Judy Bop

Kousa

2010-06-13T12:37:00.000-04:00

Happy Spring/Summer! It's been such a long time since I posted anything but I got inspired by this beautiful tree. I've been looking at all the kousa dogwoods and they're all nice, but this one is amazing - covered with flowers!

Thanks to Sarah for taking the pictures and inspiring me to blog again. (No one can keep up with her :-)

Flood Stage

2010-04-01T21:27:00.000-04:00

Here's a little river in the center of Dover. This is what happens when we get 3 days of rain. I can't complain - I missed most of the rain but I got to see this. It was roaring!

The rivers are wild all over southern New Hampshire. It's getting to be a regular thing every spring.

I heard peepers for the first time this year on my way home tonight. I love that sound. Happy Spring!

Dad's Kindle

2010-04-01T21:07:00.001-04:00

I was thinking about this for a long time but I finally made up my mind to get my father a Kindle for his birthday. He likes it - doesn't he look cool reading it?

It's pretty fun - now I have to make up mind about buying one for myself. I'm really tempted :-)

By the way, can you see that cool case on the table? It's temporary but I bet it's one-of-a-kind!

Happy Spring

2010-03-21T13:33:00.000-04:00

Here's a nice way to celebrate spring. Make some beautiful, delicious marshmallows. Here is the recipe.

Katie made them and I cut them.

Don't they look good?

Bruno and his toys

2010-03-13T08:23:00.001-05:00

This is inspired by Bruno's cousin Emily. If you click on the link you'll see that they really do look like cousins. He loves his toys too but he doesn't sleep surrounded by them. He prefers to lie down on top of them. His toys are a lot smaller than Emily's and his attention span is a lot shorter than hers. He looks like he could use a good brushing!

January

2010-01-23T11:22:00.003-05:00

Here's how my house looks now - a fringe of long icicles. When I open the front door some of them snap off. I have to watch out they don't fall on me.

The other day I was emptying out my lunch bag when I got to work and I couldn't figure out why everything was all wet. Then I found two little icicles at the bottom. They must have fallen in when I wasn't looking. It's a new way to refrigerate your lunch :-).

I hope you're having a happy winter!

Some of the projects

2010-01-16T20:29:00.001-05:00

Here are some of the projects I've been working on, mostly for Christmas presents. I actually started pretty early this year but of course I was still doing a few at the last minute. Well, there are a couple that aren't done yet, but they're coming along.

I made this wall hanging as a project for a quilting class. I really liked the design so I wanted to try it.
Here's the finished penguin. He looks a lot better with his face. I think he has a big nose. Chris has a penguin collection so when I saw this pattern I wanted to try making it for her.

I made these holiday cats for Earleen. Last year I made her cats for the seasons but she needed some holidays to provide some variety. I hope you can tell which cats are for which holidays.

I had lots of fun making this hat for Raf. He picked out the colors. It's called Urbanista. I liked it because you knit it sideways - something different.

Sarah and Katie both work in cold offices so I made them some fingerless gloves.

I made this double-sided cable scarf for Nathan. It was a fun pattern. I think it's nice and thick and cozy.

I also experimented with another hat pattern. It came out bigger than I expected but I think it fits Nathan pretty well. It's really warm. The pattern is called Tychus.

Here he is wearing both the hat and scarf.Here's a string grocery bag I made for our yankee swap. It got swapped quite a few times. I don't know if that's good or bad. :-) It matches Sarah's sweater ball but they're going to end up in different places.

After a few freezing days in Boston I decided to make a new hat for myself. I wanted something that was loose enough so I wouldn't get "hat head." I sort of thought this would be a little floppier but it's pretty good. It doesn't squish my hair anyway.
There are a few more things that I need to get pictures of, so more to come later...

Shabu and Pho

2010-01-10T20:21:00.000-05:00

We had a delicious soup weekend in freezing cold Boston. Here we are at Shabu-Ya in Harvard Square. It's a pretty place with modern-looking decorations.

Shabu shabu is where you get lots of veggies, noodles, mushrooms, tofu and meats (for some people) and you cook them in broth. It's fun, delicious, messy, etc.
Sarah and I were sharing a broth so we had to coordinate. We were getting a little competitive. I'm sure she ate some of my mushrooms :-)

The red broth was Nathan's. I think it was super-spicy.

Then on another day we went to Chinatown and tried another kind of soup. This kind is Vietnamese pho. It comes with everything already cooked - you just add fresh bean sprouts, lime and basil, and hot sauce if you want.

It was really cold and windy outside, so good soup weather. Hope you're keeping warm!

December in Boston

2010-01-09T11:00:00.000-05:00

I went to visit Katie and Raf in Boston. Here are some pictures of their beautiful apartment. This is a really nice corner by two windows and beautiful views. Of course it looks even nicer with this special afghan, right?

Don't you just want to snuggle up there in the sun with a good book and a cup of tea?

Boston has great apartments (and fancy kitchen sinks).

Susie's succulent garden having a little sunbath.

A few knitting projects of course. I won't tell you what Katie's making but I was working on a penguin. The penguin was sad without his face but he found a nice friend.
No knitting for Raf!

One of the reasons I wanted to go to Boston was to do some research at Anthropologie. They have amazing crafty decorations and I love the way they decorate the store. It looked like they filled the whole place with soap bubbles. Or maybe it was supposed to be snow. :-)

It's always changing and I always get inspired with new ideas there. I don't think I'll try this one though.

Christmas

2010-01-06T22:00:00.003-05:00

OK, this is mostly about food. We drank these beautiful Shirley Temples (Katie's favorite drink). We thought they should have a little green-leaf decoration. You can't really see but I think there are about 5 cherries in each glass. :-)

We also made these delicious raviolis.

The little helper - he looks so innocent, like he'd never try to eat my yarn.

Another one of Katie's favorites - tapioca pudding.

And this is one of my favorites - a baked apple pancake. Yum!

Maybe not the traditional Christmas foods but they were all fun to make.

Snow

2010-01-06T21:28:00.004-05:00

I can't help taking lots of snow pictures. I think it's so pretty when it's all over the trees. Here are some pictures from a few different days.

