Mid-summer Splendor

A sunny hot summer has presented many perfect days.  Here, twilight and the setting sun reflected on the cumulus clouds top off another.











We have had to water our canna lillies every other day, but the reward has been their wonderful blooms.  We'll have to dig up the tubers and store them inside this winter, but, as you can see, it's worth it.












Our globe thistles have come into full flower.  Hardy and spectacular, they produce each year with little care.   We always collect a few for drying when the head starts to turn blue and before the flowers pop out. The pollen-seeking bees love them too!









The yellow yarrow and other plantings brighten up the mid-summer perennial gardens.  The convoluted eros boulder adds contrast and interest.  Double clicking will show moss growing on the stone.












Our 20+ year-old barrel cactus adds an indoor flower to the summer display.

Hot Summer

Inspector Suki seeks shade from the sting of 90+ degree days that we recently endured.  She finds some under a studio visitor's parked car.  As you can see, she remains on the alert!








We have had to water every couple of days to keep our vegetables growing.  We have a well with unlimited capacity (We hope!) and hundreds of feet of hose to reach the required distance.  Our plants are also under attack from hungry and thirsty critters and our hoops and netting help thwart most of their forays.











Our "back forty" was planted with wheat this summer.  The harvest is complete, and the straw has been baled to use as bedding in the cow barns of the large dairy farm that leases our land.

Our forty-year old trumpet vine tree must have deep roots.  It faithfully presents a spectacular show each year, and we never add a drop of water!

Houston IQA

Mola Wings  (64h X 58w   2009)




This quilt was selected as a finalist to be shown at the 2011 International Quilt Festival/Houston in the annual IQA fall judged show, "Quilts: A world of Beauty."

Purple Sunset   (50h X 27w   2009)  was also selected for the exhibit.

Des Moines AQS

Blocks #3 (42h X 49w 2008)





The 2011 American Quilter's Society Show & Contest in Des Moines will be held September 28 through October 1 at the Iowa Events Center.

Blocks #3 is one of the 230 quilts selected as a semifinalist in the contest.

Blocks #5  (62h X 28w   2008)  was also selected for the show.

Schweinfurth

From the left: Pat Pauly, Donna Lamb (Schweinfurth Director), and Linda Bachman.

We were gathering at the Museum in Auburn to hear artist Jane Dunnewold discuss her recent work from her Sacred Planet series. Works from this series are digitally printed cloth. Mirror images of the artist's original photographs generate intricate designs and elaborate, overall patterning. This series is composed of thirteen panels, each of which is a collage of digitally printed fabrics, dyed and over-printed with map and weather imagery.


The exhibit is up until August 21, and Jane will be speaking at the Museum again Monday evening, July 25.  http://www.schweinfurthartcenter.org/

Jeanne Simpson and Pat Pauly are Co-Reps for the SAQA organization's upstate New York area. They hosted a Welcome table for members and prospective members.

Meeting Dylan

We traveled to Geneseo today to meet our grand-nephew, Dylan Dwyer Gibson, for the first time. 

Here brother Jim DeCamp, the proud grandfather, his daughter Jennifer, holding the 7-month-old handful, and Dylan's father, David, are gathered under the pergola.









The baby was the center of attention, as he traveled from his home in Virginia to meet his relatives.

Here his Aunt Beth, one of our former students at Finger Lakes Community College, gives him some cuddles, as various other of sister-in-law Doreen's relatives look on.











Nephew Zac is a Montreal musician and brought a couple of his buddies along for some music to go along with the picnic gathering.
















Various cousins gather near the swimming pond as cameras snap.  Dylan seemed very comfortable, no matter who was holding him, and was the star of the show!

Outdoor activities

Our warm summer weather provided a perfect day for painting fabric. These pieces have been given an acrylic wash to provide a base for further stamping/printing.

And even though our weather has been very dry, the raspberries and blueberries are ripening and are pretty good size. This is G and S Orchards in Walworth, which has many fruits and vegetables available throughout the season.








I made the trip up the hill to the look for blueberries.....

And picked a 12-pound pail-full of blueberries that will go into the freezer for some future pies.

Visitor's quilts

Priscilla brought in two quilts that she was getting ready for delivery to the quilt show at "Quilting by the Lake" in Syracuse for the next two weeks.



Her wolf quilt has been embellished with some sparkling crystals.











She made this quilt from batik panels that she collected while traveling in Nepal.


















Beth has continued work on making blocks from fabric strips and is considering a yellow-gold gradation between the zig-zags.
















Beth also put together this composition that she started in a class with Cynthis Corbin.

Sewing Days

Priscilla was working on adding green and purple borders to her block quilt that she made from some Kaffe Fassett fabrics.














My friend Deb joined us in the studio, but chose internet surfing over sewing....















Pat brought a big bag of leftover fabric pieces and was making new "fabrics" from them.



















Jeanne was working on sewing together her composition (since she'd given up waiting for the quilting fairies to finish it for her!)




Beth used the large design wall to get a photo of her lion quilt (see below) now that she's completed the quilting.




















Beth also brought some fabric strips that she was working with to see what designs might come from them.

Blooming Cactus

This cactus was started from a small piece that a friend gave me in 1991. It was planted outside and grew to twice the size you see here.

When we built the studio, it lost its spot outside of the house. Half of it went home with one of the carpenters, and we potted the rest of it. So far, it seems happy to be inside during the winter and back in the sun for the summer. It sure is giving us lots of flowers this year.

I've always called it a prickly pear cactus, but don't know if that's what it really is.....

Structures in Cloth

This is a view of part of the SAQA (Studio Art Quilt Associates) exhibit, Structures in Cloth, at its first location at the Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities in Arvada, Colorado.

My Jet Trails #5 piece is at the far right of the picture.

The exhibit will travel to the Sangre de Cristo Arts Center in Pueblo, and then to the Fort Collins Museum of Art in Fort Collins, finishing its tour in April 2012.

Our SF visitor

Deb (sitting at the head of the table) has been visiting from San Francisco for a few days while she was in the area to see friends.

We were high school and college classmates "way back when..."


We met a few other friends from high school for lunch on the terrace at the Inn on the Lake in Canandaigua.

Pat Pauly's Solo

Here are a few pictures from the opening reception of Pat Pauly's solo show, "Sum of the Parts."

Everything looked beautiful!

And to paraphrase just one of the messages that went out to Pat today:

"Congratulations to Pat!!! It is a wonderful showing and a well deserved honor. You make us all very proud."





The show is at the Arts Center Gallery at Nazareth College in Rochester, New York.   The hours for the gallery are Thursday – Sunday from 1to 8. The exhibit will be up till August 14.