I’m thankful for a wonderful family, here and around the country.  We had 14 for Thanksgiving this year, a slightly smaller number than in past years.  The food everyone brought, and what the resident chef prepared, was excellent.  But the company was the best part!

Remember that old, rusty sewing machine from a week or so ago?  Resident Machine Master and I have it sewing like a charm!  We cleaned it up a bit, liberally applied liquid wrench and oil, rethreaded and cranked away.  It has a lovely stitch, and hums along.  The throat plates and wheel still need some attention, as well as the case – after Thanksgiving.  I found a service manual online for it, since I wanted to be sure and have a diagram available before I took apart the tension.  Fortuantely, I haven’t had to, but you never know!

Revisiting another past topic, I mailed yesterday my six-word biography postcards!  And the winner is: Surreptitiously Bottling Scavenged Scraps of Time.  I fused bottle shapes of fabric to the background material; applied small photos, fabric and real watch faces, snips of hair, and text; stitched clear vinyl over the bottle shapes; and trimmed the vinyl. The backs were printed on ink-jet prepared fusible fabric, then ironed on. I’m pleased with the way they came out – and finished a week before the deadline!

The dredging of the Forest Hill Lake has been completed!  It now looks much like it did when we first moved to the area in 1972, no longer the wet land it had become.  Landscaping is still under way, with planting of a hundred or so black gums trees and grassy areas.  If you’re from the Richmond area you know that this was once the centerpiece of an amusement park, a street car destination.  The street cars were scrapped in 1949, right after they were bought by General Motors.  Forest Hill is now a quiet retreat in the midst of the city, with extensive walking and mountain bike trails and picnic shelters.  For the last two years it has also been the Summer Saturday home of the South of the James Market, which will continue til Christmas.  The Forest Hill trails connect with the Buttermilk Trail that follows the James River for several miles – lovely urban jewels.  Check them out!

This has been an exciting week – at least for me!  On Wednesday I drove my mom to Charlottesville for a luncheon with her friends – 23 of them!  Our hostess had mentioned this Summer that she had a handcrank sewing machine on which her mother had made all her clothes.  She showed it to me last week – a bit neglected, but salvagable.  I asked her what she was going to do with it, and she replied “give it to you”!  You see above the before photo – my mechnically blessed partner and I are gradually restoring it.  Already with just a good oiling the parts are moving much better.  Today I found and ordered a service manual with diagrams, which should be here shortly!

On Friday, as three days of rain finally began to taper off, four of us quilters headed to the quarterly VCQ meeting in Harrisonburg, VA, via route 33.  Typically I would go I64 to Staunton, then north on I81.  However, there’s a 300 year old Bur Oak in Elkton, just over the Skyline Drive, and I harbored hopes of finding acorns!  My buddies humored me and we searched all under the huge ivy-besieged tree, in the drizzle, to no avail.  Maybe next year!

Saturday the sun came out, finally!  That morning I took a fabric bowl workshop at VCQ taught by Kathleen Christy.  She was a good teacher and the class was excellent.  She provided kits, and a new sewing machine needle!  All seven of us students finished two bowls in two and a half hours.  The class was based on the books by Linda Johansen: http://www.lindajohansen.com/

Earlier in the week I finished my Blue Muse project for the VCQ Minds Wide Open Challenge.  I’m very pleased with the way it came out. I turned it in yesterday, and it was well received by my fellow quilters.  Once I find out where the quilts will be exhibited, I’ll pass the word. 

Have a good Sunday – I’m off for a walk to soak up some sunshine!

My piece for the VCQ Minds Wide Open challenge progresses!  These are my three practice pieces, and attempts to include the muse of Lyric Poetry, Erato.  She’s sometimes shown with a wreath of roses and myrtle in her hair, thus the rose petals. (In case you can’t tell what those pink specks are!)  Not sure which, or if any, of these approaches I will use.  I welcome your feedback!

Here’s where the actual challenge entry stands.  I’ve done some of the quilting – more still to go.  The tree branches, like the muses in the practice quilts, were printed on organza prepared for inkjet printers, Extrav Organza by Jacquard.  I’ll do some stitching over them – not sure yet how much.

Wednesday the Fedites, our informal group of retired Federal Reserve ladies, made an excursion to Graves Mountain Lodge, Syria, Virginia, for lunch.  It had been raining here steadily for two days, so I thought the trip might be rescheduled, but our fearless leader for this event was not deterred!  And I’m so glad – it was a lovely sunny day with dramatic clouds, and we had a wonderful time!

