In Charlotte!

Here I am from Johnson & Wales University, in beautiful downtown Charlotte, NC!

I've had the best time! Yesterday I left the house and went to the airport in Charlotte to pick up Pat Sloan. I was one nervous nelly, as I was afraid I'd be late for her arrival, not know where to find her, not find a parking spot, you know all those things one worries about when playing driver to a REAL Quilt Celeb! ;c)

I texted her when I got in, her flight had just landed, and we met at the baggage claim....and off we went!

We headed toward Mary Jos, but decided to get some lunch first. Now if you've been to Mary Jos..you may remember what it looked like a few years back. If you haven't been lately, you would be amazed at how the whole shebang is taking on a NEW look thanks to a new facade and facelift...I had to explain how the mall was taken down around Mary Jos..just leaving her and the Harris Teeter grocery store standing. THey have added strip mall parts all around with brand new shops and restaurants. It looks REALLY updated and nice, where it used to be so dumpy before!

We stopped at a new McAllister's deli they built across the parking lot and enjoyed our lunch out on the patio.

From there we headed to Mary Jos.......what fun to watch! Here is a pic of the new facade on the south side of the building, and showing the old facade on the west side....see the new NAME PLATE in stone on the new side? So much better than those old green letters!


And who is THIS..taking a pic of me while I take a pic of her taking a pic of the building showing the old vs new?! LOL!!! I am in AWE of this big green traveling purse, let me tell you....NEED one..if you travel alot, you know what I mean! This purse is the bomb!

I did a bit of damage at Mary Jos...most of all, I bought 6 yards of solid "schoolbus"..otherwise known as my favorite cheddar. It's a staple. What can I say? Just have to have it! I also bought a few remnants and some FQs...and got out of there for under $25.00. Not bad. Not bad at all!

Knowing that Pat had just recently acquired a vintage type writer at an antique place in MN....I thought about taking her to "Sleepy Poet Antique Mall" here in Charlotte. I've found good deals there in the past.

This time nothing came home with either of us, but it was fun looking!



Just look at the colors in this Pennsylvania Dutch style "Sugar Loaf" Quilt! Isn't it amazing? It was pretty spendy, but definitely worth a photo op.

And here is Miss Pat, checking out those fabrics and the wonderful stitching!


Goose In The Pond is another favorite pattern....here it is in traditional blue and white, hold it up, Vanna!! :cD




Broken Dishes in red and white! Lovely stitching...still a bit pricey, but I love being able to see the quilts up close, and even touching them. Can't do THAT at a quilt show!

The diamond quilt here took my breath away. Early to mid 1800's fabrics. Many of them shredding..but what was in it was AMAZING. Just studying the fabrics was a joy! I think Pat got better pics of the fabrics in this one....so if I can get them from her I'll post. I just LOVED this one, but it was too damaged to really want to bring home for the price it was selling for. Still...great to touch that piece of history.

The pieced poppy pattern next to it was also really cool. We could see the pencil marks for the quilting designs on it. Probably it's never been washed....what a great day for quilt eye candy!

Since we arrived, it's been a whirlwind of activity. We are sharing our fun dorm room style accommodations together, two bed rooms connected by a bathroom....we both taught classes today, Pat a design class, while I taught a string spiderweb class. I had 16 students, and it was a flurry of flying scraps and stories of how old the fabrics were and where they came from and what was going on in their lives when that fabric first entered their stash. Just really a great group of ladies.

We are about to take off for supper...and unwind tonight! Tomorrow we do it all again, and home on Sunday...

Have a great weekend everyone!

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Thank You....

My heart is very full at the love and support you've shown over our ordeal with Buddy, and at the same time, I keep reminding myself that there are even more things going on in the world that need our prayers and concern. Like this mess in the GULF for instance.

I listened at the gym today as some news report asked where the support from hollywood was as far as this disaster is concerned. And I thought to myself...wait a minute....Katrina was a natural disaster, mother nature at her worst. Same thing with the Tsunami that followed not long after, and the earthquake in Haiti. Lots of help from Hollywood's actors in those messes....and I applaud the many that went out of their way to help both with hands-on and monetary donations.

The gulf mess? Why should hollywood's wealthy famous have to foot the bill for THAT?! Isn't that BP's problem? I just don't see that natural disasters, and this one are one in the same. I know it's bad.....but you just can't ask and demand that those in the eye of the camera stand up and clean up.

And this is about as political as I get. If there was something I could do, I'd do it...after all that BP can do first. (Please don't make me don my flame proof pants, I'm already down about a run away cat, a grandfather's passing, and having to put my dog down..you don't want to mess with me!)

