Lovely Wedding Weekend

We're back from the beach, where we enjoyed a delightful weekend with family and friends at Maribeth and John's wedding.  They were married at the yard of their home on the Intercoastal Waterway.  Our little granddaughter Charlotte did a great job as one of the flower girls!

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We also enjoyed a little beach time and an extra night with good friends Marcia and Gerry.  We had never been to their lovely new home in Wilmington.  Old friends are the best friends!

Voices Art Quilt Exhibit

Yesterday I paid a visit to the PAQA-South Art Quilt exhibit called Voices.  You may visit the show for free at the Page-Walker Arts and History Center in Cary, North Carolina through July 2, 2016. 

I mostly just photographed the quilts from across the room.  Downstairs, the quilts are in a salon-like setting with a fireplace, grand piano, and window drapes, but lots of room to move around.

Don't forget to go upstairs to see the rest of the exhibit.

 Here is a quilt by my friend, Peg Henderson, which uses pieces of the beaded dress she wore at her daughter's wedding.

In the showcase display is this lovely arrangement of semi-sheer circles representing harmony.

The Page-Walker is an elegant old building that once was a railroad hotel.  I love to see what is blooming in the gardens and grounds, and also check out the sculptures and other interesting features of the gardens.

I noticed information about the Pollinator Garden.  It is an effort by the Cary Woman's Club, the Cary Garden Club, Friends of Page-Walker, and the town of Cary.  It is to encourage pollinators such as butterflies, bees, birds, and more.

This large sculpture is called Child's Play, Revisited.

They have opened up an area beside the Page-Walker where there is a small stage, open grass for a concert area, a pond with fountains, and beautiful landscaping.

There are some historic buildings such as the old smoke house from the Page-Walker.

I have seen this horse sculpture before, but I think he has been moved to this strategic location next to the small stage area.

I always enjoy a visit to the Page-Walker...and when there is a quilt exhibit as well, it makes for a nice day.

I'm So Organized, It's Scary!

Don't know if I have shown any photos of my third floor studio areas since all the painting and organizing.  There are two finished attic rooms, each with two closets, that I have taken over for my sewing, fabric, and painting.  Most of the time they are not exactly places to show off, featuring lots of works in progress- on the tables, floors, spilling out the door and down the steps. 

No more!

This wall has a tiny door to more storage space under the eaves.  I have my boxes of half yard or more fabric, and some other fabric-related containers here.  That's my cool Sony Ipod dock on top.

 

 

On the wall next to that one is my Janome sewing table, pegboards of notions, more containers, and the ironing board to the left.

 

 

I re-organized the plastic drawers next to the sewing table, and even made labels from some of my painted papers.

 

 

The first closet has more plastic drawers with my fabric scraps sorted by color, miscellaneous other supplies, and my bolts of batting that used to be stored on the rod under my Gammill.  Since my Gammill is on loan to another quilter until we move, I had to find a place for the batting.

 

 

Let's move to the other room, which mostly contains paints, papers, and supplies for journaling and mixed media.  I think when last seen, this large work table was covered with projects and my "stuff."  Not now...and the walls are painted a soft beige called "String of Pearls."

 

See that painting of hollyhocks?  I did not want to put a nail in my freshly-painted walls, so I used those Command strips to hang the framed picture on the wall.  A few days later it fell down, breaking the frame, and tearing the paint off the walls where the adhesive ripped it.  Not what they are cracked up to be!

 

 

I have a triple dresser on the next wall.  I have some quirky labels identifying the contents of the drawers.  Mysterious contents such as "Collage Fodder."

 

The painting on that wall is still hanging, but I see it needs straightening!  That old wooden chair used to be in my husband's grandparents' kitchen.  We used a set of those for our kitchen chairs when we were first married...and for the next thirteen years!  I think it is soon destined to be a potted plant container.

 

 

I have had this wooden bookcase in this room for years.  It usually had so many books and supplies in it, on it, and around it, that you could not even stand in front of it.  Now it is cleared out and neatly organized, with room for more.  I donated a lot of my books to the public library, the Capital Quilters Guild silent auction, and Goodwill.

 

 

 

I still like to peek in this closet and see my colorful bins of art supplies.

 

 

Now, do I want to start using some of this stuff and risk making a mess again?  LOL- I have hardly done anything since the summer.  I do have a few more pages in my Moleskine journal done, so I will have to take some pictures soon.

