The parade

My neighbor, Winnie, took this photo as I walked by during Saturday's parade. Ironic that I was in front of the LWE, a place I try to go to 2-3 times a week. Tess couldn't walk with the Greater Barre Democrats because she was with the Vermont Historical Society group. So I said I would carry her sign. It was a long parade, and I'm glad the Dems. were float #25. Next to me is Janna Osman, wife of Donny.

If I look hot, it's because I was! It was about 90 out with high humidity. Afterwards, Paul bought me a huge strawberry smoothie and, later, at home, I drank a quart of water.

Whole lotta quiltin' goin' on

I started this very busy week by finishing a bathmat/small beach towel (using an old Maplecroft towel) for Yve's new grandson Noah. She sent me the fabric with its two-by-two animals, and it turned out really cute. I hope she likes it. I listened to a Librivox recording of Persuasion by Jane Austen while working on this, and it was really fun.

Wednesday, I delivered three small quilts to the Mad River charity quilt auction, to be held this fall. One is from a pattern called "Ivy Twist" and was the "sit 'n' quilt" quilt at the Central Vermont Quilt Show this spring. There were two almost identical 36" square Sunbonnet

Sue log cabin quilts which I quilted a little differently just for fun.

Meanwhile, I've been working steading to quilt the Rainbow Sylvia's Bridal Sampler. I put the blocks together in three strips so they'd be easier to quilt. Now I'm putting the strips together, and it is looking good. I quilted each block a little differently which has made it fun. I used mostly off-white thread for quilting, but some blocks demanded color from my box of varied rayon threads. In one block, I quilted my initials in pink. After I finish putting the strips together and quilting the intersections, I'll sew the left and right side borders on and quilt them using "Borders Made Easy" paper. Then I'll decide whether the quilt needs another border or simply binding. It's about twin-sized now.

I'm squeezing this quilting activity into a very busy week, culminating in the library Friends book sale and Heritage Festival this weekend. Thursday we set up tables under tents provided by the National Guard, and a raft of pre-teens brought the books up from the library basement. Yesterday, I helped sell books for a few hours with Lois, who entertained me with stories about her family. We saw quite a few people we knew, too.

Paul and I had dinner last night under the Barre Ethnic Heritage tent - Vietnamese chicken salad, Mostaccioli with meat sauce, Tourtiere, and Pasta Frollo - to the sounds of French Canadian music in the park. Today I'll be with the Greater Barre Democrats in the parade and we'll indulge in street food before collapsing at home. Tomorrow we'll go to the open house at the Granite Museum. Phew!

Heat wave continues

Last week, we had a six day heat wave - officially, 6 days with temperatures over 90 degrees. It was muggy and continues to be so, even though it's only about 80 today. Wednesday, Paul and I went to Boulder Beach in Groton where it was delightfully cool under the shade trees and in the water. Thursday I sat in front of a fan and finished another Inspector Gamache mystery by Louise Penny. They are great, set in a small village in the Eastern Townships of Quebec, near the Vermont border.


Monday was slightly less humid so we went for our annual visit to the Shelburne Museum. There were photos by Ansel Adams and ? Burtynski, a Canadian whose emphasis is on industrial photos. Some of those were beautiful, including one of Barre's Rock of Ages quarry in winter. There was a crazy quilt exhibit as well as a special traveling Alzheimer's quilt exhibit curated by Ami Simms. Some of those were incredible.


Throughout this time, I've been working on a quilt for my cousin's husband Piet who will be retiring in January from his job as a police officer in the Netherlands. I bought the fabric by mistake and then was intrigued by the way it looked when I stacked and whacked it. It came out pretty nice! I am going to make a quilt for Nicoline, his wife and my cousin, too, since I just happen to have a UFO of her mother's still hanging around my stash. It is a lovely log cabin in pink polished cottons. Tante Wil did a very meticulous job on the log cabin blocks which will again form a medallion for Nicoline's quilt.


I'm waiting for some fabric from my friend Yve who lives in Rochester, NY. She asked me to make a little quilt for her new grandson Noah and, while I don't usually do commissions, I would never say "no" to Yve, one of our very first guests at Maplecroft.

Heat wave!

According to the weather people, an official Vermont heat wave involves our having three days of 90 degree temperatures or higher. We seem to be in the middle of one. It was nearly 75 degrees when I got up this morning at 5:30. My question is, what do they call it when we have multiple days of 89 degrees? Suffice it to say, these days are best spent at the mall, in the car with the AC on, or at a lake, not upstairs sewing. This morning, I am headed to the garage (with its AC on) for an oil change. This afternoon, I'll spend a little time at the cool library.

But in between, I will probably be sewing on the second of two quilts for Camp Agape. I finished one yesterday with bear fabric. It's definitely outside my comfort zone, but the top is put together, and I'll wait until it cools before quilting it and Rainbow Sylvia made with Sylvia's Bridal Sampler blocks and finished over the weekend. I'm not sure if I'm going to put borders on it, so I'm letting it rest for a while in three pieces. I don't even know if I'll quilt it or if I'll send it out to Mary to be quilted. No hurry!

On the 4th of July, we cooled off at Pat and Jay's island on Greenwood Lake where we took a dip and had dinner, followed by a boat parade. Our boat had a "Take me out of the ballgame" theme, and we came in first out of the six boats, kayaks, etc. We were sick of the song by the time it all ended. The prize was a gallon of wine from Camp Divino. I think the ladies who paddled their kayak all the way around should have gotten a prize for sheer effort.

Cleans up nice!

Chris went to a wedding yesterday. It's been a long time since I saw him in a shirt with buttons and tie. He didn't want his pants to get covered with cat hair so he left them at our house and changed here. Gave me a perfect opportunity to make a photo for Oma!