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It Finally Rained!!

Saturday, July 10th, 2010

It so far has been a very dry late Spring and Summer, with so many storm fronts approaching and splitting…. rain to the North, rain to the South and none here…. (The date on my blog is not coming up right, so I am writing this on July 25- time for some tech geek help to figure out what is going on.)

Wet Planter

When we did precipitation, it was just enough to raise the humidity and barely dampen the bottom of the bucket I have used as my “rain gauge”. The lawn became pretty crispy, and some of my newest additions to the gardens were looking sad. The spring that I use to water my gardens and planters, dried up a couple of weeks ago, and I have had buckets in sinks to catch hand or dish washing water to use to keep planters and new babies alive without using too much from our well which likes to go dry in Summer.

Sky 01

It seemed as if every time there was rain in the forecast, all we got to see were white, puffy clouds like these. They are really pretty, but when you are praying for rain, not what you want to see every day.

Wet Nicotiana

Finally, on Friday July 23, we woke to a nice gentle rain shower…. heavy storms were predicted, and there were severe ones in other areas not far away- even a tornado, but the half inch we finally got was wonderful. The above photo is of the pink Nicotiana in one of my deck planters… the blurry flower had a drop off the eves fall on it just as I clicked.

Tomato

Another nicely wet planter… This one has a volunteer Tomato plant growing in it…. I left it there to see what it does…. the only tomatoes I have grown on the deck have been grapes,  so I am hoping for similar ones.

Stormy Sky 1 8PM

The rain on Friday came with a very hot and humid air mass that hung around for the weekend. This photo above, and the following ones were taken Saturday evening. We began the evening listening to many severe thunderstorm warnings, then tornado watches and warnings. Tornadoes are not common around here, but this summer there have now been at least 4+ in the region. By the time I took this photo the sky was looking pretty “spooky”…. with pinks, yellows and black clouds.

Stormy Sky 2 8:25PM

This was the sky a bit later… The color doesn’t show great in this photo, but it did pick up all the different types of clouds that were present, from little white wisps to dark ominous ones.

Stormy Sky 3- 8:42PM

Shortly after the previous photo was taken, the rain started to fall. Heavy downpours were forecast, but things came fairly gently…. what we need to get moisture into the ground. The sky really began to change, and I was amazed that my camera got the colors pretty close to what they were. We were babysitting our granddaughter Jenna, and she had to have her stool by the front door to look out with her “Poppy”. The pink in the sky made the water drops on the door window look pink, too.

Stormy Sky 4 8:43 PM

This was the first time I remember seeing clouds that looked like this…. The puffy ones higher up were like cottonballs, not like normal cauliflower T-storm clouds, and the lower clouds were darker, wispy ones. It was spooky and amazing at the same time, especially knowing that a possible tornado had been spotted by the weather service in the county to the West of us.

Stormy Sky 5 8:43 PM

As you can see by the times of the photos, I was clicking as many as I could…. This one came out a bit more orange than the actual sky, but shows the shapes of the clouds great. It was a wonderful combination of bright pinks, oranges, shades of gray and even blue sky peeking in the distance.

Stormy Sky 6 8:44 PM

The colors in this photo are pretty close to what we saw… The trees in my Maple tree garden made some great silhouettes against the sky. It kept changing so quickly.

Stormy Sky 7 8:44 PM

This was a different angle, catching the white wisps below the streaks and ripples above in pinks and blue-grays.

Stormy Sky 8- 8:45 PM

This shows the blue sky creeping in along with more dark streaks following.

Stormy Sky 9- 8:47 PM

This is the last photo I took because it was getting too dark for the camera. I really didn’t expect the photos to show as good as they do with my old Kodak digital, but sometimes I am really amazed at what I end up with.  We only ended up with less than a half inch more of rain from this storm… much less than fell other places nearby, but yesterday AM while in church we got another rain shower that gave us a total of an inch. An inch and a half of rain in 3 days… That’s the way we needed it to come…. mostly gentle enough not to wash right off, but soak in.

White Lily 2

OK, I have to add at least one more flower… The last bud from my newest Oriental Lily bloomed…. It has been glowing in the garden… I can’t quite see this one from my kitchen window, so it forces me to get out to wander the gardens to see it. That is how I have planted many gardens…. You have to walk around or through them to see all the treasures in them.  I will have to give my gardens another day to recover from the rain  until the Petunias and Phlox are “photo worthy” again…. the rain knocked off or turned flowers to mush… I am sure it will be worth the wait!

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July in the Gardens and it’s HOT!

Thursday, July 1st, 2010

The very first few days of July were nice, with warm days and cool nights, then the heat arrived….. We are now in day 3 of a heat wave with temps in the mid 90′s.

(Today’s date is July 7, but the blog seems to think it is still July 1st..?.?.. I guess I’ll have to figure out what is going on…. Later….)

