I May Have a Problem

When I started this post it was about one shopping trip at the local thrift store.

I have made another trip since then and acquired yet more.

More of what you ask? Why fabric, of course!

This place has all their fabric tossed in large plastic totes.

I sift through them looking for quilt quality fabric. It's hit or miss most of the time.

There were several weeks of no quilt fabric whatsoever. (Which always bums me out.)

Not so for the last two trips. :)

They sell their fabric for $2.50 per bag.

I spent less than $6 for all of the fabric in this post.

(That would get you about half a yard in a quilt shop.)

Super happy quilter!!!

This is the bounty I came home with on my first trip.

I don't mind occasionally spending money on good quality quilt fabric.

However, I would much rather spend the same money (or less) and get lots more fabric.

That's more fun.

I found not just small pieces but yardage!
White, pinks, and several shades of purple too.
Plus I found fat quarters still in their packaging.
Bonus score!

This baby panel was a great find.

This is part of the bounty from the second trip.

Lots of goodies in this pile too.

A few panels, patriotic fabric, muslin, and yardage.

I found this pillow fabric with both front and back panels.

This was another fun panel that I came across.

.

This is the other part of this trip's bounty.

I came across this bag full of already cut squares.

What a find!

It appeared to be something someone started but didn't finish.

It even had the instructions for the barely started project.

I have no intentions of finishing it. I'm planing on my own projects.

I think there were around twenty sandwich baggies with squares in them.

I dumped them out and sorted them.

There was even a piece of sand paper in one of the bags.

It was used as the template to cut fabric with. It's quite an ingenious idea.

The sandpaper keeps the block from sliding on the fabric while you cut.

I have no idea how many squares there are. I didn't count them.

There are even several fabric families. (Same pattern but different colors).

I think I'm going to use these for a scrap four square quilt.

I can't wait.

Mini Finish

I'm such a good blogger.

I've scheduled posts to post while I'm at camp.

:)

This is a scarab symbol from one of the video games the boys play.

For his birthday last year I made Nolan a mini quilt with a different symbol.

This year as his birthday approached I asked him if he'd like another.

He said yes. At first I had instructions of finding a simple geometric one like last year.

Then I changed my mind as I decided to take whatever it was as a challenge.

As you can see, it looked quite challenging!

I traced a picture and modified it a little so it was quilting friendly.

Then I traced my version onto some fabric.

I used an iron on adhesive called Heat n Bond to prepare my fabric.

I've never used anything like that. It was quite a learning experience.

After I traced what I wanted, I simply cut it out with scissors.

Then I ironed it to the background fabric.

That's it.

Super easy!

Next, I pin basted and started hand quilting.

It was rather quick to quilt and I was done in no time.

Here are the two mini quilts side by side on his wall.

I didn't realize the new one was slightly bigger until I was done.

The goal was to make them the same size.

Oh well, it's close.

I think these are a new tradition for us.

So we'll see what he comes up with for next year!

Quilt stats:

quilt #22

8 1/4" x 10 1/2"

hand quilted

Vacation: Acquired

While on vacation we got this awesome pile of cast iron.

We love cast iron.

It's just about all I use to cook with anymore.

I found this one at a flea market.

Now we have two this size.

We use them all the time.

The same day we went to the cool knife store we went to a Lodge factory store.

Um...we sort of came out with this set.

And by we I mean Dwayne found this set.

All I had were two serving spatulas and two handle potholders.

You know, moderation.

When the husband says this is a good deal, you don't argue.

And I haven't regretted it.

I love them all!

These were given to us by Uncle Gary and Aunt Janie.

I haven't cleaned and seasoned them yet.

I'm waiting until colder weather gets here.

(90 degree days are not the best days to run the oven for several hours.)

I know I will use these... but it's hard to wait.

In the mean time I've been perusing Pinterest on storage for all of our cast iron.

There's lots of good ideas!

Dwayne's aunt and uncle gave us a few more things.

Like this quilt Grandma Bennett made.

They said it was the last one she did.

It goes to Nolan.

Last but not least they gave us grandma's quilting frame.

Happy quilter!

I already have plans for a quilt for it. :)

Quilting Update

This is a short post on quilts that I'm working on.

I've finished my Village Quilt top a few weeks ago.

