Here fishy, fishy, fishy...

I mean, what kind of "Alewives Girl" would I be if I didn't post some pictures of the Alewives? So, this Memorial Day weekend was very memorable for me... I had an excellent Friday night with my good friend Michaela and an impromptu barbecue at the neighbor's on saturday... "relaxicab" on Sunday and work at the store and Lobster Rolls on Monday. Was it not the most glorious weekend in recent memory?

Oh, and I helped my Grandmother with my Grandfather's 80th birthday party on Sunday, too. My Grandfather, by the way, is the oldest boy of 11 brothers and sisters, all of whom are alive and all of whom are living within a 30 mile radius of one another and they are ALL full of the dickens. Very funny when that crew gets together. And my sweet little Grandmother, when the party shows signs of slowing and some of the people had gone home, looks at the 1/2 empty pitcher of fruit punch, looks at me and says "probably we should put some Vodka in there, don't you think?" I, of course, said yes, and summarily helped my Grandmother to spike the punch at my grandfather's 80th birthday party. "Big Girl's Punch," we called it and let me tell you, it does not get any better than that.

...Or does it? The Red Sox have won their last 5 in a row and when Trot Nixon came back to town (this time as a member of the Cleveland Indians) the standing ovation he got from the crowd and the smile on his face gave me a serious case of the warm and fuzzies. Then we beat them fair and square. It's a great game. Did you all get your free Mike Lowell picture in the Boston Herald this Sunday? I got two!!!

In store news, I have finished my very first self-designed quilt top. It's called a "picture frame" quilt, it's very simple and very pretty and one in what I hope will be a long line of self published patterns. I'll post a picture as soon as I get it quilted. I'm finishing up my Magic Tiles quilt and loooooving it. I also just started a Turning Twenty out of the new April Cornell's this month. I'm discovering that I work very well with two or three different projects going on at once, so if I get bored with one I can jump to the next and have little "palette cleansing" projects and still feel like I'm getting a lot done.

And, the biggest news of all is that Sewing Lounge starts tonight. I'm so jazzed to have the store open until 8:30 as there's a totally different energy there at night (what other Quilt Shops do YOU know that play "My Chemical Romance?"). My project tonight is going to be making a pair of PJ pants out of the blue on blue "Acanthus" fabric by Amy Butler. I made a pair out of her lacework fabric on Saturday and they were so cute and so easy it was ridiculous!!!

Anyways, hope to see lots of people there tonight. If half the people show up who've said they're going to it should be wild.

And now, I must go and mow my lawn.

Enjoy the pictures!!!!

XOXO

Rhea Rhea

Hot, Hot, Hot

It's gonna be a scorcher!!! 90 degrees today they tell me. Very excited about this... I'll be sick of it soon enough, to be sure, but in the meantime I love the first few TRULY hot days of summer and I bake all the coldness right out of me. And yesterday, the Alewives performed a little fish-y miracle and made an 11th hour appearance. I went for a walk around the Mills and was poking around the tippy top of the fish ladder and saw one little lonely Alewife make it up to the top. I was kind of depressed as I kept walking around the circle because I was thinking "Geez, I guess that was all for this year," and as I came around the bottom of the fish ladder I saw Frankie's car so I thought I'd stop and say Hello. Frankie, for those of you who don't know, is the Alewife King/Guru. he's kind of a local celebrity because every year he takes care of the fish ladder and he knows all there is to know about the Alewives. He's also my Grandfather's brother, which I guess would make him my uncle. Anyways, I don't see Frankie anywhere so I figure I'll just keep on-a-walkin' and just as I'm about to join the road again, who should pop out from in between two houses, but (you guessed it!!!) Frankie. He took me behind the houses and showed me a view of the fish ladder that I had NEVER seen before (about 3/4 of the way up) and showed me that there were thousands of fish that had just come in that morning. It was the huge rush of fish he had been waiting for and we were both so happy to see these fish it was ridiculous. He said the hot water made their eggs swell and that made their bodies bigger and THAT makes it easier for them to get up the fish ladder: it takes them two hours (as opposed to two days), so how do ya like them apples?

