Lots of work being done around here….

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

A bright Tuesday morning…

Apr30

Pansy

It is a beautiful Tuesday morning here on the coast of Maine. The sun is shining and wonderful things are popping up through the dirt. Several years ago I had pots of Pansies on my side steps. The past 2 years they have come back – I have not planted a Pansy in 2 years but there they are smiling up at me when I walk out the door to get the paper every morning. I love Pansies!

Ocean Waves

I have been doing alot of sewing/quilting lately. This pattern is called Fruit Cake – it is made using a collection of fabrics called a Layer Cake – A layer cake is 10″ precut blocks. I love the batiks in this quilt – it reminds me of the sun shining on the waves in the summer. The edge is praire points – these are squares of fabric folded and added to the edge. I machine quilted this quilt with my new sewing machine. I used an entire spool of thread on this quilt. Thankfully I ran out just as I came to the last stitch. Happy, Happy!

Another project that I am working on is Potholder quilts for our returning soldiers and veterans. My quilt chapter is of course helping me with this project. We will be making 12.5″ finished blocks that are quilted and bound. We then stitch them together to make a whole quilt.

pratice block – oops too small

Ohio Star blocks 12.5″ quilted and bound. Just hand stitching left.

We are hoping to have a pile of quilts done by Veterans Day 2013. I was inspired to start this project by a lecture given by Pam Weeks who is the curator of the New England Quilt Museum. Pam wrote the book Civil War Quilts and came and did a lecture about the quilts that were made by the woman of New England for the soldiers in the Civil War. It is a fascinating book and story of what women did to help the war effort.

2 blocks for our Potholder quilts

These are 2 of the blocks that I made for the Potholder quilts. They didn’t take me too much time and I really enjoyed digging through my Red, White and Blue fabrics to make some Patriotic Blocks.

My project for today is to get the binding on my Easy Street Quilt. My friend Clara did the longarm quilting on this quilt for me. It is much to big for me to quilt on my sewing machine. Someday I may have the confidence to quilt a quilt this large but not yet. Hopefully I will have a picture for you within the next few days.

Enjoy the beautiful sunny day…

Be Kind…

Faith

Flower Show and some other cute stuff…

Mar8

My beautiful Orchid – Blooming in my sunroom.

We woke up to snow and wind this morning. Don’t get me wrong, I love the seasons all of them including winter, however I am about done with winter this year. I need some Spring in my life. We went to Portland this afternoon to visit the Flower show. The displays that the landscapers put together are absolutely amazing. It really makes you long for a yard free of snow and the smell of dirt. We always get ideas for our yard and gardens.

Weeping Cherry

I love this Weeping Cherry Tree – I have the perfect place for it in my back yard. We will have to wait and see. I love to imagine the yard free of snow and full of flowers poking their way up through the mulch.

Here are a few more little plants that I want to add to my gardens.

Lenten Rose

Maidenhair Fern

I also saw a lovely little flower called a Ranunculus ‘Bloomingdale Mix’ – it seemed to be in almost all of the displays. It is an annual and I usually like to plant mostly perennials but this little flower is so sweet. Of course did I get a picture of it – Nope – missed that one. I got a picture of the name card but not the actual flower. Oops.

After the flower show we went to grab a bite to eat at Allison’s in Kennebunkport, ME. This is the view from the parking lot before we went in to dinner. I love the amazing colors in the sky. What a beautiful sunset.

Beautiful Sunset – Kennebunkport, ME

I also spent the week sewing – I was making gifts. There are some people who I really love to make gifts for, they are people who also like to create, people who really appreciate the passion I have for creating things. Mari is one of these people. Mari is also a creative person – we are both a bit stifled in our actual jobs because we would rather be making things with our time. We both love to cook and to create for others. Kindred spirits for sure. Mari loves whimsical things. I made her these gifts for her birthday. I think the purse fits the description of whimsical.

Little bag

stitch details on bag

Pillow

So once again this evening I am in my sewing room. In a few minutes I will be parked in front of my little antique Singer Featherweight machine stitching my swap blocks.

Have a nice weekend and don’t forget to set your clocks back.

Be Kind….

Faith

My Little Hexie Project…..

Feb27

My start of my Grandmother’s Flower Garden

I have scraps, lots and lots of scraps….I have told you about my scraps in previous posts.

One of my scrappy projects is to make a Hexie Quilt. I am using the technique called English Paper Piecing.