This one was from inside the car. (Don't worry, Nathan took the picture while I was driving.) It really looks like we live in the great white north.

I can appreciate it so much more if I'm not shoveling. :-)

Happy New Year!

2010-01-06T21:19:00.004-05:00

Ha! Thought I had disappeared, right? I have a whole bunch of pictures to put up here so I'm starting now. I hope everyone had a nice holiday season. It was lovely and relaxing in New England. I think 2010 is going to be a great year.

Here's my beautiful amaryllis. Raf's family brought it when then came for Thanksgiving. It wasn't quite in bloom for Christmas but it was open for New Year's. First two flowers bloomed...
Then one day there were four and more buds still. It's so nice to have flowers in January.

Happy New Year!!!

Happy Birthday Katie!

2009-11-22T17:48:00.010-05:00

Katie's birthday is tomorrow but we already had a nice birthday weekend. Sarah wrapped most of the presents in beautiful paper with crocheted flower bows.

Here's the thing we've been really excited about. It's a joint effort - Sarah and I decided to make this wild birthday afghan. I'm happy it came out so well.

I have to show a bunch of shots to show off all the angles. :-)

By the way here are a couple of pictures of Katie with her delicious challah bread.

Happy Birthday!

Judy, Susie and Emily's Great Adventure

2009-11-02T21:21:00.007-05:00

We had a great time driving down to Florida and doing some exploring along the way. Having Emily the golden retriever with us meant we got to meet people all over the place - she has such a magnetic personality ;-)

We took a western route through Pennsylvania, Virginia, Tennessee, North Carolina and Georgia. Here we're just about to get onto the Blue Ridge Parkway in Virginia. I was excited to see a sign for one of my favorite groups.

The mountains were really pretty and colorful. (Not New England colorful but still nice.)

I liked how there were open fields as well as wooded areas.

We stopped to see this mill.

I think this was something like a sluiceway.

Of course this looked interesting - it looks like natural dyes.

In North Carolina we went to see the Biltmore Estate - pretty fancy. Can you see the gargoyles sticking out?

Can you believe this is in North Carolina? It looks like it should be in Bavaria or someplace like that.

The lion tried to run away but we held it back.

It's hard to see but there are horses going by on the grassy area. If I ever go back there I'm definitely going on a trail ride. The setting is gorgeous!

View from the back terrace

This lady jumped into my picture!

Pretty conservatory I found some plants I liked.

Then we went to Savannah, Georgia. I've always wanted to spend some time walking around there. It was fun looking at all the Spanish moss and picking out which house we should buy.

This is a giant live oak in Forsyth Park.

Pretty gate and garden

There were lots of beautiful houses.

I love these little gardens.

I liked seeing this person in his seersucker suit. He even had white bucks.

Florida was about 30 degrees warmer than Georgia. Here's more Spanish moss - on cypress trees this time.

This park is part of the Everglades. I love to go walk around the boardwalk. No alligators this time.

A quick visit with Mom and Dad - then back home again.

haha - we fit in a lot for a week!

Deerfield Fair

2009-11-02T21:05:00.003-05:00

We've been going to this fair for so many years, and it's always the same but since it's just once a year it's still fun. I love all the animals and crafts and the food!

We were lucky with the weather. I like to get a snack and sit at the horse show.

Raf found a good sausage place.

Sweet potato ruffly fries

I really love the big horses and oxen. We had to jump out of the way when they started bringing the draft horses into the barn.

There were so many cow photo ops.

Comfy friends

One of my favorite buildings - quilting and crafts

I don't ride the rides but I like to go see them - it's so wild there.

Next year I'll have to get a picture of the apple crisp :-)

Fair Time!

2009-09-27T21:06:00.007-04:00

One of my favorite things about fall is the fairs. OK there are lots of favorite things about fall but when the fairs start you know fall is really here.

I went to the Common Ground Fair in Unity, Maine this past weekend. Saturday was a beautiful day - perfect temperature and perfectly clear. I love this fair because of all the working crafts, great food, interesting people to talk to, good music, lots of animals, and great people-watching.

These cutie alpacas live right next to the fair grounds. We took a little detour to see them.

A farmer's work is never done. :-)

The farmer's market is right near the entrance.

Naturally one of my favorite shots - antique spinning wheels.

Katie's favorite food of all time - tomatoes!

Inspecting the produce...

In case you can't read this sign it says, "Fingers look like carrots." What do you think?

These two guys were really friendly. Their names were Lion and Bright. They kept stepping a little closer and a little closer. They were huge!

Someone said the llama was going to spit at us, but he didn't. I think he liked posing.

Two friends

Noa and Seven - aren't they cute?

Three generations - Seven found a good place to snooze.

I bought a new yarn basket and Susie tried it out. (So did Bruno when I got home but he wouldn't pose for a photo.)

Deerfield Fair next - stay tuned.

Labor Day Weekend

2009-09-06T10:59:00.003-04:00

It's Labor Day Weekend and there's lots of labor going on here, mostly by Nathan. My house is going to look beautiful. It's great weather for painting - I hope it holds up.

The front is done.

Here's today's part - the sunny side.

In case you couldn't tell from that picture, he's really high up!

Here's the ladder watcher.

Happy Labor Day!

I finished a project!

2009-08-11T12:38:00.004-04:00

I rearranged my office and all of a sudden I had a blank wall (with some holes in it, but that's another story). I really needed to make a bright, cheery thing to put in that space. Or maybe I needed an excuse to do another quilt project. Anyway, here it is - ta da!!

What do you think? Is it going to keep me awake? I guess that wouldn't be so bad. :-)

Many More Lake Photos!

2009-07-19T08:10:00.024-04:00

Here are a bunch more lake pictures. I hope you can stand it. I don't know why there are so many, but the place is pretty photogenic.

Here's Sarah working on a pretty crocheted flower.

A major gardening project - here's the gardening team.

Dad's garden

Sweeties on the dock

Pretty Mom

Hard work on the afghan

All dressed up and ready to go out for birthday dinner

Mom's garden - so colorful!

One of the first activities when you go to the lake is eating breakfast at The Wagner. It was Father's Day, so pretty busy.

The cottage is looking good.

I love how people here plant things in old shoes. :-)

Some Mennonite kids having their lunch.

