Let the good times roll…

Jun28

In a few hours the first of our 4th of July guests will arrive. For the past 10 years all of our kids and other various friends and family have been joining us here to celebrate the Fourth of July. This year we will total 15 for the weekend and 20 or so for the actual Fourth of July celebration.

We went to the market yesterday and will make 2 more trips before next weekend is over. It is a wonderful family reunion every summer. We will spend time on the beach, in the pool, and around the fire pit in the backyard. We will play games and tease each other and reminisce about visits to the emergency room during past visits. It seems that there is always one trip to the ER for some sort of injury, usually it is nothing life threatening but on one occasion it was an almost ruptured appendix – Elizabeth.

The lounge chairs are out, the inflatable rafts are blown up, the flower pots are planted and the yard is looking beautiful. The menus are still being tweaked to satisfy even the pickiest eater, and I am getting excited. This is a tradition that I started to make memories. I wanted our children and grandchildren to always have the happy and fun memories of coming to Maine in the summer.

Last night we started the first fire in the new fire pit. It was a very relaxing way to end the week and a great way to get into a vacation frame of mind. For Chuck and me it will be a “stay-cation” but to be honest there is really no where we would rather be than here surrounded by family and friends.

If you are traveling this weekend stay safe and have a wonderful trip. If you are enjoying a “stay-cation” have a great time.

Be Kind….
Faith

Great weekend….

May11

What a great weekend I had!!! First of all Spring has arrived and by Spring I mean warm weather without humidity. Happy Dance!

raffle quilt in progress

On Saturday a group of ladies from my quilt guild got together to assemble our Raffle quilt. It is such a good way to get a lot done in a short amount of time. It is also a great way for beginners to learn new the finer points of getting your quilt to lay flat. There is nothing worse than a wavy quilt. It is impossible to get it to lay flat and it is equally impossible to have it quilted.

Georgette, Carol and Terry

Denise, Jane, Iola and Judy

Here are a couple of shots of our group at work. We had a wonderful time and when we were done the hardest part of the quilt top was complete. I have a couple of borders to add but they are measured and ready to be sewn on. I will then applique some flowers around the edge to make it even prettier than it already is.

Of course Sunday was Mother’s Day – there was also a Marathon that was going right past our road. A dear friend from Albany who grew up with our son was in the area with some of his siblings to watch his wife run the Marathon. So while they waited for Avery to complete the run (she did very well but says she will never do it again), they came to our house for a little Brunch. We had homemade muffins and fruit salad.

George, Katherine, me, Tommy and George plus a little bit of Chucks finger. 😉

It was so beautiful that we decided to eat outside. I have not seen these wonderful young people is a long time and it was so wonderful to catch up with them and hear about the exciting lives that they are living.

The crew with Chuck.

I am so appreciative of the friendships that our children have developed over the years. They are friendships that will last for the rest of their lives. It is very easy for them to communicate with all of the new technology – one of the positives of the times.

After the kids left we went up to Portland and Chuck purchased me a wonderful a unexpected surprise Mother’s Day gift. It is a Ball Fresh Tech Canner. I will be able to can goodies from the garden without all the steam in the kitchen. I will post some pictures when I use it.

The day was completed with lunch sitting outside by the river at Run of the Mill restaurant. It is a microbrew pub and it is in an old textile mill in Saco – great lunch.

It was a sunny, warm day and I really enjoyed myself. I had great chats with my 2 darling kids and a nice conversation with my own mother. So overall it was a great weekend.

I hope yours was as well.

Be Kind…

Faith

So while I wasn’t blogging I was…

May1

Having fun!!!!

We spent time visiting family in Florida.

Chuck and Gail on the Beach!

We went on a sunset cruise in Sarasota.

Sarasota Bay

We walked on the beach.

Longboat Key Beach

We had company and we ate wonderful food.

littleneck clams

We went to a concert in Portland, ME.

Lake Street Dive @ The State Theater in Portland, ME

We had our master bathroom re-done.

We torn our ugly wet bar out and had it replaced with this. And I finished quilts.

The months of March and April were very busy but it was all fun stuff.

Be kind….. Faith

And we cooked……

Apr29

Lamejoun hot out of the oven!

Last Friday my dear husband and I decided that it was time to make Lahmejoun. My wondeful Armenian friends know what this entails, lots of work! For my non-Armenian friends, Lahmejoun is an Armenian meat pie, probably unlike anything you have ever eaten before. They are the best addition to any meal, or a meal by itself.

So Friday we went to the market and bought 8 lbs. of ground lamb, bell peppers, garlic, lots of parsley, crushed tomatoes, flour and yeast. For two and a half hours I cleaned, cut and diced veggies. Then I added all of that and some wonderful spices to 8 lbs. of ground lamb. Needless to say you need a very large bowl to mix all of those ingredients. That all went into the fridge to wait til morning.

