Happy Easter, 2015!

I love vintage cards, be they Christmas, Easter, Halloween, Valentines, Birthday – you name it.

I love the whimsy and the attention to detail!

Just look at this bunny family coming to visit the gnome in his eg home – the doorway and the steps and window shutters made of four leaf clovers.

However you spend your Easter Sunday, I hope it is filled with family, friends, food – perfect for making memories!

Our Easter is a quiet one this year.  Jason has to work, and Jeff is home dealing with a tooth abscess, and the antibiotics upset his stomach enough to make the driving up to the cabin and back a bit undesirable.  He’s taking couch time at home, and I’ll be bringing him leftovers when I return home tomorrow morning.

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Borders on a Blustery Day!

My borders are done!

And I am so happy with them!

I wish I could share with you the whole project, but I need to wait a bit longer. 

I CAN however, share with you how I did my borders –they look great on almost ANY quilt.

The center of this quilt is fairly busy, so to tone it down a bit, I chose one color family, blues, for my piano keys instead of using a myriad of multi colored strips which would have kept the busy going on and going on.

If you want a riot of color, go for it!  if you want to tone it down…pick one color family.  It gives two different looks, and I like both depending on which quilt these are going on.

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Easter Eve Day at Quilt Villa!

Rick & Mona’s little precious dog Beanie is hiding in the bushes, hoping that Sadie is done chasing her for a while!

These two are just best buds when they get together, and it’s a big to-do.

Sadie chases Beanie, Beanie chases Sadie!  And when Beanie is done with it she finds somewhere small to crawl into to show Sadie a thing or two ---“Hahaha! You can’t get me if I’m under the ramp to the shed!”

I caught this photo with the daffodils in the back yard at the cabin while both Sadie and Beanie were taking a well deserved time out. 

It makes me tired just to watch them!

There was much stitching last night, and I finished the binding on the Serpentine Web:

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Treadle THIS!

How many of you recognize this fabric?

I was dating it to the late 1970s by the selvage --

During this time of my life I was in high school, sewing my own clothes.  And very involved in drama, musical theater and choir productions which meant I was also sewing costumes.

 Not just for myself, but also for other students.

I didn’t have access to a sewing machine at MY house –I lived with my dad at the time, but I had been offered the use of a machine by the mom of a friend.  You would often find me there after school and on weekends just sewing away.

My friend didn’t care much for sewing, so I think her mom was happy that someone did!  And she taught me quite a bit!

When I got married…my meager stash came with me, and the rest is history.

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Morning on the Mountain!

This is a beautiful Good Friday sunrise as Sadie and I made our way out for a 2.5 mile hike.

We have this loop we like to do –actually, I don’t know why I am saying “WE” because she would be happy to go anywhere, but this is an easy trail, up our street, through the woods, down an incline and up a dirt road along a ridge.

It’s a gentle climb up, but that means it’s a nice gentle slope down as we reach our turn around spot at Steve’s drive.

Usually when we are out we come across Steve and his dog Zeke out for their morning walkies as well ---Zeke and Sadie saying hello by touching noses and sniffing dog parts.

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Galaxy-Gram! Blossoms on the Mountain!

Sadie and I are up at Quilt Villa, ready to enjoy a long Easter weekend.

We will be joined by family later, but we came up this afternoon to stock the fridge and enjoy a bit more of this mountain.

I am hoping for good weather and the opportunity to get out on the four wheelers and explore.

I would also love the weather to be nice enough to hold the treadle machine out on to the front porch for some outdoor sewing.

As for Sadie she is completely passed out as you can tell.

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Show and Share in Windham, Maine!

This is me..in the red shirt, front and center taking photos!

Thanks to Cynthia and Mary, who sent me THEIR  photos from where they were standing, we have the missing photos back from our Tumalo Trail day in Windham, Maine!

Of course, you’ll be seeing the backs of heads in some of them…makes you feel like you were part of the audience, doesn’t it??

The show & share makes the workshops and lectures that much more fun.

I love learning about you, the story behind your quilt and everything else…so if I am coming to your group, please bring a show & share!  You don’t need a formal request from your guild or group, there won’t be an announcement about it, but bring something!

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Studio Day, No April Fools!

It was supposed to be a studio=clean day.

Supposed to.

But who makes these rules anyway?

I will admit to clearing a few inches of horizontal surface ---

And I did give everything a good vacuuming –

Isn't it amazing how things look better with just a bit of vacuuming and emptying the trash bins?

Okay, that’s enough!

I want to sew!

As you can see, Emmy Lou doesn’t approve of me spending too much time at the computer either, and I tended to agree with her today ---TODAY I could claim for myself.

And I played a bit because there is a project that didn’t have direction and sometimes you just need to allow yourself the freedom to cut up the fabric, lay it out, see what it looks like and then decide.

So I did this:

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Lobstahs, Lighthouses & Hexies!

Portland Head Light is absolutely breathtaking in any kind of weather.

But if you place this iconic lighthouse against a blue blue sea and an even bluer sky it is breath-catching!

I was here several years ago on a past visit to Maine, and it never ceases to inspire.

In 1787, while Maine was still part of the state of Massachusetts, George Washington engaged two masons from the town of Portland, Jonathan Bryant and John Nichols, and instructed them to take charge of the construction of a lighthouse on Portland Head.

There has been a lighthouse on this spot for 228 years!

The light house has not changed much over the years –check out this photo from 1917:

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