Front Door Garden

There has also been no measurable rain in a loooong time… The lawn is pretty crispy, but the gardens are doing pretty well with the hay mulch on them and occasional waterings. I have been lugging hoses all over to keep the newest plants growing well.  The Front door garden is pretty colorful now with the Phlox coming into bloom along with the Daylilies and Echinaceas. You can also see the mildew on the tall late blooming Phlox in the photo above. The lower growing varieties seem to be much more resistant to the nasty white powder that makes the plants really ugly.

Van- Not a Good Sign

Since my last post, I went back to Fillmore, NY to see family and had a bit of trouble getting on the road….. The van really needed new brakes, but during the repair things didn’t go all that smoothly. A few more parts were needed, and after an extra day of waiting, I now have brakes that stop the van very smoothly! You can see that the Maple Tree Garden in the van photo, with the Annabelle Hydrangea in full bloom.

Mom's Deck

The main reason I went back to my hometown was to see my grandmother who has ended up in the nursing home again… another fall. My sister was also visiting from TX, and I wanted to get some plants that I had taken up earlier in the spring planted for my mom. It was a busy visit, and the garden around Mom’s deck and patio is looking much better. The Hosta, Phlox, and Echinaceas I took from my gardens are now in their new homes. Amazingly, there was a lot of rain the day before I did Mom’s gardens- over an inch- we got nothing in PA….

Baby Kitties at Gram's

My sister and I stayed at my gram’s house and did some cleaning and preparing of things for her to come home when she is able. The first couple of days, there were not too many cats around, but by the last day there were cats and their babies showing up. Here are a couple that I lured out with some milk. They were pretty skittish, there was also a gray one hiding behind it’s mom.

View from Wyalusing Rocks

I had an appointment with my Rheumatologist in Tunkhannock the first day I was back home, and while driving back up RT 6, I decided to “play tourist”. I stopped at a couple of scenic overlooks along the road and took a bunch of photos of the Susquehanna River, farms and surrounding mountains. The above photo was taken at the Wyalusing Rocks overlook, and shows the river curving through the valley. Here is a link to some tourist info for Bradford County, PA. More info about our area can be found there.

View From Marie Antoinette Lookout

The photo above here is from the Marie Antoinette lookout. There is a lot of great stonework, and you can see for miles around.

View From Marie Antoinette Lookout 2

This is the view from the other end of the lookout area, showing more of the stonework and more of the river and mountains.

View From Marie Antoinette Lookout 3

This photo shows some of the farms in the valley. I will be using these photos as inspiration for some new art quilts and quilted postcards.

Back at home, I have been taking walks through my gardens with the camera.

Mound Garden Echinacea and Hostas

This photo shows the Mound Garden in the back yard with the Echinaceas and Hosta in full bloom. So far these plants are doing well in the dry weather.

Echinacea with Bees

Here is a close shot of one of the more popular flowers with a couple of visitors on it. The honey bee tried to chase off the bumblebee, but I caught them both sharing the flower for a bit.

Baby Corn

It might be hard to see them, but there are some sweet corn plants in the veggie box. I think some critters helped themselves to many of the seeds…. not many plants came up. This bed has always been very dry, so I hope with the hay mulch I won’t have to water very often and hope these plants will take off.

Front Door Garden 2

Back around to the Front Door Garden, and more Echinaceas, Asiatic Lilies and Hemerocallis (Daylilies). I also have some Gladiola bulbs planted in the bare spots in this garden for late summer color and flowers to cut and take indoors.

Pair of Daylily Flowers

This is a closeup of a pair of Daylily flowers.  Many of the Daylilies lost their buds due to the late freeze we had, or that is what I think happened. I have found lots of shriveled or deformed buds.

Hemerocallis Ice Carnival

This is my favorite Daylily variety… The white color shows up really nice in the evening, even as the flowers are fading after their single day of bloom.

Hemerocallis Pandora's Box

One of the few flowers this plant will have this season. Most of the buds died, but this variety is supposed to be a rebloomer, so maybe I’ll get a few more late summer. The photo makes it look bigger than it is… this flower is half the size of the other varieties.

Raspberry Petunias

I love pink, and I really love these pink Petunias- Raspberry Swirl, I believe. I have one plant in one of my large square planters along the front walkway.

OK, this is getting long….. I have more flower photos, but will save them for a later post. I may be wilting in the heat, but the flowers are still blooming!

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Flowers Anyone??

Saturday, June 19th, 2010

It’s been over a month since posting, and a lot has changed in the gardens and even the Mountain Laurel bloomed along Water Road. This time of year, I don’t get too much quilting done because the gardens keep calling to me. With the size and number of them, I am giving hay mulch a try this year to keep the weeds from taking over the gardens and my time.

Weeds Taking Over

Weeds Taking Over

This is what the garden outside the front door looked like mid May. Most of the weeds were dandelions, wild carrot, and other tap root types. Ken found a weed puller gizmo  made by Fiskars that worked very well at popping these nasties out roots and all. It was a lot of work, but I got this bed under control in about a week.

