More Fair Fun and a Tomato Tian

Today, I will share my third place winning recipe for the Tricolor Tomato Tian. A tian is a French peasant dish consisting of sliced vegetables, overlapped in an earthenware dish, then baked. The vegetables are meant to be the stars of the dish, so no sauces or cheese are added. I thought a tomato tian …

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Garden and State Fair

Rain fell off and on last week, and one drizzly morning these boys came by for a visit. Both males, they strutted around and loudly gobble-gobbled. I threw some sunflower seed hearts out for them. They were happy as clams to do a bit of hunt and peck. The goldfinches and a woodpecker got their …

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Cradle Quilts Update

Happy Mail this week brought more Cradle Quilts for the drive. I am just blown away by the generosity of readers who not only make the quilts, but pay to ship them to me. One day there were five packages to pick up! How fun is this! And I know there are more on the …

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End of Summer Drive and Happy Mail

We had a nice drive recently with some friends. We wanted to drive the Blue Ridge Parkway when the weather cleared and cooled off, so we emailed our buddies and got a group to go. We met at a parking lot, then drove up to the parkway together. The scenery is lush and green everywhere, …

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Apple Festival Weekend

Labor Day weekend is Apple Festival time. This annual event celebrates our county's primary agricultural crop, with a downtown street festival that lasts four days. We usually try to get there for at least one day, often going for both the street festival and then coming back on Monday after they pick up all the …

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Stashbusters

Here we are, the beginning of September, just a few check-ins left to get that Stashbusters number higher in the 'out' category. For me, this month was a bounty of finds that were just irresistible. First, I needed some tone on tone fabrics for background, and the sale at Foust Textiles, a North Carolina textile …

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Mountain State Fair Final Prep

With all the entries I'll be doing in the fair, I have quite a bit of preparation to do. I pull things out I have made in the past year, go through my blog posts to make sure I have included everything I can, and maybe whip up a project or two for other categories. …

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Sunday Chat – Wildlife, Garden and Quilts

Another week of wildlife visits, this small flock of turkeys came by for a meal. I'm pretty sure these are four of the flock of seven that were here last week. They certainly came up running up from the lower meadow just like last time when I stepped out to the veranda and began tossing …

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Custom Quilted Quilt of Valor Finish

When we left off the Quilt of Valor, I was about halfway finished. Continuing on, I finished the white in the flag, quilting wavy lines like a waving flag. Then I changed the thread color to red, and quilted the red stripes in the same way. Advancing the quilt down, I outlined the lower wide …

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Custom Quilted Quilt of Valor

This quilt is for a special friend, a really interesting guy. When his wife told me she was making it, I actually begged her to let me quilt it. I said I would do a nice stars and loop pantograph on it, one I use for most Quilts of Valor that I quilt. When she …

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