pretty cute video from NY

I made the ball that she's playing with.

What I've Been Working on Lately

I've started a new art quilt! It's for the Noble Seasons challenge for Fall. I have found that I've missed art quilting, even though I've thoroughly enjoyed my knitting and other projects. In this photo I'm just playing with shapes, color and texture. It was fun to pull out my Misty Fuse, silks, chiffons, and home dec fabrics.

I recently finished the thrift shop challenge that I'm in. I began with fabric from a black wool skirt; I added fabrics from three pairs of old pants (I'm never going to be a size 4 again). The buttons were covered with silk from old ties.

Here's the view from the back. I made bias strips from an old pair of pants. The jacket turned out a little shorter than planned; I'm still getting used to current-day pattern sizing AND my current-day size. The blouse is an old Faconnable blouse my husband gave me in the 90's. It was super long and too big for me, so I downsized it for a more stylish fit.

Here's a detail of the blouse pocket. It was the first time I'd used a handy-dandy yo-yo maker. It's not perfect but I hope it's good enough. I zigzagged seams to purposely make the blouse a little rough around the edges. I don't pretend to be a grand couturier!

Alzheimer's: Forgetting Piece by Piece exhibit

The Alzheimer's: Forgetting Piece by Piece exhibit has been touring the country for over five years, winding up this month at the Sherburne Museum in Sherburne, Vermont. I am proud that my quilt, "Gaps," was part of this exhibit. As part of the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative, over $421,000 has been raised and donated to research for a cure for this horrible disease.

The Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative lives on, through monthly quilt auctions and another travelling quilt exhibit. I donated my quilt to the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative so they can auction it off at some point, along with other quilts. I hope that I will be able to give a heads up when it is auctioned off.

Ami didn't want us to display photos of our quilts while they were on tour, but now that it's over, I'm assuming it's okay. I will download a photo of "Gaps" as soon as I track it down. For more info on the AAQI, go to http://www.alzquilts.org/

notleymere and horned dorset

During the second leg of our visit, we stayed a couple nights at the Notleymere in Cazenovia and two nights at the Horned Dorset in Leonardsville. It's tough finding places to stay near the kid's farm, especially when it's homecoming weekend in both Cazenovia and Hamilton! I have a few photos worth sharing:

You may recall that the Notleymere B&B is the place where we stayed in April, that had a lifesize cow outside our bedroom door.   We were in the Teddy Roosevelt room last time; the room this time was decidedly more feminine.

The main colors were brown and pink. Loved this chaise lounge, with the pink pompom blanket.

We were visited frequently by the beautiful house cat. What was his name - Sprinkles?  We were pretty sure he was part Maine Coon - his paws were enormous.

I liked this artful "head" arrangement on our window sill. On this trip, we got to meet the owners. The wife did all the decorating. She gets an A plus from us! And the husband can cook a mean breakfast. (delicious)

We definitely saw fall colors from our window, looking out on Lake Caz.

We saw pumpkins everywhere, on everyone's doorstep. I though these bumpy ones on the Notleymere doorstep were especially gnarly.

It rained really hard one day, so we got this spectacular photo of the Chittenango Falls not far from Cazenovia.

This is the Horned Dorset Inn in Leonardsville. They also have a fine restaurant where we dined one night. People come from miles around to eat there, and it was very nice.

There was a great old barn on the property, which had several round windows. I had never seen that before. You can also see our rockin' rental Prius in this photo. We loved this car!

Row of round windows on barn.

Fall leaves at the Horned Dorset.

A few more farm photos

I liked this shot of the chickens hanging out in their pen. Is this called roosting?

Martine made yummy Oatmeal Spice Molasses Crisps: Mix and cream: 1 1/2 sticks of butter, 1 cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup molasses and one egg.  In separate bowl, mix dry ingredients: 1 1/2 cup flour, 1 cup rolled oats, 1 tsp ginger, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp allspice, 1/2 tsp black pepper, and 1/2 tsp baking soda. Combine wet and dry ingredients and drop spoonfuls onto baking sheet. Bake at 350 for about 8-10 minutes.