The next morning I mixed 2 packets of yeast with lots and lots of flour. I think at this point it was about 6 lbs. of flour. To say that my arms were getting a bit tired is an understatement. The fun hadn’t even started yet! I let the dough rise for about 1 1/2 hours.

While the dough was rising I continued to chop veggies and made a pot of Minestrone Soup. My mother-in-law Irma taught me how to make Lamejoun and whenever we made it together we also made a pot of soup to go with it. Irma was not Armenian, she was French Canadian and Irish, she was a hell of a good cook and she happily taught me everything she knew about Armenian food. We always had fun when we cooked together.

I have 2 beautiful ovens, both were set at 500 degrees. Thankfully it was a dreary, rainy cool day so having the ovens on that high was not unpleasant.

To make Lamejoun you need to roll out the dough into a thin round disc about 7-8″ in diameter. Then you add about 1/3 cup of the meat mixture. I use parchment paper on the cookie sheets so that I don’t have to wash them between batches.

Chuck hard at work

Cooking them is a 2 step process. First they go on the bottom of the oven for about 8 minutes then they are moved to the top rack for an additional 6-8 minutes. This is where Chuck steps in. While I am rolling out the dough, he is watching the oven and counting the fruits of our labor. The first 2 Lamejoun that come out of the oven go right into our mouths. Oh my goodness! it is sooo good hot out of the oven.

We worked together for a couple of hours, until we had 6 dozen Lamejoun baked. Trust me we were tired. It is a lot of work but the end result is so wonderful. We can go to the markets in Boston and buy Lamejoun but I have to say there is nothing like homemade. At this point we have 5 dozen Lamejoun in the freezer – we will deliver some to various family members over the next couple of weeks.

5 dozen ready to go into the freezer

If it is a dreary Spring I will make more – they are a great dinner when you are busy and don’t feel like cooking. Chuck and I had a great day cooking together. I don’t know how my dear Mother-in-law ever made 100 of these by herself – she was quite a lady!

Now back to my quilting.

Be Kind…

Faith

Wow – I haven’t posted anything in a long time….

Apr28

Easter flowers always make it seem like Spring is almost here. Easter Sunday was a wonderful day – the weather could have been warmer but this year if the sun is shining and it is not snowing it is a good day. Our daughter and her boyfriend came for the weekend so we had a wonderful time. I spent the weekend cooking so I didn’t do much sewing that weekend. But I have gotten a lot done this Spring.

I have been busy – I have gotten 3 old quilts done and by old I mean very old. I finished binding the 2 that were quilted by the longarm quilter. The Christmas Star quilt was finished in no time at all. The Dresden Plate with the scalloped edge took a long time.

sewing biased binding on Dresden Plate

I made a biased binding which is time consuming but necessary when putting on a curved binding.

Scalloped Edge of Dresden Plate

I don’t use clips when I stitch down the binding so my hands tired easily. There was also a lot of very careful trimming while stitching this binding down. But the quilt is done!

I machine quilted by Mystery Quilt from my quilt guild. I still consider myself to be a novice at Free motion quilting but I am getting more confident with each quilt. I brought my machine upstairs into my sunroom so I had lots of wonderful light. I also put up 3 different tables – one with my sewing machine, one behind my sewing machine table and one to the left of my sewing table. This made things so much easier because the weight of the quilt was always on a table, not dragging.

Stitch in a Ditch

I also made a baby quilt for a dear friends first Grandchild. This is called a disappearing nine patch. It was fun and easy to stitch together with Charms Squares (5″ blocks). I have a GO cutter that I used to cut the squares with so this quilt top went together very easily. We don’t know whether the baby is a boy or a girl so I used pastels to make this quilt. It was fun to make a quilt for a new baby.

So since April 1st I have completed 4 quilts. I am very happy about this. Several of these quilts have been sitting for years. I will post full size pictures of all of the quilts as soon as it is a bit nicer outside. At this point they would blow away.

Off to a Guild meeting tonight – I am looking forward to seeing my friends. It has been over a month since I have seen some of them so this meeting will be fun.

Happy Quilting…

Be Kind…

Faith

A walk in the Park….

Mar11

Carriage Path

Friday morning we loaded the car and took a ride. After a quick stop in Belfast to conduct some business, we were on our way to Bar Harbor. It was a beautiful sunny day, no wind, just sunshine.

We stopped by the closed Visitors Center to see what paths were available to snow shoe on. We met 2 wonderful dogs one English Mastiff named Gwenny – she weighs in at 210 and another beautiful dog named Aikera. He had had a botched surgery when he was younger so he had a contraption strapped on that allows him to walk like a normal dog. He was a very sweet dog but I am not sure what his breed was.

