Works in progress

I have nothing to show, but lots I'm in the middle of:

1. A pink baby quilt for Justin & Kelly's Natalie - just needs to be photographed and then it's on its way south.
2. A memory quilt for Beth's husband Todd, who's retiring from the Army at the end of the year. This is definitely out of my color comfort zone! I put the "sandwich" together yesterday and am ready to quilt.
3. Quilting a scrappy house baby quilt in lime and blues which I just "sandwiched" yesterday, too. I will give this to a local organization to raffle off this winter.
4. Dear Jane winter/holiday swap blocks - 3 sets of 5 each, plus one for me
5. Dear Jane birthday siggie swap blocks for Sept.-Dec.
6. Dear Jane polka dot fat eighth swap

I also offered to make a few quilt blocks for a raffle quilt to publicize the Central Vermont Quilt Show next May. Should be getting my assignment next week. That's a lot but will surely keep me busy through the fall foliage season. The B&B is just about full from mid-Sept. through mid-Oct.

Yve gave me a great journal to record my quilts in, and Cindy has been printing photos for me from my Flickr page. I still like having something I can just page through now and then to see what I've done.

Finishes

I finished two projects last weekend. The landscape had been hanging around for years after an initial blast of post-Jo-Diggs-workshop energy. The garden was inspired by Sharon Baker's first "Fabulous Flowers" book.

B&B busy-ness

Maplecroft has been extremely busy this summer so far. I thought I was shopping for food a lot (nearly every day), but then I decided to add up the guest nights - 74 by last Friday, with a week left to go in the month. Last year we had 48 for the whole month! This summer we have had a host of interesting, nice guests including:

• my brother, his wife, and two daughters
• master's degree graduates from Norwich University and Vermont College and their families
• craftspeople attending the International Preservation Trades conference
• two sets of mothers and their daughters for get-aways
• people attending weddings and family reunions
• genealogists and researchers
• several writers, including a noted travel writer
• tourists from Canada, Texas, California, Virginia, and lots of places in between, visiting the granite quarries, Ben & Jerry's, Trapp Family Lodge, and so much more. Vermont looks so good at this time of year!

Last weekend was Barre's Homecoming Days celebration, and the new configuration - closing off part of Main Street for performers and concessions - seemed to work very well. Paul helped set up tents for the library booksale in the pouring rain on Thursday, but by Friday, the sun was out, and the booksale seemed to be a huge success. Guests raved after showings of the film "If Stone Could Speak," shown at the Old Labor Hall by the Barre Historical Society. And we were pleased that our very first B&B guest, a Barre native who has become a dear friend, could come for the weekend with her husband and join the fun.

Small projects, lotsa guests

With an international building trades conference drawing carvers, architectural engineers, and others to Barre along with the usual summer tourists, we have been full almost every night this week. This summer's pattern seems to be longer stays, so that means we make up rooms and wash linens less often. But it does sometimes present a challenge to the cook who likes to vary the menu. Yesterday we served French Toast, today Quiche, tomorrow...? We just picked some raspberries, blueberries, and rhubarb, so that will figure somehow. The breakfast conversation among the trades people is way above my head, but they are happy to be together.

On the quilting front, I'm sticking to smaller projects with the humid days we've been having. For years, I've paged through a book called "Fabulous Flowers" by Sharon Baker, and last year I even made a quilted base for the dimensional flowers I wanted to make. I am finally making them now, and it is a lot of fun to create a little garden of fabric. My applique workshop with Anita Shackleford has come in handy, too, since the flower stems are narrow using her method and I plan to include a sweet little butterfly.

Monday is my long-awaited class in Long Arm Quilting, after which I hope to be able to finish off a few of the tops hanging in the closet. There were three at last count.

I'm finally getting around to reading "Suite Francaise," a book I noticed everyone carrying around last year. I can't help comparing it to "The Madonnas of Leningrad," which my mother recommended. "SF" deals with the occupation of Paris by the Nazis in 1940, while "TMOL" gives an account of 2000 people living in the basement The Hermitage during the Nazi seige of Russia a little later in WW II.

Hot!

We are having what I think is our third heat wave this summer. We may have had more and I've just lost count. I don't get much quilting done when it's like this, but I still read quite a bit. I have just finished my sixth book by Lisa Wingate, an author recommended by another Dear Jane quilt fanatic. Wingate's "Tending Roses" series is set in Missouri and Oklahoma and features individuals in an extended family. Her stories are thoughtful and satisfying. As soon as I finished one, I looked for the next, and now I'm waiting for her next book to be published!

At the end of June, I attended the Vermont Quilt Festival, including a day-long dimensional applique workshop with Anita Shackleford. We learned to stuff cherries with batting, thread yarn through stems, ruch a little butterfly, and embroider details. Anita used a camera to project what she was doing on the wall so that we could really see, and she was a very warm and encouraging teacher. The quilt show itself required another day of oohing and aahing at some very impressive works of art. Contest quilts can be viewed at www.vqf.org.

Here in Barre, we are planning our own Central Vermont Quilt Show on May 8 and 9, 2009, at the Old Labor Hall. Our featured quilter will be Christine Fries-Ureel, and our website will be up very shortly. Details are coming together, and we hope to encourage area quilters, including those too shy or intimidated to enter VQF, to display their work.

Summer busy-ness

Many days go by in a cheerful daze of guest breakfasts, room make-up, grocery shopping, and guest check-ins. Maplecroft is busier than ever this June. The price of gas doesn't seem to be curtailing anyone's travel, but it may mean that people stay in one place more than one night, which is nice for the chambermaids (us!). In the past, many people would "do" New England in six days - one state per day. Perhaps with the price of gas, they are concentrating on a few areas instead. I took some guests to Bragg Farm sugarhouse last week, and the owners told me they are busier, too. Today's paper said that tourism is up 25% this year, which is good for the state economy all the way around.

We were, however, saddened by the sudden closing of our favorite local restaurant last week. Sean & Nora's was visited by almost all of our guests at one time or another during their stays, and we went there quite a bit, too. We were happy that we had managed to go a week or so before the closing, and we are optimistic that something similar will take its place. Still, we will miss the community-mindedness of owners John and Shannon, who freely gave to the Friends of the Library silent auction and many other events.

Meanwhile, Main St. has a new topcoat and looks very spiffy. We - and many others - enjoyed strolling downtown Friday night while the street was still blocked off. Studio Place Arts had an opening, and there was the usual line at the Creamee stand. Summer is off to a pretty good start!

Gone quilting!

These summer days are just right for quilting - of course, winter ones are, too! A couple of weeks ago, I quilting a brown, peach and teal throw and now have to tack the binding on the back. Then I'll post a photo. It is hard to find time to quilt anything of size since I need to use the dining room table. Since we are busier than ever at the B&B, it's hard to find a day when we don't have guests.

I signed up for a birthday signature block swap on the Dear Jane Alternate List and have been furiously making "siggies" to mail out. In between, I continue to try to make at least one Dear Jane block a week in the new color scheme - Far Eastern fabrics with a black background.

Above is my most recent finish, a pink and blue tote bag made of upholstery sample scraps. I like the two pockets at the ends - great for water bottles!

Marianne