Across the Lake and Over the Mountain!

I love a less traveled road!

I will take that road every chance I get – because you will never know just what might be around the the next bend, over the next rise, just ahead -

And such was my journey to Bedford yesterday to meet up with Carol’s hubby who would help me load 2 vintage mahogany sleigh beds into the van, chatting up a storm along the way.

Not my usual route – Bedford is about 30 minutes drive WEST of Lynchburg, and the GPS sent me up toward Roanoke, and then East at Rocky mount, through the mountains.  At once point I crossed the vast expanse of Smith Mountain Lake – the location that so named our Smith Mountain Morning quilt from my book Scraps & Shirttails II and I was reminded all over again of just how soul centering this place is.


It was abouut 9am as I crossed the lake, the sun glinting off the water, some fishermen gliding on its surface – likely having been out there since dawn.

The sun had done a good job of burning through the early October mist, and it reconfirmed to my “Slow down and don’t be in such a hurry to get there” self that these joys are missed if we go through life with blinders on at a too fast, stick to the agenda pace.

There they are, in the back of the van!  BEAUTIFUL!

The beautiful Bedford County Courthouse!

This job taken care of, I had the rest of the day stretched out in front of me – I wandered east through Lynchburg and north up to Charlottesville, and on a whim – went East again once I hit I-64.   There is a CLUSTER of Antiquing goodness in the Richmond area, a mere 45 minutes from my turn off where highway 29 meets I-64.

Let it it also be said that I KNOW there are awesome quilt shops in the area as well, but I didn’t stop this time. Some days are just for wandering solo.

Oh pretty!

I don’t know what it is about my love of pretty dishes, but knowing that I can’t own them all – I did give them a good pet – There were not enough really to make a set of anything, but aren’t they pretty?

And I wondered about the “instant ancestors” in the photo frames – where were they?  I could make up stories about them I guess – “Once their eyes met across a crowded room they knew they were soulmates and would spend their lives making each other happy……”  Oh, and “He let her indulge every fabric whim as she made beautiful quilts from morning until night…..”  LOL!

Lovely little lady!!

The decals were great, the electrical not so much.

But wonderful to save as a photo!

Fortune cooke salt & pepper shakers!

I love how kookie (cookie!) these are!

(I’m regretting that I didn’t buy them,, but oh, well!)

And yes yes yes!

This goes right along with a conversation I had with my dad reminiscing about when I was little!  He said “I always knew you were a determined little girl, but never could guess just where that would take you!”  (Love my daddy –can you tell?)

Lunch with a tobacco barn!

I love taking a sack lunch and finding a spot where I can eat it in the shade of an old tree.  This was at Meadow Farm outside of Glen Allen – and though it looks idyllic, let me tell you that I never considered the mosquitoes this late in October!

Or the fact that it would be 90 degrees out.

But isn’t this old drying barn just the cutest thing?  Surrounded by tobacco plants  - it looks so authentic.

Still that was the quickest sack lunch you ever saw anyone eat and I was out of there before the mozzies up and carried me away.  This morning there are huge welts on my arms, my ankles and a doozy on my neck, the vicious little vampires!

The mosquitoes have tripled in size and in number since the Hurricane – all of the standing wet everywhere is just such a breeding ground.

I finished up my night with some English Paper piecing -

But I have a confession to make.  Before heading out to Arizona for Mark’s memorial service I had “off loaded” a stack of completed blocks to lighten my load.

I put them in the proverbial “Safe Place” so that I wouldn’t lose them.

Can I find them?  NO!

This has resulted in several rounds of “clean the sewing studio” hoping they would turn up.  There are more than a dozen, closer to 20 of them – SOMEWHERE.

Maybe those fortune cookie salt & pepper shakers know where they are?  Hopefully they turn up before I need to put this quilt together.

This morning I am on the road to meet up with Jeanette in Staunton VA to pick up the twin bed frames she has carted down from New Jersey.

And then I’m on my way to Mouth of Wilson to drop everything off at Quiltville Inn.

Did you happen to catch yesterday's Quiltmaker Bundle Gift-Away??  Enter to win ON THAT POST.

Quiltville Quote of the Day.

Vintage quilt found in West Jefferson, NC.

The quilt was evidently an un-quilted top that was finished some time later – bright acrylic yarn ties and poly batting tell that story!

Putting out anyone else's light does not make yours shine any brighter -

Join forces and celebrate each others successes!

We are all in this together!

Happy Friday, folks!