Celtic Christmas…

first step cut and ready to sew

It is that time of year again. Christmas and a new Bonnie Hunter mystery quilt. Bonnie Hunter – one of my favorite quilt designers has a mystery quilt every year. It starts the day after Thanksgiving and ends some time in January, she posts new steps every week and we sew like mad to get the quilt steps done. This year Bonnie’s quilt is called Celtic Solstice – here is the link up.

http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2013/12/celtic-solstice-mystery-monday-link-up-1.html

Her colors are very bright and while I am sure that her quilt will be amazing the colors just didn’t work for me.

work in progress

So, after careful thought and a little bit of sleeplessness I came up with a solution. I am making the quilt out of my stash of Christmas fabric. I have been buying Christmas fabric for 30 years so I have lots of choices and fabric. The salvage on one of the fabrics said 1991. Yup, lots of old fabric. By using it up it will free me to buy more with no guilt!

chain sewing

Bonnie has given 2 sizes for this quilt – a twin/double bed size and a king size. I have opted for the King size – that way when I am done I will have a wonderful large quilt for our bed. I will use it every year for the month of December.

completed units

I am not yet done with the first step but I will finish it today. I am more than half way finished and that gives me the incentive to keep my little Featherweight chugging along. I am very happy to be using up all of this old fabric – the goal is to refrain from buying any new fabric for this quilt. I have never done that before – and I may not be able to do it with this quilt either. I may need to buy some fabric for the back but hopefully I can be resourceful enough to make due with what I have.

A little Christmas thought – from The Little Book of Christmas Joys –

#248. Read “The Gift of The Magi” by O’Henry It always brings tears to my eyes and warmth to my heart.

Be Kind…

Faith

Eagle Lake – Acadia National Park….

Nov8

Eagle Lake

So the plan was to take a walk around Eagle Lake and then go to The Jordan Pond House for Tomato Bisque soup and Popovers. I am sure, had the day gone according to plan that I would have added a nice glass of dry white wine to that order. But the best laid plans do not always happen.

We had explored Bass Harbor Light that morning and had gone back towards Bar Harbor to park the car and start our walk. We had a little knapsack packed with water and snacks. We had our guide books so that we would not go the wrong way and walk even further than the 6.1 miles that we had planned. Chuck figured that we would be finished with the walk in about an hour and a half. I had my doubts about that – I was not going to “briskly” walk for over 6 miles. I wanted to see the beautiful scenery, take pictures of lake and the foliage. I wanted to stop and listen to the birds and the babbling brooks.

I wanted to savor the entire experience.

Well, I thought that it was a walk around the lake. Haha – it was an uphill walk around the lake. Of course when you go uphill you must go down hill. It turned out to be a beautiful day. The sun came out – the temps were around 58 degrees and the views were breathtaking.

Eagle Lake

It took us over 2 hours to finish the walk and by the time we were finished I was a sweaty mess. I had stripped off my windbreaker/rain jacket. My very light weight polartec was tied around my waist – the sleeves on my long sleeve t-shirt were pushed up as far as they would go and my new Red Sox cap was on only to hide the mess that was my hair. Not to mention that I had a huge blister on both the bottom of my foot and my heel.

Carriage Path

It was a beautiful walk – in a beautiful place with my best friend. It was never a race, it was always a journey. I love to walk – I have found that Maine is a beautiful place to walk. When you live by the ocean you have the advantage of seeing the ever changing seasons. The Sea looks beautiful in all seasons – but it can change from hour to hour depending upon the weather.

Needless to say we did not go to the Jordan Pond House for tomato bisque, popovers and wine. I would not be seen in public. I skulked back to the car – chugged a bottle of water and we went back to our rooms. Thankfully I was a girl scout in a previous life so I was prepared and had brought cheese, crackers, salami and a bottle of both white and red wine. The white wine was chilled to perfection and the cheese and crackers tasted wonderful.

We relaxed, showered and walked to dinner. The completion of a wonderful day. Thankfully the Red Sox were traveling that day so we didn’t have to struggle to stay awake to watch the game.

Take a walk, enjoy where you live!

Be Kind…

Faith

Bass Harbor Light House…

Nov7

Bass Harbor Light

In mid October Chuck and I took a couple of days off and headed Down East. Our destination was Mount Desert Island. We try to get to Bar Harbor once a year. It is one of our favorite parts of Maine. We love Acadia National Park and if you have never been there it is definitely worth the drive. It is an amazing mixture of mountains and ocean. Towering pines, crashing waves, amazing wild life and a wonderful place to relax, walk, ride a bike and see nature.

