Mumbles and Meanderings

Well, it's been 10 days since my last post. Not that I haven't had something to say, but I kept forgetting to download my photos from my camera.

Last weekend was Memorial Day weekend. Most folks had Monday off, but our university gives us 5 or 6 consecutive days off at Christmas, so we have to forfeit some of them the rest of the year. Memorial Day and Veterans Day are the holidays we forfeit.

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Steve's birthday was last Sunday (the big 6-0!!). Peter and Jill came for dinner Saturday night and we had an enjoyable picnic in the back yard til well after dark. It was a nice, relaxing, and fun evening. I can't believe I forgot to make him a card. I make fabric cards for all of my close friends and family and usually try to do them a month or so in advance. It completely slipped my mind. And I didn't buy him a gift because he just got a $700 used fly fishing rod. And had to immediately send it off to Orvis to have some things repaired. But he's thrilled. He had the same model rod years and years ago, but had to sell it to pay for his divorce from his first wife. It is only fitting that he find another one and be able to get it back. Full circle.

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I've been struggling with this piece for months now. It is supposed to be tree branches, which are completely threadpainted onto cotton duck, then trimmed, and leaves done separately and just tacked onto the branches so they maintain some "life". Unfortunately, I forgot to put the butterflies on the leaves for the photo, which are also completely threadpainted on cotton duck. I want to do those over again because they are too thick. I haven't been able to find the background I can see in my vision. I've tried painting it and still can't get it right. I thought this background would work, but seeing it in the photo, now I don't think so. Too much going on. The smaller leaves in this photo are the wrong color. I made more last night in a yellowish-green that are much better. Steve thinks the large leaves should come up from the bottom like ferns or large plants. He also is glad it's not coming together too easily for me. He thinks I need to sweat over my work a little more. He's probably right.

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I meant to do my work today
- but a brown bird sang in the apple tree,
and a butterfly flitted across the field,
and all the leaves were calling me.

And the wind went sighing over the land
tossing the grasses to and fro,
and a rainbow held out its shining hand
- so what could I do but laugh and go?
Richard LaGallienne

That is one of my favorite poems. I have it posted on my cube wall at work. I'm sure there's a quilt there... one of these days. In the meantime I frequently read it and it always elicits a sigh...

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This is our guild's Raffle Quilt. We each made a block (I made the spool - 4th row down, last on the right). We are selling tickets for $1 each. I will have to buy a bunch, because I really love this quilt. Also - then I wouldn't have to finish my Turning Twenty bed quilt.

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June is going to be a very hectic month. Keri is moving Saturday from Raleigh to Knightdale (20 miles) and I'm going up to help. The movers can't come until after lunch, so we'll make a couple of trips to take the stuff she wants to carry herself over. I hope they aren't too late, as I'll have to drive back to Lexington.

Steve is leaving Sunday morning before dawn for his annual fishing trip to Grayling, Michigan. He'll be home the following Saturday. I have to go back to Raleigh that day (8th?) for a PAQA-S committee meeting to determine our theme for 2009 and to look at our new venue at the Durham Arts Council. They have 2 large galleries, as well as meeting rooms, so our spring exhibit will be there and we can hold our conference there, too. We need to check out the space to get an idea how many quilts we want to hang in the two rooms.

Sarah's birthday is June 11th, but we won't get to see her until a week later when we go to NY. Keri, Sarah, Nana, and me are going to visit Aunt Allie and all the cousins in Owego. My sil Susan and I hope nephews and niece will be there, too. We will have a big family picnic and a birthday party for Sarah. She will be 3 years old. Hard to believe - time has flown so quickly. We'll leave on Thursday, June 19th and return on Monday, June 23rd. I'll definitely be taking Tuesday off to recover.

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We had just about decided not to do a Member's Show this fall because we are not a large organization and the same few local people seem to always have to do all the work. But, one by one, we stepped up and while it is still some of the same people doing the work, others have stepped up to help, too. So - the theme for the fall show is Reflections. That should be interesting. That show will still be held at the Page Walker Art and History Museum in Cary.

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Steve's mother gave us this Mountain Laurel bush several years ago, but it has never bloomed more than a tiny bud here or there. This year it is doing beautifully, considering they don't do well in the south at all. I couldn't get a very good photo of it because it is so white and it was so sunny. But it's still pretty.

Haircuts, sun-printing and more photos

First off, for those of you not too familiar with blogs, remember to click on the photos to enlarge them.

