Summer's over ...

Well then, that was fast. From beautifully fresh Spring greens to the rusty reds and yellows of mid-Autumn in one fell swoop! There comes a burst--nay explosion--of summer, then it starts to fade. It seems to me the Springs and Autumns in NYC have more summer in them than up here. Here they have more of the cold in them, making the summer seem shorter. At any rate, it was a good summer--quite spectacular in the perennial flower department. Gosh, the beds were pretty this year. I hope they do as well next year.



I dug a new flower bed last month; several new plants needed space. I suspect it won't be the end of my perennial bed digging ventures. I have big plans. I have enormous plans. Unfortunately I don't have enormous funds to bring them to fruition. Ha! But what I wouldn't do with $50k!! It's good to dream. A heated greenhouse, a porch on the back of the house, retaining walls in the field above, a big round raised garden assembled from rocks, a water feature to occupy the water that needs to be directed away from the house! And more!! Yes, I like to dream.



There are, however, more pressing needs. The oil furnace is on it's last legs and will need to be replaced. I am told it is original to the house: 1974. It looks it. That's some workhorse of a furnace if it's true. Since it's viable days are numbered I decided to buy a wood stove late this summer figuring it can supplement and take over for the oil burner after it has vaporized it's last drop of oil. It's also insurance against power outages. For sure, I've been pretty nervous these past 4 or so years since I got rid of the old wood stove.

It was late when I went in search of seasoned firewood and consider myself pretty lucky to have found some in a neighboring town. It was $300/cord delivered which isn't a bad price compared to going rates. I bought 3 cord and hope they will last till at least February. I bought 4 cords of green wood from my neighbor, $225/cord delivered and will use some of that late this winter if I need to. But I hope most of it will be able to sit out all year for the following winter. I do hope the oil furnace will last all winter, it's nice to get the chill out quickly, early in the day, but I don't want to go through any more than one tank the whole winter. When it goes kaput, I'll have it replaced.

The 3 cords of seasoned wood was dumped in the middle of my lawn, right on top of the walkway. I got one cord stacked on a Saturday then 2 wonderful ladies from the quilting guild showed up to help me stack the rest of it on a Tuesday. How very kind of them. We got it all stacked that day then went in for some lovely bean soup.



On the subject of home improvement, I'm chuffed with myself for replacing the pressure switch on my water pressure tank down stairs. The water pressure started waning last week so I went down to have a look and it appeared the switch was at fault. I could get the well pump to come on if I took a wooden dowel and gave some good taps to the side of the switch. Having removed the cover to the switch, I could see blue sparks when I did this and noticed that the contacts were almost completely corroded. I finally found a plumbing outfit in Plymouth that could replace the switch for me but it would have cost over $400!!!! Can you believe it!? To replace a $32 switch!

I watched some videos on YouTube, went down to the hardware store and bought a switch, a new wrench, and a volt meter. It all looked logical enough on the videos. As long as I didn't electrocute myself, I figured it should go ok. Hence the volt meter. I knew which fuse turned off power to the pump, and there is also a breaker above the switch but I wanted to be extra sure the power was no where near that switch when I started poking a screwdriver among it's screws. It went pretty well; it took me 40 minutes but I took my time and thought it all through as I went along. So my water is under pressure again, but the pressure tank itself needs replacing, I think it is what they call "waterlogged". When the pressure goes down, it starts and stop the pump every few seconds. Not good for the well pump I'm told. I don't think I have the confidence to replace that myself and will ask around for a plumber... with reasonable fees.



The harpsichord has found a new home with a local chamber group. I had the piano moved to the living room and my dining area--which used to be at one end of the living room is now in my old music room. It's nice to have a proper dining room, and now I have more room around the piano for parties and much more room to practice cello. It's all worked out very nicely.

I've been knitting some hats. Currently finishing up the 3rd one... all the same pattern. The first one I made with my own handspun wool in shades of purple and orange, the 2nd is golden colors, and the current one is red and green stripes. The current one will be for around the yard, snowblowing and all that.



I finished another wool applique piece this summer. A wall hanging. I saw a picture of it in a magazine and could not resist. All the applique is hand sewn, I don't care for machine applique too much.



