Country Come To Town

This past week, we took our 14 year-old grandson on a vacation trip to Washington, D.C. and other points of interest that related to WWII. He is interested in that time frame at the moment. We started off with a stop at Wilmington, NC at the battleship North Carolina. If you're ever there and have the time, it really is a great opportunity to see that type of ship--in great detail. I thought the Tour Arrows would NEVER stop and I really did enjoy most of it except when we were in the lower reaches of the ship and were walking on open grates looking DOWN into the further depths--that was definitely not for me.

The remainder of our trip centered around the D.C. area--the Air & Space Museum at Dulles, Mount Vernon, The National Archives, the Smithsonian and the WWII Memorial--all of it greatly interesting and well worth the visit.

One other thing I wanted to show my grandson was the town where I grew up--Herndon, VA--and the house(s) that I lived in. Thomas Wolfe was oh-so-right when he said you can't go home again. I, of course, knew that having gone back before both to Herndon and then to Mt. Pleasant, SC, after a twelve year absence. But I REALLY wanted to give my grandson something to hold on to as far as the roots of a part of his family. Those of you who have been in Northern Virginia know that it was mostly a fruitless task but I WAS able to show him both houses that I grew up in and where things USED to be. I had to decide that it was better than no mental picture at all, I guess.

After Herndon, I decided to try to rescue another memory and in this one I was not disappointed. As a child, we would go to Great Falls Park where we would picnic, ride the merry-go-round and watch the Potomac River rush (and sometimes rage) over the rocks on its way to the Chesapeake Bay. Of course, the merry-go-round is gone and it is now a National Park, but it was beautiful and mostly an improvement. There are now well-built overlooks that discourage adventurers from climbing on the rocks and, thereby, falling into the waters (as happened one time when I was there as a child). And, for me, this was the highlight of the trip--with the WWII Memorial coming in at a close second.

And lest you think that I have completely forgotten about quilting, here is a quilt top that I finished just before we left. It is paper-pieced (HIGHLY unusual for me to do) and is from the February 2004 issue of American Patchwork & Quilting. I had had it cut out for quite a while and decided to go ahead and work on it while I'm waiting for inspiration to strike (and I think it's getting close!) I finished quilting it last night and will get the binding on soon. I think it's bright and cheery and it it will definitely be going on to a teenager that I know.

Over The River and Into The Woods

This afternoon was one of the best that I can remember in quite a long time. The Sustainable Agriculture group for this area of Western North Carolina sponsored a Family Farm Tour with over 25 farms that you could visit. Of course, that would have been virtually impossible--even though you can also go tomorrow afternoon (which we will). We (I) chose 3 farms to visit today--2 in Barnardsville and 1 in Mars Hill. I didn't choose these farms with anything in particular in mind--other than the descriptions sounded good. And they were more than good.

The first place we went to was owned by a couple in their 60's (which me feel good being as I'm there, too!). This is the wife and she was certainly a very interesting person. They run a bed and breakfast, also but I think she has done most of the gardening. What they have done with their place is like stepping into the Garden of Eden--flowers everywhere--at their peak, as you can see with the white hydrangeas here.

This farm and the 3rd one we went to had bee hives. And you will notice that there are electric fences around them. Papa Bear came to visit the farm one night and the next day the fence went up. This particular one is solar powered which is nice when you're not too close to an electricity source. I'm not sure how well these two hives were actually doing (as you may know our entire bee population is in trouble and they are VERY important for all of our food crops). At the 3rd farm, the bees were zooming all over the place and bringing pollen into the hives. These here were far more quiet--so I don't know.

And through all this walking around and oohing and aweing, my faithful companion Smokey followed patiently along. He is not quite as enthusiastic as I am but, as always, a good sport. (He didn't know I was taking his picture).

To me, one of the wonderful things about the farms in Western North Carolina is that so many of them are owned by families and not by mega businesses. Today's family farmers are, by and large, nothing like the farmers of old. They are educated and use modern methods to achieve their farming goals. BUT, they are still centered around individual ownership and live a life based on connectedness with the earth. They know where their food comes from because THEY grow it. And the biodynamic farms we visited today preserve the goodness of the soil as they bring forth its bounty.

It was a great, great afternoon.

And for those of you who may think that I haven't been doing any quilting up here in the mountains . . .you're just about right. However, a friend did come over last week and we each made this table runner called A Touch of Summer from the June 2009 issue of McCalls Quilting Magazine. It was fun to make and provided a lot of practice for accuracy in piecing.

Blessed by a Chinaberry

I had big plans this week as I was getting settled into the mountains. Let's see . . .I was going to go to the Asheville Quilt Guild on Tuesday and listen to a speaker talk about her strip quilts and then I was going to get my hair colored on Wednesday and on Thursday I was going to go to the Hendersonville Guild and hear Linda Cantrell talk (it doesn't matter talk about WHAT because she's funny no matter what her topic). And then I got a call telling me that my brother's mother-in-law had died in Charleston.

Now I didn't struggle about whether or not I would go back to Charleston--I knew I would--but I did struggle about all of the things I was going to miss. I have been working so hard on just living in the moment--and wouldn't you know? I'm getting plenty of opportunities to put it to the test. So, we got in the car and got back there in time to take supper to my brother and his family (and ,coincidentally, eat that food with them and have a really nice time).

