Shop Hopping and an Anniversary

The Maine Shop Hop 2013 is winding down and I do feel that I made a huge dent in the list, I visited 31 of the 37 on the list.  My goal one of these years is to get to all of the shops, it will probably involve at least one or two overnight stays to make it more enjoyable. 

On Sunday my husband and I celebrated our 29th Wedding Anniversary by driving to two shops on the hop, they were in the Rangley lakes area of Maine.  My husband has been up there but this was my first time in that part of the state, it is beautiful.................

These two photos are of  Mooselookmeguntic Lake (bet you can't say that fast 3x, heck I can't even say it once)................

Some wind turbines in the Rumford area, I have to say they certainly look strange in such a beautiful area.........

The Rumford Falls.............

We ended up taking Route 16 in New Hampshire home, we planned on taking Route 113 but they close the road in the winter and apparently they haven't opened it yet.  We stopped in Conway, NH and picked up some sandwiches and stopped at this little rest area and enjoyed the quiet.............

 The water is so clear, I didn't stick my feet in but I'm guessing it was very cold!

It was a wonderful way for us to spend our anniversary, big plans to return to The Mount Washington Hotel for our 30th Anniversary! 

Yesterday I spent the day in the yard working around the asparagus, strawberries, raspberries and herb garden.......today I will be cleaning out the coop and waiting for our "special delivery". 

Springtime happenings...............

Spring has finally arrived in Maine........I have officially started getting my wood ready for fall, this year my goal is to have it in before September so I can enjoy one of my favorite seasons Fall!  I will try to keep you posted on my progress. 









Somebody was waiting to go for a ride!

Not much sewing going on, been a little lazy in that department.  My husband and I have been "Shop Hopping", we have been out on three different days.  What a great opportunity to travel around this beautiful state and visit shops new to me and revisit some of my favorites.  One of those favorites is  Busy Thimble, it is a paradise for reproduction lovers like me, here is the yummy bundle that  followed me home from there.

 

Here are a few other goodies I picked up along the way...........



The rhubarb is starting to poke through the straw, seedlings are starting to sprout, various perennials are also making their presence known in their gardens.  I am hoping that I will have success with starting some of my own plants, so far I have started my own cabbage, green peppers, cosmos, zinnias. 

Off to get ready for the next shop hop day and a few other tasks!

Sewing, Sorting, Shoveling.........

I haven't posted lately, I've been sewing on WIPs, sorting old quilting magazines, and shoveling some of the "white" stuff.  I am also dealing with the "death" of my computer, actually I acquired my husband's old laptop when he got a new one.......the desktop had already "died" so I just took the old laptop and put up with the issues it had, now the issues are beyond the cost of repair.  I will be checking prices and getting a new laptop soon......until then I will probably be busy sewing and sorting, hopefully NOT shoveling!  Sorry for no photos but I just don't want to take the time this morning to figure out how to get them on this computer, my hubby's new computer!  For now I will visit my friends on "stolen" moments on his computer!

Snowy day in Maine.................

It's doing this outside today.........................

 

 

So I put a pork butt in the crock pot, meanwhile in a saucepan I put a bottle of hard cider (didn't have any regular apple cider), ketchup, beer, brown sugar and a few other goodies to simmer. 

 

 

Later today I will "shred" the pork and pour the sauce over it and viola pulled pork sandwiches!

 

Also melted up some peanut butter, chocolate chips, margarine, and vanilla......................





Poured over this, tossed,

then coated with confectioners sugar and tossed some more to make these yummy munchies for the afternoon......... 

While working with this....................

..........or maybe looking through the stack of magazines I have acquired over the years and deciding which ones to keep and which ones to share with friends.

 

I'd Like to Place a Order .........

Midnight waiting for the order window to open..........

 

 

Placing his order for two "treats", one for him and one for his brother Hunter........ 

Order up...............

All the snow we had over the weekend makes the ordering and pick up so much easier!

I did some "reverse" sewing on the table topper and re-quilted it using the red thread, I think it looks much better.

Off to work on the next UFO!

Thanks for sharing...........

Yesterday Terry at Terry's Treasures shared a table topper she made with some of her scraps.....I loved it so much I decided to use some of my Primitive Gatherings Old Glory fabrics to make one of my own, here is what mine looks like (you can see Terry's by clicking on her blog name).

I haven't finished stitching the binding, but I am still contemplating ripping out the quilting stitches and replacing them with the red thread shown in the photos, what do you think?  The size of this topper is 19" x 19" other than copying it from Terry's photo I am not sure if I need to credit anyone else,  I will check with Terry and if so I will update this post. 

 

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This morning I took my 4 year old Newfie, Midnight, to the groomers for the first time, I hated spending the money, but I think it will be worth every penny.  When he came home and went out and played with our German Shepherd, Hunter, the snow DID NOT ball up on his feet and underside!  Think I'm going to consider adding an occasional grooming to the budget, even if it means one (or two) less trips to the quilt shop! 

 

He was not really wanting a photo taken, I think he is wondering what I did with his bed.........it should be out of the dryer soon, didn't want him sleeping on a smelly bed!



