Stumbling Upon St John’s, Wytheville!

Hallowed Spaces on Halloween Eve!

It was still early October when after picking up a set of maple twin beds from Jeanette and meeting her for lunch in Staunton (See THAT POST for a refresher!) I took the backroads down past Wytheville, VA to get me to Mouth of Wilson where I would be dropping off my cargo at Quiltville Inn.

You know how it goes – audio book playing, deeply engrossed in the story line – and all of a sudden “PING!”  Uhoh.  Low fuel light.  I needed to pull off at the next exit for gas.

As I’m pumping gas, I look just there – just across the slightly busy country road, and there on a hillside is an OLD cemetery, complete with old church to go with it.

I finished pumping.  I moved the van into a regular parking space away from the pumps, and I watched both ways until it was safe to cross.  I had to explore.

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The Continuing Saga of the Traveling Catfish!

Remember this fish from my trip to Bedford, VA last week?

More in THIS POST.

As all good fish stories go, it gets larger with each telling.  

It just goes to show you – NEVER EVER second guess just WHY something
is in an antique mall when it makes no sense to you – Read on, friends – read on!

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Where Leaf Peepers Roam -

Riding “shotgun” on the way back from town -

35 mph in a 55!

If the sky had been blue and the sun had been shining instead of this constant drizzle of rain we’ve had for days on end – you’d see the yellows, golds and some oranges in a more brilliant light.

This is “Leaf Peeper Season”, where all the city folk from Charlotte, Greensboro, and beyond wind their way up toward the mountains for a glimpse of autumn splendor.

And if I didn’t have frozen goods in the truck needing to make it to the freezer ASAP I wouldn’t have minded! 

It’s an Autumn Appalachian Traffic Jam!

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When Friends Come Calling!

I met my friend Elizabeth several years ago, and along with our shared love of vintage machines and emails going back and forth sharing finds and treasures, she also joined me on a trip to Italy on one of my Craftours ventures -

One of my favorite memories of that trip being a lazy afternoon lounging on the pool deck (fully clothed, too cool in May for the swimming pool yet!) sipping beverages and working on handwork projects – “This is the LIFE!” we said, and it has stayed in my memories, filed under “Amazing pinch me moments never to forget.”

She came and saw me when I taught outside of Erie, PA – and made new friends from her home state there.

And yesterday, she and her hubby (Lovingly nicknamed Mouse after 33 years of marriage) rolled on up to Quiltville Inn for an invited visit!

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October ‘18 Quilty Box Gift-Away!

Guess what time it is?!

I awoke to rain falling heavily on the cabin’s tin roof overhead – “Can’t I just snuggle in a while longer?” I asked my sleepy self – and then I remembered!

We have a Quilty Box and Quilty Box Mini to gift away, and this post needs to go up fairly early this morning as I have invited company coming to meet me at Quiltville Inn.  In the rain. In the dreary cold, dismal – no wait – change that.  In the warm and cozy surroundings inside the inn, now that we got the gas fireplaces in the Quilting Quarters working and warming the space! 

So let’s get on with this – because this month’s Quilty Box includes a fat quarter pack of fabric that has me over the moon – and stars!

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Antiquing for the Greatest Catch!

And the “Weird Thing of the Day” award during yesterday’s antique mall hop goes to ---- The huge tin catfish in the cradle found in Bedford, VA!  (Thinking of rewriting the famous Harry Chapin song to be "Catfish in the Cradle...")

It even comes sporting a bit of rustic Americana with the wooden flag behind it.

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Down on Martha’s Farm!

Isn’t this Studebaker truck just so cool?!

**Note** This post was written yesterday, but I was unable to upload it due to something weird going on with Blogger and a 503 server error. Errors like this usually work themselves out over time - and voila - this morning things work just fine!

I’m off to Bedford, VA to pick up the remaining bed parts from Carol, and since this was already written – it means I can get out of here sooner rather than later.

Sometimes we just have to let things undo themselves on their own time so they work again the next day!

I spent some time Monday on the North Carolina side of the near-by state line, meeting up with my friend Martha and becoming acquainted with her farm, which was part of an original land grant back in the colony days. That’s before revolutionary war, folks!  Can you imagine?

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Blogger Difficulties -

I have been trying for hours to get a post to upload to blogger - 

Even the blogger interface itself will not upload photos - so this one photo is from a URL.  After more than 3 hours of trying I'm amazed this works.

The problem?  The dreaded 503 error.

It usually sorts itself out with some time - so in the mean time I'm going to spend this lovely October day at the sewing machine.  You do the same!

And we will catch up when things are back to "normal!"

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Cozier By the Day!

With the power out from 11:30pm on Saturday night until mid-afternoon yesterday – (So glad it came on then – they were projecting 10pm!) we decidced to make the best use of the day running errands (Lowes is just about an every-other-day trek lately!) and spend the day out and about.

The long range views of beautiful Blue Ridge mountains with leaves turning golden in the sunlight was just what I wanted to see.  We even crossed paths with a friend we hadn’t seen in some while and spent a good amount of time just talking and catching up.  No timeline.  No agenda.

Funny how when the power is out at home, anything that would require the use of power (computer, iron, kitchen stove  - electric sewing machine, though I could treadle…) becomes a free pass to do SOMETHING ELSE. Spontaneity ruled the day as all power-related-deadline-issues sat at the wayside waiting for “later.”

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