Evolutions

The Evolutions exhibit juried by Dr. Sandra Sider opens today at the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum.






































Tail Features was selected for the exhibit.

(2013   56h X 49w)

Bold by Design

We had a lovely trip to Ithaca to see the Bold by Design exhibit, quilts from the Jack Walsh collection.  We couldn't take photos of the exhibit, but can show you other scenes from the venue, the Johnson Museum of Art on the Cornell University campus.

The Morgan Garden depicts the story of the "Three Laughters of the Tiger Glen."







The Museum's Visible Storage Gallery shows over 1000 objects from the permanent collection.





























View from the outdoor balcony looking down the hill toward Cayuga Lake.
















Anne found the best spot on the balcony to take a comfy rest.

Lake Skinny

Several of the Peeps joined friends at their cottage on Skaneateles Lake, where they were staying while taking classes at QBL.

We enjoyed delicious pot luck, a beautiful summer evening, and wonderful company.

From the left -- Anne, Nina, Carol, Jeanne, me, Bev, Linda, Dorothy, and Kate.




Here's the dinner cruise boat coming from Skaneateles.












 

Our view down the lake.
















And a lovely sunset to complete the evening.

More garden flowers

Our perennial gardens are looking pretty good this year!













The german statice plant is a lovely shade of lavender.



















The hostas are also showing lavender blossoms.



















These are the water lilies currently in the garden pond.

Peeps meeting

I only took one picture from today's meeting, and it was of Jeanne's project.  She's been getting ready to host her retreat at Skaneateles Lake, and painted some canvas fabrics.  She made name tags for the participants from the fabric, and she'll be showing them how to make the fabric and then make projects from the fabric. 
Sounds like fun!

Garden update

The cone flowers are blooming, and the butterflies are visiting.

















Another picture of a visiting butterfly, with the blue balloon flowers in the background.


















We appreciate Billy's help with running the rototiller in the vegetable garden.  The old Troy-built "horse" is a heavy monster that takes some muscle-power to keep it steady.









We've harvested spinach, summer squash, basil, and string beans, along with a couple of small tomatoes, so far.

Ladies Lunch

At least once during each summer friends from my high school class get together for lunch.

This year we met at Warfield's in Clifton Springs.  The restaurant has a pretty patio area and overlooks the gardens and water features.








It's always fun to see Marnie, Mary Ann, and Carolyn.














And just by walking across the street, we also visited Main Street Arts and viewed their latest exhibits.

Marie was particularly taken with all the carved birds on the second floor.

Lowville Library Garden Tour

We were able to take in three of the seven gardens on Lowville's First Annual garden tour before the rain storms chased us on our way.  Hopefully next year we can see them all.

Our first stop was at the Butterscotch House B&B.

The gardens were lovely and enhanced by the accompanying flute music.





We were also treated to delicious cookies.





















Pat and Anne walked through the many interesting areas of the second garden we visited, the Duflo Garden. 





The property has been under development since 1993 and incorporates quite an incline that has been shaped with retaining walls and garden sections.





The gazebo and water gardens are at the bottom of the hill.













This is a view of part of the hill.



















Our third visit was to the Schell Garden outside of Lowville.  The Schells built their home in 2005 and have developed about two acres of their property into various gardens.









The backyard gardens are built into hills and wooded areas, and include many whimsical decorations and repurposed items.

Chase Lake

We took a walk all the way around Chase Lake, which is a little over 3 miles.

This is the inlet to the lake which connects to Upper Chase Lake.










In years past it was possible to drive around the lake, but the road has been replaced by this foot bridge, which is a lot easier to maintain.













Another view from the foot bridge.



















Along the east side of the lake, someone had added this cute ceramic critter to a large knot in the tree.















Our camp is on the north end of the lake, and this is a view from the southern-most point of the lake. 

Super Moon

A couple of friends and I went to Chase Lake to open the camp for the season, and we were presented with a super moon.

It was a beautiful sight, and it was even more remarkable that I was able to capture it with my little point & shoot camera.

The moon's reflection shines from the end of the dock.












We had left the canoe tied to the dock, and it was floating among the water lilies.













 









This is the view from the camp, looking down at the dock.

















The water foliage on the way to the dock.

Barn treasures

We've started doing some sorting and cleaning out in the barns. 

We've uncovered some items that are "treasures" and others that are unknowns. 

We know that this is a wheel weight for a tractor, but we don't know for what kind of tractor. 

The grooved front has a number stamped on it that might be 1957.  The back of it is plain.


I remember putting this in the back of my Chevy Nova hatchback in the wintertime in the mid 70's to help provide some traction.  Did I mention that it's very, very heavy?

















We uncovered this lawn mower and are trying to get the wheels turning again.



















I don't remember what this was called, but it predates weed eaters. 

I remember my grandfather keeping the blade sharp, and he would swing it to whack weeds along the ditches.

Ornamental grasses

Wonderful friends and garden helpers, Monica and Karen, spent a lot of the July 4th holiday weekend with me in the gardens. 

We decided to tackle the ornamental grasses gardens, which were long overdue for a major cleanup.









Millie kept us company and scouted out all the work that still needed to be done.












With much of the weeding done in this area, you can see how the grasses have grown since the old canes were burned off in the spring.











Another section completed.

Shirley's quilts

A friend from high school has decided to sell these quilts made by her grandmother and great-grandmother.  We had fun checking them out and getting them ready for photographing.

These two lone star quilts were made in our area (Palmyra, NY) in the late 1930's or early 1940's.

The first quilt is 66 x 61 and has a cream background.  It was gently used.









The second lone star is 78 x 80 and has a white background.  It was unused.
















This Drunkard's Path is 62 x 80.














And the Squares quilt is 71 x 76.