Early Mornings

Those of you who know me know that I like to get up early....before dawn is preferable. I try to write for about a half hour and then if I'm at home I usually have my breakfast and get on with the day. Here at Snowbird, I enjoy taking a walk out to Sunrise Point to check out the birds. Craig gets up a bit after I do, and he and our friend Bill have been going out to the point too. This is the view we were greeted with this morning...Lake Santeetlah is down below us. It is a truly incredible view, isn't it!! We take along our binocs and listen to the birds calling....and then try to spot them. The migrating warblers are all stopping by now and we are treated with many views of these little guys. This morning we spotted a Redstart and a lovely Indigo Bunting. Back at the Lodge we saw a Blackburnian Warbler...truly a sight to behold.


This is a new plaque which is mounted on a railing by a couple of benches out at Sunrise Point. It fits the bill for me!








After breakfast we brush our teeth, pick up our box lunches and head out for the day. There are eighteen of us in our group.... friends from Gainesville, Craig's cousins from Athens, two friends from Atlanta and another two from Cincinnati, Ohio....and we meet here every Spring for a long weekend of highjinx in North Carolina. It is so much fun! The food is great, the wildflowers are incredible and the birding is superb! Two of the couples in our group are getting married in the next few months, so tonight the rest of us are surprising them with a champagne cocktail hour! What fun! Shhhhh....don't tell!!!

If Blogger will allow, I will include a couple of wildflower photos.






This is the Showy Orchis, one of my most favorites. Imagine walking along a pathway in the woods and seeing this beauty crop up beside you! Truly unbelievable!!!





This is the Bellwort. The forest just carpeted with these along with white Trillium and pinkish purple wild geraniums. It is a sight to see! Two in our group are excellent birders, so while we are inspecting the wildflowers, they are listening to the bird songs and then finding these lovely creatures in the treetops. This morning we saw Scarlet Tanangers, Rose Crested Grossbeaks, Redstarts, Blackburnian Warblers, and Yellow Winged Warblers, along with the usual Towhees, Carolina Chickadees, Robins, Gold finches, Tufted Titmice.





Well, this is more than blogger and my limited internet connection here has allowed me to post in the past few days, so I'd better quit while I'm ahead!

Have fun!

These boots are made for hikin'

And that's just what they'll do!

I have not the best feet in the world and I went off and left the better part of my hiking boots at home....what was I thinking???? Before I even realized that, we stopped at an outdoor center on our drive up to North Carolina and I purchased the hiking/walking/hangin' out in footwear of my dreams...these new Keens! Then I realized what I had left behind and also realized that I was destined to spend the weekend walking in the above footwear or not walking at all...so there you have it! Suffice it to say that these little gems are the most comfortable walking/hiking/hangin' out in footwear I've ever owned!!! They come highly endorsed by moi!!!

Amost Heaven....

North Carolina!!!
We are away for a long weekend with friends in far western North Carolina...the Smokies, to be exact! I have tried several times to post photos to the blog but our connection isn't good and I keep getting booted off the net, so I will post many when we get home. The weather is glorious and the wildflowers and migrating birds are just incredible. I will try to post just one photo before I log off tonight!

Gone dotty

As promised, here are a few photos of the newest members of my Dot family:

I am planning to use these for a small wall hanging of Cara Gulati's Radiant Suns quilt. We'll see how this goes! I just am crazy about all of the dotted fabrics out there right now!!!

Here's a few of what's blooming in my garden right now:

Lily of the Valley! When I was very young, I used to love to "garden" with my Swedish grandmother, Augusta Bendikta Anderson Peterson. (She was also a quilter!!) One of my fondest memories is of her loads and loads of Lily of the Valley. We were in Paris one year on May 1st (or was it April 1st?) when it is traditional for lovers to present their beloved with Muguet de Bois...darling Craig didn't skip a beat!!!

Baptisia, or False Indigo...what a gorgeous specimen!! I do hate it when a plant is given the common name beginning with "false"...makes it sound like such a pretender! Anyway, I love this beauty....especially because of the great contrast between the blue blossom and the lovely Spring green foliage!

