Happy Thanksgiving!

May you be truly thankful for all the blessings in your life!  

Autumn Leaves, by Jeanne Turner McBrayer, 2016

Here is a watercolor page from my art journal that I hope you enjoy.

Giving Thanks

It was a wonderful Thanksgiving this year.  We enjoyed hosting our son and daughter-in-law and some of her family.

Of course, we all adored our sweet grand baby, Charlotte.

Dave and Em stayed until Saturday.  On Sunday, we put up the Christmas tree that Charlie brought back from the mountains after his week of deer camp.  I will add some pictures when we get back home.  

Because we drove back to the mountains this morning to be here when our modular log cabin was delivered!

The two halves of the cabin arrived today, and tomorrow the roof and two cranes will arrive to put it in place on the foundation.

There were some hairy moments.  First they had to get across the bridge over the creek.  Yikes!

They did not have room to make the 90 degree left turn to our place, so they went up the steep driveway to my sister's old trailer.  My brother-in-law's uncle Gary was recruited to do the hauling with his bulldozer.

After that, it was up to my sister's new home and down her driveway to the earthen dam across the pond.

Yes, that's half of my future home trying to make another sharp right turn without falling into the pond!

And then came the scariest moments, when the right side wheels of the truck bed were not on the driveway, but in the soft dirt on the hill.  I should see the whole thing toppling over!

The pond was partly frozen, but would not have supported a house tumbling onto its surface.  Things were stalled for at least an hour while they shored up the hill with planks from Gary's old barn across the street.  

Then, our contractor got behind the truck bed with his Bobcat and pushed while Gary pulled.  Success!

Then they did it all again with the other half of the house.  Relief!

We are thankful to get this difficult part of our new home progress completed.

Home Sweet Home!

Back to Real Life

I can't believe my trip to Florida is over already.  And it's gotten so cold here!  Katy and I enjoyed trips to the beach, first with our niece Laura, and then with my brother Jeff.

 

Sanibel Island was my favorite.  We walked on the beach and looked for shells.  They were not hard to find.

 

 

The Gulf was extremely calm and serene.

 

 

We drove through the Ding Darling Nature Reserve on Sanibel.  The white pelicans were visiting.  I had only seen the more common brown ones on our North Carolina beaches.

 

 

Ft. Myers Beach was much more commercial, but very colorful.  I like the multicolored buildings.

 

 

We also really enjoyed sitting on my brother's back deck and watching the birds around the lake.  There were lots of ducks, but also a bald eagle.  Once we saw an otter as big as my dog.

 

 

My father tolerated the trip very well, and enjoyed being with us in the warmer climate of Florida.

 

 

For Thanksgiving, my brother grilled a turkey, and we all made side dishes and desserts.  It was a wonderful family holiday.  My niece has painted all the interior doors in the family home, and one of them is a Gratitude Tree. 

 

 

We all wrote what we are thankful for on a leaf, and taped it to the tree.

 

 

But I missed my husband and my dog, and am thankful that we are all together again!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Turkey Day!

Here is a very sunny turkey, made once again from the leftover paint on my watercolor palette.

He started out to be another "Imaginary Animal" for The Sketchbook Challenge theme this month, but he got turned into the guest of honor of the traditional American Thanksgiving.

Tomorrow Charlie comes home, Thursday Dave and Emily will be here, and Friday Bryson and Melissa and their kids will come for the weekend.

The candlewick quilt has about one-third of the binding hand-sewn on.  I will work on it tonight during the finals of Dancing With the Stars.

Mountain Thanksgiving

I drove up to our mountain place on Wednesday morning in brilliant sunshine and gorgeous autumn foliage on the way.  I am always so happy to see this view of the dam as I cross the creek to our cabin!

Once I got there, most of the leaves were gone in the upper elevation, but it was still beautiful as always.

 It was warm and sunny Wednesday and Thursday.  What a surprise to see a street sign erected just across the road from our place:  Mistletoe Meadows Parkway!  LOL, it is just a dirt road leading to a cut-and-choose Christmas tree farm.

Charlie and I drove to Jefferson to select our tree on Thursday.  What a nice surprise to see this beautiful farm in a valley with steep pastures of contented cattle, horses, and even donkeys!

They were filling up the feed bins when we arrived, and we watched "steak on the run" as the cattle headed up the hill.

The Christmas trees were beautiful and we did not have to scamper all over the hills to find one we liked.  That's Charlie next to the one we selected- a nine-footer!

Another nice surprise at this tree farm...look at the cutie patooties who cut down the tree and baled it up for us!  (Mountain Memories Tree Farm in Jefferson, NC, if you are tree shopping!)

