While we were in Jacksonville at Quiltfest we also visited The Olde Green Cupboard quilt shop.  Not only did it have thousands of bolts of fabric and patterns and books and great samples and excellent sales people – it also had fabulous displays of home dec items in a seasonal theme.  Since I LOVE fall I was just captivated by all the beautiful eye candy and inspiration.  I highly recommend a visit to this shop if you ever have the opportunity.  I’ll be back later this week with some quilts pics from Quiltfest. 

The Ref and I traveled to WV over Labor Day weekend.  We first visisted my youngest sister near Clarksburg.  She lives in a redone 1840 log house out “in the country” and recently they built a log guest house on the property.  It is just stunning and I could retire and live there in a heartbeat.  Carla and Steve have a knack for decorating and landscaping and everything is like a picture from Southern Living.

1840 Log home side view

My college roommate and dear friend and her parents also live in the same town.  They all came out for dinner one evening while we were there and we had a wonderful time.  A big THANK YOU to Alice Lynn’s DH Bill for taking all the pictures.

Neil and Alice, KK, Steve and Carla with Russell in front, the Ref, Alice Lynn

Alice Lynn, Alice, Carla with Tootsie, Neil, and Steve "holding forth" inside the log guest house

Alice Lynn, KK, the Ref, Neil and Alice

Alice Lynn, KK, and the Ref. Next year we will have been friends for forty years!!

 Then we went on to Wheeling and my hometown, Wellsburg.  The Ref’s class was holding their 45th reunion.  We also went to Wheeling Downs (greyhound racing).  It now has a big casino, too.  I left $30 richer!!

 We stayed in St. Clairsville, OH and I took a picture of a buckeye tree as that is what Ohioians are called……buckeyes………and while I grew up in WV I was born in Steubenville, OH because Weirton, WV didn’t have a hospital in 1952!!  Me and Dean Martin!! 

The Ref grew up in an area called Short Creek.  His father’s family lived on the hill above the creek known as Windsor Heights.  When his father was growing up it was a mining camp town.  A few years ago we were notified that the community was naming one of the streets after the Ref’s uncle who was a paratrooper in WWII and lost his life behind enemy lines. 

And finally……………are Steve and Alice Lynn feeding the goldfish or having a word of prayer?  FYI:  Steve is a United Methodist minister!

………….Red Lobster is SUPPOSED to stay at Red Lobster, RIGHT?  Not if you are the fearless leader of the TTT gals. 

Look what they went and did.  They must love me it they all are willing to wear my face on their chest.

From left to right:  Jolene (yellow shirt) Frances(light blue shirt), Janice (turquoise shirt), Janet (orange shirt), Virginia (light blue shirt), Corky (teal green shirt), Betsy (royal blue shirt), and Sheila( purple shirt).  Of me, of course, in the lime green shirt and the chair of honor.  Too bad I left my crown and diadem at home.  Missing from the picture are Maureen, Joanne, Cindy, and Judy.  I do have a gorgeous and fun bunch of ladies in waiting, don’t I?

So in the picture on the t-shirt  I have my face stuck into a giant sized marguerita known as a Lobsterita.  I know I had two of them that night and don’t know if that was the first or second. 

Looking at this picture of me makes me realize how much I look like my father.  And I really like the pic of me on the t-shirt – I’ve got my eyebrows raised whic makes me look youngerand the giant cocktail glass is hiding my saggy chin.

And of course there’s a story as to why I was “in my cups” just about literally, but that story is staying at Red Lobster.

The gang surprised me with the t-shirts at our annual guild beach retreat in July.  If you are eagle-eyed you have noticed Christmas decorations behind us.  That’s because our retreat theme was Christmas in July.  All of the door prizes were wrapped in Christmas gift bags and we decorated the room and our retreat t-shirts this year were red.

The Ref and I are leaving on Thursday for a few days in WV.  First a stop in Bridgeport (near Clarksburg) to visit my sister and family and Alice Lynn (my college roommate – almost 40 years ago!!) and her family.  Then on to Morgantown and a stop to see another girl friend and her family – Carol and I became friends in the early 60s and went through all the high school angst together.  Then on to Wheeling and the Ref’s 45th high school reunion (Wellsburg High School class of 64).  While there I will also see another long time friend, Betty Gay.  We’ll drive home on Labor Day because Tuesday, Sept. 8 is my birthday and I NEED to spend it in the studio with my TTT gals.

I have really been out of the blogging mode for most of the summer.  Sure hope my faithfuls excuse my laxness.  Are you ready for the reasons excuses??

First, I have been on the road a lot.  Two weeks in June in the Rocky Mountains and Alaska (but you knew that).  In July I was in North Carolina for the Fourth of July weekend.   Then we had our annual guild beach retreat on Seabrook Island.  I finished out the month with my trip to Knoxville to the AQS Expo and then accompanied Corky to Detroit, MI to visit her family.  In my last post I was just heading out the next day on that trip.

I loved Michigan – especially the cooler weather.  We stayed with Corky’s brother and SIL who lives on a nice lake about 45 minutes from downtown Detroit.  Wonderful area.  Great walks.  Beautiful landscaping.  Flowers just do so much better when they don’t have to suffer our summer heat.  We were able to visit three quilt shops and I truly helped the Michigan economy.  I got a nice tour of downtown Detroit, too.