On the way up and back we stopped at the Tastee Freeze in Gordonsville – it used to be picnic tables under a roof, but now all is enclosed with an extensive menu.  Check it out if you’re traveling north from I64 on Virginia route 15.

Our other stop en route was at Yoder’s Country Store, fully stocked with any Menonnite food stuff you might crave.  At the farm next door, conveniently located next to the store parking lot, were goats, chickens, and a pen of turkeys!  Which is where I spent most of our short visit.  Store is on the right of route 230 heading north, just before you get to route 29.

Graves Mountain Lodge has been one of my favorite places since our high school MYF group spent a weekend there, in the days before time.  Meals are served family style and the food and service are first rate.  Doesn’t hurt that it’s just a few miles from Old Rag, one of Virgnia’s premier hike/rock scrambles. In the early 90’s our IT boss at the Bank took our management team to Graves Mountain Lodge for a planning session.  We actually did some planning, spent the night in the rustic rooms of one of the lodge accomodations, then climbed Old Rag the next morning! 

On this most recent trip, in addition to lunching at the lodge, we visited the Apple Barn and stocked up on fresh apples.  Also they had some very nice fresh gourds, at a good price, so I brought home a couple.  After lunch, as we were (eventually) leaving the dining room, we met up with three other couples just leaving – and two of them were Fed retirees!  Which required extended exchange of greetings and news.  In all an excellent trip.

So I was just driving down the street, minding my own business, when this poor wicker chair cried out for rescue.  It was upside down in the trash can, and looked to be salvageable. I pulled over and did an inspection.  Frame didn’t look too bad.  Hauled out the cushion – yuck!  It was coated with black grime and damp.  Noticed at that point that the garbage truck had pulled up to the house next door – decision time.  I plopped the cushion in the chair and sprinted for my car. 

Digression: All kinds of things will fit in my car.  I cart the whole of the Dan Springs Collection vendor booth in it twice a month, not to mention other feats from time to time.  However,  on this day I was to pick up my granddaughter from preschool, so there was a child seat in the back.  Those things must be at least the size of an elephant. 

Back to our story: After several attempts, I admitted to myself that the wicker treasure was not going to fit in the back seat.  As I contemplated alternatives (drive slowly with the door open to the pool parking lot, maybe 500 yards, and stow for later retrieval; leave on the side of the road and go home for the truck; etc.), I tried the front passenger seat.  Success!

I was going to slip it up on the front porch for later refurbishing, but was caught in the act and banished to somewhere out of sight.  Later on the back porch I removed three layers of upholstery from the seat, and tried a quilt as a temporary fix.  Yes!  Check later for  continuation of the saga….

I’m finally getting started on my entry for the Virginia Consortium of Quilters Minds Wide Open challenge!  To get the link for you, I checked the VCQ website and found the deadline for delivery of the quilts has been extended from November 14th to January 2nd!  Oh dear.  I’ll just pretend I never saw that tidbit of dangerous info.  Meanwhile, here’s the link to the challenge details: http://vcq.org/mwo.htm

My inspiration is a photo I took of the James River, near the Pony Pasture, in February of 2005.  I’m still struggling a bit with how to include my chosen muse, Erato, love and erotic poetry.  And I thought the color blue requirement would be a snap, but my fabric choices are tending more toward gray and purple. Oh well!  I’m pleased otherwise with my progress! I love the photography.

While Eli was in school last Thursday, Julia, Lily and I visited with the Grandp Schus at Covenant Woods!  Lily entertained herself, and the rest of us!  Her special treat was an apple.  According to her mom, she eats them in a different pattern everytime – this day it was round and round from top to bottom.

Saturday I drove my parents to Scottsville to check on the progress of my cousin’s log home.  He started out in 2004 planning to do all the work himself from a kit.  Everything was delivered to his site, high above the James River upstream from Scottsville.  It’s a beautiful location – with a view of the river and the mountains off the back deck!  He has done a lot of the work, but he’s hired help from time to time to try to move the effort along.  And now its almost done!  He’s hoping to move in this year!!

After a thorough tour of the construction, we adjourned to my aunt’s home (his mom) in Palmyra for a delicious lunch.  As we were getting ready to head back to Richmond, several of the local wildlife stopped by!  They were not nearly as thrilled to see them as I was – the deer devoured their garden this summer and continually destroy the landscaping.  Great photo op tho.