Sue's Quilted Gardens

Very Quick Message

nobody@vox.com(Sue's Quilted Gardens) — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 07:14:27 -0700

I am on my way in minutes to stay with my grandmother.... While my son has been home, he is working on moving my website, and so far things are not working very well.... If you try the link to my regular website from here or anwhere- Andrus Gardens & More- Sue Andrus Art Quilts you may not get it.... right now things are not working.... hopefully it will be fixed soon... It is also making things goofy with my email... I can get some, but right now can't send anything....

Hopefully things will be remedied very soon!! My Artfire shops and blog are fine, so if anyone wishes to contact me, you can do so through either Artfire shop by clicking on the Contact button...

MAybe I'll get another quick post out in a while, but if not... I will be home around the 12th of November...
Links to my Artfire Studios are now on the right sidebar here...

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I Am Still Around..... I Think.....

nobody@vox.com(Sue's Quilted Gardens) — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 09:23:51 -0700

I have been very poor again at keeping up with posting here.... The past weeks have been filled with preparing for and vending at a quilt show, preparing a lecture for another guild, gathering items to deliver for a sale, and more. I am also preparing to head back to Fillmore, NY the end of this week to spend a few weeks with my grandmother. My parents Really need a vacation, so I will be staying with her while they are gone. And to add even more excitement.... Our son Zack who has been deployed in Iraq popped in unexpectedly last night on a 2 week leave!!

Zack

I did do a little blog post announcing my newest patterns available at my newest Artfire Studio. We now have studio Blogs available there to use, and I will probably use them to promote new additions, and other artists.

I have also been trying to add little bits here and there to my Facebook Fan Page. Follow the link to become one of my fans!

I will probably be MIA from the web a lot while at my gram's.... there is only very slow dial-up service there unless I go to my brother's house. I will be taking all my items listed for sale in my shops along with my shipping supplies so that I can fill any orders that come in while there.... It's really hard to teach Ken how to do that, and my storage units are portable.... Printing mailing labels online makes shipping packages so easy from anywhere....

Here are a couple photos from my gardens a few days ago.... The trees still have leaves, and a lot are still green....

October 16 Snow 5

My garden out the front door.... Looked more like January than Mid October.... Thankfully after a day or so it all melted.

October 16 Snow 3

Not exactly lawn mowing weather.... The mowers are parked outside my studio window.... Might be time to put them away.... This has definitely been a strange weather year... The snow tires get installed this week.

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Rejected Photos and Morris Arboretum

nobody@vox.com(Sue's Quilted Gardens) — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 19:47:43 -0700

Today I received a very nice hand written note informing me that my photo, "Waterfalls", was chosen for "The Eye of the Quilter" exhibit that will be at International Quilt Festival in Houston later this month! The exhibit will be a group of photos taken by quilters that give an idea of what inspires our quilts. We sent digital images, and those selected will be printed and framed for the exhibit..... It should be a great selection of photos.... Here are the two photos that were not chosen...

Yellow Roses 1

Inniswood Arbor

Top is a photo of "Lemon Puff" yellow roses, and the lower one is a view from inside an arbor at Inniswood Gardens, Columbus,OH. The opening of the arbor frames the view of the gardens beyond.

Now that it has been two weeks since our trip to the Morris Arboretum, Philadelphia, PA, I am finally getting some of those photos posted... I took well over 300 photos.... here are just a few highlights.....

Morris Arboretum Nest

A nest in an exhibit high in the trees that lets you see things from a bird's eye view in the treetops. To give an idea of the size of the nest, we could walk in through the side and look up, out the top.... There were many walkways high up in the trees, a really neat experience.

Morris Arboretum 1

After we walked out of the treetop exhibit, we wandered through a formal rose garden complete with a fountain in the middle. This gazebo was on one of the outer corners of that garden. There are many beautiful huge, old trees of all kinds through the arboretum, like the one here.

Morris Arboretum Fernery 1

One of my favorite places.... The Fernery.... This beautiful conservatory greenhouse has been restored to it's original state. It is beautiful from the outside, but inside......

