So what does a 14 year old boy/young man do on a rainy Sunday? Why troll the basement for the record player and the decommissioned “stereo” (purchased in about 1988).

The usual place is at the laptop, but with music (stand, guitar, etc) nearby. We also have this cool store in town, Wild Rufus, that cells CDs (new and used) and (!!!!) old records! So number one son has taken to buying albums, yes…black, vinyl 33 1/3 rpms records… which were displayed on the wall. I’m glad I snapped this picture because two hours later the were down…..

Joshua had also recently scored a nearly virgin Led Zeppelin IV (or is it II) album…the one with stairway to heaven! The cover is a bit rubbed with age, but otherwise in perfect condition except for a name written on the back in ballpoint…no scratches, no tears, nada… and the album inside looks nearly unplayed!

So, with a little help in hooking up components from the resident dinosaur (aka Mom)…. we have (drum roll……)

The speakers are a bit worse for the wear…dented, fabric cat-scratched, etc., but they worked…. and so did (!!!!) the turntable. So we listened to AC/DC, Black Sabbath, and Led Zeppelin (not that we had much choice… ahem! he is a teen…. he might live to adulthood….) on vinyl!

Whoodathunk it…. in the iPod age, we’re back to 33 1/3!

Speaking of which…. does anyone know what technology I might need to get some old records and tapes transferred to digital… I don’t care if they are copied to CD first or go straight to the computer…. I have some ancient folkie stuff that is no longer available anywhere and would love to have it on the ‘puter and iPod….

This past Saturday, Kate, Kathy and I met at Quilt Divas from 10-12 for a book signing which the owners, Debbie and Doris, arranged for Creative Quilting with Beads. The three of us and Frayed Edge in exile Deborah had eight projects in the book! (I stayed until 1, since I had goofed on the day and scheduled it for the same day as the local quilt guild chapter meeting…so I stayed until some friends could come down and buy books…then we had a blast and went out to lunch).

That’s Kathy, who always looks happy, always looks nice, and is just plain fun! I’m SO looking forward to the next year or two when she MOVES down this way! Anyway, Debbie and Doris set up a nice table and display just as you entered the store. Kathy is holding her project which (drum roll please!) they chose as the FIRST project for the book! WOOT! Deborah sent up her triptych that is in the book, my blue and orange piece is on the same display, and Kate had already packed up her two pieces that were in the book (she had a meeting and had to boogie on time, before I remembered to take pictures!).

While there, Kate was kind enough to let me photograph her journal, since I’m going to develop a new lecture on Journal quilts. I decided the lecture should be about journals too…how you can use a notebook to record ideas and stuff for later use. Kate’s camera died on a recent trip to Italy (I’d have perished on the spot!), SO she sketched instead. Man is she GOOD! Just look at this drawing, which she colored later with watercolors, of beach peas in bloom in a jar….

I was so inspired when Kate first shared these with us… she told us about some watercolors she had bought … made in Russia. Surfing around the internet and then Dick Blick (an online and real art supply store) I found them…. Yarka from St. Petersburg. And I found the $$ my mom had given me for Christmas (and which I had carefully tucked away so as not to lose it, and therefore which wasn’t to be found for six months….) and SPLURGED! I had been wanting some watercolors, and nice, rich, deep colored ones, not insipid student-cheapo grade….. and the price on these was not to be believed (or skipped)…

Here’s the Dick Blick page. Of course, have I DONE anything with them since they arrived a week ago? Nope… maybe this weekend? Anyway, I’m hoping that in time my journals will be as colorful and maybe even a tenth as wonderful as Kathy’s and Kate’s…..I’m so lucky to be surrounded by such talent!

Can you tell things are settling down? It’s a near miracle. And I am having fun avoiding working on my book by doing (and cleaning up) lots of little things. One thing I accomplished this week amid mom stuff, kid stuff, general exhaustion (what else is new) and walking the cutest dog on the planet, I made an apron! When teaching at Sarah Johnson Quilts in Belfast, Maine, at the end of February, I spotted this apron pattern from Indygo Junction:

I snapped it up, and some Westminster fabric and some batik I had planned to use for a totebag got snagged for the apron. I will admit, I was a bit surprised by the pattern. Now, I am used to professional garment patterns (have been sewing with Butterick, et alia, since I was aged in single digits, which was a loooonnnnggggg time ago), but there wasn’t a layout! Nor was there a little guide showing what pattern pieces were on the pattern tissue. That meant the all-text, no pictures instructions were hard to follow. I was also mystified why they printed the cross stitch pattern on the tissue and again on the reverse side of the instruction sheet. They would have done FAR better to eliminate the second version of the cross stitch (on the red apron) and write adequate directions.

That said, I loved the apron! I adapted it…instead of making a partial lining, it was a WHOLE lot simpler to simply make it reversible…clean finished edges everywhere, no fussy lining up of stuff or unsighly seams showing, etc . And it makes it two layers at the tummy, where I’m always leaning against a drippy counter! The photo above is of my favorite side. Thanks to Eli (number 2 son) who is my relieable photographer. Please ignore the gut, the glasses, the lack of make-up (and therefore nearly invisible eyes!), etc. What can I say, I’m a plumpish, medium-everything (brown, weight, height, etc) except of course for the fish-belly white skin….. Anyway, photos are a good cure for delusions that I might look decent (and hotel bathroom mirrors are downright evil, but we’re not gonna go there….).

