Women of Grace & Charm Finished!

2003 – 2018.  About time!

I rediscovered this quilt top while pulling fabrics to help Mona assemble a back while she was here a couple of weeks ago.

Was it only a couple of weeks?  It seems like last month at least!

I so enjoyed the three days that she was here – we quilted up SIX of her projects!  Two large quilts and 4 small projects were then trimmed and made ready for binding so she could do that part at home.

And because I was SO in the mood to continue hearing the hum of the machine, I pulled this one out.

I always knew it would be great for the queen bed at the cabin SOME DAY – but with so many of my own quilts around, and fearing this one needed “Custom” quilting (that I didn’t have the time or desire to do with deadlines toward my own designs looming..) it had sat.  And sat.  And sat.

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November QuiltyBox Gift-Away in a Hurry!

Hurry Hurry!  November is almost over!

I returned home last evening to find my November Quilty Box sitting on the table beckoning me to OPEN, OPEN, OPEN!

And I did!

Oh my goodness!!  It’s got Tula Pink, a fun Clam Up zipper tote pattern, the beautiful zipper included that perfectly matches the fabric in this bundle!

Even the liner fabric is included – and I’m sure this will be enough to make MULTIPLE bags as gifts for family and friends.  Whoowhoooo!

And since November is ticking quickly away – we better get on this!

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The Last Days of November -

Things have turned incredibly cold!

All of those plans for hikes and vistas turned into “Let’s go to the movies and sit in the dark and eat copious amounts of popcorn followed by sodas bigger than our heads and send our sodium levels soaring to new heights!”

I don’t know about you – but anything below 40-something is just NOT something I enjoy getting out into.  Best tolerated from the inside with some hand quilting in my lap and a fire in the stove.

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Mystery Monday Link-Up and a Cyber Monday Sale!

Good Cyber Monday Morning, my friends!

This post comes with a warning – it’s going to be a long one as we’ve got a lot going on today. Grab a cup of your favorite and pull up a seat!

First things first – I have put another 500 PRE-ORDER copies of String Frenzy in the Quiltville Store.  Books are on the truck – they should be delivered this week and I will get in to filling orders in the orders that they were received as quickly as possible.  

Orders from today's 500 will be filled and posted as wave TWO – and it is likely 10 days to 2 weeks before that order filling will happen. 

Please remember you are placing a PRE-ORDER!  Orders are filled in the order that they came in and it could be that there are several hundred orders in front of yours being filled by yours truly.(With some help from some friends and family!)  I will do everything I can to get orders out as quickly as possible.

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A String Frenzy Trunk Show!

Happy Last Sunday of November!

I feel like we are doing this String Frenzy Trunk Show thing a little bit inside-out, but it was too much to post along with Friday’s mystery post – and Thanksgiving was in the mix, and let’s face it – the books are still on a truck and haven’t arrived here yet!

So once again I am flying by the seat of my britches and shoveling this in on Sunday, so we can do our first Mystery Monday Link-Up for our Good Fortune Mystery tomorrow!

I’ve loved writing this book.  I’ve loved even more – making the quilts for this book, and I know this isn’t the end of my own love affair with string quilts.  String quilts are just the most fun I have ever had in my quilting life, and there is no stopping this string piecing train.

To get the detail photos for this post, I had to go back to my google photo albums, back to September of 2017 when I was getting the quilts ready to send off to photography for my Quilter's Date Keeper.  This book writing thing takes a LONG TIME!

And so my friend - this is what you are going to find within the pages of String Frenzy.

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And What a Thanksgiving it Was!

Our Turkey Day Crew:

Rick, Mona, son Jeff, Dave, Me and Dad!

And yes – we were out in shirt sleeves – it was 50-something outside and sunny.

Last night as I went to bed there was ice falling from the sky – what a difference a couple of days makes. it has now warned UP to 35.  Oh boy!

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A Blessed Thanksgiving!

Found in West Jefferson, NC.

I took my dad on a little jaunt to Jefferson/West Jefferson North Carolina yesterday afternoon – there were a few odds and ends to pick up, and then we met with the rest of the family who were inbound from Winston Salem – deciding to have dinner at our favorite Mexican Place in Jefferson.

Only upon arrival we saw that they were CLOSED.  No worries – in the same plaza is The Winner’s Circle – and you can find just about everything you could ever wish for on their menu with portions so large you could feed a family of 4 on one platter.  No lie.  Half of it came home!

But before we ate – there was some time to kill.  We hit up an antique mall I love to frequent to just to see what holiday decorations may be out (not many) and with Dad in tow, I told him to just look around for anything that interested him.  “It’s like a museum where you can touch stuff!” I announced  as he headed over toward a display of vintage cameras, from old brownies to polaroids, and we talked about the technology of this long  out of date artifacts, the earlier versions of what is now found on our cell phones and live in our back pockets on a daily basis.  Can you imagine?

Some of them even had manuals still in their boxes – so much fun to look through.

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So Many Firsts! (And Gift-Away Drawing!)

Dad and I went out and about yesterday.

It was really too cold for any “real” hiking – and Grayson Highlands State Park was full of hunters for a controlled hunt so not a good time for us to be on trails, anyway.

But we did what we set out to do – what was on our agenda to do, and what I was so happy to do!  I showed my dad around the area and I think he gets it why Southwestern Virginia has just captured my heart and won’t let go.

“This is sure a world away from where you grew up!” he said, memories of growing up in the busy and bustling bay area of California. Life in San Jose in the 60s, 70s, and 80s definitely WAS a world away.  I never would have thought life would send me here, either!

To my young self – a life in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Appalachia was just not even on the radar.  Yet here I am.

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In search of Pearl Onions–and Dad!

Good morning from Quilt villa, VA!

It was one of those crazy pre-holiday shopping days that out of necessity had to happen yesterday -

Yes, the Monday before a major “meal” holiday – Thanksgiving.

I knew it would be a zoo – but I had company all weekend, and there was no room in the fridge at home to buy all of this a week or more ahead and then have to transfer it up here to the mountains.

I wanted items, especially produce to be somewhat fresh – and I’d be picking my Dad up at the airport anyway, so how simple it would be to just make a couple of early afternoon stops before swinging by the airport to pick him up?

A master of time management and organization, I thought I had this nailed!  And then…..

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