Planting time

Bill put the old tractor to good use plowing and tilling the garden.












Bill digs the holes for planting our tomatoes.















The first geraniums go in the old planter on the deck.

















And more geraniums for the end of the deck.

May Meeting

The Peeps gathered for the regular monthly meeting.  

We saw lots of work in progress, and people were working on new pieces.














Linda's piece got votes for this vertical orientation as opposed to a horizontal presentation.













Linda used similar fabrics to those in her mola quilt to make this piece. 















This detail picture of Linda's quilt shows the hand stitching that she's adding.















Nancy's piece has been accepted in the Sacred Threads exhibit, and Nancy will be attending the opening festivities.
















Nancy has been creating an altered book using an old small hand-made wooden chest for exhibit in the Rochester library.  It focuses on some of the early industries in the city and relatives who worked in them.














Carol showed us this piece of cloth that she constructed.














Nancy has also been working on creating jewelry with found objects.

Flowers for the season

One of our fun annual shopping visits this time of year is to Jane's Herb Farm in Webster, NY.   Jane has cut back her business to only having her plants for sale one weekend in May, but it's worth getting there.  Her plants are wonderful.
















I don't remember the name of this plant in Jane's garden with the lovely and delicate blue flowers, but I bought one for our garden.













Our wisteria has beautiful flowers this year.  The vine has been here for many years, and has engulfed the gazebo underneath it.










Here are the perennial plants we bought at Jane's, which include three new varieties of lavender.










We also bought geraniums, lobelia, peppers, and tomatoes from Lucas Greenhouses and some alyssum from Country Max.    There's lots of planting in the forecast....

Holy Mola!

 Members of the Art Quilt People responded to the challenge of creating quilts inspired by molas from Panama.

These quilts are on exhibit at the Wayne County Council for the Arts in Newark, NY, through June 7th.












We had lots of help hanging the show.  In addition to Nancy and I, we had Bev, Wayne, Bill, and Mary.














Here are a few pictures from the opening reception.

Bev is pictured between my quilt that is behind her and her quilt on the right.

Next to each quilt is the mola that the artist used as inspiration.










Linda talked about her quilt to the crowd.














Anne, Bev, and Carol.














Nancy with her lion mola and quilt.














Linda showing her other quilt.

Kittens are climbing

The kittens have adjusted quickly to the space and freedom they have in their own room in the house.  They spend a lot of time chasing each other, but their favorite activity is climbing Suki's scratching post.














And of course, the most fun is when all three of them attack the post at the same time.  

See the video clip to see them in action.

Kitten update

The kittens have been moved out of the barn and into the house.   They seem to be adjusting to being away from their Mom and on their own, although they have discovered a new "nest" where they can be close together.













They've also adjusted to eating on their own and have made it clear that they prefer canned cat food over their kitten chow!

Valerie Goodwin workshop

Genesee Valley Quilt Club sponsored a two-day workshop by architect and fiber artist Valerie Goodwin on the Seven Principles of Design.

Valerie is on the left, holding one of her small compositions.













Our first assignment was to create a small paper collage for each of the seven principles.














We created background fabrics by sewing fabrics on crinoline and adding paint and stitching.










The background fabrics were used as a base for compositions representing the design principles.

More kitty picures

In case you haven't seen the kitty pictures on Facebook, here's a picture of Mommy Kitty as she guards the nest of her kittens.

She's very protective of her brood and takes very good care of them.







The kittens are usually in constant motion, as you can see in the next picture, so this picture with everyone posing is very unusual.

Barn Visitors

Although we have lived here for almost 40 years, having a resident feral cat has been a new experience.  We have had many strays, but this feline will allow no close interaction.  We decided to feed the visitor as the cold weather and heavy snows early in the year made hunting difficult.












We have a large horse barn so finding lots of room and hiding places was no problem.  We had hoped our visitor was male and had planned to try a Have-a-Heart trap capture and neutering.















As you can see, our gender assumption was faulty, and three new kittens arrived.  We built an enclosure near some straw bales, and the babies seem happy and healthy.












Mother is nursing her 5-week old children and endures their piling on her during play time.  She can climb out of the nest, and the kittens have a safe hole to hide in when she is not there. 

We haven't determined what to do with our visitors yet...
 If you would like one as a companion, just let us know!