What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

This past Sunday was the New Member Picnic for our car club, and we were in charge of it. It took a few months and a lot of work to plan, and it is good to have it done. For the meal, we were having it catered instead of it being a potluck as in years past. The choice of roast beef sandwich, turkey sandwich or strawberry pecan salad was made when folks signed up for the event. So, I needed lunch tickets. I pulled three colors of card stock, and stamped them. The yellow has a turkey on it ...

We had a lovely time this past week, with family visiting. My Sweet Babboo’s brother and his wife were here for several days to do some sight-seeing, and visiting. We wanted to take them up on the Blue Ridge Parkway one day, and we stopped at Looking Glass Falls on the way up through Pisgah Forest. It was a nice day, not too hot or cold, but a bit overcast.

From there we drove up to the parkway, and went north to Mount Mitchell. Along the way we stopped at a few overlooks for photos.

Unfortunately, as is usually ...

What a bloody wasted week. Getting covid was not in the plan. Two days lost to fever and feeling awful, then two more days of sitting in my chair binge watching Yellowstone, with no energy to do much. Since I have nothing new from this week to share, today’s post will be a catch up on a few things I was doing before our trip. The bluebirds were working hard to feed their chicks before we left. Here are a couple of those photos that I didn’t have a chance to share before. The female was bringing fat ...

More fun at our annual MINIs on the Dragon event to show you today. The event included several days of drives in the beautiful mountain area of western NC and eastern TN. Lining up in the morning, the leader would go over the day’s drive route and get us all on the same radio channel so we could hear any warnings (like for hazards in the road) and know when a turn was coming up.

This day we were running over to Tennessee driving the Cherohala Skyway. We started out going through arbored streets of vibrant green. It is ...

We spent most of last week at the annual MINIs On the Dragon event in Fontana Village in western North Carolina right at the Tennessee border. There is too much for one post, so I’ll have more for you later, but for today get a cuppa and settle in for a picture heavy post. I’ve posted about this fun time before, showing the facility, the cabins, and our drives in MINIs on the Dragon 2019, and the socially distant, unofficial MINIs on the Dragon 2021, with a year off during covid. Our trip in 2022 was abbreviated, but ...

It is the season now for our car clubs to ramp up, so we have been busy with several events. Last weekend was an annual fundraiser show called Luft Wasser, which is German for Air Water, referring to the two methods of cooling for engines. We were on the crew, and arrived early Saturday morning to work the main gate where cars were entering. Our car was selected as part of a special display of the Colors of Porsche exhibit at one end of the show. Ours is a dark warm grey called Agate Grey. On the left is a ...

Rain fell for days at the end of the week, but breaks in the clouds here and there allowed a few more photos of our local avian choir. I sat on the veranda in the cool morning air, quiet and calm, listening to the birdsong. This chickadee was still for just a moment before swooping to the bird feeder for a bite of breakfast.

I watched the birdhouse, delighted to see the bluebird going out and in several times. I hope she is feeding hatchlings, although I cannot be sure.

She was very busy on this morning.

In the garden ...

This week has been a bit busy, with some personal issues taking up the first three days. I finally got back to the blue and yellow table topper, and was able to get a couple more rows done with the curve ruler.

One thing I have to remember, the foot will keep the stitches about 1/4-inch away from the ruler edge. This means I have to estimate where to place the ruler so the stitching line will come out at the corners like I want.

Sometimes I am getting it right, and sometimes not. I have found that I ...

Once again this week, I have several things to chat about. Spring is warming up and it puts us in the mood to get outside, change things around inside, and do a little digging in the dirt. Warmer weather also means our car clubs are getting out on our mountain roads for some driving. The MINI club was first up this month with a drive. The red one on the left is ours.

The day started out partly cloudy but warm. Of course, we put the top down, then started out going north from our meeting spot to a road ...

The rain last weekend really did bring out the green in the countryside, in the grass and ground covers, bushes and trees. The range of green in spring is wonderful, an awakening of the land. Settle in with your favorite cuppa, and enjoy a long and picture heavy post. As the hostas are coming up, I’ve noticed the deer stopping by more often. This day there were three, this one was at the edge of my hosta bed.

The other two were in the meadow. The meadow grass is growing now, and the trees behind are starting to leaf ...