Morris Arboretum Fernery 3

Morris Arboretum Fernery 2

Ferns, ferns, and more ferns..... It was such a beautiful, calming, cool place to be. The photos above just aren't like being there..... There were ferns of all kinds, moss, and other plants tucked into every corner... There were many paths to walk, ponds, waterfalls, fish, and more.... Lots of my most favorite family of ferns- the Maidenhairs.... many different versions were here.

Morris Arboretum Cool Tree

I forget what type of tree this was, but it was another really hige one.... The tree branches hung down all around it, many to the ground... I should have gotten a photo of Ken while he was nearer to the main trunks...

Morris Arboretum Swan Pond

There are lots of interesting garden structures.... Here is one at the Swan Pond. We saw one swan, napping along the edge of the water... There were a number of geese and ducks happily swimming in the pond while we were there.

Anemone Pink

I did take lots of flower photos, but won't over do things with them... Here are a couple of pale pink late blooming Anemone flowers... They are great shade flowers that grow about three ft. tall.

Morris Arboretum Ginkgo

Ginkgo leaves!!! I love Ginkgos, and as we were walking along, I noticed some of the leaves from this tree on the ground before I found the tree. There must have been a nasty storm the day before, because there were small branches and lots of leaves scattered about. Here are some leaves with the bright blue sky behind them. This tree was the biggest Ginkgo I have ever seen.... Arboretums are so great.... they have such a wide selection of trees, and some really huge, old specimens.

Morris Arboretum 10

Here is one of the last gardens we wandered through.... I love the gates that are at the entrances..... This garden was filled mostly with plants with foliage or flowers in shades of orange. Alongside this garden was another narrow one with a long pond filled with fountains, separated from this one by a wall of climbing runner beans and other blooming vines. Like walking from one room to another...

This was just a tiny number of photos I have to play with now..... There was so much to see.... I am thinking that next year, we need to visit again maybe in the spring.... Then another trip to explore the gardens in Columbus, OH area. There is so much more to see.....

Now maybe if I can get rid of this stupid cold or whatever kind of crud I have, I will be able to put some of these photos to use in a quilt or two....

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Wow!! Look What Artfire is Doing!!!

nobody@vox.com(Sue's Quilted Gardens) — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 21:29:07 -0700

I have had my Artfire studio for quite a while now, and have over 100 art quilts, notecards, journal covers, and more available for sale. The guys that run Artfire are super.... they have really been working hard to come up with new ways for us as sellers to be able to promote our products easier and to as many people as possible.

They have just announced a new promotion geared to increase the customer traffic to the site that will help all of us sellers there. The Holiday Free-For-All!! For sellers, they are offering the free Basic members an unlimited number of listings.... In the past, a free studio could have only 12 items.... This really changes things up!! There are no fees for listing items, or fees when items sell... How can you beat that??

Artfire Door

There are also Pro accounts available that cost a flat fee of $12 per month.... Why would anyone want to pay for a studio when they can list as many items as they want for free???? There are a lot of great things available for Pro Account studios... They have a Facebook Kiosk that will allow customers to shop right from your Facebook page.... As Pro Members, we have no ads on our sales pages to distract our customers, and our items will randomly be placed on Basic Member pages to give us more exposure. We have accesss to a Global Editor that allows us to make changes to groups or all of our items at one time. We also have the ability to create coupon codes to help promote our studios.... and there are more.....

If you ever have a problem or question it is very easy to get answers from forums where you oftem have various admin people answering questions themselves- How is that for customer service? In addition, there are many help guides and tutorials to help you to learn to promote your products and optimize your listings for search engines.

You never know what will coming next as far as new things to help us as sellers be successful. For more information directly from the source, pop in and have a look around! Check this out for more information...
If you wish to open a pro account, use AndrusGardens as your referral and that can help me and one other of my friends....

From someone who has been in on a bunch of behind the scenes discussions, the guys running Artfire have really thought things through for the future, and they are very interested in our success as sellers, and also offering buyers a great place to buy handmade Christmas gifts or unique gifts for any occasion... There are many great artists with wonderful handmade items that will make super holiday gifts and decorations.... Come check it out!!