Creative Memories Paper Punch

I cut my hexagon out with a paper punch. The outer edge of the larger punch is 1 1/2″ long, I use the little cards that we find in magazines – the ones we hate, that fall all over the floor when we open a new magazine. Hey they are free and the perfect weight for this project.

I have a folder full of these cards – one more stash of stuff.

I use my Go Cutter with a Hexagon die to cut the scraps into the size and shape that I need.

various scraps cut into hexies

I pin the fabric to the cut-out hexagon and use a running stitch around the outside to hold it in place. I do not stitch through the paper because I am going to remove it after all of the hexies are attached to each other.

Hexies basted to paper

After I have a bunch of them basted I start to group them but color and sew them together. There are several different stages to making these little “flowers” so I am never bored.

the beginning of a little flower

I have had one of these red fabrics for 30 years!

It is the perfect mindless project to do on a car ride, or air plane ride or while watching TV when you are too tired to really think about sewing. One thing that I have noticed about quilters is that they never want their hands to be idle. If we are sitting, we are stitching.

I realize that this quilt (whatever size it turns out to be) will take me years. There is no time limit on it, it is “busy work” but eventually it will be something that is totally made by my hands – no sewing machine. Every tiny little stitch made by hand. An age old craft still being done in spite of all of the amazing technology available to us. Don’t get me wrong I absolutely love the technology that we have – I use it all the time – the internet has brought so many quilters together in so many different ways. I use a computer to design blocks and quilts and I love it, but doing things totally with my hands is really fun. I really have a sense of accomplishment when I do hand work. That is how I learned 30 some years ago because I didn’t have a sewing machine but I wanted to make quilts. It is relaxing.

Hope you aren’t getting to buried in the snow – it has just turned to snow here on the coast- it had been raining all day. To the west of the Maine Turnpike it has been snowing all day. Drive carefully.

Be Kind….

Faith

The Blizzard of 2013

Feb11

view out front door

Well it started to snow here around 3 am on Friday, and it snowed, and snowed, and snowed, and snowed etc. Of course the wind was also blowing very, very hard.
We were all set – we had been to the grocery store, we had food, water, WINE, a generator, gas for the snowblower. So we settled in and watched it pile up and oh my word it did. It is practically impossible for us to measure how much snow we got because it was blown all over the place.

The wind blew so hard that it made it very difficult to sleep – it was very noisy. We were up early Saturday morning – anxious to see what had been dumped on us over night.

the living room window

view from mud room door

There were spots in the yard that had no snow and spots where it seemed to be over 6 feet deep.
We waited until Saturday afternoon to get started. The wind was still blowing very hard but for the most part the snow had stopped. We bundled up in our warmest layers and headed outside.

This is the view from inside the garage – Chuck had climbed out the mudroom door over the snow drift to an area on the driveway where there was only a few inches of snow.

Hi Chuck

We realized that we were going to be moving snow for several hours – there was just so much of it. It is really one of the largest storms that I can remember. Chuck was snowblowing and I was knocking down the high drifts. You couldn’t really shovel it because there was no where to put it. Moving snow is hard work – THEN……

the calvary arrived!!!!

Our wonderful neighbors came and helped us dig out – then we all moved down the street to do several more neighbors. All in all over the two days we cleared 5 driveways and cleared paths for the oil men to be able to make deliveries.

That is what Chuck is doing here….

the front walk

The snow drift in our front yard was probably 6 ft high – hard packed snow.

This is what a neighborhood is supposed to do – group together – work hard – have fun and get it done. It is fun to pay it forward and do for others. We are all a little bit stiff today but we all have decided that the work we all did together was fun.

Thank you residents of Channel Cove for helping us have fun playing in the snow for lots of hours this weekend.

Be Kind….

Faith

Unexpected treasures….

Jan30

1860’s Civil War Quilt made in Hopkinton, MA

You just never know where you will find a treasure. I have a very friendly relationship with the Postmaster at the nearby Post Office. It is a little Post Office that thankfully is not going to close – it is only having its hours cut. It is amazing how much people in little towns depend upon their PO’s. It is sort of like the village center – especially when you live in areas that are full of people in the summer and little bit empty in winter. That is in no way a complaint! We have a wonderful little community here in Biddeford Pool, we have an active community club that has loads of activities all winter long to keep us all in touch. No Cabin Fever here.

But I digress….back to the topic of this post. A Civil War quilt from the 1860’s!!!!! Terry – the Postmaster – brought this amazing record of American History for me to see today. It was made by someone in his family in the Boston area in commemoration of the soldiers in the war. It seems to have been made by one person. All of the names and towns appear to be written by the same person.

