Yesterday, we had a driving event with one of our car clubs. We met at a local grocery store, and drove back country roads for two hours (with a comfort stop halfway in) to the Highlands Motoring Festival in Highlands, NC. The drive route was so pretty, lush and green the whole way. We drove along the East Fork river, then into the higher mountains to the show.
Along the way, I know you love seeing these pastoral scenes of barns and fields.
At the show, there were lots of exotic cars. Ferrari was the featured marque, and Porsche had a major presence. As we went around the show, we ran into more friends from another car club. I didn’t take that many photos as I was just happy to look and enjoy the day. In the last section we visited, all the cars were really old, from the 1920s and 30s. The shapes are so different from modern cars, so much more style. My Sweet Babboo was taken with a radiator cap on one car, mentioning how detailed it was. These things are truly works of art. So rather than show you cars today, I want to show you some great examples of this detail we never see anymore. Credit to My Sweet Babboo for the idea. We’ll begin with this one. I tried to find out something about these, but information is hard to come by. This one reminds me of Mercury, messenger of the gods.
It was difficult to get good shots as the bright sunlight was reflecting off the silver. This archer was exquisite in the detail, right down to his toes.
The greyhound leaps off the hood, note that the front legs are not touching the car, and only one back foot is connected.
Art Deco style shows in the clean lines of this figure, and in the hair.
This one was really hard to photograph. The female figure has her arms thrown back and a flowing cape flutters behind her.
OK, I will show you one car. I should have taken the photo from the back, as the engine and exhaust was very much a part of the design. This is a Porsche 918 Spyder, going price $2 million.
Back home, I am making progress with the two squirrels I’ve been seeing lately. The plumper one may be Gracie, as she isn’t afraid of me and will come up on the veranda to see if there is anything on offer. She’ll then grab the tidbit and run to the retaining wall to eat it.
The other one is skinny, and skittish. But he is becoming a bit more trusting. He doesn’t come closer to me, but he no longer runs away. He’ll watch warily, and then ignore the sandwich thrown over to him for a few minutes. Then, he will take it, and munch it down where it landed.
On the veranda, several of my begonias have grown from seeds this year and are now lush and blooming.
The spider plant is blooming too, with delicate and tiny white flowers. I do need to pot the little plantlets so they can thrive.
They are so pretty, spilling out of the birdcage in all directions.
Inside, the orchid bloom continues to bring a smile everyday.
Behind this bloom is a small stalk that really appears to have two more blooms in progress. I will be amazed if these progressed all the way to fully mature.
The violet flowers are in full bloom again. This is the third wave of flowers for this plant this year.
In the sewing room, I continued to work on small projects this past week. I made a bunch more of my hot handle pads. These are lighter than ones I’ve made before with two layers of batting. These have a layer of heat resistant fabric on the inner surface, and a layer of high quality insulated batting inside. Testing one in my kitchen, I am happy with the performance on a hot cast iron pan. (Psst to Jeanie – looks like perhaps stocking stuffers for Cork Poppers?)
I got a notice this week that AQS is going to be accepting submissions for patriotic quilts for a special traveling exhibit with all their shows in 2026. The applications will be accepted in July, then a jury will decide which ones make the exhibit. See AQS Stars Stripes and Stitches Call For Quilts for details. My To The Nines Quilt meets the requirements, so I got it out to see about taking some photographs of it. I realized I had never made a label for it.
I have been making the labels with a bit more pizzazz lately. I found a star motif in the Christmas collection of embroidery designs I’ve purchased. The star was shown in three shades of gold, but I recolored it to be red, white and blue. Then I added the information usually on a label. It was attached by hand while watching TV. I’m not sure I’ll actually enter it as there is really no incentive to do so. There are no ribbons or judging, they keep it for a year, and I have to pay to ship it to them. Is the prestige of making it in enough? Hmmm. Not sure. But either way it needed a label.
I got the Japanese wall hanging back out this week. I found the fusible interfacing I needed to stabilize the delicate gold fabric that I had purchased for the sashing. Before, when I sewed the first strip in, I got pulling on the threads that created lines in the metallic fabric.
Stabilizing it with the fusible interfacing, I tried stitching on a test strip. It seems to be working. No lines have appeared, which means the threads are not pulling. I’ll work on assembling the top this coming week and see if the new idea holds.
Other than that, I made another produce bag, a few more bowl cozies, and stitched out more embroidery for other projects. More on those next week.
What are you working on?
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From My Carolina Home 
Good morning, Carole. Wow, the hood ornaments are works of art. Two million dollars for a car…amazing! Happy Sunday!
Great post this week. Working on a king Drunkardâs Path for my son and his wife. I cut all with the AccuCutter.
