Mockingbird Hill Cottage

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You are here: Home / Archives for quilting

Home Away From Home

December 28, 2016 at 9:53 am by Claudia

I’ve always liked these apartments. There’s plenty of room for one person. The ceilings are high, the walls are white and bright, the kitchen is equipped with everything I need (including a working dishwasher, which I don’t have at home) and Company Management is extremely accommodating and helpful.

Heck, the apartment is three to four times the size of some of the studio apartments I rented over the years. It’s positively spacious. Believe me when I say that I know  small. I’m always amused when I read blog posts about ‘cottages’ which are really large houses, or small apartments that have a separate bedroom, kitchen and walk-in closets. There was a time when an apartment that size would have been nirvana for me! It’s all relative, of course. If you’ve downsized from something larger, your new space will seem small. Anyway, all this is to say that I appreciate this space provided by the theater and feel perfectly comfortable here.

A little tour with some commentary on things I’ve added:

This is the hallway. The apartment door is at the end. The bathroom is on the left, the bedroom on the right. The floors used to be carpeted, but they changed them out to laminated wood a few years back. I like the look of them, though when Scout was here with me I had to put rugs down so she wouldn’t slip.

The kitchen counter. Some of the apartments have stools on the other side of the counter because there is a nice overhang. The table and chairs are new to this space. There used to be a round table and some mid-century looking chairs that had seen better days. A nice improvement.

You’e seen the quilt before. The Christmas Tree will remain on the table through Saturday.

The desk and the weird hooks hanging high up on the wall. They’ve turned out to be quite handy for hanging the wreaths. I’m contemplating what to do with them when the wreaths come down at the end of the week. The little table on the right holds my Bose speaker and my new on-the-road Canon printer. I bought a USB cord and now it’s working perfectly.

I use the McCoy planter to hold all my charging cords. When did life become so complicated?

The living room. The quilt on the wall is the newest addition to the space. I made it when we were living in California and the fabrics used are batiks. I’m partial to that orange and, as must be clear by now, I like purple.

Amazing that the bark cloth remnant fits the top of the coffee table so perfectly. Who would have thought? Since all the tables are black, I used some fabric to break things up. I also grabbed that pillow from our bedroom at home (Don never puts them on the bed when I’m away, so he won’t miss it) to add some color to that big, brown sofa.

This little lamp I bought at Target is rather small. When I get back home, it will go on Don’s desk. So I used some books to give it some height. That’s another fabric scrap on the black table. Looking at it in this photo, I think I should give it a pass with the iron!

The bedroom is too dark to photograph, but this quilt is on the bed:

Yes, it’s a bit of a hodgepodge, but these touches make a basically blank space a home-away-from-home. I’m fortunate, I know, that I can load the car up with all of this stuff and drive to Hartford. But I did the same thing when I worked in San Diego for 10 weeks at a time (we were living in the Northeast.) I packed three big boxes with things I knew would brighten up the apartment space and make it mine and sent them out to California. It’s worth it for me. When I walk in the door after a day of rehearsal, I feel I’ve come home. It’s a temporary home, of course, but making a little nest makes a huge difference in the quality of my life on the road.

Happy Wednesday.

 

Filed Under: decorating, Hartford, On The Road, quilting 20 Comments

On the Wall

January 22, 2016 at 9:42 am by Claudia

This morning, the server was down for a while, so I’m posting a bit later than normal. And yesterday, the email version of my post didn’t go out, despite my best efforts to rectify the situation. PIA. A notation we used to use with difficult clients when I worked at an animal hospital. In case you’re wondering what I mean, you may fill the blank: Pain in the _____.

Anyway, I’m thinking of using another service for emails, which would cost me a modest amount of money each month. But I don’t really have time to deal with it at the moment. I will soon – unless Feedburner suddenly starts actually doing what it’s supposed to again. I’m not holding my breath.

I hung the quilt yesterday and I’m really happy I did.

1-22 quiltonwall

Doesn’t it look striking there on the wall? I love the way the yellow in the quilt is picked up by the yellow lamp – which is something I had already visualized before I hung the quilt.

