This week we had a big event to do with our MINI club. MINI Take the States is a nine day driving event where participants drive across multiple states, stopping each evening along the way for fun activities hosted by local cubs. This year the route took them from Burlington, Vermont down to Greenville, South Carolina. When they reached Asheville, it was our club’s turn. Our local group, the Appalachian Mountain MINIs hosted a concert at a local brewery. Parking in the lot, already MINIs are gathering. Our MINI is the red one. My Sweet Babboo put our AMM magnetic club logos on the sides of the car.
Tents were set up for registration, along with two MINI dealers giving away freebies. We arrived early to work the registration desk, checking people in and giving them their packets and t-shirts. The concert began at 6:30 and went until 8:30.
Hundreds of MINIs showed up for our party and concert!
Participants parked in the fields all around the brewery.
We estimate about 500 people and somewhere close to 300 MINIs were there. The directors planned for 600, so we had no problems accommodating that number. It is a hoot to see all these MINIs in one spot, with their customized paint, wraps of fun patterns and themed accessories.
In the sewing room on Friday, I got a bit of a start on the quilting of the Project Linus quilt. I decided to quilt it in navy blue thread.
I like how it adds texture to the dark blues and some pattern to the whites. I hope to finish the quilting this coming week.
I added a label to the back of the red and white one, so it is now ready to turn in.
I pulled some fabrics for a quilted jacket this week, but I don’t have enough of these prints to make it. I like the intensity of the blues and purples on the black background. I need a solid black to go with them, so a little shopping may be in order. There are five fat quarters that coordinate with different scale prints. But I need 2-1/2 yards total to make the jacket I have in mind. I’m not going to use a sweatshirt, I plan to do some piecing, then quilt a large piece of fabric. I’ll cut the jacket pieces from that. For now, I cut the pattern pieces out, and made the adjustments for my petite height.
So, with luck, I might get a bit of time at home this week to get progress made on multiple projects. What are your plans for this week?
From My Carolina Home 
fun Mini event….. good luck on the jacket….
My plans for the week….finish my July goal of quilting & binding 6 UFOs. Nearly done with Number 5 and I have decided how I will be quilting number 6, which is half the battle. I am anxious to return to planning, piecing and stitching but the UFOs were annoying me, so they had to go. Four of the six are Project Linus quilts. The other two will be waiting for homes as the need arises.
The mini event sounds fabulous! How awesome to see 300 minis in one place!!
Well it seems like you were ahead of the curve noticing something wrong with Bloglovin, Carole…I have not received an email for several days and that was pretty much my favorite way of following blogs! Darn! Is there any “inside” information? I am putting a couple quilts together from the Peace and Healing SAL. So far so good!
How great to see the enthusiasm of your mini group!
Oh my you do keep busy!! The Mini event looks successful. Hopefully you had some fun while you were working it too. I love the jacket idea. Those fabrics are lovely and I can’t wait to see how you pull it together. We are hanging at home this summer with grandkids on Sunday for swimming and dinner. Forces me to keep up with the vacuuming. In the sewing room I am stitching sashing around my crumb blocks. I’ve got 24 of the 106 sashed. 🙂
Hi Carole, Would you be able to share what the pattern is you’re using to make the jacket. Thanks.
That looks like such a fun event for the minis – glad you had so many people! The fabric for your quilt coat looks beautiful. I’ll enjoy seeing your progress on that!
What a fun day and what an incredible bunch of itty bitty cars!
Mary Ed
My angle cousin quilts and has given me both a jacket and vest. Lucky me.
Carole, do you have a source for the quilt label you have on the quilt from your quilt guild?
Your email came back as deliverable. I don’t know, but I sent an email to someone who might know. I’ll let you all know if I can find out.
Your mini group sure has a lot of fun!
I’m hoping to finish quilting a quilt for a Survivor of a Residential School this afternoon. First though, I will do some reading…Lillian Boxfish takes a Walk is my current book.
Wow! The mini gathering looked like fun and well organized. Something about sharing an event with like minded people that elevates the experience.
So looking forward to your jacket reveal!
Car show was too much fun..lol
Great jacket idea. I may piece my crumbs of batik then cut jacket. I had bought silk batting already for a jacket so may get busy on this project. Thanks for inspiration
You go girl!
Up until a few years ago quilting was done with white thread! Love that you are using the rich blue and great panto. Sounds like your car club is very busy! Can’t wait to see the jacket pattern you picked out! Thanks!
Look at all those minis! I was wondering which was yours so I’m glad you said — I’m not surprised as the red is the cutest! What a grand time you must have had. And now the jacket to come! For your next gathering!
Hello from Geelong, Australia, It is winter here and our weather is cold. ( For us that means lows of 3-8 deg C and highs of 12- 15 deg C ) I really enjoy your news and regular postings. Your Mini Car Club activities sound so much fun. We had the good fortune to live in Windsor, Ontario, Canada many years ago now. My husband worked in the auto industry and was assigned there for two and a half years. Your description of your visit to Niagara Falls certainly brought back many memories. We had similar reactions. Seeing the immensity of the Canadian Falls took our breath away. We also visited the evening light show and peeped out from under the falls clad in heavy waterproof coats and head gear. Such wonderful memories! Under your heading of “Everything old is new again” I made a quilted jacket for myself in the late 1980’s. It has been tucked away for many years now but I’m thinking it is time to bring it out again. I used fabrics that I had to hand and created a patchwork piece of cloth on a foundation using no longer needed flannelette baby diapers. I quilted along the joins then made the jacket from a commercial pattern. I lined this jacket with some fine Swiss cotton fabric. Around that time I also made several vests for friends from pieced strips in their choice of colourway. My sister was delighted when I gave her one for a Christmas gift. I must see if we still have the photo we took of her wearing it. I took pics of my jacket yesterday so you can see it is now a little worse for wear and needing a little care. My winter sewing is progressing well. I have been making some quilts for donation to the needy from my stash. I quilt them simply on my home sewing machine often making them in a quilt as you go style. I go to a small sit and sew group at a l.q.s. each Wednesday, the friendship brings joy to my life and was sadly missed when it ceased during the lockdown times over the past two years. Thank you for your writings on such varied and interesting subjects. Warmest wishes, Judy Cooke
Sounds like a beautiful jacket in the plans. How are you planning to put your 5 FQs together, Carole, by piecing them in a pattern you like or ? I’m very interested in this project. I am working on a quilt along w/Pat Sloan and trying to finish a UFO. I do not work on one project at a time…think it’s a bit of ADHD or something that prevents me from concentrating on just one thing. LOL Or maybe it’s called scatterbrained????? LOL
Wow, that’s a lot of Minis! I love the fabrics for your jacket!
What an exciting adventure for all the Minis. The fat quarters for your jacket are very pretty. What? Need more fabric? While you might have a lot on hand it always seems that you need a little more to tie them all together. I’m about to go over the collection of fabrics for my next quilt. We’ll see how far I get before determining whether I need to go shopping.
Wow that’s a lot of mini lovers….. Great turn out…..
Oh, we wish we could have participated in Minis Take the States this year but total knee replacement in May has me tied to PT. The gray roadster in the forefront of photo 4 from the top is very similar to our Mini. Such fun to drive! Your concert at the brewery was a great idea. I know everyone had a good time.