it's a girl

My granddaughter was born on Wednesday, June 16. Her name is Samantha Hazel. I'm over the moon, as they say. Happy dance! 6 pounds, one ounce, 19 inches. Here's one of her first pix, with her mom soon after delivery. She's adorable, no? She has lots of dark hair, just like both of my children did.

So I arrived at the farm yesterday, Friday. I'm trying to be of help. Today I put the Pack and Play together and tried to get her nursery in order. As many babies are, she's a little confused about when she should be awake (all night would be her preference). I brought the finished hexagon ball mentioned in the last post, and I'll try to take lots of photos of Samantha and the farm. The chicks are growing and so is the garden!

Thought you might like to see a photo of my new grand-nephew, Xavier Jude, with his Rockets and Robots quilt from me. I also embroideredered his little outfit. I can't believe it fits already!

yet another hexagon project

Just when I think I'm all done with hexagons, here I am making a hexagon ball for my grandchild-to-be. Maybe I'm being subliminally inflluenced by the World Cup soccer games going on in South Africa, but I've noticed that their game balls no longer include any hexagons.

I've used mostly flannels, and I'm trying to hang in there with the gender neutral agenda. It's getting hard, and the baby is almost here! He or she could arrive any day now. I slipped a bit of magenta pink into the ball, and if it's a boy he's just going to have to live with it. For a rainbow-colored ball, a bit of pink is okay, right?

(I should add that it works both ways. I knitted a baby sweater that turned out very boyish. If it's a girl, I'm concerned about whether an embroidered flower or heart will save the day. It's a delicate balance, making things that will work for both a boy and a girl!)

I have noticed baby quilts and baby toys with the little ribbon loops on them, I think they call them tags, and they say that babies love to suck on them and play with them. So I added some of those, and embroidered on some of the solid-colored hexagons. It's turning out pretty cute. After I made all those high falutin' art balls with silks, beads and embellishments, I'm finally making one that's just a cuddly toy.

Artful Tour of the Huntington Gardens

I tagged along with Terry on a recent road trip to the Huntington Gallery, Library and Gardens. We met others there: Sherry, Rose and Joanell. Here are several photos I took of the various gardens, for inspiration and maybe a quilt idea or two.

This is the famous one of the Stinky Flowers the Huntington is famous for. It actually blossomed 1 1/2 days after our visit; thankfully, it did not stink while we were there. It is beautiful once opened, a glorious fuschia color inside.

The sign on this plant insists that this is just ONE leaf. It's a mature specimen of the stinky flower.

This is an amazingly graceful leaf, no? I think it's a philodendron, but maybe I have the name wrong.

A beautiful vine that caught our eye. All these photos taken so far were from inside a greenhouse.

Here's Terry traipsing around the Children's garden. The vessels are fountains which are wonderful, because they unexpectedly throw up little spurts of water when you least expect it. I tried to catch a spurt on film but failed miserably.

A clump of lotus leaves in a pond at the Chinese Garden. We kept hearing deep croaks from talkative bull frogs.

We all took photos of this floor pattern in the Chinese Garden. Might make a nice quilt someday?

I became enamored with the extensive Bonsai collection in the Japanese Garden. Here are my favorites.

I found this plant in the Desert garden. Looks like a Century plant, but I'm not sure.

Everyone thought this clump of cactus reminded them of my hexagon quilts. Pretty cool, huh? Who knows, maybe it will inspire a nice quilt someday.

Playing Ketchup?

Goodness me, I'm getting jpeg build-up! Here are a few photos of things I've been doing lately.

First of all, here is the completed quilt that I made for my niece, Amity. She's due to give birth any day now. When I offered to make her a baby quilt, she requested one with the theme of rockets and robots. It has been a lot of fun.

I like this quilt best when viewing the details. This little cat astronaut on the moon is my favorite thing about the whole quilt! I drew up everything on sketch paper before I turned them into applique.

One of the three rockets.

Hurray, it's a successful launch!

Recently I learned how to make a tote bag out of clothesline covered with 2 1/2" strips of fabric. I won't lie to you about how much work it was, but I'm thrilled with how it turned out. It's huge!

I also tried out kumihimo weaving. We made our own discs out of fun foam. It makes cording. Matilda is sniffing at my first effort; now I'm working on a jungle-icious green cord. What will I do with it? Maybe a small purse handle.

a relaxing place

I spent a few days last week at a retreat at Casa de Maria in Montecito. What a relaxing time in a beautiful, peaceful place. Here are a few photos that will give you some idea about what it was like.

Beneath the Surface

I've already told you about Beneath the Surface, a special exhibit that I will have a quilt in. ("It's Your Fault")The big news is that it has sponsors, for both quilt festivals in Long Beach and Houston! Brother and Moores Sewing are the sponsors for Long Beach, and Misty Fuse (my favorite fusible!) for Houston.

Also, all the artists in Beneath the Surface were asked to answer some questions about themselves, and they've been posted daily on the Dinner at Eight blog. My set of questions and answers will appear on May 15, Saturday. All the interviews have been interesting, so take a look!

http://dinnerateightartists.blogspot.com/

Notleymere Cottage

I finally got around to organizing photos taken at the end of our Upstate NY trip. Most of the time during our visit we stayed at the Colgate Inn in Hamilton, but one night we stayed at a unique B&B called the Notleymere Cottage in Cazenovia. It was very fun and quirky, so I took a lot of photos. The current owner bought the place in 2006 and decorated it herself.

We stayed in the Teddy Roosevelt Suite. TR actually stayed here, and the current owner was obviously very inspired by the theme. Here is just one detail of the desk. It's hard to see, but there is a pair of glasses that look something like Teddy's on top of the stack of books.

This cow was right outside our door. There are playful details everywhere.

I thought these chairs were interesting.

The windows are original to the house. They're located in front by a grand staircase.

This is one of the many sitting areas in the house. There was lots of taxidermy, sadly.

There were quirky little collections around. I thought this was very playful. These might be toys, I'm not sure.

This painted gourd caught my eye. It was about 12" across. I have a small one at home that is much less ornate.

The house is on a lake. I was quite taken by this sheep sculpture.

Here's the house as seen from the back. We were on the third floor, on the right. The house was built by a parson, and the caretaker told us that he either received a large inheritance, or his flock was very generous to him!

My daughter brought this lovely raspberry pie from Eddie & Zinna's Cafe. The four of us enjoyed it at the Notleymere after dinner. Yum!

Before we left the area, we visited the farm for the last time. The chicks had grown. Jack had them literally eating out of his hand.

Lots of cherry blossoms in view at Cold Spring.