Molas

Couldn't resist another picture of Priscilla Kibbee talking to Suki during our jacket class.... Suki visited class several times, and decided to keep my cutting mat warm for a while.






The week before our class Priscilla had traveled to Panama and returned with many molas. She found a few in Panama City, but traveled to the San Blas islands and bought many more molas directly from the Kuna Indians. Check her blog for more pictures and information on molas and Panama.
http://www.priscillakibbee.blogspot.com/






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There was a bit of a "feeding frenzie" as we all sorted through the molas we liked the most, and the molas in these pictures are a few of the ones that are joining my stash. The intricate stitching on many of these make each mola a work of art on its own. Some of these will be framed for the wall and some will find their way into clothing

More landscaping and harvesting

We harvested a few grapes. Our vines are 40 years old and still produce a yearly crop (if somewhat diminished in amount). We will cook the grapes and make some jelly after separating the juice from the pulp.








Karen Johnson and Boomer returned for several days of weeding, trimming, and edging. She is working on the perennial garden here -- specifically the "white" section which reflects wonderfully under a full moon.










Our friends Pat and Lloyd Berardi visit to pick some more tomatoes. They plan to make juice and sauce with the bounty. We probably will have more to pick before the killing frost arrives.








As we expected, Inspector Suki has claimed the new studio as an extended part of her turf. Here she catches a nap on Marcia's cutting table supported by a practice piece of quilting from the longarm quilting machine. It must be cool as she has buried her nose for warmth!

Jacket Class - Day 3

This is the last day of our jacket class, and Lyn is trying hers on before making fitting adjustments.












Beth's butterfly vest is also nearing the final stages.









Bev's jacket back is assembled on the design wall. The center panel is a wonderful parrot mola done in unusual brown and green colors.










Mary's jacket front and back pieces are ready to be assembled with the sleeves she's getting ready to cut.

It's been a great class and went by all too quickly!

Jacket Class - Day 2

Priscilla is helping Bev audition fabrics for the back of her jacket, and Lynn has the front panels designed and is working on the back of her jacket.

For more pictures, see Priscilla's and Beth's blogs: http://www.priscillakibbee.blogspot.com/ and
http://www.quilterb-bethsblog.blogspot.com/.

Beth has the back of her "butterfly" jacket completed and used a batik panel from VietNam.













Mary has created great fabrics and seminole pieced stips for the back of her jacket.











Inspector Suki is helping sort the fabrics Marcia is using to piece the front panels of her vest.

Priscilla Kibbee Jacket Class

The five us of lucky people gathered to take a jacket class from Priscilla.

Seated in front of Priscilla are Beth and Lynn. Mary and Bev are in the back row.

See Priscilla's award-winning garments at http://www.priscillakibbee.citymax.com/.
These are a few of Priscilla's jackets that we got to try on so we could decide what pattern we wanted to make. The five of us are making four different patterns.

These are the fabrics I want to try to incorporate into my garment, and I chose the Quilter's Vest pattern.

There are a few batiks, along with three pieces of fabric purchased from Priscilla. The long batik panel of figures with red umbrellas came from China and will be used on the back. The handwoven indigo fabric from Thailand will be used on the sides.




This is 7-week old Rufus, who was too young to stay home alone all day, waiting for Bev to let him out for lunch and a walk. He received lots of attention from all of us.

More landscaping & more canning

Tom Frey goes after the stump on the south side of the studio. The marine locust is very hard wood and makes for slow grinding. We also uncovered a nest of black carpenter ants which was a suspected tenant.








While the machine was geared to throw the residue backwards, we decided an old thick mattress pad would be a good cover for the double door entrance. We had also dug out the area around the stump and had removed any stones that might become entangled.








Tom brought his eight year old son with him. He was a good worker and stood ready with his shovel to move the saw dust at the end of the job. We dug two more stumps elsewhere on the property, and he eagerly helped. Tom reported he was a real outdoor youngster and enjoyed any opportunity to work or play out of the house rather than play video games! Nice to know there are still kids so inclined.