Weeds Gone

Another area of the same garden above after most of the weeds were removed. I was left with bare soil and not a lot of color since the early bloomers were done. I added a few annual flowers and soon the next crop of weeds were poking their little heads out of the ground. Last year, it seemed like all I did was weed….no fun.

Front Door Garden with Hay

I decided that it was time for mulch… I can’t afford to purchase bark or other mulches, so decided to use something we have lots of…. Hay and old grass that has been lying around in piles and in bales in a field. I had been afraid to use the grass and hay for fear of adding more weed seeds, but read a book on the subject that says that if I keep adding more as  the first layer breaks down, I should have very few weeds. (I also didn’t really pay attention to the fact that there are already millions of the same seeds found in the hay and grass already in the gardens… not adding anything new) The above photo shows the view from my front door after a few annuals have been added for a bit of color. The hay and grass looks so much better than bare earth, and will keep the moisture in along with keeping weeds down.

Back Yard Weeds

This is what the back yard gardens looked like from the deck. I had been keeping the section middle right in the photo pretty well weeded because that is where many of my early bloomers are. I would pull a few weeds every time I checked out the new flowers. The garden on the mound was getting really sad.

Back Yard Gardens with Hay

After a lot of weeding, lugging, placing of hay, and planting of more annuals, it looks much nicer. The flowers in the foreground are in the planters on the deck. The view is even more pleasant to look at now that I have added more flowers since this photo. When they start filling out, I will post new photos. Working with the hay as mulch is great, especially in large areas where there is nothing planted. I just covered with a deep layer of the hay, and wherever I want to plant, I just pull aside the hay, plant the flower, and replace the hay around the plant.

Bale of Hay

This is just one of the bales I had Ken deliver to my gardens from the field. This particular bale is still waiting to be spread in the Lilac garden, but another nearly 5 bales have been used so far. I got some help with moving 2 bales to the areas of the gardens it was needed. The rest has been my task. I now have the bales fairly close to where I am using it, so there isn’t as much lugging involved. It is lots of work and has caused a few nasty fibro flares, but it will allow me to actually sit and enjoy the gardens more during the summer.

Wall and Mound Gardens

This is a sweeping view of the gardens along the stone wall, and mound garden in the back yard. I was standing at the end of the stone wall nearest the group of Black Walnut trees. I have divided some of my Hosta  and other perennials to fill in empty spaces, and have Impatiens in the shady areas and Petunias in the sunny areas. Each year I work toward filling the gardens with mostly perennials. When we owned the greenhouse, I would plant literally truckloads of leftover annuals in the gardens each summer. After 4 years of dividing the perennials I have and adding a few new ones, the space left for annual flowers is much less.

Blue Siberian Iris

Now for some photos of some of the flowers that have bloomed in May and the beginning of June. With the abnormally warm early Spring and late hard freeze, many flowers bloomed really early and some not at all, leaving very little color right now before the summer boomers start. The Siberian Iris really put on a show! I have many clumps in various shades of purple-blue from very deep to very pale. I began with two varieties- one from my mom’s garden in NYS, and one deep colored one I purchased. I also bought a white one, and the are all cross pollinating and seeding in many spots. I have a rainbow of shades now. The flowers were beautiful, but with the heat they didn’t last very long.

Blue Iris and Peony

One clump of the  Iris is next to the old fashioned white Peony. They look great blooming together.

Peony Pink Luau

Speaking of Peonies, This is my favorite so far…. Called Pink Luau… I bought it a couple Falls ago and this is it’s first year to bloom. Another beautiful deep salmon pink colored one did not bloom this year because the buds froze during the last freeze we had. I have been collecting many varieties with less petals that the old fashioned ones. They hold up much better in the rain. I got photos of this and other varieties through all stages from bud to shattering. There will be Peony flowers in coming quilts, I am sure.

Campanula Sarastro

This really pretty deep purple Campanula is one of the few flowers in bloom right now. Most have faded before the Phlox and Coneflowers begin for the summer. I almost lost this plant last year, but after a season of babying it, it is thriving this year.

Garden Mt Laurel

This was one of the biggest surprises this year…. I bought this plant last Spring and the deer decided to munch nearly every leaf off it. I got a great show of blooms even with just stubby stems. The Mountain Laurel bloomed way earlier than usual this year. It is usually in peak bloom right now, but the flowers are already gone. They were blooming before the end of May.

Water Rd Mt Laurel 2010-1

This is a photo of some of the Mountain Laurel blooms I have been watching form along Water Road. They ended up nearly pure white this year. I think that the heat while the buds were forming caused the color to be faded. Last year with cooler temps. they were a soft pink. The buds in this photo show more pink than most of the clumps did.