On the second day that we were there the day started out rainy and dreary. Not a great day to take a long walk. We decided to take a short drive to Southwest Harbor – the most southwest corner of Mount Desert Island. It is also the location of Bass Harbor Light.

Bass Island Light

This lighthouse is perched on the very edge of the rocks. The views are amazing, even on a drizzly day. We were on the edge of the rocks looking down on the crashing waves.

To the left of the Light house there is a path that brings you down through the woods to more rocks. It would have been a great place to bring a picnic. There was a very steep set of wooden steps that brought you even closer to the water.

I love walking through the woods on a rainy day – it reminds me of playing in the woods behind the house with my sisters when we were kids.

There is a certain scent in the piney woods that can’t be duplicated by a candle or any thing else artificial. It is a the smell of the woods – I can’t find the words to describe it, but I love it.

We wandered around the lighthouse area taking pictures and talking to other visitors, then we hopped back in the car. The rain was letting up just as the weatherman had predicted. We drove through Southwest harbor – stopping at a local quilt shop to pick up a couple of yards of fabric to supplement the stash. Then on to Eagle Lake for our hike. We had our knapsack packed with some trail mix, cheese, apples and a couple of bottles of water. The hike was a 6.1 mile walk. I will write a post about that in the near future.

Off to my sewing machine to work on a quilt for the veterans. Love being in front of my sewing machine!

Be Kind…

Faith

Wow – 1 year anniversary!

Nov6

Who would have thunk it??? I wrote my first blog post over a year ago. I have really enjoyed sharing my world with you and I hope that you have enjoyed taking a peak. This fall has been very busy – we have done a bit of traveling, we have watched our beloved Red Sox win the World Series, I have worked on many charity projects and Chuck has removed bags and bags of leaves from the yard. Over the next couple of days I will share a lot of the wonderful pictures that I have taken and tell you about some of our adventures.

In September Chuck and I celebrated our 28th wedding anniversary. Don’t ask me where those 28 years went. It is pretty nice to be married to and spend everyday with your BFF. We really enjoy each others company, we look forward to spending time together. That is a really good thing because we work together also.

We took a trip to Bar Harbor in October. Thankfully the idiots in Washington had re-opened the Federal Government so we could walk through Acadia National Park with out “breaking” the law. I have some really pretty pictures from our walk around Eagle Lake. It was mid-October so the trees were in full color.

leaves on the carriage road around Eagle Lake

I have been very busy being the President of Evergreen quilters. We hosted 85 quilters from all over southern Maine for a pot luck dinner and speaker. We had a wonderful meeting and handed out some fabulous door prizes. Leroy the Chicken was one of the door prizes.

Leroy

Leroy is a very large pin cushion. I need to make one for myself. I would love to have Leroy keep me company while I sew. I would just need to keep him away from Gracie -he is stuffed with crushed walnut shells. It seems Gracie likes to eat pin cushions that are filled with crushed walnut shells. She devoured Henrietta the hen a few months ago. Bad Dog!

So stay tuned – I have loads of wonderful things for you to see and read about.

Thank you for taking the time to read my blog – I really enjoy the creative outlet that it gives me. I also love to share bits and pieces of my daily life here on the coast of Southern Maine.

Remember…. Be Kind…

Faith

A walk on the beach…

Oct14

I Love Candy Corn!

I love October. I also love it when the kids come up to visit. Saturday was overcast and windy here. The ocean has such a huge effect on our weather and sometimes storms just hang off shore and we have misty, windy days. It is part of living by the coast. I am not complaining at all – sometimes a drizzly day is perfect.

We had a semi-house full on Saturday. I decided that it was a perfect day for turkey. Not just any turkey, a deep fried turkey.

Deep Fried Turkey

It is amazing how moist and flavorful a fried turkey is. Of course you need stuffing/dressing, mashed potatoes, roasted butternut squash and carrots with and roasted garlic, cranberry sauce (yes jellied Ocean Spray, love it) and homemade applesauce. Pumpkin pie with vanilla bean ice cream.

YUM! We all ate well and then settled in to watch the Red Sox game. Sadly they lost but they evened up the series last night.

the beach

Yesterday was a beautiful day. Bright sunshine, clear skies perfect temperatures. Gracie and I decided that it was the perfect day for a walk on the beach. There were a lot of other furpals on the beach. Sometimes the beach is the best place in the world to be. I can’t ever imagine living too very far from the ocean. It has such a restoring effect on me, I always feel better after breathing in the wonderful sea air.

wet sand

There were several surfers in the water, lots of people sitting and reading books, just a wonderful day to be outside. We spent a good amount of time looking for heartstones. They are beach stones that are shaped like hearts.

Heartstones

I have several heartstones that have been given to me by people that I love. When I find them I keep them if they fit in my hand, they are smooth and cool and make me think about the ocean. I also give them to people that I love so that it reminds them of good times at the beach.

