Gettin' Outta Dodge!

Martha and I hit the open road yesterday morning, down through Sparta, over to Mount Airy.

We were women on a mission, and my first "long" outing in close to 3 weeks.

We had big (although easily manageable) plans on my first official day of weight-bearing-boot-wearing.

Lunch at a favorite Mexican place, then over to get our hair cuts, a run-in (More like a hobble pushing a cart) to Dollar Tree for a couple of needed items, a stop of ice cream on the way home.

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Let The Good Times Roll!

This beautiful bouquet came courtesy of my neighbor and friend Jean who picked these beauties from her yard before swinging down the road to the State Line store to pick us up breakfast sandwiches so we could spend part of the morning visiting while eating something yummy.

Breakfast with a friend is something that rarely happens - the blog and social media take up my morning times (no regrets) and my days are full leaving my free time in the evening.

Of course Sundays are wide open - but stores are closed around here on Sunday, so there is that.

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Just an Ordinary Wednesday -

Week by week things change around here.

And when you only leave the house once within that week - it's noticeable!

Tuesday evening we took a little ride over to the QPO -

Dave with his "to do list" hand written by me to double check that things were done inside for the July Quiltvillians who arrived yesterday afternoon (You know all of those soap and shampoo and body wash bottles aren't going to magically refill or replace themselves!)

And I had a couple of orders to fill that took mere minutes - but it was an outing.

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Long Quilty Summer Nights!

I love the fun and festivity each group brings to retreat at Quiltville Inn!

The fun with Chris's Christmas in July group didn't end with cookie decorating on the porch - it continued through the evening with red hot wood coals, glowing bracelets, necklaces and s'mores!

One has to wonder, and I didn't ask - do the glowing bracelets ATTRACT mosquitoes at night? LOL!

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Monday - Outing Day!

In the event of rain, quilters are adventurously resilient!

Chris's Christmas in July group said goodbye to two of their members yesterday afternoon, and since the rain kept photo shoots from happening in front of the house, or over the side porch rail, they simply set up a timer on the camera and hurried for a "photo booth style" group shot.

I think they did marvelously!

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Entering Week Two -

This was so unexpected.  And so lovely!

Thank you!

All of the emails, messages and even cards have lifted my spirits greatly and I know I will get through this if I can muster enough patience to just lay low for the recommended amount of time.

IT IS SO HARD!

The knee scooter is helping greatly but I am still limited to the main floor of my little house.

Thank heavens for loads of hand quilting.  And podcasts.  And audiobooks and some TV here and there (Because too much is mind numbing.)

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A Very Quilty QPO Visit!

Pay no attention to the lady with the big black boot -

Instead, feast your eyes on Chris's beautiful  Easy Street quilt from MORE Adventures with Leaders & Enders with borders nearly completed!

Yesterday was my big outing day - I was driven to the QPO and parked closed to the back door so I could use my crutches to hobble inside and plant myself in my recliner where all of the quilters came to say hello.

And they brought me lunch!  Now this is living, let me tell you!

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Where Bee Balm Blooms!

Would you look at that deep rich red!

This morning I was going through photos taken before the Big Swing Crash of 2022 and found these from Saturday morning's walk along Round House Road.

It had been a few weeks - because of the stubbing of my RIGHT toes in a previous Mabel pushing past me down the stairs incident that left me unable to get anything but a flip flop past those toes.

Yes, I sense a theme, don't you?

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Yes, They Did This!

A few months back Patty contacted me about surprising her Pieceful Hearts group with "Quiltville Inn" fabric printed at Spoonflower.

Her daughter is an amazing designer and she set her to work on making a wonderful collage of sewing motifs and phrases specifically oriented to Quiltville Inn as well as our quilting life in general - all seated on a beautiful rainbow colored background.

All of this surprise happening behind the scenes unbeknownst to the other members of the group.

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A Quick Hello -

Hello from my "one floor" living experience!