One of the Mennonite quilt shops - amazing work.

Can you believe these are all hand-quilted? Wow!

It was strawberry season so we had to go picking. Once you start you can't stop.

We ended up with 7 quarts I think. Delicious!

The old stone barn in Bellona. It has a new blue roof now.

Another Mennonite quilt shop - we were on a research mission so we had to visit several. So sad! (-;

Many, many quilts

Why are we wearing the same shirts? It's a mystery to me, but the funny thing is that no one noticed for a long time.

You often see these out on the roads.

Steve and Lucky

Happy Birthday Mom!

Strawberry birthday pie

Glenn's beautiful shed

A view from the car

Sarah and Nathan at Rooster HillThere's a storm on the way!

But we went shopping anyway. Here's the bulk food store - so many goodies!

A few more views

What a beautiful lake!

Gridlock Pillow

2009-07-16T10:56:00.006-04:00

Here's what I was making with that big basket of yarn you can see in the previous post. It was inspired by Kaffe Fassett's gridlock pillow. Very fun project.

Here's the reverse side - wild, right?

Now I have to figure out what to put on the back of the pillow, but the front is done anyway. Yay - I finished a project!

Projects at the Lake

2009-07-16T10:42:00.004-04:00

I think I have slow-blogger's disease but I'll try to catch up. I had a great visit with family at Keuka Lake. I took a bunch of projects to work on while I was there. Everyone else was working on projects too. Here are some of the project pictures. I'll add some more when I get them all together.

Susie's working on a cool babette blanket. Dad always has a good book going.

The knitters...

It finally warmed up enough to take off jackets.

The jigsaw project

Mom made this cutie little mouse. Now it lives in my office.

I made two pairs of booties - aren't these the cutest?

Baby crocs

The animals are good models.

Wine decorations

17 Miles on the Kennebec

2009-06-14T20:56:00.009-04:00

I hope you like river pictures - here are a bunch! Susie and I went on a beautiful river run in our kayaks. We started in Waterville and went down to Augusta. It was part of a Kennebec River festival. Very nice - they had a bus to take people back so we only needed one car. (It really was 17 miles!)

We're off.
We were amazingly lucky with the weather. It rained every day except this one. It wasn't this smooth all the way, but isn't this beautiful?
Catching up with a few more kayaks around the half-way point in Sydney.
Here we're coming up to an island - lunchtime!
These things in the water are from when they used to have log drives. These helped channel the logs somehow. Maybe they had people standing there poking them along? Sounds dangerous.
Here's Augusta in the distance. It was funny to come into a city. Most of the trip was really woodsy with just a few signs of civilization - some wires and railroad tracks. We saw herons, ospreys, an eagle and a bunch of big fish jumping.
Starting to see the landing place on the left. We landed at a fort. Someone shot off a canon while we were still in the water - scary noise!
Susie made it - still going strong!
Waiting for the bus.
This person was paddling on a surfboard. She lasted about 2 minutes, then fell in.
What a fun day. I hope we can do some other stretches of the river later in the summer.

Puzzled!

2009-06-11T20:32:00.004-04:00

We got bitten by a puzzle bug the last couple of weekends. Nathan got us started and we finally finished it. (with a few slight distractions) Phew.. finally done! It was a tough one - so many tiny pictures.

Once it got together it didn't want to come apart.

Annual Picnic

2009-06-03T21:36:00.007-04:00

We lucked out and got a beautiful day for our staff picnic today. This park is about 10 minutes from the office. It's a nice spot, overlooking the bay. Here are lots of pictures.

Olivia wasn't sure if she wanted to get out of the car. (She looks like Kilroy.)

Mmm - lots of goodies.

Glamorous Kristen

Happy customers

The balloon game - we had some disagreements about the rules but it was fun anyway.

Secret strategies

Whose tower could stand by itself?

I don't think any of them did. The wind wasn't helping. Anyway the balloons were a big hit.

Finn had a great time.

Elaine won the rubber band game. Max (Paul's dog) is in the background taking a little snooze. He looked like he was having a good time too. Lots of fun - maybe we should do this more often??

Susie's Project

2009-05-31T21:46:00.005-04:00

Sarah and I wanted to help Susie with an afghan project so we got together some of our leftover yarn and made a colorful basket. We were trying to inspire her to make a Babette Blanket. We knew it was fun because Sarah had already made one. The squares are easy and it's fun to put the colors together.

Susie liked the idea! Here's her first square. Don't the colors look nice with her couch?

Here's another one of Susie's projects - delicious quiche with a side of fiddleheads. Even more colorful than the blanket. ;-)

Country Store

2009-05-18T19:56:00.004-04:00

Sarah and I went to visit Calef's in Barrington last weekend. It's a real old-fashioned country store. I kept finding photo ops and Sarah very nicely recorded them for me. I don't know how they make beans look so beautiful.

A maple syrup display

The put a light behind the jellies - very pretty

My quilt group meets at this quilt shop next door. Those "quilts" on the porch walls are actually made of wood.

I love porches!This picture isn't related at all but I had to put it in - so cute! Susie and Emily on their way to Maine - don't they look happy?

Green Basket

2009-05-12T21:19:00.002-04:00

Katie got me this cool basket. It's really for vegetables but I thought I'd use it to keep my yarn from tangling for a while first. I started another project (so bad but I just love to start new projects) - this one uses two strands at a time so I figured I'd try stringing each one through a different part of the basket. Works great!

Yarn Weekend

2009-05-11T21:51:00.008-04:00

Sarah and I went to Northampton, Massachusetts for the weekend. It was kind of a field trip to Webs, a giant yarn store. Sounds exciting, right? It made me happy anyway. :) So many colors, so many choices! We walked over to a coffee shop to hang out and knit. Sarah's friend Angela came too. This is her special afghan project basket.

Still knitting at midnight!

I bought a piece of fabric at a quilt store there. I don't know what I'll make yet but I really love African prints lately.

Do you recognize this guy? We stopped at the Eric Carle museum on the way home. It was pretty cute.

Sarah gave me this fun book and some flower samples.

Pretty! And a beautiful bouquet of spring flowers from Katie too - what sweetie girls!

