What a week!

What a great quilting week it's been! Wednesday was our guild meeting, Champlain Valley Quilter's guild of New York. We had a guest speaker, Karen Eckmeier from The Quilted Lizard. She is such a dynamic speaker, humorous and full of energy. I enjoyed listening to the stories associated with her creations, how she arrived at a particular design. Her work is beautiful to see!

Afterwards we headed it off to Merons, a bar down the street, for our monthly ritual of music, beer and darts. Since I've been hanging out with Jennifer and Lora, my dart game has drastically been improving. I won a game of cricket and 501. What a life skill I have acquired! lol In our excitement and enthusiasm to have fun, all while I proceeded to improve my dart skills, I didn't get home until 3:00 a.m.

I did get up 3 (three) hours later to get dd on the bus and ready my things for a workshop with Karen Eckmeier.

I attended the Happy Villages workshop that was sponsored by the guild. It was a great class! Karen Eckmeier is quite the entertainment! lol

During the creative process, Karen converses with her quilt. It's quite amusing to watch her demonstrate how she builds her village.

She believes that every quilt you create should make you smile. If you are not smiling, the quilt is not finished!

We were approximately 15 in the class and everyone had a different look to their village. It was fun to watch how the various villages came alive as finer details were added.

In keeping with the spirit of the fall season, I chose to do a Halloween village. Welcome to Spooky Hollow!

It is not finished and I have more details to add to it before I can start machine quilting it.

I will admit, this was really quilting outside of the box for me. I'm not used to ad lib quilting! The process involves cutting your squares into various shapes and building your village from the center outward. There is no structure to this, it's quite abstract.

Thursday evening, my friend Patty came over for our bee. I did warn her of my present sleepless state. She just laughed!

Despite the lack of sleep, it's been a great week! Thanks for stopping by!

It's not an illusion!

At last, I have begun!

You are not seeing things! Yes it is a hand embroidery project!

The pattern is called Autumn's Harvest Pumpkin by Crab-Apple Hill. I just love their designs.

It is fall and I since I do love pumpkins, what better hand embroidery pattern to begin! I will say I'm a tad rusty. The stitches are not looking as lovely as I would like them to be, but it's a start!

I will admit, I'm a tad lost with some of the terms. Hence why I started with the words and will work my way via the process of elimination.

For the pumpkin outline it calls for a fly stitch. I really have no clue what that is. I'm thinking that it's the stitch that extends from the pumpkin outline. I lent my hand embroidery book by Judith Baker Montano to my mother so I have no reference in which to look.

If you recall mom is supposed to be embroidering the panels on the French Cottage Garden Quilt for my daughter. Wendy has made the same quilt, hence where my inspiration came from, thank you again Wendy. As Kim would say, "there are hidden cost associated with blogging." So true!

All this to say that my mother has not started the panels yet, which were given to her the beginning of June. Hum..... I wonder where I get my procrastination from, but I digress! lol I should just get the book from her so that I can look up terms.

I'm off to attend to some much needed school work. I did take the week off from school, and a lovely break it was.

Back to reality! Have a great day everyone!

A New Project!

Last week was a rough one for me. I'm feeling much better now especially since I started a new project! ;o) There's nothing like working on something new to help change my frame of mind.

The other day I received my issue of McCalls Quilting magazine and fell in love with the third (3) quilt from the top.

It has always been my goal to have seasonal quilts for each bed in my home. Since DD does not have a winter quilt as of yet, I thought this one would be perfect.

For my quilts designated as "winter quilts", I like to use 100% wool batting. As you know, it can get pretty cold in Upstate New York and living in a house that is more than 150 years old, the insulation factor is no where near those of a newer home. I find wool to be superior on those cold winter nights!

I went looking through my stash and these are the fabrics I came up with. The bottom fabric will be used for the 4 (four) patch square.

I do plan on making the quilt a bit bigger than specified in the magazine. I find it to be a tad small for a twin. Besides, winter quilts always need to be bigger so that you can wrap yourself snug! lol

I do hope you are all enjoying the fall weather. It has been gorgeous in Upstate New York for the past week. It makes it difficult to stay inside!

Have a great day everyone!

My aching body!

Stephen is on vacation for the week. Today, being such a gorgeous day, he asked me out on a hiking date! ;o)

It's been a while since I've been on a date with my sweetie. So, I dusted off my hiking boots and we headed south to the Adirondacks.

We did the Poke-O-Moonshine trail, which climbs an eastern Adirondack peak.

The trail is 2.4 miles round trip. Don't let the low miles fool you, it's very steep. You get quite the workout! Who needs a StairMaster when you've got Poke-O-Moonshine! lol

This is not a leisurely hike what so ever. You are continuously climbing upwards, winding around the mountain until you reach the summit. At times, you're actually rock climbing! lol

This is a beautiful view we were privy too!

It was a tad hazy today, so the colours are not as vibrant as I would have liked the picture to be. The view was breathtaking!

Once we had reached our destination, we had a little picnic! Nothing fancy, apple, cheese, crackers and nuts. It was enough to keep us well energized!

After our leisurely lunch, we headed back down the mountain!

Once home, I could barely move my body! I have not exercised since my surgeries and boy do I feel it! Nonetheless, it's a good pain, if you catch my drift! lol

Thank you for stopping by! I hope you are enjoying a beautiful Autumn day!

The barn!

Thank you so much for your encouragement and thoughtfulness. I'm feeling much better! Today will be spent at a soccer tournament watching my daughter play. It is a beautiful Autumn day and should be a pleasant sit in the sun. I am bringing some hand applique but knowing myself, unless I sit in a corner away from every one, I'll just be chatting with the parents and cheering my baby on! lol As most of you know by now, I can yack! lol

Given that I don't have much quilty things going on, I thought I would share with you the barn.

Tah, dah......

Dad and my brother came down last weekend to put the tin roof on. Stephen had been busy getting the cupola constructed and ready to assembled.

They worked all day Saturday and in the morning on Sunday. Afterwards, they all went sailing on Lake Champlain! A treat well deserved after all their hard work.

Stephen has been busy this week putting the finishing touches. The only thing left to do is to install the doors!

I do like the way he did the windows on each side. The glass panes came from a couple of original windows from our home that were replaced last year.

As for the weather vane, I had originally picked a witch on a broom. Unfortunately, the way it was mounted would not have worked with the cupola.
Since I love anything celestial, a sun, moon and star worked just as well.

There you have it, our barn! It is certainly a nice place for my husband to keep a stash of wood!

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great day every one!