It's here!

And it arrived in time for my birthday!  This is my new longarm quilting machine -- A 22-inch Innova with Lightening stitch regulator and power feed rollers.

It's time to take off the practice fabric and try a real quilt!

 

 

Croghan, NY

Priscilla and I made a stop in Croghan after hearing about Wishy's ice cream.

















One of Wishy's street signs.




















Croghan has a railroad museum that we visited.











The red snowplow is a little hard to see against the building, but it looks big enough to get the job done.









 With the sight-seeing done, we got back to the real agenda of the visit.  This was a "small" sundae at Wishy's -- maple walnut ice cream with real maple syrup and walnuts and whipped cream and a cherry!

Visit to the Bramhall's

A trip to the Adirondacks is not complete without visiting Pat and Butch Bramhall, and Priscilla and I were treated to a tour of their pond and garden area, which is beautiful!




 






They showed us some of the wonderful textiles they have collected during their travels.
















Boog was nearby, keeping an eye on us from her perch on top of the sofa.














Of course, we had to check out some of their beautiful jewlery.












Butch made this lovely butterfly pin.

















Butch and Pat decorated their van with some of their textiles.

Adirondack scenes

 

Some friends joined me in spending a few days at our camp at Chase Lake.

The lake-side porch is a pretty comfy spot to just sit and watch the lake.

















The steps down to the lake have been cleared of all accumulated pine needles.














The skies were mostly blue and beautiful, but the temperatures were a little chilly for much water activity.

















The drive down Erie Canal Road gives us this view from the bridge of a lovely stream flowing over the rocks below.

Line repair

There is a fiber-optic telephone transmission line that runs across our property and is mostly buried six feet deep.  A portion of it goes over a large pond and is supported by poles at either terminus point.





The line has been sagging for some time, and today the Verizon construction crew showed up to repair the situation.  They had some trouble reaching the problem area, despite having a vehicle equipped to transit difficult terrain.










The trouble spot was finally attained and a ladder allowed access.   After a couple of hours of labor, the line was secure and the trucks packed up and left our back yard.

Harvesting

This weekend was the official start of our harvesting and canning season.

We were able to buy a bushel of red haven peaches, one of our favorite varieties, and promptly canned two batches.








We didn't put as many tomato plants in the garden this year, and we've tried to keep them watered in this extreme dry weather.

So far, they're producing delicious tomatoes, and it looks like there will be lots more coming.









Today we canned all the tomatoes that were ripe, and finished filling the second canner with a few more peaches.

Garden flowers

We have a good display of water lillies this year, and they have produced in abundance all summer.  Our pond cleaning crew fertilize them each spring, and they also transplanted some of the pots this year.  They did a good job!







The black-eyed susans are a wonderful perennial.  They survive winters well and produce a reliable show each year.  This group has been around for more than ten years.










We watered the cana lillies often this dry summer and are rewarded with these spectacular blooms.  They will produce until we have a hard frost.  It's hard to imagine anything with equal brilliance!!


















The German statice are almost full.  They dry well, and if we remember to pick them at peak, they will add much to winter floral arrangements.

Shipping quilts

I had three quilts to be packaged up for FedEx shipping. 

One is headed to the AQS show in Grand Rapids, MI, and two are going to Houston, TX, for the International Quilt Festival at the end of October.









Yellow Brick Road will be shown in Grand Rapids August 22 - 25.

















Suki is always interested in being a part of what is happening in the studio -- but I couldn't tell if she wanted to help or was just waiting to be wrapped up in her box....

Longarm machines

A lot has happened on the longarm front in a relatively short period of time.

I've been thinking of getting a newer machine, and now it's going to happen!


This is my HQ16 how I had it set up before we dismantled and packed it up to move on to its new home.

I've been investigating the ABM Innova machines and have heard good things from people who own them.

But to see for myself, Priscilla went with me on a little road trip to visit At-Home Quilting in Johnstown, NY.

The shop is set up with three models.  This is the 18" Innova, but is similar to the 22" Innova that I've ordered.

I don't have a delivery date yet, but am hoping it won't be too far away.













Priscilla and I decided to treat ourselves on the way home and stopped in Weedsport for a wonderful salmon dinner.













The restaurant has this great mural in its parking lot.