This is the start of a couch pillow from some of my new yarn. I know, it doesn't look like a pillow yet. I'll have to post it when it's finished.

Quilted Bag #2

2009-05-03T21:09:00.003-04:00

Do you remember that wild fabric (scroll down a little) I got awhile ago? I finally made it into a bag. I actually don't think the bag is too wild but maybe I've been looking at it too much. It's the same pattern as the yellow and blue one I made for my mother, but the black and white fabric makes it look different.

Haha - I was trying it out on all the trees.

Local Baseball

2009-04-29T20:36:00.003-04:00

We went to see the NH Fisher Cats last weekend. It's a fun place to go - a nice stadium in Manchester and not too crazy-crowded. They do lots of fun things along with the baseball game.

Aren't the mascots cute?
Cute fans too :-)

We had great seats - you could really get into the game!

It really felt like summer. Last year when we tried to go in April the game was cancelled because of snow. We did better this time.

Thanks for the great photos Katie!

Beautiful Spring

2009-04-28T22:39:00.003-04:00

OK Florida people - we're getting ready for you up here! Things are starting to look really pretty.

Here's one of Sarah's beautiful meals - lots of veggies. This one was all cooked on the electric griddle.

April

2009-04-20T19:16:00.005-04:00

Well it's really spring now. I'm about a week late in posting these, but here are some pictures of our nice Easter brunch. Katie and Raf came up and helped decorate these beautiful eggs. We had a couple of wild egg hunts too - one inside and another one outside.

We make some colorful spring-like dishes. See the Easter pickles? Sarah made the cute bunnies. Raf thought they looked like Pokemon.Katie made this beautiful jello mold. We got the idea from one of Susie's neighbors in Florida.
And here are some real signs of spring. I always notice these little leaves growing in the woods because they're the first green thing every year. They last all summer but after awhile they get overshadowed by all the other green leaves and you don't notice them anymore.

The sky looks pretty forbidding but here are pussywillows!

And my bleeding heart that comes up every year. Things are just starting. I'll post some prettier pictures when the flowers come.

When you go outside at night you can really hear the peeper frogs now. I can even hear them when I'm driving with all my windows closed. Scroll down a little on this link - there's a thing you can click to hear the sound. They're super-loud and they're only about the size of a paper clip. Everything's waking up!

50 States

2009-04-12T19:28:00.002-04:00

I've been collecting state quarters and I finally got Oklahoma today. That was the last one I needed and it turns out I had it all the time and I didn't know it. But then, Nathan found it inside of an Easter egg. Nathan said, "Oklahoma" and I said, "Oklahoma!?" Now I don't know what I'm going to do with all these, but it was pretty fun to collect them all. (Mom and Susie, do you need any quarters still?)

Project Progress Report

2009-04-07T21:46:00.004-04:00

Just to keep track of how things are going -- I finally got going on the lacy scarf but it's slightly tedious. I need to alternate with some other things.

Here's the next square of Susie's quilt. I want to start working on my black and white bag but I also want to make sure I don't fall behind on this. We're not meeting for a few weeks so I'm ahead of schedule this time. Now I won't feel guilty about working on the bag. :-)

Here's a little more scarf progress. It is a fun pattern and I love the yarn so that will motivate me.

I needed an easy thing too so I started working on some socks. They're fun! The first one's almost done. I hope I feel like making the second one.

How many times will I start over?

2009-04-04T19:51:00.002-04:00

Sarah says you're supposed to post your failure projects, not just the successes. I've been trying to make this lacy scarf and I've ripped it out and started over at least four times so far. I decided it might be better if I put markers every time the pattern changed but I didn't have enough. I had to use washers! Now I have some cool new green and purple ones so maybe the project will work better now. The yarn is really nice so I hope the pattern works out.

Florida Part III

2009-03-25T21:54:00.004-04:00

More Florida photos - I just can't resist. It was beautiful down there.

These guys are surfing with kites or something like kites. I don't know what you call it but it looked fun. They can even go up in the air.

It was really windy!

Aha - Katie really does like lazy boys :-)

We saw lots of birds once we found this place.

A new place to go for a walk. Close to home too.

Emily always brings a toy for her visitors to play with.

Can you believe there are parts of Florida that still look like this? It's Blowing Rocks in Jupiter. It's beautiful but lots of man-of-war jellyfish on the beach.

More Florida Pics

2009-03-21T20:10:00.002-04:00

See Mom with the blue and yellow quilted bag? It looks great with that yellow shirt.
I didn't take this picture but it's a great one - so smiley!

Florida

2009-03-21T12:16:00.007-04:00

Katie and I went to visit the family in Florida. It's great to see so much green and so flowery. The cars are all really clean too!

Here's Dad in his office.
Mom doing the Stevie trick - taking pictures of a captive audience in the backseat of the car.

Haha - this was supposed to be a picture of thai iced tea but I snuck in Mom and Susie too.

Max seriously studying the menu - sushi!

Beautiful palm tree.

Baby Cactus

2009-03-21T12:00:00.002-04:00

Here's a little crocheted cactus I made for my mother. It looks a little humble next to the gorgeous Chinese lamp. Well at least it's colorful and it never needs water. :-)

Bruno's Birthday

2009-03-18T08:33:00.003-04:00

Yesterday was Bruno's 9th birthday. His original owner told me had had 2 brothers. One was named Mishka but I don't know the other one's name. Maybe it's Patrick since they were born on St. Patrick's day. (Bruno was the bully brother.)

Anyway Bruno had a good day - he got to eat a whole can of cat food, he got a shiny blue catnip mouse, and he found a really comfortable spot for a little nap. What a helper!

Signs of Spring II

2009-03-15T09:24:00.002-04:00

Katie and I went on a marathon walk around Boston yesterday. We were wearing spring jackets! Boston is pretty far ahead of New Hampshire. We saw signs of spring everywhere.

Beautiful blue sky and beautiful blue Charles River - it might be dirty water but it's looking pretty good now. I think the ice just went off. It was white and frozen when I saw it a week ago.

Lots of people were playing in playgrounds. All the dogs we saw looked happy.

The maple trees are getting red buds.

