Another Awesome Adventure

As we were driving to a meeting of the Quilters' Connection Guild in Watertown on Thursday evening, my friend Edith mentioned that she intended to visit the Sudbury Art Association Holiday Market the next day. I volunteered to ride shotgun and our friend Laurel also joined us. We left at 9:30 and an hour later we arrived at the market which had two floors of lovely crafts. I purchased a warm pair of mittens, a box of cards, and a small ceramic tree under which you could place a battery operated tea light. So much for buying gifts for others; these items were all for me!

Next, we stopped at The Wayland Depot which had a small selection of gifts. I couldn't resist this handmade in England cute little coin purse. The tag read, Stitched by the Sea . . . (with a nice cup of tea!)

We also stopped in Marlborough at Wayside Sewing which though it appeared quite small on the outside had quite a bit of wonderful fabric. I would definitely visit this quilt shop again. It is in the same block of stores as the Wayside Country Store.

We worked up quite an appetite doing all of that shopping, so we headed to Longfellow's Wayside Inn Restaurant in  Sudbury. Although I had often photographed in that area, I had never eaten at this restaurant and neither had Laurel or Edith. It was wonderful, and we all would highly recommend this special place. The lunch prices were reasonable, the food was delicious, and our waitress was delightful. 

According to the Inn's website,

"Longfellow's Wayside Inn is the oldest operating inn in the United States offering

 comfort and hospitality to travelers along the Boston Post Road since 1716."

The barn across the street from the inn was open . . . and yes, that meant a little more shopping!!! We each managed to find another item or two. 

It was another totally, awesome adventure. :-)

Three Days of 5D Weather!!!

For the last three days we had been experiencing dark, drizzly, damp, dreary, dank, miserable weather. I'm pretty sure that my sunny disposition would not do well in places that regularly receive a great deal of rain. The only bright spot was Tuesday when I met a lovely group of fellow retired teacher friends at a local restaurant for lunch.

With the impeachment hearings droning on in the background, I did manage to make these five Christmas stockings which I will donated at our next Crosstown Quilters Guild meeting. The fabric had been donated, and I scooped it up. There was just enough to make these five stockings. I sure hope that this will put me on Santa's nice list.

And oh be joyful . . .  the sun is shining brightly this morning.

Storm at Sea and Crosstown Quilt Guild Meetings

On October 22nd, David Sirota presented a workshop at the Crosstown Quilters Guild in Weymouth. The subject was his "No More Tears Paper Piecing" version of the Storm at Sea quilt pattern. I can attest that there were no tears as he led us through his "easy" paper piecing method. David is a wonderful instructor.

At today's meeting, Jeanne Y. showed her completed piece.

I also showed mine. I was very happy with my choice of a deep blue batik with purple, fuchsia, and green swirls which created a sense of movement.

The show and tell section of the meeting was as always great fun. Joyce D. made this flag quilt to donate to Anne M.'s efforts. Anne collects quilts and pillowcases to be given to the children of soldiers being deployed. Back to Joyce . . . Joyce made not one, but two flag quilts for this very good cause. 

After our business meeting, show and tell, and refreshments, it was time for our speaker, Elizabeth Sylvan. Let me just say, WOW! WOW! and another WOW! What amazing quilts she showed us. As seen on the easel, she created an amazing landscape from fabric pieces right before our eyes. She took us step by step through her process, and it was fascinating. Be sure to visit her website to see her schedule and some of her work in her galleries.  Her presentation captivated everyone in attendance.

I've Been Reading . . .

Brrrr . . . it was cold last night and this morning. You can't fool me; winter must be right around the corner! I still had a few blooming plants in large containers on my porch, but the cold finished them off. Unfortunately, that also meant that the soil was frozen solid, so I was unable to dump the plants and dirt into my compost piles. Not to worry, it's bound to get warmer some day this week, and I will take care of it then.

The air was cold and blustery while walking Emma this morning, but you will not hear me complain as I relish the cold, fresh air. I'm an asthmatic and always feel my best when the flowers die and the ground freezes. Bring on the cold and snow :-)

 

This brings me to my first recommendation, Peace Like a River, by Leif Enger. I'm not sure where I first learned of this book; perhaps from one of the many blogs that I follow, but let me just say that this is a wondrous debut novel. I would rank it right up there with A Gentleman in Moscow as being an incredibly satisfying reading experience. Of course, having asthma, I related to the narrator, eleven-year old Reuben Land, a serious asthmatic, as he tells the story of his family's journey to find his older brother who had broken out of jail after having been arrested for killing two young men. Besides his older brother, Reuben's family consists of a dad with the seeming ability to perform miracles and his precocious younger sister Swede, the most memorable little literary girl since Scout Finch walked the streets of Maycomb. You will love Swede, this talented wordsmith and writer of epic adventures.

