Mo'a Romig-Boyles

Brie, Rosie and the Chat Chorus

This is a story of two chats...you might want to listen to this while you read...you will like it, trust me...it will even make you laugh.  I have sung this to both cats...however, I think it fell on deaf ears for both of them.

Our little cat Brie passed away two years ago...since then there has not been a cat in the house until now that Rosie is here for a visit. 

It is an absolute delight having Rosie here with us while her parents are traveling in South American and Easter Island. Rosie knows us well as we have often visited her here in her PA home as well as in her home in Denmark.  Rosie has SAS frequent flyer mileage :) 

Rosie has found all of Brie's favorite places to sleep.  She like Brie chase the sun around the house and enjoy a cozy time in the sun. Don't you just love that little grin?

Brie woke us up each morning with a loud purr and then settling on my hip until her purring woke us up.  Rosie wakes us up each morning with a loud meow...she sits at the end of our bed until we stir if we don't get up right away she leaves.

Rosie started the wake up routine a week after she arrived...starting with a seven am meow...that lasted for two mornings and we did not get up until a little after eight. Two mornings later Rosie came in a eight am with a wake up call.  She did try a seven am wake up call, however, she has given up and now sticks with eight o'clock. 

Rosie has adapted to our routine...cocktails on Friday nights by the fire...Dinner and company on Sunday night.  When Ken is not quick enough she jumps into his chair next to the fire...not wanting to disturb the little cat, Ken moves to the sofa.

Rosie, like Brie was, is very polite...she would have moved out of the chair is she had been asked.

We miss our Brie and are delighted to have the privilege or hosting Rosie for a while.  She is as delightful as she is beautiful.

Red and White Transferware and Mr. and Mrs. Mouse

"Where are we and what are you standing on Mrs. Mouse" said Mr. Mouse.  "I am standing on what humans call a napkin they use on their lap to catch food that falls from a fork and to dab their mouth as they dine"...said Mrs. Mouse. Mr. Mouse replied "I don't know why they need a napkin when they can just lick the little bits away"  Mrs. Mouse replied...it is considered rude by humans to lick your finger while dining...although some do".

Mrs. Mouse continued her dissertation on a napkin by saying "She is flummoxed about where these napkins and tablecloth come from...she found them when she was looking through old fabrics that she has stashed away".  Mr. Mouse was amused and said "I suppose they come from her paternal grandparents, in-laws or the aunts".  "She has made those claims before" continued Mr. Mouse in his authoritative voice that sometimes irritated Mrs. Mouse. 

"I see a lot of new china here, did she go on a buying spree or did she find it in her basement storage?" Mrs. Mouse replied in a whisper "A buying spree" She felt a lecture coming on...however, much to her surprise Mr. Mouse said "Very festive and quite beautiful".  Mrs. Mouse with glee replied "Yes, yes, I agree" " She has always loved red and white china and remember when she bought all the red and white nursery pieces four years ago?...well, she is going to use that along with this china". 

"That is what I heard her tell her mother" continued Mrs. Mouse.  "Ok! so now I suppose you can understand Icelandic...isn't that the language in which they always converse?" said Mr. Mouse the learned.  "I understand them and that is that" said Mrs. Mouse...end of conversation.

 

"I noticed that nothing seems to match, a bid of a hodge podge I would say"...Mrs. Mouse is not amused when he uses his voice of criticism and replied. "She did that on purpose"  she continued "The names of each pattern is sooooo romantic and look at those images...I would like to live in one of these places"

"Careful Mrs. Mouse...don't fall of that plate"  "I am just fine you seem to forget that I am a limber mouse and can clime and squeeze into any place I would like" said Mrs. Mouse.  Mr. Mouse thought he better explain himself "My dear it is just that you wear that lovely purple dress with the beautiful red collar and I am afraid you would get tangled in it's hem"   "Harumph!" said Mrs. Mouse and Mr. Mouse knew right there and then that he had overdone it and sounded condescending to Mrs. Mouse.

To change the subject the very clever Mr. Mouse walked over to a couple of plates that looked different to him. "These look different to me Mrs. Mouse"  "She bought those to go on a wall in the kitchen...they are so beautiful...it's called Red and White and Polychrome"  "I could live in a land like this" said Mrs. Mouse wishfully.

Mr. and Mrs Mouse walked around the table admiring the various patterns...even Mr. Mouse was convinced that 'hodge podge' could look quite nice when put all together.  Mrs Mouse chattered away explaining each pattern, their names and how beautiful she found it all and how she would like to live in the depicted villages, farms and castles.  They jumped unto plates into cups  Finally Mr. Mouse pondered why there was no food on any of the plates or tea in any of the cups...Mrs. Mouse decided it was time to lead him into the kitchen towards the Lemon Pie she had spotted on her way to the dining room.  You see after many years of marriage Mrs. Mouse knew that Mr. Mouse could get quite grumpy when he was hungry.

