Oh, Rocky Top!

Hello from just the other side of Knoxville, TN!

I arrived in Oak Ridge just a bit ago, and when I checked into my hotel, the clerk at the desk said, “Oh, YOU are Bonnie Hunter! We had some crazy quilters check in a bit ago and they were looking for you!” Gosh, it’s nice to feel anticipated….friendly faces everywhere! We are going to have a great time, I can tell!

This morning I woke to the most BEAUTIFUL day --- what a day for a drive from Central North Carolina where I live, all the way through the Western side of the state, across the Smoky Mountains and over to the Tennessee side!

I left my house around 10:30 am, and after a short visit to the post office, hit the road. I love driving toward that first glimpse of mountains!

Granted, THESE mountains are much different than those I was viewing just a week ago in Alaska, but these mountains are HOME to me. Or right next door at any rate…The pic at the top was my first peek as I drove closer to Asheville. The leaves are just STARTING to turn yellow, but there were many early drifters floating across the highway as trucks and cars drove past….leaves are falling, ready or not!

See that blue blue sky with the white puffy clouds? Temps in the mid to high 70s --- just gorgeous! And don’t worry..my eyes ARE on the road. I propped the camera on top of the steering wheel and was blindly shooting without looking at what was on the camera. I just HOPE that if I click about a dozen that some of them will turn out! This one did….I love the shadow of the clouds high up, showing on those mountains ahead!

Hello Tennessee! And can you see the view in my rear view mirror of where I just came from?? It’s just as pretty in front of me as it is behind me!

It was a 4.5 hour drive and I feel pretty road weary. I can rest up a bit before dinner. MEXICAN is on the agenda….doesn’t that sound good? I’m sure they won’t have halibut tacos, though!

Since this is a driving trip and a 3 night stay, I’ve brought some “Homework” with me to work on!! I think it was Julie in Cordova who loves to see how I set up in a hotel room for some solitary retreating. I’m set up! I’m ready! After dinner I’ll be burning some late night oil trying to get caught up on a few things in the pipe line.

That is IF that cozy bed doesn’t claim me first!

PS. If you get me on Google Reader, please disregard that post that came through last night that said "Hexie Uhoh"....it was a mis-fire! It will come through the feed later, I was trying to stack some things up in the queue and I got the wrong date on that one. Oops! My bad! Sorry to entice you, but it will come through in its own due time, promise! You didn't miss anything --- :cD

Unbelievable Mail!

When we pulled up from the airport on Monday evening, I found this box wedged into my mail box!

I didn’t remember ordering anything, but I was eager to get inside the box and find out what was inside.

I opened the box to find a note that said these items were something that was mistakenly “left out” of the “OTHER” box.

OTHER BOX?!

What other box?!

There was no other box --- so far at least --- but I had a great giggle at pawing through what was in THIS box!

Dig through the scissors for the "old" pair I use for paper and tape and all other "non fabric" cutting....

Anticipation is building!!

And ----

UHOH!!! Millenium fabric! Right there on top!! Bwahahahhaha!! And look! It has CATS ;cD

And right under it….that BLUE millenium fabric with the 2000’s all over it. Still got this in your stash? It’s time to use it up! Come on, it just reads as BLUE…..cut it small, cut it into strings even. It’s not getting any better just sitting there in your stash ;c)

Look at all these wonderful vintage 80’s & 90’s calicoes! Some into the 70’s too I think….FUN FUN FUN!! I just love these! I’m going to have such a great time using these in scrap quilts. As I looked through each one, I remembered where I was in my life at the time these prints were popular. Love that bright yellow one you can see peeking out of the left corner!

These were still sitting on my cutting table the next morning when UPS showed up at my doorstep!

The OTHER box, evidently! A BIG BOX!! With the SAME return address as the small box of calicoes that showed up the day before. My guess is the priority mail box beat the UPS man to my house :c)

But what could be in here? MORE FABRIC?!?!?!

OH. MY. FREAKING. GOODNESS!!

There were things in bags, things I knew well……you should have heard my squeal! DH did….clear from his recliner in the living room. He had to give up his TV watching for an impromptu quilt show…cuz I stood right there in front of the TV and opened bag after bag….he had no choice, I was blocking his view of the Biggest Loser.. LOL!

This morning I took the quilts out so I could really photograph them in day light on my deck where the light was better.

The story, contained in a letter, goes like this:

((my words and comments in parentheses, or not bolded or italicized!))

Dear Bonnie,

My sister and I have been quilting for about 25 years now and I have been following your blog for the last couple of years. I just finished Hawk’s Nest and I have made Roll Roll Cotton Boll and Goose in the Puddle.

My Sister was diagnosed 3 years ago with Alzheimer’s and we are in the process of moving her into our home. It is small and we are having to weed out a lot of things that we can’t or don’t use.

This box contains 4 old quilts that our grandmothers and great grandmother made many years ago. We talked it over and we want you to have them because we know they will be well cared for. We are the last of our line, no children or other relatives.

About the quilts:

The ((Satin)) Crazy Quilt was made by my maternal grandmother, Ada Grace Kenney in Greenville, TN.