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Flowers Anyone??? A WIP...

nobody@vox.com(Sue's Quilted Gardens) — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 11:24:41 -0700

Here is a quick post of the progress, or lack of it on a piece I have been working on since my QSDS class in June. It has spent more time being stared at than anything else, and I have taken more photos of this while working on it than any other piece I have ever done. My camera and laptop ended up being a great design tools during the process of this piece. In case you haven't noticed, I love flowers, and have lots of photos I have taken that I want to work into my quilts after I print them onto fabric.

Things Changed

The piece in question is in the upper left of this photo.... an attempt at getting my work out of the box, or frame, etc.... It was pointed out to me that I tend to most always frame or box in parts of my quilts. This has been a huge challenge, to use mainly my flowers without boxing them in!

I took this home as it was, and put it on my design wall, but something really seemed off.... I loved the colors and the flowers, but it just seemed like a "jumble of stuff"...

Testlayout2B&W

I then took a photo of the piece and changed it to black and white in the computer.... It still looked like a jumble to me.... The colors that looked strong to me, fade out when just looking at the values, not colors. The white and pale pink flowers seemed to jump out. The flowers are printed onto cotton fabric that I have backed with Wonder Under. The piece is being arranged on a large piece of backing paper saved from a large piece of Wonder Under that was used earlier for anther project. I keep all of it... you never know when it will come in handy.

Testlayout4

Another idea was to add some bits of color with narrow strips of bright pink fabric, and I also draped some deep colored batik to see what would happen..... I changed this to B&W, and still had problems with values... the bright pink didn't show at all, and the batik seemed to take over- too dark.... back to the design wall....

I had been tacking flower pieces onto the paper base with the iron, but ended up moving things so much, that I started pinning everything in place- easier to move around on my foam design wall.

Testlayout6

Besides flowers, I have been drawn to old architecture and have taken photos of quite a few old houses, sheds and barns. I printed a couple on fabric, and added them to the corners. I still had the bright pink pieces in the piece....

Testlayout7-8

In the left photo above, I changed one of the lower pink strips of fabric to white- Too much- yuck!... Right above- lots of moves later... The pink Peony flowers seemed too heavy for the center, so I moved them to the bottom. A bunch of others removed and moved...

Testlayout10-11

Filling in some of the holes with more flowers.. I began to remove the colored strips and experimented with more changes... The white Iris and Peony switched... Peony is bulkier... I also began cutting out the backgrounds from the flower prints. This makes things look more natural.

Testlayout12-14

Left above- lots removed, and the white schoolhouse cut into two pieces and moved- it seemed to make things top heavy...... Right above- I thought about having Morning Glory flowers, so I took some new photos one morning while they were still in bloom, and printed them to add. Getting closer to having the space filled...

Testlayout15-17

Now what to do with the upper left corner..... Sky?? Too stark... Took my Water Road house photo into Photoshop and changed the sky to blue and some added green tree leaves to the photo, printed it onto fabric...might work... Those pink Daisies stick out... the Hydrangeas upper left aren't working....

Testlayout 24-25

Hmmmm... Daisies at the base of the old shed.... few more holes filled.... Peony flowers don't grow sideways... cut the flowers apart and repositioned them... added a couple more small ones... Hydrangeas still stick out....

Testlayout26

Hydrangeas kicked out.... Maybe ready for fusing?.?.? If you look close, you can see lots of yellow headed pins. I now let it sit over night and looked at it the next morning, still looks OK.... later in the day... Time to fuse....

Look MA No Pins

All fused to the backing paper!! No more pins! I had to do a bit of cutting out of fabric pieces under light colored flowers. Now I have to figure out what I am going to do as far as quilting and stitching on it.... Probably clear thread to hide the stitching and not take away from the flowers.

Testlayout30

Still deciding wheter I will border this a little or not... A narrow black border photoshopped in. I am running out of time for finishing this... I have entered it into my local quilt guild's quilt show coming up the last weekend of this month.... just less than two weeks and counting.... hopefully the worst is over.... One problem.... fairly minor, I thought this would end up bigger than it is, but adding more than a tiny border just didn't seem to look right. I guess I'll just let the gals in charge of the show know what the final size will be.... I'm not the only one who enters unfinished quilts :) Having the deadline, gives me a reason to keep working on this and not cover it up and forget about it.

