Story Quilts

Charlotte and Maggie with their finished Story Quilts.

Getting ready to sew the top to the back of Charlotte's quilt (laid out in the hallway outside of my studio yesterday...)

Maggie tying her quilt. This makes it a comforter, technically, I think...

Charlotte sewing together the opening on her quilt with a blind stitch.

Ta da! The front...

...and the back of Maggie's finished quilt.

Ta da! The front...

...and the back of Charlotte's finished quilt.

The girls used all recycled fabric for the quilt tops, and we made a trip to the fabric store where they each picked out a fabric for the back of their quilt. They used acrylic paints and sharpies to do the central panel.

A test run.

Two of my young art students, with the story quilts that they each created, inspired by the work of Faith Ringgold. We finished this project at my apartment this afternoon, and the girls took their quilts home, with big plans to use them all summer - to sit on to watch the fireworks on the 4th, to take to the beach and to camp, and to sleep with starting tonight! Aren't they bold, bright and beautiful? (The quilts and the girls!)

Abundance

A sweet harvest.

Wild strawberries at the edge of the woods.

Yellow Mallow.

Parsley and lettuce.

Green beans. Grass clippings make great mulch.

Garlic is forming scapes...

The tomato plants are happy!

Two rows of potatoes.

Rainboots and basil.

We are going to have a bumper crop of raspberries this summer!

Our garden.

Our rainforest...

Thunder and The Laying Hens...(good name for a rock band!)

The studio in the woods, with work station set up under a tarp...

Inside the studio...

Andy and Ocea painting the walls and finishing the floors. Looks so nice!

Flowers and produce, all from our own backyard. That's a Rhubarb Cream Pie - it was goood!

Almond Oat Scones with wild strawberries served on one of my Gramma's cake plates...

One of our female hummers.

I really can't complain about the rain...(we have had 24 days of it this month so far...)...not complaining, nope...

How Long Can You Tread Water?

The Rain in Maine is starting to be a Paaain!

And Now, Scenes from a Foggy Summer Solstice...

photo by Nancy Marstaller

photo by Nancy Marstaller

We had our soggy Summer Solstice celebration last Sunday, and on Wednesday night this week my Women's Meditation Group had a foggy Summer Solstice gathering. We are having that sort of June here in Maine. Mostly wet and cool.

Women's Meditation meets at The Stonehouse Manor in Phippsburg each June for good eats and a traditional sunset walk on Popham Beach. I have pictures from years past in which we are all smiling and sunlit, standing around sand castles that were built by happy children during the day. This year the beach at twilight looked like something out of a science fiction movie, strewn with whole tree trunks, big torn branches, and hills of seaweed washed ashore during the epic high tides we experienced this week due to strong winds and the new moon. This created a beautifully eerie and mysterious landscape.

As you can see, we enjoyed ourselves. There is something especially peaceful, playful, and powerful about this particular group of women, and I am grateful for their friendship!

Whatever the weather, I hope that you are all enjoying this first week of summer! Have a relaxing weekend!

33 Big Ones!

June 26th, 1976

our breakfast table early this morning...

photo of Martha & Garry by Oceanna Miller

The couple that gardens together, stays together!

Garry and I celebrate our 33rd wedding anniversary today! And we have tended a garden together for thirty three years.
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY, GARRY!

Nothing is more completely the child of Art than a Garden.
Sir Walter Scott