Baby Pteradactyl Fern

Back to the home gardens…. This is a photo of my tiny “Pterodactyl Fern”. The mom of this plant was over a foot tall, but so far this baby has stayed quite small. Last year it came up very late, in August…I thought it had died. It’s official botanical name is Dryopteris linearis pterodactylus. I am wondering if the size may be due to the Black Walnut trees that are the shade for this garden. I have many plants doing very well, but find I need to move a few to other gardens. The best shade I have is under the Walnuts, but the Lilac garden is maturing enough to give me a few more shady spots to try things in.

Funky Shade Plant

This plant is one that is not usually up and growing until now, and it has been blooming for some time now. I believe it is a Piniellea or something like that for a name…. brain fog…. I need to look it up and get a name tag with it. The Lamium are filling in very nicely around the Hosta, Ferns and these under the Black Walnut shade.

Nibbled Strawberry Plant

This Strawberry plant looks better than many of it’s bed mates. The deer or rabbits have been snacking on them. Some plants only had stubs where there were leaves. I have sprayed them with “Liquid Fence” deer repellent and they are putting out new leaves. It is a good thing they are everbearers, or I would have no berries at all this year.

Blackberry Flowers

My newly planted Blackberry bush with it’s flowers and berries beginning to form. So far the deer have left this alone- I sprayed it when I planted it. One I planted last year was eaten nearly to the ground before I sprayed.

Pink Lilies

This is the only stem of of these light pink Lilies to bloom this year. Probably another victim of the late freeze. All of the buds on the other plants shriveled while tiny.

Flame Pink Phlox

This is the first of the Phlox to bloom…. a dwarf variety that I can see from my kitchen window.

Bodacious Returns Daylily

I think this is another freeze victim…. The first flowers on this Daylily are on very short stems, and a lot of the buds on the taller stems are brown on the tips. The later blooming varieties seem to be fine. Some plants were at just the wrong stage of growth when things got colder than usual for May.

Flying Flower

This is the last photo for this post…. This guy flew into the kitchen and I found him on the edge of the windowsill one morning. He looked interesting folded up, but really neat when he opened his wings. What a great surprise!

I plan to get back to the studio more, now that the weather is getting hotter and not so great for garden work. The hay should keep my work to a minimum out there, too. There will be more flowers coming, too. Hopefully not over a month till the next post…

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Water Road Continued….

Monday, May 10th, 2010

Due to “technical difficulties” I had to rebuild the last post, and am finally getting the rest of what I found the other day along Water Road. If not for those Azaleas, I may never have known some of these  little treasures existed right under my nose….

Wild Blueberry Blooms

During my wandering, I noticed what looked like small Azalea plants closer to the road. Upon closer inspection, the leaves were too small and not just right for Azalea leaves. They almost looked like Blueberry leaves, but I had never seen those here before…. As the photo above shows, they are definitely Wild Blueberries! They may have  been under my nose all the time and I just looked over them, or this may be the first year they have bloomed…. Actually, around here they are called Huckleberries if they are found growing wild. They have smaller berries than the cultivated ones, but the flavor is wonderful. It’s hard to tell from the photo, but the blooms are about 1/4 inch long…. very tiny.

Solomon's Seal

I almost missed this, too… A medium growing Solomon’s Seal. I had gotten into the van and saw these out the passenger window, so had to get out again to get photos. These flowers aren’t quite fully open… They aren’t very showy, but the plants usually spread nicely. I have a variegated leaved one in my woodland garden…. I haven’t seen them come up yet… maybe I better take another walk in my own gardens!

Pussy's Toes Flowers

There were lots of these Pussy’s Toes blooming on the steepest parts of the roadside. They tend to like more harsh conditions to grow in. The little flowers on these are on 6 inch tall stems, with little fuzzy  gray-green leaves.

Dogwood

It is pretty tricky to get photos of the wild Dogwood flowers. Most of the trees are way down the steep bank on one side of the road, or high on the upper bank of the road. This little tree wasn’t too far up, but the wind was blowing, so many tries were fuzzy. (I love my little digital camera…. just erase the bad ones:) I was trying to get a photo of some of the flowers from their tops, but I’m not tall enough and the wind didn’t want to blow them just when I wanted. This year, they seem to be ahead of most years, just about past peak.

Cinquefoil

I should have tried to get a finger into this photo to show how tiny the Cinquefoil flower is. The tree leaves may put things into perspective a bit. This flower is no more than about half an inch across. Plants growing in better conditions will have slightly larger flowers, and plant is mostly considered a weed by me. Pretty cute here.

Tall Trees

I was trying to show what it is like to walk along this roadway, with the tall trees growing up on a high bank, making them appear even taller. The sky was a perfect blue for the background. This is a beautiful stretch of road, and I feel so lucky to live where I do every time I drive down it.

Fiddleheads

From the sky, to the ground again….. There are many varieties of ferns growing, and this one is just beginning to unfurl it’s leaves with lots of little Fiddleheads showing.

Anemonella

I discovered these little Anemonella flowers last year, and I think there are even more of them this year. I have a hard time getting the camera to focus on the flowers, not the leaves or background, so this is the best photo I got. Another trip may be needed if the wind ever stops and the temps go up a little.

