Maine Quilts

What fun! The Quilt Show that is! Haven't been for nearly a decade so my friend Bea decided that it was time to change that. We drove through a pouring rain to Augusta just last Friday. I took over 200 photos. You'll be glad that I followed a blogging buddy's advice and pared them well back. 

A friendly reminder not to touch the quilts or else...

~Bea takes a closer look~

Soon enough, we were in a crowd of mostly women, mostly in our age group, all studying fabric, design, stitches, composition. If you can't tell, I seem to have been busy matching ladies' clothing to quilts.

 ~awe~

~study~

The quilt above with the same shade of green as the lady's shirt, fascinated me, too. I first thought it was all blocks, but instead was made from strips to create the block and then give that wonderful edge.

~quilts all around~

If I lost all my photos of that day, I think I'd remember this one the longest — the quilts hanging on one side and the ladies all colorfully dressed and looking like quilts themselves on the other.

Now with only minor commentary... 

~a comparison between hand stitching (Japanese) and long-arm stitching~

 ~a close-up of the quilt above it~

 ~A "Challenge" where each quilter created the same pattern in her choice of colors~

Be as a bird perched on a frail branch that she feels bending beneath her, still she sings away all the same, knowing she has wings.

 ~the older I grow the more I know it!~

The quilt above and below were in the vintage quilt display.

~a "Signature" vintage quilt~

 ~would love to try something like this~

 ~love~love~love~

~charm packet banner~

Hope that you've enjoyed the quilt show from my corner of the globe. If you'd like to visit another quilt show, THIS one at Pat's is great.

My sister and I are making drapes curtains today...joy unspeakable...so I'll catch you this evening when I have a chance to put my feet up! 

Oh, do you quilt or do you pretend like I do?

Edited to Add: I have since discovered, much to my horror, that I was not supposed to publish photos without providing proper credit to the quilter. Though I could add the names of the quilters and the names of the quilts, I have purposely chosen not to do so based on how I would feel about having my name all over the WWW. Because this was posted over a week ago, I think that I fall into the category of going forward and begging forgiveness after the fact. I do promise not to feature quilt shows in the future. If you should have a question about a particular quilt, please contact me. Thank you!

This and That

God doesn't have to put His name on a label in the corner of a meadow because nobody else makes meadows. ~Cecil Laird

This photo was taken the same day as yesterday's. We had stopped at a roadside farm to purchase ice creams for John and me and a milkshake for one thirsty boy. 

While seated at the picnic tables, I learned that my darling grand has moved beyond magical thinking. The crib down in the lower field looks much like Toby of Thomas and Friends fame; however, I soon learned that the days of chatting about Thomas have left the station. Just when I learn what the grands are "into," I must up my game. They don't stand still.

Do you enjoy signs as much as I do? Do you ever share them on your blog? This one reminds me that I've been wanting a good fish chowder and that I'll be returning here for some haddock. Hmmm...they must have lost the k.

Guess that's it for today...the sun is shining and that means we must make hay.

Snow Falls

We packed a picnic and took off on a cool summer breeze one day last week. I haven't felt much like returning since.

All too soon, summer will be gone like water over the rocks. Hope that there are a few more cool summer breezes that we may run away on before then. 

Hope the same for you!

Country Drive~Mosaic Monday

When it became apparent that we would not make it until the end of the month without another grocery run, we decided to take the scenic route.

Left to Right

Row One
1. Spider Lily just bloomed today!
2. This little barn sits behind this
3. Larger Barn...have always loved the red. There's a lake back there barely visible, too.

Row Two
1. Another red barn barely visible through the fields...must get closer to this one someday!
2. Love this barn, though it doesn't show up well through the trees. It is not far from my home and, as a child, I spent many happy hours on this farm.
3. Another view of the nearly invisible barn

Row Three
1. The land is posted, but I saw nothing about taking a photo.
2. The fields where I played.
3. Yes! I really do love that lily!

Linking to Mary's Mosaic Monday at Little Red Purple House.