It was really hard to be home alone yesterday. Jeff had gone to school and DH was at work, so I got in the car and off I went for a pedicure. Anyone else cry during a pedi? The little Asian lady working on me just kept patting me, there was a language barrier, but I think her heart could feel mine. It helped. Any kind of human touch helps.

From there, I decided that since my eyes were already red and puffy..I'd head off and have my brows waxed. At this point, Michele asks me....."Hey, want me to do your upper lip too?" What do you MEAN my upper lip? Does it need it? and then I got the dreaded words..

"Well you know....when we women reach a certain age, certain things start to appear..." (*&@#$(*&(*&(*&!!! I've grown peach fuzz! And I asked her...if she removed it...is it going to grow back in darker?! Ratz.

We did kind of laugh about it. I mean, who else can you laugh about it with other than another woman of the same age? Which reminds me...I better go pluck the long hair that keeps returning from that mole underneath my chin :c/

This morning I was up to hit the gym early. I really missed the sound of Buddy's tail thump thump thumping to greet me good morning as I descended the stairs. I hit the elliptical trainer with a vengeance, and my floor workout was brutal. I figure since I was sweating so much, and breathing hard, and that my face was red with exertion, that no one would notice the tracks of my tears as well. I came home, took a long hot shower, and got to work.

I've done most of my packing for tomorrow. I'm ready for my jaunt to the airport to pick up Pat Sloan! Several girlfriends are also going to be at Symposium this week, so I think this is just what the doc ordered. I'm SO happy this trip is close to home for me, (About 80 miles) and at the same time, I'm a relative newbie to North Carolina. Having only lived here 2 years, I am looking forward to getting to know the Charlotte guild ladies who are in charge of the whole shebang. They've done a ton of work behind the scenes...It's gonna be GOOD!

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Rest In Peace, Buddy

Feb 14, 2000 - June 1, 2010

Blood work came back that Buddy was also battling cancer. It's just too much. He's lived a good life. I will miss him every day.

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Antiquing in Decatur...

Sharon J and I spent last Wednesday after the guild meeting taking my quilt bags to Fex Ex to be shipped home...and, out antiquing!

The antique mall was a large refurbished train station, and at first glance, we weren't sure we were going to find ANYTHING..it was quite "prissy" for lack of a better word. Lots of depression glass and fancy dust catchers, not much of the stuff I love such as old tins with cool labels, beat up housewares, crocks, chamber pots, baskets...the stuff that "daily life" was made of.

I did fall in love with this Brunswick Treadle machine....at a really reasonable price! But alas, it would not fit in my carry on and my other baggage was already over weight limits..lol!

But upstairs in one corner of the antique mall...we found:

It's made with 30's 40's prints and solids...and what I love about it is the purple background! I also love how not all the kite shapes are string pieced in the same way and direction, but several are more crumby!

It's a youth size...for a whopping...$40. :cD And the hand quilting stitches in the purple areas are minuscule!! Who ever made this was not a haphazard quilter by any means.

And because I'm a contrasting binding girl (rarely do I ever do a binding the same fabric as the border, it just disappears) i love that she bound this with that pea green. It's seen a lot of use. I wonder who used to drag this around, make forts with it, play superman with it...or cops and robbers, cowboys or indians...

I'm packing up for the NC Symposium, and gathering samples for my two classes. I'm teaching string spiderweb, and crumbs, so all the samples I can grab of how different quilters did different things, then and now..are being packed in the car.

I almost feel like I'm getting off easy because I don't have to do a trunk show at this venue..just relax with a couple classes, and enjoy the symposium with everyone else!

Sharon also found a goodie! on this trip! (Look close, you can see my purple string quilt hanging on the cabinet door behind her!)



This churndash variation (I think they call this Grecian Cross?) is all shirtings and indigoes and in GREAT shape! Not only that...HERS was 50% off, and my purple string star wasn't! And, I probably would have snatched this one up too if she hadn't been quicker than I was! *LOL*

Here is a detail shot of the fabrics:


Of course, we had to follow up our antiquing adventures with the ultimate refreshement...Culvers ice cream! I have to hit Culvers every time I visit the midwest. And this time did not disappoint...the flavor of the day? JUST DRUMMY! It was like those drum stick frozen ice cream cones (waffle cone, chocolate, nuts) all crunched up into vanilla custard...unbelievable!


I also took some pics of quilts that did NOT come home with us, but that will have to wait for another post.


The studio awaits. It's time to clean it again, some how over the past few days my muse has been quite reckless! Time to clean it up again....it never ends!

PS..Dropped Buddy back off at the vet this morning. He had a really rough whimpery night. He's not eating, he's hardly drinking (this worries me the most, dehydration)and so we wait while they do more tests. Fingers are crossed..he still thumps his tail. I've read all I can on the internet about dogs surviving snake bites.. :c/

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