There is a date of 1930 embroidered in one corner.

((Millie’s Dress, and Mildred’s Dress!))

The pieces of paper on it were put on my by grandmother as it is her hand writing.

The Butterfly Quilt was also made by Ada Grace Kenney but I am not sure of the date. You might tell from the fabric.

((It’s definitely 1930’s fabrics…and I don’t think it has ever been washed! Look at these lovely butterflies and their black button hole stitch embroidery! The hand quilting is very nice too!))

The Scrappy ((rail fence)) Quilt was made by my paternal grandmother, Mary Wright in Topton, NC. It has many feed sacks in it as that was the material that was available to her. My fondest memories were of sleeping under the heavy feed sack quilts with all my cousins.

Close up of the rail fence fabrics! There are some “EARLIER” fabrics in here as well..many turn-of-the-century indigoes and burgundy resists! A lot of Dan-River plaids too! They were popular in the era that this quilt was made as the Dan River Mills are from this area as well. The Mill started in 1882!

More lovely plaids and pastel solids! Love that earlier indigo too!

I love these sweet 1920’s florals too…very cute! and I love the red dots on white….

The small lap Crazy Quilt ((wool)) has a date of 1903 on it and it was made by my great grandmother, Ada Kenney’s mother, in TN. They had a farm in Ottway.

The backing was added at a later date along with the embroidered hand of my mother, Helen Wright, when she was a young girl.

((That’s young Helen’s little hand with the H on it!))

Another hand with a C on it…and look at all those lovely embroidery stitches!

Here is a block that reads 1903….

Very fun embroidery detail! I love to see the switching of floss colors here and there….

I love the one down the center that looks like rakes with 3 tines…

This quilt has SO MUCH to look at!! Look at that fun floral sprig around the oval patch….

My name is Karen Anne and my sister’s name is Marie Elena……we were raised in Topton, NC which is a one-sign town in the Smoky Mountains in Cherokee County.

The way I look at it, the quilts are going HOME.

Dear Karen and Marie:

I can’t thank you enough for the priceless gift of sharing your family heirlooms with me! I’m happy to be adopted into your family! I am overjoyed and overwhelmed to think you would send these so far to someone you barely know.

I love these quilts, and I will share them and care for them…..really, you have no idea how floored and excited I am to have these with me!

In deepest gratitude ---

PS. As this posts this morning, I am on my way to Oak Ridge, TN for two workshops this weekend! I'm driving very close to where these quilts originated. They really HAVE come home!

Who is THIS?!

I looked out my kitchen window this morning to find a stranger looking back at me!

I have NO CLUE who this half-grown kitten belongs to, but we have seen him time to time in the trees of our front yard. But this was as close as he had ever got! The top deck at the BACK of the house!

Not only that, when I ventured out onto the back deck to check HIM out…it seems that he had cornered Chloe behind the BBQ grill…and SHE was not too happy about it!

Still, he allowed me to pet him and became very affectionate. I’m guessing he is maybe 9 months old or something?

((Yes, I had to inspect….it is a HE!))

I sent a picture immediately off to Jason and Kim, because he looks so much like their orange tabby, Cambria!

I just can’t resist out-stretched kitty bellies!! I knew I was in trouble as soon as he rolled over at my feet!

He was inspecting EVERYTHING…including rubbing his chin/scent on every railing and rung along the deck. Chloe wasn’t happy about this either..he was leaving his mark on HER territory!

I also sent a ping off to DH to see what his response was ---

Chloe was growling loudly, but he was NOT afraid of her – more curious and wanting to play than anything!

The big STARE OFF! Another quick inspection of our new friend told me he HAS to belong to someone close by. He’s declawed in the front…which is also good, it makes him and Chloe more evenly matched as she doesn’t have front claws either…((Look at that motion of his tail flipping! He wanted to PLAY!))

Still, she holed herself up under the hot tub steps and was raising quite a growling ruckus! Good grief, Chloe, get over it! She is just NOT a nice cat….pretty to look at, but boy is she a wicked witch..LOL

This little guy did NOT seem to care or give her much mind at all, no matter how big and fluffy and fierce she was!

Shhhhh! Don’t tell DH that I fed him either! I don’t mind if he likes us enough to come for a visit now and then!

I mean, look at that face! Could you resist? Could you REALLY!?

He didn’t stay long, and then he was down the stairs and gone, and who knows when we’ll see him again. I’m glad he stopped by. It forced me out of my “must do must do must do” long list of a morning and made me take time out to smell the roses pet the kitties! I smiled and laughed at their antics, and it was a nice interlude!

I’ve got great news….the contract for my next book has arrived! I’m tickled and panicked all at the same time. I’ve kitted up stuff to take to TN with me tomorrow for my workshops with the Ritzy Thimble Quilt Guild of Oak Ridge, Tennessee---

I’m planning on some hotel sewing time to get these last two quilts for the book done so we can get the writing process under way. I’m feeling the time line crunch!

Bonnie’s Great Fishing Adventure!

