Cooling Off on the Parkway

While my son's family was here this week, we spent a day exploring the nearby Blue Ridge Parkway in Northwestern North Carolina. It is a scenic drive through the mountains, with lots of scenic overlooks and hiking trails.

One of the stops in Doughton Park is Brinegar's cabin.  I had not been there in years.  It happened that the cabin was in the process of getting a new cedar shake roof.  They were actually cutting the shingles from a pile of cedar.

The drone came along for the ride, and my husband sent it off to explore the mountains at several stops along the way.  

We had a line of storms come over the mountains and have had some spectacular rains during our week up here.  But mostly it has been beautiful and delightfully cool.  Temperature forecast today:  79.  In Raleigh:  90.  Much better!

Beach to the Mountains

I have been working on a Trip Around the World quilt for my friend Marcia.  Last week, I spent a few days with Marcia and her husband at Topsail Beach, NC.  They have a lovely home that faces the Intercoastal Waterway and is just a short walk to the beach.

Look at my bed in the guest room!  This is another of Marcia's mother's quilts, a Grandmother's Flower Garden.  So pretty!

The weather was not good...cold and drizzly.  We were able to walk on the beach and sit out in their screened room near the water.

This is a sea turtle nest, protected from predators by wire fencing, sticks, boards, and signs (for the human predators.)

There was an osprey, or sea hawk, perched on a scraggly tree right behind the house.

On Thursday morning I drove back to Raleigh, hopped in the truck with my husband, and went to our mountain place.  About halfway there, the sun came out and the skies turned blue.

The leaves are just starting to turn color.  The mornings were misty and the colors looked stronger against the gray.

With so much rain this summer, my flowers on the front porch of the cabin have flourished!

This weekend's project was to build steps between our upper and lower driveways.  I was not expecting them to look this fine!  The project is still not finished.  Our friends from Raleigh, Tom and Pauline, came up to work on the steps and the wall.

Someday the wall will be covered with something...stucco or stone.

I got to entertain Tom's mother, who came along to enjoy the mountains.  We went to the Church of the Frescoes in Glendale Springs, where there is a huge plaster painting of The Last Supper.

We also rode up Mount Jefferson and were treated to a clear view of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

I guess that is enough scenery for one post!  I am burying thread tales on Carolyn's quilt, stitching the binding on Marcia's, and now must replace the binding on a quilt I made for a high school grad years ago.  And tomorrow I am spending the day at an art museum with friends!  

Life is good!

Mountains in Rain and Sunshine

Our mountain weekend started out with LOTS of heavy rain. On Saturday, we spent the day indoors, playing with my sister's grandbabies.


celebrating my father's birthday, eating lasagna, and enjoying a win by N.C. State in football.

The rain finally stopped just before dark on Saturday night. Our normally placid little creek was changed into a muddy roaring river

and the spillover at the dam was crashing over the rocks on the sides.

What a difference a day makes. Sunday we woke to golden sunshine, blue skies, and a light breeze. We took some beautiful rides on "our" mountain in the Gator.

Charlie and I went into the woods to fill up the corn feeders for the deer (and raccoons, squirrels, and turkeys...no bear on the stealth camera this week!) It is definitely beginning to look a bit like autumn. Hmm, this forest floor pic might make a good art quilt!
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Even the ride home was gorgeous. This is where our road comes out on the highway in Laurel Springs. The fields are part of the North Carolina Upper Mountain Research agricultural station.

These fields and barns are also part of Upper Mountain, but across the highway. I like the way the golden leaf tobacco in the foreground matches the quilt block on the barn between the silos. There are goats grazing on the hills in front of the barn.

Hope to get some quilting done this afternoon, but it is continuing to be cool, sunny, and beautiful outside!

Moist Mountain Weekend-AND a quilt show

No pictures of idyllic blue skies or sun-drenched hillsides from last weekend's mountain trip. It was mostly gray and misty. Most of the rain fell during the night...an inch and a half Saturday night according to my rain gauge. But it held off enough to spend most of our time outdoors with our son and the grandkids.

My husband was lifting Lily to see a caterpillar on a tree.

Bryson and Avery are sitting in the Gator on the top at one of the tree farms.

Avery found a "mush-a-room."

The pond was very muddy and the fish were not biting, but we had fun anyway.

Before the kids arrived, Charlie and I went to West Jefferson. He dropped me off at the Ashe County Piecemakers Quilt Guild show while he did the errands for the weekend- what a man!

The show was held in the Jefferson Station venue, which affords lots of spacious room to view the quilts. There was a lot to see, between the show quilts, the display of antique quilts and home decor, and the vendor mall. I will show a few each day this week.

This show was totally "Viewer's Choice" as far as awards go. Each visitor received a clipboard and a pencil to vote for their favorites in each category. A few categories had only one or two entries, but mostly it was very hard to choose. There was no program, and the quilt-makers' names were left off of the paper labels. Perhaps that was to avoid voting by popularity? But I was pleased to see that the longarm quilters were identified on the labels. Hats off to fellow Gammill-Classic quilter Gillian Winterton of Laurel Springs Quilting, who quilted the majority of longarmed-quilts in the show.

Here is my vote for Best in Show- a lovely teal applique quilt.


I love the colors, the floral designs which show a lot of movement, the unusual sashing/borders, and the to-die for cross-hatched quilting.

It was hard to choose between the teal quilt and this coral one, which appears to be made by the same quilter.

Look at all the perfect appliqued circles.

Here are some other appliqued quilts.

Beautiful Dresden plate sunflowers with a floral applique border

This quilt had beautiful leaves appliqued with blanket-stitch and also embroidered. Look at the cool tendrils...looks like wrapped cording. I like the black background fabric that looks like faux- pebble quilting.

Autumn leaves were a popular theme in this mountain community.

Another stunning Dresden plate quilt with an applique border.Here is a nice "quilt with a view."

And some very whimsical fish.And a charming quilt with pink hearts and flowers.

I enjoyed the vendor mall, although my time was quite limited for browsing since hubby was picking me up...but I purchased this great selection of half yard black and white fabrics with very graphic prints.

More next time!