A new sewing machine is the best toy ever!

My old machine didn't  owe me anything. It has been a workhorse...and I do work my machines a lot.   Lately it has been giving me more grief than pleasure. So when it proceeded to act up this morning. My husband said "enough", and so we went to my favorite shop in Penn  Yan, NY and bought a new one!!!

It wasn't a total surprise as I had been looking.  While the old one was fixed and has more years of life, it now will become my "second" one which I will use for retreats, classes, traveling etc.

Visit to Mt. Dora and my purple house,

One of our trips while in the south was a lovely visit to the city of Mt. Dora, Florida.   It is a cute little place by the lake and it was a lovely day to walk around and take in all the little artisan shops.

This was in one of the shops..I want to do this in my backyard!

Eating outside in nice weather is always a treat.

The bottle brush tree that captured my attention.

Finally.....anyone who knows me, knows that this house has my name written all over it....Purple Love!!

Crystal River and Blue Run

Today's trip took us to Crystal River.  What a cute little town!  I wish we had known more and had planned to explore more.  On the way home we stopped in Dunnellon at the Blue Run River trail.  This is my favorite picture of the day.

More inspiration......more quilts than I will do....

We took a trip to beautiful Rainbow Springs!   This is another long time attraction and park falling on hard times and being run into the ground because of the mega parks like Disney!  I have seen several parks on this trip and find it very sad that natural beauty is being tossed aside for some "man made, money grubbing" mega park.     Many of my photos are closeups designed to be inspiration for future art quilts.   So you might say I could find this anywhere.   However, I believe when you allow yourself to be surrounded and taken in by the beauty of a place, you notice things you might never see on a casual walk by,,,,say....a tree stump, or some dead and drooping palm leaves. 

First some overall shots down the springs, into the water....the most beautiful clear blue water I have seen since Bermuda!

Closeup of the dead palms I mentioned,   Look at all that color and texture!

The tree stump mentioned above!

Even a row of canoes is interesting.

Finally...a waterfall while walking out of the park!

Oops,  a few more.....this is us......enjoying the time in the south....

  

Inspiration is everywhere!!!!

On vacation and hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of photos later, I have much inspiration for new quilts.  Here is one from today taken at Silver Springs State Park!

Dots, dots and more dots!

A friend of mine and I purchased a jelly roll of dots fabric.  I brought mine on vacation along with a simple pattern,   I had no real plan as to why I as making this, I just liked the fabric.so I bought a simple pattern and just made it something to work on if I felt like sewing.   I have no idea what will become of it once it is finished.   It would make a nice child's quilt...or maybe community service.....who knows!

Quilt show viewing.... On vacation.

Because I am away from home, and missing my regular guild meeting, I decided to take in a local quilt show near Ocala, Florida.   It was a nice show with some vendors, a lovely boutique and about 140 quilts of all kinds.   Being mostly an art quilter, I look for them and didn't see too many, but here are a few that did catch my eye.

Because I love circles and arcs, a quilt like this would always catch my eye.   Love the variations in color!

This quilt as done with a special ruler and only one fabric.  Not a typical gradation, this fabric did go from light on one edge, to dark on the other, with a pattern somewhere between.

Loved the dimension on this quilt with the added 3d hydrangea petals.  The birds eye appliquéd, so they could be stuffed,   Very effective.

This was a Bargello quilt.....just spectacular.

I don't do crazy quilts, but this was probably one of the highlights of the show.

These were a couple of cute quilts.   One is a beach scene with 3 d shirts hanging on a clothes line, the other just a cute Halloween quilt.

Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival XXV show bound.........

Two of my quilts have been juried into this show later this month, and accepted for judging.  "Autumn Candles" and "Where Words Fail...Music Speaks".  

Where Words Fail...Music Speaks is very close to my heart,   It depicts the power of music in our lives when all else fails.  I had a hard time finishing this one....nothing seemed to go right on it and I discarded it more than once.   In the end, I finished it and sent the photo off to a friend.   It happened to appear on the screen if his laptop while visiting his mother.....and Alzheimer's patient who had not spoke anything in weeks.   A former quilter and musician, she spoke her first words and picked out different symbols and techniques she knew about.  

Autumn Candles depicts "nature", one of my favorite subjects.   I love birch trees and this is just how the mountains look in the fall,   It was recently on display at the Old Forge show...."Quilts Unlimited"

Unfortunately, I am already on a planned vacation during this show, Feb. 27-March 2 and probably will not get to see the show.   I have always wanted to see this show, and entered these quite awhile ago when the theme was announced, before our plans were finalized.  No matter what.....I am beyond ecstatic!!!!

