Home is best

Off hand, I can't remember the quote so well - east, west, home is best?   But it sure is good to be home in peaceful, green Vermont although we enjoy visiting Mom and sister Jenny in Colorado.  Saturday was Mom's 104th birthday, and we celebrated with two online video chats.  My brother took a screen shot.  It's difficult to see anyone, but the upper right has Mom, my son Chris, me, Jenny, and Paul.

Later in the day we had another video chat with my nieces in Los Angeles and Queensland, New Zealand.  It was good to see them both.

The day before we had a visit from my second cousin, twice removed, Joice, her husband Bob, and one of her sons and his family.  Mom hadn't seen Joice and Bob for 60 years.  The last time was when she gave them baby furniture, and now her son has grown up with kids of his own.

Joice lives in Pennsylvania, and we last saw her and Bob a couple of years ago when we were traveling through on our way home from the south.  We hope to see them again this spring.

Our visit included a lot of "mom care," taking her to appointments, helping her navigate the oxygen tubes, and just helping her in general.  I did a little cooking but also discovered delicious pizza already made at Whole Foods.  Wish we had one!  We browsed around Barnes and Noble, stopped at Starbucks, and generally enjoyed life in suburban America. 

A trip to Colorado is never complete without a trip to the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum.  This time, there was a fabulous exhibit of medallion quilts by Cindy Vermillion Hamilton.  All were hand sewn, hand appliqued, and hand quilted.  Very impressive!  

The blue and white quilt is about the plainest one in the exhibit, but one I think I could actually do.  It gave me the idea that I could surround the map of the Netherlands I made last winter with a border of appliqued melons.   

The red background with bright blue on this quilt is stunning, my favorite of them all.  It was Cindy's wedding quilt and reflects her and her husband's Native American heritages.  

We've been home a few days, and laundry, grocery shopping and other household chores have been done.  I think I'll get a chance to quilt today before going over to Pam's with lunch and gossip.  She had a stroke about a month ago and needs a little pick-me-up.

Going scrappy

Even though I've been busy quilting Dear Jane off and on, I've taken the time to work on this month's Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks and do the guild monthly challenge.  I showed the Improv Houses a few days ago.  

Here I am at guild with our June challenge.  Each person received a baggie of scraps and was asked to make something with them.  All of the scraps belonged to Lisa, so I decided to make her a "thank you" fabric postcard with the scraps I received.  Lisa does a lot for the guild, including a massive fabric auction in May.  I came home with 18 yards of lovely purple fabric for $30!  All the money went to the Vermont Food Bank or a project to support Afghani refugee ladies learning to sew and earn a living.  

At the June meeting, some guild members brought a large number of tubs filled with the stash, much of it yardage, of a lady who had moved to a nursing home.  I felt pretty smug, taking home only two large pieces of Christmas fabric which will become tablecloths.  I have too much stash as it is.  I'll use the fabric for table cloths during this year's Light Up the Library event.

The guild's summer challenge is to make a tote bag from scraps.  I am planning to make each library staff member a fold up shopping bag for Christmas this year.  I'll be looking for a pattern very soon so I can peck away at the bags over the summer.

The 2026 round robin

The last Heart of Vermont guild meeting was this past Tuesday, and we had the reveal of our 2025-26 round robin.  One person in the group couldn't make it, but we showed her quilt anyway, and we all took home our own quilts which were begun in the fall. 

I started with a left over 14" square from last year's Optimism quilt along sampler designed by Aby Dollinger.  Then it passed along to the other five members of the group monthly or bi-monthly depending on the size.  Each made a round with fabric I provided.  As you can see, it's another purple quilt, my favorite. 

Toward the end of the nine months, we had two months to work on a round, which some bigger quilts needed.  In the next to last round of Diane's quilt, I made a ton of nine patches in 30s fabrics, and for Marie's last round, I made quite a few friendship stars in red, white, and blue.  It's really a lot of fun to work on these round robin quilts with fabric other than my own.  Everyone does her best work, which is really nice.  As I said at the meeting, "it's a matter of trust," and it usually comes out great.

I didn't know some of the quilters in this year's group very well, and it was nice to get to know them through their quilts.  Here are five of the six of us, with me holding Marie's quilt top.  Our red ribbons denote that Ginny and I were "founding members" of the guild back in 2008.

I'm not sure when I'll get to my round robin quilt top or if I'll add another round to make it bed-sized.  These days I peck away at quilting my Dear Jane which is coming along pretty well.  We're heading to Colorado for a week to visit Mom, and I hope to finish Dear Jane all together by the end of July.  I have a few small projects I'd like to work on but meanwhile, I'll just think about what I'll do with the purple quilt.

Summertime and the living is easy

 

The rugosa roses in front of our house are blooming, and I picked lettuce yesterday.  Friends came for lunch Friday and gave me a lovely bouquet.  The whole house smells delicious - peonies will do that.  Wish we had some in the garden, but at least these are ant-less.

We had some pretty muggy days with summer temperatures.  School is almost out here - I know it's out elsewhere around the country, but ours stays in session longer to make up for the inevitable snow days.  We've had the fan on in our bedroom at night and the AC on in the living room and sewing room a few times.  We've had a few salad and cold cut meals, too.  Tonight we'll grill some pork chops from the freezer which I'm trying to empty in anticipation of having a crop of blueberries later this summer.

