I was mulling over what to do as a giftie for my Frayed Edges friends, when Mom and I ended up at my favorite diner for lunch:  Marriner’s.  It has been a fixture on Main Street in downtown Camden (all two blocks of downtown) since 1942 (isn’t that cool!).  Here’s the menu:

If the waitress and I guessed the spelling correctly, the artist who did the artwork inside and outside the restaurant and responsible for some of the cool design elements is Jens Johansen (alas I have no further info).  That includes the graphics on the menu (which also appear on the staff’s shirts).  Well, he did the coolest thing… painted buoys (as in the things that are attached to the rope that is attached to the lobster trap)!  Here is one from the front part of the restaurant:

And here are some photos of other cool things… from old photos, to paintings by Jens based on old photos, starting with the Galley (kitchen) sign:

Here’s a shot of the harbor from the back of the restaurant; before the fire in the kitchen a few years back, the kitchen was across the back of the building.  When they renovated after the fire (the restaurant was closed for the first time in 40 years!  for several months as they rebuilt), they moved the kitchen and opened up booths toward the back and added a deck (heavenly in summer) with a view of the harbor:

Here’s a photo from the days of yore when the schooners actually carried merchandise, not just tourists in summer:

Here’s another view of the harbor, back towards where the library now stands (well, I think that’s what it is):

And a painting by Jens based on an old photo.  Loved how he made the plywood ship’s wheel “frame” for it!

Here is another of Jens’ buoys:

And this view of the back side of the Main St. Buildings and the falls will give you an idea of what he was painting–the one in the center with the peaked roof is Marriner’s, the one with the outside narrow deck:

And more of the buoys over the booths at the rear of the restaurant (can you tell I LOVED them?!)–this one with lobster boat:

And yet another, with a rigged sailing ship:

SO…… my painting skills aren’t equal to his.  And I was plumb out of fresh ideas, so I swiped from a triptych I painted on canvas-covered boards last year or the year before and went for snowy valley and snug houses…..here’s the five I showed you before (in the post about the Frayed Edges, Dec. 2008)–since I was short on time, I used floats instead of buoys, and didn’t have time to buy fake greens to decorate….

And here’s mine, which is hanging  on the antique brass ladels my dad bought in Spain in the late 50s (when I was a toddler!):

And a close-up (yes…my painting is…ummm….rudimentary?):

I’d like to buy some mistletoe next year to tuck in the knot at the bottom and use it as a kissing ball!  And,  I need to add a ribbon or something at the top… if you’re not careful the rope can come out the bottom and it’s a bear to get the folded end through the middle…. I also bought two buoys proper, and Eli and I will paint them for next year…..

Happy mistletoe everyone!

We got a light snow last night…maybe 2 to 3 inches.  When I took Widgeon out last night at 9, it was almost like a frozen mist coming down it was so fine.

Here is what we saw on the upstairs weather station (yep, hubby is a gadget guy….) when we woke up today:

Yes…it was 3.6 degrees (F) outside… that is way below 0 (zero) Centigrade (32 F = 0 C) for those of you outside North America.  Inside, it was 56 (we keep the heat upstairs at 50 unless the boys are home during the day as on the weekends).  Downstairs, we have a fancier weather station (remember what I said about hubby):

As you can see, the timer-thermostat had kicked on the inside temp is up to 63, outside was rounded up to 4, but windchill is at ZERO.  BRRRRRR!  I’ll bet little Widgeon’s little parts nearly froze on morning walkies!

And the Lo temps for the night:

Yes, that is a wind chill of 7 below.  I am very grateful we live in a fairly new, TIGHT house that doesn’t leak cold like a seive.  I don’t know how folks in chinked log cabins survived the winters.  I expect the warmth from the  cows and horses helped…… Fortunately, we have a seriously less stinky alternative:  the wood stove.  As the former voluteer firefighter, Paul is in charge of buidling fires.  So first thing this morning he was chopping kindling on the back porch and getting the banked coals back to a warm toasty fire:

Believe it or not, I also quilt.  It seems like it has been FOREVER since I have had time to make art.  I am still working on the manuscript (and actually got excited yesterday… I appear to be making headway on the tedious “finishing up” stuff.   And, this past week, I had a PHENOMENAL opportunity:  Lisa Chipetine invited me to have Sandra Sider critique one of my quilts.  Never having heard or been in on such a thing, I was only a tad apprehensive.  I knew they would be kind, but I had NO idea how incredibly useful the process would be.  I promise a blogpost soon on that, plus an “after” shot when I get a couple of edits done.  For more info, go here:

http://www.threadplay.com/critiquing.htm

Anyway, that’s it for today…more soon!  And I promise, eventually I really will get back to art and quilting!

