Summer time starts

We have had a hot, dry start to the summer season.  The grass in the paddock was waist high until today.  The old tractor and the rotary mower worked hard to get it under control.

The pergola in the perennial garden serves as home to several varieties of clematis.  One of the deep purple varieties is especially prolific this year.

The iris are full flowered and present a colorful dense display in the bed near the above-mentioned pergola.  They are transplants from the crop that used to grace the hill that was dismantled to make space for the new studio.  We are glad we rescued them and are visually rewarded for the effort.







Our chive patch yields pretty flowers this time of year.  They are edible, and we should use some in a salad or two.  The Korean boxwood makes a nice background.

Quilt Appraisals

Genie Barnes was at the studio today to do some appraisals, and with her in this photo is Gail Holmes, who is studying about quilt appraising.






We kept Genie busy all day. A dozen people put quilts up on the walls
for Genie's review and then repacked them for the trip home.

And there was just a bit of chatting in the background as people waited for their turns.




Margaret came early as she was in the area this morning, and set up her machine to get a bit of work done on some sewing projects.

Studio visitors

Priscilla brought some "treasures" she uncovered during some sorting/cleaning at her house for us to pet and fondle.

The fabrics on the table and the sari on the wall are from India.







This is another sari from India with wonderful designs.







Linda showed us this terrific piece she made in a surface design workshop at Nancy Crow's Barn.








Inspector Suki was able to keep her eye on the studio door while "cooling it" in the shade of one of the cars.

More Planting

One plant that renews itself is the old familiar Vinca vine.  We tear some of it out each fall, but the resultant new growth and spring flowers make a nice transition from our back deck to the stone-edged two-tiered ponds.








Our garden cart makes a good mobile storage spot for potting soil and various planting tools.  As you gardeners know, all these jobs require lots of storage space.











Our raised beds on the way to the barn are replanted each year with flowers to be saved for dried arrangements.  We have to tent the young offerings to protect them from critters (both four-legged and the flying variety).  We use hoops, netting and spare pieces of wood to secure the area.  Hope it works!






We spent three hours today working in the vegetable garden.  Summer squash, green bean, yellow bean,  and decorative gourd seeds, along with tomato and pepper plants, joined our earlier seeds and sets.  A few years ago we might have done more today.  Aching muscles decided that the air-conditioned house seemed like a better choice!

Flower planting

Various flower boxes are filled in preparation of their placement at various spots around the house.  The bucket of the tractor serves as a good transport area and an adjustable work bench.

The back deck holds some completed  creations featuring geraniums, blue lobella,  and other supporting greenery.   As you can see, we also need to shop for some new outdoor furniture.










The swan greets visitors at the entrance to our house with its new light lavendar-colored geraniums.  The feathery Alberta Spruce adds a nice backdrop.

The burning bush on the other side of the driveway welcomes the last of the potted geraniums.  They may be temporary visitors as other plantings may soon fill this space.

More spring growth

The 20-year-old Japanese maple bursts forth each year.  Careful pruning shapes the globe, and the slow growth pattern looks good in any landscape.

Our blue spruce youngsters in the side yard show good new growth this year.  The fenced paddock in the background is ready for the first mowing of the year.

The fence along our middle driveway, which leads to the "back forty" and branches off to our two large barns, makes interesting shadows in the setting sun.

One of our raised beds shows off an allium, which is a flowering member of the onion family.  Developing lillies and iris, fading daffodil stems, and a volunteer evergreen (a yew or juniper?) provide a green background.

Spring growth

The wild and wonderful wisteria holds most of the blooms despite a couple of days of high winds.  Here they engulf the gazebo, even partially covering the entrance.

A slightly different colored wisteria frames the pergola over the path leading to the tea garden display.  This group flowers only occasionally.

This was a good year for this capricious cultivar.

The azalea at the front of the house produce this display every year.  This southern mainstay seems to thrive this far north.  We are thankful!

 Our forty-year old lilac bush grows higher every year and still shows well.  The deep red wine color doesn't show well in the setting sun, but is very distinctive and striking!

Genesee Valley Quilt Guild meeting

Our quilt club has grown to almost 400 members, and the May meeting was very well attended.

The quilts on the stage were brought by our guest speaker, Nancy Bills.





Following the Show & Tell portion of the meeting, the quilts that were shown are displayed at the back of the room so members can take a closer look.











This is Deb Roach, who is showing us her new bog coat that she made in Priscilla's class last weekend. She made it from a hand-woven baby carrier that Priscilla brought back from a trip to Guatemala.









Priscilla will be giving a trunk show of her garments and teaching a class on making a vest or jacket at GVQC next March. This is a display of some of her samples for the class.

ARTQUILTSilluminations

This is an installation photo from PAQA-South's eighth annual juried exhibition.   My quilt, "Jacob's Coat," is the multi-colored piece in the middle of the wall. 

The photo was taken by Lyric Kinard, who also has a piece in the show. She posted a review and more installation pictures from the show here....

http://lyrickinard.blogspot.com/2010_05_01_archive.html#3893358586002496843

The deer are back....

Well, four of our little group decided to stay for a little after-lunch nap today. Their napping activities have been more common on gray, rainy days.

I think this more frequent napping is just another sign of how comfortable they're becoming with taking over the pasture!








They let me get in quite a few clicks with my camera before they sprinted off.....

Deer in the pasture

This is the second spring that we haven't had any horses in the pasture, and the deer are feeling very comfortable about taking it over.

They often stay for quite awhile, grazing and sometimes laying down for a nap.











They are very alert to the slightest sound and movement, and are instantly aware that I'm trying to get closer with my camera.














A few clicks from the camera, and they are off and running.











Sorry for the blurry pictures.... I definitely need to invest in another lens!!

But you can see why they are called white tail deer.

Discharging

On a nice sunny day recently a few folks decided to try their hands at a little discharging.

The supplies were assembled along with several items to be used as resists.....








Who is that hiding behind the Beer Pong game pieces?












The work table shows some of the results.







And here are some lovely finished pieces.