Unfortunately, I needed to put this quilt on the back burner until the spring.

I hate to do that but I have another quilt with a deadline.

I really like this quilt and look forward to quilting it...

eventually.

 In the meantime, it's hanging on my quilt rack in the living room.

At least I can look at it.

:)

What's the other quilt?

Well, it's a gift quilt.

I probably won't be posting much on this because it's a gift and I'd really like to keep it a surprise.

I will probably post a few peeks here and there.

I've been cutting and cutting on fabric for about a week.

I have also been stacking up the scraps and left over pieces.

:)

I thought the trimmings looked pretty in my purple quilting trash can.

I think I finally got all my pieces cut for this quilt.

84 black squares

84 black rectangles

180 inches total length of black border

42 black and white squares

84 black and white rectangles

46 purple squares

(it's all one color of purple, the light makes it look funny.)

No, I didn't work on it everyday... but it did take about a week.

I'm hoping to start sewing on this after camp.

And in true quilter fashion, I've got another quilt working in my brain as well.

I'm trying to figure out how to work that in the schedule too.

It depends on how the gift quilt goes.

Vacation: Erwin and Heading Home

I'm almost done with the vacation posts.

You can see why it took so long.

We did a lot of things while on vacation!

Aunt Shirley!

Uncle Gary & Aunt Janie's.

That's Connor in the distance on a four wheeler.

He roamed all over that freshly mowed pasture.

I think he enjoyed himself.

We were successful in visiting family in Erwin.

Not so successful in getting pictures of people.

We're going to have to work harder to do that next time.

We visited aunts, uncles, and cousins.

We got our beloved Seavers pies.

We also got milkshakes from the Dari Ace.

Sadly, we did not get to the fish hatchery, Saddle Shop, or Fishery Park.

That might be a first for us.

We'll have to add those to the list for our next visit.

________________________________________________________

On our way home we had to stop at Clinch Mountain again. :)

The elusive teenager.

It was a little too bright to get a good non-squinting family photo so

I opted for a shadow and foot pic instead!

We weren't sure exactly when we were heading home so we left our options open.

By the time we decided, the place we camped at on the way down was booked. :(

Surprisingly, the KOA in Renfro Valley had cabins available.

We decided to get a cabin because we just didn't want to unload the camping gear one more time.

That and we had it perfectly packed... not to mention we were pretty tired.

We only got was what absolutely necessary from the van.

We didn't even get the chairs out.

This is when we discovered that Connor's swimming trunks were missing.

So much for cooling off in the pool.

Seems like all KOA's have a pool but

this one had a jumping pillow!

It wasn't the pool but I think Connor enjoyed himself anyway.

At one point there were several other kids and a game of tag emerged.

The next morning we headed the rest of the way home.
That was the second time I got my hand quilt out during our vacation.
Indiana is quite boring. No mountains to look at.
So that finally concludes our vacation escapades... sort of.
I have one more post of things we acquired while out and about.

Vacation: Blackberry Blossom Campground

This is from the drive to our next camping location, Blackberry Blossom Campground in Unicoi.

While we enjoyed the campground we previously stayed at near Erwin, we wanted to try this place.

Oh my! It may be our new favorite campground.

This place set the bar pretty high (no pun intended).

A little perspective on the elevation in Unicoi.

According to the weather stations on Wunderground:

Home is 699 feet.

Newport, where we stayed for four days, is 1312 feet.

Erwin is 1923 feet.

Unicoi is about 20 minutes from our family in Erwin.

I don't think we've ever camped this high.

This place is a hidden gem in the mountains.

We found them via a good old fashioned internet search and I'm so glad we did!

Dwayne and I enjoy camping more when there's fewer people around.

It's more peaceful when you're not camping in close proximity to each other.

If I can hear my tent neighbor talking (or yelling) to their kids, they're too close.

This place is private and by reservation only.

So no rowdy families pulling off the interstate at the last minute looking for place to stay.

Plus it's tent camping only! Which is hard to find sometimes.

Our kind of place.

There were other campers and families there.

We met a nice family with one son. They fished at the pond a few times.

The other family was in and out and we didn't see much of them.

We learned that the son was proposing to his girlfriend...

and later found out he used painted rocks on the hiking trail to propose.