Regards, Sherry
I am so happy to see your orchid doing so well. I know how much you’ve babied and coaxed it to bloom. Your squirrel pals are so entertaining. Loved seeing the hood ornaments at the car show. What exquisite workmanship! Hope you’re having a great weekend. Probably need a little rest after the beautiful ride yesterday.
I think I would be very nervous driving a $2 million car around. Those hood ornaments are amazing. I’ glad your orchid is finally blooming. One of the things I like about orchids is that their blooms last so long. And, yes, it does look like you will have more blooms from the second flower spike. I hope you are enjoying a calmer summer.
I love your car club trips and wow, those antique cars are incredible! I have always loved cars, especially the older ones…I guess because my Dad had a 1936 Ford Phaeton, and my husband bought and restored a 1963 corvette. Beautiful blooms Carole, and Im glad Gracie is still around and brought a friend!
Jenna
We always look forward to driving out to Highlands (we are in Pisgah Forest) for the car festival. This year didn’t disappoint! Love the idea of the hood ornaments photos. We visited the Gilmore Auto Museum in Michigan one year and they have a whole building dedicated to hood ornaments. Pretty cool to see. Your flowers looked happy and healthy.
Cathy
Hi Carole,It was nice to see the details
Looks like you had a fun week! I made plum jelly and fresh cream corn and a little sewing on my quilt. I often wondered, what are the little sandwiches you feed the squirrels? They actually look like mini sandwiches.
The sandwiches are peanut butter on whole wheat bread. I take the heel of a loaf, make a half sandwich, then cut it into 6 pieces for tiny squirrel-size meals.
Plum jelly sounds delicious!
Thank you for sharing. I couldnât figure it out lol. I would definitely share if we were closer. Iâm in NE Texas. Best Cindy
Those are amazing good ornaments, Carole, thank your sweet Baboo for the idea, I really enjoyed seeing them. As for the pulled threads…you might want to try a smaller needle? That happens sometimes when I forget to change to a smaller needle before stitching lining. Just a thought.
I’m glad you had great weather for your car club drive. That sunshine is loved, but it does play havoc with photos. What a fun idea for a theme for your photos! Love that your spider plant is putting out flowers and babies!
I had to show those hood ornaments to Mike – they are amazing! Your drive looks scenic and fun. I hope they accept “To the Nines” into the show – it’s a beauty! This week I’m trying to make some progress towards finishing a quilt whose blocks I made last year. Love all your small project ideas!
I love the hood ornaments on the old cars they certainly do not make them like that anymore – I remember seeing those mainly in the movies – always so pretty
good morning
I enjoyed your morning chat, another a good day in the country for you.
no news from my sewing room, needs a good cleaning out before I start anything new.
golf and a garage sale in our complex seems to be keeping me busy for now, and hot weather slowing me down.
enjoy your day. Myrna
Great post today, Carole. (But then, they all are). The car embellishments are amazing. So much precise workmanship. You have certainly kept busy with sewing. I’ve been working on small projects too. For some reason, I want to see quick finishes, and a quilt just doesn’t fit right now. Hoping you decide to enter your quilt for the Stars and Stripes exhibit. I think it is stunning.
I love a relaxing ride in the back roads! It’s interesting to see the detail on the antique cars. Sounds like you have had some accomplishments in the sewing room. Small, easily completed projects are very satisfying.
Since finishing 3 tops for the shop I’ve not done much actual sewing. I have a muslin cover for my ironing board which needed replacing so I dug out some old, torn sheets & made another. It looks so fresh & clean. Then some cleaning & reorganizing.
I don’t have a longarm so did some cleaning around my machine to have clear space to machine quilt a couple of UFOs.
Maybe this week will be more productive in the sewing room.
what a beautiful drive! I loved the photos of the hood ornaments.
And three rounds of blooms on the African Violet is great. It must be very happy with its growing conditions. I gave in to Memorial Day sales so I am busy with borders and backing for things almost finished. I hope I can balance out the purchases for the month! I may need to get some pillowcases cut and sewn to speed things up going out.
As always, I enjoyed my morning visit with your blog. Wish hood ornaments were still “a thing”. Your photos remind me of my friends’ photos~~they travel often and take pictures of decorative manhole covers. I hadn’t realized how many weren’t just plain, smooth covers. Your busy week is so fun to read about and I’m always astonished at how much you accomplish in a week.
Thank you for taking & posting those pics of the old radiator covers. They are spectacular!
That Porsche is sleek, cool and amazing, and probably goes from zero to 100 in two seconds, but personally I can think of a lot of things I’d rather spend $2 million on (if I had it, lol.) I would probably be afraid to drive it out of the garage!
I love your spider plant. I grew them for years up north, brought one to Florida and about a year later it suddenly had scale.
