A Belated Merry Christmas!

Sending wishes to all of you for a wonderful remainder to 2019 and a happy and healthy 2020.

I had a wonderful Christmas at my sister's home, surrounded by family.

A Fitting Tribute

Dogwood trees and blossoms were a favorite of my mothers.

While growing up, we lived in an area that Dogwood would not grow.  When my father retired, they moved South and Mom was finally able to enjoy Dogwood in her own yard.  Although the photo does not show it, in addition to the large pink Dogwood in the yard, up closer to the house are several young white Dogwood that were no longer in bloom when I took this photo (a few years back).

Pink Dogwood in the side yard... Mom's favorite tree in the yard.

Mom passed away nearly 4 years ago.

In our area there is the Upstate Heritage Quilt Trail.  A group pf people create quilt "squares" out of wood (or now aluminum) boards & paint to copy a fabric quilt that already exists.  They are then mounted on buildings and added to their web site with map coordinates so people can find them.

Fabric quilt made by Sue Congdon (my sisiter).

I noticed that there was currently only one such quilt square in our downtown area.  (Since then 7 more have been added with 2 more to come, that I am aware of.)  I talked to my sisters (I have 3) and we all decided that it was a great idea to commission a quilt square to mount on the side of the building that our store is located in.  And we all decided it needed to be Dogwood blossoms.

I scoured images of Dogwood quilt patterns and nothing really "spoke" to me until I saw this one (design by Annette Ornelas).  The fabric quilt pictured above was made by my oldest sister Sue.

We raised money through family (I also have 2 brothers), including my father, one of my mom's sisters and a close family friend.  Then, I filled out the paperwork and sent them a check so they could begin the production process.

They borrowed the fabric quilt to use as a guide and they chose paints, drew templates and started taping off areas to paint.

 The painting was done once a week (or so) at a facility about 15 miles from us.  Because of work, we were not able to make it to their painting sessions, although we (and anyone else) were welcome to help.  But they were sure to send photos of the progress.  (See the fabric quilt on the table in the background?)

Once they had put marine grade varnish on all surfaces to seal it, they delivered it to us and we waited a few days until the installation crew could come by.

Blue Ridge Electric - you guys know your quilt installation "stuff" - Thank you!

With my sister Terri Brooks on the day the square was installed.

Once the installation was complete, the 4' x 8' copy of the approximately 2' x 4' fabric quilt looked quite small...


We know Mom would have loved it.

Creatively, all I did was find a pattern I liked & asked if my family agreed.  The rest was completed by others.





Here is the wooden quilt :

A beautiful Spring Day

No, this is not a picture from our garden... it is a stock photo from my desktop...

Today is a gorgeous Spring day!

Did you remember to "spring forward" with your clocks & watches?

I have been absent as of late on here, I hope to be able to change that.

I am working on mugs and all for the Celebrate Clayton show the end of April, but today, I will take a break & go to Greenville for the FLW Fishing Expo for a few hours with friends.  I promise - I will NOT get a treble hook embedded in my leg!
We have been busy at the store.  Dad has been building new display fixtures to Terri's designs for the 'Garden Corner' and the toy department.  We have been having a lot of fun with the Osher Lifelong Learning classes in Wire & Metal Jewelry.  (We have some extremely talented students!)  And, we have been busy planning for a guest instructor to visit in April.  Nathalie Metivier from Magenta Rubber Stamps is going to be teaching a 3-hour class on April 22.  And in a week and a half, we have gotten 27 spaces filled!  (The limit is 30.)

I hope to be able to update things more often.  I have been sidelined by a number of things adding up.  And, on top of that, I got an Android phone, so the old desktop doesn't get fired up as often.  I plan to change that!

Meanwhile, I hope you all enjoy this Spring day.

A giveaway at Stone Lotus Pottery...

I forgot to say that this giveaway is over at the blog of Stone Lotus Pottery...

 

Holiday Giveaway #2  (click here)

Our newest giveaway is this turquoise cross wall hanging. It is hand carved and measures approximately 6 inches tall and 4 1/4 inches wide. It has a small ring adhered to the back so it can simply hang on a nail in your wall or if you prefer you can thread a ribbon or cord through it.

Just leave a comment on this post with an email address or link to your blog (we have to let you know if you win after all : ) We'll pick a winner at the end of next week!

Get additional chances to win:

1) post a link to our shop and giveaway on your blog

2) post about this giveaway on Facebook

Just leave additional comments letting us know and we'll enter your name up to three times!


Only available within the U.S. You must leave a way for us to contact you in order to win. Once notified of winning, you have one week to provide a shipping address or we'll pick another winner. Good luck!