Foxgloves!!! My stitching, gardening, quilting and all around good buddy Joan gave me about two dozen apricot floxgloves a number of years ago and this is one of the great great grans of those plants! My garden has many gift plants from lots of friends, which to me makes it very dear indeed. I let these guys reseed and pretty much leave them be...they seem happy enough. Why can't the world be that way????

My first rose of the summer! In another week or so this baby will be just covered with her gorgeous pink blossoms. I love her for her color and sweetness, but most especially because I got her on sale at Lowes for $1.99 about six years ago...and she is very happy here in my garden!!!

Sold!!

Well, I am thrilled to say that my "Somethin' Fishy" sold for above and beyond my expectations at our church's J2A (Journey to Adulthood) youth auction....and the best part is that I have orders for TWO more! WooHoo!!! It was so much fun to make and I can hardly wait to get started on the new ones! One will be staying here in Gainesville and the other two are going to the beach: one to South Caroline and the other to Florida!

It has already been a waaay to much fun weekend, and it's only half over! I forgot the power cord for my laptop when we went to the condo yesterday, so I couldn't blog from there...ran the battery down answering emails and reading everyone else's blogs!!! The Atlanta Silk Artists' meeting was fabulous. We are a small group, but are growing at each meeting. I love all of the info that is shared and the enthusiasm!! I learn so much from my friends there! Afterwards Craig and I went up to Virginia Highlands to Intown Quilters....er, is that Virginia Highlands or maybe Decatur? Anyway, I bought scads more polka dots and will show you them tomorrow...it is too late and I am too too tired! Then we stopped by a couple of bakeries for bread: sourdough at one and whole wheat at another. And oh, we bought the best "stinky cheese" to have with wine before dinner! YUMMMM! We walked Barker around the 'hood and met up with our friends John and Larry who own Luna, one of Barker's favorite Standard Poodle Playmates! It was a lovely evening.

This morning we walked around the hood again...this time in the rain showers. It was still nice, as it has gotten warm, but not yet too humid. Kristin came over at 9 AM with Marley, her and Dave's dog, and we did the MS Walk for a Cure in Piedmont Park. By then it was really raining, but we wore our baseball caps and enjoyed ourselves. A little water never hurt anyone and the dogs were having a great time together. By the time we finished, the sun was shining and the sky was a beautiful Spring blue!

How's the weather????

Well, quite frankly, it's not been too pleasant here for the past 12 hours or so. We had some severe thunderstorms last evening and night, but thankfully did not receive any damage, and we are forecasted to receive more storms before the cold front finally moves on through the area. So, I am blogging early today, thinking that there is a great possibility that I will be shutting down my computer again this afternoon.

We did manage to go out birding with a group from the nature center yesterday morning and saw two wonderful Baltimore Orioles and a Louisiana Water Thrush. Of course there were lots of other birds, but those were the most remarkable. The Orioles are just passing through...on their way to Baltimore, of course! This mornning's birdwatching trip was cancelled due to the forecasted thunderstorms.

So here is what I've accomplished in the way of quilting in the past 24 hours or so:

"She" is a birthday card for my friend Molly...I don't think she reads my blog, so I should be safe to say that here! Molly and I are both crazy over foul, so I think she will enjoy this. As you may be able to read (it's blurry and I apologize...can't seem to get those closeups!!), I've stamped Happy Birthday on the outside, and then when you flip it over the message says: "Chickie". Now isn't that cute! I must confess I cannot take complete credit for that....my daughter Kristin sent me an Easter card with the same sentiment! Oh, and you thought I was so clever...sorry to disappoint!

We are off to Atlanta and the condo today...I'm hoping to talk Craig into stopping at DSW, as I have a $25 off coupon about to burn a hole in my pocket! I have an Atlanta Silk Artists meeting at 2:00 PM, and then I'm returning to Intown Quilters again....more polka dots, I'm thinkin! Tomorrow morning Kristin and I are doing the MS Walk for a Cure....6.2 miles. We are hoping that we can take along our doggies, Barker and Marley. They love to walk, love people and other dogs too!

Ciao!

What's on YOUR Design Wall?

