Dyeing for Some Sun

Well summer it pretty much over - Classes start tomorrow. Which is probably why it has finally decided to stop raining - yes, we actually had 4 days this week where it did not rain (but showers are predicted for this afternoon). Last month a group of us were supposed to go out to our friend Trudy's to do some fabric dyeing but a huge storm the night before knocked out their power for about 24 hours and they had several trees down. We were re-scheduled and yesterday we were out on the lake shore in the shade of some Cyprus trees dyeing our fabrics. The photo is just some samples - we actually did a whole rainbow of colors - 24 in all. The fabric is stored in the jars with the dye mixture for at least 24 hours. Yup, the rest of the north country is busy canning produce from their gardens, but the quilters are canning fabric.

Summer Winding Down

Only a week and a half till the end of Summer. Well OK, maybe not the end of summer officially, but for me classes start up on August 25th so it definitely feels like the end of summer. Surprising how few items on the summer 'to do' list got done this year, but with great excuses like 'it rained just about every day' there is not much you can do about it. The priorities before it gets too cold is to do some touch up painting on the house and see about weatherizing as best we can for the winter.

In line with staying warn and getting things done. I finally finished one of the community service quilts I started months ago. That is it in the photo. It is a 9-patch pattern using scraps of blue and white fabrics.

New York Beauty Block

The New York Beauty quilt block is a really stunner. I have seen several NY Beauty quilts in shows the last few years and they are always the ones I am most drawn to. Especialy the multi-colored scrappy versions. So I jumped at the chance to join some fellow quilters this past weekend to learn how to construct the block. The process involves both paper-piecing and sewing curved seams. I have minimal experience with both of these techniques but as you can see from my first blook (I usually have great beginners luck) it turned out really well. To make the block we are using a Karen Stone pattern.

Oh Look, Its Raining Again.

After a June with only 6 days without rain, and a July that was officially recorded at the 7th rainiest, can't say we are surprised that the first weekend in August is also filled with rain.

Instead of worrying about the garden growing we are now worried about it rotting. While the pumpkin is loving all the rain, the tomatoes are starting to get blight. The peppers seem to be holding their own.

On a brighter note we have a few 'volunteer' sunflowers growing in the ditch out front. Volunteers are what our local gardeners call plants that sprout up on there own (you didn't put out seeds or plant.) So the photo for this week - to battle the gloom of the rain, is one of our little sunflower volunteers. I did put a few sunflower seeds in one of the beds, and while they are now taller than me, they have yet to bloom - once they do I will take a picture and post it.

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