Charlie took this picture of me walking back among the fields of Christmas trees.

After our delicious turkey dinner on Thursday, I went to Boone, NC to visit my father on Friday.  Three of my brothers and their families met us for lunch.  Seventeen of us at the table, including five "under five!"  My niece Rachel had to work, but here is her baby Christopher with his doting grandmother, Debbie.

After lunch, I delivered the first of the two twin quilts that I finished for Debbie.  I have blogged about these before-  old tops made in the seventies, not in very good shape, but they came out so pretty!  That's me, my dad, my nephew-in-law Eric, and Debbie. 

The other one is almost done.  I couldn't quite finish in time to deliver it at Thanksgiving.

Speaking of quilts, here is a new quilt barn that I spotted in Jefferson near the Christmas tree farm.

We closed up the cabin since we won't be back for a couple of months.  I will miss our cozy retreat!

Happy Thanksgiving

On Thursday, we celebrate Thanksgiving in the US.  I will be driving to the mountains to join my hubby, who has been there since last week for deer hunting.  On Friday, I'm going to Boone to visit my dad and hopefully some of my brothers/nephews/nieces.

I am thankful for all my blogging friends who are always so encouraging to me!

I showed this quilt last year...or maybe its clone.  I made two identical quilts, one for my son and daughter-in-law, and one for my sister-in-law.  Maybe I will make one for us some day!  The pattern is called Turkey Feathers, and it is fun and easy to make.

Happy Turkey Day!

Tomorrow is the day we celebrate Thanksgiving here in the US. Traditionally, a time to gather with family and friends, and have a delicious traditional meal of roast turkey. I made two of these little turkey quilts last year for gifts. There is a pattern called Turkey Feathers, by Rasmatazz Designs, for this 24" square quilt. Fun to make, and pretty quick!

Our weather has been, on the negative side, gray and rainy for days. On the positive side, it has remained unseasonably warm. My daffodils are coming up, Maggy's viburnum is still blooming,

and here is one of my old-fashioned roses that decided it was time to bloom in November! It smells divine! Why is Blogger making it stand on its head?

My grandchildren will be here on Friday, which makes me so happy. Look at this cute hand-painted stool I bought at my friend Carolyn's church bazaar...

It was only two dollars, and will be perfect for them to stand on to wash their hands and brush their teeth. Or sit on!

I just opened this wonderful surprise in the mail...a handmade Christmas tree from Elizabeth Creates, one of my favorite bloggers! I won her blog drawing honoring her 350th post, but did not know which of the three prizes she would send me. We had been corresponding about her Christmas ornaments. Elizabeth very generously explained to me that the stand was vintage wooden spool attached to a wooden disk from the craft store. I guess she knew I would love this colorful little tree! It is made of canvas that is painted and beaded, and decorated with fun fibers at the top. Thank you, Elizabeth! I am so proud to own one of your creations!

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, let me just say, I am thankful to all of you who visit me at All Things Quilty, and especially those who leave comments or write e-mails about my little columns. I never knew blogging would be so rewarding, or put me in touch with so many people all over the globe!

Scenes from the Grove Park Inn

We celebrated Thanksgiving again this year with Charlie's sister Lee and family in Asheville, NC. I drove to the mountains by myself on Thursday, about a four and a half hour drive, and enjoyed beautiful weather and scenery.

Our reservations at the Grove Park Inn were for 7:30 PM. We could see the lights of the city twinkling below us from the Blue Ridge Room. This room is like a long veranda with large stained glass chandeliers.

After dinner we walked around to see the decorations and Christmas trees on display. There are two opposite wings of the resort that each feature a theme tree in each window.

They also had the annual Gingerbread House contest entries on display. Always amazing!

The next day Lee and I went off to our artsy shopping trip to Sanctuary of Stuff in Woodfin and then to Biltmore Village. We ate at a great Mexican restaurant called LaPaz. Charlie's brother Richard came to Asheville and they rode around together.

That night we went to the French Broad River Brewing Company, a microbrewery that features entertainment some nights. The musician was none other than Dave Desmelik, who was Lee's teaching assistant last year. We enjoyed his performance, which reminds me of one Avett Brother or maybe a folk singer like John Prine.

We came home Saturday since Charlie had been away from home so long at deer camp. Today we both went out to Cary to see our son Dave's new home. They have gotten a lot done since I saw it last week. I volunteered Charlie's assistance in switching out the chandelier in the dining room. This ended up a family project, with all of us helping to hold up the fixture while DH did the wiring.

I gave them a framed print that I found at SOS that has the blues, greens, and taupes of some of their rooms.

I hope you and your loved ones also had a lovely Thanksgiving weekend!