Spring Flowers and Dalmatian Puppies

The signs of Spring are popping up all around the Greenville Arms 1889 Inn. The daffodils will be blooming by the end of the day . . .

and it won't be long until the lupines are sending up stems of flowers.

I'm looking forward more garden transformations. I have in mind more perennials and flowering vines.

On another note, I was checking out the statistics of this blog and discovered a curious and funny thing --- the most popular post of all time was the one in which I mentioned a new Dalmatian figurine that I just added to our collection (displayed in the built-in cabinet in the dining room)! I thought "wow, I should post about Dalmatians more often." ;-)

So here is an obligitory Dalmatian picture! This is our Dalmatian, Hudson, when he was a cute little puppy. He is still cute, but not so little.

However, the second most popular post was about the Spring gardens, which is good because the flowers are much easier to photograph as they tend to hold still!

Chocolate Rabbits All Over the Place

Life By Chocolates at the Greenville Arms is going gangbusters making chocolate rabbits to ship out to all the stores that sell our gourmet organic chocolates.

Here is a batch of our Classic Rabbits packed up in protective bubble wrap pockets and ready to be placed in shipping boxes.

The rabbits are also available for sale in our shop at the inn. They come in organic dark chocolate, Swiss milk chocolate, or organic vegan dark chocolate.

On the Trail of Fabric - New York Shop Hop

The Quilter's Quest Shop Hop is May 19, 20, 21, 22, 2011. What is a shop hop? It is when a group of fabric shops get together and offer sales, prizes, and a whole lot of fun for participants who travel to each of the shops.

It's a great way to tour the area and support local businesses.

This year there are eleven participating shops:

Adirondack Quilts
21 Cooper Street
Glens Falls, NY 12801
(518) 615-0134
Mon-Sat: 10-5; Sun: 11-4

Flying Geese Fabrics
501 New Karner Road
Albany, NY 12205
(518) 456-8885
Mon-Sat 10-5; Thur 10-8
Sun 12-4 (Labor Day - Memorial Day)

Foofsique Quilting Emporium
437 Route 295
Chatham, NY 12037
(518) 392-3111
Tue-Fri 10-5; Sat 10-4; Sun 11-3

Gloversville Sewing Center
385 South Main
Gloversville, NY 12078
(518) 725-4919
Mon-Fri 9-5:30; Thur 9-8; Sat 9-5

The Joyful Quilter
19 Glenridge Road #A
Glenville, NY 12302
(518) 399-0128
Mon, Tues, Thur, Fri 10-5;
Wed 10-8; Sat 10-4; Sun 11-4

KC Framing and Fabrics
65 Davidson Drive
Saratoga Springs, NY 12866
(518)580-9055
Mon 10-7; Tue-Wed,Fri-Sat 10-5;
Thu 10-8; Sun 12-4

Log Cabin Fabrics
702 Starr Road
Ravena, NY 12143
(518) 767-9236
Tues 10-9; Wed-Fri 10-5; Sat 10-4

Quiltbug
169 Main Street
Esperance, NY 12066
(888) 817-6577
Mon 10-8; Tue-Fri 10-5; Sat 10-4

Pumpkin Patch
58 West Center St (Route 20)
Lee, MA 01238
(413) 243-1635
Mon-Sat 10-6; Sun 12-5

Style Fabrics
222 Plaza Road, Kingston Plaza
Kingston, NY 12401
(845) 338-1793
Mon-Sat 10-6

The Yardstick
147 Barnerville Road, Suite 1
Cobleskill, NY 12043
(518) 234-2179
Tue-Fri 10-6; Sat 10-5; Sun 11-5

Winter Redux

For a brief moment it seemed like we were back to winter. Last night we got a lovely frosting of snow.

All of the trees and shrubs were frosted but the roads and pathways stayed clear.

I always love the way the Japanese Cut-Leaf Maple looks covered in snow.

Here is the same daffodils from the photo in yesterday's post!

Good thing I ran out first thing in the morning to capture these photos because by noon all the snow had melted away.

Mother Nature's April Fools Joke

The sun has been shining and the tulips and daffidils are springing up all over the grounds.

But Mother Nature was only fooling us! She's not quite finished with snow. We are suppose to get 4 - 10 inches tonight. So there is still time to get in some skiing at Hunter or Windham mountains.

And there is time for some more hot chocolate!

New Quilt for the Rooms

It has long been my goal to make a quilt for each of the guest rooms at the Greenville Arms 1889 Inn, but I've been so busy just being an innkeeper that until now I haven't had the time to devote to this enjoyable, but time-consuming task.

This year, however, I set a goal of making at least 5 quilts -- and I did it! I put together the quilt tops, then send them out to Eileen Keane to quilt on her longarm sewing machine. When the quilts come back to me, I then put on the binding that goes around the edges.

The first one has just been finished and I have put it in Room 14, at the moment. I say "at the moment" because often the quilts are moved from room to room, depending on where it is needed. Luckily, most scrap quilts work well with any decor!

Room 14 has a Queen bed and is on the second floor of our carriage house. The windows have a view of the forest in back of the inn.

The room also has this cute little loveseat.

Chocolate Season

The chocolate season is another name for winter/spring around the Greenville Arms 1889 Inn. It's when our in-house chocolate company, Life By Chocolates, is in full swing producing chocolates for all of the holidays that fall between October and April.

This is the time when the scent of chocolate really fills the main inn!

Even if you can't make it to the inn at the moment, but are craving some wonderful organic chocolates, you can always purchase the chocolates on the Life By Chocolates website.

We are in the process of updating all of the photographs of the chocolates on our website - putting up bigger pictures of all of the individual chocolates. Here are a couple sample pictures to tempt your sweet tooth!

These are Lemon Logs - a white chocolate ganache center flavored with lemon juice and lemon zest and covered with an organic 73% dark chocolate. Then sprinkled with naturally colored sugar crystals.

Then there is one of my favorites, the Lavender Ganache! This is a heavenly rich ganache (soft chocolate - like a truffle filling) flavored with a hint organic lavender and covered with an organic 73% dark chocolate.

We always put 2 sample chocolates in your room for your arrival. So if you have some favorites or a particular chocolate you'd like to try, let us know when you make your reservation and we'll be sure to put a sample of that in your room!