When you are used to living on 3 levels and everything is spread from top to bottom, it's quite an abrupt change to limit yourself to one floor!

I am sharing this photo so you can see how I am surviving.  

Quite well, actually!

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Out For The Count

I embody the term accident-prone. ⁣

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And it isn't always my own fault. ⁣

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Sometimes accidents are just that - accidents.  ⁣

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Last evening The Hubster and I were enjoying the bench swing that hangs between the two huge chestnut trees in the side yard at Quiltville Inn while waiting for the fire pit to get going. ⁣

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The swing hung from a huge lodge pole. There was a crack and a crash and we were on the ground.  ⁣

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My left leg had been bent at the knee positioning my foot under the swing as we came down. ⁣

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The falling pole hit the bridge of my nose. ⁣

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Both the left ankle and nasal bone are fractured and the little town of Jefferson NC doesn't have an orthopedics guy so they sent me home with a plaster splint and meds. ⁣

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I'll contact the ortho guy in Galax tomorrow and hope he can get me in. ⁣

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I'd say this looks worse than it feels but that would be a lie. ⁣

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When it hurts too much to even think of quilting, you know I'm hurtin' for certain. ⁣

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I may be taking a few days off blogging. Crutches and stairs are proving difficult. ⁣

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Friend Martha is going to help get the retreat ready for the next group. The hubster is my hero and will take time off work to do all the needed laundry. ⁣

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The next group has been here twice before and knows where stuff is. ⁣

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It takes a village.  ⁣

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And I'm the village klutz. 🤪⁣

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#quiltville #bonniekhunter #oops #klutz #why #ohwhy #ouch #bonniehunter #quilter 

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Gone Up The Mountain -

Yesterday morning was slated for a hike up to the Appalachian Trail!

It took two cars with 8 of us and two dogs, but it was so worth it!

If you ever wondered why the Blue Ridge is called the Blue Ridge, all you need to do is take a look at the view behind us and no other words are needed.

I am so happy to be calling this little corner of the world home - 

And I'm even happier to have folks who encourage ME to keep walking and hiking as we all know that quilting is a sedentary sport and if we don't move it we lose it.

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Kismet PDF Pattern Gift-Away!

Good Morning, Quiltvillians!

Here we are, smack dab in the middle of July - summer heat and all - and I think it's time to beat that heat with something COOL!

Where did all of my little Fish School Leader & Ender units end up?

Let me tell you - when two of my favorite units of all time - triangles and string blocks - end up together, it's Kismet!

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Friends With Pizza and a Frolic Quilt!

This is the kind of Scrap Happiness that happens in the QPO Studio!

Friend Martha finished her FROLIC quilt!  I am so tickled for her.  To watch her learn and grow and try different techniques and find ways to do tings that bring her joy - that's what it's all about, isn't it?

I know my quilts can be kind of on the EXTREME side of patchwork.  Okay, who am I kidding?  I love piece-heavy quilts and they can be intimidating, but when that top is together - whooo baby, it's GORGEOUS!

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Dirt Road Driving -

Every once in a while - just of some random evening when the bug hits us - we pile into the truck with both dogs and head out exploring random dirt roads we've never been on before, just to see what is there.

The one good thing about going out in the evening?  The heat of the day is cooling down, the air is just that much fresher, and the dogs love  "windows down and heads out"  with their noses picking up everything within a however-far-away distance.

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When Quilters Gather -

Yesterday morning was overcast and mild - a perfect scenario for getting those over the porch rail photos that we love to see so much -

I get a giggle from the beeps and waves that happen as cars drive by.

Would you look at the quilts that Judy's Quilters brought to the rail!

They filled up the whole side of the house.  SUCH productivity!

No, not all were made at this retreat - some were started at LAST retreat, with the goal to finish them so they could have their photos take over the rail.  I love seeing all of these finishes!

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Making Our Own Sunshine!

We are growing moss between our toes.  It has rained ALL weekend.