In other news, the summer people are REALLY starting to come back. We got back my good friend Donna on Monday and then yesterday my friends Jeff and Liz (The coolest "Quilting Couple" you will ever meet) came back. They got a tour of the house next door to see how the progress is coming along. I've gotten REALLY good at giving tours of that place. I think I missed my calling as real estate agent/museum tour guide.

Anyways, afterwards I sat out on my deck and let the Apple Blossoms fall on me as I read my Better Homes and Gardens and dreamed and schemed about re-decorating. It was the most relaxi-cab moment of the week.

Later on I went to see the third "Pirates of the Carribbean" movie in Boothbay with my friends Erin, Shawn(Y) and Dwayne. For the record, it was a GREAT movie. I was leary, because I loved the first one but the second one, not so much... so I was totally jazzed that the latest one was funny, romantic, action-packed and Keith Richards as Johnny Depp's father was priceless!!! Very good movie... I give it four bobbins!!!

And so.... I guess that's all until next time. Get out there and enjoy that weather!!!

xoxo Rhea
PS Happy 80th Birthday to my Grampa!!!
PPS Happy Anniversary to my Grandparents!!!
PPPS Happy Memorial Day!!!

Alewives Day and Mini Totes

Happy Monday guys...

















Even though there is sooo much construction going on in Damariscotta and I can't even cross the street to get to Reny's to see if they have geraniums for my sweet little grandmother, I'm still happy. Why? Because the sun is finally out, we had a great Alewives Day at the store and I have a brand new mini tote that I made at this weekend's workshop.

First things first: Alewives Day was a huge success and I had such a good time. And the best part is that you guys are the ones who made it successful... all the kids (and adults!!!) who had their faces painted (That's me painting Jennifer Genthner's face in the photo) and all those who came to see the DVD and bought merchandise to support the Alewives, you all did your part and had fun (I hope) in the meantime. So, thanks very much for coming out and it was great to see familiar faces and meet new ones and let's do it all again next year!!! A special thank you to Dr. Friedland (who donated procceds from the sale of framed and matted photographs and greeting cards of the Alewives), John Kennedy (who donated proceeds from the sale of his oil painting prints) and Jayne Dwyer (who designed exclusive Alewife pins just for little old us AND donated proceeds of the sale of her Paper Moon jewelry to the Alewives). I think it was most definitely a success (even though it was cold and rainy and I don't think there was an Alewife to be seen anywhere- except in our gallery!)

And second things second, I had sooo much fun taking (not teaching) a class yesterday!!! It's nice to be on the other end of things and now I know why everyone likes classes so much!!! We had a great workshop taught by guest teacher and real-estate agent extraordinaire Debby Schling, who taught us how to put a wicked snazzy lining into those Classic Mini Totes you get at Reny's. It was the perfect 2.5 hour project (which seemed, for some reason, to shock Debby when the timing worked out so perfectly) and everyone went home with a finished project. Even Mom, who had a sewing machine malfunction and had to "abandon ship" half way through the workshop and use Johanna's "Sewing Pretty with Hello Kitty" machine (which, for the record, is a really good machine) finished her tote. We taught Donna some "Maine" vernacular when Rina described her bag as "some cunnin'" (Donna is from Michigan and had no idea that "some cunnin'" meant "really cute," but she knows now!!!) and I learned how to use a seam-gauge ruler. It's a $1.59 tool that I had no clue how to use, but now that Debby showed me a practical use for it I'm sure I'll never be without one again. Debby was a great teacher and she put a new spin on sewing for me because she's self taught and looks at sewing very differently than I would ever be clever enough to do. She's wicked smaht!!! I am positive this workshop is going to be a keeper and I already want to make more: one $2.99 tote to match each pair of $2.50 Old Navy flip flops!!! Between the shoes and the totes and my $4.00 skirts from Target (which I have in a rainbow array of colors) I am all set for the summer!!! BRING IT ON!!!



