Mother Nature Laughed

Yesterday my husband and I were shoveling the walk. He looked up at the sky and exclaimed

"You call this snow? This is a wimpy snow!"

God smiled and Mother Nature laughed and met his challenge.

This morning we found 12 more inches of snow on the front porch. The birds were lining up at the feeders waiting for their meal (click on the picture to enlarge).

Greetings from frigid Wisconsin! Chris

Lush

Lately it feels like Wisconsin had become a temperate rain forest.

Five days of rain to every two days of sunshine, just enough sun to get the lawn mowed...

Our spring started out unseasonably warm. All of the flowers are blooming weeks early this year.

The corn is ahead of schedule too. Hopefully things will dry up a bit soon so the crops stay healthy and hay can be cut. Wishing you all sunny days ahead!

P.S. Dye Candy One of a Kind Hand Dyed Fabrics are on sale now through July 11th. Stop by and take a look.

Independence Day and a Fabric Sale at Dye Candy

Meet my Independence Day Baby. We brought him home from the hospital 21 years ago just in time to see the 4th of July fireworks. That seems like a lifetime ago.

It has been such a joy watching him grow into adulthood. We are proud parents of this young man. Happy 21st birthday son - Rock On!

It has been a while since I have been able to post. The last two months have been a whirlwind of visitors at the Shady Grove and a few weekend trips to visit friends and family. It was good to see everyone but it is really good to be settled in at home for a while.

I'm looking forward to having enough time to blog again. I have been trying to catch up but my Google Reader stopped counting 4 weeks ago when I hit 1000+ unread posts. It was down to 750 unread posts as of last night. I just can't bring myself to hit the delete button and make the posts disappear into cyberspace.

In honor of many days of independence ahead all of my one of a kind hand dyed yardage is on sale in my Dye Candy Fabric Shop. I also wrote a short post the fabrics I use and the dyeing process here.

Wishing you all a wonderful Independence Day!

My Studio View

Original Post Date December 15th 2008:

I have been gathering these photos through out the seasons. This is the view from my work area. The tree near the barn is my companion year round and gives me inspiration with its spralling grace and changing color. Click on the slide show to see the apple trees in blossom and the distant fall colors on a larger scale.

Summer at Sugar Creek Ranch

This is an old post from June of 2008. Another look into life on our farm:

The daisies are in bloom in the meadows and the grasses blow in the breeze. The fields on our property have been fallow for about 15 years. Each year we have more wildflowers as the prairie recovers. I love this time of year. The weather has been amazing this week, in the mid 70's and sunny. It's hard to leave when the weather is so perfect but... This weekend I drive to Chicago to spend time with my mom and stepfather and my girlfriends. I can't wait!

This is one of my favorite shots of our old dog Kodiak. He was an Alaskan Malamute. His head stood at least 3 1/2 feet high. He was tall enough to be able to put his head on the dinner table, a habit we broke him of quickly.

And now back to April 8th, 2010:

I will be selling my hand dyed fabrics and quilt block jewelry at the Crazy Quilters Quilt Show this weekend. My Etsy shops will be closed until Monday April 12th.

If you are in Mukwonago (Milwaukee Area) this weekend please stop by say hello. This show boasts 200 quilts on display. Read more about the show here.

Have a wonderful weekend! Hope to see you there!

My First Shady Grove

I am going to be re-posting a few old posts as I get ready to vend at the Crazy Quilter's Quilt Show in Mukwonago, WI next weekend. If you are new here, welcome! I thought you might like to see where we came from before we ended up on our farm in rural Wisconsin.

This is the home we left behind. It was our first home, a small cottage with a lot of character and wonderful flower gardens. This home was built in an oak and walnut grove after World War II. Prior to the development of this neighborhood this was a popular picnic spot. People would take an excursion train from Chicago to spend a day in the country. Naperville was a small town of 6000 people when my parents settled there in the early 1960's.