Also on the finished pile is the table runner I was weaving in "shadow weave". It came out nice and I quite like it. A little scare one day when I went up to work on it: I noticed a bit of fray at one location along the edge. Some critter (a mouse) wanted some of my new weaving to start a nest! Luckily, it wasn't anything that damaged the integrity of the cloth but I was somewhat fuming about it.



I made a couple new shopping bags. One is made from a bird seed bag; I've started keeping them instead of throwing them away and the bags are ever so easy to sew up. The other is a bit more involved sewing wise, but the results are worth it. A very sturdy, strong bag with pockets on both sides.



I have noticed that up-close work has become a bit more strained for my eyes as of late so I picked up a pair of rather trendy magnifying glasses for those times when I absolutely must see what I'm doing.



I am just about ready to embark on another quilt--two quilts. They will be my winter projects.

Since the last post ...

(pics at the end)

Golly, when it's been so long since the last post, it's difficult to know where to begin. My last was 3 months ago: April 14. I had just finished a quilt, was making bags, and starting Dahlias from cuttings. There have been many ups and downs over these few months. I put a lot of effort into the garden early on only to have uncooperative weather make a mess of it. All the "guaranteed" crops: Lettuce, Arugula, Radishes... a dismal failure this year. I'm hard pressed to explain it other than the damp and cool spring. Germination was very slow and sporadic (I've heard this complaint from people all over the world... I wonder if seeds communicate with one another long distance?). My lettuce finally managed to push itself up to 2" and stayed that way ever since. I wont get a single leaf of lettuce this year. The arugula was anemic, very slow to start--but I will mention it had a pretty good rate of germination--but never became robust. Finally, when the temperatures rose, it bolted right away. I managed 2 salads from it. The radishes seemed to have a better time of things until it warmed up and immediately, as if it were waiting for it, bolted. Half a dozen radishes at best. These are supposed to be the easy crops! Not this year.

On the positive side, the peas are doing well, albeit late, but I expect to be popping peas very shortly. The tomatoes are growing well as are the string beans. I planted Kohlrabi and Kale and they took a very disinterested attitude towards growing until just about a week ago. They are now pushing up quite well. I think the difference is the spell of warm/hot weather we've had these past few weeks finally drying out the soil.

I have left the best garden news for last: It's been a great--nay, super--year for flowers of all kinds. My Irises, which did not blossom last year put forth several beautiful blossoms on several plants, purples, burgandies, and yellows. Interesting tidbit: I learned this spring that Irises should not have the tops of their rhizomes below the soil, for good blossoming, the sun should hit them. My Foxgloves self-seeded liberally last fall and they have reached spectacular heights this year. The Peonies--all three of them--put forth big beautifully scented blossoms. My roses, although they struggled with the winter again (my fault for not taking proper care last fall) are also growing very nicely and blossoming almost profusely. There are currently hundreds of Daylily buds waiting to open, my Delphinium has spiked, the Astibles are showing good strong buds, the Phlox, Salvia, Rudbeckias--all looking good.

Next year I shall have to practice patience. Twice this year I have given up on plants that I thought died over the winter only to discover that they were just taking their time to show. Today I discovered a Malva I planted last year which I had given up on. Suddently and unnoticed, it seemed to shoot up overnight. Since I'd been so sure it was gone, I planted something else in it's place so that now both plants are occupying the same 5" square. I will need to move one of them.

We are at the height of lushness and rampant growth, green foliage abounds all around. The scents, the earthly aroma, the freshness reeks of life. The air in the yard is imbued with the perfume of Sweet William. Oh! I do love those scented flowers, they really make a landscape magical. The lilacs (not everyone's favorite, I know), peonies, scented daylilies, roses... so heady! Be still my quivering olfactory. What a delight!

