Snapping turtles

I noticed baby snapping turtles making their way out of their nest in our front yard.

 

The mother turtle would have laid the eggs sometime in the fall.

 

We've seen baby turtles moving across our property before, but this is the first time we've seen them emerging from the nest.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One of the turtles is already making its way away from the nest.

And a third turtle was making its way across the driveway, heading toward our pond.  

We tried moving it out of the driveway, thinking it would be safer.  But the instinct to find a body of water prevailed, and the turtle headed again across the driveway on its way to the pond.

 

SAQA meeting

Today was a regional meeting of the Studio Art Quilts Associates held at the Schweinfurth Art Center in Auburn.  Members came from Saranac Lake, Rochester, Syracuse, Ithaca, and the surrounding area.

The highlight of the meeting was Show & Tell, where we got to see samples of each artist's work.  Show & Tell was preceded by everyone getting their cameras ready....










Pat showed us one of her diptych pieces.













There was time to give the pieces a close inspection.

This is Cris, helping to hold up a piece that I brought to show.


















Carol is showing her piece.

Peeps Meeting

It was the regular meeting day for the Peeps (Art Quilt People), and we had lots of new pieces to see.












Mary showed us these two pieces and there are hand-dyed fabrics in both.  The piece on the left, "Cold Fermentation," has a lot of her ice-dyed fabrics.

Anne is checking out Carol's piece that she made with her hand-dyed fabrics.











Anne M. was visiting today from Canada and showed us this piece that she did to represent the woods around her cottage. 

The computer on the table is running Skype, so Linda could "attend" the meeting long distance.















Anne M. also showed us her whimsical house and people blocks that may be destined for a quilt.













Pat has been creating new fabrics with soy wax and screening.










Anne M.  recently returned from a trip with Priscilla to India and Nepal and showed us some of the wonderful saris and other fabrics that she found there.

Before and After

This is a new quilt top that I made for an upcoming exhibit. 

Designing the composition and completing the piecing for any quilt is only the first part of the process. 

Deciding on a quilting pattern and executing it is the next critical step.















I loaded the top on my Innova longarm machine, and decided to quilt it with some freeform organic designs.



















I loaded the quilt "sideways" so I could quilt from side to side.











All the quilting is done, and the quilt needs to be trimmed and faced.

Cats - at home

We enjoy cats, and it's safe to say the feeling is mutual. 

Here is Boots, also known as Mr. Boots or Bootsy.  He is a next-door neighbor who manages to show up at meal times!













Hopefully, we are making progress with our feral barn cat, Millie.  Her genetic disposition to fear human contact must be very strong, but she has been slowly extending her trust by "hanging out" close to the back deck.













We had several frogs make it through our very cold winter.  They are teaming up to wait for flies and bugs.
















Millie enjoys staring at the goldfish.  There are also frogs in her view.  We don't know if she has made any attempt to do more than watch either prey.

Sewing Day

Jeanne and I got a little more sewing done for our upcoming exhibit in Phelps this summer.

Since the theme is "process," we're trying to remember to take pictures of our pieces as they're developed.

Pillowcases

Our 4-year-old nephew is a lover of all tractors and farm machinery, but John Deere equipment is at the top of his favorites list.

So finding some official John Deere fabric was exciting, and I just happened to have some solid fabrics to coordinate with it.

I've never made pillowcases before, but with some on-line help, I think I accomplished the task, even with French seams.








I think the pillowcases will be just the start of redecorating Dylan's bedroom....

LeTourneau retreat

I visited a group of quilters last evening who were enjoying a retreat at LeTourneau camp and retreat center on the east side of Canandaigua Lake. 

The main room provided lots of space and light, along with beautiful views of the lake.


I brought some quilts and jackets to show.










Pictured on the left are Genie Barnes and Caren Betlinski, who hosted the event along with Gail Holmes and Diane Miller.















Caren's lovely puppy, Finn, is also attending the retreat.

Peeps Meeting

It was our regular monthly meeting, and after the business portion, we got to see some work in process.

Jeanne showed us the top and bottom of her newest piece, with the middle to come later.











Nancy has been working on one of her portrait quilts.

We're using Skype on my MacBook so that Anne could participate via long distance.










These are two of the pieces that Bev brought to show us. 

AQS Lancaster

My "RoundAbout" quilt was shown at the AQS show in Lancaster, PA, last week and was just returned home. 

Along with the quilt, I received a copy of the Show Book and was pleasantly surprised to find that a picture of my quilt was used to head the section for large quilts.

Collage

Today was the Collage Making Workshop at Main Street Arts in Clifton Springs.

Brad led the workshop and all the materials were supplied for us.











Everyone was concentrating and working hard!
















The student artwork from local schools was on display in the upstairs gallery where we were working.

This collage was done by my tablemate, Dawn.















And this is one I made.

Sewing projects

Jeanne and I made some progress on some pieces we're making for exhibit in the summer.  Her piece incorporates some of her deconstructed screen printed fabrics.










I made this black and white piece from an exercise I originally did in a class with Elizabeth Barton.  It's about 36" square.










This is the start of another piece, testing out which fabrics to use.

Melting

The sun is out, the temperatures are rising, and the melting has begun!

This ice dam is about a foot tall and probably just as thick, so it's going to be with us for awhile!

Sewing Day

 

Linda, Nancy, and Jeanne were here for a meeting and a little sewing.

Linda made a few adjustments to her new piece on the wall.

One of Nancy's quilts is on the far wall.





Linda and Jeanne were finishing up their 6 X 6 pieces for donation to the Rochester Contemporary Art Center.
 These three squares are Jeanne's contribution.

Quilts Traveling

These quilts have just returned from participating in the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival in Virginia.

The first one is "Pueblos" (70"h X 80"w), and the second one is "Tail Feathers ( 56"h X 49"w).

Pueblos has been accepted for the AQS show in Paducah, so it will be leaving again  next month for Kentucky.