 

I continue to be captivated by the afternoon light this time of year.  Now that the leaves are changing here in the Raleigh area, it is almost too beautiful in the golden afternoon.

 

 

 

 

My gardens are still hanging on, and I hope the flowers will last a few more weeks.  Here are some flowers near our garden pond in front.

 

And the knock-out roses are still pretty.  They were a great investment, and very little care compared to regular tea roses which must be sprayed constantly for black mold here in the south.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Spring Walk

Are any of you still experiencing the throes of winter?  Any Easter snow to report?  It has been very hot here in Wake Forest, NC, and everything's blooming.

Here is my first rose, an old-fashioned variety with a French woman's name that I don't recall.  It grows up along the rail of our back deck.

We walked around the neighborhood today.  Lots of other roses were blooming.  All the new houses in the Heritage section have the same pink rose bush by their mailboxes.  I think it is called a non-stop rose.

The Forgotten Pond was looking pretty, with only one goose to grace the picture.

On the street near the pond, I spotted this very muddy turtle by the curb.  I'm pretty sure it is a snapping turtle, because they have jagged edges on the back of their shells.  I decided I would try to move him off the street if he was still there on the return trip.  He wasn't.  (Relief!  Have you heard the folk legend that if a snapping turtle bites you, he won't let go until it thunders?)

Here is another unusual site on this morning's walk.  I think the firemen might have been practicing with a new aerial truck.  Or they wanted a coffee break with a view.  They were on a new street with just a few houses that are occupied.

One reason I have been leaving the neighborhood lately for our morning walks is because of all the new construction.  The recession is not affecting the growth north of Raleigh.

This is what the roads look like when they are working on a new house.  It's much nicer to walk on the greenway.

This is the entrance to the Heritage neighborhood across Rogers Road from my street.  I saw them building one of those stone columns one day.  All cinder block with a stone facade.

For some reason, the developers think every section of Heritage must have its own unique name.  I think they may be running out of ideas soon.

Back at Chez McBrayer, I am pleased with the restful look of our back yard.  Nothing like azalea time!

Also in full bloom are the weigelas.  This pink one has gotten out of hand.  Can you see a little red dog heading around it on the right? 

The giant green shrub in front of the house is a viburnum that has also outgrown its location.  Full sun makes flowering shrubs very happy.

I wish I had chosen a red weigela instead of the pale pink.  This is our neighbor's along their white fence.

Our mock orange is another one that has gotten extremely tall.  It has only a few blossoms open so far.

Here is the viburnum I planted on our last dog, Maggy's grave in the back yard near the woods.

Near it are the two huge hydrangeas that are planted next to our collie, Sassy's grave.  She was about eleven when we moved to this house, and only lived about another year or two.  We got Maggy about three days after losing Sassy to cancer.

The seeds I planted last week are already coming up in the cutting garden.

I have not been doing much in the way of sewing or art in the past week.  We bought a new king-size bed for our bedroom, and moved our old one to a guest bedroom.  That has meant getting rid of a lot of unwanted furniture and STUFF.  I guess every once in a while it is good to clear out things you no longer need.  I am filling up the back of the Subaru with bags of items for Goodwill.  I've gotten my clothing drawers cleaned out and need to do my closet next.

I'd rather be quilting!

Yellow and Blue

I was wrong when I said yesterday that it would be 101 degrees.  Our home thermometer registered 105!

Here is the quilt I worked on yesterday...one of those die-cut flower quilts made with the Big Shot machine.  This one is a cool and lovely combination of blue, yellow, and white.  Very cool and serene looking!

I only finished one pass, as these take quite awhile to do.  You have to stitch around each of the three circles that make up each floral applique.  I am free-motion stitching leaves, flowers, vines and swirls in the background and borders.

This combination of colors is very pleasing (except that I am having trouble with the thread blending in those prints so well that I can't see where I 've stitched).  I walked around the yard (before 9:00 AM) to see if I had any of those colors in the gardens.

The lavender growing by my garden pond is a good example.

I have at least three blue buddleigh or "butterfly bushes."

Here is a bee working on a white abelia blossom.

And on the other side of the porch steps, the sunflowers are starting to pop out.

Here is a strange place to find a praying mantis...on the ceiling of the front porch.  Hope it eats all the mosquitoes!