Four Days of Tunes...and Many More Art Quilts

We just returned from one of the best Merlefests ever!  Thursday night was Alan Jackson.  He gave a great performance, but we were disappointed that he only sang songs from his bluegrass album.  Not a single one of his gazillion country hits!  Friday started out rainy.  We went to one indoor concert in the auditorium.  Then the sun came out, and the weather was perfect for the rest of the weekend!  We saw our favorites, The Kruger Brothers, several times during the weekend.  They are fabulous musicians that made the hillsides ring with their singing and strings.

Friday night was my favorite concert of all...Old Crow Medicine Show!  High-energy and great music!  Saturday we saw Ricky Skaggs and Sam Bush.  Sunday was a treat, because in addition to Merle Haggard, we listened to sounds of popular old-time country groups like The Statler Brothers, Alabama, The Oak Ridge Boys, the Eagles..all because Jimmy Fortune was playing with the Daily and Vincent band.  Good times!

We stayed over in the mountains Sunday night and enjoyed a quiet night on our cabin porch after all the excitement of the festival.

We got home to Raleigh on Monday night, tired but happy!

Okay, on to more quilts from the Art Quilts Whimsy! Exhibition at the Page-Walker Arts and History Center in Cary, NC.

Weedy Sea Dragon, by Gwen Brink

The next quilt has interesting cutouts in the center of the red hexagons.

Bend It Wright I, by Ruth A. White

 This next one is fun, reminiscent of the paintings by Salvador Dali.  It is called Furrealism ...Dali Has Gone to the Dogs, by  Pauline Salzman.  It is hanging next to my piece in the show.

On the topic of dogs, here is a charming quilt called Let Sleeping Dogs Lie, by Jennifer June.

A very colorful quilt in the collection is this one called New York Clambake: Digger's Dozen, also by Ruth A. White. 

Next is Submerged, by Patricia Powers.

Post-Modern Log Cabin, by Sarah Bearup-Neal, looks bright and colorful in the hallway prior to entering the main display room downstairs.

 Here is the second quilt in the show by my mentor, Pamela Allen of Canada.  She calls this one A Crane in My Back Yard, and wishes that it was the avian kind of crane instead of the giant construction machine.

There are more quilts in the show that I have not photographed yet.  I had to delete some pictures off my i-Phone before it would let me save any more!  I should be going back out there soon.

I hope you have enjoyed my previews of the show so far.

Painting Baby Clothes

As I was going through a cedar chest at home recently, I came across a bag of baby clothes that I had originally purchased for my older grandchildren.  (I snatched the items back when their parents divorced, hoping that my younger son and his wife could use them someday!) 

Now that Dave and Emily have a baby girl, I was glad to be able to give them the bag of clothes.  One of the items was an N.C. State "onesie"  that had some yellow stains on the front.

Out came the Setacolor paints...and you could never tell there were any stains on this garment!

 

I added in some purple and yellow along with the scarlet.  I think it has a "watercolor" look.  I wet the outfit with water before applying the paint. 

 

The purple and yellow are the East Carolina colors, since both of Charlotte's parents went to school there. 

 

 

 

We have had a whirlwind of travel and activities recently.  We spent five days at our mountain cabin so that we could go to Merlefest, a music festival in nearby Wilkesboro, NC.  What a blast!

 

 

Thousands of people attend.  There are fourteen different venues that you can choose to attend.  All the performances were top-notch. 

 

Unfortunately, it started to rain on Saturday afternoon.  We missed The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band Saturday night because they did not start until after 10:00, which was too long to be out in the rain.  But on Sunday, we showed up in time to see The Avett Brothers perform in front of their poncho-covered, rain-soaked fans.

 

Last Wednesday night, we went to see Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, at the Durham Performing Arts Center.  What a riot!  The costumes alone are worth the price of the ticket.  If you like big production numbers, this is a great musical.

 

 

On Thursday, the Whacky Ladies had our monthly bee meeting.  I'll share some photos from our Show-and-Tell in a future post.

 

 

 



Merlefest Fun

We got back yesterday from a fun-filled mountain weekend.  We went to Merlefest all four days and listened to lots of great music.  We got to see and hear blind guitarist and singer Doc Watson perform twice, and at age 89 he still sounds great.  In this picture he is performing with Sam Bush.

One of our favorite groups, The Kruger Brothers, performed on both the large stage and the auditorium.  They are fine musicians and singers.

The  crowds were large and diverse.  By Saturday and Sunday, there were long lines for food and bathrooms.  Everyone still had a good time.

On Sunday, we took my sister, my father, and my sister's two little granddaughters to Merlefest.  The little girls were crowd favorites as they danced to the lively music.

We had a good time on Sunday evening and stayed over until Monday.  We got to go up on the mountain for a sunset ride.

The flame azalea is just starting to bloom in the clearings on the mountain top.

Our little great-niece, Holly, is starting to laugh and coo, and was so fun to play with.