Talk to you all again soon!!!

Rhea

PS... I cananot WAIT to watch the Sox v. The Yankees tonight!!! GO SOX!!!

Hole in the wall gang...

LITERALLY!!!

did you ever see such a hole in a wall? My stepdad, JD, decided that the upstairs bathroom in the "Alewives House" needed to be bigger and he wanted NO DOUBT as to which wall needed to come down in order to make that happen. So... the hole. I think he's just a little boy at heart and likes wrecking things and I must admit, there's a certain appeal to taking all your aggressions out on a wall and leaving a nice, satisfying hole in your wake.

In other news, I am all graduated. Last week was gorgeous, gorgeous weather in Massachusetts and I had a lovely late night stroll through the park with my girlfriends after the ceremony. It's a great memory that I'll always have. The next day we went to the Science museum and saw all kinds of great stuff, including a film about the Louisiana Bayou at the Omni Theater and a visit with the butterflies in the butterfly garden. Then we went on the Duck tours so I've had my dreams of being a pseudo-tourist fulfilled. And now that school is really and truly over I am diving in to projects of my own and projects at the shop. There is a great workshop this Sunday that is being taught by my friend Debby. She's teaching us how to put a lining in those cute little mini-totes that you get from Reny's (they look like L.L. Bean totes) so they are personalized to your liking and have little slots for pencils and checkbooks and the like. Very excited about that one. So, there will be more very soon, I Promise!!!

Coming next: Pictures of the Alewives as they do their Alewife-y thing!!!

Here I am!!!

I know, I know,...
It's been a long time since I posted (well, a week anyways) but I've been a very busy girl, trying to get all of my ducks in a row (and some other people's ducks in a row, too). I've promised myself that before I start anything new, I need to finish all of my old projects. Hopefully this will go a lot quicker now that I'm not dividing my time between 2 places. And, who knows, maybe I'll break my own rule andjust finish two or three of my old projects and THEN start something new. As Oscar Wilde said " I can resist everything, except temptation." I think that sums it up nicely.

In other news, Mom and I went to see "Miss Potter" last night. I highly, highly, HIGHLY reccommend this movie. It's just a sweet, nice, little movie about romance and art and the English countryside, so what's not to like?

And the sox have been doing well. Papelbon blew his first save of the season (which was bound to hapen sooner or later... I mean, the guy's not a robot, for crying out loud). He was visibly upset which is quite unattractive but I'm sure he'll get his MoJo back soon. Meanwhile, the Sox are in first place and the Yankees are waaay back there in last place and all is right with the world (sorry, Yanks fans...nah, not really!!!)

So, the store, the store... so much is going on there I don't even know where to begin. We had a great class this weekend with the 8-12 year olds. It was a small class for a change, which is kind of nice sometimes, and we all made notebook covers. I tuly have the sweetest, smartest, most wonderful kids in my classes. And they're little hams, too. You don't have to ask them twice to do a photo shoot. They could give Tyra a run for her money with all the posing they do. The kids in the photo are, left to right, Django Pignatello, Isabelle Jackson, Isabella Pignatello and Johanna Neeson (except in the last two photos, where Isabella and Johanna are flip-flopped). Are they not the cutest things ever? And very good little quilters, too. Django's the only boy, so I told him he's gotta "Represent," and he does! You should see the shop when there's a kid's class going on... all kinds of energy, all kinds of machine gun-like rapid sewing, and all kinds of jokes from the customers about the "sweat-shop" we're running. Very funny. And very fun for me.

We have some new quilts hanging up, some new kits, a "wall of classes" with all of the demo-quilts for upcoming classes, and there are new fabrics coming in and new projects being started every day. The house next door is really starting to come along (Update: I have succesfully picked out a color for my bedroom... drumroll please... LEMONGRASS! A lovely, warm, yellow-y green) and tonight, if you are out and about, feel free to stop by and see for yourself, as my friends and I will be out on the balcony, having pizza at 6:30-ish.

So,... until next time!!!

Rhea