I've moved.

I just wanted to post a quick message that I'vemoved this blog to TypePad. You can visit the new blog and read new posts at nancymurty.typepad.com. There is also a box where you can subscribe to receive emails of each new post at the new location as well. 

So see what's new at nancymurty.typepad.com

Trick or Treat!

Whew!! What a whirlwind of activity this past week and weekend. With the help of others (Mary, Toni, Mom, Dad and Paul) the AlphaBuddies quilt for Andover Fabrics it finished, several other quilts started and the preparations for the Murty Birthday/Halloween party were all completed. I even had time to make cupcakes!


Saturday Paul and I hosted the fall Murty Birthday Bash with a Halloween theme. Costumes were encouraged but not required. Because we live in a rural area we don’t get many (I should say not any) trick or treaters and we miss seeing all the kids dressed up. A lot of times we aren’t even home for the festivities because of attending Fall Quilt Market so this year we decided to sign up for fall birthdays and make it a Halloween party. There were lots of great costumes and it was a lot of fun, the perfect end to the business of getting ready for Quilt Market. I could go on with a list of the “special guests” we had but I’ll just post a picture of the cute little lamb that came to visit on the AlphaBuddies quilt that had been finished during the week.

Sunday Mom and Dad came out - while Dad and Paul installed a door, Mom and I started to sew on a few of the additional AlphaBuddies quilts. After lupper Dad and Paul helped for awhile in the studio. Dad fussy cut the fabric panel into 5 1/2" squares and Paul ironed and even took out a few of my mistakes with the "reverse sewing apparatus".



I leave for Quilt Market on Wed so I won’t be posting anything for the next week but will have lots to share when I get back.





Happy Halloween to everyone!

Oh, Happy Dance!

It’s Here! It’s Here! If I could figure out how to post a video here you’d see my happy dance as AphaBuddies fabric arrived today. I won’t be dancing for long though as we have to get busy sewing quilts for Fall Quilt Market in Houston only a few weeks away. So it’s back to work I’m afraid. You can see the AlphaBuddies fabric collection on the website at http://beecreativestudio.com/fabric_designs/bee_creative_studio_AlphaBuddies_collection.asp

Have a great week!

Leaf Peeping

Paul and I spent the weekend in the Adirondack region of NYS leaf peeping and touring the region. The fall foliage was just about in peek color and the little bit of snow we experienced while visiting the top of Little Whiteface Mountain was a sure sign of the cold winter months to come.

We spent Saturday in Tupper Lake at the new Wild Center and then headed over to Blue Mountain Lake and walked through the Adirondack Museum. The Wild Center is a beautiful facility with lots of educational displays on how the region was formed as the glaciers moved through the area and receded to leave the lakes and mountains. Of course I liked the information on the native dwellers of the region – those with fur, fins or feathers. My favorite exhibit was the river otters, what a fun to watch them swim and play as they retrieved pieces of apple from the surface and stones from the river bottom.

They were having a fall fest at the Adirondack Museum with pumpkin painting, hay rides, cider making and a bunch more activities including a big pile of leaves for the kids to jump in. I enjoyed sharing the cider making demo with Paul because as a kid we use to spend a day each fall making cider with an old press that my Dad had. For the demo they had the same type of press we used except they powered the apple grinder with an old steam engine and Dad had attached a motor to his press. The best part of the demo was the free samples of the fresh squeezed cider – that really took me back. We finished up Saturday with a hike on some of the trails at Paul Smith’s Interpretative Center as we headed back to camp.

Sunday we headed over to Lake Placid and took a gondola ride up to the top of Little Whiteface to see the mountains covered in their final glory before being blanketed in snow for the winter. The colors this year seem especially good after the last couple of years when due to drought and other conditions the leaves have just kind of dried up and fell off the trees. There was an October fest on the mountains so Paul had a brew and some german potato salad as we walked through the exhibits. We walked through the shops in town and then headed back to camp for the evening.

Monday was spent doing as much as we could to help close camp for the winter before driving back home. My Aunt and Uncle will finish closing it up on Thursday. I really enjoyed the weekend and have found that I am creatively recharged and anxious to get to work.

Have a great day.

Change is the One Constant

It’s been awhile since I posted last but things have been kind of slow in the studio but busy for me. Paul and I went to Raleigh, NC to visit friends of ours and had a great weekend. Renee and I had lost touch over the years and it is so nice to reconnect and have her in my life again. We’ve taken a few trips out to see my parents. Paul helped Dad with a project on the house and Mom and I picked beans, tomatoes and cucumbers in the garden and talked about some new quilt designs. We had fun poking around in EQ6 as we discussed various layout options. I am working on a new fabric line and have been playing around with possible quilt projects to go with the line.

End of last week I got a call from Beth at “Quilting Now” which changes what work I will be focusing on in the upcoming weeks. I will be designing, making and writing a quilt project for their upcoming issue. My first thought when she called was to say no because I am trying not to over schedule myself but the other half of my brain kicked in and said “hey, this is a great opportunity” – so I am excited to be working with “Quilting Now” and looking forward to the project and with Mary and Toni’s help I’m sure we will have no trouble. I’ll try to keep you posted on the progress over the next several weeks.

New Work – YEA!!!

I am so excited to be painting again. I had started to work on a new art piece just before receiving the news on Alex which put a hold on anything creative. After the good prognosis I am feeling especially positive and creative. I spent Friday at a friend of mine’s art studio painting and that really got the creative juices flowing. I ran around on the weekend gathering and buying additional materials and supplies (duct tape, plastic, stretcher bars, etc.). I will spend this evening working on the final composition/drawing and hope to start the final painting tomorrow evening.

Today’s a day when I feel the internal conflict of the double life. I have to spend the day working on the books, filling orders, answering emails, starting the next newsletter and answering to various shop’s needs when I want to be in the studio painting on either a new fabric line or new art piece. Because the table I draw at is right behind me as I sit at the computer typing, it is so tempting to just turn around and indulge my desires - leaving everything sitting on my desk until tomorrow.

My creativity seems to ebb and flow like the tide. It rushes in and fills me up with all kinds of creative energy and things just seem to flow. Then the tide recedes, leaving behind little remnants of the creative spurt in the sand. And right now, the tide is in.

Have a great day.

Update on Alex

Alex was a real trooper yesterday as he went through the radiation treatment and he is happy to be back home in familiar surroundings. The spot where the radiation was done will get red and angry looking and then heal over the next couple of weeks. I’ll take him back down to Cornell in a month for a checkup and then several times a year for the next several years so they can monitor his health. The key word in that statement from the Doctor was “years”.