to please and often, you just don’t find that anymore!

    Be creative, my friends! As I stitch away, I am daydreaming of what I would want if I had my own store….and not the hours I would have to work to keep it going. 


    

     
   

Summer Meadows

     I spent an inordinate amount of time waiting for things here in Vermont this past week. As my daughter reminded me-we are on “Vermont time” not real time. Which means when you are waiting on a repair person who is coming in the morning, 7pm at night is just on time. He made it the day he said he would.

    So I waited for people and waited even longer for fabric that was due last week. I only needed to dye two yards of navy blue to finish a piece I am working on now. Not done yet. So, I did some therapy strips and just chilled.

Summer Meadows, 9×12

 I love the colors of the meadows and wildflowers here. Along with the sunshine. No different than the flowers in Michigan, but I think I just am able to take time and enjoy them. This piece should have been much larger but I made just a few too many cuts….so tiny it is.

    Found a few more stray pieces to dye  some gentle colors.

Tried to overdye some browns and blacks but still couldn’t get deep dark brown or black. I am not sure what went wrong here. Also. played with some thermofax screens and one silkscreen.

And for one or two of you missing mountains, a hazy mountain shot on a ninety degree day earlier this week. Yes, I am high up in the mountains.

Enjoy your summer and be creative, my friends!

Up, Up and Away

     I am back to work this week. The two lovely children in the last post were acting a little …not very grateful. So this mom decided it was an “on your own” day yesterday. Meaning, they must find something to entertain themselves and not me entertaining them. 🙂 So, I took the day and worked on piecing another top. Almost there. So you will actually see art this week.

    We went to the annual balloon festival this past weekend. I haven’t been in a few years so it was fun to be outdoors and enjoy it.

They all had quilt patterns on them, didn’t they? I liked the one on the left the best. I kept thinking of how much work they do for such a short flight.  But they sure looked like they were having fun.

What are you working on this week?

Enjoy the summer, my friends!

Summertime in Vermont

     I am very relaxed and sinking into the summertime.

Enjoying smiles on the girl after a week of hard work getting cows ready to show in a 4-H dairy show. Meet the Supreme Grand Champion Pesto.

Watching the beautiful architecture of barns made long ago.

Taking pictures wherever we go.

Enjoying summer with not much to show for my art life this week. Stitching by night. I did order 150 meters of fabric to dye and was all prepared for a marathon dyeing week-except they shipped it to the wrong address back at home. So, I took it as a week to enjoy time with the kids and animals here in Vermont.

Enjoy summertime, my friends!