Boston, MA

close up of signatures

Stars in the corner

tells where the man was killed

The quilt doesn’t have any batting in it. It has been very lightly quilted and it clearly has been well taken care of because it is in remarkable condition. It is stored properly in a archival box wrapped with acid free paper.

I am amazed by this quilt – I don’t know very much about it but I am thrilled that Terry shared it with me. I of course, would love to have spent hours looking at it. I would love to know about the maker of the quilter and her history, why she felt compelled to make this quilt. Was it a quilt made by a group or just a single person? So many unanswered questions. It such a wonderful treat to see this quilt up close and comfortable. Thank you Terry.

This is part of the reason that we quilters quilt. To leave something behind, to be creative, to keep our families and friends warm with something substantial and creative, something from our hearts and hands. Quilts remember when the maker is long gone. They hold the memories of happiness and tragedy, of new beginnings and lost loves. Quilters quilt when they are happy, when they are mourning, when they are expecting new things in their lives. Most quilters these days quilt as a creative outlet – years ago many women quilted out of necessity. They needed to keep their loved ones warm. No matter the reason it is wonderful to see a quilt that has documented a very sad time in our nation’s history and is still here to remind us of it.

Be Kind…..

Faith

GRACIE…

Jan28

Sweet Baby Sept 2008

Oh how we love our pets – some of us go over the top but my feeling is that our pets become part of the family. Gracie had me at Hello, she fell asleep in my arms in the car after we picked her up at Puddleduck Retrievers and I was done. Love at first sight puppy breathe and all. Gracie is a Chocolate Lab and we have all heard horror stories about Chocolate Labs. None of them are true of Gracie, she is smart, calm and above all sweet. Gracie has not caused us one moment of stress since we brought her home. Until Saturday.

I was all packed up getting ready to spend the day making pillowcases for the Battered Woman’s Shelter in York County. Sewing machine, scissors, iron, lunch and a snack all loaded in the car, time to take a shower and get moving. Gracie always comes upstairs when I am getting ready to go out, she is trying to figure out whether or not she is coming me, she seems to be able to judge by the clothes that I am wearing what her chances for a ride in the car are.

I heard a strange noise and turned to see her having what appeared to be a seizure. It was very disturbing – I dropped to the floor and tried to still her. The trembling did not lessen in fact it seemed to intensify. Chuck was in the basement – in my biggest booming voice, I called him to come quickly. I didn’t dare mention at this point that I was concerned for Gracie – that would have scared him too much. We quickly came to the conclusion that we needed to get her to the Vet. Gracie was unable to walk, Chuck had to carry her to the car. We were very frightened! First we brought her to our regular Vet who thankfully has Saturday hours and then unto the Emergency Vet.

Gracie had to spend the night in Hospital. They were monitoring her for more seizure activity. There are still a lot of questions. Did Gracie actually have a seizure? What caused the seizure? Was it something she ate? Is it the onset of Idiopathic Epilepsy? The Vet did blood work so that we know it was not caused by a metabolic disease.

Happy dog! Christmas 2012

Gracie did not have another seizure. We were able to pick her up late Sunday morning. We still do not have a confirmed explanation for the seizure. If she continues to have seizures we will do more tests, to get confirmation of Epilepsy we need to have an MRI and a spinal fluid analysis. These tests will cost almost $2000. If the seizures continue we will have these tests done. Thankfully Gracie has been seizure free since 10 am Saturday morning.

We love our dog in a way similar to the way we love our family. We have committed to taking care of them and to giving them the best life we can. They bring us endless joy, they make us laugh, they comfort us and they always seem to know when we need an extra bit of affection. Gracie seems like the same wonderful dog, companion that she has been since the day we brought her into our family. Hopefully the seizure was a fluke and she will be seizure free for the rest of her wonderful life. We will watch her carefully and get her the medical attention that she needs, hopefully it will not be needed.

Gracie brings joy into our life she is a sweet, gentle, smart little dog. We will continue to give her the same joy.

Be Kind….

Faith

Chicken Barley Soup –

Jan17

What a beautiful morning it is here today!! It is a bit chilly but the sun is shining so brightly and the snow is so pristine. The perfect day for a big bowl of soup and piece of homemade bread.

Chuck was out of town last night and I hate to have a driveway covered with snow – so I dragged the snowblower out and got the driveway and sidewalk cleaned up. Thank goodness the snowblower is self propelled, it is so heavy that I never would be able to push it around with out that feature.

