Loafing

I am suppose to be starting a project but I just don't feel like it! I think I am still recovering from our very successful wine tasting party. This may become an annual thing. Pictured is the blackberry fruit tart with chocolate crumb crust that I made... actually, I made 2 of them. Yum. I made way too much food and we are going to be eating it all week. I think I can suffer through the leftovers with tart.
I was hoping to have the party outside but mother nature decided not to cooperate... it was too windy. There were 18 of us and thankfully, I had enough seating for all of us and no one seemed to mind.

These are my roses.. they are about 2 weeks passed their prime... I am about to lop them off for the next bloom. If we do not get a cold winter, they bloom all year round. I should get another spectacular display before it gets really hot here... they slow down in the heat and then do another big show in October.

Sigh, maybe tomorrow I will feel up to starting my next quilt.

Test

I am playing around with Facebook and found out I could link this blog... this is just a test... no new content.

General update

I haven't blogged in a while so I thought I would play catch up today. I spent a wonderful, but very tiring week in New Jersey helping my daughter unpack and get things going in their new home. The house was built in the 1930's and has wonderful architectural details. The kitchen is modern and huge but needs a new floor and the upstairs bath was redone by the previous owners. The windows have all been replaced. The kids plan on doing some more changes over time. My daughter was relishing in the fact that they now have their own washer and dryer! There is a nice front yard and a large fenced in back yard that seems to be chock full of plants. The crocuses were just starting to bloom but the previous owners left a schematic of all the plants and where they were. As a gift, we bought them a bed for the guest room.. hehehe... a bit selfish, I know. My ex got them a hippy dippy outdoor barbecue with lots of bells and whistles. This lovely bouquet was sent by the in-laws who are visiting from Maine this weekend... hehe.. they have a bed to sleep in!
The weather was crappy... rainy, cold and windy. Typical weather for this time of year which only reminded me of why I moved to warmer and sunnier climes.
I got to spend some time with Rayna who took time out from her Passover cooking to give me a tour of both of her studios (home and real workplace), and have lunch. She was also trying to pack up for her next workshop. Hopefully, next time I will have more notice and we can play. Thursday was spent at my girlfriends house cooking for the 2nd Seder. She had 14 people and we started cooking at 9:00 a.m. I was ready to come home on Friday.

I finished up the sleeves for the last of the quilts that are going into a local gallery/museum here. I will have 7 pieces in 2 local venues between April and June. Both places get high traffic so the exposure should be good. Maybe I will get lucky and someone will purchase a piece. If nothing else, at least I am out there. I have surprised myself with the number of pieces I have actually finished this year. So far, I have exceeded my goals for 2009 and the year is still young.

I will not start on anything new until next week although I have tons of ideas floating in my head. I am spending the week cooking and preparing for a wine tasting party we are having next weekend. This is our spring fling and sort of forces me to do things I have been putting off. We are planning a menu of mostly finger type foods and nothing that needs to be cooked while guests are here. There will be at least 19 of us and I am hoping for good weather so we can overflow outside. Otherwise it will be very friendly, LOL. Right now the forcast is perfect.

Gardening calls.

Revisit of sorts

I am getting ready for my trip back to New Jersey to help my daughter and son in law move into their first house. Exciting times for them for sure. I did not want to start on a new project this week although it has been beckoning me so instead I worked on my Rhapsody quilt project that has been languishing. It has a ton of applique pieces that all have to be stitched down using a blanket stitch. BORING! I have made progress and figure that I have about 80%+ done now.
Since I will not have a machine with me or the time to use it, I am taking with me a piece I had dyed in the Shibori class I took with Jan Meyers-Newbury. A dear friend whom I usually stay with when I go back east said she loved the piece so I am going to make it up into either a pillow or a wall hanging for her. I will hand stitch this and see what I can create. Blue is not one of my favorite colors, although I must say that this piece is growing on me.
Hopefully, the weather will be cooperative and play nice. With some luck I might be able to hook up with other artsy folks. I will take my camera with me and try to get some nice spring photos.