Weekend Fun

Its time for my semi-annual quilt retreat at Montreat! This year I have to split my time with an Insurance Agency visit on Friday and Merlefest on Saturday. And we must hike to the overlook. I used to take this hike alone...but after last year's trek with Salem Stitcher and others I should have company from now on. Its a peaceful place and the energy I get from all these ladies will last me for the next few months. Buddy has been patiently waiting for his Star Wars quilt so I hope to get it done for him.

Saturday I will take off and meet Go Postal at Merlefest. We are working at the Merlefest Post Office from 12-3 so if you are there come say Hi! We haven't missed this festival in the last 6 years and its about the only thing that would make me leave Montreat early.

Then a wedding on Sunday where I understand the groom is from Scotland and yes he and his wedding party will be in Kilts.

So another weekend where I won't get the laundry done, won't clean the bathroom, or mow the grass!

Rock Castle Gorge

Tree picked this weekend to go to Rock Castle Gorge (near Woolwine, Va) so we would see some wildflowers and we were not dissapointed. Here is a beautiful trillium.

And they are found in light pink and white......

We saw orchids, may apples, jack in the pulpit, lillies, and many more that I can not name. Luckily the rain held off so we didn't have to eat our PB&J in the rain.

Waterbug

Bull is working on his backstroke here with his teacher. He still looks a little like a water bug...kind of arms and legs flying everywhere when he tries to swim on top of the water. He was swimming last year underwater pretty good. He will get to practice this summer with his Mom at the Tanglewood pool, for now he is having fun in his lessons.

Do You Facebook?

I have to admit, I have been a little slow to get into the social networking. I have blogged a few years but mainly for my own enjoyment of keeping a written record of whats going on in my life and to share photos with friends and family. But I am starting to learn more about Facebook. I set up a page for the ski club, and have reconnected with a few old friends (but I really don't care what they are eating for dinner if you know what I mean) But I just now, chatted with Go Postal's nephew who is serving in Iraq. I updated him briefly on his grandfather and told him about the deer in my new garden. How comforting it must be for the guys/gals serving far away from home to keep in touch this way. I am looking into to using a page like this to stay in touch with my new job's client base and think it truely is here to stay. Might as well jump on the Facebook wagon, but I draw the line at Tweeting.

Happy and Sad Weekend

Here are my entries to this past weekend's quilt show. It was a beautiful show and Go Postal helped take it down Saturday night. A few hours later his father fell and broke his hip. He has had surgery Sunday. He will begin his long journey of rehabilitation today. Please keep him and his family in your prayers.

The scrap rail fence quilt above was hand pieced by my Great Grandmother Leah Stone Lindig for my Mom as a gift for her High School graduation. I added the border and tied it (Mom had already bought the fabric for the border and told me that her Grandmother would have tied it because she was a no nosense mother of eight).

This is Fannye's Quilt. It is a split hexagon, english paper pieced. I appliqued it to the navy background and Mrs Goodneedle quilted it for me. The judges gave the machine quilting high marks! It is wonderful!!!

And here is Chocolate Chickens. The binding got stitched down just hours before the entries were due! The 12 pieced blocks were SO 2007 $5 quilt blocks and Quiltkeemosabe chose the fabrics (she did a great job). We used templates to cut the pieces and it really helped me make more complex blocks than I usually tackle.

What a treat, my first blue ribbon. Chocolate Chickens benefited from wonderful long arm quilting (same quilter as Salem Stitcher's Best of Show!) The ribbons were so cool as well, I told Go Postal this one may have to hang in the new sewing room....its like a little piece of art.

Whats going on?