I will post the final piece when the quilting and embellishing is finished (that is if I decide to do any embellishing.... maybe a few beads in the flower centers... or not....)

****A little Reminder.... I am reducing my inventory of earlier sunprint and photo series of my Small Art Quilts- Mostly 5"x7", 8"x10" and 11"x14", with a few 13"x17". *-*-*-*25% off until Sep. 20.*-*-*-*-*
See this post- September Begins with a Sale- For more information... As you can see, I am working in new directions and have many of my older pieces that would love new homes.

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What to do with a larger Art Quilt

nobody@vox.com(Sue's Quilted Gardens) — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 17:00:28 -0700

Thanks to a crummy cold, this post is later than planned.... Please pardon rambling, run-on sentences and broken thoughts.... the brain fog still hasn't cleared....

Now that you have an idea of how to display Mini Art Quilts, here are some ideas and information for display larger Art Quilts. What is considered a "larger art quilt" can be pretty subjective. For this post I will consider anything larger than 11"x14", to be in this category, but the following display methods may work for smaller pieces, too. I try to add some type of hanging "device" to the backs of the larger quilts to make displaying them as easy as possible for my customers.

Long Hangings Fall Group

I have pulled this photo from a previous post to show these long, narrow Sunprint pieces (OK, with the cold, I just didn't feel like setting up for more photos). These Art Quilts have bamboo skewers hot glued to the upper backs for hanging them very easily. All that is needed is a thumbtack in the wall to hang the lightweight quilts. The skewers are fairly thin, so the pieces will hang very close to the wall. A hanging sleeve could be used to hold a dowel or slat, but it would add more bulk to the back of the piece.

Gilded Ohio Stars

The long sunprint pieces could also be mounted to long, narrow canvases as shown in the photo above. "Gilded Ohio Stars" is between the two sunprint quilt sizes in width. Choose a size that will give a good border around the piece, or get one if available the same size as the quilt. I painted the canvas this piece is mounted on. (The skewers can be carefully removed from the backs if framing or mounting on canvas). One thing I did find with this particular piece is that if you have a narrow border of the canvas showing, it makes stitching the quilt on a bit more difficult- the wooden frame was right where I needed to stitch.... It was a challenge! In the future, for a piece with a narrow amount of canvas showing, I would stitch the piece to fabric first, then staple that to the canvas- no poked fingers!

Cezanne IV 2008 02

The above photo shows 2 of my narrow sunprint quilts along with "Antique Iris and Tulips" displayed along with framed art in a gallery where all were for sale. The quilts are hung with no frames or canvas and look right at home.

Scattered Geraniums

When my Art Quilts are wider than about 11", I attach a hanging sleeve or corner pockets on the backs of the quilts. A dowel or wooden slat will slide through the sleeve or tuck into the pockets to allow for easy hanging. The dowel or slat will sit on picture hooks on the wall. When I put hanging sleeves on my quilts, I try to use fairly long stitches that can be easily removed if the customer wishes to frame or mount them to canvas. Frames and canvases are available in pretty large sizes, but add much to the expense of hanging the quilts.

Sunprints and Silk Leaves

This photo above, shows a group of quilts... The two very small, narrow ones are made with ribbon hangers and just need a tack to hold them, or are ready for frames. Upper left is one of my 11"x14" Sunprint Art Quilts
hanging without a frame. The other two are the pieces I wanted to point out.... They both have triangles of fabric stitched to the corners on the back. I discovered that these leaf pieces looked good displayed in any direction- up, down or sideways, so I added a triangle to each corner, so the customer can decide which side to use as the top. The slat or dowel just needs to be cut to the size of the "top" side used, slipped into the pockets to hang on a picture hook.

Stained Glass and Ferns

"Stained Glass and Ferns" is the largest piece I have made as art for the wall, and it hangs very nicely from a slat through the hanging sleeve. With this piece and others in various sizes, the ends of the slat are able to stick out beyond the ends of the sleeve and still be hidden behind the quilt. The slat ends can rest on hooks in the wall, and it will hang nicely against the wall. If you wish, a decorative dowel and brackets can be used, with the ends of the dowel and brackets showing on the sides of the piece.