Here is what sits in place of our old home. I had to back up 30 feet to fit it all in the shot. It takes up every square inch of lot allowed by the city. It is a beautiful house but not my idea of a home. The neighborhood we used to live in has changed drastically. Every third house has been replaced by a mansion. The population has grown exponentially. It is now the third largest city in the state of Illinois with a population of more than 144,000 people.
This is where you can find me now. We have a small farm on 76 acres. Here is our old farmhouse. My workroom is through the window. The view is amazing! Note the hydreangea bush on the left. It is just starting to bloom. I had no idea that these bushes grew so high. It comes up to the windows of the second story, and it is still growing!

Updated note April 2nd 2010: I am making another guest appearance today on Carmen's Blog, Carmen Rose Prose. Carmen is an artist after my own heart. She claims to have Art AD/HD and I sure can sympathize with that affliction. Her works are amazing. She is an accomplished art quilter who dyes her own fabric. She paints glass, writes poetry, makes jewelry and you should she the "Art of a Woman" exhibition that she put together! Oh My...

And speaking of Oh My....I recently worked on a special order of hand dyed velvet for Susan of "Plays with Needles". She mentioned that she would be posting something about her new velvets but I never imagined the post she would dream up. It brought such a big smile to my face. Go there and see...and take some time to look around. Susan finds so much beauty in the world of textiles, of life through a camera's lens and in her own artwork.

Spring is Here

It is hard to believe I was finishing the last of my snowdyes only 5 days ago. Spring is here in Wisconsin. The robins and bluebirds arrived the day after all the snow melted. It is such a pleasure to be outside and listening to birdsong again.

Karen is hosting a giveaway on her blog. Click here to follow the link for a chance to enter.

Out My Studio Window and Around the House

Last week another storm added a new layer of snow to the valley.

Deer tracks in the snow. Food is getting harder to find.

The deer have taken all the apples they can reach from the trees. They are trimming the bushes near the house and visiting the bird feeders.

The temperature is rising this week. A hoarfrost on Wednesday melts as the sun hits it, raining down ice crystals.

The air is damp in the evenings creating pastel sunsets.

Around the Farm in Mid October

An old seed planter sits in the tall grass. It was left on our farm long ago by a previous owner.... Jack is more interested in the neighborhood cows.

A small organic dairy joins our property to the South.

The oaks in the forest were near peak on this day.

A view towards our farm from the "back 40"

A week later all the leaves were gone. Autumn is very unpredictable in Wisconsin. You never know how long it will last. We try to make the most of each day while we can.

Waiting For the Sun

Early fall days before the first frost, we wait for the sun to shine.

It has been an Autumn filled with many gray days

With a few blue sky days in between.

This last photo is a shot of our farmstead mid morning. The sun is getting lower in the sky each day. Soon we will not see it until late morning when it finally makes over the ridge to warm the valley.

More photos soon. I have a couple more shipments to fill before I can relax and fill my free time with projects of my own.

Rising Up and Meeting the Day Again

Early Fall days in Wisconsin. Blue Skies in one direction....

Rain storms and a faint rainbows over our farmstead...

Mists rise from the rocks after the rain.

And a thin fog rises from the Sugar Creek at days end.

Thank you to everyone who sent me comments and e-mails over the last month or so. Sometimes things in life just come at you too fast and it is hard to rise up again. So many times when I was feeling blue and I would receive a message just when I needed it most. Thank you.

I am so grateful for your friendships.

Wildlife and Random Thoughts from the Shady Grove

Common Wood-Nymph

Hundreds of dragonflys will fill the fields of the Shady Grove in another week or so.

Eastern Comma

Our valley

Candian Thistle an invasive species, but oh so beautiful and stately.

This boy is just starting to show his antlers

Yearlings feed on the apple trees

and play tag outside my studio window.

The Presence of Trees

The Presence of Trees

I have always felt the living presence of trees

the forest that calls to me as deeply as I breathe,

as though the woods were marrow of my bone as though

I myself were tree, a breathing, reaching arc of the larger canopy

beside a brook bubbling to foam like the one

deep in these woods, that calls

that whispers home

- Michael S. Glaser

Photos taken in Early June 2009 on a trip to Gooseberry Falls State Park located along the Northern Lake Superior shoreline in Minnesota