The first weekend in August 5 of the TTT gals and I traveled to Asheville, NC for the Asheville Quilt Guild show.  It is held at the North Carolina Arboretum and is always a very nice show.  We had a grand time viewing the quilt and shopping the vendors.  We spent the night, did more shopping the next day, and then headed down I26 towards home.  We stopped in Hendersonville to visit a friend who has moved there.  As we headed back out of town the van decided to get very sick – the transmission blew in 5 lanes of traffic!

We got the van towed away and called Judy and Smokey to come rescue us from the side of the road.  We checked into a nearby Days Inn and went to dinner at Outback.  The next morning Sheila’s hubby drove the church van up and picked us up and brought us home. 

The great news is we all had spare undies in our bags!!

August also brought a visit from our 16 year old granddaughter and this time she brought a friend.  We had a great time doing the beach, the mall, the movies, and my hair.  No more gray, a nice warm color and highlights!!

I’ve also been busy quilting some charity quilts for the guild plus the TTT gals are making quilts for all the beds in a Habitat for Humanity house in Summerville.  We have one quilt completely finished.  The second one has the binding on and waiting to be handstitched to the back.  The third one is ready to go on my frame to be quilted.

Pictures of those when all three are finished.

I also quilted this cute shop sample for Quilters Quarters in Maggie Valley, NC.  It was fun to do.

In addition to traveling and quilting I also took over as Web Diva for my guild, Cobblestone Quilters Guild.  We needed a new look for our web site and I spent most of July getting that accomplished.  Take a look at it and let me know what you think.

I promise to be back soon with more quilting and fun.

….watching the tide slip away

This fellow was at the ferry dock in Sausilito, strumming and singing his heart out.  Do you see his companion?  Yes, that is a dachsund on top of the guitar.  The little guy has on sunglasses and a bandanna.  Our guide told us the man has been there for years and recently lost his dog and this one was the replacement – he has only had the new one for a couple of months and already it is doing all of the tricks.  I couldn’t get a shot of him sitting up so you could see the outfit.

One of the highlights of my recent trip to California was a visit to the Monterey Bay Aquarium.  The entire aquarium was wonderful – the interactive learning areas for children were fantastic.  But the best part was the two exhibits on seahorses and jellyfish and related underwater species.

I’m very behind in posting as once we arrived at Asilomar State Park for our Empty Spools Seminar it was just too time consuming to drag my computer down to the social hall where I could get online to update my blog.  So for the next few weeks I will treat you to more highlights of the trip.

The accomodations and the classes at Empty Spools were unbelievable.  It was so wonderful to be able to spend almost five full days in one class with the same teacher. 

I took a design and innovative piecing class from Janet Fogg.  Corky took an art quilt class in fabric collaging from Susan Carlson.  Frances and Joanne spent their days with Jill Shumacker learning how to machine quilt.

Here are some pics of the results:

Joanne's quilting sample

Frances' quilting sample

Corky and I both changed our design concept/theme after visiting the Monterey Bay Aquarium.  They had a special exhibit on seahorses and we both chose to focus on a seahorse in fabric.  I was sure I had a picture of both of our projects on my camera but if I did it has disappeared.  Mine is on the design wall in the studio so I can take a picture tomorrow and hopefully Corky is bringing hers to TTT tomorrow so I can get a new picture of it to post.  So instead tonight I’ll leave you with a picture of our inspiration.

There are three in the picture – can you find them?

I now know why there is a color called Pacific Blue.  Isn’t it gorgeous??

Yesterday we had a nice drove down to the Monterey/Pacific Grove area.  We stopped in San Jose for Corky to show us her home when she lived there.  We stopped in Pacific Grove at Back Porch Quilts – a very nice shop.  We checked into out hotel late afternoon – we have a two bedroom suite with a living room and a fireplace – very nice – except the logistics of four gals sharing one bathroom!

Last night we went into Monterey for dinner and then drove the coast line back.  Of course I didn’t carry my camera and there was a great shot of the coast line/sunset/ and clouds that I got on Frances” camera but no way to get it to my computer until we get home.

Today we drove down Highway One to Big Sur.  Since I grew up in WV I was the designated mountain/curvy road driver.  It was wonderful but sometimes disconcerting to have a mountain to the left and a drop off to an ocean on the right!

We stopped in Carmel-by-the Sea on the way back to Pacific Grove to play tourist and have lunch.  I was not very impressed.  It’s pretty but too touristy for me.

We’re going to head over to the beach for a walk in a bit.  It’s sunny but cool – there was fog this morning for the first time since we arrived.

Yesterday we took a shuttle tour around San Francisco – for me the highlight of that was an inside tour of one of the Victorian Grand Ladies.  Then over the Golden Gate Bridge – this time by a motorized vehicle! – and into Sausilito for lunch and to pick up an afternoon tour to Muir Woods.  That was wonderful.  It is the last stand of virgin redwoods in Marin County and is a national monument named for the famous conservationist John Muir.  But the land was actually put into conservancy by a Senator Kent.  We also got to see the Pacific Ocean from a wonderful overlook.  What a difference from our lowcountry Atlantic shoreline.  The wind was whipping and it was very cold but the views were worth it.