A Few Things Quilty and Artsy

This past weekend we traveled again to our cabin in the mountains of North Carolina.  What a wonderful  time we had!  It was so pretty except for some thunderstorms bringing much-needed rain on Saturday night.

On Saturday morning we traveled to West Jefferson or our groceries and other errands.  We stopped at the Ashe County Farmer's Market, where the first thing I noticed was the attractive quilt block at the peak of the roof.

There was a lady selling these inside, along with lots of other dealers with candles, soap, jellies, homemade bread, and plants.  One lady had a table piled with these tied quilts.

And here are some carved hiking sticks.

One think I like about West Jefferson is all the public artwork on display.  Quite a few of the old brick storefronts have painted murals, like this one of the New River.

You might not notice at first that this entire wall is made of bricks, not rocks.  The entire scene is painted, including the old car and doorway.  Very clever!

I liked seeing this line of cows, all at the very top of one of those high hillside pastures.

The wildflowers have dotted this field with gold and white.

This afternoon we went on a Gator tour of the other side of the mountain, where there is a huge project to reclaim the "sulphur flats" that resulted from the old copper mine at Ore Knob.  It used to be a smelly mess of yellow water and powdery sulphur.  They have been covering it with crushed rock and topsoil, and creating drainage areas filtered with rock, topsoil, and grass.  I cannot believe how nice it looks already, and the water channeling down between the rocks is crystal clear.

 As we left the mountains, the clouds were rolling over the hillsides, creating waves of sunlight and shadows.

Hated to leave, once again!

Some Mountain Art

I mentioned in my post about the mountain weekend that I saw some nice artwork in West Jefferson.

First, here is a little piece of stained glass that I also found at Antiques on Main. It was hanging from the ceiling in a dark corner. I thought they were bluebirds. I liked the colors and of course, love birds. A saleslady climbed on a piece of furniture and took it down for me. It was only $35.00, and the colors nicely echo the colors of a framed print and the bed quilt. Turns out the piece was titled "Parrots." I will call them "Artistic Mountain Bluebirds.":) This will hang in the kitchen window. So far it is just propped on the sill.

We took a stroll through Jefferson Station, a former train depot converted to space for shops and displays. It is the temporary home of the Ashe Public Library. Sadly, many of the spaces seem vacant or closed. There used to be a nice quilt shop there. However, various artists and groups have donated mural-sized artwork that are displayed throughout the space. Many of them are representations of mountain scenes. This first one looks just like the rows of Frazier firs growing in a mountain valley. Sorry about the flash in some of these photographs.

Like many mountain towns in North Carolina, West Jefferson has attracted a thriving artist community. Probably the two most well-known artists are Lenore DePree and Joan Bell. Here is Lenore's painting called Winter River. I love this one.

Speaking of Lenore DePree, you may remember this painting which appeared as an ad in the quilting magazines a couple of years ago. I heard that she based the portraits on Ashe County quilters!

And this painting of an Ashe County Tree farm was done at our friend Tom and Vickie Herman's farm, and features some of their family! We dropped in and visited with Tom for a little while on Friday while we were in town.

Here is Joan Bell's lovely painting called August in Ashe.

This one features detail of birds and flowers with a mountain backdrop.

This one is kind of creepy, as there is a child huddling in the hollow tree in the snow.

Even the restrooms are treated to original art at Jefferson Station.

And there is a nice little "rock garden".Hope you enjoyed this little virtual art gallery!

A Tour of West Jefferson

With Tropical Storm Hanna paying a visit to Raleigh last weekend, we headed for the hills- Ashe County, North Carolina, where we have a little cabin and a family homestead. The weather was gorgeous, breezy, and mostly sunny up there! All we got was a little shower on Saturday night. At home, we got several inches of much-needed rain, but no power outage or damage. Perfect!

I thought I might take you on a little sight-seeing tour of West Jefferson, the little town where we shop for our groceries, home improvement items, and everything else when we are in the mountains. Usually we eat breakfast at the local Laurel Springs cafe, a sort of Cheers place where everyone knows your name. This time Charlie and I went to Sweet Aromas Bakery and Cafe in Jefferson on Friday morning, but were too late for breakfast. We got muffins instead, and came back on Saturday morning with my sister for blueberry pancakes. Sweet Aromas has a painted quilt on the wall, along with a terraced garden with inviting benches and lots of herbs, flowers, and birdhouses.When a town is in a beautiful setting like the Appalachian Mountains, even the most mundane businesses have a gorgeous view. Here is the parking lot at Ingoll's Grocery Store. Not bad!We rode into downtown West Jefferson for some errands.
I strolled through the Ashe County Park below the public library. It is a nice place to sit and read or have a picnic. They have started an art collection, including a nice plaque and sculpture.
When we were in the mountains last weekend, we dug big holes to plant some apple trees. Friday morning we picked them up. Remember my quilt, The Green Man, from my last post? Here is my own personal Green Man driving home with four apple trees in our Suburu.

Here is the Ashe County Civic Center, with Mount Jefferson in the background.

Downtown West Jefferson has become a mecca for the arts. There are quite a few galleries and local artists. Many of the old brick buildings have been painted with colorful murals.


There was a lot of work going on to clear the land behind the pond and along the creek for a big party we are having for my father's 85th birthday on September 20. There was a lot of power equipment and chain saw activity, and a big bonfire from all the trees they dragged out. The trees had been dropped by the power company and by a team of beavers, who had dammed up the creek and made a big mess of it. Then the storms came along, the dam broke up, and the beavers went elsewhere.
Now it looks great, and the creek is flowing freely again. The pond has filled again after the rains from Tropical Storms Fay and Gustave a couple weeks ago. The wild flowers are in profusion along the banks.

The woods are still predominantly green, as is this nice big sentinel tree. But changes are coming...