I love to meet dogs

We stopped for lunch at one of our favorite spots – The Side Street Café.

Blackened Haddock Sandwich Special

I got the special and Chuck got the Lobster Roll – as always it was delicious. We have had both lunch and dinner here and it is always lots of food at a reasonable price. I look forward to eating here. We did a bit of shopping and I do mean a bit because most every shop in Bar Harbor is closed for the season – some open in April most open in May. I did stop into Fiore – this is a wonderful shop that sells different olive oils and vinegars. I bought 3 different oils including a Truffle oil – I can’t wait to drizzle that on some wonderful goodies. The flavored oils that Fiore sells are a wonderful way to add something special to your meals.

On Saturday morning we had breakfast at 2 Cats – it is a wonderful breakfast spot. We were there at 7:00 AM and we had the place to ourselves – Blueberry Pancakes for me and Apple Cinnamon Pancakes for Chuck. We knew that we would be working it off so this was a no guilt meal.

Chuck on Snowshoes

Yours truly with Snow Shoes strapped on.

We headed over to the Park to snow shoe – It was a beautiful day – bright sunshine, warm and perfect. The Carriage Paths are groomed so that you can cross country ski, snow shoe or just walk on the paths. We met a few walkers on the path and a few dogs. It was a great day to be outside and the views were amazing. We felt very fortunate to be able to be outside enjoying the park on such a great day.

We met 2 young men at the park – they were college kids who go to the Maine Maritime Academy. They were wondering if there were paths that they could hike on. We explained where we had walked and told them that there were lots of trails with good signage so they should have no trouble. They then asked us where they needed to go to pay for the use of the park – I explained that it was free to walk on paths and enjoy the beauty of the park. They were amazed and decided that they needed to come up to the park more often. The Maritime Academy is in Castine, Maine which is not far from Bar Harbor.

We enjoyed the park for a couple of hours and then we headed down the coast. We stopped at a few towns along the way to see the sights and have some lunch. It was a wonderful way to spend a day and we felt very fortunate to have such a beautiful area to visit.

We once again decided that our move to Maine was a good thing – we love living here and we do not take for granted the beauty that is all around us all the time. The weather was amazing and it gave us the feeling that Spring may not be to far away.

Have a wonderful day – enjoy the view.

Be Kind…

Faith

The fragility of life…

Feb9

Last night while enjoying an early birthday dinner with our daughter and her boyfriend we got a disturbing text message from our son. He asked if we had heard any news about a tragedy. Of course when you are asked a question like that you stop what you are doing and quickly grab the phone to check out social media. It is amazing that we hear good and bad news in such an impersonal way.

A young lady whose family has been part of our lives for over 20 years had just lost her fiancé. This is a family whom we have loved, we have laughed together, worked together in church endeavors, and watched our children progress from toddlers to wonderful young adults with the amazing potential for happy, complete lives.

Sadly, one of these lives has been altered in a way that none of us can comprehend. Lindsey’s fiancé had not been feeling well, he had gone to doctors, he had various tests performed but no definitive answers. Sadly he passed in his sleep on Saturday morning. He was 30 years old, he was kind, thoughtful, smart and the love of Lindsey’s young life. They had made plans, they had dreams!

Now all of the dreams have crashed! Her mother and father are devastated! They lost someone they love but they also have to try to console their daughter. What do you say, how do you ease the pain when your own pain is so intense? How do you answer the questions, why? How do you not lose faith? How do you continue when your life as you know it has been snatched away in such a sudden and devastating way?

My heart is breaking for them all. I have no words to offer them, I can only call and remind them that they are loved by many.

So remember to never take for granted the people you love – life is fragile and can be hard with questions that we can not answer.

We will continue to pray for the family of my friends and to pray for all of the people who have lost this young man. I will pray that they can find peace and that they will find the answers as to why this happened.

Remember Be Kind…
Hold the people that you love close,

Faith

Oh baby it’s cold outside…

Jan27

Big Old Oak tree

So I decided that I was going to write a post about warmer things. It will be mostly pictures of warmer, sunnier days. Don’t get me wrong, I love all of the seasons of the year and living in the Northeast gives us the opportunity to experience them all. So here are some warm memories.

Bonfire at the beach

I love the memories that we make in the summer at the beach.

Columbine

Iris and Poppies

I love the beautiful flowers in my garden.

wonderful memories with people we love

The beach, the pool, the fourth of July!

the beach

4th of July

the pool

Just a reminder that the snow will melt and the winds will warm and more memories will be made.

In the mean time stay warm, bake bread, make soup and cuddle under homemade quilts.

Be Kind…

Faith

A Conundrum….