Matthew 6 Paraphrase~Sunday

Consider the lilies and learn thoroughly how they grow... Solomon in all his magnificence was not arrayed like one of these... So do not worry about what you shall eat or what you shall wear... Your heavenly Father knows well that you need them all... Do not worry about tomorrow. 

~Matthew 6:28–34 paraphrase

My lilies are such a good reminder of God's Word and these promises.

A beautiful Sunday to you!

Use Your Words

Use Your Words ~ A phrase that I don't remember using when teaching my children back in the Dark Ages. Nor do I recall it being used when I was a child. Nor do I remember its being used in the classroom until 2001 when I began working as an assistant in a preschool. The teacher there used it continually.

Some years ago now, I was entering a store when a little boy of about three was being carried out football style. I can only presume that the woman carrying him was his mother. All the while, he was saying things like: I am very angry. I do not want to go home. You are not nice. Please put me down. His mother was repeating over and over "Good job using your words."

While shopping in Joann's a few weeks ago, John and I observed a young mother with six or more children (I just remembered the baby strapped to mama's chest). They were better behaved than any two children I've ever seen in a store. The oldest daughter was given the task of matching embroidery threads to the fabrics being purchased and the remaining five kids were circled around the shopping cart holding on with the exception of, again a three-year old, perched in the shopping cart's seat. 

There were many smiles as customers were truly amazed and pleased to see such delightful children. Just when I began to think that theirs must be a highly regimented, perhaps even harsh home, the little boy began to get riled at the registers. His mother calmly asked him if he could be cooperative for just a few more minutes. He said, "No!" She laughed and replied, "Well there's an honest answer." 

Despite that minor outburst, they made it out of the store and to their van without further difficulties. Indeed, John and I were wide-eyed impressed.

And then I had to run back into my grands' home after I had already bid my adieus. They were not expecting me so soon. Ha! I heard this: You are rude. You are the most obnoxious person in the entire world. 

It was a little startling so I said to my daughter-in-law, "Well that is very articulate." She replied, "He's using his words." 

What's my point? I wish that someone had taught me how to use my words. Whenever I get riled up, I become an incoherent mess. And I am realizing that to live in the country I now live in, I am going to need to maintain some sense of sanity. There are going to be times when I will not be able to sit down and shut up. I plan to use my words.

Burying this on a Saturday... 

Have a good one!

Lilies and Bears

It is only when you start a garden — probably after age fifty — that you realize something important happens every day. 

~Geoffrey B. Charlesworth

Now how did Mr. Charlesworth know all that? That I came to gardening late and look forward to seeing my new and important thing every morning? 

~rain kissed lily~

~watching this one~

Or every evening as in this case after a quick thunderstorm.(Yes, the color is just about right.) 

That bud up there with the whacky arrow is being watched very carefully. It is the only stem from the daylilies given to me by my friend Diane. They didn't bloom last year so I have only her word for what they will be — a yellow spider lily with a great large bloom. Can't wait!

~~~

Now, should it be as warm where you are as it is here where I am, I'm sending you off to Donna's to *find the wonderful links* she's provided to watch (in real time) some brown bears in Alaska where it is much cooler. Well, I always feel cool watching those bears in the water fishing for sock eye salmon. The best times for watching are afternoons and evenings when the falls are quite active.

Have a great weekend and stay cool now!

Window Boxes

Thank you for all the fun with yesterday's Note Card Party. You're the best and so good at promotion and visiting each other and being encouraging, not to mention the fact that you share some awesome photos.

The whole goal of this party is to retrieve four old photos from the archives, dust them off, and give them another opportunity to be seen. It is not only fun, but we meet new bloggers along the way. Win-win! 

~~~

The other evening when John and I were out for an ice cream cone, I asked him to drive me by the hardware store for a photo opportunity. There are two windowboxes; I wanted this one for the seed ad behind it.

~Plant Hart Seeds~

Once upon a time there was a window box on my house, back before the new siding. Window boxes can be messy so we opted not to include one after the new siding went on. Sometimes, when I see a pretty window box, I miss it.

