Quilting up a storm!

Am working madly to finish Christmas quilts before we head south. Will post a picture later!!!

Blueberry Cobble

This past weekend I spent a couple of days with my hiking friends in the Adirondacks. One of the friends I had not seen for nearly forty years, and what a wonderful time we had reminiscing about old times. It was simply glorious! The trip up to the Adirondack Park and back simply flew by, yakking all the way up and down about our lives then and now.

We hiked a great trail that had endless possibilities for all levels of hikers. My friends much more proficient than I planned an eight mile hike over some unpleasant terrain. I on the other hand, planned to do Blueberry Cobble, a very respectable four miles with several nice lookouts to feed my photography mania. The trail was a great one for me in the respect that if I should have had an accident I would have been easily found, lots of hikers on the trail and my pals would have come back the same way as well, to my rescue. It had NO ROCK SCRAMBLES!!!! My idea of heaven!!!!

Unfortunately the long hikers, had to turn back before the summit because one was suffering from severe hip pain. I in turn, came back because of the nasty rain that was making the trail unpleasant and quite slippery. Since my knees hate the downhill in the best of conditions, they certainly dislike, rainy and slippery slopes!!!

Despite the fact that none of us made it to our destination, we all had an enjoyable time in the woods, experiencing the peace and quiet. It was simply utter contentment!

Bennnington Quiltfest

Our annual quilt show was this past weekend. As always it was a great success! Happily our attendance was very good despite the god awful price of gas. Our show is always the same weekend as the annual car show so that helps our attendance, too. The hubbies go to the car show and the wives come to our show.

My friend and president of the Quiet Valley Quilters got an award this year. She was over the moon. It was a beautiful quilt from the Pat Speth book ,Nickel Quilts, called Sunny Lanes.



I entered the log cabin flannel quilt I made George last year for Christmas and my one block wonder quilt. Jen entered her yellow brick road quilt. She used such great colors and did such a wonderful job.





Jen and I are already planning what she would like to make for next year's quilt entry.

GLHC Backpacking Trip to the Ausable Lakes

GLHC (Geriatric Ladies Hiking Club) I was so happy to get the chance to go to the Ausable Lakes in 2007, never dreaming I would get another opportunity this year! The public has no access to the Ausable Lakes unless you know a club member and they are willing to rent a few days to you. I have a good hiking friend who knows one of the club members very well so voila! Off we went. This trip was to celebrate one of the group finishing the 4000 footers in NY. There are 46 peaks over 4000 feet and when one finishes they become a 46r...a very big accomplishment. (Many of these peaks are trailess and require good compass skills and lots of bushwhacking, not fun at all!!!!) The peak that she needed to finish was a mountain called Skylight. Hard but at least it had a trail! :) An interesting fact about this trip was the temperature. My first trip in 2006, same weekend, the weather was in the high thirties and low forties. This trip, 2008, the temperature was in the eighties, hot and humid!!! The trip begins here, through this gate, hikers can walk through here but if you are not a club member you cannot drive, and that means a four mile walk to get to the first boat house!!! The AMR on the gate, stands for Adirondack Mountain Reserve. When we arrived at the first boat house, you look at an awesome view of the lower Ausable Lake, we go by guide boat, and it takes about an hour and a half. After we traverse the Lower Lake, we arrive at the spot called the "Carry", it is a strip of land that separates the Lower Lake from the Upper Lake. We leave the guide boats at the boat house there. The warden takes our supplies and our packs by tractor to the next boat house, while we hike the mile along a lovely river to the next boathouse. At this point we arrive at the Warden's camp. Cool thing about this is they have an outdoor privy with a "flush" toilet...(I loved that!!!) At the boathouse here, we got canoes and paddled up the Upper Ausable Lake, this lake is smaller so it only took about an hour. The Lower Lake though very large is only about 16 feet deep, but the Upper Lake is about 60 feet. The camps along this lake are practically invisible when the leaves are on the trees. The only indication of habitation is an occasional wisp of smoke or a dock. We have now arrived at camp! Here is an example of the amenities: To say that there is utterly indescribable peace and beauty here is an understatement at best, but I have included a few photos to give you an idea. On the morning of our departure, at six am, the lake was like glass, not a sound to be heard but an occasional lune, or other creature. By nine am , when we were leaving camp, the wind had come up, the mountains were now obscured by mist, rain and fog. Here is our group just before we leave. With the effect from the hurricane rearing its ugly head, the weather changes from high humidity and stiffling heat, to howling rain, wind and rough water. We arrive at the Lower Lake boat house before the worst of the weather hits.
Here is our tired, thankful and happy group at the finish!

One Block Wonder

I took a class Saturday on One Block Wonder. I have always been fascinated by kaleidoscopes, and love the randomness of it, plus the wonderful combinations out of the most unlikely fabrics!
Of course my first mistake was using a fabric with too many colors, so the sorting was more difficult for me, but I finally decided enough was enough, and next time I will know better.
I was going to do a funky edge but my symmetrical hubby did not care for it, so I am staying more traditional with this one, but on the next one watch out!!!!
Here are some pictures of the progress.
I am working on the border arrangement now...not exactly sure how I will do them, but the last one will be the original fabric. It was a Kona Bay oriental, very pretty I thought.

Starting Already to Panic..

I don't know where the time flies to, I have been very good about organizing my time of late, but can already see our guild show approaching and quickly after that the Holidays. I have a need to do list every year and this year I am determined that I will accomplish everything early...Hah!!! FAMOUS LAST WORDS!!!!
I just finished two commission quilts and am rather pleased with the results. The people who received them were also pleased which makes me so happy! It also makes two checks off my list!
In the midst of all this sewing I have to fit in a few days to hike, something though not very good at, I enjoy a great deal!

