This morning I went out to cut some flowers from our garden.  Hydrangeas (blue and white), pink roses, yellow lillies, and gardenias filled my double sink.  As I was cutting the flowers, I remarked to my husband about how much I adore the scent of the gardenias and how lucky I am to have had them growing at all of the places we have lived.

His response:  Gardenias were in your wedding bouquet.  It is one of the first things I plant for you at each house.

23 years and the man still surprises me.

I had always wanted a Jeep Wrangler.  My husband surprised me with this beautiful yellow Jeep Wrangler Sport one year for Hanukkah.    It was such a joy to drive.  Driving around with the top down in the spring, summer, and fall was so much fun.  We also had the occasional off road experience.

Now my babies are driving and they need a car to go back and forth to school, band, football games, events, jobs (hopefully), and just live their own lives. 

They don't look old enough to drive, do they? 

I plan on giving them my Honda Pilot to drive because it is a larger vehicle (so they can store their stuff) and it has more safety features (airbags, anti-lock brakes, etc.) then the Jeep, and it's paid for.   So the decision was made.  We will sell the Jeep and purchase a new (new to us) car for me to drive. 

So by the end of the summer I will be saying good-bye to this wonderful Jeep and hello to another vehicle that will carry me to and fro.

Sigh… I will miss this Jeep.

Or even maybe this:

"No," I said, "You have to smile."

ALL the way open... and act like you guys like each other.

I have decided to let all of my listings in the One Blunt Needle Etsy expire.  I don’t have any plans to restock the store with quilts anytime soon.  Why you ask?  Well, two reasons.  The first is that I am going back to teaching elementary art and I just won’t have the time to keep it stocked. 

The second reason is that I am just not selling quilts that much through Etsy.  Most of my sales have come from friends, a couple of corporate clients, or people that have seen the quilts on Pinterest. I have been asked for quotes on several projects through Etsy and when I give them a quote they are taken aback at the cost.    

One customer wrote back, “I can get a queen sized quilt at Wal-Mart for less than $99, why do you charge so much more?”

I’ll tell you.

The fabrics I use in the quilts are 100% cotton quilt shop quality fabrics.  They range from $7.50 up to $18.00 per yard.  A lap size quilt takes around five yards for the backing and binding alone.   The front of the quilt can take about the same amount of fabric; it just depends on the design.  Then there is the thread, quilting needles and quilt batting, which all need to be high quality as well. 

The design of the quilt depends on what the client wants.  It can be a design that I have created myself, a pattern from the vast amount readily available on the internet, a commercial pattern, or even one from a book.  The design and construction of the quilt takes time.  From the design to the shopping, then there is the cutting of the fabric, piecing the quilt top together, ironing, creating the quilt sandwich, machine quilting, binding, and the final step – washing.  Depending upon the size, complexity of the quilt design and the density of the machine quilting it can take from as little as six hours for a simple baby size quilt to several weeks for a queen size piece.

I love quilts.  There are quilts all over our house; in the bedrooms, living room, den, office, my studio, and even a couple to be used outdoors.

I love creating quilts.  Giving them to loved ones and knowing that they appreciate what went into the creation of their one of a kind treasure. 

While they are more expensive than purchasing the mass produced big box store variety, I believe using the high quality materials so the quilts can be washed in your washing machine, spit up on by a baby, dragged around by a toddler, used in fort building, snuggled under, and just loved in general for years to come is well worth it.

So, if you are looking for Wal-Mart quality, this is not the place to look. 

I live out in the countryside.  Our homestead is nestled in the back part of a small subdivision that was once a working farm.  One of the many pleasures of living out here is watching the cycle of agriculture.

There is an incredible field that is in the front of our neighborhood.  Each year in the spring I watch the hay sprout, grow, get cut, and then bound into large cylindrical bales. I have said to myself each year that I was going to photograph these  majestic bales of hay, only to find the farmer has collected the golden bales before I could get up there.  Thankfully this year I was able to get photos of them. 