Big Rock

This is  one of those things that amazes me…. Here is a huge rock, and there are numerous plants growing on the top of it just in whatever has fallen on the top and accumulated there. The photo doesn’t really show well, but the rock sits out by itself. A little rocky soil has tumbled off the bank onto part of it, but most is just old leaves, sticks and whatever else happened to fall there. The poor plants must struggle a lot for moisture in the summer, with such a thin layer of “stuff” to grow in…. Nature at it’s best! This is the last of the photos from that walk along the road…. There will be more as the Mountain Laurel get nearer to blooming.

Single White Peony

This beauty is something I have been wanting to acquire for many years… A Single flowered White Peony!  I found this just in bud at a Lowes on the way home from my gram’s. It just started opening these gorgeous Lotus-like flowers. It is in the house right now, due to the gusty winds that kept blowing it over, until I decide it’s place of honor in the front door garden. The single Peony will hold it’s flowers longer because the first rain shower doesn’t fill them with water and flop them to the ground.

WIP Peek

Here is a little peek at what is happening with some of the photos I have been taking…. I am making a batch of postcards for an exchange group, and hope to have some extras that  I will be able to list for sale, too.  I also need to get my larger WIP to the machine and start adding some stitching to see where it will end up…. I have an idea what I will do, but many pieces seem to decide they want something different than I first thought…. Time will tell!

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A Hike in the Woods

Thursday, April 22nd, 2010

I am staying at my grandmother’s house right across from the home I grew up in for a couple of weeks. I have not been back in my hometown area in the Spring since leaving for college. When working in greenhouses,  I had no free time during the busy Spring season to get away. Today I went for my first hike and expedition into the woods where I used to explore when I was a kid. Here are some photos from today’s hike.

Sugar House

I began near the old sugar house…. Much of the area is in a cow pasture, and I found that I am not as good at getting through barbed wire fences as I was as a kid. I remember spending time with my grandfather in this building when I was quite little while he kept an eye on the boiling sap that became Maple syrup. It is now sinking into the hillside and is not in very good shape.

Dead Tree

Not too far up the hill from the sugar house, was this big tree that died and fell over.

Pond

Here is the pond where my sisters, brothers and I would spend summer days fishing. There are a pair of Canada geese swimming there now.  The cows used to be kept in this pasture, and would go up the hill behind the pond to another flat area of the pasture. We used to hike up there often to bring the cows down for milking…. it looks much steeper than I want to hike up now….

Hepatica

After I checked out the pond, I began my exploration of the woods. I used to love to see what flowers and plants were coming up as the weather warmed up. The first I ran across today were a few of these tiny little white flowers.
Spring Beauty
We called this little gem Spring Beauty. The flowers are tiny white to pale pink with magenta to plum purple stripes.  One needs to keep a keen eye out to find the little plants and flowers.

Sugar Road

Here is the main “trail” I took…. It was a roadway where the sap was carried from the trees to the sugar house. It is not very easy to walk it now because of all the fallen trees, branches, and other obstacles. I ended up following a few deer trails off the old roadway to find the plants I was really looking for.  I felt like a mountain goat at times…. I was looking for Trilliums and Jack-in-the Pulpits that I used to love to watch growing and even moved a few to a natural garden near our house.

Dog tooth Violet 1

The woods were almost carpeted with the leaves from the Dog Tooth Violets.  The yellow flowers were not in all areas, though.  Here is one just opening.

Jack-in-the-Pulpit 1

The first of the real treasures I was looking for. Hiding in the piles of leaves was this Jack-in-the-Pulpit plant that was just beginning to show itself. It was hard to spot these, as most were not as far along than this one is.

Jack-in-the-Pulpit 2

This one is a bit different in color from the first. Not far from this one, I found a nice cluster of this color as well as the lighter colored ones. A few more up this far and lots more just peeking. A nice find….

Red Trillium 2

Just as I was beginning to wonder if I would find any Trilliums, I made this discovery! I first found only leaves with no blooms, then found many groups of the red flowered ones. They covered quite a good sized area. I had remembered more white flowered ones than red, but today I found mostly red.

Red Trillium

Here is a good closeup shot of one of the red flowers.

White Trillium

The lonely clump of white Trillium I found. I don’t know if there are more, but so far I found many more red ones. I will probably go on a bit farther another day and may find the  big group of white flowers. I do remember the colors growing in different areas in the past.

Plant by Log

Another plant growing out from the bed of leaves next to a mossy old rotten log.

Rush Creek

Once I followed the deer path out to the road, I could get a good view of the creek as it travels around the bend with the cherry trees blooming on the bank.

After returning from my hike, I enjoyed a slide show of these photos and many more I took, and I realized that the new direction my quilting began heading in is not only inspired by the area of PA that I live in, but has been influenced by my wanderings when I was  young in the woods and fields where I grew up, too.