Fauna. I had a very lovely assortment of wild birds visiting this spring, including a Baltimore Oriole. I almost needed smelling salts when I saw it--as I've never seen one in real life. That's was the highlight of this year's bird watch. All the usual characters have been around: Blue Jays, Chickadees, Mourning Doves, Rose Breasted Grosbeak, Cardinal (yes, they're a bit more visible this year), Gold Finches, Evening Grosbeaks, etc., The bear. The bears, plural. Last weekend I saw a momma and her 2 cubs in the field above the house. Earlier on in the summer one rather large [male, I think] let himself into my entry room where I had the seeds stored! That was rude and I told him so. The problem is the earth under the entry room: It heaves in the winter which jams the door and it cannot close fully. Last year I had the piers replaced thinking that the old ones were probably not deep enough but the workers told me that the new piers they put in are resting on ledge and can't go deeper. But that raises questions for me: If they're on ledge, why are they heaving? Hm. I need more opinions. So anyway, the bear only had to touch the door and it swung open and there he was: In the entry. I took precautions immediately thereafter and he can no longer come in. The door is latching now, but just barely and I had to remove the latch hardware for it to catch. C'est la vie. Next winter I will buy another door (I'll call it the winter door) and shave off a half inch from the top of it so it will close when the earth has hiccupped. This is the last year the squirrels get to come play in the entry during the winter. Gosh they're untidy. Extremely so.

Indoors. I started another quilt after "Ties That Bind" was finished but it has been set aside until autumn. I was way too busy with the outdoors in May and June. Instead, I've been working on smaller unfinished projects. One was a wool applique table centerpiece which I finished just about a week ago. Next will be a needlepoint pheasant that I hope to finish this summer. As it's July, we're in the midst of "Tour de Fleece" and I signed up again this year so I'm spinning a bit every day. I'm participating casually this year, spinning when I can but not fretting if I can't.

I bought another loom. Oh my word, yes, I did. Naughty. I wasn't going to and my discipline was pretty good: I'd seen the ad on Craigslist twice over the past 3 months or so and simply said to myself, "I don't need another loom." Well, it turns out the seller is one of my neighbors and I know them, so I went down to have a look at it. Mistake. It was so pretty sitting there in the garage--an antique counterbalance loom (my two looms are both jack looms). I knew when I saw it that my will power was going to fail. I was right. The price was very right and the wood of it has such a pretty patina. I'm going to replace the frames that were on it as they don't belong to that type of loom, and I hope to have it working by end of summer. Counterbalance looms are big in Sweden, which is where they originate, I believe. More on counterbalance looms in a future post.

Music. I decided to skip orchestra this summer. I really wanted to focus on the garden this year--for all the good it did what with the weather--but honestly, it was good. I accomplished a lot, 4 new corner beds for dye plants and lots of new plantings. Just this afternoon I went to the orchestra's performance. It was interesting and perhaps slightly unnerving to experience it from the auditorium instead of the stage. I must say I was impressed; it sounded very good. On the program was Schubert's 8th Symphony and Duke Ellington's "Night Creature". The concert featured the Vermont Swing Band which joined the orchestra for the Ellington. It was very special. Although I did not participate, I did design and make a poster for the event.

I don't know if I ever mentioned it--I think I did--but I no longer take cello lessons with my teacher in NYC, I take them with the cello teacher at the music school in Lebanon. Whereas my teacher in NY was a private teacher, taking lessons at the school comes with some differences. For one, there is no summer semester but one can sign up for as many lessons as one would like to take, but they are not mandatory. So I'm taking a lesson every few weeks for the summer. He's an excellent teacher and I'm learning a lot and developing in a way I've dreamed of. At the end of June I got a phone call asking me if I could stand in for a student who had to drop out of the Hanover Street Music Festival due to a death in the family. I had not planned on attending this year, but I did accept, was given first part and had a thoroughly enjoyable 3 days of practicing and performing. So very glad I attended.

I finished reading "The First Muslim" and I'm still processing it; an excellent read, very well written. I'm currently reading "Braiding Sweetgrass (Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants)", a very beautiful book and I highly recommend it.

I've decided--after much thought--to sell my harpsichord. I have not played it in two years and it takes so much maintenance to keep it tuned and playable. I'm on the piano almost every day and that is where my focus is. The harpsichord is taking up quite a bit of square footage and what with 3 looms, 3 spinning wheels (nay, 4 including the "great" wheel), 6 sewing machines (I'm ashamed to admit it) I NEED SOME ROOM! Alright, the 6 sewing machines... I'm going to get rid of 2. I came upon them really cheap, but I don't need them. I absolutely adore my godmother's 1910 Singer Redeye (I'm forever grateful, dearest aunts) and will not part with in. In fact, I'll be quilting my wool applique quilt on it this summer. I treasure the 1850s Wilson & Wilcox and will not part with it. My White Rotary from the 1940s is currently my "go to" for piecing. I will hold onto my expensive modern machine if only because it was so darn expensive. But would you believe it!? It has to go in for repairs again. It's unusable at the moment. That's twice in as many years it's had to go in for repairs. The older machines: They never need to go in for repairs and if they malfunction, they're usually fixable by oneself. Not so the modern one with it's computer circuits. I'm very unimpressed with these gadgets. So in the end, I'll have 3 beloved machines, and one which I'll begrudgingly keep; the others will go. So it's not that bad. Right?