Bet folks are wondering why all those pillowcases are being exchanged down on Trade street..... Well I for one missed the deadline last night to have my quilt show entries complete (yes I stitched the sleeve to hang the quilt down the wrong side). So Salem Stitcher allowed me to drop it off to her this morning. All the quilts are being categorized and judged here tomorrow before moving to the church for the big show this weekend. The guild has worked hard over the last two years and I know it will be a great show. There is a beatiful raffle quilt, about 17 vendors, a boutique, and around 130 quilts to enjoy. Admission is $5

Friday and Saturday 10-5

New Hope Presbyterian Church in Clemmons

Frazzled Friday

The dishes are piled up, laundry is spilling out of the basket, the lawn needs mowing, and poor Zorro thinks he has be orphaned. All in all a pretty good week however. Go Postal and I finished the second coat of "beehive" last night. With only some ceiling paint left and it will be on to the flooring soon. I didn't get much sleep last night so I treated myself to a Latte this morning. Once savoring the aroma and headed to Yadkinville I realized....I didn't put any makeup on this morning. Not that I wear a lot, but no eyeliner even makes these red puffy allergy eyes look even worse. So I made a fast stop at the CVS and did the best I could in the parking lot. TGIF

End of the Sabbatical

This is my first full week back at work. I am excited about the new role, a project manager for a small independant insurance agency. I am trying to learn a whole new industry and take my experience with Hanes and help improve their tools and workflows. It a great environment and such a breath of fresh air compared to the "always a crisis" mode I was in before.

Reflecting on my almost 11 months off, I learned a few things:
1. Stuff I don't want to do like cleaning closets and organizing old photos still wont get done if there are more fun things to do. No matter how much time you have.
2. I dropped a lot of my monthly expenses and don't really miss them....digital cable, brewed coffee at home instead of a Starbucks Latte each morning, and eating out lunch every day.
3. I won't be board when I get to retire (as long as I keep my health)
4. If I dont have to leave the house, I will still be found in my pajamas well after lunch working on the computer. And its nice for your stomach to signal lunch time rather than a clock, lunch was often more a mental break than about really eating.
5. Life is all about tradeoffs of time and money. Now that I am back to work I probably won't spend two hours doing the grocery shopping and sorting through coupons for the best deals.

I loved having the opportunity to take classes, travel, spend time with friends and family that I wouldn't have ben able to do if I wansn't laid off. And, it has helped me decide what type of jobs I will and will not apply for in the future based on my desire for work-life balance.

I feel lucky to have had the break.....

Busy Birthday Weekend for Go Postal

Friday night we tilled a new garden. I planted spinach, beets and red potatoes. The squash, okra and tomatoes will go out in a few weeks. So far it looks like the rabbits and deer like beets and spinach. We sprayed the perimeter with some rotten egg/garlic spray to see if that will help.

Saturday we drove up to VIR (Virginia International Raceway) to join up with Sam and Marc, our friends from the ski club. He is an instructor and invited Go Postal out on the track during some of his free time. It is a road course and incredible how fast he accelerates and BRAKES aournd the curves. We even got to drive our own cars around the track for some parade laps. It was a lot of fun....you can see the big grin on his face.

Sunday after church his family got together for a Easter/Birthday lunch. I decided to make him a bunny cake using pound cake layers. He may have been thinking about a more adult bunny when I suggested it....but I think it was fun anyway. You need to have some fun on your big 5-0!!

It was nice to take a break from working on the barn, we will get back to that this week I guess. The scissor lift should be there today so they can stain the end gables and finally get the outside complete. This stretch of warm weather is just what we need.

Buddy Spends the Night

"The boys are on Spring Break this week so Tuesday night Buddy and I had a "sleepover" We built the Lego Tie Fighter I bought back this Fall at the Lego star in Charlotte and then we popped popcorn and watched Episode III in the twin beds upstairs. He slept under the quilt his Great Great Grandmother pieced for his Grandmother as a high school graduation present. He loved the little light that hangs over the metal twin bed frame almost as much as his Mom and Aunt Kim did when they were little and slept in these beds at Granny Marshall's house.

The next morning we all met up and took a hike around the Knob at Pilot Mountain. He took this photo of Mary and I. Its a great time in NC, things are warming up and blooming but the mosquitos aren't out yet.