This is the full extent of any craftiness that got done yesterday. I didn't stitch one thing but Laura got this veterans quilt top ready for the last border. I believe that today we are going shopping for her to get fabric for a baby quilt using Mary's Quick Strippy Quilt pattern. It's her go-to baby quilt. The reason that nothing else got done is because, contrary to weather predictions, yesterday was a spectacular day. We woke to a forecast of clouds and sporadic rain. We decided to risk it and head to Mount Kineo for a hike anyway. This is why we do this particular hike every year. The view over Moosehead Lake is spectacular. Mount Kineo has 700' cliffs and is known for it's rhyolite deposits. It's the largest known deposit of rhyolite. Rhiolite was used by native tribes for thousands of years to make spear heads. You can read about the interesting history of Kineo here. To get there you take this water shuttle from Rockwood. That's Kineo in the background and the white arrow points to where I was standing to get the photo above. The shuttle runs perfectly on time. On the hike we came across this little guy that looked suspiciously like a rock. We also met a Burmese Mountain puppy that was absolutely adorable and lovable. Sections of the trails were still very muddy and slippery from all the rain this area has received so far in August. It's been unseasonably wet. My new boots got well and truly broken in. The new hiking pants too for that matter. I saw one lady coming up the trail in white sneakers. I expect that she didn't make it far and that she ended up having to throw out the sneakers when she got back. You can see from this shadow that by the time we got to the end of the hike (about 3 hours total) that the sun was out. There's a 9-hole golf course on the island and a small clubhouse that sells snacks and beverages. We waited there for the next shuttle departure and had this lovely view. The clubhouse even had an outdoor water hose so we could rinse the mud off our boots.
When we got back it was about 74, sunny with no wind. We all gathered on the porch with our books and had a lovely afternoon. Today is supposed to be cloudy with some rain. I hope it is as accurate as yesterday. I finally won another Cribbage match so the score is Ian 6, Vicki 2. Yesterday brought us better weather than we expected but we still didn't' feel that the trails were dry enough. We are planning to get out on one of our favorite trails today if the good weather holds. I did get the next batch of 40 blocks done for my blue quilt so I have a total of 99 out of 256 done and the pile of tiny HSTs is really growing. Laura is almost done with her second veterans quilt top. We might have to go to the quilt shop today and get fabric for another kit for her. We've picked a simple pattern and the local shop has some nice woodsy themed fabrics that would work well. Today's crochet was the baby quilt and I got about 6 more rows done, finishing off a row of dark blue squares. If I crochet today it will be on the sweater. I like to alternate the projects. The weather was much better than forecast yesterday. Weather forecasts here are really just a total waste of time. I did a pretty hard workout this morning so I was not interested in the 8 mile walk that Ian and Laura took into town. Chris and I drove in to pick them up and make a trip for groceries. While we were having dinner I looked out and realized that last night was our first real sunset since the night we arrived. I rushed down to the pond to capture it. After sunset I convinced Chris that we needed a fire. After all, we had bought all the makings for s'mores and this was our first opportunity to use them. It was a lovely calm evening for a fire. Isn't the moose cut-out on the fire ring cute?
Here's hoping for a nice hike today! Yesterday was kind of perfect. It had a morning of recreation and and afternoon of reading and crafts. I'll start with the afternoon activities. I didn't finish any more blocks for the blue quilt but I chain pieced parts for about 40 more blocks. We are expecting bad weather today so I might get this set done today. Laura started the second veterans quilt kit that I brought for her. I think I'm going to have to go to the local fabric store tomorrow and get more fabric for her. She's got another week and a half here and is about out of sewing projects! While she was sewing, I added two more rounds to my hexie cardigan and finished listening to Yellowface. I will have a lot to say about that book in my book review at the end of the month. I did not particularly enjoy it and got a totally different message out of it than what I've read in other reviews. I also finished reading this book and I don't recommend it either unless you are a scientist or mathematician or just want to make your brain hurt. It was a difficult read. I'm digging into a new Michael Koryta mystery tomorrow for something easier. The one thing that you cannot rely upon here is the weather report. The day rarely turns out to be what's predicted and today was no exception. We did get clouds and a little rain in the afternoon/evening but the morning started out beautiful. Laura and I got in a 4 mile walk and then Chris and I headed out on the kayaks and it was absolutely beautiful on the pond today. This pond has yellow water lilies. We had not seen yellow ones before and I was shocked to be able to get the bloom and dragonfly in the photo together. We also saw a few loons. The photo is a little blurry because I had to zoom in so much to get the photo but I was thrilled to get a photo at all. They usually dive just as I'm about to snap the picture. They are such beautiful birds and we just love hearing their calls in the evening. I've become really fascinated with trees growing on and in rocks. These trees seem to be perched on top of the rocks and have created their own dirt mound within the roots.