Have a good week. Mary Ellen
Those vintage autos really make a statement. The hood ornaments are like fancy brooches on a society lady’s lapel. The skittish squirrel may be a youngster. We’ve had some young visitors this week. They’re still learning and sometimes don’t know enough to run away when we go out. You’ll have to ask your quilt about a traveling show & whether it will get homesick on the road. I made a twin size selvege quilt top this week. I do enjoy some mindless sewing now & then.
Love the hood ornaments, especially the Deco woman! They are probably expensive themselves, regardless of the car they ride on!And I did not know you could grow begonias from seed! I love those and keep th
Thank you, those ornaments are so interesting! The reason that car makers stopped doing them is apparently because they created more injury to pedestrians hit by cars. So they were outlawed. As if being hit by one of those behemoth cars wouldn’t be injury enough!
What a beautiful drive amongst all that green! I remember when cars had hood ornaments, though most were not as detailed and beautiful as the ones you photographed. That Porsche 918 Spyder… I’d have a hard time taking it out of the garage and onto the road just because of the price tag. Better protect it! Thanks for sharing all the great photos!
Those hood ornaments are so unique! Thanks for sharing them. My accomplishment this week was learning how to do English paper piecing during the Crafting Change monthly Piece Maker zoom quilt class. The handwork is done but my arthritic thumbs joints did not like it so I think one block will be my limit. Doris R
Thanks for sharing the hood ornaments! They are so pretty. I finished a picnic quilt and tote bag to carry it in for a newly married couple at church. A friend has a church banner making business so I get her scraps – cotton canvas – and use it for the backing. This week I’m working on a duffle bag and t shirt quilt.
Hi Carole,
Hope you have enjoyed your break from blogging. I have enjoyed reading this post!
So totally agree with you on vintage cars. I really don’t like the modern ones you see today. No design on them at all, so they all look identical, and invariably white, grey or black. The new electric cars that are beginning to come on the market are totally ugly in MHO. Another thing I find amazing is that in today’s day and age, when climate change and cost of living is on the agenda every which way you turn, the cars favoured here are enormous! No one seems to mind that they guzzle petrol, and therefore dollars, at a rate of knots. We drive a Toyota Corolla, which I consider a family sized car, but here, it is deemed to be a “small” car. LOL
I couldn’t resist your challenge on the Archer, so I Googled it with Google Lens. It is apparently the bonnet ornament (or hood ornament as you say) for a Pierce Arrow Model 133. We seem to have the British cars, not the American ones here, so that is not something I have seen before. Stunning quality, and typical on old cars built before WWII or so. The others are wonderful too.
I am working on a wedding quilt for my oldest grand daughter who got married last month. It is a Civil War reproduction based on some of Barbara Brackman’s blocks she featured in her Threads of Memory BOM about 10 years ago. Currently putting the sashing on, and I have upped the game by adding stars as corner stones. Quite fiddly, but I am really loving how it looks. With the closure of several quilt shops in Sydney and also some recently on the Central Coast, I really had trouble finding a source of repro fabrics for the sashing, borders and backing. I visited a new to me shop last week, and have lucked out. They have a small selection of repro fabric. I loved the rest of the shop too, and am in the throes of organising a trip to Sydney with the Friday Quilters ladies next month to visit it.
Other concurrent projects are a block swap I am doing with my group, Friday Quilters, and a baby quilt as well. I have done all the applique blocks for the latter and am putting sashings on them. First round is plain, then rows of 2.5″ squares between the sashed blocks. Not much of that done yet. I think I will be giving that to our great nephew Lucas.
Dasha
Thanks, Dasha! I agree, modern cars are mostly eggs on wheels – all aerodynamics and no style.
The ornaments are radiator caps, not just hood (or bonnet) ornaments. The one I couldn’t find was the woman with the flowing cape. Interestingly, they were outlawed when it was found that they caused additional injuries to pedestrians when struck by the car – as if being hit by one of these behemoths wasn’t enough!
Sounds like you have some great projects going!
love the car ornaments. Thanks for sharing.
The cars and their adornments are stunning. Great to be able to look around at all of them.
Hi Carole
Thank you for your posts. I always look forward to them! You are an inspiration and creative artist! Thank you for your time and many talents that you share with your readers !
Bless you
Sounds like a perfect weekend!
Coming in late with my comment, as it’s been a very busy week. Art Deco is my favorite period for art works. Those hood ornaments are everything, great captures! Love Your begonias from seed, they stay so beautiful through heat and drought. I think you should enter your To the Nines quilt if for no other reason than to share your beauty and talent. And yes, Jeanie should definitely consider those handle grips for Cork Poppers! Happy Summer’s Eve!
Nothing better than to drive the backroads of our gorgeous NC mountains!!!! Think I need to go for a drive soon!!!! And I did not know spider plants would bloom! Thanks for sharing!