Had to post these photos of my cutie-patootie with short hair - dry and combed. It's not nearly as bad as I thought and as Keri said, it does fit her personality. It also makes her look even older, which I don't like at all. She's so long and tall that she looks more like 4 than 2 going on 3.


I had a fun and fabulous weekend - free to do as I pleased. I got the folding table from my mother and pulled the picnic table out of the well of my Honda CRV and set up sun-printing shop in the back yard. Steve told me not to set up in the sun, but I told him I had to make the printing work. Well - not long after I did I realized that I didn't have to do the entire process in the sun - just the last part. So of course I had to go get him to help me move the table, which he did with a smirk on his face.

The effect I was going for was a pale brownish/greenish blend to use as a background for my butterflies. I want it to look natural, but sort of blurred like a photo with the main subject crisp and the background blurry. What I realized was that I had not ordered brown Setacolor ink from Dharma, rather I had ordered Burnt Sienna. Obviously, it was more orange. So I just played to see what kinds of effects I could get. Here are some of the results.

I like these colors a lot, but they are definitely not what I was after. I was thinking it might be fun to stitch around the darker one - cut it up into cards or whatever - and do some outline stitching. There are a couple of others that might work with, too, but I don't have those photos here.

Saturday was a gorgeous day, and part of Sunday, too. I planted some basil (the first ones didn't work out after I separated them) and played around the yard taking more photos. I tried the Polarizing filter with the hood and it worked pretty well in the bright sunlight. Got a great shot of this yellow iris in the back yard.

But here is the same shot taken seconds later - how did this blue/purple get in there? I didn't change anything at all except slightly where I was standing. Isn't this cool? It would make a pretty card.

So here are my Gerbera daisies. There are even more coming up from underneath the leaves. Very prolific, this plant. Until last year I rarely had more than one flower on it. It seemed to like the drought last summer and kept blooming and blooming and blooming. Here it is only May and it's already showing off.

And here is a picture of our goldfish pond. Steve put this in for me about 6, maybe 7 years ago, for my birthday. The understanding was that he would put it in and I would keep it clean and take care of the fish. We know how that goes. I don't have as much time as he does! It is positioned right beside the screened-in porch. The chair I sit in is in that corner beside the screen, so I can sit there and look out on the back yard or down into the goldfish pond. Very serene - as long as the pump is running in the pond.

Just a few months ago something ate the three goldfish that we had had for about 4 or 5 years, so when Steve cleaned it out for spring, we had to go get some new ones. These are so tiny compared to the old ones we had. We bought 4 - one calico, two orange, and one bright yellowish

gold. The calico was floating within 3 or 4 days, but the other three seem to be doing all right. I'm afraid these will all end up the same color. The last batch we did the same - got a gold one and an orange one - and they both ended up orange. We also had a cool orange one that had big blobs of white on him - reminded me of a Creamsicle...

And here is the best photo of the day. It is the Louis Phillipe rose that supposedly washed up on the east end of Long Island (Bridgehampton) a hundred or more years ago. A French ship wrecked off the coast and all this stuff washed onto the shores. Steve's uncle had this and gave it to Steve's mother. She had it for years and gave it to us. Like the Gerbera daisy, we've never had much luck with it blooking. For one thing - being an heirloom, it is susceptible to black spot and mildew. It gets black spot every year. We can do anything about that because the rosemary bush is practically growin on top of it and we don't want to poison that.

So this year I went out and looked at it and there must be 25 or more buds on it. Of course, it already has a few leaves with black spot, but so far so good.

Life is buzzing by

Life is buzzing by so fast I can't seem to keep up. What a wonderful weekend we had with most of the family coming to celebrate Mother's Day. Abbie was on call Sunday so we celebrated on Saturday. Steve marinated a London Broil and cooked it on the grill. Sarah took a bite and exclaimed, "Grampa! Your little angel just loves this steak!" She must have meant it, because she repeated it about 3 times.

The weather was gorgeous so we set up the picnic tables under the dogwood tree and at outdoors. My mother made a banana cream pie that was a huge hit with Peter (2 pieces). Potato salad, deviled eggs, and Abbie made lentils. Pretty good dinner. Peter presented "the four mothers" with two really good bottles of wine. A Volpicella and an Amarone (my middle name - I love Amarone!)

After everyone left we designated Grampa as the babysitter and Keri and I went and got a pedicure. Keri decided to have her nails done in acrylic while we were there. She needed the pampering, so we spent nearly 3 hours there. Somehow, Grampa managed to get Sarah to nap and she was still out when we got home at 5:00. All in all, a really nice day.