The tide has started to turn on the gaming. Ian and I had a puzzle race which I won by 5 minutes, then I finally won a Cribbage set (he's still ahead 5 sets to 1) and I beat him and Chris at Scrabble. I made two separate words off the "z". We'll see if my luck holds tonight. We do expect rain/clouds today but it could change. We'll make the best of whatever it is. I didn't post yesterday because Friday was an all-rain day here and we used the opportunity to read and sew. I just didn't have enough worth sharing yesterday. But last night Laura finished this quilt top and I made some progress on my blue blocks. The colors in this photo aren't accurate. It's a lot prettier in real life and you will see it again after I get it quilted and bound later in the year. It was a good use of the box of leaf printed fabrics. I finished 30 more blue blocks. I think I'm really going to love this quilt. I have 40 dark blocks and 19 light blocks done for a total of 59 out of 256. I also have 118 mini HST blocks. This was our view on Friday and will likely be part of today too. With rain coming on alternate days we are starting to give up on hiking. The trails here are steep and have lots of areas that collect water. They will be too slippery unless it stops raining for a couple of days. But we can still kayak. Chris and Ian did a long kayak but I decided to do a long walk and a 40 minute HIIT routine. By the time my opportunity to paddle came around I was spent. Today may be my day, depending on the weather. The Cribbage tournament continues and I still haven't won a match. I (red) was way ahead in this game but Ian came from behind to whip me again. After Cribbage we drag Chris in for a game of Scrabble. I did win one of those games but Ian won this one with his judicious use of the J, Z and X. The weather isn't perfect but we are having a lovely time.
We had lobster for dinner last night and it will be our last until we get to Acadia this weekend. It was outstanding, as always. I didn't actually sew yesterday but I did iron some blocks that I finished Wednesday. These are 19 light blocks. Now I have 30 of 256 blocks made. The color in this photo is bad but there will be lots more photo opportunities to get it right. Last night I was just too tired to spend much time on it. Laura got the first border on her scrappy veterans quilt. We were so excited to have the sun back yesterday. We had a high temperature of 73 and it was wonderful. We decided to hike Little Wilson Falls because it's kind of a short hike (2.4 miles). It's been so rainy that we didn't want to get stuck on a slippery long hike. It was a good decision. If you go to the link you can see that LWF is usually a low flow stream. Yesterday it was roaring. All of the rivers around here are very high. The hike was wet in parts but easily passable. The hike ends at a point on the Appalachian Trail. There was anote there for AT hikers to tell them to take the LWF trail down to another intersection point because the AT crosses this "stream" and it was completely impassable yesterday....and probably for a few more days. We enjoyed the hike and Laura said we walked 8000 steps, although it didn't feel like it. It always amazes me to see trees growing right out of rock slabs. On the way home we saw a bunch of cars on the side of the road and that can only mean a moose jam. Laura got to see her first moose! This is a young one and it was quite far away, hence the bad photo.