If you have a really large wall you wish to add color to, you can even stitch a hanging sleeve to the back of a bed sized quilt for it to be hung the same way my art quilts are.

Care of Art Quilts:
Art quilts are no harder to take care of than any other piece of fine art. As with any work of art, you need to consider the area you wish to hang your piece. It should be hung away from direct bright light. The paints I use in creating my sunprints are very fade resistant, and these fabrics can fade much less than many commercially dyed fabrics. Displaying in too much light will cause an art quilt, or any other piece of fine art to fade. If you really want art to hang in a room with a sunny window, you may need to coat the window with a UV blocking film. Rotating a number of pieces for short periods of time, may be OK, or use reproductions prints in your sunny rooms.

Quilts made for your bed are meant to be washed to keep them clean, at least quality ones are. I have had lots of questions as to whether the art quilts I make can be washed to clean them. While most of my quilts are made with fabrics that are washable, there usually is no need to wash them. I have also been adding more and more beads and other embellishments that may not be washable. Unless you hang your art in a kitchen right next to the greasy stove,(which is not really recommended), the only regular care your Art Quilts should need is an occasional light dusting, or vacuuming with a soft brush attachment to remove dust. For more stubborn dust, a very slightly damp cloth can be used. If the piece has many loose or dangling embellishments, a piece of an old pair of pantyhose over the vacuum brush will further protect the embellishments.

I have a number of quilted wall hangings and art quilts that have hung in my livingroom for many years. I will admit that I am not a neat freak, and have my share of dust and cobwebs. Living on a dirt road and heating with wood adds to the amount of dust that can settle on my quilts. So far, I have only vacuumed the pieces I have, and they all look fine (as long as you don't catch me just before a long overdue dusting).

Hopefully this info has been helpful.... My next post will be showing a few photos of a new quilt I am finally making progress with.... It has gone through many, many changes along the way....

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What to do with a Mini Art Quilt

nobody@vox.com(Sue's Quilted Gardens) — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 06:15:05 -0700

"What do you do with those??" That was probably the most asked question about my Mini Art Quilts when I was displaying and selling them at art and craft shows. This post will give you some answers and examples of displaying my Mini Art Quilts, by framing, mounting on canvas and more.

Mini Wall Garden Art Quilts

5"x7" Mini Wall Garden Art Quilts #1 and #2 mounted on 8"x10" fabric covered canvas.

When most people hear or read the word Quilt, they think bed quilt or blanket. I have done those, but get the most enjoyment from creating my Art Quilts, which are works of art to be displayed like any painting or photo, on the wall. The largest number of my creations are from Postcard size to 11"x14", and even some tiny ACEO's, with most made to fit standard sized frames. My earliest Mini Art Quilts were made with framing them in mind. I began with small versions of my Windows and Trellises Series, and made most 8"x10", and a few 11x14". You could just use a small straight pin and pin the quilt directly to the wall, but here are some more options.

Garden Arbor Framed

Garden Arbor is an 11"x14" piece that I decided needed more than just a frame, so I matted it to fit a 16"x20" frame. The quilt is mounted on an acid free backer board with double sided archival tape along the top edge of the quilt, then the mat was taped to the backer board, and all popped into the frame with the glass.

Framed Pink Tulips

I have always admired the simple framed botanical prints that can be seen in many decorator magazines. The next series I began was my Botanical Applique series, that are already "matted" with a white or ivory fabric border. These just need to be sandwiched between the glass and backer board in the frame.

Framed Painted Iris

To the right are two of these 11"x14" Art Quilts shown in frames. The color of the frame makes a difference in the final look of the piece for hanging. I tend to prefer the dark or black frames to contrast with the light borders, but the gold tone frame works well, if that fits with your home's decor better.

{All of the framed pieces shown are available for purchase unless noted otherwise... please contact me for more info.}

Framed Iris and Rose Pair

This photo shows 2 pieces displayed in a grouping, you can display a number of the smaller pieces on a large wall, using similar frame styles to make a cohesive display.

Framed Sunprint

Framed Royal Fern Sunprint

Framed Maples Sunprint 5x7

The first of my Sunprint Series Art Quilts were made to display the same way- a sunprint on fabric, matted with white or ivory fabric, quilted, and ready to frame without a mat if desired. If you are interested in my sunprint process, check out my Sunprinting Mini Tutorial, earlier in this blog.