I usually don't read the critics' comments at the beginning of a novel but prefer instead to form my own opinions of a novel. This time, however, I totally concur with the words from the San Francisco Chronicle on the top of the cover .

"Peace like a River serves as a reminder

of why we read fiction to begin with."

If you enjoy the writing of Ivan Doig, you will definitely enjoy the storytelling of Leif Enger.  (By the way, if you are not familiar with Ivan Doig, give his novels a try. I would start with The Whistling Season which is my favorite.)

Another novel which I recently finished and enjoyed is The Lighthouse Keeper's Daughter by Hazel Gaynor. She is the author of The Girl Who Came Home, a story of a survivor of the ill-fated Titanic's maiden voyage. The Lighthouse Keeper's Daughter is actually the story of two women who lived one hundred years apart. One, Grace Darling, was a young woman celebrated throughout
England as a heroine after she and her father, the keeper of the Northumberland Light, went out in a fierce, raging storm to rescue survivors of a shipwreck.

I admit that I was drawn to this novel by the cover and having read another novel by this author. Lighthouses are a favorite subject of mine to photograph, and the stories of solitary women who often manned the lights in days gone by always intrigue me.  I think you might enjoy this lighter novel as well.

Note:  I have added a search feature to the right hand column of my blog. You may enter a word or phrase to find a blog post. For example, if you put in "Hibiscus Quilt Finished," it will take you to the post where I gathered the steps for my recently completed hybiscus quilted wallhanging.

Last thing, Tuesday was Voting Day, and so that meant that two of my young cousins did not have school. They, their mom, and I had a Ladies Lunch Day!!! They arrived with their plans for the afternoon all set. First, we had a yummy lunch at the Strawberry Fair restaurant in Norwell. Next, it was on to The Christmas Place in Abington. It's a tad early to think about Christmas, but the girls were afraid that their next half day in December would be a parent conference day, and they would not be able to come for Ladies Lunch. We have been going to the Christmas Place on a Ladies Lunch Day for the past five years. The first time they were ages eight and five. They still enjoy picking out an ornament and other sparkly things, posing beside the "How Tall This Year" Santa yardstick, and posing for a photo with their mom in front of the swinging penguin band. :-)

When we returned to my home, Miss T. decided to have some "Crafting Fun with Auntie Janice," and together we made a kitten themed pillowcase for her.

Well, that is it for now. I am heading upstairs to begin quilting my "Storm at Sea" piece which was begun in a workshop at our last Crosstown Quilters Guild meeting with David Sirota.

National Redhead Day

"You'd find it easier to be bad than good

if you had red hair. People who haven't red hair 

don't know what trouble it is. "

Anne of Green Gables

My friend Kathy, a fellow redhead, sent me an email telling me that today is National Redhead Day. Who knew??? What an awesome day to celebrate!!! As far as I know, there is no National Blonde or Brunette Day.

"Redheads are sunshine

mixed with a little

hurricane."

When I checked into this day, I discovered that there is another Redhead Day. It is the name of a Dutch summer festival that takes place during the first weekend of September in the city of Breda in the Netherlands. Also,  World Redhead Day is celebrated on May 26.  Wow! Why haven't I ever heard about this before???

Because I know you are fascinated by this topic, let me share a few more dazzling redhead facts.

Less than 2% of the world's population has red hair. The highest concentration of redheads can be found in Scotland (13%) and (10%) in Ireland.

The rarest hair/eye color combination possible is red hair and blue eyes; most redheads have hazel, green, or brown eyes. (I have blue eyes.)

A 2004 study showed that redheads need 20% more general anesthesia than people with dark or blonde hair. I asked about this once before surgery, and the anesthesiologist confirmed that it was true.

Redheads are supposed to be more sensitive to pain, but I'm not sure that is true.

Final fun redhead fact: we don't go grey. Most redheads will find that their red hair fades to a strawberry blonde and eventually white, but we won't go grey. :-)

Now, less you think having redhead is easy, let me tell you otherwise. When I was in elementary school, one of the police officers who crossed us at the lights would yell, "Okay, boys; okay, girls; okay, Red!" I got used to it, but I didn't like it one bit. Also, grown men driving by would think nothing of yelling out the window, "Hey, Red!" That happened all the time. Now, I admit that when I was little, my hair was very bright, bright red, but grown men should have known better!!! (In September, on National School Photo Day, just for fun, I posted my fourth grade school photo. If you want to see just how bright red my hair was, click here. :-)

So, on behalf of my friend Kathy, Prince Harry, Little Orphan Annie, Anne of Green Gables, we wish you all a very happy National Redhead Day!!!