Today has been an "interesting" weather day, at best. We have been under a severe thunderstorm warning for most of it, and if you live in Gainesville and hear the tornado warning sirens go off like I did this morning, you are very respectful indeed of what may be headed in your direction! Back in 1936 the downtown of Gainesville, GA was pretty much destroyed by a powerful tornado and hundreds were killed. We experienced another one eight years ago and about twenty more folks lost their lives. So I have been sticking close to home today and enjoying my sewing room. I've done a good bit of cleanup since finishing my "Somethin' Fishy" quilt for the J2A auction at church and now I am in the process of finishing up a WIP:





You may recognize this as Valori Wells' "Starburst" out of her Radiant New York Beauties book. I love those quilts and became quite addicted a few years ago. I started this one some time back and have worked on it sporadically, mainly at the condo, over the past year. It is now home to be pieced and quilted, and then will reside in Atlanta.

What is on your design wall?



If someone would be so kind as to share with me the fine secret of being able to do closeups and enlargements of photos on blogger, I would be most appreciative. I thought I had figured it out, but no!

On the Road Again

Felicity (Felicity's Philosophies and other Curiosities) posted a funny comment to my post yesterday regarding her uncle's standard poodle "Snooky". While we were on our way home from Atlanta this morning I thought I'd grab a couple of shots of my regal Barker. He loves to ride in the car, but I can't even begin to imagine what folks behind us think we have riding in our car....some big-haired lady, I suppose. He is a sight to see, but believe me, he is the sweetest natured doggie we've ever had! So here is "Barker Baby" on the road:

I wish that these photos were a bit brighter, but I hope you can see how gorgeous and regal he is. Looks are decieving though...he is a typical 3 year old boy....loves to chase squirrels and adores his Mama and Papa!

OK, I'm outta here for today.

Happy Birthday wishes to my Swedish cousin, Anna Hagbjarn!!

Seasonal Blessings

Happy Easter, Passover, Spring, or whatever it is that you and yours are celebrating today. It is another pretty day here in Atlanta. We attended Easter services this morning at the Episcopal Church of the Epiphany, which is becoming our church home away from home when we are not in Gainesville attending Grace Church. It was great to see so many young families out and all worshiping together. It was a lovely morning for a walk through the "hood" with Barker, but he is worn out now and lounging on the sofa.
Ahhhhh, things that make me happy. Lisa Congdon in her blog, Bird in the Hand, wrote recently about the ten things that make her happy. Great idea! So here are a few for me...and let's see if I can make it to ten!
1. Easter morning and the great message!
2.

This is a three-parter: first is the baseball that Craig cuaght at last night's game. It was a foul ball that came off of the bat of Braves Right Fielder Jeff Francoeur.

Second in this part is that wonderful fabric upon which the baseball is resting! I bought it yesterday at Intown Quilters. Isn't it fabulous. Now another thing that really makes me happy about this fabric is that I got a great discount on it because I am teaching a class there next month!! WooHoo!!

3.The Braves won 2-0 last night and John Smoltz pitched one great shutout ballgame!

4.

Isn't this fabric cool! I am dotty over dots these days! I also found these yesterday at IQ and they make me very happy indeed, with their huge discount!!!

5.

This is our bedroom at the condo....notice the dots on the bedskirt!! Yea, dots are making me happy!

6.We are going to see "Permanent Collection" at the Horizon Theater this evening....that makes me very happy...I love it there and the production has gotten rave reviews!

7.Afterwards we are having dinner at Vine Restaurant in Virginia Highlands....a favorite of ours with some truly innovative items on the menu. On Sunday nights they feature a series of chef's specials....YUMMMM!

8.

Kristin and Dave make me happy! Hope they are having a wonderful time on their little birthday getaway to Savannah!

9.

Barker and Craig make me happy...what would I do without them on a daily basis? Hmmmmmmm

10. Being healthy and able to get out in this beautiful world not only makes me happy but extremely thankful!

"Somethin' Fishy"

I've almost finished my "Somethin' Fishy" quilted wall hanging for the youth auction at our church. And not a moment too soon, as it will be held next Saturday. Here it is:

The goldfish in the upper right corner were added after my initial post of this quilt. I really like them a lot. I painted some silk habotai to make these guys. The last one in the school has not been beaded yet. Here is a closeup of them:

Here is the Sea Horse, all beaded up:

All of the photos are a tad bit blurry, and I apologize for that....please don't run to your phone and make an appointment to have your eyes checked!!!

