Quilt Shop Visit

While in North Carolina, our daughter took us to visit a wonderful quilt shop in Granite Falls, in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. The shop is in the old farmhouse that belonged to the grandparents of the shop owner, Martha. It's located on a winding country road and we knew we were there when we saw the quilts on the porch rail.

We were warmly greeted and I spent some "quality time" looking and buying. I especially loved the shelves of depression era reproductions since I'm hooked on paper piecing the Grandmother's Flower Garden hexagons. There were also quite a few bolts of Thimbleberries on a half-price sale.

After looking awhile, I made my choices. I thought of Linda when I saw this packet. She has inspired me to use some soft pastels and pretty pinks!

I got a Moda Portbello jelly roll and Merry and Bright charm packs, fat 8ths of reproductions for my hexagons, some pretty fat quarters, fall fat quarters and a Thimbleberries fabric that I fell in love with.

I know I will be visiting the shop online here
It's nice to help a small business grow...especially a quilter-owned quilt shop!!!!

Thanks for stopping by for a visit ... have a blessed day!

We're Back!!

We’ve just returned from a wonderful visit to North Carolina to see our daughter, Amy, son-in-law and “granddog”. The autumn colors were at their finest and the entire trip was lovely from beginning to end.

Our son-in-law is the Provost of Lenoir-Rhyne University in Hickory, North Carolina. We visited the campus which was blazing with fall colors and enjoyed seeing his office, shopping at the bookstore and attending a lecture by a visiting writer.


Their home is in a wooded community of small acreages on Lake Hickory. This is a view of the driveway. Their log home is nestled in the trees completely secluded from the street. We felt like we were the only ones in the “big house in the little woods!” It was beautiful!!









Amy and our granddog, Virginia, start each morning with a walk in the woods and by the lake. They took me with them and I thoroughly enjoyed the sights and the company.












Walking on those trails with the colorful trees and crisp air was a devotional in itself because I couldn’t help but rejoice that our precious Creator had provided such a beautiful world for our enjoyment. Everything around me was a testament to Him.

We took a trip to Virginia to visit our son-in-law's family in Patrick County. We drove part of the Blue Ridge Parkway and visited Mabry’s Mill.




Later in the week, Amy took us to visit the small mountain town of Blowing Rock, which is the inspiration for Jan Karon’s Mitford. It was such a pretty place nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains. We also visited the Blowing Rock but, since none of us are very comfortable with heights, we declined to take the small walkway out to the rock itself!!

We also visited a great quilt shop in Granite Falls which you can shop online. I'll save the quilt shop for my next post!

Oh, yes, and we took the ghost tour in Asheville!!! I have pictures from that as well!!

Have a lovely day. Thanks for visiting!

Happy Halloween!!!

Bessie is ready for Halloween and we both wish you a day filled with the best treats and very few tricks. Best stitching wishes from both of us!!!

Thunder in OKC

Last night was exciting as we were part of the sell-out crowd at the first regular season home game for the new Oklahoma City NBA basketball team….the OKC Thunder!!!

Our sweet daughter, Maggie, and her husband asked us to join them for this big event. We all look forward to many years of enjoying professional basketball close to home!!

On the quilting front, I finished the autumn table runner. I will be using the extra pieces to make two more. Here’s the finished project.



I must get busy on the baby quilt for our niece. I have a couple of quilts in the works but I’m anxious to get out my Christmas fabrics and make something from them.

I also found a neat item on Ebay. It’s called a “class in a kit” and it really is. It’s a tutorial you can touch. I started working on it and couldn’t stop…more addictive than popcorn. I love to have something to do by hand in the evenings so I’ll be working on this and plan to get more hexagon papers and start a long-term quilt project. The Grandmother's Flower Garden is one of my favorite patterns. I have quite a few blocks I did by hand years ago but didn't use the paper-piecing method. Those old blocks are pretty but not as precise. I love this method.

Speaking of hand work, I pulled out this little kit that I started years ago and laid it out to see how it will look. I just have the last two blocks to finish (where the big white areas are) and then the entire little quilt can be sewn together and hand quilted. The colors are rich deep turquoise, purple, lavendar and cream. There is something so satisfying and peaceful about hand work:)


We've had our first frost and the summer plants are gone. We'll need to do some flower bed cleaning and bulb digging. All that will have to wait while we take a little vacation break.

Happy quilting and blessings to you!!

Mail Call

It’s such fun when the mail brings packages!

I was so thrilled to be the winner of Jeanne’s giveaway as part of the Fall Into Fall Blogger’s Giveaway. Here’s all the nice things Jeanne sent…the cutest Halloween bag filled with Halloween fat quarters, this great fall pattern and quilt postcards and Halloween candy.





Thanks so much, Jeanne, for a great giveaway.

Danetta had three prizes in her Fall Into Fall Giveaway and my name was picked for this great book. As you can see from part of my stash (forgive the messy stack), I can certainly make use of these patterns.



Thanks, Danetta! The book is great!!

After being the fortunate recipient of these ladies’ generosity, I plan to participate in Debi's next giveaway and pass along the kindness.

Quilting bloggers are the nicest people!!!