Rug Show Photos!

Long Island Guild of Rug Hooking Artisans Show

Come visit me and Barb tomorrow. We're hoping for good weather and a good show. And we hope to see you there!

LIGRA Rug Show
Saturday, September 26th 10-5
Presbyterian Church of Sweet Hollow
95 Old Country Road
Melville, N.Y. 11747

631-549-7158

New Stuff on American Folk Art

American Folk Art had a themed update today at noon: Pumpkin Patch. Have a gander.

18th Annual Greenport Maritime Festival

We had a glorious September weekend out here on the East End. Pete and I spent it puttering around the house (there's still so much to do even though the actual renovation is over) and at our village's annual Maritime Festival. Yesterday, the 106th Rescue Wing of the New York National Guard did a fly over of the harbor. They usually do a rescue with a helicopter and frogmen that is really quite amazing to watch, but they either didn't do it this year or I missed it.


Today we walked to town at noon to see the whale boat races and Pete was drafted to row in one of the boats. That's him in the red shirt and straw hat. Turns out he and his mate won first place in the mens division and we came home with a bottle of white wine!

Then we strolled down Front Street, looked at all the ice boats on display and came home for lunch. Another wonderful weekend in Greenport!

Halloween Goodies

Barb has an update today on The Primitive Gathering. She's got three new and neat Halloweenies for sale. Take a look!

And here's a fun story about a series of hooked rugs commemorating a group of nicne sailboats built early in the 20th Century. Click here: Knockabouts

The Table

So here's the new table made from old wood. It is not a finely made piece of furniture, but we were attracted to the pencil legs and the different boards used on the top. We are not very fancy people in general, and we were on a budget. This table was pretty inexpensive -- less than the IKEA table we tried. It measures 37 inches across, a little wider than the fellow said it was and a little wider than I wanted. Our dining room is not very wide. We may remove the rug to see if it makes the room a little airier feeling. We are used to the room being empty -- it is weird to have something so big in it. We'll be able to seat lots of friends and family at Thanksgiving -- if we can find some chairs by then . . . . I don't know how interior designers do their jobs. I get so tired of searching for stuff and making decisions.

I came down with a cold this weekend -- a parting gift from my darling daughter -- so I have been pretty lazy the last day or so. I did hook up these little coasters. I wanted them to look like wood block prints and I think I succeeded. They are simple and rough and I love the brightly colored wool (all dyed by my sister Barb of thimblefolk.)

Brimfield Antique Market

Pete and I spent yesterday in Brimfield, Massachusetts at the famous antique market. It's held three times a year, in May, July and September. I've wanted to go for years, and since we were still in need of a dining room table, we got up early, got on a ferry and headed north.

We had a rocking and rolling ferry ride over to New London -- a storm that continues to blow as I write this was making great rolling waves toss the huge boat around. When we were once again on solid ground we meandered through eastern Connecticut, ending up in Brimfield just before noon.

The antiques market is huge. We only managed to hit four or five fields before having to head back to New London to make our 5 o'clock ferry reservation home. There were not many antique tables large enough for us for sale, and the few that were available were too fancy and too expensive. We finally found a table that was newly made from old wood that appealed to both of us -- and that cost less than the hideous new Ikea table we tried a few weeks ago. So we bought it.

We were pretty single-minded about finding a table and chairs, but I managed to take some photos of the hooked rugs for sale. I thought they'd be a visual treat for my rug hooking friends. So here they are.

Tumbleweed Tuesday

Tumbleweed Tuesday, Tumbleweed Tuesday . . . the words roll off my tongue as the tourists roll out of town. When you live in a tourist destination, you look forward to the day the season ends, so you can park at the post office and the grocery store, or walk your dog on the beach absolutely alone, or cross in the crosswalks without fear of being run over. That's not to say that crowds aren't fun sometimes. Pete and I both spent a large part of the holiday weekend working -- he on appraisals and me on refinishing our sideboard (more on that tomorrow). But we took time to have fun, too.

We had dinner with Paula and Ann on Friday: delicious skordalia from The Hellenic and a game of Scrabble that Pete won by more than 100 points -- no mean feat for my spelling-challenged husband.

Sunday we had dinner at The Frisky Oyster Bar, Greenport's newest restaurant, which the New York Times rated Very Good. We aren't eating a lot of beef at home these days, and I was craving a burger. It was made with Kobe beef and perfectly cooked. We sat outside and watched the world go by as we our drank lemon mint mojitos. Time was when we recognized everyone on Front Street . . . not anymore. Greenport is a happening place these days. The only person we recognized for the two and a half hours we sat there (the service was a little slow) was Pete's barber.

Monday brought more work, but that evening we finally saw Julie and Julia. It was fun, though not my favorite movie ever. Meryl Streep is an amazing actress and I think it made Pete more interested in cooking. We came home, got out my copy of Mastering the Art of French Cooking and looked up the directions for boning duck. . . a little too much work even for me.

So it is back to work today. I've got lots of chores to do and the fall shows are fast approaching.

Another Rug Hooking UFO Finished!

I started this log cabin hit or miss last August . . . it kept getting put to the side when other obligations came up. I'll steam it this afternoon and but the binding on tomorrow. Feels good to get it done.

Sweet September

We said goodbye to summer last night. Clara packed her car and headed off for Saratoga Springs and her senior year at Skidmore. I made our favorite summer meal: Tomato Cobbler with cherry tomatoes fresh picked in the back yard and a big green salad. As we ate, Pete and I watched the sun sink in the west, the clouds glowing pink and gold against the sky. We heard music floating across the harbor from the park, so we hopped on our bikes and headed into town. We listened to the last concert of the season and watched our friends and neighbors dance on the boardwalk as the moon rose over Peconic Bay. The lights of the carousel twinkled and turned and the ferry crossed back and forth to Shelter Island. Autumn was in the air: in the cool breeze and the approaching responsibilities of work and school and real life. It was magical, a moment out of a movie, nostalgic and wistful and sweet.