Here are some more closeups:

Here are what I am calling anemone. I dyed the cotton for these and then stiffened them up to make them 3-d. Aren't they cool? I wish you could see the centers better...all of the stamens are beaded up in funky colors...purples, yellows, turquoise, red, etc.

Thanks so much to Gerrie Congdon for giving me so many pointers on how to accomplish this wallhanging. Gerrie, I hope you approve.

Well, once again Blogger will not let me add any more pictures, so you are saved!!! LOL But wait, I may just do another posting later!

We are off to Atlanta for the weekend: a stop at one of my favorite quilt shops, Intown Quilters; a Braves game tonight;church at Epiphany tomorrow morning; a play tomorrow evening, and then dinner at one of our favorite restaurants, Vine. TaTa!

Christmas in April?

My husband is such a kidder....whenever a package comes for me he says something cute like, "Oh boy, it must be Christmas AGAIN!" It's always so much fun getting packages in the mail, and today's was no exception!


This little darling is titled "Stamped" and she was made by Carol Taylor for the Second International Invitational Miniature Art Textile Exhibition held in Dallas, which was curated by Joanie San Chirico. Carol Taylor taught at our local guild in January and I was fortunate enough to be there for both her lecture and class. I learned an incredible amount and am so thrilled to have her art quilt be the first in what I hope will become a collection for me. If I could figure out how to do closeups, you could see all of the detail and stitching in this little beauty. Thank you, Carol for being such an inspiration!

Birthday continued

So, we are going to Kristin and Dave's tonight and bringing them dinner! What fun!!! Craig has made his famous cole slaw, I have made the aforementioned cake and we are picking up ribs from the infamous Daddy Dz in Atlanta. Very yummy indeed.
Oh, by the way, the cake mix is an 18.25 oz box...what's .01 oz among friends???

This is Kristin's high school graduation picture, Gainesville High class of 1997.

Graduation from Georgia Tech in 2002....with honors and a BS in Mechanical Engineering. Yes, we are just a bit proud of our girl!!!

And the most recent "blessed event", the marriage of Kristin and Dave Curylo on July 3rd 2004.

I just can't resist one last shot: Kristin with her niece, Grace Strickland.

So, Happy 27th Kristin. We love you and are so very proud of you!!

Happy Birthday Sweetie Pie

Today is our daughter Kristin's 27th birthday. YIKES...can it be possible? Seems like only yesterday that we were laboring together to get this show on the road! Where have the years gone? I thought I would include some photos...just in case she decides to check in with my blog today. She is a transmission line design engineer for Georgia Power, so she is a pretty busy lady, but you can never tell!

Here sh is shortly after birth, with her proud PaPa holding her. Even though she was TWO WEEKS LATE, she still weighed only 7 pounds 15 ounces. Her Daddy was over 10 pounds, so I was a bit nervous about giving birth!

Here we are at our first house in Gainesville, Georgia. She was really stylin' in those sunglasses!

Ah, ballet days at Brenau! What fun!!!! Isn't she a cutey?!!!!

Kristin's Daddy was a pilot for Delta Air Lines, retired after 30 years of service (but let's not go there today!) so we used to "tag along" on his most interesting trips and layovers. Occasionally she got to visit the cockpit before the plane left the gate. This flight was out to San Francisco in 1984 when they started up the Cable Cars after being out for sevice for how long? I've forgotten now, but it was a fun, fun trip.

For some foolish reason Blogger is not letting me download anymore photos, so I will continue on with and go back to photos later.

I made Kristin's favorite birthday cake for tonight's celebration. This is a recipe that I found in Bon Appetit back in 1991 and Kristin and Dave like it so much they requested it for their wedding cake!!! See what you think:

Peanut Butter Cake with Chocolate-Peanut Butter Icing

Preheat the oven to 350 and grease and flour 2 9" diameter cake pans with 1-3/4" high sides. Prepare one 18.24 oz yellow cake mix according to package instructions, beating in 1/2 cup of peanut butter. Divide this mixture between the prepared pans and back until a toothpick inserted in the centers comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Cool the cakes in pans on racks for 10 minutes, and then turn out onto racks and cool completely.