I made this quilt when we were still living in San Diego, so it’s at least 15 years old, but it’s more likely about 17 years old. I’ve made a lot of quilts over the years (always hand quilted by yours truly, by the way) and this just might be my favorite.

Note to Don: we need lots of money so we can build an addition on the house so I have lots of wall space so that I can hang this quilt somewhere. Get on it, please.

For now, it comes along with me when I stay in Hartford. What a nice companion!

1-22 quiltIG

Those are pansies, of course, a flower I’m particularly fond of.

I finished the Peter Robinson book and am about to start the newest Cara Black. I’m keeping an eye on the weather report because our local guys are still hedging their bets. Most likely, we’ll escape the brunt of the storm. But, if the path varies in the slightest – now they’re saying as little as 25 miles – then we’ll get a LOT of snow.

Since I’m planning on heading home late in the day on Sunday, I would appreciate the storm heading out to sea, thank you very much.

Seriously, though, to those of you in the path of the storm – please take care. We are all sending prayers and positive thoughts your way. I’m thinking especially of Washington, D.C. and Virginia and Maryland. Stay inside. Don’t do anything foolish. Stay safe.

Happy Friday.

ClaudiaSignature140X93

Filed Under: blog, On The Road, quilting, snow 63 Comments

Fabric Easter Eggs & Why Isn’t There a Good Quilt Shop Around Here?

April 2, 2015 at 9:26 am by Claudia

So far, the day is starting off with a bang.

A (mostly) sleepless night.

On arising and opening my email: an alert from the bank. My checking account balance was much lower than I thought, due to a miscalculation on my part. All is well, but the higher balance I thought  I had would have been preferable on this Thursday morning.

The constant sound of a truck backing up – beep, beep, beep – from the distillery that is down the road from us. I might add that it wasn’t in existence when we moved here. Yes, I’ve complained, to no avail.

I do very little seasonal decorating, but I was inspired to pull out the fabric Easter eggs I made several years ago. They’re now sitting on the coffee table in the den.

4-2 fabric eggs 1

I had been working away from home for a long stretch of time – in San Diego. My friend Ingrid, who is a costumer, let me use her Singer Featherweight while I was in town. Obviously, this was before I bought Mabel but I ended up buying Mabel because I fell in love with Ingrid’s Featherweight. I filled a lot of time with that machine and ended up making two quilt tops and these eggs. The fabric egg tutorial is from Retro Mama.

4-2 fabric eggs 2

I figure we need some sort of Easter eggs around here.

4-2 fabric eggs 3

I wish there was a good quilt fabric store around here. There used to be one in Woodstock, but they moved even further upstate. There was also one just over the border in Connecticut, but the owner just retired and closed the shop. Online is fine and I’ve certainly ordered fabric that way. But there’s nothing better than being in a room full of bolts of fabric, looking at it in the daylight, pulling this bolt and that bolt….you know what I mean? Just like buying a book in an actual bookstore is preferable to ordering online from a mega-retailer. You get to see the book and hold it in your hands.

I miss looking at fabric. And Joann’s? No. Doesn’t work for me.

When I was living in San Diego, I went to Rosie’s Calico Cupboard constantly. It wasn’t far from where I lived. It’s a huge quilt shop, with so much fabric that it’s almost overwhelming. Oh, Rosie’s, I miss you. (I took my first quilting class there.)

Okay. I’m getting whiney. Off to make more coffee.

(The aqua bowl is Orange Tree, a vintage pattern that was made by Homer Laughlin.)

Happy Thursday.

ClaudiaSignature140X93

 

Filed Under: Easter, fabric, quilting 37 Comments

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Welcome!

Welcome!

I live in a little cottage in the country with my husband. It's a sweet place, sheltered by old trees and surrounded by gardens. The inside is full of the things we love. I love to write, I love my camera, I love creating, I love gardening. My decorating style is eclectic; full of vintage and a bit of whimsy.

I've worked in the theater for more years than I can count. I'm currently a voice, speech, dialect and text coach freelancing on Broadway, off Broadway, and in regional theater.

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Scout & Riley. Riley left us in 2012. Scout left us in February 2016. Dearest babies. Dearest friends.

Winston - Our first dog. We miss you, sweetheart.

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