I am now ready to quilt the last section of Dear Jane.   I worked on the borders last week and made four 3" blocks for the corners.  Then I made another Improv House block.  I'm not sure how many of these I'll make, but so far I've been following the Rainbow Scrap Challenge colors.  This month's "pastel" turned out not as light as I wanted, but that's OK.  I plan to vary the landscapes a bit so that not all the hills go in the same direction.  It's pretty easy pattern, but I can't remember who designed it off hand.  Jo Avery?  Will have to go through my notes to make sure.

Yesterday I did a little embroidery at quilt guild while chatting with the group.  Some of us are planning to go to the first Vermont Quilt Show this week by a for-profit national group.  I'm curious to see vendors and some displays by local guilds.   My other guild meets this Tuesday for the last time before a summer break.   

Progress!

So far this week, I've been making all kinds of progress.  I finished a book and started another one.  And on Monday, I finished machine quilting the third of four sections of Dear Jane.  I'm pleased and want to work on the final section and work on the borders soon.  

But I also want to get the month's Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks finished so that I don't fall behind (as I often do!).  This month's color is "pastel," which is a little vauge and presents a bit of a challenge.   I have a lot of pastels, but I'm not sure how good they'll look with the blocks I've already made.  I decided to combine some colors, so yesterday, I made a couple of Traffic Jam blocks in pinks and purples.  

Then I made an Improv Houses block in light blues.   I added the houses to my RSC list last month because (a) I love making house quilts and (b) I have plenty of scraps.  I have yet to make the log cabin blocks for the month and hope to get to them today.

Yesterday morning I made a stop at the Vermont Historical Society library with a bankers' box full of the archives of the state quilt guild.  I had been sifting through several tubs all year, with turning the files over to VHS for safekeeping the ultimate goal.  I was so glad and relieved to be able to finish this long term project.  The tubs had been languishing in the former historian's basement and garage for ages.  Now they will be preserved, indexed and available to anyone doing research.

Naulakha

On Saturday we drove two hours south to Dummerston where British author Rudyard Kipling lived for a time back in the 1890s.  His house and outbuildings, "Naulakha," are open to the public one weekend a year for Rhododendron Weekend.   The rest of the time the space is reserved for overnight guests in a sort of B&B arrangement.  

The highlight for visitors on this particular weekend is the rhododendron tunnel as long as a football field.  Once inside, it is amazing!

It was an overcast day, which means it was a little humid, but it didn't rain until the afternoon when we were well on our way home.  We had a tour appointment for 11:00 and found that only about 25 cars fit in the parking areas down the hill from the main house.  It was all very well organized with volunteers directing traffic,

All three main buildings were open for view and all are available to rent during the year.  The main house sleeps 8 and all of the bedrooms looked comfortable and inviting.   I took this photo from the upstairs balcony.  The views of the mountains were very nice.  The main house had a billiard room on the top floor, which was impressive considering how the staircases wound upstairs.

People were encouraged to bring picnic lunches, and drinks (water and seltzer) were complimentary.   Of course, everyone ventured into the tunnel.  I took this photo about halfway through.  We have a rhododendron at home, but it is much shorter than these which must be as old as the house.

There is a pavilion area at the end of the tunnel which must have been a nice spot for cocktails in Kipling's time.  We could see a tennis court down the hill from there, and we heard voices in the woods behind.  We couldn't find a path to walk out there, however, and I thought it was a bit buggy.  June is black fly season for Vermont, so I didn't want to attract any, having already been attacked in our yard a few weeks ago.

We enjoyed our visit very much and talked about renting the house some time with family.  It has the potential for a peaceful, fun weekend.   After about an hour, we had seen it all, so we ventured back toward Brattleboro and stopped at Panda North, a delicious Chinese restaurant, for lunch.  

Now that we're home, we are still curious about why Kipling was there.  He wrote several of his more famous books there, including Captains Courageous.  Paul ordered a book, of course!

Orchids and more

Several Mother's Days ago, my son gave me an orchid plant.  It bloomed for a long time and then nothing happened for a year or so.  I transplanted it into a larger pot, and it immediately bloomed.  After the blooms were finished, maybe 6 weeks after beginning, maybe even longer, I snipped the stalk near one of the "elbows" (or whatever they are called).  Finally, that branch began to grow and started blooming.  There is still one bud at its end.  

Much to my surprise, another stalk appeared and now has some fairly sizeable buds.  I'm amazed!  My other orchid plant looks awful even though I water it just the same (minimally) and it sits right next to this larger one.  Orchids are fickle!

Our kitchen and dining room were painted during the last three days.  Our painter is just wonderful - very neat, precise, quiet, hard working.   She's a pleasure to have in the house.  Prior to Monday, I moved everything off the kitchen counters and everywhere else I could.  We moved the dining table into the living room and a large antique sideboard into the middle of the dining room under the chandelier. 

The kitchen bench was stashed behind the couch and paintings were stored in various places.  This morning I rehung curtains, removed a slight film of dust here and there, and started moving stuff back into the kitchen.  This afternoon, Chris is coming by to help us move the bigger items back, and life should return to normal, albeit much cleaner and brighter.