For the icing: combine 3/4 cup chocolate syrup and 8 oz of semisweet chocolate chips in a heavy saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly until the chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth. Transfer to a large bowl and stir in 2 cups of peanut butter, 1 cup of powdered sugar, and 1/4 cup of milk. Continue stirring until smooth. Place 1 cake layer on platter, spread top with 1-1/2 cups icing. Top with second cake layer and spread top and sides of cake evenly with remaining icing. Garnish with chopped peanuts if desired.

This cake can be prepared one day in advance. Keep covered.

YUMMMM

No, blogger won't let me show you anymore photos, so I'll close this a do another post....shhhhh, don't tell them!!

What Fun!

We have had a couple of really fun days in Atlanta. It all began on Thursday when we visited the Youngblood Gallery in East Atlanta. Every first Thursday evening of the month they host a craft sale where local artisans bring in their wares and sell them. I am telling you there are a lot of very talented young artists in that area! I wish I had some photos, but once again, I forgot to bring my camera. Duhhhh! We had dinner at La Casita....GREAT Mexican food....in East Atlanta and were joined by none other than Kristin and Dave Curylo, our lovely and talented daughter and son-in-law.
Yesterday was the first day of the Dogwood Festival in Piedmont Park. It was a warm and sunny day, and we enjoyed being out with the crowds, checking out more than just local crafts. Last year we purchased several wonderful black and white photos and linocuts of Atlanta landmarks for our condo. This year I did a little early Christmas shopping (does anyone else do that???? My husband thinks I'm nuts, but if I find something totally appropriate for a person that I will be gifting in December, why not buy it now???), and just enjoyed checking out the wonderful crafts. There were several silk painters/dyers there, plus one gal who did rather mass-produced "art quilts". Here are a few photos:

Here are some of the awesome silk garments that were offered for purchase:

I hope you can get a good view of the wonderful skirt to the left. It was made with charmeuse, and was truly to die (dye?) for! This gal had so much to sell, and everyone was just going wild in her little booth. I hope she did well with her sales.

Here are some wonderful silk scarves:

So, we had a great time, and it was truly a fabulous Spring day in Atlanta. Then last night the thunderstorms and tornadoes struck! I slept right through the thunder and lightening, but both Craig and Barker were awakened. There were no tornadoes in Midtown but the poor folks to the west of the city got slammed. My heart goes out to them.

Today was the fabulous 2006 Midtown Tour of Homes http://www.midtowntour of homes.com. The most wonderful part for me was that the house that I adore was on the tour!!! So for a mere $20, I got to go inside....and get this: Karen Tunnell who owns this home with her husband is a quilter AND a garden designer...I just knew I loved that home for some reason! If you go to the web site, you will find Karen and Wiliam Tunnell's home as #6 on the tour: 821 Penn Avenue. We walk by their lovely home every day when we are at the condo, and I think it is just the most wonderful house in the world! I met Karen this morning and told her that if she ever wants to sell, she needs to call me first!

We drove back home to Gainesville late this afternoon and then enjoyed a wonderful evening at the home of our good friends John Karluk and Troy Ertzberger. They are both fabulous cooks and just great fun to be with. Thanks guys, it was terrific!!!

So, that's it for today....I am toddling off to bed and will hopefully get some quilting, dyeing, gardening, churching, and Mom-visiting in tomorrow.

Dyeing Day

Well, I did make it out to the studio for about two hours this afternoon and had a great time! Here you can see Barker the Dye Dog, doing what he does best, unless of course there is a squirrel around!

I am a great Rayna Gillman fan, and when she began expounding upon the virtues of the American Beauty Irons, I just had to find out for myself. I only have one, but I love her, and use her constantly!

Here's another view...I like to think of this as my artsy fartsy photo:

So my American Beauty baby is resting upon the "silk of the day", which is to say my project. Here it is a while later:

It had to cure for several hours, so I went inside, played with my fish quilt, did some yoga, and went to church for dinner and a Lenten program.

Here is the scarf, rinsed, ironed and ready to go:

Oh, and here's a mailbox photo, so you can see my pansies, tulips, blooming kale, etc.