Rosemary

When I went to the garden on Thanksgiving to look for herbs for the turkey, everything was snow covered.  The pictures I posted here and on Facebook prompted a friend to ask if the rosemary plants would make it through the winter.

Unfortunately, we've never been able to keep any alive, even with lots of mulching and covering.







Usually, we just harvest all the branches and store them in plastic bags in the freezer, for use throughout the year.

This year's plants that we started with in the spring were quite a bit smaller than those we usually purchase.  While both plants did well and got quite a bit of growth, we decided  they would fit in some existing pots we had on hand.

So into pots they went, and we'll see how they like "wintering over" in a cool part of our lower level. 

Here's hoping they'll stay healthy and be ready to go back out to the garden in the spring....

Thanksgiving Day

We had some snow for Thanksgiving morning which dusted all the gardens.









I walked through the herb garden and found that the sage, rosemary and thyme were still in good shape under their snow covers.  They were tasty additions to the turkey and the stuffing.












Some other views in the gardens:

Meeting Day

The Peeps gathered for their regular monthly meeting.

On the cutting table are some of the kits that Nancy brought in for the Dress A Girl project.














Carol just returned from the West Coast and teaching a silk dyeing class.  These are a few of the silk scarves she made.











The pattern on this scarf is done using a pleater.














 Bev showed us some of the fabrics she made in the Deconstructed Screen Printing class.

Screen printed fabrics

These are some of the fabrics that I made in Kerr's Deconstructed Screen Printing class.
I like some of the results better than others, but it was all interesting to see what textures and patterns made the best prints.

Thanks, Carol!

Carol Boyer, a fiber artist from the Syracuse area who was also in the Screen Printing class, made fun lapel pins for each of us.  This is about 5 inches tall, and just happens to have some turquoise... :-)

Screen Printing class

Kerr gave us a fun exercise during our Deconstructed Screen Printing class. 
She put us in random pairs and gave each person two minutes to introduce herself to her partner.  After hearing our partner's introduction, we were to draw her portrait on two hankies.

Liz drew the horses and cows from my childhood that I talked about, although they're hard to see in the background.  Still very clever, though!

Cover Quilter

I was pleased to receive a phone call from the Marketing Manager at Martelli Enterprises, asking to feature my quilts in the current issue of their Innovations Newsletter.

So you can now see my quilts on the cover and in the Fall issue. 

Small Works

 This photo is from the opening reception for the Small Works exhibit at the Main Street Arts Gallery in Clifton Springs. 

The exhibit includes 129 works of art, 12" or less, in a variety of media by 90 artists from across the county.

It was a lovely reception and fun to see old friends.












 Nancy Hicks's fiber piece, "Ms Giraffe," was juried into the show.

















The upstairs gallery includes this handmade furniture by Adrian Vanden Bout and ceramics by Samantha Stumpf.














We also saw woodcut prints and drawings by Mike Goscinsky.

Geese stopping by

Each Spring and Fall we have many Canadian Geese that stop over on the pond on the edge of our pasture.  It's always fascinating to see them circle and glide in for their landing.  Usually in the evenings there are several hundred geese resting on the pond.

This is a small group that landed one morning.

Autumn "Put to Bed"

We are cleaning up all our gardens and do so now so that the Spring rains will meet a ready-to-grow environment.  This garden pictured is one of our formal perennial presentations where we've started cutting back the foliage.









The canna lilies are spectacular and require  a great deal of effort and care. 

The stalks are cut down as they show a hint of frost damage.

 

The tubers are then dug and spread on the lawn preparatory to washing and drying.  They are stored in three 30-gallon cans in our root cellar.












This has been a very good growing season, and we have a wonderful spot for planting the lilies with full sun and extremely well-fertilized soil. 

We give away lots of tubers to friends in the Spring.  If you want some, stop by!

Fall sights

This beauty is a Japanese maple volunteer that appeared as one tiny twig with a couple of green leaves. 

A few years later, a brilliant crimson has developed.  Hope it lasts many years!

















We did some heavy trimming of our shrubs and small trees this season.  We are allowed to burn refuse from our own property in this township.  Rather than fill a landfill, we wait until a calm day and light it up.









Bill stands ready to push the pile around with his large bucket and tractor if it gets out of control, but we have never needed to do so.

QAQ Opening

The opening for the Quilts=Art=Quilts exhibit at the Schweinfurth Art Center in Auburn was held this weekend.

This is Anne Anderson (one of the exhibiting artists and one of our Peeps) with her piece, Explosion.

Several Peeps members were on hand for the opening;  from the left, me, Bev, Pat, Nancy, Jeanne, and Anne.

Kit Vincent's quilt was awarded the Best of Show honor.  Here she is with Donna Lamb, Director of the Museum.















These artists all have pieces in the exhibit, including Pat Pauly at the left of the line up.

It was so nice to get caught up with Denise Roberts (7th from the left) who came for the opening from West Virginia.














I got to hang out over the weekend with Kathy Loomis, who was one of the jurors for this year's exhibit.  Kathy served as prize judge at the opening and was the speaker at the brunch the next day.

at Donna's

Donna invited all of us taking classes at Schweinfurth's QBL2 session to her house for dinner.    Since it was Halloween, some dressed for the occasion.    From the left, Stephanie, Jeanne and our hostess, Donna.









Most everyone in this picture is from David Hornung's Color class.  (David is sitting on the far right.)











Thanks, Donna.  Everything was delicious!