I managed to mount the piece I did for Lyric's workshop class and I think it came out really well.

The gray is my design board. I'd like to do more like this. I'd like more time to do more, period.

Tonight is guild night. That's getting difficult and taking a lot of time, especially doing the newsletter. I do enjoy the camraderie and the projects. I'll give it a bit more time. I haven't even been in it for a year yet.

So this morning I get an email from Keri. I screamed when I saw the photos. She let Chad have someone cut Sarah's beautiful hair up to her chin!!!! Granted, she needed a bit of a trim, but not more than a foot. I was very upset, but I'll get over it. Sarah's hair will grow. Someday. 8>)

Obviously, she's still beautiful and she's still Grammy's girl.

PAQA-South Retreat

I feel like I've been in a whirlwind! This past weekend was the PAQA-South retreat at Mary Beth Bellah's house in Charlottesville, VA. What a gorgeous place she has there. Huge amount of acreage, beautiful 3-story house, and a mammoth stash of fabric! I'm not showing her wall because I didn't ask permission, but believe me, she could open a quilt shop tomorrow. 9 books cases - each about 3 feet wide - and 5 shelves high. Her fabric is color coded, folded neatly and stacked and organized. Incredible.

Mary Beth also has some pretty cool pets. She has two goats - well, one had twins last week and one had twins the day we left (after we were gone). This is the lovely Oreo smiling for the camera. Isn't she the cutest? Mary Beth has chickens and geese, too. Evidently, the geese greeted and menaced a few people when they arrived, but I never did get to see them.

Lyric Kinard gave us some exercises to do from a book she is writing (Winter printing, maybe?). We had a lot of fun doing that and learned a lot, too. Here are some photos of our little group. I have stitched down my piece and hope to get it mounted shortly. I will post a photo of it when I have it finished.

(Top): This would be Christine Hager-Braun (President) in the far left corner, Judith Glover (V.P.) in the shorts, Lynne Harrill (treasurer) sitting in the blue chair, Lyric Kinard in the way back on the sofa, Mary Corcoran (Secretary) in the tie-dyed shirt, Ann Flaherty (Spring exhibit committee) in the far right corner, and Cynthia Harrison, a guest and hopefully new recruit. Mary Beth wasn't in the room. I believe Mary is searching for a lost child in that gigantic bag she brought...

Same room with a photo of Karen Lee Carter on the left. What a lovely person and a real treat to get to know.

Here is Lyric preparing to give us our lesson, with Karen searching for something behind her.

I also learned a much faster way to and from Charlottesville! It took me 4 1/2 hours to drive 284 miles up I-81, then over to Charlottesville. It only took 3 1/4 hours to come home down 29S - and 211 miles. We will definitely be going a faster way to NY in June than all the way over to Wytheville!

So - it was so gorgeous outside on Sunday afternoon that I got my camera out. A lot of new flowers had bloomed and I wanted to try the hood I found for the lens. I've had a lot of trouble keeping the glare off the flowers in the photos when in bright sun. I put the hood on it and Holy Cow! What a difference a hood makes! Steve also gave me a polarizing filter that goes to his Nikon, but it fits my lens. These make such a huge difference. Check out these photos - I'm pretty darn proud of them!

Here is my orchid - I have no idea what it's real name is. I bought it several years ago at a small nursery that was going out of business.


Here is one of the iris growing on the far side of the house. I never go over there and had completely forgotten that we even had any flowers there. Steve showed them to me. The photos of these iris would never had come out without huge glares without the hood, I'm convinced of it.

This is one of my favorite photographs taken last Sunday. It is the Jasmine blooming on the trellis against the fence in the backyard. I put it on my computer desktop. (I guess I haven't mentioned this because so many people are familiar with blogs, but you do know to click on the photos to see a larger version, right?)


This is my other favorite. I just love this picture! I want to have it printed out really large. So - that's it for now.

This weekend is Mother's Day. We are celebrating on Saturday, as Steve's sister is on call and can't leave Sunday. Peter and Jill and Keri and Sarah will be with us, but Ian has to work so he and Laurie can't make it. It's supposed to be a pretty weekend, so I hope we can eat outside under the dogwood tree. I'm sure I'll have more photos by Sunday. I bought some Setacolor paints to play with and make sun prints with Keri & Sarah. Can't wait!