My husband and I walked around part of the field last weekend in the early morning, remarking along the way on how large the field was, the quantity of bales, the sweet smell of the air, and how in a few short weeks there would be corn growing where we stood.

Enjoy the field through my lens.

This is what is should look like...

With the end of this school year, getting ready for the summer, finishing up some quilts, and looking forward to teaching again, the studio is a mess.  It is filled with unfinished quilts, fabric (quilting, home decorating, and clothing), scrapbook materials, and all of my art eduction resources are all mixed together.

So I am going to take a break from quilting for a few weeks to get the studio back in order, go through the three large tubs of fabric, scrapbook a little, and get my teaching books ready for August.

Lately, in my kitchen, there has been a lot of discussion on what is considered ‘normal’ in terms of baking.  I have always baked for my family.  On any given day you will find a variety of cookies, pies, muffins, brownies, cakes, and breads coming out of my oven.  I buy flour in 25 lb. bags at Costco.  To me, this is normal.  To my husband, after 23 years together this is now his normal, but not always.  His mother wasn’t a baking mother.  Our daughter described it best when she was about 5; one Grandmother bakes cookies the other one buys them.   

My Grandmother Estelle, who really couldn’t cook anything else edible that I can remember, could make a pound cake with a chocolate glaze that was out of this world.  My G-d-mother used to bake a lemon cake that was so amazing.  It was sweet but not too sweet, just the right amount of tart, and out of this world moist.  My mother bakes cookies, pies, and bread that are so incredibly delicious.  I could eat my weight in those dainty Russian tea cakes, the frosting filled thumb print cookies, and sweet jam filled sandwich cookies that she bakes. 

It’s what I do.  I bake.

When I was little we lived on the border of Hewlett and Woodmere on Long Island.  I remember walking most places or traveling on the back of my mother’s bicycle.  I have memories of two bakeries.  One was on Broadway across from the five and dime in Woodmere.  There I remember crumb cakes with the topping twice as high as the actual cake, huge black and white cookies that would melt in your mouth, and loaves of crusty bread.  The other bakery was Walls, again on Broadway, but in Hewlett.  There I would find the sweet and buttery sprinkle cookies that were just amazing.  

In our area a bakery opened up about 20 minutes from the house.  I was so excited.  I wondered in to get some cupcakes for the boys report card reward.  I wanted those treats to be as incredible as I remember from my childhood.  While my kids truly enjoyed the cupcakes, cookies, and cake we purchased; I was disappointed.  It wasn’t the same.  The sweet and floury smell of those bakeries of my childhood just wasn’t there.  That buttery taste as the cookie slightly crumbles in your mouth after the first bite… not there.

All is not lost.  I still have the memories of those wonderful treats, I have the ability to make different variations of them, and there are other bakeries in the area worth checking out.   So next week I think I will take a trip to NODA to check out Amelies French Bakery, there are also some amazing shops and galleries in that area too.  Come to think of it, there is also Suarez Bakery in the Park Road Shopping center that I haven’t been to in a while… and it’s not too far from my husband’s office.  Maybe I’ll stop at the bakery to bring him an afternoon treat next week.

Three quilts pieced, quilted, bound, and washed.

Done.

One for the classroom, one for Etsy, and one for a former student of mine. 

Josey is a Catahoula Leopard Dog with a long and fluffy coat.  This breed has been described as independent, protective, and territorial.  They are also known to be very loving and loyal with their family and the people it knows well; but Catahoula’s are also known to be reserved with strangers, including children. 

This describes Josey.

Josey came to us through the incredible Bernie Berlin of A Place To Bark.  This is the first image I ever saw of Josey.  I don't know how to explain it, but at that moment I knew she was meant to be a part of our family.

After a bath and some snuggles, this is what she looked like on her first day with us.

She is my dog, my constant companion, my confidant, and my protector (mostly from squirrels and falling leaves...) 

This is Josey and I love her.