August gardens

A nice stand of cana lillies marks the front of a line of producing grapes and everbearing red raspberries.  Their wonderful red color provides an accent point and a nice contrast to the shades of green marking the entrance to our formal garden array.




Our spring gardens usually last into the summer with a display of oriental lillies.  Our resident deer herd (rats with hooves!!!) has decimated them this year, and Marcia has spend several days totally weeding the area.  Her trusty low-mileage car (a 1997 Bravada no less) is in the background because our driveway has recently been sealed and our garage is "off limits" for a few days.




Late-season blight is again attacking our tomatoes this year.  Bill tries to control the spread and protect the plants from horn worms and other insects.  We lost most of them last year, and we'll see how things go.  This is the same disease that caused the potato famine in Ireland and other European countries in the middle 1800's. 








Our perennial flowers begin to show.  Blue thistle globes and bee balm attract bumblebees and butterflies.  The pergola has autumn clematis and climbing roses getting ready to flower, and the morning glories will soon cover the lattice work -- nature's work at its finest!

Pennsylvania National Quilt Extravaganza XVII

The PNQE show and its "Stitched Out" quilt competition will be held September 16-19 at the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center in Oaks, PA.

Two of my quilts were selected to be judged at the show:

Mola Wings is 64h x 58w and was made from hand-dyed cotton fabrics. 

It was made in response to a challenge to create a quilt inspired by a mola from the San Blas Islands that was purchased from our friend, Priscilla.  And this is the mola I chose, which I think looks like a dragonfly.

Jacob's Coat is 45h X 40w and was made from commerical cotton fabrics.

Detail for Jacob's Coat.

Sewing Day

Priscilla and I picked today to get started on the garment exhibit we're organizing for the Mancuso Pennsylvania National Quilt Extravaganza -- more about that will be coming soon.

After storing away the garments gathered so far, we were joined by Bev, Linda, and Nancy for some sewing time.






Priscilla worked on the sample vest for her upcoming class, and she and Linda also worked on their pieces for our next challenge, which will be unveiled at an exhibit in September.

Nancy has on one of her wonderful jackets. Behind her is Priscilla's challenge piece on the left and the start of some ideas for my piece on the right.

New Energy returns

We have had a few minor problems that required a visit from Tad, who was the project coordinator on our studio addition.  Here he is on the roof of the new bathroom, checking on the fan vent.












The fire code required an entrance to the space above the bathroom ceiling, and Tad used it to gain access to the pictured light and fan unit.  His original attempt to fix a problem with cold air coming into the room had resulted in a broken part, and he returned with the proper replacement.










We also asked him to fabricate a new valence for the door in the studio from some left-over recycled douglas fir that remained from the studio construction.  The old valence is on the table, and the newly-installed unit now matches the rest of the wood in the studio.








Inspector Suki was interested in the repair work and  considered climbing the ladder to check out the attic space.  Fortunately, she decided to complete her inspection at ground level!

Visitors

Marcia's brother, Ken, and sister-in-law, Patty, visited us over the weekend.  We headed to Eastview Mall for dinner at the Bonefish Grill and to check out the new L.L. Bean retail store.  The iconic boot marks the front corner.  Bill has a similar version purchased some 50+ years ago....









Ken and Patty are kyackers, and their kyacks (kept at Chase Lake in the Adirondacks) are like the turquoise model.  The store featured many varieties of kyacks in different sizes and colors. 










The entry doors to the store feature some cute handles, and merchandise was very much oriented toward the suburban outdoors person rather than the more wilderness-exploring campers.

The store was very well staffed with salespeople, all friendly, well trained and wearing backpacks!  (Back to school, anyone?)

World Quilt Show New England

These two new quilts that haven't been shown before have been selected for the World Quilt Show - New England August 19-22, 2010, in Manchester, New Hampshire.

Earthquake Compression 43h X 36w













Detail for Earthquake Compression














Earthquake Faults 45h X 36w













Detail for Earthquake Faults

Home again, Home Again, Jiggety-jog...

This "Jet Trails" quilt has been traveling for a year as part of SAQA's Fibrations exhibit. It was returned in excellent condition, and many thanks go to Kathy Lichtendahl, who curated and managed the exhibition.

Forty-eight small works fiber pieces began their journey in Cody, Wyoming, at the 2009 Yellowstone Quilt Fest. From there they went to Golden, Colorado, for three months at the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum.

In February, 2010, the exhibit was delivered to Mancuso Show Management and spent the next four months traveling to Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival, the Quilt Fest of New Jersey, and Denver National Quilt Festival.

The final venue was at the National Quilt Association convention in Columbus, Ohio, in late June.

Mola Quilts at QBL

 

The Quilting by the Lake conference (a program of the Schweinfurth Memorial Art Center) will be held for the next two weeks at Onondaga Community College in Syracuse. The hill-top campus has a lovely view of the valley and hills in the distance.

The quilts from the Holy Mola Challenge, organized by Pat Pauly, will be on display at the QBL quilt show. Each quilt is displayed along with the original mola that was its inspiration.

Pat did a terrific job of mounting the molas and artist statements on a foamcore board hung next to each quilt.

This is Priscilla's entry.

And this is my "Mola Wings" quilt.









Pat is adjusting the hanging of Ren's quilt. Bev Kondolf's quilt is to her left.

Pat's "Pink Leaf" quilt is on the right and Jeanne Simpson's quilt is on the left.

Studio Visitors - more

Priscilla showed us the progress she's made on a garment she's making as a sample for a class she'll be teaching in August.













Nancy was checking out the lining and the seminole-pieced band that will be added to the front pieces.












Priscilla brought some wonderful silk Sari fabrics from India. They are each two fabrics that have been hand-embroidered into a piece that is about 2 yards. They were all beautiful!









Bev modeled several of them -- sometimes wearing more than one at the same time -- in an attempt to decide which one(s) she had to have!

Studio visitors

There was quite a bit of Show & Tell today.
Priscilla is in view of the fabrics that Pat Pauly has been creating with shibori dyeing that she'll be selling next week at QBL (the Quilting by the Lake conference at Onondaga Community College in Syracuse).










Linda Bachman made these printed fabrics at our last work day at Bev's house.










Linda was finishing this piece that she started in an earlier Nancy Crow class.











Jeanne Simpson was finishing this table runner that she made from some of her dyed and discharged fabrics.

A fat envelope from Houston!

My "Doormats I" piece has been selected as a finalist to be exhibited at the 2010 IQA Festival in Houston in the annual IQA fall Judge Show, "Quilts: A World of Beauty."  The show will be held November 4 - 7, 2010.   

The quilt is 49h X 67w and is machine pieced cotton fabrics.  It has wool batting and is machine quilted.

Detail of Doormats I:

Hot and Dry

The intense heat is rapidly drying out the flowers in our raised beds.  We don't like to start watering, but really have no choice as the ground is hard and crusty (-- good old Palmyra clay!).










Marcia thoroughly soaks the flowers in this area that we hope to salvage for cutting and drying later in the summer.  Hope we can keep them alive!










Our bean crop in the vegetable garden also needs help.  We use a watering can refilled from a 20-gallon pail in the reach of a 100-foot hose to the old faucets in the empty horse pasture.

While Inspector Suki gives the hose and water a wide berth, she (of course) stays close enough to check on all the human activity.  Here she approaches for a closer look.