What are ya gonna do?

What are ya gonna do?

You're going to crochet a round rug, that's what you're gonna do.
AND you're gonna use batik ribbon to do it with.
It's kinda the new thang around here. Anything to do with fabric and the floor, actually. First it was floorcloths. Then, it was the braided rag rug. And while those two projects are still going strong, the new kid on the block is the crocheted round rug.

Scared of the word "crochet?"
Oh, no, you're not.
And do you know why you're not scared?
I'm gonna tell you why:
Because crocheting takes, like, five minutes to learn how to do.
Five minutes. Literally.
AND it's practically impossible to screw up.
AND its FUN!!! Its also portable and kind of brainless. Not unlike putting the binding on a quilt. Not unlike handwork. You just need a hook and some scissors and your batik ribbon and look at you go!

This is my rug that I made for my bathroom floor. It took about a week and about 8 yards of fabric, cut into 1/2" "ribbons." Very fun. We've gotten in several colors of pre-cut ribbon from Princess Mirah Batiks and we've also started making our own "skeins" of ribbon. They are very addictive, like little scoops of ice cream. A great, new way to use up fabric.

Brought to you by your friendly neighborhood Alewives.

And tres speciale thanks to my good friend May Mitchell who taught the class, which was so full I couldn't take it :(, but who is such a sweetheart that she hung around afterwards and taught me how to do it, anyways. In FIVE minutes. (Did I mention that it only took 5 minutes? TRUE STORY).

May, you don't know it yet but now that I have you in my clutches I see you teaching this on a regular basis! You've created a monster! I owe you a glass of Kir, okay?
See you all soon and hope you're having a splendid week.

XOXO

Rhea

PS There is a TON of new fabric at the store, including NEW AMY BUTLERS!!!

Pardonnez-Moi

Excuses, excuses for the tardiness of this much over-due posting! BUT, in my defense, those of you who know me well also know that I have been a little bit "busier" lately than I usually am (nudge, nudge, wink, wink, say no more...). However, I agree that 22 days sans posting is ridiculous. I've been busy with classes, too, having taught 3 in the last 24 hours, along with private lessons for mmmm... let's see... 4 different people. It's so glamorous running your own Quilt Shop, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

Also in defense of my lazy posting habits I claim the mid-winter doldrums. And don't get me wrong, this winter has been pretty warm and fuzzy compared to others where you don't see the sun for weeks at a time (example: today was a GEM: sunny and warm-ish and lovely), but this time of year is when I would definitely benefit from a little vacation. Do you know why they call it vacation? It's got to be because you VACATE your current surroundings (hopefully for sunnier, milder climbs). And vacating sounds divine right about now.

So, this is really a "place-holder" post, because I want to do it right in the next couple of days and catch everyone up to date on the goings-on at the shop. New fabrics, new projects, and pix of the new classroom. And even though it is Mid-Winter in Maine, we have been very busy and I'm happy about that. Say what you want about the summertime "tourist economy," (which I am completely grateful for) but I like my local yokels. Keep up the good work, huh? I love you all!

So, look for more in the not-too distant future. I will catch you up like nobody's business!

XOXO

Rhea

Inclement Weather, Impromptu Day Off

Hello one and all,

As you may or may not know, our official "inclement weather" policy here at the shop is "If school is canceled, WE are canceled." School was canceled around these parts at 12:00 noontime today, and not long after that, we cleared out. Admittedly, we are kind of "wussy" about the bad weather, and I apologize to anyone who was locked out of the store, but I had taken a little trip into town earlier today and saw no less than 2 accidents and heard news of 2 more. Yuck. And this was not a "glamorous," "snow-bunny" type snow-storm, either, but a yucky, slushy mess.

I've gotten sooo used to these jobbers here on the coast, where it snows and then it rains and the rain washes away all of the snow and just leaves slush and dirt in it's wake. The only thing for it is to go inside and "hunker-down" (a highly respected form of art here in Maine), close the curtains and crank up the heat that you can't afford to pay for and watch a good DVD or two.

