My Current Hero and Heroine

Do you have someone important in your life who is fighting off some big bad intruder in their body? Well I have two: Ron Wilbur and Johanna Tutone. Both have always been people I admired and looked up to. Both are having to alter their lives to get healthy and my hat is off to both of them! I think about how I would handle such adversity and I am afraid to admit that I would be the biggest cry baby! Not my pals, they are strong and positive and inspirational. Johanna continues to run a restaurant, have big dinner parties and look fabulous! My friend, Ron dyes his hair purple and gets a mohawk hair style right before the last of his hair departs temporarily! He chomps at the bit to get back to his life of managing three fabulous houses and countless new business ventures! I will post some better pics when I can find them!

Obsession

Ok, I admit it. I am pathologically obsessed with sewing and knitting. Why can't I be this obsessed about the reports I need to be writing or the new course for which I need to prep? I am so happy to have hours to myself to sew that I have lost all control...up at 5:30 A.M. after thinking through the night about what I should do differently with my new quilt. Up and ripping out the bottom-too long and making another vertical row. And then...what to do? It is gorgeous outside and thanks to Barb and Ron, I have stayed on at their lovely Primrose Cottage on the ocean. So I pulled out the old table, repaired the leg and moved the sweatshop out onto the deck. Is there anything better than this?

I am trying to make Ashley Williamson's Unfurnished, a free pattern which can be found on the Robert Kaufman site http://www.robertkaufman.com/quilting/quilts_patterns/unfurnished/

For the life of me, I could not figure out how to make the wonky rectangles, so I settled for making a jelly roll out of my fabric and sewing them together and then cutting them into 12 1/2 inch wide rows. I love this fabric by Laurie Wisbrun! This will be great for cozying up on the couch this winter when it is cold. I hope the fabric will hold the warm sun of summer in its soul!

The French General

Aretha is going to Paris to study for the year! I asked her what I could make for her year and she chose these three prints at Alewives from the Moda French General line! I love the subtle nature of the prints! Inspired by Phiona's sewing projects at Nido, I used two Built by Wendy patterns and one pattern by Jamie Christina called Honey Girl. I love how these outfits turned out!

Machinery

I am on vacation this week! And one thing I have been noticing is how empty my head is from all the day to day details of life, leaving room to be more creative and thoughtful. I put together two quilts this week from fabric I obtained from my new friend and super fabric inspirer, Phiona who owns Nido's in Burlington, Vt. One is with Heather Ross Far Far Away II fabric and the other with Etsuko Furuya Echino. I am so happy with both and Barbara at Alewives has agreed to quilt them for me with her Long Arm.

Have you seen a Long Arm Machine? Well there is a picture of the Millenium which looks like it is operated with a joy stick! Fred and Aretha and I all became fascinated with the world of the Long Arm and suddenly, my vintage 1986 Bernina 930 paled in comparison. Not a big enough arm! Alas. So now I am researching a new machine, but at the end of the day, I will probably just get myself a walking foot and get more experience quilting!

Making Sandcandles

You never know what it is that your children will take with them from their childhoods...Aretha remembers summers in Maine featuring the making of the sand candles on the last night of our stay. There was the one summer that we

tried to fit the Dairy Queen in with the building of the sand candles, leaving them in the sand while we went for our Blizzards only to return and find them stolen! Then there was the summer of the heart shaped candles and the year of the embedded shell look. We were so proud of those candles. We wrapped them up and gave them for Christmas presents only to watch the dismayed faces of our recipients as they dashed off to grab the handy vac to clean up all the excess sand!

Aretha used her own method this year with half congealed wax and a late insertion of the wick. However they were beautiful and I was complimented for allowing her to make her own variation on the process!