This:

(The photo is shot through my glasses so you can see how blind I am!) I couldn’t quite believe my eyes, so I put on my glasses and saw THIS!

Yes, my dear sister in law arrived from Los Angeles last night.  I don’t know how many years it has been since she has seen snow, so this unexpected arrival (a day before the forecasts) must be just for her and for today, which is St. Nicholas Day AND Camden’s Christmas by the Sea celebration weekend (the kick off to the holiday season).  Here’s the front porch and yard… just a dusting, but still…yipppeeeee!

So of course, I  had to have my morning tea in this:

the mug Deborah Boschert gave to us Frayed Edges in 2005 (There’s a remarkably similar photo on my Dec. 27, 2005 blogpost!).  What a perfect morning!   More soon….

On Saturday, October 18th, I was fortunate to be able to teach Hawaiian Quilting by Machine to the Backroads Quilters in Gardiner, Maine.  The Backroads Quilters are a wonderful, active and experienced group of quilters.  Similar to my local chapter, the Coastal Quilters, Backroads is a chapter of the Pine Tree Quilt Guild, Maine’s state-wide guild (which rocks!).

I taught my paper-snowflake variation on the theme of Hawaiian quilting.  It is easier on the hands when cutting, lets you get stems and narrow bits that are equal (or nearly) in size (if you do the traditional fold the cloth into eighths the stems can range from narrow to blobby), and–if you do fusible applique and satin stitch–gives you two blocks from one fused-up square of cloth.  For this class, I did up a new 6-inch block.  Students get two choices of small blocks, turtle or taro plant, plus they can also select one of the five designs from Nourish the Body, Nourish the Soul–you can see that quilt here. Here is the taro block with two colors of satin stitching and assorted outlining stiches:

I always love to see students take my patterns then reinterpret them in their own color choices.  The small blocks are offered because it allows a student to apply the adhesive web, cut the pattern, cut out the motifs, fuse and sew a block in one class.  Other students prefer to dive right in with a full size block, but often don’t get a lot of the satin stitching done during class because the larger blocks take more time to  pre

pare and cut.  Here is a lot of eye candy!

Ann’s block being cut out:

and fused and ready for checking out thread choices:

Nena used a contrasting lavender thread for a nice bold outline on her taro block:

At first, this student wanted to use orange thread, but after doing several stitchouts, decided she liked the soft look of the navy.  By using the navy thread, she “popped” the small sprigged flowers in her print fabric and still gave a subtle framing to the edges of the pattern.  I LOVE this one! (OK..I love ALL of them….)

Here’s how that block looks straight on, before stitching–compare with the upper left pineapple in the photo above:

Another small taro block ready to be stitched…this is reverse applique.  I like to fuse dark on top of light so the lighter fabrics keep their light, clear tones.  Her other block has a navy taro leaf on the aqua print.

Sometimes busy prints can be challenging in Hawaiian quilts, but this one works so well… the Wedgwood  blue  thread picks up the lighter color in the print, yet provides a solid line to separate the print from the background.  AND she managed a few PERFECTLY mitered points!

Another pineapple block…this is the reverse applique…the bright blue is fused onto the white:

Often variegated thread doesn’t work so well for satin stitching unless you WANT a really striped look.  But this thread, Blendables by YLI, is a heavy cotton with longer, and more gradually blended, color changes.  I really like how it stitched out:

I hope you enjoyed the class as much as I did!  Thanks to the ladies of Backroads Quilters, and to Ann and Nena who invited me up to teach and made all the arrangements.

No, I have not died, fallen prey to a disease (other than possibly slothfulness where blogging is concerned) or any other horrid thing…just been really busy working, getting ready for Houston, teaching, meeting with my Frayed Edges friends and other sorts of good things.  Today, I thought I’d share some of what I got to see on my way home from teaching on Saturday the 18th…glorious! (PS..photos are clickable for a larger view)

This photo was taken from the driver’s seat, window down, in Hope, on Route 17.  Route 17 is a 2-lane highway (by-way) that runs from Rockland to Augusta and beyond.  I take Route 90 West to 17, then turn north/west to Augusta, the state capitor.  On the way home, at about 5, the sun was low in the sky and the air was golden……

Farther up the road, closer to Augusta,  the trees on my side of the road cast their shadows all the way across the road and into the open field bordered by these trees:

And a closer view:

And that hill from Hope down to west Rockport….