Fall 2010 trip

Where to begin? I have lots of photos already taken on this trip to NY and the surrounding area. I might as well start at the beginning and try to stick to themes. I hope that some of these themes will interest you.

In the first part of the trip, before we went to NY, we drove to the east. We stayed in Mystic, Connecticut in a charming little place called the Steamboat Inn, right next to the water. In fact, it was right near a drawbridge that we could see from our window.

I was hoping that we could get to see the bridge go up, and indeed we did, a couple of times.

It went higher and higher.

This is the boat that went through when the bridge was open.

The next day we drove past Point Judith and found the lighthouse. Someday we'll come back and take the ferry to Block Island.

Later we arrived in Newport, Rhode Island. Really old graveyard here.

The curbs were made of some kind of stone.

I thought this statue was interesting. It's one of a set of twins, straddling a stairway.

There was a whole row of lovely mansions near our hotel, so I took a stroll over to check them out. I was too cheap to take any tours ($14 for one house!), since we were only there one night.

We stayed at the Hydrangea Inn, which was lovely. The next day we scurried to North Brookfield, New York, to visit with Samantha, Martine and Jack. I will post photos of baby, chickens, farmer's market, as soon as I can.

playing catch-up

I've got photo build-up in my camera! Here are a few taken before our current NY trip.

First, I'm sharing goodness from our garden. We have several grapefruits growing on our little tree.

There are a few lemons, too.

We only got a few pomegranate blossoms this year. We never got any on our new cherry or plum trees. I hope next year they'll be mature enough to make a riot of blossoms.

We do have tons of blossoms on our twin kumquat trees, and the bees are going crazy for them.

Lastly, here's Grampa T napping under the barbecue cover, his legs askew. Ah, life is good.

On a different topic, I found the actual final photos of my "Summertime Cat" quilt. It's been touring around the country this year, and will be at Pacific International Quilt Festival soon.

I kept changing the face, and this is the final one.

On a completely different topic, here's a photo that Jack took of Samantha in the hat that I made her. Too cute!

hi from mid-state NY

We're currently in Hamilton, New York, visiting with my daughter, son-in-law and new granddaughter. We're having a grand time! Samantha is getting to know her Grandpa Cooksey. The weather's been delightful so far - and I hear it's in the 100's at home! Sounds like Southern California is finally getting summer weather.

I promise to post some trip photos soon, but I wanted to say that I was happily surprised to find Quilting Arts on our hotel TV this morning! It hasn't been available on our PBS stations at home, sad to say, and I enjoyed watching it as we got dressed and ready for the day. There was also a knitting program, called "Knitting Daily" I think, also by Interweave Press. I need to contact KOCE and KCET about these great programs!

More photos soon. We went to the Farmer's Market in Hamilton, where my daughter and husband have a produce stand on Saturdays.

mille fiore going to PIQF

I just learned that my "Mille Fiore" quilt was accepted into the Pacific International Quilt Festival main exhibit. Woohoo! Here is a sneak peak.  And here's a cute pic of Matilda sitting on the quilt in progress.

Also, I believe the "Summer" exhibit will also be there, and my "Summertime Cat" is in that. I'm still looking for a photo of the finished quilt - this one is not the final cut (I changed the face).

farmers market, plus more granddaughter pix

My daughter and her husband have had a booth at the farmer's market in nearby Hamilton, NY, for the past two weekends. Quite an impressive array, if you ask me. They say it's going well.

More photos of my darling granddaughter, for those who are interested. She's lying on the quilt that I made her in this one. Cute dress!

She looks so tiny in her bouncy chair.

Naptime.

Beach bunny in Rhode Island.

new garment challenge

Some of you may remember that last year I participated in a clothing challenge. We had to upcycle a thrift shop find and turn it into something we could wear. Last year I had to work with a peach colored silk jacket. I made a new jacket that had lots of reds, oranges and browns.

Anyway, there's another challenge this year. I received a long, solid black wool skirt, and my idea was to make another jacket with it. It's been a big challenge. For one thing, the jacket pattern is much harder. Mistakes have been made. Oh, for the good old days when a pattern came in one size, not everything from tiny to large? Arrgh. Another problem is that I didn't have enough fabric from the skirt to do a jacket. But I found an old pair of black wool pants in my closet - what was it doing there, because I will never be a size 4 again!?! It's not exactly the same black wool, but close enough.

Here's the heap of the skirt and old pants I ravaged to make the jacket.

I made bias tape with the black and white fabric. I'm keeping it nice before I use it, by wrapping it around a handy water bottle.

I'm making fabric covered buttons - another frustrating task! - from old ties.

The jacket isn't presentable enough yet to display, but here it is in sort of a heap, with the pattern. I'm trying to channel Mila from last season's Project Runway, but alas she has much more talent and know-how than I do in creating fashion. Anyway, it's a good learning experience.

Tie Dyes and Dyed Ties

Here's my finished quilt for the Flying Geese Quilters auction, which is in October. (I'll come up with the date later.) But it's due in September. Anyway, I'm calling it "Tie Dyes and Dyed Ties." I've been wanting to make a quilt with tie dyes and dyed ties for some time - just because it's fun to say those words together!

The tie dyes are from Ghana. The ties come from my husband and other sources, and I put dye on them. English paper pieced, hand quilted, hand embroidered, hand appliqued, embellished with a fun mix of buttons, many of them vintage.