Monday, February 28, 2011

Mid Atlantic Quilt Festival

The crowds did not reflect a weak economy at this year's festival it was elbow to elbow both Friday and Saturday in all the vendor booths. The above picture is of the center of one impressive quilt, those little flying geese get so TINY!!! This year's best of show was a hand quilted very traditional applique, which was refreshing in a way.
This lady made the most awesome quilt with all kinds of felted animals on it. Then after felting the animals she hand embroidered all kinds of flowers, grass etc.

The next two are made in honor of special pets. These were both very large, and I am thinking that at this scale I might could tackle a portrait quilt someday....


This one was bed size! It reminded me of Jenny Lynn our calico. This was a quilt depicting a photo on a bulletin board...neat idea.



And finally after seeing all those quilts, who isn't inspired to think about your own quilting future. I was really trying to spend very little this year, but these two collections of fabric really called out to me. Soft pinks, blues and brown.....LOVE IT!! But really the most fun is seeing quilters that I don't get to see often...OhQuilter was in from Ohio and the Raleigh girls were there, we all had a "Show and Tell" the last night to show off our vendor "finds". Fun Fun




Tuesday, February 22, 2011

My name is Norm


I have lived in South Georgia now for about 10 years with Nane's Dad. About a year ago I gave them a good scare when I left for several weeks. Come to find out some dogs had scared me away from my workshop when everyone was out of town. I "hid out" across the street under another house not knowing I was so close to home. Once they found me I had lost a lot of weight but was fine. Now my Dad lets me eat whatever I want and I rarely venture away from the house. This retired life is grand!

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Just a week ago.....Images from Tahoe



This was the last day skiing at Heavenly on Friday... we had clear blue skies every day in Tahoe and even though it would have been nice to have some fresh snow, nobody complained. Go Postal and I are on the end.










Most of the runs were tilled and groomed each night breaking up any ice that forms....our resorts out East could learn a lot from these guys.


GP would have rather been skiing than having to pose for a photo. He was a good sport all week, with my cold I was not as energetic as usual. He did get a couple of chances to go with the big boys on a few runs harder than I was interested in trying.









On our day off from skiing we tood a cruise on the lake. It was windy that day so better that we were not skiing. To be on Lake Tahoe with snow covered mountains all around just doesnt get much prettier. The water here is pristine and you can see down over 50'







I got to drive the boat! The captain was eating his lunch so he would just say three pegs to the left...etc.

It was a classic paddleboat. GP asked all about the two diesel engines etc while we were in the wheel house. I just wanted to drive the boat.



Here is the lower section of Heavenly on the California side. The gondola went up near the state line between California and Nevada. When you looked out across Nevada you saw brown plains...quite a contrast to the California view.

All in all a very nice trip and someday maybe we will make it back when they are having one of their famous dumps of snow. I also bet this would be a fantastic place to visit in the Summer.


Tuesday, February 15, 2011

14 Already?

Happy 14th Birthday Marshall !!!

Monday, February 14, 2011

Heavenly it was

This is where Go Postal and I were last week. We took our annual ski trip with WSSOC, this year to Lake Tahoe. We had three days at Heavenly (above) a day at Northstar and a day at Sierra. On our day off from skiing we took a tour of the lake on a Paddleboat....the Captain even let me drive! I fought a bad cold all week so didn't get in as long of days skiing as I would have liked but it is still better to have a cold in Lake Tahoe than have a cold at work! They were unseasonaly warm (upper 40's most days) but they have such a huge snow base that they got the slopes in great shape overnight. They actually till the snow to break up any ice that forms when it re-freezes over night then run the groomers to get the runs back in tip top shape for the next day.

I will post some more pictures when I get them uploaded off my big camera. Now my Valentine has caught the cold so after the quilt guild meeting tonight I will have to rush home and do some pampering.

For all you readers that ski (or want to learn).... next year the club is headed to Jackson Hole, Wyoming!

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Early Spring According to Phil!

Yeah, he didn't see his shadow and retreat to his burrow. Early Spring, I think I am ready!!!