Note: Most of this china was bought from Nancy's Daily Dish.

Snow Magic

There is, to me, something magical about an overnight snow storm.  One wakes up in the morning to Snow Magic...Especially when the sun is shining and the wind  blows the fluffy snow making it look like diamonds falling from the sky.

The first thing I do is open the front door to smell the air and to take a picture of my 'Snow Cake' that forms on the bird bath.

I look to see who is at the bird feeder and saw this little guy the beautiful Blue Bird.  I am blessed with him and his familie's presence every year around this time.

Then I go back inside and run from window to window to check on my girls.  I look out the guest room window and there is Paloma is donning a new hat...she does that with every snow storm...this one is quite stunning.  Don't you think?

I look out the kitchen window and there is the little Faery with her magic wand and the snow lantern.  I am besides myself with excitement.

I look to the right and there another one of my girls with a snow hat...one I think Paloma would be jealous of...good thing she can not see around the corner of the house.

She looks like she is wearing the headdress of an Icelandic costume called Skautbúningur click on this link and tell me if you agree.  I see hats everywhere.

In my house it is Christmas until January 6th with Christmas music, lights and too much food that one has to Pay the Piper for in the form of a diet.  In Iceland 12th night is called Þrettándinn or the thirteenth...click on the link to read about how Iceland celebrates that night...*Hint* there is dancing around a fire...elves and much more.  This is also the day that Kertasníkir.....Candle-beggar the last of the Jólasveinar leaves for the mountains.   And, the day my singers along with the Jólasveinar and miscellaneous Christmas decorations get put away for another year. 

Happy New Year...I hope 2014 will be a good year for you.

 

 

With Thanks

I have been thinking a lot about Thanksgiving remembering those who have been here with us in past years..

This will be our third year without my Dad, who has made the stuffing for the bird since our first Thanksgiving here in the States.  I was at my parents house in 2009 and took a lot of photos of Dad preparing the stuffing.  It was such a tender moment and one that I shall never forget. At the time I did not know that this would be the last time he would make the stuffing. 

I wrote about this event in one of my favorite blog posts...November 2010 and shared the photos that I took the year before. Perhaps you would like to take a look.

Over the years, as our son Brian was growing up, we spent Thanksgiving in various ways and in many different cities as while he was growing up we moved eight times with my husband's job.

Ken was a hotel manager for most of those years and often we would have our Thanksgiving dinner at the hotel that he was managing.  Other years we would invite young graduate students to our house to experience an American Thanksgiving.  When Brian was in college and later when he had a job in NYC he would bring friends to celebrate with us. 

 

For the past nine years Brian (our son) has lived in Denmark, where he is married and raising a family.  We think of how much he loves a Thanksgiving dinner so next time he is here with us we will make him a proper Thanksgiving meal...there is an extra turkey in the freezer.

For the past ten years that we have lived here in New Jersey, we have had the pleasure of celebrating with our friends of forty five years.  We have had the celebration at their house, my parents house, in a restaurant and our house...this year our house.  We will be seven weather permitting...two are coming from up state New York. We have shared many other holidays over the years...this year it will me Christmas at their house.

Have a very Happy Thanksgiving and thank you for coming here to visit me. 

 I would love to hear about your Thanksgiving and how you celebrate. 

 

 

Good Company and...

We have had company some that were invited over for tea and Tadpole Cake, actually known as Lavender Polenta Cake by Susan Branch, whose blog I discovered recently. When I wrote to Susan to thank her for the recipe for this delightful cake, spell check changed Polenta to Tadpole, so forever more this cake will be Tadpole Cake to me, as Susan suspected and said in response to my comment. There it is under the dome...which has steamed...the cake was still warm. Go to Susan's blog and tell her Mo'a sent you...you will be glad you did.

...And then there were some that have invited themselves to our precious plats and something that was in the grass. Actually they are here so often that we no longer think of them as company.

...There were some that had to be protected from acorns that were raining down like bullets...and from the blogging photographer.  That is my husband and brother in law...both with the name of Ken. One thing I know for sure is that Ken was the instigator of this joke.

...Then there is Chestnut...who is always welcome.  She is camera shy so we distract her and trick her to sit for photos, because she is so cute.  She was rescued by two young men who were traveling together...they and their two families have dual custody of Chestnut...she is well loved.