After framing and displaying many Mini Art Quilts like this over the years, I have seen no ill effects from the glass touching the quilts. The first Sunprint piece on the right is an 11"x14" quilt framed in black. The second one is another 11"x14" sunprint piece in a gold tone frame.

Below is a 5"x7" sunprint mini in a frame, the color of the frame coordinates nicely with the colors in the sunprint. These examples will give you an idea of what a quilt you purchase can look like in a frame.

Wild Roses on Painted Canvas

Beside the Door Mounted- SOLD

The texture of Quilt Art can be better appreciated when displayed without glass, and I have been mounting some of my Mini Art Quilts on fabric covered pre-stretched artist canvases. "Wild Roses" above is an 8"x10" quilt mounted on a canvas covered in a hand painted fabric that coordinates with the sunprint. I have switched from a satin stitch edge to couched yarn to finish my quilt's edges in more recent works. These pieces look great stitched to the canvas with their edges in full view.

The fabric can be stapled over the canvas, then the quilt stitched on through both layers, or the quilt can be stitched to the fabric before stapling over the canvas- a bit trickier to be sure the quilt is centered this way. You don't even need to cover the canvas with fabric. "My Dream House" is mounted on the white prepared canvas just as I purchased it. Tiny screw eyes attach picture wire on the backs of the canvas frames for easy hanging.

"Beside the Door" on the right is also an 8"x10" quilt mounted on a canvas covered with black fabric.

Landscape 4 Canvas Mounted Postcard

Maidenhair Fern with Butterfly Canvas Mounted Postcard

This method works great for any size Mini Art Quilt from tiny ACEO's through postcard size and larger. Here are a couple of my postcards mounted on 8"x10" fabric covered canvases. Both of these are available for purchase from my website.

Multiple small pieces can also be mounted on the same canvas or in the same frame.

I hope this will give you some ideas for what to do with Mini Art Quilts. Tomorrow, I will have another post with ideas for hanging larger Art Quilts.

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September begins with a Sale!

nobody@vox.com(Sue's Quilted Gardens) — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 10:12:07 -0700

Artfire has really been working hard to add many features to help their Artist members be successful. I have been adding more items to my Artfire Studio to sell. I still have my 3 shops at Etsy, but really love the newest features Artfire has to offer and there are more coming! The two most recent additions really increase our ability to promote our shops. First to come out was the Artfire Kiosk for facebook. It was easy to set up, and now anyone can access and even make purchases right from my Facebook Profile page or my Business Page. The most recent addition is the ability to generate and use coupon codes. This makes special promotions and sales so easy to do, and sales generated by the coupons are easy to track.

Here is my first try with a coupon:

While August was flying by, Ken and I celebrated out 25th wedding anniversary, so this first coupon will give you 25%off on selected items in my Artfire Studio

Water Iris #4

What is included in this coupon sale???
My original Mini Art Quilts for framing in the following sections of my studio:
Sunprint Series - 5"x7", 8"x10", and 11"x14"
Photo Series - 5"x7" and 8"x10"
Botanical Applique Series - 11"x14"

Abstract Series- 5"x7" and 8"x10" -this section also includes some Windows and Trellis and Crazy Flowers pieces.

Artfire screenshot 2

Above is a screenshot of some of the quilts available in the Sale Sections- be sure to type in HAPPY ANNIVERSARY for the coupon code during checkout to receive the sale prices.

Additionally....
See the First Friday Art Walk Section of my Etsy Shop for discounted art quilts,
AND...
If you see any quilts in these series that you like on these pages of my website-
Sunprint Series 5x7", Sunprint Series 8x10".
you can also get the discount by adding HAPPY ANNIVERSARY to the message from buyer while purchasing, and I will refund the difference by PayPal. OR... Email me with the names of the items you are interested in, and I will send a PayPal invoice with the correct amount due. The sale does not include my newer series of Art Quilts. I am reducing my inventory of my older work.... Beautiful pieces, but I am working on new ideas. I do not plan to make any more of this style of little quilts, so if you like these, get them while they are available!
NOTE- Each Art Quilt is listed on one site only... I never list the same piece in two places, so there are different pieces in each shop.... There are many to choose from.