You simply can’t go to Cordova Alaska and NOT go fishing. That’s all that there is to it!

The town depends on its fishing industry.

It’s also one of the world’s largest aquaculture areas, where fish are hatched in hatcheries, and released when they are “old enough” to survive on their own and keep the sea full of fish. Believe me, I learned more about commercial fishing and the environment than I ever thought I could in 5 whole days :cD

Hunting is also a huge way of life. I never had a single hormone-laced feed-lot fed meal the whole time I was there. Grown in the wild, caught in the wild --- nature at its best!

No chicken, but I had duck! Duck sausage was even awesome!

No beef or pork, but I had deer and moose!

And of course..the seafood was my main stay--I miss it!

Thursday Julie and Jerry offered to take me out Halibut fishing in their boat, the Julie Ann!

This picture was AFTER the rain had stopped….it was coming down in buckets on and off from the time we left the dock --

And for those of you who have asked WHAT they needed my shoe size for….here ya go!

Say hello to the official footwear of Alaskans everywhere! Xtra Tuf Boots! Seriously, everyone wears these everywhere ALL THE TIME. From little kids to old grand parents…I was so happy that they found a pair of these for me to wear while hiking and fishing! My feet were dry and happy --- which made ME happy!

Here we are headed out of the harbor and into open water….

Jerry, our captain at the wheel! It was freezing cold outside --- but the inside of the cabin was warm and toasty!

This little sea otter paused to see what these crazy folks were up to, trying to go fishing in the rain, with a very un-experienced fishing quilter on board! I’m sure he was thinking “LOTSA LUCK!!”

Even the seal couldn’t believe we were out on this completely yucky day! But it was the ONLY day we had time to do this, and we were not going to waste it!

First job….UNTANGLE THE LINE!! Someone had borrowed the line before, and don’t you know it takes quilters to know how to unknot it? :cD Don’t you love my green rubber rain gear and the super huge orange gloves?! They kept my hands warm, but I felt like an alien..LOL

At this point it was really cold and raining! Get tough, Bonnie! You can do this…no wimping out!

Salted herring was our bait! I dug them out of the bucket and Julie cut them in half, getting ready to bait the hooks.

These are the hooks! We were putting out a commercial 30 hook “skate” or line….even the hooks have to be placed just so, so their leaders don’t tangle in the bucket. Always remove a hook from the LEFT--

Julie, showing me how to bait the hook, run it through the fish once, and back up again --- just like pinning the quilt to the leaders on the long arm. Through and back up again!

Yeah, I did it too! Jerry? He just watched. I’m sure he had a chuckle or two watching this landlubber massacring the bait. That salt dried bait is as tough as leather, it’s not as easy to get the hook through and back through again as you would think!

Hang the hooks off the side of the boat until you have them all baited….and then we’ll clip them on to the “skate line”.

Yep, I learned to clip those on too, and I got pretty good at it! Put one about every 15 feet of line or so….and over the front end of the boat the line goes. Come on Halibut!! Where are you?!

The rain stopped and I got hot…so off with the hoods! While floating around we loaded up bait on some poles and tried fishing that way too. And we talked and we laughed—The weather cleared and then got rainy again, on and off, on and off…

And before we sailed back in, we had seen GORGEOUS rainbows looking back toward the harbor. Isn’t there a life lesson there? We would have COMPLETELY missed those if we had wimped out due to the weather.

This was just a very humbling pinch me moment. Here I was….floating in the ocean, amidst these majestic mountains in ALASKA for cryin’ out loud. The world is so large and I felt so small and full of wonder at nature’s beauty. Even in the midst of storms.

Looking back toward the harbor…can you see these clouds just hanging?! And the water was not really smooth either ;c) This is what it’s really like to live. Just GET OUT THERE. Don’t always wait for things to be “just right” to go --- JUST GO!! Or you might miss it!

We gave up on our poles and reeled them in. Nothing was biting. That was okay!

We began to real in our skate line ----and UHOH!!

Our baits were COVERED with star fish!! I’d only ever seen DRY star fish before, not live ones…and the ones I was used to did NOT have this many arms!

This is the underside! And those little hairy things were moving around just like live vermicelli!

And HOLY COW! Look at the size of this one! You can see it was right on our bait….

This is the underside of him! WOW!! Is it any wonder that the Halibut weren’t after our bait? We’d landed it in a field of star fish..LOL! There was no way for the halibut to bite if they were covered by star fish. At least that is my excuse anyway. Who’d want to eat that thing first?

It was okay with me. Seriously. If you catch it, you clean it, and then you’d have to ship it home…..This way I had all the fun without the fuss!

And now, the work REALLY began. And it’s official……I am the NEW line-reeler-upper!

The line has to all be coiled just so, so it won’t tangle the next time you let it out! Boy was that a workout for both hands coiling it into the bucket. I actually thought they could use a gadget from knitters to coil it all back up again, don’t you think so? :c)

Pulling back into the harbor ---What an awesome experience! I’ll never forget this! And maybe NEXT TIME, we’ll actually catch something ;c)

Thanks Julie and Jerry!