In my case, the timing couldn't have been better. My schedule at the shop is a little funky in that I always have two days off a week (Tuesdays and Thursdays), but never two days in a row. Because of the inclement weather today (which is Wednesday) I have the rare luxury of THREE days off in a row, so this is really like a long weekend for me. And I am hunkering down with the best of them: alternately watching "Sex and the City" on Netflix, eating Rosemary and Olive Oil Triscuits (Still no kitchen, am on the "Old School Dorm Room Diet"), catching up on my Graphic Design jobs, reading "Rhett Butler's People" (A good read, but I'm a little fierce about my "Gone With the Wind" and feel like the author, Donald McCaig, just doesn't get Rhett and Scarlet quite right- he's giving them WAY too much credit) and ah, let's see: oh yes, surfing the net.

So, no Sewing Lounge tonight. About a hundred feet away, my little shop sits dark and empty for once but I am sooo loving this impromptu day off business. Who knows when I might get THREE days off in a row again?

See you soon,

Rhea

Yurt Sweet Yurt

I am back from the overnight excursion to the Yurt and have had the time of my life...
Us "Gals" (Alison, Kristine, Michele, Erica, Eileen and Yours Truly) all spent this past Saturday night on Yurt Ridge at the Hidden Valley Nature Conservancy off of the Egypt Road in Jefferson, Maine.

The excursion went a little something like this:

At around 6:00 pm (That's WELL past dark around these parts), Kristine, Michele, Eileen and I hiked out to the yurt to meet Alison and Erica and Erica's wonderful dog Micah (our "protector"), who were already there. This was my first real "hiking" experience AND my first "nighttime" hiking experience, which meant a lot of huffing and puffing, hauling, and headlamps. Very interesting hike out there, as it was supposedly only a "quarter of a mile" to the yurt. Quarter of a mile? Not so much. I used to do at least a quarter of a mile to and from the subway in Boston every day and this was no quarter of a mile: this was my friends lying to me for my own good. But seriously, I would be very interested to know the OFFICIAL distance from the head of the trail to the yurt, because of course every hike seems endless when it's dark and you're carrying a heavy load uphill in the snow to someplace you've never been before.

The yurt itself (once we got there) was lovely. Situated on Yurt Ridge, overlooking a little lake/pond thing and miles and miles of woods, it truly was Yurt Sweet Yurt. Being girls on a girl's weekend, we had our priorities straight and started COOKING. My friend Alison is the world's most amazing cook and we all partook of her dee-lish chicken dumpling stew. The next course was steamed asparagus and mac & cheese, with red wine. This is the crowd I run with: No trail mix for us! When these gals do something, they do it right and in this case, that meant gourmet eats, made all that much better by the HUNGER I built up hiking all the way out there (okay, no more whining about the hike out there, I promise: it really wasn't that bad).

The rest of the night was spent cranking the woodstove, eating MORE yummy food (birthday cake and brownies!!!), toasting each other, howling at the moon and talking the way that ONLY girls can. Mostly, we just appreciated each other's friendship. After we were all stuffed, after many, many "Deliverance" jokes, and after wiggling into those crazy mummy-style sleeping bags, we went to bed sometime after midnight. Yes, midnight!!! Are we cuh-razy or what???

In the morning, after crawling out of bed (or in my case negotiating my way off of the top bunk)and the obligatory cold, cold, early morning trip to the out-house, Alison and Erica made the BEST egg-veggie-bacon-home-fries-cheese-salsa burritos (Four-star, all the way!) for our breakfast. We packed up our stuff, had a nice little surprise visit from the owner of the Conservancy (who, I think, was seeing if "those 6 crazy girls" survived a night in the great outdoors), signed the "Log" Book and went for a snow-shoe hike. Perfectly wonderful weekend.

Now I'm back to my real-life here at the store: well-rested, a little ache-y, but most definitely smelling better (ahhh...bathtub, I love you!!!) No need to send a search party for me. I am now a genuine "outdoors-y" girl and cannot WAIT to get back together with my girls and spend another night in the Yurt Sweet Yurt.

See you soon,

XOXO Rhea

pre-post

Hi there everybody.

This is just a little pre-post to let you all know that I'm skipping work this afternoon. I'm going to set off for the great wilderness and spend the night in a yurt with my girlfriends to celebrate our Alison's birthday. I made my Dad (who is the original sensitive, new-age outdoorsman) very happy when I came to him and asked if I could borrow a pair of snowshoes. I swear I saw a little tear in his eye. So, even though the store will be open I will be taking off a wee bit early on this little adventure and I just wanted to leave this little teaser post. The journey will be well documented, well edited (what happens at the yurt stays at the yurt), and Alison's birthday will be well-feted. Just for the record, I've already told the girls that for MY birthday, we are going out for dinner and dancing.

