It was an extraordinary morning just yesterday, with an abundance of wildlife in the early morning fog. I didn't get photos of the five deer that were grazing in the meadow, as they went into the forest before the camera could boot up. Fog is a frequent morning visitor here, and I love how it …
Working on Quilted Gift Ideas
There is a song that keeps going through my head by Dolly Parton, called a Hard Candy Christmas. Seems like that will be this year, as we can't do many of the fun things and social gatherings that celebrate the season. It seems to me that small gifts and heartfelt cards will be more important …
An Abundance of Tomatoes with Recipe Ideas
This has been the best year I have ever had for tomatoes, thanks to my friend Bonnie H who advised me on what I was doing wrong. Mostly it had to do with sunlight, and getting more of it to the plants. Anyway, this year has seen a bounty of tomatoes, so much so we …
A Safely Social Drive on the Blue Ridge Parkway
We always enjoy drives in our beautiful, western North Carolina mountains, and even more so with our MINI clubs. We actually belong to two, one based in North Carolina and one based in the Upstate of South Carolina. This time, the Upstate group planned a safely social drive where the route came very close to …
Continue reading A Safely Social Drive on the Blue Ridge Parkway
Figuring It Out, Safely Social
Does it seem like this isolation is never going to end? As much as I know that someday it will, and we will be able to get back to our fun times, meetings and social events, for now we just have to find a way to bridge the gap. But boy, is it a big …
Quilting the Sunset Dahlia for Bullington Gardens
The second Dahlia panel is finished, and the colors on this one are so vibrant! The colorway is called Sunset. I didn't have any threads to match the intense colors on this panel, so I went to Beginnings and purchased four Floriani embroidery threads in precisely matched colors. It was easy to find a good …
Continue reading Quilting the Sunset Dahlia for Bullington Gardens
Hiking Connemara
A short drive from our home is the 260+ acres of the Carl Sandburg estate called Connemara, in Flat Rock. He purchased the home in 1945, and continued to write and publish here until his death in 1967, producing almost a third of his life's work in that time. His wife raised goats, and they …
Double Chocolate Delight Cookies
When the going gets tough, the tough turn to chocolate, isn't that right? I've been working on this recipe for some weeks now, and just had to make it several times to be sure. No, really, I had to. Testing combinations of shortening and butter, different types of chips took several batches. Plus, I wanted …
Finishing the Vintage Christmas Placemats
The placemats are finally done!! When we left off last time, I had all the embroidery work done on the placemats and was ready to quilt them. All the blocks had three inch strips of the directional ornament fabric put on each side for a placemat size of 12 x 18. I loaded the longarm …
Jolly Bar Row Along Finishing the Quilt
Now that the top is done, assembly went quickly. Sashing strips were put between the top leaves and between the rows. I assembled the top three rows first. I put the sashing strips between the leaf blocks and the next row's arrows and butterflies. Then, without really paying attention, I sewed the rows together with …
From My Carolina Home 