Leaf quilt....still working! Mini quilt show by guild members!

Ive started quilting the cyanotype leaf blocks.   Granted, only a beginning....but here are the ferns.   I decided not to just it around the shape, but do a fern quilt motif.   I like the way it looks....gives it a more "ferny" look, with more texture.   Much more to do!

Last week some members of my guild did a mini quilt show at a local senior complex, Victorian Manor. It was a "patchwork tea party".  This was my place setting.

Some of the residents showed their quilts also.   This lady is a member of my church...she is 93 years old and one of a set of triplets....the oldest living set in the U.S.  Here she shows a quilt that is over 100 years old.

In Progress.....UFO quilt for guild challenge

My quilt Guild , is having a UFO (unfinished objects) challenge...to be completed by August.   We could enter up to 5 quilts...I did 4, many did 5.   This is to spur us on to finish these things AND finish them for the quilt show in October.

This is the first one I am working on:

The center leaves are cyanotype....sun printed by me in my RAFA (Rochester Area Fibre Artists) group a few years ago.   It is a fun process and incredibly easy.   I had the center mostly put together but was stumped on a border,   Then I hit on an idea.   Piano keys border on 3 sides.  (YesI have a plan for the plain border).    Not bad until I decided to miter the corners!   Measure twice, cut once takes on a whole different meaning.   It's most like measure 53 times with some sewing and ripping out in between.   I still haven't cut away the excess.    Here is a close up of the border corner.   I like it, but it has taken me 2 days to get those borders on and mitered.

Guild challenge quilts revealed!

My guild, does a challenge every year.   We always have a theme, the quilts are due at our January meeting and they then hang in the Richmond Library, http://www.batavialibrary.org, in Batavia, NY for the month of February.    This years challenge was named...."That Was Then", based on the year of our birth.    This is mine.....arrived at in a rather backwards fashion!

I wasn't going to do the challenge, I wasn't inspired.   Sometime in December a friend forwarded a photo to me, showing what he was working on.....he makes outdoor decorations for his tree ( in Florida no less) using CDs and fishing line.   This is the photo:

There was something about the shine of the CDs and the fishing line, contrasted with the roughness of the wicker basket....and a certain challenge or dare to see if I could interpret in fabric.   So, when I was mostly done, I thought....."now what".   I'm not a process person, I like a finished product.   So I started to think could I repurpose for the guild challenge.  Since it was a Christmas theme, I decided to see if any Christmas songs were written the year I was born.  Turns out that "Santa C.aus is Coming to Town" was written that year,   The version of "White Christmas" we know so well was arranged that year....and the last song "Near You" was the number one song the week I was born.  

Here are some close ups....

I added the poinsettia, fused from Angelina fibers and some bead work to fill in the blank space in the quilt.   I think it is the perfect touch for a Christmas quilt....turned challenge!

So, all of this is why I say I came to the challenge result "backwards"!

Letchworth State Park ....my Quilt!

Quilt or Photogrqph?

This is my finished quilt for the Quilters Consortium of New York Statechallenge....."Stitching New York-a Quilters Perspective".   This is a photo that I took at the park this past October, manipulated it somewhat on my computer and had it printed onto fabric by Julie Brandon I then enhanced the landscape with many different quilting patterns, including some sheer fabrics to emulate the mist rising from the falls, 

I think I will call it "Homage to the Trestle", as it may soon be replaced.  The trestle bridge has always been an important part of my life since my years at Houghton College in the late 60's.  We would go there to escape the rigors of college life.   Many have walked on this bridge, including me....many while a train was approaching (not me).

Below is the original picture I used as my pattern and a photo showing that the train still does cross this bridge.

Another snow photo!

The snow is done for now and they are promising us warmer temps and rain by the weekend, resulting in flooding.   This is a picture of the mound in our driveway.  That little wood marker that the plowing guys use to mark the end of the driveway is about 3 feet tall.

It's a blizzard!!!

For the first time in 11 years, we have a blizzard in our little county of western New York State.   The winds are howling, it's snowing hard at times and it's COLD.  This is my clematis vine right outside the front door,   We NEVER get snow, or rain, this close to our entryway!!!!

This map shows how it is a direct hit for us.....very selective....in the lake effect path off Lake Erie!

Then there is the wind chill,   It has not been above zero degrees in over 24 hours now and the wind chill fluctuates between 20 and 30 below.   

The happiest person in this house??.?   My husband who just retired last month from his outside insurance adjuster job!!!