With days and days of 90 plus heat...so unusual for upstate New York, we finally got a break, with a quick and heavy rainstorm late yesterday afternoon. The temperature dropped 25 degrees in minutes, and best of all, there was thereafter an occasional cooler breeze. We actually sat out on the porch for a bit and enjoyed the evening.
Even better, the heat break allowed me to spend some time in my sewing studio...aka the OVEN...with a window fan. And finally I finished my table topper I am making for a wedding shower gift. The wedding shower is long over...but the wedding preceded the shower, so flexibility is OK! I settled on an outside border, using some blocks that were serendipitously included by an online quilt friend as we exchanged some fat eights of black and whites both of us were collecting...thanks, Lori! She had left over black white and red blocks that coordinated perfectly with my topper...I just had to decide how to sew them together, as the flying geese gave me several choices...I still have quilt a few left over, plus some black and white half square triangle blocks. I am please with the result. I may, if I can find it, finish it with large black rick rack at the edge...otherwise will bind with Wow. Backing is a question...will find some spectacular large print, I think, to give an alternative side.
Now that it is a bit cooler, and I have several more projects done...four for the quilter...I am anxious to dive back in, but it is not to be. I have a family reunion up on Lake Ontario this afternoon, and am planning to do a cemetery tour with my sisters and parents, to learn where our relatives are all buried. I have no idea, except that they are scattered across two counties. I have the beginnings of a real nice genealogy a friend did for us out of the blue, using material we had given him from various sources, and many resources he had that we did not...so I need to fill in the blanks. And my parents are at or near 80...so soon will not be able to take me around. I have my digital camera and notebook ready!
Then...next weekend I leave for a conference for work in Saratoga Springs for most of a week...followed by a week of work, and two of vacation: one camping at Darien Lake while attending Kingdom Bound, for the twentieth year or so...then a week in Columbus Ohio at the Hoots conference...taking painting lessons with three friends. What I want to do, nevertheless, is continue working on my rediscovered punch-needle project, and to begin the Sashiko pillow tops I bought materials for at the AQC show in Lancaster, Pa. The punch-needle project is my first, but I started it (and lost it) several years ago. Amazing what you find when you reorganize your sewing studio!
Days a wasting...I am ready to start my morning!
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
It's STILL HOT!
Hasn't it been amazingly hot? With just the right amount of rain...easy to say as we just had a great thunderstorm. the garden looks wonderful...stocky healthy tomatoes, with no sign of last years Late Blight...eating squash, peas, lettuce and chard, beet greens (not me!), broccoli, even a few cherry tomatoes, unheard of this early. Soon will have pole beans and cukes, and time to pull the garlic.
Not too much going on in the sewing studio...it is an oven there, even with a fan on. And summer is just so busy! However, I did finish the table topper, added two borders, and I really like it. Not sure how I will finish it...either white binding, or finish with large black rick rack. Have a great large print for the reverse side. Waiting to hear back from the long arm quilter...if not soon, I will break down and quilt it myself. The trouble is the other three ready for quilting: two wall hangings, and one throw. And time.
Take a look...and vote...binding or rickrack?
Not too much going on in the sewing studio...it is an oven there, even with a fan on. And summer is just so busy! However, I did finish the table topper, added two borders, and I really like it. Not sure how I will finish it...either white binding, or finish with large black rick rack. Have a great large print for the reverse side. Waiting to hear back from the long arm quilter...if not soon, I will break down and quilt it myself. The trouble is the other three ready for quilting: two wall hangings, and one throw. And time.
Monday, May 24, 2010
Summer...finally?
What a wonderful day, following a great weekend. the weather is sunny and hot, the air inside is nicely cool...better than my bedroom last night. It was sweltering. David just sleeps through. I toss and turn, and throw the leg out and under, gingerly, now, with my bad knee. Got up at one am and read some more in my book. I am truly enjoying a reread of the Dragonriders of Pern series: currently the Harper Hall of Pern.
No sewing this weekend, no painting. Was some gardening, which is a little like both. Painting tomatoes into a row, sewing them into the earth, bordering them with mulch...we have tomatoes, summer squash, broccoli brussell sprouts, lettuce and spinach growing, about half through the asparagus cutting season, same with rhubarb, and I haven't cut any! New lettuce and spinach and broccoli seedlings up, peas vining nicely. Bean poles placed, don't know if DH got the seeds in or not. Oh...and potatoes are all in. My dahlia bulbs have recovered from their little icy nip, thank goodness. This time of year, the garden changes daily. Tonight we fertilize. Should have been doing that with seedlings all along, I guess. I have many many extra tomato plants, but they are only four inches tall or so. Mostly heirloom.
No sewing this weekend, no painting. Was some gardening, which is a little like both. Painting tomatoes into a row, sewing them into the earth, bordering them with mulch...we have tomatoes, summer squash, broccoli brussell sprouts, lettuce and spinach growing, about half through the asparagus cutting season, same with rhubarb, and I haven't cut any! New lettuce and spinach and broccoli seedlings up, peas vining nicely. Bean poles placed, don't know if DH got the seeds in or not. Oh...and potatoes are all in. My dahlia bulbs have recovered from their little icy nip, thank goodness. This time of year, the garden changes daily. Tonight we fertilize. Should have been doing that with seedlings all along, I guess. I have many many extra tomato plants, but they are only four inches tall or so. Mostly heirloom.
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
knees...
Well...the news I've been dreading has come...I am "ready" for a full knee replacement. but at 59...I am not going there, yet. Will work with my doctor on interim treatment, and exercise.
