COLE-Di-Locks and the three chairs...

Once upon a time, there was a poodle named Cole-di-locks.

He was on a mission to find Just the right chair...

Is this one the right chair??? 

No, sadly, this one is Waaaaay too big.

He continued his walk, until he saw another chair... is THIS the RIGHT CHAIR???

 Oh, no, this chair is Waaaay too small. (cute though) (Ah to be a puppy again he thought)
He continued his walk, seeking spiritual guidance since he strongly believes....

That's it! I know just where to look, he thought.
That's right, the perfect chair is right here in my (current) back yard... there's no place like home!

Ahhh! JUST RIGHT !!
Hey..... someone's been sitting in MY chair...

And he's gettin' feathers all over it!

What's a vacation without a few craft purchases??

What's a vacation to the lake without a few craft purchases??
On the way out of town, and headed home, we stopped by the yearly craft festival and found some great items.
These are stained glass and beads, and silver wire and spoons! The artist said she goes to every yard sale looking for old cutlery, then falls in love with certain ones but makes herself sell them. Can't keep 'em all she says.
She hasn't seen my fabric stash.

What a setting for a craft show! DH got a calendar from a great photographer, and I also found this terrific little pottery bowl...

It's a yummy celadon green, with an unglazed area holding the words, love, peace, joy and happiness.

I can just imagine it holding a dip or cheese ball or just on my pass through counter filling my need for celadon and lovely words.
A jazz band was playing, the sun shining, people were happy, lots of dogs. Ahhhh

Gratuitous poodle shot
Is he
1. Passed out from the heat?
2. tired of hearing mommy interview artists?
3. Despondent at leaving Lake Placid:?
4. Angry that we won't buy him the boiled wool cap he wanted?
5. As tired as I feel after all the vacation fun?




And now a few, ahem, fabric purchases from the trip. You know I needed some more supplies...

Beads. Yep. Tiny little shiny-sparkly bits of heaven. I spent a good amount of time beading this year. I have fallen totally in love with flat even count peyote and am doing it in every variation I can think of. No patterns, just making it up as I go along. I'll show you later....

Mod and hexies just because I'm really 8 years old. Fall fabric that is incredibly sophisticated and I saw a quilt made with it and want to make that.
Adirondak fabric of pebbles, water, shake siding... yep gonna use these...

We took a ride to Saranac Lake one day in the rain and what did I see there? A quilt store! A great quilt store! so I got this gorgeous birch tree fabric and that blue? It grades light to dark in lucious shades of blue to teal to green. Perfect for borders or table cloth. And two sale patterns.
Yep, definitely making those for this Christmas.
Yep.

more aidrondak fabric from Log Cabin quilts one of my favorites for sure. The kit is for embroidery in fall colors (click on the pictures to see details)
Yep, making that.
 Using that fabric.

Or I will when I recover my energy from the FUN we had.

Fall Tumblers sewn on vacation

I'm trying something new to me... glue basting to paper pieces. 

I have done hexies in all ways and sizes, and I love the portability of EPP. I haven't done tumbler shapes yet, so I got a package at JoAnn's along with a Fons and Porter Glue pen, got out my scrap bins, and prepared a lot of them for the long car ride. I started with just oranges but had to add in blue and green...

 I chose fall colors to make a little table runner, because hope springs eternal that I will clean off the dining room table top eventually. I stitched them together... edge to edge no off set needed...

Then started stitching the long rows together... easy peasy. The only thing is, I don't like the glue much. It's stiff and it's harder to catch the edge in a whip stitch because it's paper thin, ahem, and stiff. I prefer plastic templates, and stitching behind the template to baste.

So, I tried this method... it is FAST and easy if you don't mind a bit of glue stick on your nails.
 I like the tumbler shape a lot!
 I like playing with Fall colors as the weather is about to change.
 I like using my scraps.
I had to add in more tumblers as it turned out smaller than I thought it might, so I'm not done but it's pretty fast to make.
 I think it will be pretty with hand quilting, and maybe a contrasting binding. I doubt I'll border it. I like the way the shapes float with color.

Quilting in unusual places....

Do you know what this is?
The obvious answer to a quilter is, Mariner's Compass.
It's made from fabric of course.
The location is the amazing thing...

It's on the prow of this boat. Here's the rest of the story...
While in Lake Placid we went for a "swim" each day with Cole along with every other dog, kayak, iron-man trainee, child, SUP, and boater in town that day. It was a party. On this day people were setting up for a mini-triathalon.
A very fit middle aged woman stood next to a hand crafted wooden boat. Kind of like a crew style, long and thin.
Sleek.
Inlaid wood, shiny, fit like her.
It had inlaid wooden ducks on the prow, see??  And... what is THAT??
 