Sewin' and Sitchin'

Just finished up this little penny mat by Buttermilk Basin........

I am getting ready to make some half square triangles for my scrappy stars.  I started making them along with Terry and I planned on making 3 per month for a year, enough for several quilts.  I have gotten a little behind, I should have 21 done to be up to date, my goal for this week is to get caught up!

The pile of squares ready for the sewing machine.

Some of the finished blocks and some almost finished..........



 

So that's what took you so long.......

When I finally got to the chicken coop this morning to get them fresh water and food, I think they were wondering what took so long, until I opened the door to their coops and they were confronted with the "white stuff" in their yard.  Keep in mind their yard has a roof and all the sides except for the top half of the doors are completely covered with plastic for the winter, of course their are many little "openings".............. and with the 30 plus inches inches of blowing snow that we got last night it found a way into their yard!  Here they are just coming out of the coop for the day......

It took them a few moments to decided to venture out into their yard. 

 

 

 

 

This is the front of their yard, the snow is halfway up the side of the chicken yards.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hope the rest of my New England blogging friends are safe and sound during this storm.  I am very thankful that we had time to prepare, have the tools necessary to move all this white stuff, and that I have three sons that help, and of course my husband, he is out "playing in the yard" with his tractor while I sit here with a cup of coffee blogging!  The wind has subsided around my house so I am almost sure we should be set in regards to a power outage, but we have a generator if that happens! 

 



First Post of 2013

Finally getting back to posting, hoping to be better in the coming year!

Settling into my new sewing corner, it is comfortable and has lots of natural light.

All of my fabric is in totes and on shelves in various places in my bedroom along with most of my other sewing/quilting supplies.  While it's not as convenient as having everything in one room, I am happy that I have a place that I CAN sew!  This sewing cabinet is the Koala Sew Mate II, it folds up and looks like a sideboard when I am not using it, which is almost never!  I was able to find a used one on CraigsList, so happy that I was able to get this at a fraction of what a new one costs and it was in mint condition!

Here are the projects I have been working on...............

This is the first of the small Civil War Journals quilts, the second one is almost a flimsy, photo coming soon!

 

 

This is the flimsy Christmas Wishes by Gail Pan.

 

 

This stichery I made up myself, not sure who wrote the saying, but I stitched it up and put it in a frame I found a few years ago at a yardsale, it was a Christmas gift for my husband.

 

I had the opportunity to meet Grace fellow blogger yesterday, we visited a few quilt shops and enjoyed nice lunch.  

A quick post..............

Spent time today moving furniture around to accommodate the Christmas tree, of course I had to clean each area before putting something new into it!  My chair was moved to the space where Midnight's bed usually is, so he figured he would just take over my bed...........

Earlier this year my mom gave me my grandmother's vintage 1977 ceramic Christmas tree along with the white glitter "snow" blanket, today I cleaned it and put it out.

 

Hope you are enjoying your week.



A Puttering Kind of Day...............

Today the temps were unseasonably warm  and drizzly so after running a few errands I decided to do some cooking. 

Cabbage Stew was simmering on the stove top..................

 

 

 

I had a bunch of these sitting on the counter waiting to be used up.............

 

 

Thanks to Julie at Dog Trot Farm for introducing me to this wonderful cookbook, I was able to find a recipe for 'Delicious Banana Cake' along with a recipe for 'Lemon Butter Frosting' that also contained mashed bananas.................

 

My copy is gently used and contains notes next to some of the recipes as well as a few "spills" letting me know what pages were used more frequently.  While the cake is not the "prettiest" I can say that it is tasty. 

 

Here are a few of the projects I have been working on in the past few months................

 

Another rag quilt, this one made with Moda Primo Flannels (the one in my last post was made with homespun fabric),  I added batting between the layers to give it  more weight.  I will enjoy curling up under this quilt during the cold winter days!

 

I am also working on a stitchery called 'Christmas Wish' by Gail Pan, there are a total of nine stitched blocks..........

 

Here are the fabrics that will be used when I put it all together, if you want to see a photo of the completed project you can visit Footprints Quilt Shoppe, March 8, 2012 post by clicking on the highlighted name. 

 

One last little project from Primitive Gatherings is 'Primitive Pinwheels'..................

  



 

 

 

Thanks for stopping by, in my next post I will be sharing photos of  my cozy sewing corner.



Almost Three Months................

It's been almost three months since my last post, I really don't have a good excuse.  I have been busy but not THAT busy, I think it's a mix of busy and lazy! 

I have gotten lots of sewing done, moved out of my sewing room to a cozy corner in the dining area, brought in the winter wood, cleaned out the garden and cozied up the chicken coop since I last posted.

Danvers carrots harvested from the garden......... 

 

 

A rag quilt made as a gift................... 

 



I will get out the camera and get to posting photos of where I relocated my sewing area after my son moved back home.  Thankfully I was able to locate a gently used Koala cabinet for a bargain price, allowing me to have a great place to sew while using minimal room in my dining area.   

Hoping to get some Christmas decorating done early so I can truly enjoy the season, I only have a few major gifts to purchase along with stocking stuffers.  In the coming week I should be able to get the bulk of it done and then................I can PLAY during the month of December!