We also have a little bunny here that tells secret to a hollow elf...who is usually full of water for visiting dog friends.

 

 How have you been? Is Autumn your favorite season? 

 

 

 

Change

A year ago I started this white cloth in Magic Diaries.  I thought I was making a quilt for my bed, however, that thought has been changed. 

I was looking at the cloth spread on my dining room table and just then it's potential use was changed to a table runner...there will eventually be three of them...one going vertically and two horizontally.

I love the idea of my dinner guests looking at each element...some made by me and others being made by various women whose skills in embroidering were amazing. The stain in the photo below is an acid stain from having been stored in an acidic environment

My marks on the cloth are made in a soft pinkish beige...to set it apart.  I wonder as the years pass and after multiple washings in clorox, whether my marks will fade? 

My stitches are without tradition and free hand.  Their embroideries were time honored patterns, a sign of their times .  Will someone in the future say...in my mother's, grandmother's, great grandmother's time...they did stitches like this and loved ragged edges?

Color

As much as I like white in my world, I also like color.

I took a class with Jude Hill of Spirit Cloth called Patchwork Beasts.  In that class I did several Beast things including this butterfly that is a Jude Hill design.  She started out captured like this.

Somehow she did not seem comfortable to me, so I gave her more space by cutting away the orange flower fabric.  Here she is...having also put on her blue ballerina shoes. I used the flower fabric as a frame around her.

The flower pattern reminds me of my new passion...Hellebores.  We have two in our garden, they are so satisfying. They started blooming in the beginning of March.

I love their center...somehow there seem to be quite a variety of centesr on one plant.

The image below is of the other Hellebore in our garden.

Picasa has some new features that I am having fun with...truthfully I am too lazy to do much in Photoshop...that is why I am loving the new features in Picasa.

Here are a few examples of what I have been playing with.

...and then I played around with some of the photos from our Easter table.

An Egg.

Miss Bunny.

Enough of this fun...now it is time to go back to sewing.

 

 

For Jude and Was

For Jude in memory of her beloved Was.

Heart and Flowers

My road is paved with good intentions.  Back in October of 2011 I was the lucky winner of this quilted heart, made by Els of Fiberrainbow.  I am sorry that I have not shown it to you before this.

I see this lovely heart everyday and think of Els...who lives in the Netherlands.  It hangs on an antique towel rack from Denmark. The first hook on the left says Haandklaede (Hand Towel), middle Glasklud (Glass Towel) and the third says Kniveklud (Knife Towel)...on each hook hangs an antique towel from my American husband's family . 

My mother had 89th birthday on the 6th of March. Here is a photo of her and Ken when we surprised her with a birthday cake.

The cabinet behind them is a  Swedish Rosemaling.

When Ken and I got married forty one years ago we went to our first auction and saw this cabinet.  We both fell in love with it and agreed how much we would bid.  Well our pocketbook was smaller than what the cabinet went for, so we did not get it then.  

On our seventeenth anniversary, we walked into an antique store in Essex, MA, and there was the cabinet.  We were so excited that we bought it on the spot...for a lot more than it went for seventeen years earlier, then again, our pocketbook had also expanded considerably.

One of our gifts for my mother's birthday was lunch at Terrain Cafe. It is in a beautiful greenhouse which is part of a garden center Terrain at Styer's

I got a major case of spring fever looking at all the beautiful plants.  I am passionate about hellebores and was happy to see them in several colors.

My new banner was made from this image.  It is a green bottle with a bit of water in it and a reflection of the plants behind it. Green is not a color I often choose...I love it in nature and it makes me think of spring.

I planted pansies today. They always remind me of Iceland where they bloom from early spring to late autumn.

I hope you are having a nice weekend. 

 

Musselmalet aka Blue Fluted

For forty years I have had the pleasure of using my favorite china, Musselmalet Royal Copenhagen known here in the States as Blue Fluted.  Many of the pieces of this china were wedding presents.
I love to set a beautiful table and to tell you the truth I have a passion for beautiful china and glasses. On Sundays we have an old fashioned Sunday dinner.

 

I have been taking classes from Jude Hill of Spirit Cloth since June of 2010...Oh, dear!!! does that make me a groupie?  I have enjoyed these classes and have learned much about how to go about making a quilt...large and small.  A year ago I showed the first glimpses of a Boro cloth that I was making in CWB class, whose design was inspired by my china.

I finally finished this piece.  It is a runner that now resides on my dining room table.

I worked on this cloth off and on for a year.  I have also made a few of these fellows and a few other pieces that I have told you about here and here. 

Have a wonderful weekend...see you soon.