Peeps and Divas

Members of the two art quilt groups met together at the Schweinfurth Art Center.  This was only the second meeting of  this newly-combined group, and there was lots of sharing of information.







There was also lots of show and tell.
This is Noel showing us a new quilt she's working on, and below is some new work that Maureen brought.

Jeanne's new studio

Nancy and I dropped in to see Jeanne in her new studio on the 3rd floor of the Hungerford Building.

It's a wonderful large, light and airy space, and Jeanne has been very busy moving in.
















Jeanne managed to make this baby quilt while working on her studio.
















Her longarm machine is set up and ready to go. 

Notice the racks on the wall that she created to hold her cones of thread.

eQuilter Newsletter



My RoundAbout quilt that was in QuiltCon was featured in the recent eQuilter Newsletter by Luana Rubin. 

She wrote:

 

Having just returned from QuiltCon in Pasadena, I am anxious to show you what the Modern Quilters are up to these days! Here are 2 of my favorite quilts that were in the exhibit:   The quilt in the upper left hand corner is "RoundAbout" by Marcia DeCamp from Palmyra New York. It represents a busy traffic intersection, and was made with improvisational piecing. It was machine quilted on a frame, using hand-dyed fabrics. The quilt in the lower right is "Mod Mood" by Debbie Jeske of the Seattle Modern Quilt Guild, and her Bee Sewcial sewing group - an improv, solids-only bee where members are encouraged to push their creative boundaries. The bee's prompt was a Pinterest board with Mid-Century Modern designs, including a MCM color palette. Modern quilters still talk about how the Gee's Bend quilts influenced them, and inspired their improvisational piecing. Nancy Crow is of course another icon of the improve piecing genre. I think it is so cool that the Modern Quilters have re-made the Quilting Bee....and made it their own! 'Mod Mood' reminds me of some Mod Barkcloth that we used to carry. I wish our suppliers would reprint those great Barkcloth designs...they look like something from the set of a James Bond movie. Ha! I will continue to post photos from QuiltCon on my photo page. To find out more about this annual show, or to join a local Modern Quilt Guild in your area, visit their website.

 

From: eQuilter Fabrics <equilter@equilter.com

 

Lunch date

A lunch date with my favorite in-laws -- and unfortunately I didn't think of getting pictures until we were leaving.

We met Jim and Doreen in Canandaigua, and it was great to get caught up with them before they head south for some sunshine.













The DeCamp brothers.

New storage shelves

I've been wanting to put some better shelving in the storage area where my rolls of quilts are housed.

This is the box of pieces which includes the shelves and legs.
















We were pleased at how easily these units went together -- much easier than all the other types of shelves we've assembled in the past.

These wire units are super sturdy, accommodating up to 1000 pounds on each shelf! 















These new units fit in the same space where I had three different older units that really didn't work well together. 

The biggest improvement is that these shelves are much deeper at 24 inches wide.















My quilts are all fitting on one shelf -- Yay!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some Real Snow

Mid-month brought a real snow storm, as nearly two feet blew into our property.














A view from the studio looking due South shows the pasture fence and horse barn (which should more accurately be called a cat barn as our two outsiders live there now).













The heavy wet snow piled up and stuck to everything, including shrubs and the wonderful Japanese maple in the front yard.














The snow is pretty and covers everything in a view from the back deck.












Some smaller bushes are covered by our storm along a planting on the east side of the house.  Now lets move on to Spring!

Some snow

Our first real snow of the year was accompanied by very cold weather.  The fish pond was almost completely frozen,  with our surface floating heater struggling to hold open just a slit of water.













Our new planting of pine trees along the road and in front of our "exercise" paddock has a nice display of snow around the tips of the individual branches.













We have a very conscientious snowplow contractor --  When it snow, he plows!













The view from the road features some shrubbery in the center of the lawn, the studio, and the other new line of trees.  And we love the sun and the wonderful blue sky on winter days!

Throwback Thursday

I recently came across these pictures that I received from a distant cousin.

These are my maternal grandparents, Abe and Sarah Johnson, probably around 1915.



















My mother always loved horses.  This was probably taken when she was in high school in the early 1930's.












And my brother in 1940.

Winter flower

Our wonderful mild winter weather through January and into the beginning of February has been great and has even been encouraging flowers --- Too bad it's dandelions!

Kitty Update

In good weather our outdoor cats come to the deck located outside our back door for their food.  Here, our well-fed, but-still-feral, Millie waits patiently for one of her meals.













A large area retailer, Wayside Gardens, has two resident cats who are on hand in the multiple greenhouses to greet customers.

















If they receive any sign of affection, they will latch on and accompany you about the store.  This one literally clung to my pant leg and sat on my foot! 

They might even help you choose the proper plants for your needs.  They sure have the experience!









In cold weather, the outdoor cats return to the horse barn and wait for service.  Here Millie sits on a heated pad while she sups.  Her enclosed heated house is available to her right.









Our acquired cat, Mr. Boots, has his food in another part of  the barn that also has heated bowls of water.  His heated house is behind him.  You can see why our cats like it here!


We didn't have any new pictures of Suki to add to the update, but she is taking a prescription of prednisone and doing fine.