How Clever

While sitting at a recent quilt guild meeting, I was admiring and wondering about something my friend and fellow quilter - Katie Winchell was knitting. I'm always impressed when someone can knit like crazy without ever looking at their hands...this was Katie...knitting like there was no tomorrow.

Curiosity got the best of me and I asked in a puzzled tone...what is it exactly that you are making (looked a little weird to me, too big for a hat) and she told me it was a carrier to bring to the supermarket......

for carrying heavy things. It is ultra strong and super easy to use...Well, Wow, with my love for watermelon and the huge struggle to bring it home and up the stairs....

And then she said, I'm almost done with this one...and it's yours!

So thank you Katie....I love and have used this handy little carrier over and over again...so glad we sat next to each other at guild...I never would have known about it otherwise.

New Kid on the Block

My son Michael is an artist, working mostly in oils and drawings. He was in Woolworth Walk many years ago and is back!  Woolworth is an historical landmark, even has a working soda fountain inside. The rest of the space is divided into cubicles for artists who pay a monthly fee and a small percentage of sales. Woolworth is on Haywood Street (our version of Main Street) in downtown Asheville, NC. It's a wonderful place to see new and well known local artists and also have the opportunity to purchase their work.

This is my son's booth filled with beautiful paintings, drawings and cards...His booth is downstairs in the center aisle towards the back....# 219.

Hope you can stop by and see Mike's work as well as the work of other artists.

Asheville in the summer is always bustling with fun, tourists and a fun place to be and Woolworth is always at the top of the list to see.

Here'e Mike...the maker of all this beautiful work.....I wish him good luck with this new venture and hope for many lookers and sales...Good Job Mike!

A Walk in the Garden

Every year I like to do a blog on my garden as my husband and son do a really good job with it. I have the total opposite of a green thumb and can't take any of the credit but I do enjoy it.

I draw a lot of inspiration for quilts from it as I love the flowers, the colors and especially love the trees.

We have a lot of perennials but I love the annuals as they bloom all summer. If you have to deal with the heat of summer, might as well get some beautiful color also.

Pow-Wows are in the Cone flower family...love the hot pink color.

We have tons of lilies....

and the beginning of a forest....When we first moved here, the property was 3 acres of "nothingness"...it used to be part of a farm and they used this particular area for grazing...so trees were non-existent...We planted trees (big twigs) and thought we will never have a forest of trees which I longed for but 10 years later, here we are.
My husband who likes to build things, built this arbor for some rose bushes to grow on.

This is nice and shaded and my granddaughter's favorite tree to climb....

My husband and son built this bee house out of bamboo...The bees seem to love it and fun to watch.

Birdbaths, birdhouses and

Sunflowers...

and this....ground cover which I have no idea what it is but the leaves all look like they were cut with pinking shears. Needless to say, it's one of my favorite things we have.

Our little woodland garden is my favorite as I love the variety of ferns...below is our vegetable garden ...and it's doing well this year...not always the case but we've had lots of rain. We had a bumper crop of spinach which was wonderful and now the zucchini and you know how that goes...can't give it away...So there you have it, I've taken lots of photos for color and texture and inspiration for quilts...Hope you enjoyed the tour!