Some whole tomatoes join our larder. We use these as a side dish at a meal or as ingredients in chili and/or soups. We canned 14 quarts today and still have other similar produce coming in the garden. It is hard not to find some use for this beautiful fruit.

Genesee Valley Quilt Club

The program for the year's first meeting of the Genesee Valley Quilt Club featured a presentation by the Fiber Folk Gang. Here's a sample of some of their fun/funky dolls.










Julie Brandon led us in an exercise in making our own dolls -- to be embellished and worn as a pin at the next meeting.










The Raffle Quilt is finished! Many members contributed batik fabrics and/or participated in the sewing. A vote during the meeting determined that the name of the quilt would be "Spring in Genesee Valley."












The wonderful quilting was done by Ruth Ohol, one of our members.

More Harvesting

We continue to work with our wonderful crop of bell peppers. Here, more blanched halves wait for the filling and then a trip to the freezer. In the garden today we found more peppers on the way!














We both proudly share some Dutch heritage (and are burdened by it also!). Very little goes to waste on our little farm, and here sweet corn stalks are piled in the barn to be eagerly consumed by the horses. They, or course, prefer the greenery that still holds an ear of corn!








Our tomato patch still produces, and we picked a couple of bushels today -- most of which will go into our friend Pat's tomato sauce. We also collected a couple of pecks for ourselves to put away as a canned whole tomato selection.

As in real life, not all of our efforts are rewarded with superior returns. We have two large fully-mature pear trees that usually produce on a "one year on" and "one year off" basis. Our complete harvest of pears is shown here. We hope and trust that this is an "off" year. We'll see.

More landscaping

Yes, the lawn chair is in the pond on purpose! We have added this as temporary shelter to provide cover for our fish -- i.e., a place to hide from the blue heron when he stops by for lunch. We will try to come up with a more appropriate shelter on our next trip to the fish supply store.







The south side grass begins to fil in. We have made arrangements to grind out the pictured stump. The septic system is nearby so we will only remove a couple of inches below the surface, but must go deep enough to sever the anterior roots heading away from the main center root.




The view from the road on the north side. We mowed the new grass for the first time today, and the germination of the new seed has been successful. In fact, you will notice the old grass on either side of the new patch is badly in need of regeneration.







A closer view of the north side of the new structure and lawn. We have had the driest summer in this area since 1965. (We remember it well.) Fortunately, we have a deep well with a huge supply of free water and were able to keep the new seeding wet with daily watering. Hopefully, the fall will come with a more normal rainfall and rejuvinate all of our greenery.

Labor Day Monday

Marcia works on cleaning the "sleeve" holding the water pump for the two-tiered pond off the back deck. The pond has been "attacked" by one of our resident blue herons, and he has eaten half the fish and several frogs since yesterday. We are investigating methods to discourage further avian meals.







There are still many tomatoes in varying degrees of ripeness. We will harvest until heavy frost and hope to make another picking later this week for our friend, Pat.















We prepared several pans of our stuffed peppers today for the freezer. They make a wonderful meal, already cooked, and adding some of our spaghetti sauce will make a tasty future entree!

Labor Day Weekend

Labor Day Weekend marks a traditional harvesting weekend on our little farm. But first some "catching up".....

The beautiful rose collection was received by Marcia to celebrate her birthday. They were sent by her brother and sister-in-law who are traveling in the western US.












Some plumbing re-piping was done in the new studio bathroom. We had incorrect connections, and plumber Jim Burgio changed the lines. He had to cut through the back of the new vanity, but the repair should be easily done and will give us access to the interior wall if the need arises.














The garden harvest continues. More tomatoes, peppers and onions await processing. We canned 24 more quarts of spaghetti sauce yesterday and will work on stuffed peppers for the freezer tomorrow.










A second harvest of corn is ready for husking. Inspector Suki stands guard, and you will notice her bare skin spot on her back. She had an infection which needed lancing at the vet's and another course of antibiotics. It hasn't slowed her down a bit!

We froze 22 more pint boxes of corn today.