Wish my doctor wasn't an hour and a half away
Wish my other knee and both shoulders weren't equally arthritic...
BUT...life is good. I have so many blessings: a good job I enjoy, and that, in my humble opinion, makes a difference in the world, a wonderful husband and children...and grandchildren, a loving relationship with my God and savior; I live in a wonderful small town, with nice neighbors and lots of community activities, I have good friends, and hobbies that keep me sane. Life is good...and don't forget it.
It is HARD to visit the city for doctor appointments and church meetings...and not get to shop! that is one thing I miss, living in a small town. 45 minutes to my favorite LSQ (local quilt shop), Material Rewards, http://www.materialrewards.com I am even farther from good art supply stores...but the internet is here, and I make good use of it.
Wish my doctor wasn't an hour and a half away
Wish my other knee and both shoulders weren't equally arthritic...
BUT...life is good. I have so many blessings: a good job I enjoy, and that, in my humble opinion, makes a difference in the world, a wonderful husband and children...and grandchildren, a loving relationship with my God and savior; I live in a wonderful small town, with nice neighbors and lots of community activities, I have good friends, and hobbies that keep me sane. Life is good...and don't forget it.
It is HARD to visit the city for doctor appointments and church meetings...and not get to shop! that is one thing I miss, living in a small town. 45 minutes to my favorite LSQ (local quilt shop), Material Rewards, http://www.materialrewards.com I am even farther from good art supply stores...but the internet is here, and I make good use of it.
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Music Makes the world go round..>MY world
Music...how could we live without it? and doesn't the car make a beautiful listening studio? I love my Sirius radio, and the variety of music and other programming I can access, depending on my mood. Today the song that started my work day off...and still lingers in my mind was Leon Russell, A Song for You. Wow. One of my regrets in life is that I have not been gifted with a voice like my sister Carol has. I can hold a tune, sing well enough, and really feel and understand music in my soul...but to be able to belt it out...just carry that last note....curl the music around, I can't do it. Just step up and down the musical steps...properly, I know, but without the artistry of a real musician. But we don't choose the gifts God favors us with, and it is not my place to question God. All right, I do it all the time, don't you?
Now Bob Dylan: there is the ultimate musician in my mind. Not that his voice is wonderful these days...but the songs. I also recently heard his Talkin' John Birch Paranoid Blues: the song Ed Sullivan would not permit him to sing on his tv show in the early sixties. Laugh out loud!
Once started a list of all the concerts I have seen over the years. Now this is NOT a job to begin in your mid fifties...I regret not having a better handle on this, for the memories alone. What about you? Who do you WISH you could have seen?
Coming up concerts? Ray LaMontagne and others at a music festival at Hunter Mountain in the Catskills...together with Levon Helm and company at the Mountain Ramble in early June. While doing so, meeting up with good college friends who live in England, but have a summer cottage in the area. Life is good!
Now Bob Dylan: there is the ultimate musician in my mind. Not that his voice is wonderful these days...but the songs. I also recently heard his Talkin' John Birch Paranoid Blues: the song Ed Sullivan would not permit him to sing on his tv show in the early sixties. Laugh out loud!
Once started a list of all the concerts I have seen over the years. Now this is NOT a job to begin in your mid fifties...I regret not having a better handle on this, for the memories alone. What about you? Who do you WISH you could have seen?
Coming up concerts? Ray LaMontagne and others at a music festival at Hunter Mountain in the Catskills...together with Levon Helm and company at the Mountain Ramble in early June. While doing so, meeting up with good college friends who live in England, but have a summer cottage in the area. Life is good!
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Introduction
Welcome to my world! I am a wife, mom, grandmom, attorney, quilter, painter, gardener and United Methodist ... and sometimes I sleep. Life is good, despite the many trials I continue to experience. God is good, and I choose joy.
Friends are important, and together we quilt, paint, worship, and complain. Without friends, how would any of us survive parenthood? grandparenthood is easier, in some ways, but ....no control. Wouldn't the world be a better place if we were in charge? Probably not...LOL.
I am nearly 60, and live with my wonderful husband David. We have been married for 38 years. Some longer than others. He loves me...most of the time. We have learned to compromise, and to give each other room for our own interests. We live in a small rural town in upstate New York, right in the middle of Main Street. What a combination of rural living and being downtown. Our little village is very active, and we are entering the busy season: which lasts approximately ten months or more of every year. I love living in town, but sometimes yearn for the opportunities of the city, and wish I had more time to spend with my sister in Rochester. She lives a very different life: just as busy, but different calls on her time. My youngest sister lives next door to me, which is a blessing. My parents are far away in Florida, and I miss them. Thank heavens for cell phones!
Friends are important, and together we quilt, paint, worship, and complain. Without friends, how would any of us survive parenthood? grandparenthood is easier, in some ways, but ....no control. Wouldn't the world be a better place if we were in charge? Probably not...LOL.
I am nearly 60, and live with my wonderful husband David. We have been married for 38 years. Some longer than others. He loves me...most of the time. We have learned to compromise, and to give each other room for our own interests. We live in a small rural town in upstate New York, right in the middle of Main Street. What a combination of rural living and being downtown. Our little village is very active, and we are entering the busy season: which lasts approximately ten months or more of every year. I love living in town, but sometimes yearn for the opportunities of the city, and wish I had more time to spend with my sister in Rochester. She lives a very different life: just as busy, but different calls on her time. My youngest sister lives next door to me, which is a blessing. My parents are far away in Florida, and I miss them. Thank heavens for cell phones!
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