Gourds on Display

We managed to field a good display.

The dominant goose gets to overlook the studio from a perch above the bookcases and under one of the great recycled Douglas Fir king beams.  A handsome spot indeed.

 

Four other arrangements are proudly part of the late fall season.  These two are in the studio as a lower level for viewing and enjoyment.

 

The final two are in Bill's office, where he can contemplate their majesty and be benefit of consequent inspiration.

We like the wire baskets, which we found last year at the Schweinfurth Museum gift shop in Auburn, NY.

Harvesting gourds

Our long growing season allowed for extended time for our crops.  This is not always a good thing, as this summer did not favor our ornamental gourds.

Here the entire harvest is spread out on the barn floor to facilitate cleaning.

The harvest was contained in three five-gallon pails, while a good year fills the whole tractor bucket.

We'll try to do better next year!








The ever-popular swan neck variety gourds are always a bit difficult to grow and somewhat unpredictable. 

Many seeds and plants produced only a moderate crop.

We will try to do better next year!!!

Sunday at Schweinfurth

The Sunday trunk shows are part of the activities that are on-going during the Quilts=Art=Quilts at the Schweinfurth Art Center in Auburn, NY.

Today's program was presented by members of the Quilt Inspiration Group from the Syracuse area. Here are four of the group's 12 members, and I'm not sure I have their names right (corrections are welcome!) -- Carol, Linda, Sally and Corrine.







We saw quilts from all the members of the group and heard abour their group challenges.

Our friend Liz Anderson is at the podium on the right side of the picture, and she is telling us about her Christmas quilt.














We had a chance after the presentations to look over all the quilts.















In the center of the picture, Caris and Pat are chatting with Linda from the Syracuse group.









I think this quilt was made by Carol.

Sewing Day

We gathered today to work on projects we had under way.

Jeanne, Pat, and Bev are focusing on what Nancy is putting up on the wall across the room.

Nancy has nearly finished her Japanese-inspired quilt.

Priscilla has completed several blocks for a new piece that she started at a recent quilt retreat.

Bev shared some of the pieces she worked on in a recent QBL2 class at Schweinfurth on Sets and Variables.

Here are two compositions she developed using her motif.

 

And this is a composition Bev made by elongating and enhancing her motif.

 

These are fabric blocks I constructed by adding to some leftover fabrics.

After moving the blocks around in many configurations, this composition seems to have some possibilities.... 

Pink and Red

Sweet, pink blossoms this spring from a bush in our side yard.....







And wonderful red leaves last week in front of the Schweinfurth Art Center in Auburn, NY.

Caris at Schweinfurth

This Sunday's program at the Schweinfurth Art Center was a trunk show by Caris Burton.

Caris is a member of Genesee Valley Quilt Club and is well known for her applique and hand-quilting skills, as well as her beautiful wearables.

The first quilt she showed us was worked on by her grandmother in the 1940's, by her mother in the 1990's, and that she completed.

This is her Tree of Life quilt, which has won awards, including a ribbon at the Lowell Quilt Show in Lowell, MA.

The quilt being held up was made in Pat Pauly's Slash and Burn class. 

The quilt hanging on the right is one Caris designed for her son's office.

Caris showed us several of her wonderful garments, and I especially liked this silk vest.

Beautiful November

We've been enjoying many mild and pleasant days for early November.

Bill took advantage of the warm weather to hose off the tarp that will cover the Jeep in the barn for the winter.

I captured this view from the outside of the perennial gardens with my iphone.

And I found lots of lovely plumes on a walk through Bill's ornamental grasses gardens.

Sunday at Schweinfurth

In conjunction with the Quilts=Art=Quilts exhibit, the Schweinfurth Art Center is hosting a series of trunk shows/talks by regional quilters on Sundays.

Today's program was "Quilts: What's Their Worth?" given by Genie Barnes who is a certifed quilt appraiser. Genie is also an Executive Consultant for Schweinfurth and has been involved in organizing and supporting this yearly exhibit since its inception 31 years ago.

It was a beautiful sunny day for the trip to Auburn, and the sun was setting as I drove home. The skies were full of jet trails, and I tried to capture them with my iphone through the car's windshield.

More Houston views

Again, thanks are due to Marcia Murphy for more views of the IQA Festival in Houston.

This panel shows samples of the new fabric designed by Marcia Derse, whose hand-dyed fabrics are now produced on commercial fabric.








And it's great to see more of how the quilts are displayed on the show floor with lots of space and ropes to keep the viewers back. The information for the quilts is on the stands near the ropes.

My quilts are at the left edge and right edge of the photo.

Views from Houston

Our lucky friend Marcia Murphy is spending a few days at the International Quilt Festival in Houston this week.

She sent some pictures, proving that she was there and that two of my quilts were there too! Since I don't often get to see what my quilts look like hanging in shows that are out-of-state, it's a treat to get photos from an exhibit.







First, she sent this photo of the the program, which includes the listing for my Mola Wings quilt.





And here on the right is Mola Wings, which was inspired by the design on a mola that Priscilla brought back from the San Blas Islands in Panama.











This photo shows Purple Sunset, which is 2nd from the right.


Thanks, Marcia!

Fall CleanUp

We took advantage of a beautiful fall day with temperatures in the middle 60's to tackle a big job that was long overdue.  A very large wild thorny rose bush had climbed over, around, and through one of our pergolas.

It has probably been 15 years or so since we cut it back, and today was the day.  After a lot of hard work and several bucket-loads for the burn pile, we declared victory.  We have several clematis vines that share the space, and they will never again have to compete with the wild space hog.

A more regular fall clean-up is the trimming of our reliable trumpet vine.  This grows each spring and summer and spreads over another pergola that houses our lily pond.  A new pole snipper helped this task to be completed from the ground.

Several more bucket loads were collected.  Both of us find that a few hours of such effort brings forth some aches and pains that weren't there last year.  But surely we are wiser and more accepting as time goes by -- not so sure the trade-off is an equal exchange.