Three of my quilts were on display at the Warren Old Home Day yesterday. That was fun. It was a fantastic display; so many very gorgeous quilts. Some quite old and entirely hand sewn.

A big week coming up. I have a Fresh Air charge arriving on Tuesday for a week. It was going to be 2 children, but one of them cancelled. Although I have a little trepidation having just a single 13 year old for the week, I think I can make it fun and interesting. Two is better, of course, then they can occupy themselves when I'm busy. But we'll manage. I have a feeling this is happening because it's what I and my guest need and it will turn out to be a good thing.

How about some pictures?

Early on this spring I installed a new path from the main walkway (which weathered the winter very well, by the way) to the beds:


The fourth of July:


I bought a netted shirt and hood and it's the best $30 I've spent in a long time. I was able to spend entire afternoons outside while the black flies landed in front of my nose but couldn't touch me! It's a necessity, and made an unbearable situation almost pleasant. This is me mourning black fly season:


I harvested tons of Egyptian onions and made onion jam (it's excellent on hot dogs and burgers):


Some Irises:


Some Peonies:


Visitors:


The centerpiece I finished:


A new project on the 4-shaft loom (difficult to see the design in the picture, it's shadow weave, will take a better picture when finished):


A few pics from the quilt show at the Warren Old Home Day yesterday:


The poster I made for the orchestra's summer concert:


My new loom (with the frames removed):


That's all for now. Hopefully it won't be as long to the next post as it's been from the last!

I think an update is in order ...

I think I need to write a new post. ... Over the weekend ...

The quilt is finished ...

The "Ties That Bind" quilt has been bordered, quilted, and a binding has been put on. It is completed! I started it in January, I believe, and not bad getting it done in about 3 months' time. I'm very fond of this one, a very handsome quilt in my opinion. It's on my bed now.



There were a few challenges thrown my way once I started to sew the blocks together. I had already sewn 3 strips of 5 blocks each when I noticed that the pattern join between them was not consistent. Instead of interlocking triangles, I was getting some joins that did not interlock and yet some that also did not interlock but in the opposite direction. Sigh. The quilt is so busy with color and pattern that I could probably have gotten away with leaving it be, but I didn't like it.

I had followed the pattern's instructions which said to sew a triangle on "two adjacent corners" for the border blocks and "on one corner" for the corner blocks. It did not mention which 2 corners and it also did not mention that it's important. I was a bit bumbed out about it and at about that time I had to make a trip to NY, so I simply let it be while I took care of duties. On my way back from NY I decided I could make due by sewing a triangle on every corner of every block therefor allowing me to orient them as needed to achieve the interlocking triangles between blocks. This has altered the way the edge of the quilt looks, but unless you know what the pattern looks like in the book you'd never know. I rather like it this way anyway! Win.

The other challenge came when I went to pick it up from the long-arm. There was a pucker of about 3/8" extra fabric along one edge and it was pretty noticeable. As it turns out I have not been sewing my borders correctly! The woman at the shop was very generous in explaining to me how to sew borders on to achieve squareness, with opposite sides of the quilt being equal in length. Lesson learned, new technique in my arsenal. I was able to alleviate the pucker through a little ingenuity. As luck would have it, there was no quilting running across the pucker so I was able to make a slit in the backing behind the pucker which allowed the pucker to relax. It worked perfectly and I sewed a piece of backing fabric across the slit on the back of the quilt and will place my label over that making the whole affair invisible! Win.

While the quilt was at the shop being quilted I made a bag for shopping. One of several I hope to make. Now that we're more conscious of the environment and the excess amount of plastic we throw away, I'm bringing my own bags for grocery shopping. The black fabric I used for the side pockets look like suede but it's only cotton!



