Men at Work

A good-weather day brought on a burst of activity in the sunshine. 

Here Peter is at work on the saw, and Paul and Mike put up the soffit beneath the south porch.









Our cars are outside now, and the garage has turned into a workshop.  This has been particularly helpful on rainy or snowy days.













More sawing of the fiber cement siding takes place before installation.  Mike and Paul worked as a team on the siding project.














The  men pick up and leave at the end of a long day.  They start at 8 am and take very few breaks during the day -- sometimes even skipping lunch!

New Siding

We have decided to stay at our current domicile for the forseeable future assuming our health holds together.

We are in the process of upgrading with construction materials guaranteed for at least the next 25 years.










Our new siding was delivered by a mini-forklift tractor that came on the back of the delivery truck.









We are using the fiber cement siding with a factory-applied finish with the 25-year guarantee against fading and no painting required!  We'll see.....
















The existing fiber board siding is gone, and the walls await new covering.  We will also replace the cedar deck.

Nancy's Solo

Nancy hosted a reception for her solo show, "From Thought to Image - Art Quilts of Nancy P. Hicks."

The exhibit is up until April 7th at the Williams Gallery of the First Unitarian Church of Rochester on Winton Road.






Here's Nancy (on the left) chatting with some fellow members of the Genesee Valley Quilt Club.












Her work looks wonderful in the gallery space, and her guests were very interested in the pieces she had on display.







And we all enjoyed the delicious snacks and the lovely piano music too!

Sewing Day

Nancy and Linda came for a sewing day, and Linda got a lot of the piecing done on a baby quilt.












Nancy put the finishing touches on her kimono-style jacket that she made from this fun piece of fabric that she found.














Nancy used this mola as her inspiration for her mola challenge quilt.  Its light-colored background is unusual.














This is a detail photo of part of the face she made for her quilt.

Windsor Whip Gallery Opening

I wasn't able to attend the opening of the exhibit at the Windsor Whip Works Art Gallery over the weekend, but thanks to Benedicte Caneill, we have these pictures of the show.

I think it's always great to see how the work is hung and displayed.

My Yellow Brick Road is on the left next to two pieces by Pat Pauly.



My Five Squares is on the right-hand wall, and to its left is a piece by Benedicte.  I think the piece to its left is by Sharon Bottle Souva.






And this is my Purple Sunset.

Many thanks again to Benedicte Caneill for sharing the photos.

New windows - 5

The work on replacing windows continues on the south-facing porch.  Here Peter and Paul remove the old awning-style windows from the 1980 addition.









New framing is required before installation of the new windows.  Attention is paid to the old saying  -- "Measure twice and cut once!"













Inside the porch requires equal care as the windows must fit and be framed on both sides.
















Peter is moving to the east side of the openings and checking his measurements.










The lower level of windows is nearing completion.  Next, another layer of scaffolding will be added and the triangular windows in the peak will be replaced with double-pane high-E types.  Hope nobody slips and breaks one!






Paul did a great job framing in where the old
windows and door separated the two rooms on the porch.

We are still deciding if we want to replace more parts of the west-facing "Florida sun room."  Stay tuned!

Sewing day

Jeanne and Priscilla joined me at the studio for a sewing day.

Priscilla and I were working on our mola quilts.

Jeanne was working on a sample quilt, I think in preparation for one of her upcoming quilt retreats.






Bev joined us for the afternoon.










She was finishing the hand work on the facing of one of her recently-finished quilts.

March meeting

 Members of the Art Quilt People got together for their regular meeting.

We are working on new quilts in response to a challenge to make a piece inspired by a mola. 

The start of Priscilla's quilt is on the design wall.




Anne has the center of her piece mostly completed, and has included sections that she did with reverse applique.

The start of my quilt is on the right.









Pat has finished her piece.





















Priscilla and Pat are checking out all the wonderful quilting that Carol did on this piece.

Windsor Whip Works Gallery

Three of my works will be exhibited at the Windsor Whip Works Gallery, in Windsor (NY) from March 16 to April 13 in a show titled  "Fabulous Fibers and Bewitching Baskets."
The gallery is in a building that functioned as a buggy whip factory in the early 1900's. This Italian ornate building was recently renovated to serve as an art gallery, and Bill and Johanne Pesce are co-directors of the gallery.

This is the postcard which shows a sample of the works exhibited by eight artists.


The artists in the show are: Esterita Austin, Sharon Bottle Soava, Benedicte Caneill, Lorraine Chwazik, Marcia DeCamp, Pat Pauly, Judith Plotner, Cheri Sheridan and Jamin Uticone.

These are the three works that are in the exhibit:

Yellow Brick Road

(54h X 50w)

Five Squares

(52h X 52w)
















Purple Sunset

(50h X 27w)

AQS Paducah

Two of my quilts have been selected as semi-finalists for the 2013 AQS QuiltWeek - Paducah, April 24 - 27, 2013, at the Paducah Expo Center in Paducah, KY.


Jet Trails #10  (2011    68h X60w)















Windmills  (2012    44h X 43w)

Suki at rest

Every inch of space in our house is controlled by Suki, the Inspector.

She usually shares it with us, and we co-exist with few problems.




This all changes on cold winter nights.  Suki uses the warmth of the MacBook portable computer (which is closed because it's attached to a monitor) and the overhead Ott light to warm both her sides.

She also dangles body parts over the keyboard and makes typing a challenge.  She assumes this position for several hours and expects we will respect her space and temperature needs.

Where did we go wrong?