We were going to float in the pond after we came home but all the rain we have had really chilled the water and we retreated to the deck instead for some sunning followed by a relaxing afternoon of reading. We will wait for a couple of dry days before we do one of the longer hikes so that the trails have time to dry out some. Luckily, we have another week here! The rain finally stopped and yesterday we were able to get outside. It was overcast and really windy but we walked the neighborhood road down to the Wilson Pond dam and then, in the afternoon, we walked a neighborhood trail. Laura's watch says we walked nearly 20,000 steps. In between those 2 walks I sat and worked on the baby blanket. I finished the orange section and started another dark blue section. I know it looks green but it's really a dark marine blue. Laura started sewing a veterans quilt kit that I cut for her. I also lost to Ian at scrabble and cribbage. Even though I lost at scrabble I was really proud of the highest scoring word: piques for 44 points. As you can see, we could not get out on the kayaks yesterday. This photo was taken near dinner time when the sun finally peeked out for a few minutes. We hope to get out on the water today after a morning hike. Chris was supposed to go on a guided river fishing trip but the water is too high from all the rain. He hopes to reschedule for next week.
Even though the weather isn't perfect, we are having a lovely time. We had nothing but rain yesterday so we didn't get to hike or kayak. Instead it was a good vacation day of reading and sewing and playing a little cribbage. I got 11 of 256 blocks done for my quilt. I think I'm going to like this quilt a lot. These blocks are made with all squares so that means that there's quite a bit of waste when you cut off the corners. Since I had to draw the center stitching like I figured I might as well draw another stitching line 1/2"away. I stitch both lines and now I'm getting a nice stack of these little HST blocks. Can't you see some placemats out of these? Each square is 1 3/4 inches so they will finish at 1 1/4. I know, I'm insane. Two years ago we started a tradition of bringing a hummingbird feeder with us on vacation. It's taken 3 days, but we had our first visitor today! She hung out all day and enjoyed the free food in the bad weather.
Today we expect rain and clouds again but we should be able to get out for a walk. Otherwise it's more reading and sewing or crochet. I'm fine with a day doing some of the things I love the most. When we are on vacation with our friends, Ian and I always have a cribbage competition. We play best 2 out of 3 each night and keep track of how many wins we have. After the first night it's Ian 1, Vicki 0. I'll get to yesterday's weather and activities in a minute but I thought I'd start with an update on my crochet projects. I brought 3 things to work on and the first is the baby blanket for my nephew and his wife. She picked the pattern and the colors and I love how it's coming together. I purchased way too much of this yarn so there might be a second blanket in a different pattern. If she doesn't want a second blanket it can always be donated. The second project is my purple hexagon sweater. I'm finally making real progress on this one. It won't be long before I can sew sleeve seam and add the cuffs. Lastly I brought my hat bag. I've been wanting to try a side to side hat pattern and, so far, I really like it. I made the first green one and was happy enough with it that I decided to use the rest of the green yarn and make another, larger, one. The first one is kid size. Both of these will be donated and were just practice for the 2 hats I want to make out of the loud lime/navy yarn. Those hats will be for my SIL's grandchildren. The hats are their school colors. I have other hat yarns just in case I run out of things to crochet.....but that's not likely! I did start some sewing but I forgot to take photos. Today it's going to be rainy so there will be lots of sewing. Forget about today's rain because yesterday morning was spectacular! We went out for some paddling for a couple of hours and got back about an hour before the clouds rolled in. Here's a picture of our cabin from the water. It's our third year staying here and we just love it.