Can you see how the willow trees are starting to look a little yellow? They do that before their leaves come out.Daffodils and tulips at the courthouse courtyard. We'll have flowers soon!

Quilt Update

2009-03-09T22:29:00.004-04:00

Here's the second square of Susie's quilt. Still on schedule so far.

Aren't these fabrics awesome? I'm going to make a funky quilted bag from these. I'll let you know how the progress goes. I love black and white prints, but I couldn't imagine a black and white quilt. Then I thought of a black and white bag - perfect!
I've been working on Sarah and Nathan's wedding quilt too. I put it together - it now has a back and batting in the middle. I've been learning how to hand-quilt. It's actually going pretty well. Once that part gets done I'll just need to bind the edges, then done! I have plenty of unfinished projects around, but I am actually finishing lots of them this year. I'll post a finished picture soon I hope. :-)

Signs of Spring

2009-03-09T22:15:00.004-04:00

I've been keeping a sharp lookout for signs of spring. I know it's on the way. Here's what I've found so far.

All the snow fell off the roof. It made a huge noise. I told Bruno I thought an elephant landed on the roof. I'm glad I wasn't outside.

I don't know if you can read this sign but it says "Frost Heaves." In case you haven't experienced those, they're with us every spring - the roads get really bumpy for awhile. It's something to do with moisture underneath the road bed freezing and thawing. Katie could explain it better. It smooths out after awhile, but it definitely means spring is coming.

OK - we really have been getting some nice days. Here we are sitting outside in the sun yesterday! Of course we got another 6 inches of snow today but it's bound to stop snowing sometime.

I'm ready for some sunshine!

Winter Cravings

2009-03-07T12:58:00.004-05:00

OK I think I'm officially in hibernation. March is a tough month. Winter is pretty old at this point and even though March is supposed to go out like a lamb it's not going to start looking green and flowery for awhile still. Something about winter gives me cravings.

I always eat a lot more citrus fruit in winter.

Salads taste particularly good, although I still think summer salads are the best because everything's so fresh. These were good though...
Color, flowers - I'm ready for a trip to Florida!

Susie's Quilt

2009-02-18T20:39:00.003-05:00

It sounds kind of crazy but I'm starting a new quilt. It's going to be for Susie. The crazy part is the number of unfinished quilts I have already. Well, it's just two and one of those is pretty far along, but it's really got me determined to keep up with this new one. It's a Thimbleberries club quilt where you do a block every month and at the end of the year you have a finished quilt top. It's going to be pretty - here's a picture. I think it will look good in Maine.
(At least that's where I'm guessing it will live when it's done.)Here's the first block. I got it done on time to take to the quilt group meeting for "show and tell."You also do three little blocks each month that eventually fit in between the big ones. The fabrics look pretty when you see them in person.
OK let's see how well I can stick to the schedule :)

Indoor Scarves

2009-02-10T21:06:00.004-05:00

I'm really excited about this cool kind of yarn I found. It's one of those self-striping kinds, pretty thin, and it has aloe in it somehow. It's super-soft and comes in beautiful colors.

I first started making a crocheted hat with it, but I didn't really like how it was coming out. So I ripped it out and knit it into a scarf. I used really big needles - I think size 11. It was quick - quick! Isn't it pretty?

Then I decided I liked it so much that I'd make some more scarves. Here's one I made for Sarah.
And another one I'm working on now - maybe for Katie? Or maybe another one for me? :)

Haha - I love these no-pressure projects after Christmas!

"I love when people use the word baloney in a sentence."

2009-02-02T19:48:00.003-05:00

Haha - what a funny quote. I heard someone say it on NPR tonight. I really love NPR by the way!

Birthday Weekend

2009-02-01T17:46:00.003-05:00

We had a double celebration this weekend - both Sarah and Raf's birthdays. We had a nice birthday brunch. Looks like a wild party, right?Bruno likes to help open presents.Sarah has a new Red Sox shirt for her collection. Beautiful food.These cupcakes have special football sprinkles since it's Superbowl Sunday too.

So happy - birthday candles in apple crisp. I think I can see smoke.

Oh yes, I finished this little crocheted cactus. Maybe I won't kill this kind. :)

Happy Birthday!

Blue and Yellow

2009-01-29T20:58:00.005-05:00

Here are two bags I finished making recently. I must be in a blue and yellow mood.

This quilted one I made for my mother to use in Florida. Can't you just picture using these bright colors down there in the warm weather? I think it will go with her colorful clothes. The instructions were five pages long so it took awhile to finish. I'm thinking of making another one from this pattern for myself - but using some funky black and white prints. I like the zipper top, and all the pockets - two outside and six inside!

This is an Inga bag like the one Sarah made last month. I thought the pattern looked fun so I wanted to try it too. I like the way you turn the granny squares so they're diagonal, but the holes make horizontal and vertical lines.

Another bag must mean I need a new project to put in it, right? :) I have a few ideas.

As a matter of fact I just got a new knitting book. I won a Barnes & Noble gift card in a raffle so I got myself a treat - some very cool ideas in here.

Nice Ice

2009-01-24T20:29:00.003-05:00

It was a pretty day today - everything all sparkly.I sometimes knock down a few icicles when I open the front door. I have to be careful not to get stabbed!

The stone wall by the cellar door is looking a little glacial.

Haha - I had to put this one in since it's so icy cool. It's from a couple of weeks ago in Freeport.

A Miscellaneous Collection

2009-01-21T20:48:00.009-05:00

I've been wanting to write about some of the things in my house and deepest winter seems to be a good time.

I've been replacing switch plates and I got a bunch of these Anne Kilham ones. She's an artist from Maine, and her things are so pretty and cheery and New Englandy. It's like having mini-pictures around, and most of them remind me of favorite places or favorite flowers.
Some interesting lamps (at least I think so - I hope this isn't too boring)

This one was made by the potters at Strawbery Banke in Portsmouth.

Two from Ikea - they have a really good selection of lamps.

I'm not sure where this jug came from, but it's perfect for a lamp. Maybe it came from around Keuka Lake somewhere.I know this one came from somewhere near the Finger Lakes. The potter isn't there anymore but I remember driving way back into the hills to get there. It was worth it - his stuff was really nice.