Artists interested in joining the Artfire community with a Studio of your own, use this link to get more information. Using AndrusGardensQuilts as your referral will help me to earn a "Free Ride" and one for another artist who helps me earn it.

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End of August.... Where did it go?

nobody@vox.com(Sue's Quilted Gardens) — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 10:35:44 -0700

Here it is the final day of August, and I am wondering where it went.... The month was full of visits from various family members, and here is a quick look back. My last post was written while my stepdaughter was visiting.... the day she left, we left for my sister's house and my family reunion. The reunion just happened to hit my birthday, so my sisters surprised me with a beautiful cake. The candle lighting didn't work with the outdoor breezes which was probably a good thing.... there are getting to be too many candles!

Reunion 5

The day was perfect weather wise.... here 3 cousins are catching up while sitting on the dock of pond. My sister has a wonderful yard with pond that makes a great location for get-to-gethers.

Marriott Reunion 2009

We had a pretty good turn out.... Here is the whole gang that gathered, with my grandmother center front. It is amazing we got such a good photo with all the kids to wrangle.... just a couple not completely behaving.

Back home, I spent the next week weeding flower beds and cleaning and organizing the construction zone we are still living in so that our son had a place to stay while he visited for a week. The bathroom remodel got done enough so that we could use it again and move back to the bedroom temporarily. There is still much more needing to be done.

Nick on Bike

Here is a photo of Nick on his Motorcycle. This mom worries about him driving it, but I guess driving anything is not always safe. We had a nice visit with him, it was nice that he was home on vacation without things he HAD to do.

Watkins Glen Falls 01

The day Nick headed back to Georgia, we left home again. This time to New Jersey to see our granddaughter, Eva perform in a musical not far from Atlantic City. Thanks to busy traffic and an accident, we missed a few minutes of the performance, but saw most of it. The next day, we brought both granddaughters home with us for a week long visit. They live in a city, so staying with us in a rural area was an experience. I guess there aren't as many bugs at home. One day they were here, we took another local Vacation Day. We traveled just over an hour away to Watkins Glen, NY. I have traveled through the town many times, but had never stopped to check out the beautiful gorges and waterfalls.

Watkins Glen Falls 1

There are trails that take you hiking along the edge of gorges to see many waterfalls, and even places where you walk under them, too. The brochure says there are 800 steps in all the trails.... that's a lot of step climbing!

Watkins Glen 2

There are also a few tunnels where you walk right through some really rocky areas. Most of the walkways are like this one above, with natural or man made stone walls and walkways.

Watkins Glen Falls 3

This photo shows some waterfalls with deep pools cut out of the rock. The trail follows along right under the water you can see falling in the distance. Many areas of the trails were wet from water weeping out of the rocky walls. The weather was perfect for trekking up these trails with many steps... not too cool, or too hot.

Watkins Glen Falls 4

Here is a view of the falls that were in the distance in the previous photo. The gorges have been cut very deep and the walls are very steep.

Watkins Glen 5

A view of another part of the trail with little waterfalls flowing beside it. As you can see, there were a number of other people enjoying the sights that day, too. It wasn't too crowded, so we could take our time taking photos and occasional rest breaks.

Watkins Glen Parking Lot

When we got to the end of the most scenic falls, we took another trail that went trough the woods high above the trails we climbed up on. I did amazingly well walking the steps, probably because we took our time going up, resting often. Most of the way down was much faster with 2 pre-teen girls and a husband who seemed to run on the trail with no steps...

Watkins Glen View from Top

This photo shows a trail below we had already traveled. The water is realy a long way down from here! My fibro decided that quick walking downhill was not a good thing.... Then we arrived at the steps we had to take to get all the way down to the parking lot.... (for anyone who only wants to go up and not back, there is a shuttle available at each end of the park to take you back...)

Long Way Down

This view made the trip down those last steps look very daunting. The girls are way ahead of Ken who is way ahead of me in this photo.

Fern in steps

Little treasures like this fer growing in a crack along the steps. These little guys had to be pretty hardy to survive here.