~2007 Window Box~

Pardon the old photo...it is kind of fun to compare with my header photo, though. The garden has changed and grown quite a bit.

~2013 sans window box and razzle-dazzle~

All this must have something to do with looking for photos for the Note Card Party. That's when I ran into 2007. Yes, things have certainly changed.

Do you have any window boxes? I'd love to see them!

Enchanted Garden Meets The Twilight Zone ~ July NoteCard Party

This month's party took me in a completely different direction from my norm. Perhaps being fresh from Donna's Personal Photo Challenge (see sidebar button) and Diane's black swan in particular, I was inspired to try something new.

These photos were first featured as a mosaic on a post called Enchanted Place. 

One thing that slightly annoyed me about the original photos was the way the light blew out because I had zoomed on my grandsons as they walked farther and farther away. PicMonkey helped me remedy that by filling in the white patches with a twilight sky.

Now the grands are walking in a twilight garden. I thought that John would say that it looks like The Twilight Zone (he uses that line a lot), but instead he teared up and said, "They are walking ahead of us into the future." Okay. That's about enough of the sappy stuff. *Sniff*

Inside each card, I'd print the poem stanza:

To See

To see a world in a grain of sand

And a heaven in a wild flower

Hold infinity in the palm of your hand

An eternity in an hour ~William Blake

Okay then, off we go!

Note Card Party Reminder

Saturday afternoon, I decided to get ahead of things a bit by gathering my note cards for the party scheduled for Wednesday. My post with link-ups will go up tomorrow afternoon between two and two-thirty.

At first, I was looking for flowers because it is July. In the end, I hope that I'll surprise you. I don't know how you look for your blog photos, but I wander around in Picasa Web Albums. If you Google that, you'll come right to your very own blog without even trying. It's pretty neat.

I was pleasantly surprised to look down at the bottom of my page and see that I have used only 1.37%. When I first began whittling away at my storage, it was 40%. How did I get it so low? Simply by removing header photos that I no longer use and by resizing any mosaics that were a little too large. Just for the record, I usually size my photos at 650 by 488.


Lest you think that I care nothing for quality, I save photos at a 300 resolution at the greatest quality (on my program this equals a 12) and a 384 Kpbs despite the fact that I am saving them at 650 by 488. If this is gobbledly-gook to you, don't fear. We all have our own methods. The point I'm trying to make is to save the photo at a reasonable size with the greatest quality IF you are concerned about photo storage. Even at PicMonkey, there are options as you save your photo. I always save it at the highest quality allowed. By the way, if I choose a png image over a jpeg, I don't have to think about saving it at 384 Kpbs. A png image has greater quality than a jpeg. (For an opposing and valid viewpoint, read Donna's comment. Donna also emailed me this link titled What Resolution Should Your Images Be?)

Yes, I do lose quality (sizing at 650 by 488) when a person wants to see a clearer, larger picture by opening the photo in a larger size in a new tab. (BTW, Picasa allows you to size photos up to 800 without penalty.) I think of my smaller photos as keeping a little footprint on the WWW. ☺☺☺ No, I don't. I'm just yanking a chain. I really think of this as not ever having to purchase photo storage space. This is not, after all, a big blog with big, beautiful photos. (You may find tips about deleting photos from Picasa *here.*)

Lest your head is spinning, I'll move on...

~~~

In case I want to do barns in August, I'm going to pop in a couple right now.

Until very recently, the barn above was falling down. The roof was caved in and the entire end was gone. How surprised we were to find it looking so fine. I'm thinking that this is not going to be used for a barn anymore with that wall of windows. It overlooks the White Mountains of New Hampshire and so has a lovely view.

Further down the road, this large old barn is covered in vines. It always looks well tended, but never in use.

~~~

In case I want to go with flowers after all... ;>

~not sure what kind this will be~

The bee balm is blooming. The daylilies, too. All's right with the world.

See you tomorrow afternoon...