A Trip

At the beginning of May

we made a speedy trip to NC to see the grandkids

and their parents.

At the time, winter was still trying to hold on here,

so the very spring like weather was wonderful.

I do have to say that the snow had disappeared in the northland

but there were no leaves on the trees.

They have arrived now that we are entering June tomorrow.

 Sara had flowers growing in window boxes and pots.

 

What welcome sights for winter weary people!

Can you see the trees with leaves reflected in the glass door with the photographer?

 

The main reason for the trip was to take our trusty Odyssey van to the kids.

She has now become a southerner and is enjoying her new home, we are told.

Her name is now "Cheese."  She never had a name before.

While we were on our visit, we went to several yard sales.

At one sale I saw some hand made quilts lying on the ground and was told

the lady owned a quilt shop and needed to weed out her

 stock of quilts.  They were samples. 

 I picked this one and told the lady I had taken a machine quilting class,

but didn't do very well.  She gave me a hint which I have yet to try because quilting is not on the agenda right now.  (She said it is hard to do without a long-arm machine -

which I know).

She also told me that the fabrics are repro vintage Civil War fabrics.

I wish I had asked more about it.

When Paul gave her a 20 dollar bill,

she gave him $10 back.  I guess she liked my interest in quilts!

A Quilt for Christmas

 I made Sara a quilt for Christmas.

It is like the one I made for us except for the colors.

I don't know what she has done with it.  

Ours is under a heavy plastic on the table at the farm.

I don't mind having to wash it, but I hate for it to be stained.

If it looks like I am scratching for photos,

I am.  I have lost/misplaced my camera.

Hoping it will still turn up when all the dust settles in the house.

The dust has settled, but there is still organization to be done.

TABLE CLOTH QUILT & BIRD SEED CAN

I found a new place for the table cloth quilt,

but I won't leave it there when we are not in residence.

(We were broken into once and I am sure that it is first thing

that would be taken.  Hee, hee!)

Sharon and I had tea with it on the table Monday.

I don't want to be overly fussy,

but I also don't want it to be stained!

So I am going to be careful!

 



 

And the bird seed tin...

I lettered it.

Pretty cute, eh?

 

I just looked back through previous posts and realize that I didn't blog

about the bird seed tin.

We bought it at a garage sale because sometimes we have

visitors which get into the bird seed,

much to my chagrin!  Now the seed is safe

and labeled.

 





THE TABLE CLOTH QUILT IS FINISHED!

I finished the quilt and had it quilted by a lady who does a

terrific job.

 

Even the back is pretty!

I had such fun doing it that I started another project,

but I can't say what that is.

I did find that cutting the new project went much faster

now that I feel like my old self.

 

PROGRESS ON MY QUILT

It will be a whole lot cuter when I get those yellow flowers in place.

I am pretty pokey,

but it is fun!

 



KITCHEN QUILT

When I saw this quilt pattern (picture on right), I knew it was perfect for our

farm kitchen.  The quilt square on the left is the first I have completed.

I am excited about this and hope to make some progress on it.  I now have three squares done and sewed together.

I would like to machine quilt it myself.  I did take a class,

but I have not worked on machine quilting  at all since.  I am not sure I and

my machine are up to it.  I may have it quilted by the lady who

did the vintage quilt I put together for Andy.

FINALLY...

I'm rug hooking!

The indoor gardening is going well.
I also did some outdoor gardening
but it was COLD and WINDY!

See the little robin?

The chickadees found our window bird feeder.
When we see the birds,
we wonder how anyone can believe anything but that God is the creator.
"You ask me how I know He lives,
He lives within my heart!"

FRUSTRATION!

I have been saving my pennies for a long time to buy a floor frame for rug hooking.
I have been convinced that our farm house is the perfect place for rug hooking
with its big windows and bright rooms.
A few weeks ago we finally made the trek to Nova Scotia to buy my frame.
We took it to the farm last week, Paul assembled it for me
but then I didn't have the time or energy to get myself set up to hook.
That's when we had company with us.
This week I got all set up and...
no rug hook!

All set up to hook another chair pad for the last kitchen chair that I painted

I have not hooked for 2 or 3 years
and didn't remember all the various bags and containers with supplies.
I am ready now with two hooks...
but we aren't at the farm now.
I will get it all together soon!

A Birthday Coming!

I'm not saying who or what, but I think it is pretty cute!

THE QUILT

Some time ago,
I won't say how long,
I started to put this quilt together for Andy.
We bought the sunburst patterns years ago at a yard sale
in Bangor. The patterns were all put together by hand.
The fabrics are all new, but from the 1930s or 40s.
The backing and sashing are repro vintage fabrics.

The quilt has been ready for quilting for quite a while.
I have considered hand quilting or machine quilting it myself.
I have tried machine quilting and also tried to get into a class.
Neither seemed to work.

Before Christmas, I was put in touch with a lady who does machine quilting.
She has a huge machine which takes up a whole room.
Her work is amazing!
She told me she could not have it ready before Christmas.
Andy knows about it,
it is his Christmas present.

I picked it up yesterday and am very pleased.

Now all that remains is the binding. Then I will send it to him.
That is always with mixed emotions.
Happy it is finished...
happy/sad to see it go.

I have enough sunburst patterns for another quilt of the same size.
However I can't start that until I finish a quilt which I started long ago...
AND I wanted to get back to rug hooking...

More on the kitchen floor

My sista wonders how I did my normal kitchen duties whilst painting the floor.
This is how it works:
all painting must be done "after hours"
which means I should get time + 1/2, doesn't it?
Consequently it took me from March 11
to March 21 to complete the job!
Also any food, water glasses and such had to be retrieved from the kitchen
before painting.

