September in the Garden

The growing season is fairly long here in western North Carolina, and even more things are blooming now.  It is the last of summer, with some bloomers hanging on, and new ones coming out.  On the veranda, about half the pots still have something blooming. These yellow bidens just keep coming. My pink geranium gave …

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Cooking Competitions at the Mountain State Fair

Entering the cooking contests at the fair is just a hoot, and it is fun to see the ideas of all the contestants.  This year the theme for the Egg Competition was Anything Goes, so no restrictions as to what you did with eggs.  Last year, contestants had to make egg salad.  This year contestants …

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Finishing Orizuru – the Cranes Wall Hanging

Orizuru was finished on time, and is currently hanging at the Mountain Regional State Fair, in the Quilts Division category Wall Hangings.  But, finishing it gave me a few more headaches before it was done.  Since the blue markers were working well, I continued with them and marked a few feathers on the outer border.  …

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King Apple Parade

The final part of the Apple Festival festivities is the King Apple parade on Labor Day.  After delivering my entries to the State Fair, I ran home to get DH and we got downtown miraculously finding a parking space only two blocks away from the parade route.  The Corvette club was going by, and we …

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Apple Festival 2018

Labor Day weekend marks the start of a three week period that is a super fun time of year for me.  Beginning on Friday with a visit to the Apple Festival, this is the kickoff of the fall season, even though the temperature is still hot (at least by our standards). This year we went …

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Teacups Quilt Along – Block 2

Continuing the Teacups Quilt Along, this month we'll do a block from the Cups and Saucers book.  Actually, we will do three.  If you have this version - Cups and Saucers first edition - the patterns are the same.   So, make three copies of the teacup pattern on page 53 of the first edition, or …

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Let’s Talk About Marking Quilts

When I posted on Sunday about marking the Orizuru quilt with gel pens, there were several comments related to their use.  I didn't go into detail on the pens at the time, and I should have.  I was going to just talk about the gel pen on the next Orizuru post, but instead, let's talk …

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Quilter’s Meet and Greet

Today I am participating in an event called Quilter's Meet and Greet - a blog hop of quilting bloggers, some new, some established.  Welcome to From My Carolina Home!  I am a longarm quilter, pattern designer and speaker for quilting enthusiasts, and I've been blogging for over 4 years. I do lots of free patterns …

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Making Scents at the Arboretum and the Quilt Garden

Wearing perfume is enjoyable for me, but is fraught with problems nowadays because of other people's allergies or lung issues.  I have to be very careful when I decide to wear it out.  I don't put it on in crowded situations like meetings, but I do enjoy wearing a pretty scent out to dinner with …

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Quilting Orizuru – The Crane Wall Hanging

Quilting the Orizuru quilt was daunting in the beginning.  The practice piece was helpful in getting me to loosen up and get into the rhythm of free motion.  I then did a few practice squares with scraps.  But when it came time to put the cranes under the needle, I would freeze again.  So I …

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