I hope that you had a wonderful October weekend filled with love and family and good memories.

Be Kind…

Faith

A baby quilt….

Oct9

A Quilt for Nolan

A young lady that I have known for many years just had a baby. Meredith and her husband Garrett have been friends of my son Charles, for many years. They graduated from high school together. They had a beautiful baby boy named Nolan on September 23rd. I had been working on a quilt for him since the spring. I never really expected it to take me so long, but as I worked on the quilt I kept getting new ideas about how to complete the quilt. I finished it last week – and put it in the mail on Monday. I think that Meredith should receive it in the mail today, that is why I am posting pictures of it today.

I used the Eleanor Burns Irish Chain Quilt book for the basic design of the quilt. I changed the borders and added some new details. I used the Electric quilt program to make 4 1/2″ blocks for Nolan’s name and the stars in the corners.

I paper pieced the blocks so that they would be very accurate. Paper piecing is a great way to have your star blocks finish with pointy points. I think that paper piecing is either something that you love or hate. For many years it frustrated me but I persisted and now I love it. Paper Piecing is a very accurate way to piece small blocks or blocks with a lot of points. So if you haven’t tried it give it a try, eventually you will love it.

I machine quilted this quilt. The theme of Nolan’s nursery is Elephants so I quilted elephants in the center of the Irish Chain.

Elephant Quilting

I really loved working on this quilt. I love the way yellow and blue work together. It is one of my favorite color combinations. I have another quilt in the works with the same colors – but that is a potential gift so it will remain under wraps until a later date.

I was able to get 2 items crossed off of my To-Do list. I completed the placemats for Meal on Wheels and the block for the Veterans quilt. Two looming deadlines that will be met. PHEW!!!

Enjoy the beautiful fall weather – the trees around me are a blaze of color. I will post some pictures soon.

Be Kind,

Faith

I want to make quilts….

Oct8

But I have so many things that I need to get done. The things that need to be finished are not fun things – I don’t necessarily feel like I will be creating anything. I will however feel a sense of relief and be happy that I have finished these things when I am done.

Here is my list:

1. Placemats to donate to Meals on Wheels.

2. A block for a quilt to donate to the Veterans.

3. Tote Bag to donate to the Battered Woman’s Shelter

4. Mug Rug for a swap in November

Sometimes listing what you need to do makes it less of a chore. As I look at this list (there are a few other things that I should add to the list) it doesn’t look so daunting. So tonight I am going to get at least 2 of these things done. I love the quilting group that I am a member of and I love the fact that we do so many wonderful things for groups who are less fortunate than we are.

the mystery box

An unexpected gift…

I get together with a bunch of ladies once a month to work on hand work – we all have projects that we are working on. Stitching down a binding, working on hand quilting, doing embroidery work, and several of us are working on Hexies.

wonderful little hexies

One of my friends gave me a wonderful gift the last time we got together. It was given to her by a woman who was cleaning things out. It is a box of wonderful 30’s fabric and the start of a sweet little hexie quilt.

I am overwhelmed with this wonderful box of quilting history. The previous owner even left her thimble and a threaded needle.

work in progress

There is a template in the box made out of sandpaper.

This was such a wonderful unexpected gift and treasure. I will work on this over the next few years – I know it will be years because these hexies are little, smaller than anything else that I have worked with.

sandpaper template and unfinished hexie pieces

the treasure uncovered

So this wonderful box will be put on a shelf for a bit and then I will dig into it and hopefully make the original owner proud of my work. I will send you pictures of the items on the list as I get them done. Tonight I will dig into the “to-do list” and get it started. I am looking forward to the feeling of accomplishment when they are done I will show you some pictures of them.

Go Red Sox!!! the game will be on in the background tonight.

Keep sewing…

Be Kind…

Faith

I love the month of September…

Sep30

The month of September is very busy – but all in a good way.

Chuck and I celebrate our anniversary in September. We have been married 28 years. I must say that marrying Chuck was one of the most wonderful things that I ever did in life. We are very happy and still really love each other and enjoy each other’s company. We have many similar interests not the least of which is spending time with family and friends.

Chuck’s oldest daughter Michele and her husband Joe came up this month to visit. We had a wonderful weekend. The weather was perfect the company was superb and we had a lot of fun. We did some Maine tourist things.

We went for a cruise on the Schooner Eleanor – the Schooner’s Captain built the boat himself. It is a beautiful boat. This is the website if you would like to visit – http://schoonereleanor.woodmanboats.com/. We went out at 4:00 in the afternoon – it was breezy but not cold – in fact I think it was the perfect late afternoon. The sun was shining brightly and it was a totally relaxing trip. I found it amazing to watch the Captain navigate. He watched the surface of the water to determine the direction of the wind. He had 2 young women acting as his crew. I always felt that they had complete control while we sailed over the ocean.