We have an annual guild challenge, that is exhibited at our annual quilt show. This year the theme is trees. I have already in my mind what I want to do, it is just how to accomplish that task..LOL..

Jen is spending most of the summer with us while school is out, so we are doing a lot of sewing, cooking and going to the library. They have a wonderful program for all school age children every summer.

I recently bought a copy of Paint Shop Pro because I simply could not afford Photoshop. Photoshop I understand because we used it a lot at work...PSP is gonna take a lot of getting used to..it is so different. I guess I need to get some more reading material, or beg some friends to help me.

New Pasttime

I find, since things have been fairly quiet this winter, that I have a knack for photography. As we have stayed longer in the south this year, the realm of flora and fauna experiences has mushroomed. The wonderful things that grow here, all sizes, shapes and colors are astounding! I thought the things I found on my hikes in the north were outstanding, but I was unprepared for the wonderful experiences I have had here. I saw my first gardenia in the flesh so to speak. I know to a lot of folks this is nothing but I have never seen one other than in a prom corsage! Magnolias are fascinating, a bud in the morning is a full blown flower by afternoon. Orchids grow here like roses do in the north. George insisted that I get a new camera to increase my skill and I am glad he did. I am really enjoying the new features it has that my old one did not have.

Quilt Complete!

During the various trips to Drs, I have managed to fit in a little sewing. It seems whenever we come south my quilt guild will offer the most awesome classes! This time I lucked out and the teacher sent me the directions via email. I have finished the top and I really, really love it. I am going to add one more border but not sure what yet.

I have several other projects partly completed I would like to finish before I head north so they will all be ready to quilt. Famous last words! One can only dream!!!

I Got a NEW Camera!!

I have been taking so many flower, fauna, and winter /spring pictures, that I was beginning to feel the limitations of my present camera. Don't get me wrong my camera takes wonderful pictures as long as you are close enough to your subject. Unfortunately when you are in the woods or on a mountain top, getting close to a subject is not always an option. There was a sale at Staples, on a Kodak camera which I am familiar with, (my last three cameras were Kodaks) and George and I went to look at it. It has 7x digital zoom and 12x optical zoom. My friend, Susan, told me I should have no less than 10x so I thought that was good. The sale price was pretty good also. I was going to think it over a bit, but my husband said GET IT, you use your camera so much! So I did. It is bit bigger than my last camera but I will cope. Now if I can just learn to use it. It is a Kodak Z712 IS. Susan did I do good? Funny they give you a minuscule manual in four languages. BUT the user manual, they tell you, is online! So I had to download the file and take it to Staples and have them print it for me. What in the world do people do if they don't have a computer????? Time to go out and give this baby a try.

Trials and Tribulations of Heading South!

We started for sunny Florida on the fifteenth of January. George and I stay with my mom, and as she worries about our traveling, I don't usually tell her we are on our way until we get through Virginia. Usually that means the worst of the weather is over. Hah!

It snowed before we left home so we did not leave until noon. We spent the night in Binghamton, and started out bright and early Wednesday morning. We drove about nine hours and stopped again in Hillsville, VA. I thought we would be fairly safe as we were only a few miles from the NC border. We had dinner that night at Shoney's....never again! George woke up at 2 am and he was running a high fever, ached all over, and kept telling me he was freezing. (The room must have been a hundred degrees, I could not turn the heat up any higher.) To add to the misery when we got up in the morning, there was five inches of snow on the ground!!! We delayed our departure a bit and then took off at a slow pace. The roads were a mess! George was feeling awful so we decided to go just to a hotel we like in Columbia. We were going to get there before their check in time, so we stopped at JR's first and then to Mary Jo's. I needed some fabric for a special project, and had all the measurements on a notepad. I tried to get a bolt off the shelf that was wedged in so tight, that I had to set my notepad down. A salesgirl helped me pull it out and suddenly no notepad!!! Three girls helped me look, I was so upset, I was trying to hurry because George was napping in the car, I was so prepared...and ended up guessing what I needed. We left Gastonia and headed for Columbia. When we arrived the parking lot was filled with police cruisers. They apparently were having a conference. One of the patrons parked near the cruisers thinking their car would be safe, and someone smashed their window in during the night. I think since this was the only vandalism, it was an in your face thing to the police. So sad for this lady, she was elderly and just beside herself. She had purposely parked her car in that spot for what she thought was added security. This world is so crazy sometimes.
We managed to finish up the trip on Friday, and make it to Mom's before the heavy rained started. Florida downpours are not fun to drive in when you are tired and feeling sick!

Today we spent most of the day in the ER, since we have no physicians here, getting George a prescription for his illness. Hopefully all will settle down now for the next three months or so!

Better late than never!

I try to make George a quilt each year for Christmas and also two high school friends. Actually we have been friends since we were in second grade, so that is a few years ago! I got the two friends done, but George received his as a top! I am so bad. I made it out of flannel because that is his all season choice of fabric! He chose the fabrics, the log cabin setting (navajo), the quilting design which he thought looked very southwest and the binding color. I finished it finally and he tells me he has never slept better!

Time to be more diligent!

It is fairly sad, that I have not posted anything since 2006. I know that my dear cousin Missy used to check often to see what we have been up to, I am sure she has given that up as a lost cause. So my new year's resolution is to be more diligent with this blog. Today is like every other day in the Northeast in the winter, gray, dull, cloudy, and that HORRID WHITE WORD....SNOW!!!! George and I are preparing for our annual trip south and it cannot be soon enough! I need to see some sun. I have seen more snow than I care to and frankly I am freezing! This is a picture of a blue spruce in our yard during the last storm. It was pretty but enough is enough. The picture next to the spruce is one of my favorite trailheads. This was taken on a lovely cold icy winter day. It was so beautiful.