Archive | July 2013

Being inspired…

Jul28

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This is the Best in Show at the Maine State Quilt show. It is called Zen Garden. It was made by Maragaret Solomon Gunn of Gorham, Maine. It is machine pieced, hand appliqued and machine long arm quilted. It is even more beautiful in person.

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This is the center.

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This is the right bottom corner.

I am not working anything quite so ambitious. I however was inspired to pull out on ongoing (by ongoing I mean never ending) project. I really want to complete this wall hanging. I am hand quilting some feathered wreaths in the corners and on the edges. I have one more corner to complete. Which is shown here.

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I will post a picture when it is complete.

Enjoy your Sunday, be creative.

Be Kind…

Faith

Giving back…

Jul19
my geraniums are finally blooming

my geraniums are finally blooming

 

I live in a wonderful coastal community in southern Maine.  Every summer our Community Club has a Seaside Fair.  We have local craft vendors, lobster rolls etc for lunch, a bake sale and a silent auction.  The money raised goes the the Community Club to help fund scholarships, and other community activities.  

In the winter when the summer people are gone we have movie nights, bean suppers, pot luck dinners and lots of wonderful gatherings to keep us connected during the long winters that we have in Maine.  It is a wonderful group of sharing people.

I believe in giving back.  I love to bake and I love to sew, so the logical conclusion would be that I would bake something for a bake sale and sew something for the auction table. 

As you are all aware it has been very hot lately – I don’t have central air conditioning.  UGH – my house is hot, but I needed to bake a pie last night.  I figured since I was baking 1 pie for the bake sale I may as well make one for us as well.  Nothing is much tastier than a homemade mixed berry pie  with a big scoop of vanilla ice cream.  I used strawberries, raspberries, blueberries and blackberries.  YUM!

Two Mixed Berry Pies

Two Mixed Berry Pies

I also made a cute little bag for the auction.  People always ask me how long it takes to make something like this.  It took me about 2 1/2 hours last night.  I am really happy with the way it turned out.  I love to work in bright colors and this just seemed very summery to me.

cute summer bag

cute summer bag

I hope that you are enduring the heat and I also hope that it breaks soon.  It is very unhealthy for many and for others it just makes us cranky.  I sadly fall into the cranky category.

Enjoy the weekend,

Be Kind…

Faith

new socks….

Jul11

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One of my favorite things to knit is socks.  They are small and compact and easy to take any where.  They are perfect for car rides and when you are waiting.  I made these socks for Mari – she is someone who appreciates hand made things.  Mari makes beautiful flowers out of clay.  It is very difficult to tell that they are not real.

It seems like I have been working on these socks forever.  There are several steps to knitting socks, you knit along happy as a clam and then you need to do something that requires concentration.  This is the point where I very often put the project down and pick up something mindless.  Something that requires no thought just muscle memories that I developed when I was 8 or 9 when I first started to knit.

I am a self taught knitter.  Don’t get me wrong, along the knitting journey I have had many friends who have taught me different techniques and ways of finishing but usually when I knit I am alone and I have to figure out how to get to the next step.  I have a wonderful library of knitting books.  Two that come to mind are “Knitting in Plain English” by Maggie Righetti and “Stitch ‘n Bitch” by Debbie Stoller.  There are many others but at this point they are probably in a knitting bag with an unfinished project and there are far to many of those for me to track down.

Another new resource for learning to knit is Craftsy.com.  This is a website that is full of wonderful videos that teach you almost anything “Craftsy” that you might want to learn.  There is usually a small fee for the class but you can refer back to the video and also send questions to the instructor.  I have found this to be a very valuable asset when learning a new technique.

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Who would think that you can end up with a pair of socks when you start with this.  Don’t start with a pair of socks, start with something easy like a scarf.  Find a yarn shop near you and they will be a constant source help.  LYS (local yarn shops) are always willing to help their customers with a project that was purchased at their shops.  Let your creative side out – you will be amazed at what you can create and what a wonderful sense of satisfaction you will have when you complete something.

Be Kind…..

 

Faith

so much fun….

Jul9

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My goodness it has been way too long since I have written anything.  Spring/Summer is a very busy time of year.  Gardens to plant, pools to open, beaches to walk on, Fourth of July parties to plan for.

Every year we have a family reunion on the 4th of July.  All of our kids and grand kids come to the house for the 4th of July week – or weekend depending upon when in the week the holiday falls.  This year the fourth was on a Thursday.  By Wednesday evening everyone who was going to make it was here.  Let the parties begin….

We eat, drink and be merry for the weekend and it is a wonderful family memory making time.  I was up early on the fourth.  These are some pictures of my backyard at about 5:45 the morning of the fourth.

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We are so blessed to live in such a beautiful setting.

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I love the American Flag and I fly it proudly and thank those who have sacrificed for our freedoms.

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We had some fireworks in the yard.  The neighbors enjoy them also.  We have had so much rain this year that thankfully we didn’t need to worry about any fire dangers.

I love that we make wonderful memories with our family every summer.  We laugh, play games, and tease each other.  Love and fun are the main themes of the weekend.  Walks on the beach, swims in the pool, and lots and lots of great food.  We are all back to our normal (or not so normal) lives now and basking in the memories of a fabulous weekend together.

Next post will be back to quilting – I have been working on a lot of wonderful things but some of them have been gifts so they have to be kept under wraps.

Be thankful and Be Kind…

 

Faith