Renfro Valley, Kentucky

What a great weekend!  Barbie and I were on the road again and took a tour to Renfro Valley, Kentucky with Buckeye Tours out of Cambridge, Ohio.  I have to say if you are looking for a fun and relaxing way to travel, check out their website . . .  http://buckeyetours.net/   I give them a five star rating.  They are easy to contact and when you call, you get to speak to a "live" person.  That is big in my book.  Our tour director, Sarah, was fun and professional and our bus driver, Jim, was excellent.  Needless to say, after our last tour with "another unnamed tour group," we could relax and enjoy the journey.  I hope to travel with Buckeye Tours in the future.

Kentucky is a charming state with rolling horse farms and lovely countryside.  The people are so friendly and I love their accents and how they say, "you all."  

The weather started out rainy, but quickly changed to blue skies and fluffy white clouds.  Sorry, I can't show many pictures.  There was a glitch with my camera.  I bought a new SD card and when I tried to use it, it said that it needed formatted.  What is that all about?  I tried to "format" it, but it just didn't work.  So there I was, stuck without my camera!  However, I was able to take a few pictures on the camera hard drive.  Barbie didn't bring her camera because it was acting up too.  Ah well, life is never perfect, so we go with the flow.

Renfro Valley:

If you love country gospel music and browsing in little local shops, you should visit Renfro Valley.  Their website, linked above, tells about all the upcoming shows and about the history of Renfro Valley.  I have to say the shows were so inspiring.  Listening to the entertainers was like getting a heart massage.  They feature many big names in the music world.  Our evening show headliners were Mo Bandy, Janie Fricke and David Frizzell.  We were lucky enough to beat the crowd out after the show and get a couple of signed CD's.  It was fantastic evening of fun and music.  

Painted Quilts in Renfro Valley

If you like quilts but don't like to sew them, how about painting them on your barn or your house?  Here are a few examples that I found in Renfro Valley to inspire you to put down the needle and pick up the paint brush . . . 

Another good find from our trip is a book that I purchased from the Kentucky Artisan Center in Berea, Kentucky.  Quilt Stories: A Collection of Short Stories, Poems, and Plays.   It is published by the University Press of Kentucky.  I can't wait to read it!  

Thanks for visiting my blog.  Stop back again, you all!

Double Slice Layer Cake

Double sliced layer cake, not a chocolate layer cake, although it is pink enough to be strawberry flavored.  For my latest quilting project, I decided to try the tutorial from Missouri Star Quilt Company, one of my favorite sites, and make the "Double Slice Layer Cake" pattern with Pink Dazzle fabric from AdornIt.  I picked this fabric line with a young girl/teen in mind.

I don't think that I am always the best judge of what goes together, but how could I go wrong with a matching layer cake?  Hmmmm.  I'm not sure if I like it or not.  It seems awfully busy and polka dotty.  Of course I am still not done moving around the blocks and it will have a border.  That will change it up.  I'll show the finished product later.  Hopefully it will come together and be awesome . . .

I still have some to finish sewing

Isn't he cute?  Do you think it's a Woolly Bear or a carpet sweeper?

To escape the crazy pink quilt, I decided to go out on the porch and sew on some binding.  I'm in the basement all day tied to the computer online, so the porch is my retreat spot.  Well, what do I see?  I think it's a woolly bear caterpillar, but my son says it's just a bug.  Does anybody know?  In Cleveland, we have a Woolly Bear Caterpillar festival where the caterpillar predicts winter based on the stripes.  If this is the real thing, I think this little guy may be predicting snow, snow and more snow.

Then a flock of big black birds stopped by and robbed the bird feeder.  Look at the size of these scavengers.

One good thing going on outside though, my tangled vine of Morning Glories that climbed up to my garage roof "finally" bloomed into one flower.  Maybe more will come out later.

Back to the binding.  I'm turning binding for my "first quilt ever" to be in a show, the Streetsboro Quilt Show.  I'll post more information about that event later.  This quilt was my third I ever made and a BOM Sampler.  A big challenge for my beginner skills.  Three years later, I finally finished the dang thing, I mean the lovely quilt.

I'm not going to post a picture of the quilt now, because I want to take photos of it in the show.  I will show you a tiny sample of what I'm doing though.  Hopefully the judges will have some advice on binding because I know my hand sewing is not the best. That is fine, I'm enjoying the process, as Miss Carol would say.

Thanks for stopping by my blog and I hope you are enjoying the little pleasures in your life today.

"I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel." ~ Maya Angelou

Barbie's Quilts

Barb's Happy Kitten Quilt 

Barbie and I have been friends for more years than I want to admit.  Now we are more than friends, we are Qbees.  It all started with yet another garage sale.  We were browsing around sales and came across material and a White Sewing machine.  She bought some material; I bought the machine and then the fun began.  At that time, Barbie had been working on an applique quilt that she created from old coloring book pages - see the quilt above.  To me, this is folk art.  You will never find another quilt like this!  Much of the material is from her old scrap barrel and it is all "hand quilted."  It's so interesting and fun to see all the different "happy" kitties.  You can enlarge the quilt by clicking on the picture.  The black border has little paw prints.  Perfect fit.

Another quilt Barbie  completed is this Baby Log Cabin, so soft and pretty.  It went to Colorado for her new great granddaughter, Willow Harper.  Isn't that a pretty name for a lovely little girl?

Barbie and Willow Harper

Firecracker Quilt

Barbie made this quilt for her friend Cindy.  Cindy loves wolves and bright colors.  Barbie thought the firecracker theme fit her perfectly - and it does.

  

Bruce's Quilt

Barbie's son Bruce was in the Coast Guard and stationed in Kodiak, Alaska.  Barbie picked out the material and designed this quilt for him . . . Miss Carol of Sweet Peas and Possum helped with the flying geese (come to think of it, she has helped me with flying geese lately too)  Take a look at this sweet Alaska themed quilt.  

30's Quilt

Barbie loves the 30's Depression prints and made this quilt just for fun.  It's a rainbow of color.

These are just a sampling of all the quilts Barbie has completed in the past three years.  She is an inspiration to me to keep sewing and trying new ideas.  Barbie is my best Qbee! 

 “To succeed in life, you need three things: a wishbone, a backbone and a funnybone.”            ~ Reba McEntire
. . . and a best friend!