Quilt Exhibit

My crazy quilt, "Crazy Diamonds" is on exhibit at the Fenimore Art Museum in Cooperstown, NY from 24 Sept - 31 Dec in the "Unfolding Stories" exhibit. Every stitch in Crazy Diamonds is by hand. It has won blue ribbons at the American Quilters' Society, Empire State Quilt Festival, Bennington Quilt Festival, Vermont Quilt Festival, and New York State of Mind Quilt Contest and has also won several Viewer's Choice and Vendor's Choice ribbons.

As I was completing it in April of 2009, my daughter went into labor. I quickly gathered up the bits and pieces of the quilt and drove to her house and started talking to my as-yet-unborn grandson through her belly. I asked him, "Baby, please wait just a bit for Granny to finish this quilt!" And you know, he did! A few days later the quilt was finished and Raffaele was born. My daughter has not forgiven me. :-)

Hurricanes Irene and lee

On August 28, we were hit fairly hard by Irene. This is not a creek or river. This is part of the garden by the road. At the base of the tree is a 3 foot slope. The waters were flowing quite quickly across the entire 5 acres of our property. Just a week or so later, we were hit by Lee. Not as bad as Irene, but most of the property had flowing flood waters. Our basement was flooded to 4 feet, destroying the sump pump, new boiler system, water softener and damaging water pipes and oil tank. We lost power for 6 days. Had power surges from generator which played havoc with computers and burnt out our stand-up freezer filled with organic food. We lost a lot of our business packaging and raw materials. There was 2 feet of water in the barn and garage. It's been over 4 weeks and we still have no hot water or heat.

However, the surrounding area fared much, much worse! Entire houses were destroyed. Businesses and homes had extensive flood damage. Roads and bridges were washed away. In villages, there were gas and oil spills, sewage problems, etc. They are calling this event a 500-year flood. Let's hope so. Middleburgh School just opened for the year yesterday. There is still extensive damage, but work goes on while students adjust to all.

Another Sweet Friend!

Tina Sams, editor of the wonderful herb magazine, The Essential Herbal, blogged about our gardens. Thank you Tina!!! Click on the title above to see it. And, don't forget to subscribe to the mag. It's a knowledgeable, folksy, user-friendly herb magazine.

Sweet Words from a Kind Friend.

Susan Elliot is a Renaissance Woman. She is a stitcher par excellence, an outstanding photographer, a writer with an extraordinary gift and a woman with a true, golden heart. She blogs about her life - and what a life it is! She was kind enough to blog sweetly about the class she had with me. Please have a look and make sure you look at her other posts - she has created a life for herself filled with joy and love.

Click on the title above to view Susan's blog.

Rose-scented Bee Balm

Rose-scented bee balm in our garden. (Monarda didyma 'rose-scented'). Bee balm is also known as bergamot. But, it shouldn't be confused with the bergamot flavor in Earl Grey tea. That bergamot is an orange, not an herb. Although, the native bergamot was also known as Oswego Tea. Apparently, the Oswego Indians showed colonists how to brew this into a beverage and it got very popular after the Boston Tea Party.

But, this variety of bee balm is a bit different than others. The fragrance of its flowers and foliage smell like rose-scented geranium and it is heavenly! Bees and hummingbirds and butterflies all love it. And so do I! Delightful as a cup of tea, for use in potpourri, or just to gaze upon.

In fact, on days like today, which are clear and sunny, just standing next to this plant and gazing upon its beauty provides a balm for me. I can totally understand why bees are lulled by this plant. Perhaps I am part bee? Buzzz.

Adventure in CQ 2012

The Adventure in Crazy Quilting retreat was phenomenal. Maureen Greeson has asked me to come back again next year and I readily said "YES"!! Click on the link for the information. I urge you to sign up quickly! Classes sell out WAY before the retreat. This is the project I will be teaching. The other terrific teachers are: Diane Fitzgerald, Helen Gibb, Pat Winter, Sharon Boggon, Nancy Eha and Shirlee Fassell.

Teaching Crazy Quilting

September 30, October 1 & 2 will find me back in Wisconsin, teaching in Oconomowoc. I had such a great time last year, it didn't take much convincing to have me back again! Cheryl Anderson is hosting and organizing this event. If you are interested, please go to her blog and email her to get more info!

CRAZY QUILT DESIGN. Bring a partially completed block that you are struggling with, or a new block that you have specific ideas or themes for but want help implementing them. Betty will share her ideas for each block with all of us, and we will then have an opportunity to start stitching our block using those ideas. There will be many ideas shared in this class, so bring a notebook along to jot down ideas you like from all of the blocks that Betty is going to be sharing. Half a day will be spent on learning how to design these blocks with Betty, and the other half of a day will be spent working on your design with Betty's help along the way.

CRAZY PIECING WITH VELVET. Betty Pillsbury is known for her beautiful curved piecing techniques that allow the block to flow from one area to the next. Her piecing is all done by hand which allows for greater portability as well as greater control over curves. Learn how she incorporates velvet into her piecing without the slippery slidey frustrations that usually go along with using this beautiful fabric.

KICK IT UP A NOTCH SEAM TREATMENTS: Learn a few more seam treatments from Betty that feature some beaded and beautiful seam treatments for your next project. You can either bring fabric to practice your seam treatments on, or a block that you can work them on.