If I haven't posted again by Monday night, please send a search party and one of those Dogs with a barrel of Brandy attached to it's neck.

See you then,

XOXO

Rhea

Here come da Kitchen!

Hello one and all,

As many of you know, I have, for some time now, been living "sans kitchen" and let me tell you, the charm of eating out/mooching off of my friends and family has worn off. I have been keeping perishable items that need to be refrigerated in the unfinished kitchen which is just off of my bathroom. I call this room "The Fridge," because obviously, it's very cold in there. It's uninsulated and until very recently had no windows and consequently was at the mercy of the elements. But don't cry for me, Argentina: this part of the house is completely sealed off from the rest of my house and I am living safe and warm in my little "suite." Well, today, George and my Stepdad J.D. began laying down the floor to my kitchen. I knew something was up when I came back from an early morning meeting in town and saw the freshly delivered boards on my front lawn. As I strolled back in my front door I thought to myself "Ah, I LOVE the smell of lumber in the morning..." especially when said lumber is intended for my kitchen floor.

The rest of the day was a whirlwind of the Quilting-est kind: Private lessons, visitors, lots and lots of customers (It's been nuts lately!!!), people signing up for classes, my little sister asking me if I would take her to lunch, cutting fat quarters, picking out fabrics for people's quilts, answering e-mails, all interspersed with either George or J.D. popping in for a Root Beer and an update on how the floor was coming. Tonight I returned from a shopping trip to Brunswick and couldn't resist a little peeky-peek into the kitchen from the safety of my nice, warm bathroom. I have half a floor, but I feel like a kid at Christmastime who got everything she wanted.

I promise pictures in the near future, but the truth of the matter is that I am so rarely here at my house in the daytime that I never remember to snag a picture. But I know I would regret not having documented the transformation of this house: It has been SLOW as all get out, but thorough. As room by room this place becomes a home I love it more and more.

We are hoping to have our "Grand-Opening" coincide with the Alewives' migration in the spring: in other words, somewhere in between Mother's Day and Father's Day. Wouldn't that be so poetic? It's the perfect time to kick off our particular brand of Quilter's Retreat, so if you know anyone who might be interested in spending a few days quilting in the Mills at a very cute little house, pretty please would you pass the word along?

When it's done (The kitchen, that is) I promise you all freshly baked Chocolate Chip Cookies or some kind of delicious goodness. When it's ALL done (the whole house, that is) I promise a huge shindig to warm the house once and for all. In the meantime, I am content with my half a kitchen floor, because I know the rest can't be far behind.

XOXO

Rhea

Quilts and the Country

... as opposed to "Sex and the City."

That's right: I went there.

Is it so off track to imagine myself the rural equivalent of Carrie Bradshaw? Particularly so as I sit here in my apartment (okay, it's a house), typing away on my laptop. And I'm totally known for my bad puns. And I do have a HUGE closet full of shoes, only instead of Manolo Blahniks I have a rainbow array of $2 flip flops from Old Navy. Instead of lunch with Samantha, Miranda and Charlotte, I go to Tuesday night yoga with Alison, Kristine and Michele.

Who would have thought that the same gals who grew up listening to the New Kids on the Block (which I am SOOO not guilty of, by the way) would also turn out to be avid quilters and want to make there own dresses and curtains? Who would have thought that an Amy Butler bag would be a hotter commodity around these parts than a Louis
Vuitton? That the ladies who watch Grey's Anatomy religiously on Thursday nights would also go and take notes at a Kaffe Fassett lecture? (Okay, THAT I am guilty of). And most of all, who would have EVER predicted that Quilting and Sewing in general would morph from this old-fashioned, antiquated pastime into a trendy, chic and fulfilling hobby. Not me.

The point is, as Carrie would definitely point out, we have it all. We have balanced the crazy, hectic schedule of our lives with this calming, quiet little ritual that also happens to bond people together in a way that most hobbies don't. It doesn't matter what your age or background is- I have seen it happen time and time again at the shop- people who would never otherwise have connected end up bonding over a sewing machine. That leads to talk of music, food and drink, family ties and past loves. And people around here live deceptively juicy lives. NYC has got nothin' on Midcoast Maine, trust me.

Just remember, ladies, I have two simple rules:

What happens at Alewives STAYS at Alewives.

And... don't drink and sew.

Until next time!!!

XOXO

Rhea