Now we're really getting into the miscellaneous section.

I love these batik curtains in Katie's room. We found these cool matching stars in a Ten Thousand Villages store in Cambridge. Definitely a fun store to spend some time in.

OK, my earring collection is a little over the top. I give some away once in awhile but my frame is getting full again.

These are witch balls. I think they're supposed to protect you from evil spirits or something. Bruno bats them around sometimes.
And I just can't resist putting in a project picture. These granny squares are made of cotton and they're going to become a tote bag. I just have to sew it together now. I'll post a picture when it's done. Sarah made one of these and I got inspired to try it too.
My blogging buddy - he sits in front of the screen when I'm trying to type. :)

The Great White North

2009-01-19T19:45:00.003-05:00

OK I know it's January and this is New England, but I think we're getting a little extreme. All I heard was a chance of snow this weekend, but that turned into a foot! It seems like every time it snows we get another foot. It's a good thing it evaporates because it certainly hasn't been warm enough to melt. One pile behind the house is now taller than the deck.

All right, I'll stop complaining. It actually does look pretty.

Winter Scarves

2009-01-11T19:02:00.004-05:00

I love scarves. They're so warm and cozy and interesting-looking too. Here's the one I made for Katie this year. She picked the colors. I love the way it came out.And here's Sarah modeling the one I made for her. Luckily it goes with her new coat too.

January

2009-01-11T18:43:00.004-05:00

So what's new for this weekend? More snow. We've had quite a few storms this winter and we seem to get about 8 or 10 inches every time. This one was at a pretty convenient time anyway - we got to shovel the driveway during the middle of the day. It's really pretty when the snow is on the trees.

The driveway looks pretty good for the moment. We always have to keep it clear because of the hill. Cars get stuck at the bottom sometimes.

Max gave me his giant snow blower. It works great, even with the big piles left from the snow plows.
Sarah cleared the decks and car. Thanks for all the help! Lots of exercise today.

Bruno goes camping

2009-01-04T20:24:00.002-05:00

Bruno got a new cat tent this weekend. Katie and Raf went to Ikea and this is one of the things they bought. We didn't know if Bruno would like it or not, but he was pretty interested. Doesn't he look like a natural camper? haha! So cozy!

Many, many projects

2008-12-29T12:02:00.010-05:00

Finally all the projects are done and given out, and I can show what I've been doing for the last few months. (almost all - there's actually still one to go) I'm really happy about how most of them came out. I'm also looking forward to getting back to finishing some others like a couple of quilts and afghans, etc. Here are many, many project pictures. I hope you have lots of time to look!

I made "a cat for all seasons" for Earleen. The grapevine wreath has a hook so the ornaments can be changed for the seasons. Here's spring

Summer
Fall
Winter This is a pin cushion and needle book for Cheryl.
A balsam pillow for Chris.
Balsam Christmas trees

a picture of the work in progress a wild Incan pillow for Raf a quilted pillow for Kim
This is the most ambitious project - a wall hanging made from a picture of Susie and Max's house in Maine. Here's the start. I kept walking around (while Susie was in the house) hoping to find a good angle for a picture. I wanted to show the gardens and the house and the lake. I got this one that had just about everything - I just had to remove the car. I put the photo into Word and added the grid lines.
Then I drew a larger version on a big piece of paper.
I photocopied that and cut the copy up into individual pieces to use for patterns for the fabrics.
I used iron-on stuff to arrange the pieces on the background.

Then I sewed each piece on, mostly with my sewing machine. I kept having to replace the needles - I don't think it liked the iron-on stuff. Then lots of embroidery. I think it turned out to be a picture of gardens with a house and trees in the background.

Here's a granny-square scarf I made for Sarah. I made a different one for Katie but I don't have a good picture of it. I'll have to work on that.

A cat knitting bag for Sarah

Some warm hats for Nathan and his brother

A felt-ball garland for Katie's living room

Susie can never resist trying on all the felted projects. This is the amazing felt basket Sarah made for me - what do you think? A little too big for a hat.

Susie's wild!Merry Christmas!

Cookie Factory Part II

2008-12-21T21:10:00.006-05:00

Well it was a big job but we got it done. All the cookies are baked, decorated and divided up into tins. It was quite fun. We're having a raging blizzard outside but at least we didn't lose power this time (at least so far). We missed the other helpers though. Here are lots of pictures.

This kind has some cardamom in the dough and chocolate and pistachios decorating. They're called black and whites.

Here are the old stand-by cookies - beautiful frosted sugar cookies. Nathan and I painted and Sarah decorated.A few close-ups:

These Christmas trees have a little peppermint extract so they taste slightly minty.

This is an old favorite from Elmira - poppy seed cookies. They're really rich and buttery.

These are Sarah's favorite - buried cherry cookies. Lots of steps but really worth the effort.
The spoon fell in.
Super-good!
A sampler platter.

What's missing? Rugalach! :(

Cookie Factory Part I

2008-12-20T20:26:00.006-05:00

It's been a really long time between postings again, but pretty soon I can start showing all the secret projects. Here's a not-so-secret project - cookies! Every year we have cookie weekend just before Christmas. We're having a little trouble with weather this year, but Sarah and Nathan are here helping with decorating. We're hoping Susie can come tomorrow, but I don't think Katie and Raf will make it to cookie weekend this year. :( We'll have to put some in the freezer for them. Here are some previews:

The gingerbread decorators were a little wild.
This is a special pac-man cookie Sarah made for Nathan. Here's a gingerbread bear.And the annual Christmas chicken.

Katie's favorite - pinwheels. I think Grandpa Jerry likes these too. His mother used to make them. Aren't they pretty?

We'll have more to show tomorrow. It's important to keep a record of these things - right?

In case you're wondering, we'll either be having a white Christmas or a major flood. We got about a foot of snow yesterday and more coming tomorrow. Happy winter!

Office Decorating Part 2

2008-12-11T12:40:00.004-05:00

Here's Kim's cozy office. I think it looks great.

And Kristen's area - it looks like a workshop for elves.

It's that time again!

