About a week ago, I drove over to Shelby to meet with my runner for the Charlotte area to get the quilts for the hurricane project left at the drop shop, Quilt Patch. As I was coming out of the mountains, I was struck by the many different colors of green on the mountainsides and down the valleys. Naturally, I had to stop an get a picture, actually several times!
Amazing isn’t it? So many shades of green in the new leaves next to the darker evergreens.
In Shelby, I drove through the historic home district to get to our meeting point. This Japanese cherry was in full bloom. I stopped and took this picture looking straight up.
Historic Shelby is full of huge wisteria vines, most growing over tall trees. I do wish I had one of these in our yard.
The flowers were covering most of the vines.
Cascading waterfalls of lavendar flowers were everywhere.
White dogwoods were blooming next to stately homes.
Pink dogwoods were in bloom too, interesting contrast of color next to a Japanese maple.
It was like the trees were dusted with pink fairy dust, sprinkled like confectioner’s sugar.
I got to our meeting place, delighted to meet Emily!! She is a fellow blogger who blogs at The Darling Dogwood. Emily is an Island Batik ambassador, and works a lot with Accuquilt Go. We hugged immediately, as we have ‘talked’ a bunch on email, and met this day for the first time. Quilters are instant pals anyway, but we have a lot in common.
We both love sushi too. So, we met at a sushi place. Now before you wrinkle your nose, take a look at her meal. Shrimp tempura wrapped in rice and topped with a slice of mango and a bit of soy sauce. No raw fish here. Doesn’t that sound scrumptious?
OK, full disclosure, mine did have a bit of raw. I had a roll with cooked shrimp inside, sashimi grade tuna on top, with green onion topped with a sriracha sauce and tobiko which is similar to caviar. Yum!!!
We spent over an hour chatting and and laughing. It was a delightful time! After lunch, we both headed home. My route took me back through the same neighborhood. There are places that the trees create an arbor over the road. You can see azaleas blooming here, and more wisteria down the street.
Then, back to the mountains with their verdant greens. Our flowers were coming a few days later.
In the car, eleven quilts for the Carolina Hurricane Quilt Project.
I couldn’t get all of them photographed, but here are a few. All were anonymously donated to the Charlotte drop point, Quilt Patch. Thank you to all the donors, you know who you are!! This one with the black background was strikingly beautiful.
This one had tiny squares sashed in yellow.
Patriotic colors with cute prints.
Another black background with brights.
Simple and sweet.
Lively colors should bring a smile to someone’s face.
They joined the ever growing pile on the guest bed.
And the stacks on the cedar chest.
All of these will leave here on Friday for the trip to Wilmington. At this point, there are 58, and I may have a few more before the week is over. So a great day for driving and meeting a friend! Isn’t it fun to meet new friends? Have you done any day trips recently for fun?
From My Carolina Home 
Kuddos to all for their dedication and hard work to this very worthwhile project!! You’ve certainly captured the beauty of our Western North Carolina scenery!
Beautiful quilts and a new in person friend, that was a great outing, fun and productive! A short little day trip does sound like just the thing!
Love seeing the beautiful scenery. The plants in bloom must make the town look beautiful – and smell wonderful.
Looks like you had a great time picking up the quilts as well. They are all amazing.
Great looking quilts both delivered and picked up. And wonderful views on your road trip. I’ve a road trip coming up this next weekend. I’m headed down to Austin to spend a day (overnight) with 20+ yr long friends. Can’t wait to see them and spend time iwth them and then visiting their church on Sunday morning. Hoping/Planning to have some hand sewing to take with me as well.
Oh what eye candy! Scenery and quilts! Thanks for showing the quilts as well. They are beautiful and I know they will be cherished!
Pretty drive.
Spring in the mountains is amazing. We have so many beautiful trees and bushes on the east coast.
The quilts are beautiful.What a fin drive
Beautiful drive! I too wish I had a yard full of wisteria! I just love it! The quilts are awesome too!
Wow..those flowers and scenery! I live in Ontario Canada and we are still pretty cool here with just the tips of some of the plants poking their noses through the ground. Kudos to everyone who has had a part in this worthy cause. They are all beautiful quilts. I know all the recipients will love them and cherish them.
Beautiful drive! The quilts are all beautiful!
What beautiful quilts, and what a lovely drive! I can’t wait for green to return to my neck of the woods!
What a beautiful drive you had! The shades of green remind me of an Ireland trip literally called “Shades of Green” which was so true. The azaleas are just beautiful as well as the many other colors of nature you shared. In March, I was able to take a road trip to Alabama and Mississippi which was delightful to finally get out of the severe cold here in MN. Visiting cemeteries is a
real treat for me – plus the azaleas there were in full bloom and just gorgeous. Some day….I
need to visit North Carolina AFTER any ice storm. One year, I was prevented to go into Smokey Mtn. Nat’l Park as it was closed due to the ice. Bummer!