So much so that yesterday's gentle rain - no wind, no thunder, no storm - fell continually and kept temps no higher than 65 degrees all day.

Judy's Stitchers hail from as deep south as Alabama and Mississippi, so we dubbed yesterday "The day we will remember in the heat of August."

It didn't stop meals on the porch.  It was perfectly heavenly for long afternoon naps with the sound of the rain tapping on the metal roof above the rafters.

And the quilting continued on and on -

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Steppin' Out!

This is how we got our strut on yesterday morning before the heat of the day increased our need for a/c!

One van load, full up and ready, loaded up and headed out to Bear Branch Road for a lovely walk through the countryside.

"Don't worry, there are no steep hills!" I encouraged.

"It's down a holler, it will be mostly shady!" I touted.

What I forgot to mention were all the wild flowers we'd see on our way.

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Judy's Stitchers Are Stitching!

This is the kind of fun and creativity I walked into yesterday!

Color color and more color!

Fun projects up on design walls and scattered across all flat surfaces including ironing stations, cutting stations and sewing areas.

It's a whirlwind of creativity - of the best kind!

From beginnings to bindings, it's all happening this week at Quiltville Inn!

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Going Up Top!

See those clouds? The sky doesn't look that great, does it?

This was just an indication of what would happen later in the afternoon.

While processing some Quiltville Store orders yesterday morning a call from Martha came in with a tantalizing invitation.

"Wanna go Up Top?!"

For those not in the know - I live in the vicinity of the two tallest mountain peaks in Virginia.  

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Losing My Mind.

This week I am celebrating SMALL progress - on anything.

This is a week of baby steps still moving us forward.

Sometimes we don't get to cheer the big achievements.  But that doesn't mean we should overlook the ones that still get us somewhere.

Don't let the perceived smallness of any task fall through the cracks.  It matters.  Everything we do matters as part of the whole.

And if you feel like you've been spinning your wheels, perhaps this will mean something to you too.

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Quiltmaker July/Aug '22 Gift-Away!

I've been putting this off for a couple of weeks.

I had too many irons in the fire all at the same time!

And now that our long holiday weekend has passed, I thought I'd toss this up there and see if I can get you SEWING!

I wait eagerly for each issue - I'm ready to dive in to the next installment of Ruby Jubilee, celebrating Quiltmaker's 40th year of quilty existence.  And of course to see which Addicted to Scraps block they chose for this issue - because that is a surprise to me too.

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Long Holiday Weekend At Hand -

This lovely shade of green!

I took a little walk through the side yard at Quiltville Inn to check in on our apple trees and look!

Baby apples are covering the branches of the three old trees.

There is also signs that deer have been trying to get to them already - we may need to find some way to rope them off.

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Leader & Ender Challenge 1! Triple Treat!

It's TIME!

It's finally time to pull out ALL the stops and issue our next Leader & Ender challenge - Triple Treat!

Did you know this is our 12th Leader & Ender challenge?

Yes!  We've been doing it that long.  Our first one was in 2012 with Cheddar Bow Ties, and all of our previous challenges are still found under the Free Patterns Tab at the top of the blog.

I get just this much giddy when I think of all of the beautiful quilts that have been made in between the lines of chain piecing other things, simply by using pre-cut pieces and making simple blocks, instead of sewing over and over and over that same folded piece of garbage scrap and then throwing all of that time (and thread) away.

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Hello, July '22!

Lola thinks the gifted box of shirt parts that Nancy sent are just purrrrfect for her afternoon nap.

However - I have other plans for these and she is going to have to move aside and find somewhere else to plant herself!

Sometimes projects just go with fits and starts.  Have you noticed that?

Other things crop up and push aside, and it takes me a while to get back to them.  The most recent things to pull me away from the shirt quilt project were my purple blocks for Quiltmaker's Ruby Jubilee and the Unchained quilt that demanded to be put together and finished.

I'm now in the binding zone for Unchained, so I could get back to playing with these yesterday.

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