I started another bag today and I'm making this one bigger.

A wave of motivation to put up some preserves came over me during this past month and I made some ambrosia conserve, some spiced honey orange slices, and some spiced honey jelly. The jelly was an impromptu affair resulting from the left-over sauce from making the orange slices. I simply added a tablespoon of pectin to it, brought it up to setting temperature and processed it. Quite an excellent jelly which I will make again.



The temperatures here have finally started to rise and we lost considerable snow these past few days. There is still an amount to go but I suspect it will be gone by end of month. It feels good. 'Twas over 60 yesterday and I opened the front door to let some fresh air come sweeping in.

I have some Dahlia tubers set in some potting soil in the bathroom from which I'll take cuttings once they are a few inches high. I learned this technique from a wonderful gardener in the UK. I do love Dahlias.

Homesteading? ....

I can't really say I'm homesteading much because I don't own any livestock.

Before I first moved here I thought about the possibility of eventually getting a few sheep (they would help with some of the brambles that's for sure) and a few chickens. Neither grace my property these 6 years later. Can it really be six years!? It will be so at the end of April; the time has flown. I haven't completely given up the idea of a few animals, but I'm well cognizant of the work involved and I'm not sure it's a good idea right now. But it's an appealing thought to have a few sheep to keep the wood/field barriers well kept, and to harvest their wool for spinning. Perhaps in a year or two.

I worry about predators, especially as regards something as small as chickens. The other night I got back from rehearsal at about 10:30 pm and as I got out of the car I heard dog-like sounds in the woods right above my house. A long 50 foot walk in the dark from the car to the deck... I didn't linger. Probably coyotes or wolves I imagine.

I am doing homestead-y things though, despite my lack of domesticated fauna. Last Sunday afternoon I drove down to nearby Laconia to browse around the antique mall with something very specific in mind: a butter churn. I found one! And it was not cheap. But it's an old Daisy glass jar butter churn and it works. In anticipation of finding one, I had picked up a quart of heavy cream while grocery shopping last Saturday. From the one quart I got 12.5 oz of butter and a pint of buttermilk. I used the buttermilk Monday morning to make pancakes. Oooh-la-la. The butter is lovely! I hope to start keeping myself supplied with hand churned from now on. It costs approximately $6 for a quart of heavy cream. 12.5 oz of good butter (I usually get Kerrygold) plus a pint of buttermilk would come close to $6 if not over, so I'm probably not saving money but I have the satisfaction of making my own and there is something to be said for that. I know exactly what's in it and I can salt it as little or as much as I want. Besides which I can control the water content. This may become more important in the future if I decide to make my own croissants! See video below.



The churn:



The smaller bottles behind the churn are filled with some hand/body lotion I made this afternoon. I purchased all the raw materials a few weeks ago and had a bit of spare time today so here's my firt attempt at making lotion. The ingredients are quite simple: oils (this one is made with almond oil), stearic acid (thickener), vitamin e oil (antioxidant to prevent the oils going rancid), emulsifying wax, distilled water and scent. I scented this with wisteria-lilac oil. I also added a preservative (Germaben II), otherwise it would have to stay in the refrigerator and would only last 10 days before spoiling. It's got a very nice consistency to it.



Like so many people these days, I'm jumping on the "reduce plastic" bandwagon. It really is appalling how much single-use plastic is generated and tossed away to linger in landfills for a very long time. I haven't managed a whole lot yet, but a few small steps: I bought a safety razor last month and that will alleviate the toss-away plastic things I was using. I'm trying to bring my own bags when I go grocery shopping; it's going to take a bit more effort to remember them every time! I'm trying to avoid buying products in plastic bottles if possible. But you know, it's impossible to go completely plastic-free; it's everywhere. Almost everything is packaged in plastic and within the plastic there are individually plastic-wrapped items so much of the time. Oh dear.

The quilt has progressed amazingly well. I only need to make 2 more corner squares and I can then sew all the blocks together and sew borders on. I may well be taking this down to the quilt shop for quilting by end of week.