Enough blathering…here’s the other side of the apron:

It took a few shots (and reminding myself I look less plumpish if I grin!), but I like the photo…..

This coming week:  quilt Joshua’s quilt  and write an article or two… or at least START the articles, after crazy life and quilting, Cheers, Sarah

I had the MOST fun last week…. my beloved sister-in-law, Joyce, was born the same day (different year) than my hubby. It makes remembering birthdates easier! And best friend Marie was born two days later… all late May. Ya think I collect Geminis? Well, I had NO idea what to get Joyce. You see, I have known her for 44 years…. since I was 6 (or thereabouts). Yet we have never lived in the same town. We have always gotten to know each other through letters (the old fashioned written kind), then after I was grown up, through occasional phone calls and now e-mail (a lot). But when you aren’t near someone, you don’t always know how they spend their days, what they have in their house, or their favorite clothes. Add to that the fact that her passions are her garden, her dog, and my late brother. Hmmm….. hard to send plants via the mail…..

Then I had a lightbulb moment! Joyce has worked for Toyota headquarters for 30 years and is contemplating retirement. And I have been having a good time delving into the several mountains of accumulated magazines and books (the last year hasn’t been a good one for staying anywhere NEAR caught up on reading). One book is The Decorated Page by Gwen Diehn (click on the title to see the book at Amazon). SO…. I thought Joyce might like a new thing to do in retirement, or at least a notebook in which to make lists…. so here’s what I made for her:

I made her the bag not quite big enough to fit the book, but you could squeeze a magazine in, and definitely big enough to hold the notebook and stuff! I sent a copy of The Decorated Page, a 5 x 8 sketchbook (with a batik fabric fused to the cover to make it prettier) into which I drew a few things, a set of sketching pencils, Neocolor II water-soluble sticks–like a pastel, nicer than a crayon, easy to use, a waterbrush (think fountain pen meets paintbrush… fill the handle with water, squeeze and it drips out the felt tip allowing you to paint), a glue stick, an eraser, and some laminated cards to use with the notebook.

Here is what Joyce found when she opened the notebook:

and

Since Joyce might never have used some of these things, I told her about the book I’d enclosed:

Following Diehn’s advice, it is sometimes easier to begin when the page isn’t blank, so I decorated a few for her here and there through the journal:

… and I showed her what each of the items does:

And finally, I have her a few ideas about what to do in the book…after all, all those blank white pages can be intimidating!

I can’t remember having such fun with a putting together a gift….. best of all, she really enjoyed receiving it!

After visiting Natasha Kemper-Cullen‘s studio (see earlier post), Kate, Kathy, Hannah and daughter Nina and I headed to a beach on Orr’s Island (at least I think that’s where we were…..). We drove down route 24 through Harpswell until we reached here:

Kate had brought some cloths to spread on the damp sand, and we munched away:

For once, I remembered to do a stand-in for Deborah (our dear friend in exile in the wilds of the Dallas metropolis) who always used to remember to take photos of our lunches. We each brought something to share… we had initially planned to meet at Hannah’s house where she was going to fix a salad, but we changed our plans to picnic, so she treated us to lunch-on-the-run from the local grocery. Here’s what I picked:

Now wouldn’t that make a glorious quilt?

After eating, we trolled the beach for beach glass and pottery shards.  I did OK finding the glass, but didn’t really know what I was looking for with the pottery…. but Hannah gave me her findings, saying she had MORE than enough at home…so here is my “booty”, displayed on a piece of fabric I  monoprinted (with dye) and overdyed last fall in Carol Soderlund’s workshop (pop Soderlund into the search box on the upper left sidebar if you want to check out those blogposts)… anyway, the fabric seemed perfect….

On the way home I actually had time to dawdle on the way, so thinking of Deborah I stopped in at Smitten in downtown (!) Wiscasset. Deborah just LOVED this store and the sign. I have to admit…Wiscasset really is a beautiful little town:

The for-the-oh-so-chic home items in this store are lovely and expensive, so I enjoy the visual treat. Then I moved up the street a few doors to Rock Paper Scissors, which is a great name for a store also, and not so coincidentally, owned by the same someone (I think).
I love the stuff in this store…the paper, the pens, the ribbon….. but they SERIOUSLY need to work on customer etiquette. When I walked in the clerk was on the phone. I browsed. She got off the phone, but didn’t say a thing. I browsed some more, and spent some serious time considering some ribbons. She never said hello or may I help you find something, not a thing. I browsed more, headed toward the door. I left. She never ONCE said hello, good-bye, thank you, let me know if can I help you, NOTHING. So as much as I love the contents of the store, I’m getting over it. I’ve been in there a few times, and every time it is the same. Not a way to win repeat customers!

Then I drove home to kids, family, work and all that stuff that makes life worthwhile.