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!