Pineapple Blossoms in Oak Ridge!

I know my posts are kind of scrambled and not in order --- this is what happens when you don’t have enough days in a row to post all the things you want to post in a row because OTHER things…like posts on tobacco farming ((Such a quilty subject, right?!?)) Get thrown into the mix!

Our workshops in Oak Ridge, TN were held at the Oak Ridge Civic Center, and what a neat place that is! It’s next to the library, it has a gym for basketball, a pool for aquatics, a room with pool tables ((okay, sounds better if I say billiards??)) and ping pong…..and rooms where people can meet for different purposes, just like we did!

There is also a lovely paved walking track that goes around the outside, but it had turned cold and windy and I was wimping out because I didn’t have a warmer jacket with me --- or I would have used it!

Our room was large and well lit --- and because we had the room for Friday AND Saturday, we didn’t have a “Have to be out by” time on Friday night! Some stayed and sewed quite late! We just had to tell the people at the desk that we were done so they could lock up. It was also nice that those who came on Friday AND Saturday could just leave their stuff in the room locked up safe, and not have to repack and unpack machines and “stuff” the next morning.

This design was on the floor right outside our room! Yep…it’s a good sign, isn’t it?

We had a great time playing in our strips, making pineapple blossom blocks. What I love about this class is that it goes SO FAST…you get a lot done in one day…just look at what these ladies accomplished:

		Pineapple Blossom, Oak Ridge TN 2011 VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

And of course….LUNCH BUFFET!!

Do you see what I mean about it being IMPOSSIBLE to be “good” on these trips? The food was phenomenal. I did stick to the lovely salads. Oh, and some home made chili, and yes….Anna’s decadent hot buffalo chicken dip. OH MY!! If I can find where I put the recipe she gave me, I’ll post it. It was SCRUMPTIOUS! But then anything with melted cream cheese in it gets my vote.

I think I could just eat melted cream cheese with a spoon.

THIS STUFF!! This is the stuff that I can’t turn away from. It’s a simple bowl of salted peanuts with candy corn thrown in, but what a mix of salty sweet! It’s dangerous. If you see this at a guild meeting, do NOT START on it. You won’t be able to stop! This has followed me EVERYWHERE since I first had it in Kansas. And did you know that brach's also makes a "caramel apple" candy corn!? Do NOT start on that either. Seriously dangerous.

Things are flying by so fast time-wise that I just realized we have less than a month until it’s time to CRUISE!! Our November cruise is going to be loads of fun. We’ve got 56 cruisers this time! ((!!!)) We have four days at sea where we are just floating about, not going into port, and those are the days we have class. The first 2 days I’ll have half the cruisers and Pat Sloan will have the other half --- and on the way back we flip flop! Isn’t that going to be fun?

So I’m kind of in a tizzy getting all the kit stuff together. It’s twice as much STUFF as the last cruise! Talk about BURIED under kit stuff. But what a way to go, right?