Jennifer's Baby Shower

Bill's brother Jim and sister-in-law Doreen look on as their daughter, Jennifer, begins to open presents.  They have a home in the woods near Geneseo, and their outdoor pergola hosted the event on a beautiful day.

Jennifer is surrounded by some of the guests and a large pile of presents.  She is a high school counselor in Virginia and is expecting her first child in December.  Doreen's relatives are in the background.









Some of the grand-nephews think about a swim.  The pond looked inviting, and the central fountain adds an attractive focal point as well as providing needed aeriation.









Bill is attending his first baby shower.  As you can see, he was disappointed there weren't games to play, but overall enjoyed the day very much.  One of Doreen's nieces who came to the shower was a favorite student of his at Finger Lakes Community College some 30 years ago!

Heading for home

We were sorry that our short visit to the Adirondacks came to an end before we'd even had time to thoroughly test out the new porch furniture.

We planned a picnic lunch on our trip home and stopped at Hewitt Park on Route 3 outside of Carthage.   It's a small park, but very nice, and one of the two picnic tables was available for us.








The next stop was an important part of the itinerary -- Adirondack Artworks in Natural Bridge on Route 3.   I hadn't visited Nicole's store in a long time, and found she had her usual wonderful collection of  turquoise jewelry and other treasures!

Nancy and I both managed to put a little dent in our wallets!!

One last picture from our walk around the lake.

Views at Chase Lake

The new steps and railing going up from the lake were put in this year.















We had some gray and cool weather, but it was pleasant for walking.









Nancy and I walked around the end of the lake and over the footbridge that spans the inlet for the lake. We could see where the beavers had been working on their dam next to the bridge. We saw a lot of waterlillies and noticed some paw prints that we think belonged to a pretty good-sized bear!!







One of the camps we passed had several lovely gardens and this "quilterly" flag.

Moose River

The "shortcut" from the Old Forge area back to our camp includes a drive on the Old Moose River Road.

We couldn't resist stopping a few times to enjoy the scenery.

Driving through the Adirondacks

Nancy and I took the scenic route to Stillwater and Eagle Bay.  We passed Big Moose, where this display of sneakers has been a mainstay for at least the last 50 years!









Outside of Eagle Bay on Uncas Road we explored Ferd's Bog, which is a 170-acre wetland featuring pitcher plants, other bog plants, and many birds.  This is a view of part of the 1/3 mile trail to the bog.  The last part of the trail into the bog is actually a floating plastic boardwalk and overlook.














Then we drove into Old Forge and went to the Arts Center to see the National Exhibition of American Watercolors.  The Center also had an exhibit of landscapes by John Cullen.







The construction on the new home of the Arts Center is coming along and hopefully it will be in use next season.

Off to the Adirondacks

Nancy and I headed to the Adirondacks for a few days.

Our first afternoon there, we took a walk along the Independence River and couldn't help but notice that the water was a lot higher than it usually is this time of year.






This spot used to have a bridge that supported auto traffic. Several years ago in the spring the river was so high that it took out the bridge, and it hasn't been replaced.











During some summers you can walk down the river on top of these rocks.











There were several beautiful birch trees lining the river.

The Exquisite Corpse

We're getting ready for a new exhibition of contemporary quilts, "The Exquisite Corpse." [An exquisite corpse is a method by which a collection of words or images is collectively assembled by following a rule.]

The exhibition will held at the Kinetic Gallery at SUNY Geneseo, MacVittie Union, from September 7 through October 4, 2010.

The participants are Bev Kondolf, Jeanne Simpson, Pat Pauly, Priscilla Kibbee, Nancy Hicks, Linda Bachman, and me. Each of us made three two-foot square quilts. The top, middle and bottom pieces meet or "connect" at a diagonal point 1/3 from the edge.







In the picture above, my pieces are on the right.

In this picture, we have the pieces done by Nancy, Priscilla, and Bev.





When the quilts are hung, they will be randomly shuffled. Here we're getting some ideas on how it might look when all the pieces are assembled.





Our show will also include more of our quilts, like this one that Bev made as a self-portrait.

Studio Visitors

Nancy Hicks just returned from the Lowell Quilt Festival in MA, where she won a 2nd prize with her African ladies quilt -- Way to Go, Nancy!!
She bought these beautiful fabrics while she was in Lowell, and I think they may become part of the next African quilt.













Priscilla showed us some lovely pieces that she bought at the Quilting-By-The-Lake conference and that are most likely destined to become part of a wonderful new garment. I think the pieces were dyed by Elin Nobel.











It was a pretty productive day for everyone!



Later in the day the two fawns came up to the fence close to the studio doors. While I was trying to take their picture through the door, they were stamping their feet at me!!

More harvesting....

We have a large crop of bell peppers already picked, and more to come.  The wet, hot weather has increased the yield in individual size and quality, as well has quantity.  These five-gallon pails will make many meals for the freezer.










The yellow and green summer squash are also profuse in quantity and still producing in mid-August.  Our tomatoes, while hurt by late season blight, may still produce enough for table and canning.  We hope so, as our supply of tomato sauce is running low, and we need to refill the canning cupboard.

Some of our work pays off, as stuffed peppers emerge from the oven and are placed in packages for freezing and later use.

The zucchini serves as a shredded base for chocolate cakes, which will meet the same fate in filling up freezer space for future use.  Bill prefers the zucchini cookies, which were also produced today by the dozens, while Marcia favors the cake.  Like Jack Spratt and wife, we make a good pair!

Getting Ready - PNQE

Priscilla arrived with boxes and materials for our work day, and Suki immediately sprang into action -- checking out the boxes and then assuming her guard position.

Priscilla and I are curating a special exhibit of wearable art for the Pennsylvania National Quilt Extravaganza that will be held September 16 - 19 at the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center.



We have most of the garments gathered up and are just waiting for a few more to be delivered this week.

One of the tasks today was making sure that each garment had a label inside of it, which identifies the garment and its maker.

These are two of my jackets -- the Laotian Dragon Jacket and the Giraffe Jacket.



This is a little peek in the closet which shows just a few of the garments.









Priscilla added a label to Claire Welch's Travel Jacket.