Eva on Stairs at Watkins

This is Eva posing on a set of steps.... this was not too far from the beginning.

Watkins Glen Gift shop building detail

The gorges and falls weren't the only interesting things to look at.... This painted stone and brickwork is on the gift shop building at the South entrance of the park. I loved the colors and patterns....

Eva, Maia at Corning

After our trek through the park at Watkins Glen, we drove on to Corning, NY and the Corning Museum of Glass. Here are Eva and Maia applying tape to glass pieces that were sandblasted to leave designs on the glass. I also gave flamework a try by making a bead. I have trouble doing more than one thing at once, so it was a bit tricky, but I loved the experience. I love glass, and would love to play with it more in the future... The exhibits there were fantastic, too. Lots to see and do.... It made for a very long, but enjoyable vacation day. We are very lucky to live in an area with so many beautiful places to visit not too far away.

Fungus

A couple more Flora photos.... Above is an interesting fungus that was growing in a yard near where our granddaughters live.

Datura

My Datura flowers have been hard to photograph this year with all the rain storms. Most of the flowers have been flattened onto the ground by rain. Here is one that didn't get rained on.

Maia and Eva's Quilts

Here are Eva and Maia with art quilts I helped them make using photos of them with friends. They chose the photos, fabrics, yarns, etc. and I helped with some construction. They even did pretty well with the rotary cutter. Maia created a collage of photos for hers. She was really good at using the photo program to arrange the collage.

Bee Hole

Now things are pretty quiet around here with no one visiting.... except for the local wildlife..... We were finding bees flying around our livingroom for a few days, and finally noticed the little hole in my office ceiling (in the center of the brown spot). There was a huge nest of them between the ceiling drywall and the roof between the rafters. Another nest was above the ceiling in my studio, but they didn't come through to the inside. Hopefully they won't return....

Now that the main summer monthes are over, I may finally get some time to play in my studio again.... I definitely have a lot of inspiration photos to help me along.

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Vacation Day Inspirations

nobody@vox.com(Sue's Quilted Gardens) — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 17:48:03 -0700

My stepdaughter Marla and a friend are visiting for few days, and I was invited along for an afternoon of traveling around the area "tourist style". I have lived in this area since 1981, and love the rural beauty around here. We began at a local restaurant for a very late lunch, or very early dinner, and ate outdoors on an open deck. The weather today was rare for early August- mid 70's, and partly cloudy, beautiful for a lunch outdoors with a different view from our deck at home.

Villa Sena Gazebo

This beautiful gazebo or pavilion was visible from the deck where we were eating. After we finished, we walked the grounds to check out it along with the other beautiful surroundings.

View from Villa Sena

Here was a view from the back yard area behind the restaurant. There were some really great big old trees to frame the mountains in the distance here.

Neat Old Cedar Tree

Here is one of the really interesting old trees. The branch structure is really neat...

Vine Covered Old House 2

In our wanderings, we checked out this really great old abandoned house partially covered in vines. The decorative door seemed to not fit with the really simple block structure.

Vine Covered Old House 3

Another view of the front of the house with things growing on the roof and even a little tree growing next to the chimney!

Old Arched Door 1

This door was in the end of the house going into the second story. Another interesting door.
I am not sure why, but I have been really fascinated with old abandoned houses and especially old barns.

Towanda Tobacco Barn 3

Here is a local old tobacco barn that I have seen while passing by on the road, usually too fast to grab a photo. This is a shot from the road.

Towanda Tobacco Barn 2

Here is a photo of the barn from a closer vantage point. I love the pattern the boards along the sides make... Not knowing anything about tobacco barns, it looks like it may be where the sides could be opened up for ventilation.

Ferns and Ivy

Here is a planting of ferns and ivy that are looking very lush this summer. We traveled on a lot of back roads, checking out the views... It was a nice "vacation day" seeing the sights with others who spend most of their time in cities. Sometimes it is hard to think of where I live as a vacation destination, but it is a very beautiful area and I am blessed to get to see bits of it every day.

Twirled Flower Photos

Final photo for today... a bunch of flower photos "twirled" in the computer and printed out onto cotton fabric. These are being cut up for an idea I have for a new piece.... More to follow....

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