A mariner's compass on the prow? I explained to the woman that I am a quilter and have a blog on living the creative life, asking if I could take a picture. "I quilted too, but now I knit" she said.
Turns out she and her husband built the boat, she designed and made the mariner's compass from fabric then coated it in shellac.
Awesome!
As I do, I began to chat with her, to learn some of her story. I want to hear everyone's story...
She is a guardian ad litem in Juvenile court in MA. I used to go to court weekly with my social work cases, hoping I could obtain a guardian ad litem for the children under my watch. We shared stories! A nice little surprise connection in the sun, dripping from lake water, with a husband and poodle standing by.

So as it turned out, this tanned-brown, fit, slip-of-an-athletic-woman with her hand made wooden boat and I had a lot in common.

Lake Placid 2015

Mirror Lake in Lake Placid NY

We packed up the van (see the poodle there?

His perch is the very back seat where he stretches out for the long car rides. This one was to Lake Placid NY, an approx. 9 driving hours from the house.

We take two days so we can stop lots along the way...

Cole here. I didn't know where the parental units were going but I knew I wanted to go too! I got in the car early while they were putting stuff in, just to make sure they didn't forget the poodle. I had an idea it was a fun trip as there is my traveling bed on my perch. yipee!
The first stop as always was a quilt store... my momma is always looking for sewing stuff!

Olde City Quilts in Burlington NJ

We chart our trip by the best quilt stores... making sure to leave enough time for Pennington Quilt shop near Princeton NJ. Momma always returns to the car with a bag that seems to make her happy. We like it when she's happy!

We stop a lot of places along the way and I'm sure Momma will share those stories later.

For now this is where we stay when at the Lake. That's our room, up there see? It has a balcony so we often hang out and watch the show.
Here I am on one of the docks...

Golden Arrow Hotel beach

Here I am relaxing while momma plays with her beads and Daddy plays on the standing up boat on the lake...

Momma took lots of pictures, did a lot of writing, walking, shopping, and creating, Dad played his guitar, read, swam and ran.

I was a pup again, running, swimming, meeting other dogs and people and in general feeling the air in my ears....

That's enough for now...

we are all tired from our fun, the peeps are doing laundry so my bed will be ready for the next trip whenever that is.

All of us were renewed.

a Cup of indigo

The color challenge this month at So Scrappy  is indigo. I discussed the color and it's challenges to me here in the Indigo Flamingo's post.
This week it's dishes.
 I've been doing pp dishes in each color.
I pulled the scraps to the left, and fussy cut them for this cup.
I love it!
Now for something to go in the cup...

stars.

Stars in the cup... or star coffee, so strong it will leave a twinkle in your eyes!

Star tea... make a wish while drinking it, then read your tea leaves for your future...

How about a little snack. Better be really little as these plates are small...

So, we have a snack and something to drink.

What about a bowl of lemons, or fruit, or maybe candy??

When I saw this print in the scrap bin, it just looked like a little China bowl.
The pattern was called a latte cup, but it looks like a bowl to me.

The two lighter shades of blue for the inside, were not quite large enough, but I liked the tint and shading so I pieced them together to make them large enough. Proving no scrap is too small for me.

I am happy with this month's dishes

Skaneateles NY with a poodle tourguide

available at http://www.nest58.com/

Grab a phone and call a friend...
On our recent trip to the Finger Lake region of NY we spent a day in Skaneateles a quaint town on Lake Skaneateles. Pronounce that, Skinny-Atlas please.

 I was so enchanted by the town, the homes, the tree lined streets full of history and architecture, and yes lovely stores! that I forgot to take real pix of the actual lake. Just a few through shop windows.

 I DO have many mental pix of the lake as we walked and walked, we sat on a bench quietly viewing the water and people-watching. We saw a concert in a gazebo in the park along the lake. We saw a wedding rehearsal dinner at the fancy restaurant in town. Lots of mental pix.
 The day started with lunch...

We shared a lunch of roasted beet salad and a mushroom pizza at this tiny little restaurant. There were two tables outside, on a warm sunny day. Cole had his special needs food... and a big bowl of cool water.


Are y'all going to eat all that pizza yourself? I like cheese...

We looked around the shops,

Another lovely cow picture. Love the pig too. Available at a wonderful store called http://www.nest58.com/

oh my look at the view out of the store window!

I can't imagine why I didn't buy this.

I went through quite a mermaid phase in quilting. I have at least two large mermaid based quilts I show in my lecture series.


Metal and glass... yum... I was probably over stimulated at this point. My eyes were full of beauty.

The streetside view through store windows was just as lovely. Cole was the one leaving with goodies today. He got treats and a new soft fleece ball. With a working squeaker.

We got a cold drink, and sat quietly watching the water. At one point a lovely woman sat on the bench next to me. We began to chat and I learned she used to live here but moved to NJ to be near her kids. She was from Italy, so I had to tell her about my birth father, who was supposedly from Italy too. I've not met him, but I was told his name is Earl Serrone. She used to teach Italian and Drew and I studied Italian one...twice.
Small world.
After our substantial rest, we walked all around the town, Cole slow but kept going for the whole walk.

Since we got home, Cole has played and played with the new favorite ball. He's already punctured it but the squeaker is still working. So far.