Happy Thanksgiving

Gobble....gobble....Happy.....Happy....Thanksgiving and many blesssings to you and yours for a wonderful holiday season

PTA - River Art District

PTA this month was a field trip organized by Cathy Neiman. She is so organized and always plans the most fun outings. We started at 12 Bones restaurant, known for barbeque and smoked food...all was delicious. We were also celebrating a big birthday for Barbara seated at the head of the table.

Barbara was given this panel which had been folded up for a while. Upon unfolding it, Barbara noticed the creases to look something like a window pane, so she went back and added skinny ribbon to create that look. She also added wood grain like fabric as a border...very clever.

 Connie showed us the cutest dolls she's been working on using drapery and upholstery samples. Each is unique and different from the other, all hand embroidered.

The all have the cutest personalities created by such a wonderful use of fabric.

Dort show us her new pockets which she extended from the older pocket which are always too small to hold anything. While at the restaurant, we had a small room to ourselves and the go-ahead to write messages on the wall. Cathy, always thinking ahead brought along a bunch of magic markers for us to go to town...Some funny ones - "Hanging by a thread", and "Keeping you in stitches".

Our next stop was the River Arts District where many artists have their studios. You can walk through the buildings and if the artist is in...you can stop and visit. Barbara Zaretsky's studio, known as BZ Design Textiles was open and welcoming us in. . Barbara is a fiber artist working in natural dyes and fibers. She dyes, discharges, stamps and screens very simplistic and elegant designs making clothing and home decor items.

Beautiful...beautiful work; we all were drooling over so many lovely pieces.

One of Barbaras machine is an old Singer. I used to teach Home Ec and had some of these metal monsters in my room...they were indestructable. They only sew back and forward but do the job. They don't make them like this anymore.

Some of her beautiful work...

Another artist that was open and we had the opportunity to see her work at Ignite Jewelry.

Peter Roux, an artist who works with oil, charcoal and acrylic on canvas had some of his work on display in the hallway.

Onto a lovely pottery place and last but not least, an adorable card and gift shop called....

Happy Ass Cards...and they were happy and so much fun to read..bought quite a few myself...don't see the one of a kind in the stores too much.

Gen and all of us were happy campers that day...Thanks Cathy for organizing such a fun day.

Scarves for Woolworth

I've been dyeing lots of scarves with the new method I learned of ice dyeing/microwave style. It only does one at a time (you can do more but I like the variety) and only takes 5 minutes so I can pick a different combination each time. I've accumulated a lot of dyes over the years and have so many choices. I usually use 3 dyes per scarf and take into consideration the blending of 2 colors which can and does happen. For example....I never use complimentary colors together to avoid getting a brown.

I've hung them on my design wall to get a count and also to see the colors I have and where I need to fill in. With the holiday season upon us, I'm hoping to sell them at Woolworth..they make wonderful Christmas presents...so fingers crossed.

While in Germany, recently...walking down the streets and voila!...A Woolworth and I do believe it was like the original Woolworth. Woolworth used to be a "5 & 10" as we knew them as kids...a little bit of everything and very inexpensive. We had to walk through this one and it was the same format....very fun to see.

Have a wonderful day...til next time.

Biking at the Biltmore

My hubby and I like to bike ride...nothing challenging...just fun. We have annual passes to the Biltmore Estate where they have some nice biking trails - nice and flat and run along the French Broad River.

  The other day was picture perfect weather so off we went...

 This is one of the trails we take...

You can see the estate behind me (upper left)...also see some other beautiful sights along the way.

 The day wouldn't be complete without having lunch so we ate at Cedrics which is part of the estate. The Vanderbilts had a dog named Cedric and named a restaurant after him...along with a bronze statue....must be nice..Everything is all decorated and music playing for Christmas...Hope we can slip Thanksgiving in there somewhere along the way. A lovely, somewhat healthy day (except for the Reuban sandwiches)!

Dillsboro and Dogs

This time of years means lots of outings for my hubby and I......We love the fall, the color and the weather. Recently we took a ride to Dillsboro which is a quaint little town in NC with little shops and home to the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad. It was a beautiful day and we had such fun walking around, looking for Santa Claus ornaments and enjoying the hustle bustle of people. The train makes a stop in Dillsboro for 1 1/2 hours where passengers can shop and shop they do.

We happen to be in the Christmas Shop when throngs on people came pouring in...eager to buy something holiday-ish. I found out they were on a stop from their ride and had limited shopping time. That makes for a lot of impulse shopping...

A highlight for me and my son was happening onto the 2 most beautiful sheep dogs. They were immaculately groomed, super friendly and obviously very well taken care of.

After lunch, it was onto the Blue Ridge Parkway which runs through Asheville...we are so lucky to have this national treasure.

At one point we were at 6053 feet elevation.....brrrrrr..cold.

There was still a bit of color which was beautiful.

 The mountains are glorious and serve as wonderful inspiration for so much of what I like to create.

The levels of shadows and values are just breathtaking...pictures can never capture their true beauty. Below is Devils Courthouse...red line points to where people climb to. We often see "little dots" moving around.

And here is the prize for the day....icicles which formed over weeds making them look like long spikey pieces of glass. We were so high up, much colder and this was our reward.

I've already done quilts with pictures of icicles...the challenge will be to create icicles out of fabric  somehow..I'm thinking of Angelina

Thie beautiful rock is "Looking Glass rock" which is easy to see why with its smooth surface....so much beautiful inspiration for quilts...A great day.