The next day at the funeral, my niece went around to each woman and handed her a chinaberry necklace. These necklaces had been made by her grandmother (the deceased), Georgie. This had been her hobby for many years and she would take them to the Market on Saturdays and sell them until she was physically no longer able to do it. These necklaces we were given were her expression of art. During his homily, the pastor mentioned Georgie's love of doing this and without exception, every woman's hand went to her neck and touched her gift of a chinaberry necklace. It was a powerful moment and it was at that precise point that I knew that the trip to Charleston had a value beyond measure.

It's Been A While

Do you ever feel as if you are just a little out of control? That's the way I've been for a while. Our house is for sale--and, of course, we'd like to get that over and done with--and I feel like I'm living between two worlds. My husband had hand surgery last Monday and we spent a fair amount of time before that getting things done that he wouldn't be able to do for several (probably many) weeks. What it has all boiled down to is that my head hasn't been right for quilting. What I have mainly been doing is practicing "being in the moment." And that really is the best thing anyone can do no matter life circumstances are lurking in the corners.

But yesterday I had a really delightful morning. A friend called up and we went to Landrum, SC to their quilt show. Landrum is in the upstate of South Carolina--right by the border before North Carolina. It is a pretty small town and I really didn't have a high level of expectation about the quilts we would see there. Boy was I wrong! The quilts were absolutely wonderful. Many of them--like the one on the right here--were hand quilted--and with tiny stitches. Georgia Bonesteel had (I think) 3 quilts in the show and at least two of them were handquilted (sorry, those pics didn't turn out).

Others, like the flower basket quilt, used standard elements in an unusual way. And this yellow quilt was pieced by a lady in the 30"s and her granddaughter recently hand quilted it. There were a couple of other quilts that were generational, also and I really find that to a be very powerful thing in this day of disposable everything.

And then there were the quilts that were just plain bright and happy. I didn't get a full picture of the quilt on the left, but I loved the flying geese addition to the borders. It really jazzed it up.And some were strictly original as this cat quilt that was in memoriam for a beloved pet and the bird quilt that recalled a much enjoyed trip. So, all in all, it was a great show--one that encouraged you to pause and consider not only the quilts themselves but the unknown quilters who created them A very uplifting morning.

But now, my little friend Maizie--who lives ONLY in the moment is letting me know that THIS is the moment in which I should get off the computer and go get her lease so we can enjoy the beautiful morning. Be right there, Maizie!

Redux

Have you ever made a quilt top that you liked and then absolutely hated it after you finished quilting it? Well, I just had that happen with a quilt that I designed. I'm not quite sure what went wrong. It could have been the quilting designs I chose--or the thread--or I just didn't hold my mouth right. But I was pretty well disgusted with myself. After a few days of thinking about it . . .Do I put it in the Silent Auction? Do I give it to someone I don't really care about? What? . . .I came up with the idea to go back over the blanket stitching with black thread. A loud sigh of relief went up as the applique colors I had THOUGHT were bright lost the dull look that had bothered me so much. It's not a show quality quilt by any means but now at least I can give it to someone who I think would appreciate it. Its name is Redux and most people who know me will not be surprised that I went to the effort to "redo" a finished quilt (As a matter of fact, I have my eye on another finished quilt that could use a little redux).
I've also been working on another original design basket wallhanging. I haven't started the blanket stitching yet but I'm a little more optimistic about this one. Time will tell, I'm sure.
And finally, as we were heading towards Charleston this past Saturday, we had a lot of stormy-looking skies, but very little rain. However, what we DID have was a double rainbow. I only got a picture of the single rainbow but that was pretty wonderful, also. For me, rainbows are just pure magic. I know that there's plenty of scientific explanations for them but I don't care--they're magic as far as I'm concerned. And a good reminder that even in the midst of a storm in our lives, there can be a blessing if only we will look for it.

Four Years Seems Long Enough

I have FINALLY finished a quilt top that I have been working on for four years (and maybe longer). I always try to have something to work on in the car and in front of the t.v. and this was a project that I started. It came from Red And Green: The Applique Tradition by Jeana Kimball. And I did start out with good intentions. The problem was that I didn't figure out how much fabric I would need ahead of time and--like so many others--I didn't have enough. I spent at least a year trying to find the matching fabric-- so I had to put it aside and work on something else. I finally faced the fact that that fabric was not going to be in my future and started looking for a compatible one. And that took several more months but I did find one I liked and decided that it would work if I made the center and corners the same. But wouldn't you know? I had already appliqued the upper right block onto the other fabric. (fortunately it wasn't a block with LOTS of pieces. So off it came and on it went to the other block. And, of course, there were other mishaps joining the blocks, but I am happy with the result--and hope to get it pinned tomorrow. After waiting four years, the quilt DESERVES to be quilted in less time than that!

Change of Plans

My nephew and his wife are expecting a new addition to their family--a baby boy (it still seems weird to me to know ahead of time what you're having!). I have been planning to make them a baby quilt--and there's a baby shower next Saturday--so it seemed like I should get on with it. I had bought a conversation print at Tennessee Quilts last month that I thought would work with a pattern I had seen in a magazine. However, when I measured the size of the designs, they were bigger than the ones called for in the pattern. So, I just made up a pattern as I went along. Instead of having the prints as the center of stars, I used a half log cabin type of motif, finishing off the block with a blue checkerboard. Some sashings, borders and corner 9 patches and I was done. A quick quilting job and totally machined binding and it was a wrap--in more ways than one. It was a fun little project and, hopefully, will receive a lot of use.