Chuck & Joe

Michele and me.

Schooner Eleanor

It was a beautiful fall day that we thoroughly enjoyed. We also decided that we needed to do this again, next time with the whole family together, and maybe some beverages and snacks.

After our cruise we had dinner at the Arundel Wharf (which is where the Schooner Eleanor is docked). We all had worked up an appetite while out on the water. We had a great meal and all indulged in dessert. The perfect ending to a wonderful day.

On Sunday we got up had a wonderful (in my opinion but I did cook it so…) breakfast – Bacon, eggs, homefries and toast, then we headed up to Freeport. At trip to Maine is not complete with out a trip to LL Bean and the surrounding stores. We had a successful shopping outing to say the least.

Lunch was a visit to one of our favorite local restaurants – Buffleheads, located on Hills Beach Road. While there we happened to see a very large English Mastiff waiting in the car for her mom & dad. Her name is Maggie and she was a rescue – the poor darling spent the first 2 years of her life in a crate. She is now well loved by a couple who travel all over the country in an RV with her.

Maggie is camera shy

Joe and Michele brought home a couple of Lobster Rolls for the road. They got packed up and went back to reality after a wonderfully relaxing weekend in Maine.

We had several other adventures during the past month, and I will tell you about those on another day.

Enjoy the Fall – one of the best times of year in my humble opinion.

Be Kind…

Faith

Creatively Distracted……

Sep10

unfinished projects

The weather is beautiful today – the next few days we have 80 degrees predicted and then rain. So I would rather be outside walking on the beach than working. But alas I need to work to continue with my creative habits. As I have mentioned before I purchased a spinning wheel. Oh the fun I am having!! I have worked with 4 different rovings since I brought my machine home. It is really amazing to see the difference in the yarns that I am spinning. I do see some improvement.

I plied 2 strands of spun yarn to have a thicker yarn. The fiber that I was spinning had lots of variations in the color. I am really please with the results of the yarn – the variation in color reminds me of the ocean.

while still in the process of being spun

This is the yarn after I spun the 2 strands together. Pretty cool don’t you think. I think this will be knitted into a Christmas present for someone who will remain nameless.

– the last of my fiber to be spun until the end of next week

So I will finish up this fiber that you see above and then I will dive into my quilting. I am going to promise myself that I will work on my quilting at least 2 hours every night. The way that I am talking it sounds like a punishment – it of course is not – I love to quilt and to make quilts but I am like a kid with an attention deficit problem – I keep flitting from project to project. Lots of fun flitting!!!

So my spinning is part of my distraction – the nice weather is part of my distraction – the desire to cook (because of the cooler weather) is part of the distraction. But as you can see by the photo at the top of the page there are quilts to be finished. 1 is a baby quilt, 2 are Christmas quilts that I have been working on for years, one is a mystery that needs to be marked for quilting and then quilted. Plus I have many other projects on my shelves waiting for my attention. I also have not mentioned the unfinished sweaters that are in the bags by my couch. Far too much to do and far too little time for it. There needs to be more time in the day, if only I didn’t need to sleep I would be getting much more done.

Remember to let your creativity shine – it is fun and rewarding.

Be Kind…

Faith

Latest Quilt challenge….

Aug28

Fabrics for Challnge

Back in April we signed up for a challenge at Evergreen Quilters – we were given 21 8″ blocks. I wrote about it here – https://quiltingonthecove.com/2013/04/03/faith-in-me/. I had an idea of what I wanted make but I have to admit that I procrastinated for over a month and then I started cutting and paper piecing the background. I used my Electric Quilt program to print up several various 4″ log cabin blocks. My plan was to use the fabrics to make a background for my garden. The lower part of the quilt is the ground and the steps into the garden. There is a stone path and as your eyes work upward the sun is setting. I was thinking of a fall sunset with all of the reds and oranges as the sun goes down. Ok, so you may need to use your imagination but that is what creating a quilt from a disjointed pile of fabrics is about.

Flower Garden Challenge Quilt

I added bias cut stems and 3 dimensional flowers. I am really pleased with the final outcome.

3 Dimensional Flowers

I neglected to take a picture of all of the wonderful creations that my fellow quilters made. Silly me, but they were amazing!!!

I have a ton of projects in the pipeline – several with deadlines. So I will be very busy in the next few weeks. I also have pickles to pickle and salsa to make so it will be a crazy few weeks. Life is good – fall is coming and I am ok with it all.

Be Kind…

Faith