What fun that you two were able to meet and visit, as well as hand off quilts. Your drive looks amazing; so pretty!
I love that you and Emily got to meet IRL. The quilts are beautiful. Great job to everyone who has donated. Wisteria is my favorite flower. And the raw fish sushi is the best!
Beautiful scenery and quilts! Love all the flowers, since it will be a while before anything blooms here. Our trees are just budding out, but soon they should be green. Have a nice day!
I loved your spring photos and the ones of the quilts. As to wisteria, be careful what you wish for. We inherited one, and it takes vigilance to keep it from taking over everything. I have the feeling that if I left it alone for a whole summer, I wouldn’t be able to find the house.
You had me at Wisteria! One of my absolute favorites and you captured it so well. Not that the rest of your photos were not over the top, but that Wisteria. If i could twirl I would 🙂
Spring temperatures arrived here in southcentral AK a little early. Trees budding, snow almost all melted off. Then last Tuesday, 10″ of snow fell, followed by a week of snowfall, melt off during the day, snowfall again pattern. Reminding us that here in Alaska winter not guaranteed to be over until at least Mid May.
Glad you were able to pick up the quilts for your hurricane project, the recipients will be so thrilled.
Sorry to hear that your Easter parade was cancelled, I was sure your awesome hat and decorations were going to be a hit!
Think I will go back and look at your pictures some more and dream of spring, it is snowing again here this morning, aargh
That’s a great collection of quilts! It has really greened up here in the past week. We’re heading to the Blue Ridge Pkwy for some hiking this weekend to appreciate it a little more!
Hello Carole, How wonderful that the two of you were able to meet and have a delicious lunch together after taking care of the exchanging of the quilts. Each and every one of the quilts that you have shown are beautiful and will make someone warm and feel loved while they are rebuilding their lives after the Hurricane. Thank you so much for continuing to share the quilts that are being donated and for all of your love being put into this. Have a fantastic day Carole!
I almost forgot to say how much I enjoyed all of the fantastic photos you shared on your journey. They are some incredible nature pictures, like you I would love to have the Wisteria Vines growing in our yard along with quite a few other flowering trees. I will have to do quite a bit of research when we get to Wyoming and learn what will last the harsh winters. Thank you again, Carole for sharing your love of photography and natural beauty and sharing it with us!
What a wonderful day out, it is so good to meet a quilty friend in the flesh isn’t it!! 😊 you saw some beautiful scenery on your way down the mountain. Love seeing the changes in the seasons around your area. Quilters are wonderful people on the whole, you have been given lots of beautiful quilts.
Yes, so fun connecting with friends old and new! We will soon begin touring quilt shows here, May to Nov. Always fun to be out and about after winter weather finally ends. Your day trip was great; so many generously made and donated quilts of such beauty. The fantastic photos reminded me of a long ago conversation about a green and pink quilt I was coaxing you to design for sping. lol Do you recall?
What a great batch of quilts! I’m no longer fond of road trips. SEW glad you got to meet up with Emily, though!
I live in Shelby and it is a beautiful little town. You don’t want Wisteria vines. They take over, just admire from afar.
I enjoyed viewing the Sushi as much as the beautiful quilts and scenery. Love sushi and miss the south (TN) very much. Dogwood tree is my favorite and we had a Wisteria when we lived in CA so this blog was especially great to me. Thanks.
Marti
No day trips in forever! Those are beautiful quilts. It’s wonderful to see the loveliness people are donating. That’s a nice number of quilts – are there any updates on how many, so far? I hope there will be enough for at least the 4500, and more would be so awesome! I’m working on another one, but waiting for extra blocks to come in.
I thought the same when I drove to Nashville a couple of weeks ago. Going through one of the passes, the greens were a riot of shades. We are past all of those flowers, the azaleas even falling on the ground now. One of the houses near me has a grafted tree with both pink and white dogwood blossoms. I love when it blooms each year. The iris are dying down, too. I don’t think there’s anything left but the all-the-times like roses and I guess hydrangeas in another month or so. Someone showed the cactus blooms in her Arizona front yard. The world is a beautiful place!
Oh I wish, but we will not even get to 5%. I project that we may barely get over 200 donated when it is all done. Far short of the need.
I was so glad to finally meet you in person!!! And I do like raw sushi too, I just happened not to order it that day 🙂 I’m working on another quilt for Carolina Hurricane and am looking forward to seeing you again in August. I love all the springtime pictures, especially the dogwoods!!
I love all your photographs of the roadsides and trees that you share on your road trips.