Summer Guests

Damon's Aunt Sandy and Uncle John came up for a visit this past week. While it was a soggy trip up, the nice weather kicked in and we went over to Burlington, VT for a day on the slow boat (i.e. the Port Kent Ferry). While several of us were shopping, John ended up being interviewed on the local news the video is posted at: http://www.wptz.com/video/16903984/index.html .

Another first time visitor for us this past weekend was a deer. Yes, there are deer all over the place it seems, but this is the first time in the 8 years at the house that I have seen a deer in our own yard. As you might expect the dogs went nuts and were barking like crazy, but as I had already shut the windows for the day they did not scare it off. It stayed in the yard for a few minutes and then headed toward the woods at the back of the property.

Vermont Quilt Festival - 2008

As usual the VQF was great. I took 3 classes, attended the Saturday night lecture and even won a door prize.

The first class I took was Susan Cleveland's 'Piping Hot Curves' which included learning how to make pipping and applying it to curved shapes and making block. The first photo is the book and a few of the blocks I made in class.

I also took Judy Mathieson's 'Twilight Star' class. The star is a 20-point sort-of paper pieced project. I say 'sort of' because it really isn't the traditional paper piecing method, but I found it easier and very accurate so I am sure I will use it again. The second photo is a copy of Judy's book and the part of the star I got done in class.

Finally, I also took Susan Cleveland's half day 'Bold Needle Threads' class, which was great because it was basically a time to play with different threads and stitches on your sewing machine, and I hadn't had a chance to play with all the cool stitches since I bought the machine last year.

Minding the Gap

The problem with blogs (or any type of journal or diary) is that if you have a busy life you have no time for blogging, and if you have time for blogging your life is not busy enough to have anything to write about. As you can tell from the date of this posting there is a considerable gap - this was due to a conference and a vacation back home for quality time with the family.

Among the exciting events was the annual trip to a Toledo Mud Hens baseball game - that is Aubrey with Muddy in the photo. There was also the traditional shutney (checking the spelling later). And as an extra bonus this year Damon's dad Tom (who is a licensed taser dealer) let Damon tase him as product research - the video is on YouTube at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBCdELqIiDo

WIPs and UFOs 2008

For you non-quilters out there WIPs are 'Works in Progress' and UFOs are 'UnFinished Objects'. Every year in the fall my quilting guild encourages folks to select a WIP/UFO or two and then requires folks to bring the finished quilt in at one of the spring meetings. The photo above is my WIP for the year. Last fall all I had done was the four center blocks. The quilt is a 'Hawaiian applique' the shapes are created using the same method that you used to make snowflakes as kids - folding and cutting. Its difficult to tell from the picture but it is a pretty large piece - about 47 inches tall and wide. The red and white make it look a bit Christmasy to me.

Along the holiday lines I also finished a small Christmas themed wall-hanging. I bought it as a kit at the Vermont Quilt Festival a couple of years ago. I started it at a quilting retreat this spring and finished it last month. It was a quick and easy project.

Damon and I are looking forward to coming home for a visit, I just hope we are well enough to enjoy it. Damon came down with a sore throat about 3 days ago and it has developed into a full-blown cold. I started with a sore throat last night.

Conference on Instructional Technology 2008

That tiny speck next to the podium is me. I gave my presentation "Students' Technology Literacy: Assumptions, Expectations & the Truth" at the 2008 CIT conference at Genesee Community College in Batavia, NY. I had rehearsed my presentation in a classroom, so I was a little unprepared for being scheduled in the big main theatre.
Turn out was good (I ran out of handouts and needed to post them on the web for others to access), I got great questions at the end of the presentation and later in the conference a few folks came up to me and said the liked my presentation. So over all I think the presentation went well.
The conference also included some great entertainment - a band called Fully Clothed Gents, which is a Bare Naked Ladies tribute band. And I picked up a few technology and teaching tips and tricks to try out.
Damon and the dogs survived pretty well on their own, and Damon was even able to kept the garden alive (except for one small pack of impatiens sitting in the shadows of the greenhouse). The Hops plants are doing well and the largest has already reached the top of the greenhouse.

Making Use of a Long Weekend.

Its been a busy weekend.


First, we have a new neighbor - a family of robins. They had been trying to nest on the back porch light about a month ago, but since its a high traffic area and the dogs are right there all the time we figured it wasn't the safest location for raising a family. We have discovered that by attaching some aluminum foil to the top of the light we were able to keep the birds from nesting there. To make up for the eviction, I built a bird house (of sorts) and attached it around the corner on the other side of the porch, away from both the doorway and the dogs. At first I was disappointed because the structure was not adopted by the birds, but they finally came around and this week and built a nest and are currently sitting on eggs. I took this picture from the upstairs window looking down at the back porch.

Other happenings this weekend:
Planted the tomato and pepper plants on Saturday.


On Sunday I joined Cathy, Cheryl, Trudy and Donna and we went up to Montreal for the Québec Provincial Quilt Show. Several friends from the Wadhams Hall Quilt retreats had quilts in the show. A wonderful show, took lots of pictures for inspiration.

The Start of Summer?

Its almost summer! Too bad it doesn’t feel like it yet up here in the north-country.

The basic getting-ready-for-summer chores are done, the rain barrels are set up, mowing has begun and the garage has been cleaned out.

While the flower boxes around the house are planted, the veggies are still spending the nights in the greenhouse. I hope to get the raised beds tilled and everything in the ground this weekend.