In the afternoon we drove to Bangor to pick up our friends. They flew into Boston and rented a car to the Bangor airport. It was a short 2 hour drive through beautiful countryside to pick them up. Today, as I said earlier, is a rain day. So the exercise will be inside and using my normal daily app and then I'll head into town to see about getting my wheels realigned and, maybe, check out the local quilt shop and show Laura around. I expect that Chris and Ian might eventually end up at the local pub. Otherwise it's reading and sewing day and I can't complain about that! We left Virginia Thursday for the 2-day drive to Maine. We stopped over in Fishkill, NY the first night. We both drove because we need 2 cars here for the month. Last year I did that drive really sick and, honestly, I don't know how I did it. I must have just have wanted to prove that I could make it because, perfectly healthy, it's fatiguing. I had a good book (Homecoming by Kate Morton) so that helped a lot. I have a few observations about the current state of Interstate driving. - I81 is the primary trucker route in the East. It's all trucks! At one point, in Maryland or Pennsylvania, the truck right next to me blew a tire. That's never happened to me before and it was LOUD! I'm grateful that no one was behind the truck. I saw a lot of debris flying but it didn't look like anyone was hurt. But the truckers aren't the problem. They are the good drivers on the road. - If you drive with the attitude that the roads belong to the truckers and they allow you to drive with them, your drive will be much more pleasant. Respect anything that can squash you like a bug. - It seemed that the people who ran up on me at high speed to pass were all getting off at the next exit. It was really weird and happened a lot and was quite dangerous at times. Once a car passed me only to pass a WalMart truck and immediate cut in front of it to get off at an exit. Crazy. - The solo motorcyclists are crazy and have a death wish. The only motorcyclists that didn't drive dangerously was one Harley group out for a ride on a beautiful day. All the others wanted to die. - Massachusetts roads are in the worst shape of all the states we drove through. - Maine tolls are crazy but you get what you pay for. I95 is pristine. - Always stock up on booze in New Hampshire. Their prices are 30 - 50% less than every other state. - My car needs a wheel realignment and I'm going to work on that this week For my posts from Maine I'm going to alway start with my project updates and I'll have a photo or 2 or 3 at the end from the vacation. I know you come here for hobby content and not my vacation log but I like to keep the vacation notes because I often look back over them to remember what we did and when we did it. I wanted to immediately get started cutting out the blue quilt blocks so that I could get the cutting out of the way before Laura gets here today. Last night I finished cutting all that I could and set up the sewing machine. I'm a little short on light fabrics. I need lights to finish off the block sets at the top of the screen. Those are the stacks on the table. The stacks on the cutting mat are all block sets are are read to sew. Many of my "lights" are mediums but I think it will all work. I'll see how far I get with the sewing. If I'm getting through all the blocks I'll go buy some light blue batiks to finish the cutting. I had a very pretty pile of tiny scraps and I did throw them out. I'll admit that I considered postcard possibilities. All of the rest of the leftover fabrics (only a few) and the larger scraps are sorted and packed away. I'm maybe feeling some scrappy placemats in here. I've been doing a little crochet too and I'll share that update tomorrow or Wednesday. Our friends come in today and we'll go pick them up in Bangor so I may not post tomorrow. Here's the view from our cabin over Lower Wilson Pond outside Greenville, Maine. This is our third year here and we love it. This year is the first year we've actually had internet at the cabin. Previously I had to go to the library to get access to post. The internet is a treat! We haven't done any hiking or kayaking yet. Saturday was rainy and windy. Yesterday was beautiful but quite windy. We tried to go on a hike but someone (me) had the great idea to take a logging road to get to the trail and that was a big failure. By the time we got turned around and back to the cabin we decided to just do the 4 mile neighborhood walk and then sit in the sun and read in the afternoon. The weather should be good for kayaking and floating today. This is our launch point. Sometimes it's an adventure to get in and out of the water, but it's worth it. We head to Bangor airport (2 hours away) this afternoon to pick up our friends. When we are in Acadia we can get lobster every day if we want (and can afford it) but here we can only get it once a week. This year I got smart and ordered last week so I could have my first lobster dinner Saturday night.
It was delicious, as expected! Who knew that orange could be a neutral? This is my last finish before vacation. This is also a veterans quilt and I love it. I really enjoy making these quilts. I can piece a top in one weekend if I have the strings and foundations already cut. You just have to remember that half the blocks need to have the diagonal in the opposite direction. I didn't pay attention to my block count when I made this quilt so I had to remake one block. I know that orange isn't appealing to everyone but it's my happy color and I love it in this quilt. In between travel preps, Chris and I got in some kayaking one evening. It was beautiful out on the lake.
We leave today for a 2-day drive to Maine. I probably won't post again until Monday. |
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I'm Vicki Welsh and I've been making things as long as I can remember. I used to be a garment maker but transitioned to quilts about 20 years ago. Currently I'm into fabric dyeing, quilting, Zentangle, fabric postcards, fused glass and mosaic. I document my adventures here. Categories
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February 2025
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