These are horseradish roots that Martine and Jack sold at the farmer's market. They also gave us some of the home-prepared horseradish sauce. It's pretty easy to do, and delicious if you like spicy. You peel the roots and put them in a blender with some vinegar. Blend them up (do not stick your nose into the blender container!) and save them in a glass jar. The sauce should keep well for weeks, maybe months. It tastes great with beef and I'm not sure what else.

Woohoo, I captured a photo of Sunny in the doghouse near the end of the trip.

A few more Sam photos

It was a real treat to see Samantha wearing the green sweater that I knitted for her. I was amazed that it fit her so well!

The hat I made for her is in this photo, too.

Playing Superman with Dad.

Finding her thumb is always a happy time.

By the end of the trip, Grandpa was getting comfortable with holding Samantha.

We made a few attempts at a photo with both grandparents, but I hated my neck in every one of them. :-(

In the Mood

Now for a change of topic. On the last afternoon of our trip, we landed in Manhattan. It was raining and about 3:30, but I wanted to go to Mood Fabrics, so I did. It was about 6 blocks from our hotel.

This is the fabric store featured on Project Runway, for those unfamiliar. It was huge and bulging with all kinds of fabric, trims, and buttons.

You get to the store on the 3rd floor via an old-fashioned elevator, complete with an elevator operator man. The place was full of all kinds of people - some serious clothing designers, but lots of star-struck fans of the show. There were little girls with their grandmothers, German women, well-dressed women, slender young men.

People were taking photos of Swatch the dog the whole time I was there, and I was no exception. He was the only "star" sighting from the show. I resisted the "Thank you Mood" t-shirts but bought a few buttons.

I worked on this baby sweater while on the trip and put it together after our return. I wonder if the baby will care that the buttons came from Mood?

Eagles Mere, PA

We did see some fall colors.

We strayed into Pennsylvania for a couple days. This is in lovely Eagles Mere. We took a little stroll around the town, but most of the cute little shops were closed, even on a Tuesday. :-(

More proof of fall colors.

We stayed at the darling Eagles Mere B&B. Nothing fancy, just cosy and charming. A chef owns the place - breakfast and dinner were delicious!

chicken update



Just a few chicken pix. I do want to make a chicken quilt someday. I think this is a Dominique.



This is a Buff Orphington. They're all quite beautiful.



For some reason they all were hanging out by the house here. They sure are flocking creatures. They still are not laying eggs, but it should happen soon.



One of the chickens, Sunny, has befriended Ginger. They hang out together, as you can see. Sometimes they're inside the doghouse together, but I didn't get a photo of that.



Another pic of Sunny and Ginger. It amuses me that the chicken seems taller than the dachshund.

There are cows in the pasture now. They are heifers fattening up on all the lovely organic munchies, to get them ready for milking.

A couple of the lovely sunflowers they had growing near the barn. Sometimes they sell them at the farmer's market.

These squash are called Sweet Bundles (I think), that they picked for market. Martine made them sound so delicious - they can be prepared either sweet or savory - but they sold out, so I never got to taste them.

samantha at 3 and a half months

Just a few snapshots of our granddaughter during our visit in NY.

It was warm on that day. As you can see, her hair is lighter and she has filled out nicely.

Grandpa Dave approached his new granddaughter cautiously at first.

A little face time.

We did a lot of strolling about at the farmer's market in Hamilton. It's a pretty large, active market, and definitely a social event.

Martine setting up their table at the farmer's market. They were out of tomatoes, but had plenty of bell peppers and sunflowers. They also sold raspberries, horseradish root, Hungarian wax papers, and sweet dumplings

.

One Friday evening we went for fish fry - except that the restaurant had run out of fish by the time we arrived. 

I think this was breakfast at Zena's. We dragged that poor baby to many a restaurant meal. She was well behaved, considering.

We were treated to a couple of delicious dinners at the farm. Martine made us lasagna one night, and london broil with mashed potatoes and veggies from the garden. All yummy.

Still at Zena's. The list of available pies is on the blackboard.

She did lots of smiling and talking, but when I brought out my camera, she mostly stared. She has beautiful big eyes, which seem blueberry blue at this point. Who knows how they will end up.

She seems pretty happy here, having found her thumb. She's framed by her boppy.

She likes this silver rattle, which was a gift to her mother from her Grandma Cooksey.




I am excited to share more photos, including photos of Mood fabrics in Manhattan! They're still in my camera.