It was overcast several days this past week, but those days were the only ones I had to try to get some wildlife photos. I sat on the veranda for a while, quiet and still until the birds felt safe and came back to the feeder. I watched the bluebirds go in and out of the house building a nest. This was so fun to see.

The male sat in the oak tree for a photo, then few off to help gather nesting materials.

The house is in the redbud tree, hanging from a lower limb, but high enough off ...

In spite of the very hard freeze we got two nights last week, it seems that spring is coming anyway. Out front, our redbud tree is beginning to show its lovely purple/pink buds. We had to cut several limbs off it last year, so I am hoping it will look nice still this year. I anticipate that it won’t be as full with the two large branches gone, but still will have some pretty color.

It was a cool day last weekend when we gathered in Brevard with our MINI club for a drive and lunch. My Sweet ...

Since I have been working on donating and clearing out my tablescaping and crafting areas, I have taken at least 8 boxes to the thrift store. And, I resisted going inside! I donated most of my Valentine stuff, like red candleholders with little heart cutouts, and more, and I had just decided not to put up anything for Valentine this year. But, I just couldn’t help myself when we invited friends over for a day of fun this past weekend. The guys planned to work on his car for several hours, while us ladies had a sew day together ...

It has been a warmer than usual winter so far, with a few cold days here and there. We usually have two snows in a winter, but there hasn’t been a single day of snow this year so far. It makes me concerned that we will get a late freeze that will damage the local apple crop. Anyway, the warming afternoons have woken up some bulbs. I first noticed these coming up around the dormant lemon tree that is in a pot. The pot was in the Carolina room to protect it from freezing. I actually don’t remember ...

Settle in for a long post about a lot going on, things to see and read, and projects where you can participate. Around the feeder we have a lot of pretty birds, and hungry birds! This week there has been a variety of avian friends chowing down on the seed and suet, including some newcomers. When two new species showed up for the first time this year, I had to do another bird count and send it in. Here, a red bellied woodpecker shares the seed with a two goldfinches and two titmouses (hanging off the backside).

The bluebirds are ...

I’ve been doing counts for the Cornell Feeder Watch, and also tracking my species counts in eBird. It was exciting to see ten bluebirds visit on Christmas Day, and six of them have stayed on. At least I have only seen six at once for the past few days. After the pair took a look at our birdhouse, there is no evidence it has been chosen as a nesting site, but it is still early. It has been warmer than normal, so maybe the birds were house hunting early. But then we got a dusting of snow yesterday.

This ...

Dawn over the mountain to the east this past week brought beautiful color with the clouds reflecting the sunrise glow. The quiet of the early morning is a nice time to enjoy a hot cup of coffee, just breathe, and plan the day.

Looking south, it is lovely to see the dark architecture of the bare tree limbs against the sky. Winter does have its own beauty.

The view into the valley continued the golden glow. The rain moved in shortly after and stuck around for two days.

Rainy days are perfect for a bit of stamping, getting my cards ...

This past weekend was our annual Christmas weekend with our MINI club. On the registration, we found out that there would be a Creative Christmas Hat contest. Well, you all know I have to participate in that!! So, that meant making an outrageous hat to compete. I had a somewhat tired hat that I got in a thrift store and mostly used last summer when I was outside digging in the dirt. I got it from the garage, and pulled some things to glue on.

I wanted it to have some height, so I began with several stems of red ...

It has been busy week this week, with several gatherings for the holidays. It is the season for indulging, and Oliver is happy to have his sandwiches with chunky peanut butter. He’s put on his winter layer, and is quite chunky himself, LOL!

After the tea last week, I had several dozen cupcakes left over, so I brought them home and threw them in the freezer. When the pickleball group decided to do a potluck, I was all set! Not that I mind making food for friends. I do like to cook, but I know not everyone does.

This ...

It has been a fun holiday weekend. Thursday was football and food, chatting with friends online and on the phone. Friday brought out the sappy little Christmas movies, leading off with Miracle on 34th Street as I packed up all the autumn and Thanksgiving decor, and brought out the Christmas boxes. I pulled my table toppers and quilts from the cedar chest, and began laying them on tables to decide what would go where. When I unpacked this stoneware Christmas set, I noticed something fun. I’ll show you the idea that came to mind on December 6 as I ...