We had more snow today, all day long, but it amounted to only about 3" probably. We are under a lot of snow, 2.5 to 3 feet at least. And I keep watching gardening videos from the UK where they really have started to enjoy spring and are working their gardens already. It is now an endurance test over here... it has been a long winter. I have decided I will build another garden bed this spring out back where the previous owner had hers. That space gets more sunlight than any other location on my property and I'm thinking of putting my tomatoes and cukes and squash down there this year. One potential problem is that the ground there stays quite damp, but I think it's worth a try. It's always very hard to mow the lawn there anyway, and it won't be awful to alleviate that chore!

Much music lately. I signed up to play at the next UVMC salon which will be on the 30th at a private residence in Hanover. I will play Debussy's Prelude #4 from Book 1. This week I am finishing up work on the 3rd Cello Suite by Bach on the cello and played the 1st Bouree in class Thursday for my fellow classmates. I'm also working on several Cappricios and Intermezzi by Brahms on the piano. Hope to record some of them one of these days.

Croissant? Did I mention croissants above? I had some good croissant last time I was in NYC. There is a very good patisserie on Broadway between 13th & 14th Streets and I had a real croissant. Oh, they are good!! Very good croissants requires good butter so that's why I was thinking about croissants when mentioning my new butter churn. This guy, Alex, has a wonderfully inventive Youtube channel which I subscribe to, and in this episode he visits a Parisien bakery. What's not to love about this!?...

Anticipation begins ...

These came home with me the other day ...



Several racks of seed are on display at the local superstore, I could not resist. It's unrealistic to think I can do anything with them for several weeks, but just the sight of them releases endorphins. Seeing them on the counter lifts my mood and sparks hope. It's won't be too long now, I figure in another month we'll be getting close.

I must resist the temptation to start them indoors. Every time I've started seed early, I was way too early. After last year's experiment of starting several seeds indoors, I've come to the realization that it's best to wait and plant most of them directly in the soil. 1) Transplanting is a lot of work, 2) I don't think the plants like it, 3) several of them seem to do better without the disruption in their growth. So I don't think there will be much indoor sowing this year. Maybe a few seeds.

The quilt is progressing quicker than I thought it would. The pattern turns out to be somewhat forgiving, much more so than other patterns I've made. The 9 blocks which make up the inner part of the quilt are done. I need to make 16 more for the outside blocks; they will be very similar to these only slight variations because they will be on the edge of the quilt. To my astonishment I'm making approximately 1 block a day, not something I expected. These 9 blocks are not sewn together yet, I simply laid them down on the floor to see how they look...



It snowed all day today--this is the reality in contrast to the visions and dreams of the first few paragraphs above. So I stayed in all day. Ran out of bread so I decided to try a recipe I saw in a vlog I follow on YouTube for some stove top soda bread. It's amazingly simple, and amazingly good! I will be making this recipe frequently I think.

Progress on the new quilt ...

I got all 1200 triangles and squares cut last week and I've started sewing triangles together to make squares... lot's of them.



But before proceeding too far I wanted to construct one sample block to determine if there were any gotchas I need to be aware of when sewing the triangles together. It came out nice and I'm well pleased with it.



I'll be making 25 of these blocks. Each one has 48 pieces in it x 25 blocks = 1200 pieces. Yup, the math works out!

And I keep coming across new projects I'd like to make. Better start a list so I don't forget them all.

I stopped at a local thrift shop this afternoon and found a bag of fabric along with a finished, pieced top all for $15. The top is very attractive and quite well made. It alone is worth hundreds. I wonder who made it? I wonder why it was never finished? One thing's for sure, I'm going to have it finished. It measures 58" square. The fabric is very beautiful.



Oddball weather here lately. Thaws and freezes. Snow and ice. Lot's of ice. Not as much snow. It's February 8th; I figure in 2 months time we'll be greeting spring full heartedly, albeit impatiently. Of course, officially, spring arrives next month but we all know that she and the calendar don't communicate all that well. But I am starting to dream of warm weather and gardens and flowers and bugs. ... I think this year I will build some sort of screen enclosed area on my deck so I can bring the cello outside without getting bitten to death.

At this time of year I look back at pictures I took last summer and it doesn't seem possible that the vegetation could ever be that lush and rampant. These days I can see clearly through the forest tops and beyond to summits behind them. Most certainly not so in the summer.