Pictures of my mug coasters & playground paintings!

This is my 1st completed set of coasters.  I plan on making 10 sets for the Holiday sale this year.
the 3 sets below are ready to be bound. 

 The above coaster set is finished and ready to be paired with a colorful mug.  the other 3 sets are ready for binding. 

The picture below is my painting of a playground scene for a book illustration. 

today promises to be a beautiful sunny autumn day - a great day for Sewing and Painting.

this morning I awoke to beautiful sunshine - it is supposed to get up into the 80's later but right now it is cool and sunny out.  I have been making coasters for our Church Holiday sale and want to have at least 10 pairs of them made for the sale.  4 pairs done - 6 to go. I plan on pairing each set with a mug and will call them Coaster Buddies or Mug Buddies.  I also am planning to make some more of my crazy quilted pot holders.  They ones I made last year sold well.  I want to bring some samples to the our ABW meeting next Sunday afternoon. 

Today I will take advantage of the nice weather and take my easel and watercolors and do some painting outside on  my back patio.  I need to complete some pictures for my daughters book.  I'll take some pictures later to post here. 

I've had such a Blessed Summer but am so ready for Autumn to here.

Fall has arrived. Cooler Temps and beautiful sunshine with a warm yet cooler breezes. working on several projects today, quilting, blogging & drawing - I love this weather. so pleasant to be able to wear a light sweater for comfort.  Today I want to do some quilting on one or two of my baby quilts.  Then work on a proofing project for Pile O Fabric and later in the day sit out on my patio or porch and do a drawing project that is due in Nov.  I am feeling pretty rested today and energetic.  Love Fall Weather and cant wait for the trees to change into their autumn finery. 

Today has been an awesome Saturday for me.

This Morning I awoke early, dressed and gathered up my 5 finished baby quilt tops that I was able to finish at the July Quilting Retreat.  I wanted to participate in show and tell at my monthly meeting of the Hudson Heritage Quilters.  So off I went to the meeting, boy was it full - we talked about the upcoming Quilt Raffle at the Patchwork Harvest XI Quilt Show coming in Nov on the 9th and 10th.  The proceeds from the sale of the raffle tickets will  benefit the local food shelves.  The Show and Tell was great.  I think one of the ladies even had made a Quilt from Sedona.  I believe it to be the same one that I am collecting fabric for.  Wow, I do want to talk to her about her quilt.  It was beautiful. after show and tell we had a presentation by Quilt Designer Marilyn Foreman of Quilt Moments .  she has a very interesting take on kaleidoscope quilts that seems easier to do and many varied patterns.  she even has patterns that use the Twister templates.  I like her patterns and felt a little bummed out that I did not have my checkbook with me this am, but I did take her catalog home with me so I can order some of the patterns,  I thing I will look in my LAS's to see if they carry her patterns.  It was a good meeting and gave me many food for thought today.  Check out her link here.  This evening I plan on catching up on my emails and looking at the proofing from Pile O' Fabric's blog that needs to be done.    I am looking forward to finishing up the Baby Quilts and continue with my other WIP's. 
Yesterday I picked up my mail from the post office and boy do I have a stack to go thru, (after all it's been accumulating about two weeks now.)  I got a package from my friend and Applique Coaster Swap partner Linda and I just had to open it 1st.  What a lovely set of applique coasters she did for me, such pretty colors.... It made my day.  Aren't' they pretty.  I do hope she liked the ones I made for her. 

Here at Motel 6 again. Guess why!

It was another uneventful day until we got back from shopping this afternoon.  The  morning was spent leisurely packing up my gear and getting ready for my trip back home.  Valoriea and I decided to go to Walmart to pick up a few things.  She shopped for garden items and I got snacks to take along on my trip.  When we returned home we were greeted by a blast of hot air, the temp inside was 80 and the outside temp was about the same.  the AC went on the fritz again.  we both hated the idea of another night at the Motel 6 in Newport TN but as the eve went on it got hotter and unbearable.   I put all my packed luggage in the car ready for tomorrows departure and packed my computer and overnight bag for another night at the motel.  Boy was I sweating buckets - my hair was wet and my face was flushed.  Valoriea grabbed my bottle of Gatorade for me to take along.  I did not want to have a fainting spell or leg cramps tonight.  So Here we sit, me on the computer and Valoriea reading a book, at least we are cooler. What a way to spend my last eve here.  not very relaxing But cooler than 85 degrees.  LOL

Newport TN Motel 6

A day spent at the Museum of Appalachia in ClintonTN

Today was a beautiful day the temps were in the mid - high 70's, the sun was out and the sky was clear.  Valoriea and I spent the morning at the Farmer's Market in Danville.  I tasted some great Cider and caramel bars while there.  bought myself a couple of small potatoes and acorn squash to eat at home later this week.  I would have picked up a beautiful plant to take home with me but I didn't think it would survive the long hot drive home in my car.  It gets large white flowers that bloom at night & they are very fragrant & gorgeous.  Then we went to Sevierville to look at Clayton Homes by Norris that Valoriea wants to build on her property.  These are prebuilt and very nice.  I could see myself in one of them.  Then we headed over to Clinton TN to the Museum of Appalachia's "Days of the Pioneer" Antique Show.  I was expecting an indoor museum but we were both wowed by the enormity of the place.  It was a large area with original log cabins set amongst the trees.  They had a Civil War Encampment on one side and a Revolutionary War Encampment on the other side.  Many participants were dressed in period clothing and they even had a gun salute by the soldiers.  There were many tents set up with Antique Dealers.  Wow such eye candy for this lover of antiques.  Valoriea's friend Kathleen was at the Old Homestead cabin spinning wool with a hand spinner while her friend Darlene was spinning wool with her spinning wheel.  there was a smaller cabin set up for weaving and even a kettle of Sassafras Tea.  I meandered through the tents admiring the wares offered, quilts and handmade items as well as old antiques, over to the Southern Buffet Shop for lunch, a sandwich of fried bogalona with Tomato and Mayo and old fashioned sweet lemonade.  It tasted good.  After lunch I sat outside listening to the musicians play their banjo's and fiddles and watched as kids and adults square danced.  I enjoyed my time at the museum.   

Ask me why I slept at Hotel 6 Tuesday night.

So you ask why I slept at hotel 6 Tuesday night.  One answer - Heat- excessive heat.  Yesterday Valoriea and I went to the Knoxville Fair with her friends from her FCE, (Family & Community Education) group.  We had a great day. attended a dresses from 1800's given by one of the ladies of the regional group.  She had been sewing them for fun for a long time to wear and had a collection of them...  We also went to the seniors tent where they had a show regarding Mayberry - it was fun and tickled the funny bone.  there also was a Crafts and Art building that had a display of quilts along with crafts makers from soap, to sweater kittens to quilters sewing different projects. A lady was tatting a doily and others were presenting their crafts.  there were a lot of ribbons in this building from 1st prize and others.  The weather was very hot in the 90's so we kept going back into the air conditioned building and caught Chef Walter's presentation of Cooking for the Food City Kitchen.  A local food market chain down here.  His pumpkin peanut butter squares were to -die - for yummy. you can go to the Local 8 web site, click on food city kitchen and sign up for emails from Chef Walter.  When we returned to Valoriea's home she opened her door and boy was it HOT inside.  Here AC decided to quit working - the outside temp was 90+ and the house temp was 88 - inching up to 89.  We tried to open all the windows but there was no breeze out.  The temps were not going down outside anytime soon and we decided that we would take the landlords offer of a hotel room that eve.  The repair man would come in the am.  so that's what we did we escaped to an air-conditioned hotel for the night.