Archive | May 2013

Spring in Maine…

Bleeding Hearts

It is hot here! Crazy, last weekend we were all wearing sweatshirts and long pants. Yesterday it hit 87 degrees, today and tomorrow more of the same.

One of my favorite things to do every morning is to walk around my backyard and look at the flowers that are blooming. They are blooming in spite of the cooler weather. My husband spread 16 yards of very dark mulch in our yard this year. A lot of hard work, but it makes the yard look so pretty and the flowers just seem to pop with the dark mulch as a background.

Columbine

It is always fun to see what pops up out of the ground. We moved and transplanted a lot of flowers last fall and to be honest I sort of forgot what I put where. No, I did not mark anything. That is just not my thing, I would much rather be surprised in the Spring.

Who doesn’t love a Red Rose?

I also added some new perennials this year. We had pulled up a lot of old ground cover and needed to replace it with a garden. It is slow going because some plants made it through the winter and others didn’t. I am never sure what will survive and what didn’t.

This lovely little flower made it through the winter – can’t remember the name.

I always plant this adorable little poppies – they remind me of the crepe paper we used to decorate our classrooms with for holidays.

Poppies

I will be planting my veggies now that the ground is warm. Tomatoes, peppers, onions, lettuce, eggplant, cukes, zucchini and lots of herbs. Yum!!! I also have a lot of annuals to plant in pots to beautify my yard. Love lots of flowers and color.

Enjoy your weekend – stay cool.

Be Kind…

Faith

Mabel the Mastiff visits Maine…

May29

Hmmm – how do I get up there?

Memorial Day weekend was a raining cold one here in Maine. I almost turned on the heat but it was the end of May and I totally refused to turn it on. I cooked and baked instead. That warmed up the kitchen and family room, which is really just one big room.

Is there something good to eat in there?

Yes, I am being a good girl. But don’t blink…

My son Charles, his girlfriend Charlotte and MABEL came to visit. Mabel is a 12 week old English Mastiff puppy. She already weighs 27 lbs. Yikes she is growing fast. She is a puppy and does all the wonderful and annoying puppy things. She tumbles over herself, she pounces on everything that she finds and she chews. She chews pant legs, bones, toys and hands. I was lucky enough to avoid the little shark teeth and came through the weekend unscathed, I can’t say the same for the other members of the family.

Oh dear – I am in love!!! Are you sure you want to take her home.

Mabel is quite the little con-artist… she makes you think that she is just a sweet puppy until she decides to pounce on your fingers or hand or ankle. OUCH! what a jaw she has, but somehow it doesn’t matter – you just keep loving her and going back for more. Mabel is totally irresistible! I just love this “little” puppy.

Those toes are very vulnerable!

I am being a really good girl – but just wait. HaHa…

The same can’t be said for Gracie our almost 5 year old Chocolate Lab. At first she was ok with Mable but after awhile she had had enough and just barked at Mabel. Being the puppy that she is Mabel just didn’t get the hint – she kept begging Gracie to play with her but Gracie wanted no part of it. Imagine a teenager with a 3 year old, “Please, Please, Please play with me!!!! Please, please, please!!! Gracie just barked and said NO BUG OFF!!! Gracie doesn’t mind if you are in her house, she doesn’t mind if you play with her toys but just don’t bug her. You stay on your side of the room and I will stay on my side.

So on Monday – Memorial Day when it was time for the kids and Mabel to go home the weather was beautiful. Isn’t that always the way? Your travel days are always beautiful.

We had a wonderful weekend playing with this wonderful new addition to the family. The concept of her being over 100 lbs. isn’t really anything that I can comprehend but in a year she will not be sleeping on my lap. The most wonderful thing about Mastiffs is that they are gentle giants – just don’t threaten their family and you will be fine.

I hope you had a nice Memorial Day weekend.

Be Kind…

Faith

Nothing quite as good…..

May23

as sleeping under a new quilt, that you made yourself.

Easy Street

The first quilt that you see here is my Easy Street quilt, designed by Bonnie Hunter. I have posted previously about my progress on this quilt. It was Bonnie’s mystery quilt this past November. It started the day after Thanksgiving and Bonnie posted her last series of instructions in February. I loved making this quilt. I learned several new techniques and the use of some new time saving rulers. Such Fun!!! I took a class with Bonnie in May a was able to show her my completed quilt. That was a lot of fun.

I took this picture on one of the few nice days we have had here lately. While a lot of the country has been experiencing late Spring it still feels like April around here.

I am a member of the Pine Tree Quilt Guild and of the local chapter Evergreen Quilters. Every May we have a Tea Party. We ask members of our chapter to bring their quilts and give us a show. They tell us about how they got started quilting and they show us some of their wonderful quilts. We have some very talented quilters in our group and I always look forward to them showing us their treasures. As a bit of a reward for their effort and a show of appreciation members of the group make them a gift. This year I offered to make a wall hanging for one of the presenters.

Spring Skinnie

The pattern is called Spring Skinnie. It was published in the March/April ’13 issue of Quiltmaker. I had such a fun time pulling colorful scraps to make this quilt. I did all of the stitching by machine. I am going to make myself one also. Maybe this weekend since it is supposed to be rainy and cool.

The one advantage to the miserable weather that we have been having is that I don’t mind having a quilt in my lap to work on. When it is hot and muggy I don’t want to do hand work because I get too warm. These days with the heat off (it is after all the end of May) having a quilt in my lap is actually a good thing.

Have a wonderful Memorial Day weekend. I hope wherever you are it is nicer than it is here.

Be Kind…

Faith

Lots of work being done around here….

May22

Genevieve Crabapple tree in bloom.

Spring is here and so is the season for home improvements. The first project that we had to undertake was to replace the windows in our sunroom. We had replaced 1 window several years ago but since then 3 others have lost their seal. When double paned windows lose their seal they cloud up. We have a beautiful back yard and we just didn’t feel like looking at it through “frosted” windows.

windows removed

Of course the day they removed the windows was a beautiful sunny day – until all of the windows were removed. It got overcast and windy and the entire house was freezing.

All new windows – clear and clean. No frost!

Our next project was the Pool! A lot of the tile had come loose and needed to be replaced. We had to have it pulled off, cleaned up and replaced.

Almost empty pool

Work in progress – it was a messy job but the results were so wonderful.

clean pool retiled

taken from inside of empty pool

I am very pleased with the pool now – it is refilled and almost ready to swim in. Of course it is only 50 degrees here today so it is not likely that we will be doing any swimming any time soon.

I love Spring but this year it has been very cool here. I look at the forecast for other parts of the Northeast and I am very envious. It is cold here. I can’t plant my veggie garden because the ground is just too cold. The tomatoes and pepper like warm ground and there is none of that around here. Hopefully next week it will warm up and I can get all of the wonderful plants that I bought into the ground.

Tomorrow I will have some pictures of quilts that I have completed or started recently. Some very pretty things to see, if I may say so myself.

Have a wonderful day…

Be Kind…

Faith

quiltingonthecove

A peek at my life. My quilting, my cooking and a look at the beautiful place that I live!

Archive | May 2013

Spring in Maine…

Mabel the Mastiff visits Maine…

Nothing quite as good…..

Lots of work being done around here….