Mud on the Wall Not so Muddy

Does anything in this quilt look familiar??  I guess I have been influenced by rocks, mud, dead trees and flowers through my whole life.

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March is Half Over

Tuesday, March 16th, 2010

I have done a lot in the past month, but have not done any blogging about it. I think what I will do is to break things up into “bite sized” pieces into several posts.

Not too long after my last post, we actually got SNOW….. there has not been much of that this winter. Some too early in October, a little more in December, and lots of brown landscapes.

Water Road Mountain Laurel 2

This was taken the day after I took the barn photos… The moss is green and the Mountain Laurel leaves are somewhat green with browned edges.

Water Road Winter 1

Another view along Water Road…. The rocks piled behind the dead tree are pretty big. There are some ferns with a little green to them clinging to the base of a bush that is holding some soil in place.  These photos and more are the inspiration for my latest Mountain Laurel piece that is in progress.

Snow 2-10-2010 Front Garden

The day after taking photos of Water Road, the snow began….. We finally got some pretty white snow to cover up the ugly winter browns. We had snow for a few days in a row, but it didn’t get too much deeper than shown  here….. Until the Real Storm.

Storm 2-25 and 26,2010

Storm 2-25 and 26,2010

We started out with nearly no snow, then during 2 days we got buried in white. It was hard to tell just how much snow we actually got because of all the blowing and drifting, but definitely over a foot. No where near what other areas of the East had been getting, but our biggest snowfall in a couple years.

Snow 2-26-10 Deck Table 10AM

You know you had a real Nor’easter when the East facing deck with a roof over it ends up with this much snow cover.

This snowy winter wonderland was the “perfect” time for #3 son Nick to visit from Georgia. His girlfriend is a born Southerner, and Nick has been in warmer climates for nearly 3 years, and doesn’t miss the cold.

Fun in the Snow

Everyone spending some time in the snow. The dogs from GA really loved the snow… Roxie lived with us last winter, but Vladie seemed to be at home in the white stuff. Aaron and his family came to visit for the day, and the kids love sledding. Megan, Nick’s girlfriend, didn’t like the cold and froze… Her first time sledding…. she didn’t really like it.

Snowy Sunday Afternoon

The livingroom was literally wall to wall people… The “I Spy” books have been popular since we got them for the guys when they were younger. Still fun after all these years, and now Andrue spends hours with them. Ken is “hiding” behind the comics, and Jonelle and Jenna were on the other end of the couch. Notice the lack of cats in the photo…. with dogs in the house, the cats stayed in the greenhouse.

Kenai on the Couch

The dog that pestered the cats the most…. Little Kenai thinks he owns the place when he visits and the cats scatter. He likes to “tree” them on the high spots in the greenhouse, and bark at them.

This sums up most of February…. The non quilt related part…. Some quilts next…

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Inspiration Along the Road

Monday, February 8th, 2010

A few days ago, I picked up my grandson from his school that is just over 6 miles from home.  As most roads in our area of PA, there are lots of twists and turns, and many farms with old, worn out barns and other buildings in disrepair that grab my attention. This post shows a few of the photos I took along that road.

Ghent Road Barn on Curve 1

This was the view just a few miles from home.  The road curves almost all around this old barn. I took a series of photos of this barn as I drove around it. (I did stop to take each photo.) Actually most of the photos were taken the day after I picked up Andrue when I went back to the school to see if my cell phone got dropped in the parking lot. (It was found today inside the school, so I made good use of my drive time.)

Ghent Road Barn on Curve 2

A little farther along the road, with a few plastic wrapped hay bales in the foreground.

Ghent Road Barn on Curve 3

This was as I got around, near the end of the barn, where the road gets closer to it.

Ghent Road Barn on Curve 4

Ghent Road Barn on Curve 5

These are more photos as I drove along the road in front of the barn and past it.

Gent Road Falling Shed 1

Along the road a bit farther are a couple of smaller buildings that are in really bad shape.  Both the one above and below look like one good snow storm might take them down.

Ghent Road Falling Shed 2 with Grain Bin 1

Ghent Road Machinery Shed 1

This machinery building is in better repair than the previous buildings, and looks as if it is still being used to house some machinery. I like the basic “bones” of this building. It definitely has lots of character.

Ghent Hill Corner Barn 1

The photo of this barn was taken on the way home from the school, the last set of barns on Ghent road. The one right next to the road is another one ready to fall at any time.

It seems a bit sad to see so many of these these old buildings empty and ready to fall  down. I often wonder what some of the barns and buildings were like when in use, full of animals, hay and more.  Even old buildings that I grew up hanging out in, on my parent’s farm are sad from old age and not being used any more.

This was just a few buildings on a small stretch of road. There are many many more stretches of PA roads with old barns and houses I want to take photos of and eventually use in a series of art quilts. I can envision some of these printed onto fabric and surrounded with old fashioned flowers growing around them instead of the dead weeds and grasses.