2008-12-10T21:01:00.006-05:00

It's the annual Business Services office decorating contest. We've been doing this in our office for a few years now and some people are really into it. Others not so much, but everyone's been a good sport about it. Everybody wins a prize. I keep winning "Zingiest" for some reason. This year I have sort of a hand-made theme. I wonder if people will think it's zingy again. Here's how my office looks so far. Kind of cozy, don't you think?

I've been working on making these stars for awhile. They've been helping me sharpen up my embroidery skills.A jar full of lights - it looks really cool with the other lights off. Sarah's letting me borrow her trees for a little while. Aren't they sweet? They smell great.

I think the bear chair is the cutest.

I'll post some of the other offices soon - wait until you see Kim's. It's amazing!

Back to the blog

2008-12-04T19:48:00.012-05:00

I think I was on a blog vacation but now I'm back. We had a nice Thanksgiving - it was great having everyone here and we didn't even have any cooking disasters this year. Now it's the Christmas season and the house is decorated and I'm working on getting projects finished up. OK, a few aren't even started yet. I'll have lots of projects to show off soon, but for now here are some Thanksgiving and pre-Christmas photos.

Some Thanksgiving groceries

Stuffing in the mixing stage. We tried baking it in a water-bath this year and I liked it better that way - less crusty crust on the sides.Hot lulu - a mixture of grated apple, onion, sweet potato, carrots with a little kick from habanero sauce - delicious!

Cranberry and pumpkin breads

A delicious jello mold from Susie - so refreshing!Serious gamesters

The buddies
Stevie always has the biggest camera.

The couch brigade
One collapsed. (She did all the dishes first though!)

Well, one visitor had lots of energy. Emily's favorite toy is a tennis ball and her favorite game is keep-away.

The day after Thanksgiving we started getting ready for Christmas.

Bruno likes the new wreath. He keeps trying to climb up there. It must smell good.He has to share the couch though.

Waechtersbach mugs - I've been collecting these for a long time. Don't they look cute all together?
We've been drinking mulled cider in them this week.
What a cozy season!

Birthday Weekend

2008-11-24T22:03:00.004-05:00

We celebrated Katie's birthday in Boston this weekend - she's 25 now!

First, here's an interesting thing I saw when I was driving down my road on my way (eventually) to the birthday party. Don't worry - I stopped the car to take the picture. The fire department was doing a controlled burn in the middle of town and you could see this plume of black smoke from the top of our ridge. This is part of the beautiful view I get to see every day - usually without the smoke though.
We had dinner Saturday night at Zocalo Cocina Mexicana on Comm Ave in Brighton. It's right near where I used to live back in the 70's but back then it was El Phoenix Room. It's still Mexican but nicer now. We passed the camera around the table so everyone could take a picture of their plate.

Katie had enchiladas with delicious fried plantains on the side.

Raf had tacos. He got lots of dishes.
Nathan had chili rellenos, I think with steak inside.

Sarah had this beautiful avacado salad.

And I had a different kind of chili rellenos with spinach, pine nuts and raisins. It was delicious!

Katie really liked this lamp.

This is all the pictures I had. I hope someone got a picture of the cakes. Happy Birthday Katie!!

Crazy gas prices

2008-11-19T22:27:00.003-05:00

Isn't this the craziest thing you've ever seen? I just filled my tank for about $14. Less than 6 months ago I paid $4.29 a gallon up in Maine. I'm not complaining, but this just doesn't make sense to me. I wonder what will happen next. Will it go below $1? Over $5?

Thanksgiving's coming!

2008-11-18T21:22:00.005-05:00

I don't know how time has gone by so fast, but all of a sudden Thanksgiving is next week. I looked for some pictures from last year to help me get in the mood.

Susie and Max love Thanksgiving dinner - don't they look happy? The pies haven't even come out yet.Cranberry bread - will we make it again this year?Katie and Nathan - either they ate too much or they're wondering when dinner is going to be ready. I can't really tell but it must be one or the other.Emily's wondering when she'll get a chance to see Bruno. He snuck downstairs eventually while everyone was eating. Emily saw him and chased him into the living room. They knocked over two lamps and Bruno ran back upstairs - what a wild house! The people get a little wild too. :)

OK - here's the list. It's pretty much the same every year. It seems like a lot of dishes but I don't know what we could eliminate.

cranberry sauce
garlic mashed potatoes
gravy
stuffing
sauteed mushrooms
hot lulu !!!
Moroccan vegetables
acorn squash
green bean casserole
pumpkin bread
cranberry bread
dinner rolls
apple pie
pumpkin pie
custard pie
wine / beer / cider

Haha - no turkey. This is a vegetarian Thanksgiving. It's a harvest feast, right?

I don't know exactly who's coming yet, but I'm getting ready!

Another Craft Day

2008-11-11T19:58:00.010-05:00

Sarah and I had a day off today so we got to work on lots of projects. Here's the startup. The table got a lot messier later in the day. I got a bunch done but they're not ready for viewing yet. I did finish this little Christmas tree ornament. It's needle-felted inside of a cookie cutter, then I sewed on some red beads. I don't know who it's for, but it's pretty cute.Here's Sarah star-belly!After a day of hard work we needed a treat so we made some crepes. It sort of looks like something from another planet. They're really good though.

Nathan put blueberry syrup on one of his crepes. This was a tame one - another version was the "suicide crepe" with all the toppings at once. Wild! Sarah said it tasted like an ice cream sundae. (I didn't try it.)

Here are the toppings.
And here's what Bruno thinks of craft day. That's a yawn in case you're wondering. :)

Birthday Brunch

2008-11-11T07:53:00.017-05:00

We had a birthday brunch for Nathan. We made a feast! Here's Nathan opening his presents. He got two new discs for disc golf (his latest favorite hobby), a bag for all his discs and two new shirts.Pumpkin bread The beginning of "impossible pie" with poblano peppers, jalepenos, onions, potatoes, mushrooms and cheddar

It was good!

Baked apple pancake Happy but full
Two sleepies

Bruno likes to play Monopoly.

We had to go try out the new discs and get some fresh air after that meal. This is us smiling at Sarah's camera which is sitting on the bleachers.

Colorful projects

2008-11-07T20:30:00.007-05:00

I'm excited about this cute pin cushion - it's just a needle-felted ball with some yarn decorations. I think it looks sort of like a sunset. Some miscellaneous (mysterious) projects and supplies.... I love all these colors!