It looks great, if I say so myself!

And I do!

This is the way our kitchen floor looked 5 1/2 years ago before I painted it.
The good thing about that floor was that, as Paul said, you could drop a plate of cookies on it,
and not even see them.
The bad thing was...
well, you know!

So I painted it and it was a great improvement at that time.
Recently it has needed another painting,
which I really didn't want to do.
Above and below, you will see my tools and the job in progress.

It is A LOT OF WORK, a WHOLE LOT OF WORK!
But now that it is finished and looking so great,
all the work and sore muscles were worth it.
(Sort of like having a baby!)
I had paint left over from the first painting.
First there is a primer coat.
(I skipped the roughing it up because it was roughed up over the years.)
Then there were two base coats which is one more than I did last time.
Then the green squares were painted,
and THEN two coats of varathane.
I still have some varathane left, so I will use it in the hardest wear places.
I certainly know them by heart now!

Here is the beautiful result!
I'm thinking of going on the road now to paint floors for people.
My price would be $500 for a floor our size,
+ materials,
+I don't move furniture
and I work better with an occasional cup of tea!

Now on to other things before gardening season begins!

Christmas gifts made by Sara for us

Aren't these dish towels cute?
The one on the left has been washed. Can you believe how much it shrunk?
It is much more absorbent once it is washed.

Painted and decoupaged strawberry picture

Felt strawberry

I LOVE this felt pillow!
I am so excited that Sara is sewing!
We happily stitched away together while we watched a dvd.
As you can tell, Sara is on a felt kick.

SUPER CUTE PUMPKINS!

I can't wait to make some of these pumpkins! Check out the crackle technique too. I love crackle and cheap crackle even more. The crackle stuff they market is expensive!

I Forgot...

to post this pic of the quilt squares with the needlework that Sandy did for me.
This is for our new house. The quilt and picture will go together!

Remember the '80s?

Way back when...

I started a crazy quilt using the then popular colors,
country pink and country blue!

Recently I decided that I should finish that quilt,
but wondered how I could down-play the colors
somewhat.

I heard about a lady in the fabrics department at our favorite Marden's store who is very
good with colors. I took my two finished quilt squares to her and the above picture is what we came up with. The fabric on the right will be the border with the thin light strip
between it and the crazy quilt squares. I love the border fabric!
But do I really want to decorate a bedroom around a country pink & blue crazy quilt?
I don't know, but I will finish it! (When we bought our farm in 1994, our realtor said it would be nice to have a country blue and country pink kitchen. I thought UGH! No way!
Our kitchen was red/blue/green with a little yellow taken from the antique kitchen utensils and table cloths that we collected.)

I can do the double feather stitch around each piece and each square as I ride in the car.
Hate to waste that time...
unless it is THE FALL COLOR SEASON which is coming soon.

This is the original crazy quilt that gave me the idea.
Paul's dad belonged to a "Tie Club" and ended up with a pile of old ties.
A family friend made them into crazy quilts. That quilt is in very delicate condition because the silk ties have disintegrated over time, mostly from the sun and not from wear.
I have always been very careful with it.
I actually took the pattern from one square of that quilt. In the original quilt each square was different. In my quilt, all the pieces within each square are the same but with the different fabrics rotated. It is like doing a puzzle, not deciding which piece goes where, but what fabric to use to vary the squares. Right now squares are all over our living room floor. I have 91/2 finished, with 2 1/2 to go. I am determined to sew them all together now while I know what I am doing...I think!

The plan is that this quilt will go into our new guest room at the farm,
on our poster bed which we have replaced at home with a queen sized bed...
finally after almost 45 years.
We still miss the posts!

AUCTION

We haven't been to an auction for a long time, so when we heard that our favorite auctioneer was having one in the country, we decided to go. It was at a neat old house (didn't get a pic of the outside tho) which I decided then and there that I would like to buy it. That lasted about 30 seconds since it isn't for sale and also we are right now dealing with old house issues.

I love to go to the viewing before the sale to see the house as well as the sale items.

A desk caught my eye. It was old, painted a blue/gray, had a lift top and looked as if two students would sit at it side by side. It sold for $700.00! That's right - $700! Right around the corner from that desk was a smaller red desk which I liked better.

I was absolutely shocked when no one else bid on it and we got it for $25.00! Here is Paul with our friends, Walter and Janet, looking the desk over. Actually Walter is gloating over a wonderful glass oil lamp with wall bracket which he bought. Janet's prize was two Victorian upholstered chairs for her front hall. I think they went for $40...for the pair!!! She was one happy lady!

Here is the red desk already in storage. It came from the Bloomfield School which was still standing when we bought our farm in 1994. It was such a neat building! Every time we drove past it, I would agonize about somebody needing to do something about it before it fell apart. Then one day it was gone! Poor old buildings are so hard to maintain! Someone with more money and time than they know what to do with has to buy them!

inside of desk
Look at the neat drawer pull.

desk top

This is the hooked runner rug that got away. It was bought by the same people who bought the $700 desk. The runner went for $90. which is above our limit, for sure. I do have a place for it in the new house so I will just have to make one similar to it.

and a cute green scale

And a cute hand-quilted green quilt. It is really charming. Part of the charm is that you can tell the pieces are pretty much unplanned in their placement. I'm thinking of using it as a cover for our table but not to eat on so that it isn't ruined.

Oh, it was a fun day! We told Walter and Janet to let us know when they are going to another auction. We didn't know they would be there and it sure made the day extra fun!