Jan15

First of the Cobbled Court books

Once again this year I am participating in a Block Swap with the Cobbled Court Quilt Circle. The original reason for this group is to discuss Marie Bostwick’s wonderful books – “A Thread so Thin”, “Ties that Bind”, “A Thread of Truth”. Do you sense a theme? All of the books are related to and revolve around the story of the life of a group of Quilters. I must tell you that some of my best friends are quilters. I have flesh and blood friends who I gather with, to work on quilts, share our lives both the good and the bad and make quilts for charity. I also have my cyber-friends. I have never met them in person – hopefully that will change in October 2014 when I attend a quilt retreat, but we work on projects, encourage each other and all read Marie’s books. We will be doing a block exchange again this year. One of the members of the group has chosen a block and directed us to a you tube video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rgQd6asPQs that gives the directions and a detailed look at how to assemble the block. I decided to use the block in a wedding quilt that I need to make for a family member.

quilt block from video

So as I watched the video I snapped a picture of the completed block with my cellphone. I need a visual when I am assembling blocks. I need to make sure that I have everything in the correct place. Of course sometimes even with the picture I mess things up but the chances are slighter when I have a picture in front of me. So I blissfully stitched along last night – I posted the picture below to show my cyber-friends my progress.

my first block

So when you look at the two pictures they are the same. However, when you look at the completed quilt in this picture you can see that the pinwheels are spinning a bit differently.

quilt in the video

So what is the solution? Well, here is the immediate solution for me… I will continue to make the blocks the way that I have been because I am not going to rip out 4 blocks that look fine to me, and I will run out of fabric if I scrap them. So if you look at the picture of the individual block (and my block) the pinwheel is made one way and the pinwheel in the completed quilt is made another way. Oh the conundrum!!

So we – we being the Cobbled Court Quilters will have to be advised as to which way the pinwheels are to be done. I will continue to make my blocks the way that I have made the first 4 blocks. I will post a picture when the top is completed. I need either 30 or 36 blocks to have enough for a queen size quilt, I have a wonderful idea for a border but I will need to either search my stash or go shopping for part of the border. Either one of those choices is fun!

Keep Quilting….

Be Kind…

Faith

Celtic Christmas part 3…

Dec18

: view of backyard

Good snowy morning from southern Maine. Since Saturday we have gotten 2 feet of snow. It is a winter wonderland outside and for the first time in several years we are going to have a white Christmas. I realize that for a huge part of the world there is no such thing as a white Christmas but having grown up in the Northeast of the U.S., I love having a white Christmas. Some would, and have called me crazy but I still get just as excited about a snow storm now as I did when I was 5. There is some rain predicted for the weekend which could put a huge dent in my snowshoeing plans, we will just have to wait and see.

I have been spending a ton of time sewing lately – as have many of the Bonnie Hunters fans around the world. Here is the link to the latest mystery – http://www.quiltville.blogspot.com/p/celtic-solstice-mystery.html. I have not finished Part 2 yet but I am definitely making progress. To see everyone’s progress check this out – http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2013/12/celtic-solstice-mystery-monday-link-up_4572.html

some chevrons done other parts in progress

String piecing progress

I have also started Part 3 – I have all of my bits and pieces cut. One of my good quilty friends Georgette, sent me the short cut that was mentioned here – http://quiltville.blogspot.com/search?q=gretchen. Unfortunately, I had already cut all of my 2″ strips so I couldn’t utilize this helpful short cut. I cut them all using the EZ-Angle as mentioned in Bonnie’s original directions. I did speed things up by layering 4 strips of fabric at a time, so it took me less time than I thought it would, but I still need to sew them together.

bits and pieces

As you can see I have made 1 pinwheel – yes I did sew it wrong the first time, and I know that I will again. Pinwheels always give me some trouble.

one correct pinwheel

I think that I am being very careful only to realize that I have goofed. Hopefully the goofs will be few and far between. Only time will tell.

I will be sewing again tonight – one thing that Bonnie’s Mysteries do for me is get me into my sewing room. I get so many projects finished just because I am in my sewing space. I am also usually digging through my stash which causes me to find long, lost and forgotten projects.

view from my sunroom – icy windows

With winter here, ahead of schedule, I am anticipating getting a lot of projects started and finished this winter. As I have said before there is nothing better than a quilt in your lap on a cold winter night.

I am looking forward to Part 4 on Friday morning – I do not anticipate getting very much of it done before the release of Part 5 but my head will be working on it.

Have a wonderfully Merry Christmas – keep sewing and,

Be Kind….

Faith

quiltingonthecove

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

Archives

Let the good times roll…

Great weekend….

So while I wasn’t blogging I was…

And we cooked……

Wow – I haven’t posted anything in a long time….

A walk in the Park….

The fragility of life…

Oh baby it’s cold outside…

A Conundrum….

Celtic Christmas part 3…