Chicken Barley Soup

Chicken Barley Soup

4 bone in Chicken Breast

1 large onion – chopped

2-3 large carrots peeled and sliced

2 stalks of celery – diced

2 cups baby spinach rinsed and chopped

1 28 oz can chopped tomatoes

1 28 oz can whole tomatoes crushed in your hands

2 quarts Swanson Chicken Broth

2 cloves garlic minced

2 cans Small white beans – optional

½ cup chopped fresh parsley

1 ½ cup pearl barley – rinsed

olive oil

Kosher salt

Fresh ground pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees –

Coat Chicken breast with olive oil – sprinkle with kosher salt and fresh ground pepper.

Place in roasting pan skin side up and roast for 45 mins or until done.

Heat oil in large stock pot – add onions, celery and garlic. Cook until soft. Be careful to not let the garlic burn – it will get very bitter.

Add carrots – sauté until they are softened

Add chicken broth, both cans of tomatoes, chopped spinach.

Once the chicken is cooked – let it cool a bit then cut it off the bone and dice into 1” pieces. You can also shred it if you prefer shredded chicken in your soup.

Add barley – bring to boil. You made need to add a bit more broth or water after barley is cooked – it absorbs a lot of the liquid.

Add rinsed beans and chopped parsley. Add salt and pepper to your taste.

ENJOY!

Winter is so beautiful! I love the snow on the tree limbs.

Enjoy the view from your window if you are somewhere that is covered in snow. The view from my window is sparkling. Stay warm.

Be kind…..

Faith

Happy New Year….

Jan2

Home

Happy New Year…

It is so hard to believe it is the year 2013. When people tell you that the older you get the faster time goes by they are sadly correct.

The Christmas tree has been taken down – the decorations have been packed away for another year and the memories a tucked safely into my heart to pull out whenever I need to smile.

So did you make a list of New Year’s resolutions? I did not – I don’t want to disappoint myself. There are some changes that I want to make but they are not necessarily things that I need to share. They are more things that I will work on changing to make myself happier.

I have started a sort of gratitude journal – I had read about it in an Oprah magazine. No groaning – I don’t usually put much stock in Oprah-isms but this one sort of hit me. She mentioned that she started to write down things – things that she was thankful for.

So I have started to do that – every day or two I write down something that I am thankful for – some days it is something as simple as the love I feel from my family – or the fact that the sun is shining. When you actually stop to think about your life you usually don’t have to think for too long to realize that you have something to be thankful for. So one of the resolutions that I will share, is to take the time to be thankful and to write it down to read another day.

Today I am thankful for the beautiful snowy view out my windows –

I am thankful for my warm, snuggy home –

Gracie

I am thankful for the furry chocolate lab that is asleep on my feet. I am always thankful for my wonderful family.

Stop each day and think about what you are thankful for….however simple it may be.
Be thankful and be kind….

Faith

SNOW DAY…

Dec30

It started to snow yesterday around 4:00 and snowed until this morning. This time it was just snow so it is the light fluffy snow. I love to see the tree branches coated with the snow in the morning light.

Big Old Oak tree

I love the way the snow just sits on top of everything it lands on.

Front Light

I love the snow before we walk in it, or plow it out of the way. It looks so pristine and fresh. It is almost time to un-decorate the house. I will do that tomorrow – I was talking about taking it down in bits and pieces but I know that will not happen. Once I get started I will not stop until it is all packed up and put away for another 11 months. I have promised myself to get started on my Christmas shopping and sewing much earlier in 2013. It should be interesting to see if I actually do it. It is not a resolution but it is something that I would like to accomplish.

Front Yard

I was thinking about going snowshoeing but the wind has really picked up and I really don’t like the feel of snow whipping into my face so I will probably wait until the winds die down a bit.

I have 2 loaves of honey Oatmeal Bread in the oven and it smells soooo good. I am thinking of making some Clam Chowder to go with the soup for later. I will get some sewing done and watch some football. It will be a lazy day and that is good. Homemade Bread and chowder, a fire in the fireplace and football on the TV. Sounds like a plan to me.

Have a nice winter day!

Be Kind….

Faith

quiltingonthecove

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

Archives

Lots of work being done around here….

A bright Tuesday morning…

Flower Show and some other cute stuff…

My Little Hexie Project…..

The Blizzard of 2013

Unexpected treasures….

GRACIE…

Chicken Barley Soup –

Happy New Year….

SNOW DAY…