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Playing With Mud and Rocks Again

Friday, January 29th, 2010

Actually I am playing with paint on fabric to resemble mud, rocks, moss, ferns and flowers for a new art quilt I am working on. I have had the idea for this piece in the back of my head for a long time…. You know the kind…. an idea that keeps peeking out to say it wants to be done, but every time you try to put idea to fabric, things don’t work right, and the idea gets crammed back into the recesses of the mind until it decides to pop out again…. Finally this idea has actually gotten on the design wall, and is progressing.

Art Quilt "Mountain Laurel and Ferns" by Sue Andrus, Andrus Gardens

"Mountain Laurel and Ferns"

“Mountain Laurel and Ferns” was one of the few pieces I created in 2009. The new piece in the works is inspired by the same  area along the road I live on that inspired this one. I am fascinated by how tenacious the plants and trees that grow there are. It is a pretty hostile environment, with lots of rocks, a steep slope, shade and lots of dust coating things during the hot summer. The Mountain Laurel plants seem to be just hanging on by a thread, but they are actually deeply rooted old, abused specimens.

Mountain Laurel Flowers

Mountain Laurel Flowers along Water Road

In the photo above, the stems that show are pretty skinny, making it look like these plants were not very old. Upon digging around the bases a bit, I discovered that the stems were growing out from low, wide stumps. These are much older plants than it looks from a quick glance. The road they are growing along used to be one lane through the woods, up the side of the mountain. A number of years ago, it was widened so two vehicles can now pass safely. Most of the trees and vegetation close to the road was cut down on the high side of the road, while gravel was built up on the low side. These Mountain Laurel plants were victims of the massive cutting, but they grew back from the bases. They also continue to take more abuse when the road crews come along with their brush trimmers each summer. That would explain why the plants are so low, appearing to crawl along the ground.

The new piece on the wall will feature more of the rocks and dirt than the greens of “Mountain Laurel and Ferns”.  I had to break out the paints to modify a couple pieces of fabric to add to what I had in my stash.  I am also using some photos printed onto cotton, and there may also be a craggy, mossy tree trunk.

Fern Fabric

Fern Batik Fabric

The fabric above is the one I wanted to modify. This is not a fabric I like much, too much rusty orange. I decided to turn it into something to resemble the rocks and dirt around the Mountain Laurel plants.

Painted Fern Fabric Green

Painted Fern Fabric Green

Fern Fabric after Painting Gray

Fern Fabric after Painting Gray and Green

Above are the two pieces of the fabric that I ended up with. I toned down the contrast of the ferns and the rusty orange. I will be posting the process used to get to this point on my Classroom Blog.

These new fabrics will be used here and there in my newest creation. I am not sure how much will be used, but it now has more of a muddy, mossy look than it had.

If all goes well, there will be new posts soon showing progress of my new work. I will be away over the weekend, so I hope the ideas that have been flowing don’t stop.

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The Wreaths are Done!

Saturday, December 12th, 2009

The wreath workshop has officially been closed for the season…. It will now turn back into a woodworking shop again.

I finished my orders of wreaths and grave blankets and all were gone by this past Monday.

Fraser Fir with Cone Spikes

Here is one of the branches of Fraser Fir that are literally a pain to work with…. the cones shatter, leaving behind the spiky centers… If I needed to use these branches for wreaths, I had to cut off the spikes… really adds to the time needed to construct things.

Concolor Fir

In direct contrast to the spiky, sharp Frazer cone centers, is the softness of Concolor Fir. The Concolor is used mostly in the grave blankets. The needles are a bit long and sparse to make nice full wreaths, but the flexibility of the branches make them perfect

Grave blanket Beginning

The grave blankets are constructed on a base of wire with appx. 1″x3″ openings. the stems of the branches are woven into the wire base until it is covered and the greens hang out the desired size around the edges. The Fraser Fir is the bluer looking variety, along with some Scotch Pine- longer needles.

Large Grave Blanket Finished

This is the finished product- This is the largest blanket I make- appx. 3′x6′ in size, with extra decorations in addition to the bow, cones and berries I usually use.

Grave Blanket Pile

Here is a standard size blanket on the top of a pile of a batch ready to go out. 3′x4′ or so is the normal size of most of our blankets.

Decorated Medium Wreath

Here is one of the decorated wreaths for the second large order, ready for pick-up. As you can see, my sneakers catch a lot of pitch from working with the greens. My clothes also get covered in the sticky stuff, too. I usually use one outfit or “uniform” for the entire season, so I only ruin one pair of jeans and one or 2 sweatshirts. Sometimes if enough waterless Goop hand cleaner applied to the clothes will remove much of the pitch. At least one shirt gets thrown away each year after wreath making is done.

Decorated Special Order Wreath

This is one of a few special ordered wreathe that get done each year, This wreath is a bit larger than most, and I added extra ribbon to brighten them up a bit more.

