Virginia is for……Quilters!

Die, Kudzu, Die!

For those of you unfamiliar with the south – you might not even have a clue of what the heck KUDZU is.  Just think of it like the old Jack & the Beanstalk legend – this leafy green vine grows at incredible rates – it’s true!  You can actually WATCH it grow (up to a foot a day!) until it covers everything in its path, turning anything that stands still into topiary sculptures. 

It will grow up the tallest tree, and then grow back down to the ground again forming curtains of green around everything.  It is comically (and non-comically as it has consequences) known as "the vine that ate the South."

But what do I see here?  Kudzu, you have nearly met your match for this year.  Nights are getting colder, things are starting to turn yellow-gold, and with the first frost event (who knows when that will be – this IS the south!) it will just curl up, die and be gone with nothing but brown stalk vines remaining – until spring.

For more on Kudzu, Click HERE.

My day yesterday started out with a couple of mundane but necessary errands – so many planes.  So much standing to teach.  So many miles walked getting from terminal to terminal -  Chiropractic is my savior and keeps me upright and moving forward.

I go about once a month.  But OCTOBER is by far my favorite!

Weeeeeee!

The office is on Main St in Winston-Salem, in an old house turned office and the house dates to the early 1900s.  It’s perfect for Halloween decorating.  My inner child was giddy with all the fun.

Trick or treat season rocks!

Oh my word.  Hello!

My bones are quaking!

The head under glass is the doc!

His mom made it years ago – the eyes?  Well, artistic license! LOL!

Oooh.  Just Oooh!

This little gem – an antique spool cabinet turned table with the addition of legs - was not an impulse purchase.  I had visited it at least 3 times over the past couple of months.  I left it there last Wednesday – but all through my trip to California, that niggle just wouldn’t leave me alone. 

I told myself that if it was still there on my way back up to Virginia that it was time to bring it home.

I needed a bigger table by my favorite hand stitching chair.  The little stand I had could be used as a night table next to one of the beds at Quiltville Inn, or could go in between the stitching chairs in the Hen Den, but this one – was for me.

Welcome home little perfect table!

And that tall thing in the center of the table?  It’s a vintage string ball holder. Sometimes it holds a cone of thread if I happen to be working off of a cone, and scissors can go in the top, but here I have used it to hold my Alex Anderson 4-in-1 Essential Sewing Tool.  It kept rolling it off the table, and this way it stays put.  I love this thing.

It has four Must-Have quilting tools in one.  It has a Flat-ended presser cap for finger pressing, folding, burnishing.  It also has a super-sharp seam ripper under that cap for fast "un-sewing". The pointed wood-end cap is helpful for turning bias tubes and “poking out” corners of things you’ve turned right side out after stitching (like pillows, cushions, purses and bags.)  And the extra-long stiletto under the pointy cap also comes in really handy.  

These will be available in the Quiltville Store SOON.  

They are on order, but likely to arrive after I leave for Kenya, so we’ll get them in the store when I come back.

I am up to date on place mat bindings!

It’s time to get another batch of place mats made and quilted, but I don’t know how I”m going to squeeze that in.  It’s been nuts since I got back Sunday night.

This post is a bit late this morning as I had to meet the gas company to fix a little propane leak I could smell while walking the side porch at Quiltville Inn.  

The pest control guy was here when I arrived yesterday afternoon.  We got set up on quarterly visits with them, so that is done.

We have located a chimney sweep who can get that taken care of so we will be safe to fire up the wood stove in the Hen Den.

We need a storm window for the kitchen “over the sink” window – the one I didn’t have them replace during the great 31 window replacement of 2019 because it has stained glass in it.  I wanted to keep those windows, so we need an outside storm window so that the breeze won’t blow the paper towels (or visiting quilters!) around like last year. (The first winter of any home tells you exactly what you don’t want to repeat!)

The on-demand hot water is proving to be interesting because no one is actually LIVING at the house.  If someone was, and using hot water regularly, it wouldn’t take so dang long to get any hot water to any shower or kitchen sink.  We are making an appointment to have that looked at, and possibly having to add a second one due to the size of the house.

MY FIRST GUESTS are coming in a month and I am getting a bit panicky!  It’s just a trial run.  I’ve invited my bee friends from Winston Salem to come Black Friday weekend and just stay 2 nights and give it a go to let me know what it needs so we will be really ready by Mother's Day, our projected opening time frame.

Son Jeff is about to arrive and help with the painting.  Today we start in on the trim in the dining room, and then FINALLY can set up the book shelves and get the books out of boxes.  That room will be done (But I still have my eye on a beautiful antique buffet for one wall!)

After the dining room, the focus is on the sewing room because as soon as the painting is done in there I can start covering insulation board with copious amounts of flannel for design walls.  Then THAT room will be ready to sew!  YAY!

And then – hallways, bathrooms, all window frames, moldings and doors. It’s down to the nitty gritty folks.  Can you hear me in an excited panic, just a bit?

This is a reminder to everyone that for the entire month of October the digital PDF pattern for my Punkin Patch Table Runner is on sale at half price in the Quiltville Store for only $4.00 - No coupon needed!

It's time to get your autumn love in full swing!

Here is Judy’s finish that she just sent in!

She writes:

Hi Bonnie,
Just had so much fun this past weekend coming up with my version of this table runner.  I found the pattern in Quiltmaker, although not your usual clear directions.  But, I had forgotten that you also included it in String Frenzy - now I understand!

So while family watches football, I sew.  Then when we get our first untimely snowfall, I sew.  Last night I took it over to our daughter who has just moved back to the Yukon, and put it on her new table in her finally-finished renovated house.

Here it is, dwarfing our coffee table.  It made a very small dent in my fabric collection but, as I keep at it, I see the stash dwindling, even getting to the dregs of my orange strings.  I even made a flange to try to use up a small piece of that striped fabric.  My default quilting is meandering.

Thanks for the fun you share with so many.

Thank you Judy!  I love it – and that piped binding?  PERFECTION!

So go grab your pattern – pull yourself some oranges – and get sewing!

Quiltville Quote of the Day -

It's got to happen right where you are, right now.

Not when things are different or better.

Choose happiness right now.

Enjoy your Tuesday, everyone!