Monday, September 29, 2008

Look here for new things in the future!


So many new projects, so little time--and so much fun!

The third annual Lake Norman Piecemakers' Quilting Retreat starts Saturday, October 4. This year our one-week hideaway is at Beech Mountain in the beautiful and majestic Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina. We have 11 quilters this year, a record number, and it's our first time in the mountains. We have rented a large 5-bedroom, 4-bathroom cabin that will sleep 13. Meals are planned, as well as kitchen detail, classes, shopping excursions, and lots of time for sewing, knitting, crafting, and relaxing. We are taking sewing machines, lamps, ironing boards (and irons), tables and chairs. It will be a "sweat shop without the sweat", and lots of laughs to go along.

Be sure to attend SAFF this year to see my Quilted Knitter's Tote Bag. It will first be released for sale in Sue Dial's booth, Clay Cat/Harvest Moon Handspun at SAFF on October 24.

I hope your fall is healthy and prosperous. With the gasoline shortage, banks failing, and stock market crashing life seems shaky at best these days. Let's remember to pray. And don't forget to vote in November!

Thursday, September 18, 2008

Fall Is Upon Us

It's that wonderful time of year--cool evenings and mornings with sunshine and warmth in the afternoon. The kind of days you want to spend outdoors every single minute. Open the windows, air out the stuffy house, pull out all that luscious wool and sort the sweater patterns. And, if you're like me, get to the quilting stage on that unfinished quilt top!

I managed to 'sandwich' 2 quilt tops last week that I intend to get quilted very soon. One of them I plan to take with me on my "Beech Mountain Quilting Retreat" the first week of October, the other is a gift for my youngest son that I hope to give him for Christmas.

I've also started a very special project that I've been mulling over for months: Knitters' Tote Bags. They are just starting in the production stage of the cycle, having been in the concept and design stages for far too long. You'll see them first at SAFF in Sue Dial's booth (look for Clay Cat/Harvest Moon Handspun booth) and hopefully after that at Baskets of Yarn in Charlotte and the Winter Knitting Retreat in Boone, NC, next March. For a better peak, click on the small photos and they'll pop up larger in a new window.

Soccer goes on, and on. Four games this week with no end in sight. I look forward to November for so many reasons: spending less $ on gasoline is just one of them. Cooler temperatures, knitting by the fireplace, cooking stews and soups for dinner, electing a new president, and spending Thanksgiving with my family are more reasons, and not necessarily in that order.

Friday, September 5, 2008

Soccer Is My Life

Soccer, soccer, soccer, soccer and more soccer. Lucas plays for his school team, the Eagles, on Tuesdays and Thursdays and this weekend he begins his schedule with a club team. Weekend games are planned every single Saturday and Sunday until November. This is how Soccer Moms spend the fall of the year!