Snow Dec. 9 2009 Front Garden

There was quite a bit of cold and windy weather while I was making the wreaths, but the biggest snowfall happened after they were done… Our first 6″ snowfall for the year…. Most of it melted the day after it fell, but what didn’t melt is now rock hard from very cold temps.

Short Tract Shed 1

Now that wreath production is over, I can show a few more photos I took while staying with my grandmother. This is an old shed along the road a few miles before getting to my parent’s house.

Short Tract House 1

One day while going out on a shopping trip, I ended up having to take a detour, and found this run down old house in Short Tract, a tiny community not far from where I grew up… This house definitely has seen better days.

Marriott Granary Roof

I don’t always have to look too far to find old, worn buildings to take photos of that may end up in one of my quilts…. This is the granary and garage in the side yard of the home I grew up in… They are showing their age a lot now.

Marriott Sugar House 2

I remember spending time in this sugar house many, many years ago with my grandfather while sap was being boiled down into Maple syrup. It looks like one side is sinking into the hillside.

Marriott Sugar House 1

Another view of the sugar house… we used to play around here after maple syrup was no longer made…. A long time ago…. With the leaves off the trees and vines, the weathered wood and mossy stone foundation show up nicely. In summer, many of the old buildings I love are nearly hidden from view by trees, vines, and weeds.

If all goes well, I should be showing off a couple new art quilts soon. I began a number of them while staying at Gram’s. I just need to get back to the studio and finish things up.

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Its That Season Again…

Saturday, November 21st, 2009

Whew! The past month has really flown!! Zack came home, I left to stay with my grandmother, got home, met my sister for shopping. And then the wreaths began…… First here is a photo I took while with my gram of an old schoolhouse that her mom went to school at. I drove or rode past this building many, many times while growing up, but never really paid much attention to it. It is now pretty much hidden from view by the trees, brush and vines.

Old Fillmore Schoolhouse

I’m not sure where the year has gone, but the smell of evergreen boughs has been strong in the wreath workshop for the past week.

Stacks of Wreaths

This is the result of many days of cutting and clamping. We begin by cutting overgrown trees from a tree farm. The branches are piled into the truck and then piled in the workshop. Then my job begins….

Main Tools

More Tools

The most important tool I have is my pair of Felco #6 pruners. These are expensive, but very sharp and easy to use pruners. The #6 I use is the right size for my hands…. Of course the clamping machine is needed along with the Goop to clean up with. Also necessary for long days are chocolate and caffeine, and the best thing I tried this year- Latex rubber gloves from the dollar store… I hate using gloves, leather or similar ones are hard to work in. Last year I used lots of bandages to protect my fingers, but gave the kitchen glooves a try. They worked quite well! I was able to pick up skinny branches and held up better than I thought they would. I didn’t have to scrub sticky sap off my skin- just peeled off the gloves. They even held up through them covered in hand cleaner overnight and it took 4 days to “kill” the first pair.

Pile of White Pine

Piles of Fraser Fir

Piles of greens ready for clipping in the workshop. Just the tips of the branches that look like hands are used. Pretty longer branches are kept to use for swags, but most of the Fraser fir is chopped up into 6-10″ long pieces.

Here is a box of tips…. I usually cut piles of greens and fill 3 large boxes of tips at a time to have ready for clamping.

Wreath Beginning

This photo shows one of the rings I start with… this is 12″ in diameter and will make a wreath up to 24″ in diameter when done. To the right are some of the tips cut ready to group into bunches and clamp onto the ring. We use Fraser Fir, Scotch Pine, and White Pine mixed in our wreaths. I like the mixed look.

Decorated Medium Wreath

One of the finished 12″ ring wreaths. I also make wreaths with 10″ rings and some with 18″ rings. The larger ones seem to take forever to make! They end up over 30″  in diameter from the 18″ ring.

Stack of Trash

Stack of Trash

This photo shows the trash pile waiting for Ken or another helper to haul out. He does the cutting of the trees, and hauls the boughs in and out of the workshop. Also showing in this photo is the other item that is a necessity for my sanity, and helps me to keep going- the sound system. Ken got this recently from someone who no longer had any use for it. I need the radio going!

Greens for Swags

Greens For Swags

This is the last photo I have due to not taking one before leaving last night. The finished order left early this morning! This shows the branches ready for constructing the swags we make. We use long branches of each of the 3 varieties of branches and tie with wire. They are then topped with a bow and decorated with little red berries and pine cones.

One order done, one big one to go…. the first go out plain, for the next order, the wreaths all need to be decorated and is due in 2 weeks. I’m resting my hands this weekend….

I haven’t totally given up on my quilting.. (well, yea for the past week or so)… I have some photos taken of some works in progress that I began at my grandmother’s. ( any Facebook friends may have seen them already) I took a good share of my studio with me due to being there for over 2 weeks. I also had a couple of special orders to do while there, too. I think this link will work so if interested, you can see the Works in Progress Photos on Facebook.

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