There is a lot of quilty productivity happening in the Quilting Quarters!
But there has also been time for me to break away and find myself winding down county mountain roads along ridges I've never been on before -
I love a canopy of green over a winding dirt road!
This all came about when The Hubster and Martha's hubby Don decided that Saturday would be a great day for a long motorcycle ride on all of these winding roads.
And no - we didn't ride with them, but said we would meet up with them for lunch along the way if they would name the place. Dip Dog it was! (Best corn dogs this side of anywhere!)
That meant that Martha would pick me up at the inn around 11am and we would head out to meet our road riding guys.
(Did I mention that I almost got sucked in to taking home another puppy?? There was a lady in the parking lot, her adorable kids holding up FREE PUPPIES signs. It was hard to walk away!)
The guys took off on the bikes again and we just decided to take the road less traveled home in a direction I had never been before - and these are some of the things we saw:
Vacant very gothic looking church in the middle of nowhere.
As the story goes - this church was never finished. The man who was building it got sick and passed away. The good news is - someone has purchased it and is going to turn it into a house. HOORAY!
You can't see it from here, but the view out the back is outstanding. I am sure it will have a lovely new life.
Down around and behind and a bit further -
We stopped at this cute little church (established 1842!) where some gentlemen were working on installing new front doors.
Not only did they ring the bell in the bell tower for our pleasure, but they filled us in on what was going on with the brick church building pictured above.
And they had stories to tell! Not only about that building and the newcomer who had purchased it, but they are familiar with the Field's House turned Quiltville Inn and recollected going to school with so and so and that relative and other items about this area. FUN!
They let us tour the inside -
Aren't these lamps gorgeous?
The were originally oil lamps, but electrified at some point during the past however many years.
Tiny country churches seem to dot this area about every 1/2 mile or so. And as we kept driving -
We came upon this one.
No one inside for me to see those stained glass windows, though.
Some day I'll go back and putter through that cemetery.
Farm house tucked way back.
It looks like it has a new coat of fresh white paint - and that makes me happy.
Saturday Night's fire pit!
NO RAIN!
Perfect way to end a great out and about day!
I also accepted an invitation for another galivant yesterday afternoon - in an opposite direction. MORE Photos to come!
I can always count on Martha to show me the best out of the way places - So be watching for those photos to post tomorrow.
Right now I'm dealing with a bit of a pickle. You know we live by cell data at the cabin as we are unable to get internet installed where we are.
(Don't tell me about the satellite routine - we are in a holler and we can't get high def anything due to the mountains and the tree cover. We've tried.)
We had lost our signal, even with our high powered repeater that amplified the signal from the nearest tower. Where we previously had several bars of 4G - we are now down to 1X and we don't know why.
I was able to text and to call my dad from the porch last night - but inside there is no reception at all.
So this morning I came to the Quiltville Post Office (QPO) studio early to get my work done. Thank heavens for this!
In about an hour I'm heading out to Winston for an eye doc appt. It's been 2 years. I didn't go last year due to Covid, and my vision seemed just fine. But over the past several months I can tell my prescription needs a tweak. I have my fingers crossed that the right adjustments will have me seeing better.
This aging eyes things is just a pain, isn't it?
This is Lola on my desk while I type.
Any box will do??
And yes, I have a top finish.
But still deciding on borders.
I'll be back to the inn later today for dinner, group photos and over the rail quilt shots.
The July Quiltvillians will be heading home tomorrow, and the August Quiltvillians will arrive Wednesday afternoon!
How was your weekend? Did you get up to anything fun for the first weekend of August, 2021?
Quiltville Quote of the Day -
This I am 100% sure of!
Have a happy Monday everyone - it's a brand new week!
19 comments:
Nothing like a ride in the country, away from all noise and stress of highway traffic, to restore peace to your spirit. What a wonderful way to spend the day!
What a beautiful drive through the back roads with Martha. I didn't get any stitches in but am up early on a Monday, with stitching on my brain. Gotta unpack more things that I sent home from Omaha and find places for them to be in my Quilty Space. The fire pit looks sew FUN! Smores on an evening together sounds just delightful.
Love the wider pictures. If you wander with an open heart you will probably find some beautiful wonders to give you hope and joy.
Re: Cell service
I wonder if the cell tower went thru an 'upgrade' and changed settings on it. Might be worth a call to contact the provider you use that goes thru this tower. If no help, I'd then contact the company that you got the repeater from, explain you had good service until a couple days ago and ask them to walk thru with you the settings to see if they need to be changed.
It is also possible the internal software on the repeater has been upgraded and you're still using an older version.
Friends picked us up yesterday afternoon for a ramble on back roads to a little vineyard. Gorgeous rural scenery and lovely weather. A summer trip we won't soon forget. Turns out we liked the hard cider they were making better than the wine!
Thank you for showing the pictures of the old churches and there always seems to be a cemetery close to these old churches. Family histories from these gravestones. You are so blessed to live in such a beautiful area and it is great that you are able to show it to so many.
Bonnie, do you know the name of the pattern of the quilt under the quote?
Another puppy? We need pics? Such fun!
So many little treasures in your neck of the woods! So fun to see them :0) Happy Travels and good luck with your eye exam.
Dip dog! So yummy. I now travel through Bristol from Winston Salem when visiting my Dad in Kentucky so I can make a Dip Dog stop.
The Farm House photograph reminds me of the Jimmy Stewart movie: "Shenandoah". Loved all your photographs and I too love to just go drive off the beaten path.
Lots of August birthdays in my family. Three in a row. My sister, my daughter, and then my grandson. Do yesterday we had an early birthday cake for daughter.
Hey Bonnie-I see a quilt block pattern in the stained glass window of the last church building photo! Blue Ridge Beauty?
My wifi went wonky when Sprint was purchased by TMobile. My company finally had to give me new equipment after 7.5 months. You may have to go to Starlink. It is in beta testing and almost ready to purchase.
Finishing up a 3 1/2 year quest with my daughter and youngest grands (13-year GD and 9-year old GS. We saw and took pictures of the 105th, and last, KS county courthouse. That is a LOT of counties. A few days of fun in Colorado then home. It has been such a joy doing this with them.
Thanks for sharing that lovely mountain drive and congrats on your freshly finished quilt top, Bonnie! Sew a stitch or two for me, if you please. I'm packing up my sewing room. The movers will be here on Thursday. YIKES!!
I can commiserate with the internet/cell service availability issue - many of us who live in rural areas have problems with it. While there is pretty good cell service at my home in rural Ohio, my daughter lives in a valley and has virtually no service except for an occasional text (which is pretty rare) and forget internet except for dial-up (which is impossible to work with). We also deal with little "pockets" where the coverage from towers doesn't meet, leaving spots where cell calls are dropped and homes in that "pocket" can't use their cell phones. We residents are used to hearing phrases like, "You're breaking up, let me move back toward the window" or "I'm almost to Prairie Chapel, I'll probably lose you". As one can imagine, it's often a real hassle to do business or work from home and it also made remote learning even harder for the school-aged children and their parents during the pandemic.
Good luck with your 4G - hope the issue is resolved soon!!!
I’m an August Quiltvillian! Can’t wait! 🎶all my bags are packed and I’m ready to go!
love your new finish Bonnie - it's great - just one I'd love to make I think - the colour combinations alone!
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