This place is a farm that part of it has been turned into a very nice campground.

They have an inn here too for those who don't like to rough it.

It's family owned and operated.

The staff is very friendly and treats you like family.

All the campsites were very well shaded.

Our campsite was nestled just inside the tree line.

I'm standing in the shadow of it looking across the pasture.

We chose one of the bigger sites that we were confident would house our tent.

Plus it was closest to the bathhouse. :)

Beautiful spot.

This is the tiny creek that ran beside the campsite.

You could hear it trickling.

All set up.

That's the bathhouse up the hill from us.

This is quite possibly the best camping bathhouse ever.

Seriously.

First and foremost this bathhouse has an outdoor kitchen washing station.

Although we didn't really need it we thought that was a brilliant idea.

I should have taken more pictures of it.

The boys are sitting in the shade at the front of the bathhouse.

Each bathroom had a room for the shower and a room for the toilet.

The main area had the sink.

Not only was this bathhouse clean, it had some extra touches to make it special.

There was a blow drier and travel size things in case you lost yours.

A little step stool for kids.

The shower room had a stool inside the stall and a table and hooks just outside the shower.

We found out that the family that owns this place used to camp with their family.

They used their years of camping experience to make their campground.

These people really thought things through.

This is their camp store. Also special in its own way.

It's so humble looking.

It is an amazing little store.

I can't believe I didn't take more photos of the inside of this store.

Think small country five and dime.

They had everything you could think of in here.

Everything from camping supplies to artisan soaps.

There was a microwave for the campers to use! (We've never seen that.)

There was a charging station for your electronic devices.

Snacks to buy.

Maps and pamphlets with local history.

There was a bookshelf of books and kids games to borrow.

(The only rule for the borrowed things was to use it at the store.)

How cool is that?

Oh, and the store is open 24 hours.

Above the shelves in the store there were all sorts of cool nick-knack things to look at.

I loved this old sewing machine.

Confession time. We didn't tell the kids there was Wi-Fi until the second day.

We're such horrible parents. (If you didn't read the sarcasm there please add it.)

It didn't reach our campsite but that's OK. We didn't need it.

Friendly kitty.

Sign above the store door.

We most certainly felt welcome.

The front porch on the store was like sitting at a friend's porch.

This little pond is near the bathhouse and camp store.

Very peaceful!

I should have gotten a better picture of that sign.

It basically informs you of the wildlife that lives in the pond.

The noteworthy one being non-poisonous snakes.

We saw several.

We spent a lot of time walking around or sitting by this pond.

View from the store.

View from the bathhouse.

This pond housed many large bull frogs.

They sang most of time...

including all evening and maybe all night.

It was fun to try to spot them around the pond.

We even saw some bull frog tadpoles.

Largest tadpole we've ever seen!

Connor and I decided to go exploring.

We were heading to one of the trails on the farm.

Not the greatest picture but it's the trail up to the other campsites.

These camp sites are more secluded than ours.

The campground loads your gear on a wagon and drives it up here for you.

That keeps the trail from getting torn up by vehicles.

Another reason we opted for the campsite we picked.

One of the sites.

All of the fire pits we saw were like this.

Large rocks piled around in a circle.

This one was lined by a boulder.

Just beyond the upper campsites is a trail.

I love the overgrowing trees.

It makes it look like a tunnel.

Yes, I found mushrooms!

It's hard to read but this is a little graveyard.

Apparently there was some sort of feud in 1898.

Sadly it ended the lives of this family.

We couldn't find any writing on these stones.

It was difficult to make out the headstones.

We think we found them all.

Interesting plants.

They were soft.

 I found another mushroom.

This one was a little larger than the others.

Connor's hand for comparison.

It was getting dark by the time we headed back.

Truth be told, this photo was from the second time we went.

I managed to lose my charging cable and thought I dropped it on the trail.

After hiking this trail the second time and not finding said cable,

I realized I put it down and Dwayne picked it up.

I had used his cable and not mine.

So we hiked the trail looking for my cable not realizing

I had used Dwayne's and already put it back!

Geesh.

Thankfully, the hike is only 15 minutes round trip.

I cannot say enough good things about Blackberry Blossom Campground.

We really enjoyed our stay and look forward to staying there again.