An array of hand-spun yarn - maybe a felt bowl someday?

This is going to be a scarf - believe it or not!

Election Day

2008-11-04T09:10:00.004-05:00

Early morning voting in Deerfield - this is the longest line I've ever seen there.
Cold campaigners in their corral Durham's getting ready.

Busy Crafters

2008-11-03T20:50:00.011-05:00

Sarah and I have been working on lots of projects. Most of them are going to be presents so they're secret for now. One we can talk about, though, is this experiment with felting. I don't know what they'll turn into yet, but here's the start of a couple of projects.

Sarah bought some wool sweaters at a thrift store. I think they were something like 50 cents apiece. We zipped them into a pillowcase and washed them in the washing machine with hot water. One of them really smelled like moth balls when it got wet.
I don't know if you can see the difference, but they're a lot smaller now and really dense - they've turned into felt. We're going to cut them up and transform them into something else. They're still drying for now - it's taking a long time. (The hat had a label saying it was wool but it didn't felt, so I guess it wasn't.) We'll show you when the next step gets done.
Here's another felt project. You start by knitting something that looks like a hat.I guess it wouldn't keep your ears very warm.

Then you give it the hot water treatment and dry it over a rounded container. It's going to be a felt bowl. It's almost dry. Now I'll have to figure out how to decorate it. I'll put up a picture if it comes out ok. I think it's pretty cute so far. :-)

The Halloween Crew

2008-11-03T20:41:00.003-05:00

People in my office dressed up for Halloween... Aren't they amazing? Some cute, some scary - lots of imagnination. What a great job! (I was wearing my pumpkin socks but they didn't count as a costume - what a wimp.)

I'm totally obsessed with Etsy!

2008-10-28T21:44:00.016-04:00

Have you seen Etsy? It's an online store selling all kinds of handmade, artistic things. I love seeing all the creative things people are making, and I really like being able to buy directly from the artists. It's also cool that the artists are from all over the world. Here are some things I've bought over the last few months.

This cheery painting is hanging in my office. It has lots of things I especially like - sailboats, quilts, trees, flowers and Bruno!
These funny ones are going to go in Katie's room but I haven't figured out where to hang them yet.

This swirly bird I got specifically to go with this cool lamp from Ikea.

Some buttons to add to my collection, which I started with this jar from an antique store in Oakland, Maine. Now it's almost full. I'll have to be thinking of button projects.A beautiful copper bracelet - can you tell I like swirly spirals?

Two pairs of earrings that are on the way from Montana.

What next? I have a few ideas. :)

Some miscellaneous cute pictures

2008-10-28T21:19:00.008-04:00

A very eventful weekend with lots of cute photo opportunities... Here's Dee Dee in her cat tent. Isn't she a sweetie?Sarah and Nathan are seriously studying the menu at Newick's. They found some exotic drinks.

I was having a camera war with Susie. (Her camera was bigger.)Raf is finding lots of interesting things to do with his cane. This is progress - no more crutches. Maybe there's some kind of restorative power in milk shakes.

Pretty Katie making ghost meringues. Doesn't her arm look tired? They took forever!

Election day is coming soon

2008-10-25T07:15:00.004-04:00

New Hampshire is so political. It's cool to live in a place like this. It's the first-in-the-nation primary, so all the candidates come here. It's such a small state that you can meet all of them if you want. Even though NH only has 4 electoral votes, it gets a lot of national attention. There are signs everywhere lately. This has been a really long campaign season. I'm glad it's almost over!

A beautiful October day

2008-10-25T06:50:00.006-04:00

Katie and I took a vacation day and we were lucky to get a beautiful day. We did some errands, had a nice lunch, went around Portsmouth for awhile and went to Nubble Point in York, Maine. The ocean was looking particularly nice - very blue with clear views. I think someone actually lives at this lighthouse - wow!

Here's how they get their food delivered. Can you see the little white cart near the telephone poles? Things get sent back and forth using these wires.
Another view - the Maine coast is so beautiful. I don't think anyplace else looks like it. I decided I should post pictures of houses I like. Here are a couple to start. They both look so cozy.Portsmouth has a lot of Halloween spirit.

A big stack of granny squares!

2008-10-20T21:46:00.002-04:00

Who will be king of the mountain? This is going to be a wild afghan someday soon. Go Sarah!

All crafts - all the time!

2008-10-19T08:38:00.006-04:00

Sarah and I made a motto. We love to make things.

I got this new plate at Crate and Barrel. I love deviled eggs so I thought it would be a good investment. I haven't made deviled eggs yet but I found another use for it. : )

Ta-daa! Here's the quilt I've been making for Sarah and Nathan. It's supposed to be a wedding present so it would be nice if I could give it to them at least in the year they got married. Well maybe... I finished the top yesterday - now lots of quilting to do. Sarah picked these bright colors - so happy.

A River of Leaves

2008-10-19T08:21:00.007-04:00

The driveway has disappeared. So many leaves ... lots of raking to come. The weather is so beautiful - clear and crisp. I love fall!

I love podcasts!

2008-10-15T21:44:00.004-04:00

Bruno always helps - he's a real computer geek.

Here we are with one of my favorite podcasts - Car Talk. It's really funny.

I like this one too. Of course - it's all about food!

I also like the New Yorker fiction one.

Here are some more I sometimes listen to:

This American Life

Hidden Kitchens

Radio Lab

Driveway Moments

StoryCorps

Fresh Air

Sunday Puzzle

Kitchen Window

I think I might try to find more about books. I need more ideas!

2008-10-12T22:10:00.000-04:00

More projects to come soon...

Getting started

2008-10-12T21:36:00.000-04:00

Well I've been having fun reading other people's blogs for awhile but pretty much procrastinating about starting one of my own. Here goes though. I'm probably going to be an infrequent blogger.

I've been really into all sorts of crafts lately, and I just tried a new thing tonight - needle-felting. I think it's going to be really fun. Here's how it looks so far. Not the best photo but I think you can see it's a pumpkin! I'm so excited. I have lots of colors to play with and lots of ideas.

If I can figure out how I'll add some more photos :)