Back to normal life today.  Got some quilting to do!



Home Again

I got home last night after an incredible eleven nights away.  First we were at Merlefest, then I stayed in Boone for six days while my father was in the hospital.  Charlie came and got me Friday night and we went to our cabin in Ashe County.  Back to Boone to visit Dad and my brothers Saturday night, and then we left the mountains on Sunday.  Off to Cary for a delightful Mothers' Day dinner with Dave and Emily.  It is good to be home.

I don't know where to start, except the most important thing is that my father is getting better.  Thanks for all your prayers and good wishes.

When we left Wednesday for the mountains, there had been some thunderstorms.  They ended about sunset, providing some spectacular cloud shots from the highway.

This one looks like the aliens have landed.

Later that night, we watched again on TV as the line of severe storms and tornadoes advanced through Alabama and Tennessee.  The very edge of the storm system passed through Ashe County.  We had lots of wind, rain, and lightning.  These tall clouds were not part of it.

The next morning we found that the earthen dam on our pond had sustained some more erosion, but since Gary had built it back up last weekend, it was not in danger of breaching.

There was a lot of water cascading over the dam on Peak Creek.

The dogwoods are still blooming up there.  Everything is green and pretty.

Dogwoods are the North Carolina state flower.

On Thursday we got ready for our company to arrive.  Thursday night the six of us went to Merlefest in North Wilkesboro.  It was about a 45-minute commute.  The first night we saw Randy Travis and Zac Brown, among others.  There were huge crowds.

Merlefest is held on the beautiful grounds of Wilkes Community College in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains.  The hillsides are landscaped with azaleas, rhododendrons, and other spring-flowering trees and shrubs.

There are lots of merchants selling crafts like pottery and tie-dyed clothing.

The sand sculptor was back again.

I loved the sun shining through this Japanese maple.

We also enjoyed concerts with Doc Watson, the Kruger brothers, Sam Bush, and the Snyder Family.  On Saturday night, Lyle Lovett was the main star.  His music was getting a little draggy, so we walked over to the dance tent where Donna the Buffalo was rocking the place.  While we were there, Zac Brown made a cameo appearance and performed a few songs.  That was a real crowd pleaser!

We skipped Merlefest on Sunday so Charlie could drive me to Boone, where my father had been in the hospital since Friday night.  I spent the most of the rest of the week in the hospital.  Those of you who are caregivers for chronically ill family members, I salute you.  It is very difficult to see your loved ones suffering.   One night when I was there, they had a big storm.  I was able to see some sunsets and mountains out the window in Dad's room.

My nephew Jeremy and his wife Rhiannon came to visit. I got to meet my newest great-nephew, Jake.  Here he is with his mama in Dad's room.

By Thursday evening, Dad had finished his course of IV antibiotics, and he was discharged.  It was a very difficult day when we had to admit him to a nursing home for rehab.  I always swore I would never do that.  But he needs the physical therapy and continued supervision of his medicine.  He is in Glenbridge in Boone.  On Friday, my brother Tim and his daughter Jess came up to Boone, as well as my brother Jeff and his wife Anna from Florida.  Charlie and Kasey came up to Boone to get me, and we spent the weekend at our cabin.  That was some great R&R.

I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.-Psalm 121:1

My sister Katy had been with me in Boone since Wednesday.  She and her husband came back up on Saturday to spend the next week on vacation.  Sunday was Mother's Day and her birthday.  Here is Katy and her dog Fred on top of the hill.

On Saturday night, Charlie and I went back to Glenbridge in Boone to see Dad and my family.  It was amazing to see my father dressed in regular clothes and sitting up on the couch in the living room.  God is good! Here he is with Jeff and Anna. If you had told me on Wednesday that Dad would be sitting up and looking this strong on Saturday, I would not have believed it.

They had learned all the "ropes" of the nursing home.  My brothers were able to help lift Dad on and off the bed and in and out of the wheelchair.  What a blessing that they were there.  Here are Jeff, my husband Charlie, and my brother Tim, waiting for the Kentucky Derby on television in one of the living rooms at Glenbridge.

I felt so much better after that visit!  We enjoyed a beautiful ride over the mountain on Sunday.
 

 

My nephew Jason and his wife Robin and baby Lacy were there to celebrate Katy's birthday.  It was so wonderful to hold a precious baby after the week of care-giving.

 

 

When we got back to the Raleigh area, we had a wonderful home-cooked meal with son Dave and daughter-in-law Emily.  I received a beautiful Mother's Day wreath that Emily made.  Perfect for spring!

My older son lives in South Carolina and had to work on the weekend.  I had a nice surprise when I got home and looked at Facebook.  Bryson had changed his profile picture to this one.  Who is that skinny young mother?

I think that catches me up to date.  I have a very tired doggie after her weekend of running through the mountains, but I bet she would take me up on a walk.  I need one!

Thank you again for your good wishes for my father's recovery.  I feel very blessed.