Lunch at Greek Peak

It was a lovely spring day to have lunch with friends that I don't get to see often enough -- Priscilla, Barb, and Genie.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We met at the Greek Peak Resort just outside of Cortland.  In addition to its facilities for skiing, it has a lake, indoor pools, and waterpark.

The lobby at the Lodge has one of Barb's quilts on display.

A Good Spring Day

Our feral cat, Millie, has complete control of our horse barn.  Here, she surveys her domain from the ceiling rafter above one of the stalls.










 








A little green frog (?) or toad (?) rests on a dried plume of ornamental grass -- a very small thumbnail size in real life.














Our perennial grasses in the gazebo garden are cut back and removed to allow for new growth.  We can't burn them in place because of nearby fencing and other green growth.















We maintain several areas of early flowers.  These raised beds are at the end of our entrance driveway with branch avenues to each barn.













This small display is at the stone path to our large boulder rock garden with the Japanese tea ceremony influence.  We have lots of Spring chores to occupy our free time!

Sewing Day

Jeanne was at the studio for a sewing day, and is making great progress on her piece.

And she remembered to get photos so she can document her process.

Pond Cleaning

The men from "Clearly Acquatics" are here for our annual visit.  As usual, it is a cool (cold!) spring day.
















They maintain and repair 300+ area ponds and water gardens and are a skilled and dependable group.
















We have a lilly pond behind the barn, and some of the group work on that part of the task at hand.  Bill provides his usual contribution -- i.e., supervision.















While the pond is emptied and cleaned, the fish are transferred to a holding tank.  We have some "babies" this year, and you can see some of them at the top of this picture.
















Dave is spreading some weed killing powder on the cobblestones to inhibit algae growth.  It does not harm the fish.















The pond is filled (about 900 gallons), the fish are added, the pump is turned on to feed the waterfall, and we're fixed up for another year (we hope!).

Signs of Spring

These pretty little crocus flowers appeared in a hedge out by the vegetable garden.  We're not sure how they got there, but they're a nice surprise.














The daffodils around the house are off to a good start.















This is the start of the spring chores -- lots of sticks to pick up!













These are daffodil bulbs that didn't get transplanted in the fall.   I don't know that they'll live, but it's worth a try...

Snapping turtles

I noticed baby snapping turtles making their way out of their nest in our front yard.

 

The mother turtle would have laid the eggs sometime in the fall.

 

We've seen baby turtles moving across our property before, but this is the first time we've seen them emerging from the nest.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One of the turtles is already making its way away from the nest.

And a third turtle was making its way across the driveway, heading toward our pond.  

We tried moving it out of the driveway, thinking it would be safer.  But the instinct to find a body of water prevailed, and the turtle headed again across the driveway on its way to the pond.

 

SAQA meeting

Today was a regional meeting of the Studio Art Quilts Associates held at the Schweinfurth Art Center in Auburn.  Members came from Saranac Lake, Rochester, Syracuse, Ithaca, and the surrounding area.

The highlight of the meeting was Show & Tell, where we got to see samples of each artist's work.  Show & Tell was preceded by everyone getting their cameras ready....










Pat showed us one of her diptych pieces.













There was time to give the pieces a close inspection.

This is Cris, helping to hold up a piece that I brought to show.


















Carol is showing her piece.

Peeps Meeting

It was the regular meeting day for the Peeps (Art Quilt People), and we had lots of new pieces to see.












Mary showed us these two pieces and there are hand-dyed fabrics in both.  The piece on the left, "Cold Fermentation," has a lot of her ice-dyed fabrics.

Anne is checking out Carol's piece that she made with her hand-dyed fabrics.











Anne M. was visiting today from Canada and showed us this piece that she did to represent the woods around her cottage. 

The computer on the table is running Skype, so Linda could "attend" the meeting long distance.















Anne M. also showed us her whimsical house and people blocks that may be destined for a quilt.













Pat has been creating new fabrics with soy wax and screening.










Anne M.  recently returned from a trip with Priscilla to India and Nepal and showed us some of the wonderful saris and other fabrics that she found there.

Before and After

This is a new quilt top that I made for an upcoming exhibit. 

Designing the composition and completing the piecing for any quilt is only the first part of the process. 

Deciding on a quilting pattern and executing it is the next critical step.















I loaded the top on my Innova longarm machine, and decided to quilt it with some freeform organic designs.



















I loaded the quilt "sideways" so I could quilt from side to side.











All the quilting is done, and the quilt needs to be trimmed and faced.

Cats - at home

We enjoy cats, and it's safe to say the feeling is mutual. 

Here is Boots, also known as Mr. Boots or Bootsy.  He is a next-door neighbor who manages to show up at meal times!













Hopefully, we are making progress with our feral barn cat, Millie.  Her genetic disposition to fear human contact must be very strong, but she has been slowly extending her trust by "hanging out" close to the back deck.













We had several frogs make it through our very cold winter.  They are teaming up to wait for flies and bugs.
















Millie enjoys staring at the goldfish.  There are also frogs in her view.  We don't know if she has made any attempt to do more than watch either prey.

Sewing Day

Jeanne and I got a little more sewing done for our upcoming exhibit in Phelps this summer.

Since the theme is "process," we're trying to remember to take pictures of our pieces as they're developed.