Hello!

Yeah, I know! It's been a week! A whole WEEK since I left home last Tuesday morning and headed SW toward the Atlanta, GA area.

I hadn't taken a car trip in quite a while! And I remembered how much I love it. I love the freedom of being able to stop where I want....See this little map with the stars? Those are the locations of ABBOTT FARMS peach stands and stores! Guess what has been in season the past couple weeks? Sweet, Juicy, Sticky, Sweet PEACHES! I know peaches are thought of as a Georgia thing, but did you know that more peaches are actually grown in South Carolina than Georgia? TRUE!

So I pulled off at one of the Abbott Farms stores after reading all the bill boards about the free samples, and made my way down the aisle of chutneys, chowchows, jams, jellies and other condiments. Take it from me..you do not WANT to even THINK about trying the HOT HOT CHOW CHOW.....I love love hot and spicy, but this one was SO hot my mouth and throat and belly were burning. It took 4 glasses of the "free" peach cider (also delicious) to get my mouth somewhat back to normal.

It wasn't a total waste though, I brought home some peach/pecan preserves...YUMMMMM!!! And a jar of no-sugar-added peach jam too. I also enjoyed some delicious fresh peaches. I love peach season!

And if you want to take a peek, there are some great peach recipes HERE!

I had a great time with the Georgia Friendship guild, and the ladies with the Bulloch Hall Quilt guild.

I even got a chance to tour Bulloch Hall, in Roswell, GA...which is the childhood home of Theodore Roosevelt's mother, Middy. She was married there in the dining room at Bulloch Hall. If you have a chance to check it out, please do! It was built in the early 1800s, and amazingly missed being burned down after the civil war. It has a fascinating history.

We even enjoyed a few quilt sightings!



Of course I loved the old treadle sewing machine shown here in the upstairs...right by the window so there would be lots of natural light!



And isn't this a beauty?!? I was lucky enough to get close enough to get a good shot of the applique block. I was at Siobhan's house (of Scraps & Threadtales fame!) on Friday night, showed it to her, and she called it "Crossed Tulips" And has also seen it in another antique quilt from the Maryland area, in a quilt known as the Mary Manakee Quilt (pardon me if I mispell the name) and it makes sense, because the Bullochs came down to Georgia from the North East in the 1830s? So it fit the time frame. Exciting, yes? I also love how the colors have faded on this one....was that tan originally red?! Who knows?

In getting Siobhan's blog link to include it above, I also saw she posted pics of the trunkshow I did for her guild, Pieceful Hearts in North Augusta, SC on Saturday. The pot-luck buffet lunch was not to be missed of course! We both KNEW someone would bring the pimiento cheese sandwhiches (on white wonder bread with crusts removed) and we were not disappointed! Those ladies can sure lay out a spread of good eats!



But this humble little servant's quilt was my favorite of all....simple 9 patches in a configuration of 5, set on point, simply sashed. Look at the cornerstones! they are little rail blocks too. This is just adorable, and of course I loved the scrappiness of it, and the cheddar goes without explaining ;c)

It was just a WONDERFUL time to be in the Atlanta area, but let me tell you, it was a booger to get out of town on Friday afternoon! I'm talking stand still traffic after 3pm that was mind boggling. Yes, I knew it was a holiday weekend, but even trying to re-route my GPS to keep me off the interstate until I was past Stone Mountain did NOTHING to help. it took me 4.5 hours to get to Augusta from Atlanta! What a zoo. I just kept telling myself that if Rhett & Scarlett could make it with a sick Mellie in the back of the wagon, while all of Atlanta was burning, that I'd eventually get through it too.

I'm home for 9 days! And I'm making the most of them. I'm sewing some, I'm cleaning some, I'm organizing some, and knocking "must do's" off my list. At quite a leisurely pace and that feels wonderful. It's been cool enough at night to sleep with windows open in NC! Contrast that to the 98 degrees in Atlanta when I was leaving town, and I am so relieved to be just "THAT MUCH" more north than I used to be! This is when I really love being a NC girl...beautiful indian summer days, cooler nights with windows open to enjoy the sounds of crickets and peepers and cicadas....