QUILTING IN N.W.N. CAROLINA, GOT A HEAD COLD (NO COVID!) (Cheri)

Members of the "stadium" quilt guild that I belong to trekked to the northwest corner of the state last week to quilt in a lovely mountain lodge, located in Valle Crucis, N.C.

I call it the "stadium" guild because we meet at the park where the Winston-Salem "Dash" play:

Image copyright:  Winston-Salem Dash

We are going to sell the property that we were going to remodel to live in, due to the anticipated cost of realizing my design dreams, so our eyes are open for other places that we might move to.

We really like it here in Winston-Salem, so we're almost certainly staying, but as I drove through on the way to the retreat, I realized that Boone, N.C., has all the benefits of a college town, with a population of only 38,000.

Image copyright:  Sean Pavone

I discovered later that only 18,000 of those are permanent residents, and the remaining 20,000 - all students - hover around each of the 20 parking unpermitted parking spots that are near the indie theater, inventive restaurants, Insomnia Cookie outlet, etc.  (I exaggerate, but not by enough.)

Here's a remnant of an old gas station that is in the tiny village of Valle Crucis, near the Mast General Store:

I posted a lot about the Valle Crucis Conference Center when we met there last year, here and here.  The rooms all have vintage (or maybe reproduction) quilts, a few of which I captured this year.

The food at the retreat was good, but if it hadn't been, we had a lot of flavoring options!

The chef was actually very talented.  I walked back into our sewing area on our last day to this . . . same guy, serenading us with four beautiful songs on his bagpipe!

You know I like to feature nontraditional quilting, so here is a picture of one of the 20+ eyeglass cases that our member Bette Hauser made, utilizing machine embroidery:

I made a Christmas for my sister.  (Small enough that if she hate it, I won't hate her!  Gifting handwork is touchy.)

I also finished a name tag that I started in a miniature-piecing class about 20 years ago:

and I made progress on a Mariner's Compass quilt that I'm virtually certain I started last century:

I actually got it inset into a striking square, but didn't get a picture.  I'll post again when I finish, simply because I'm pretty proud of myself!

I missed out on a few shirts, but caught some really fun, colorful shirts that quilter friends were wearing:

So I planned to go to a quilt show in Asheville, N.C. the day after our retreat ended.  I pulled up the map and picked a route, and took the longest possible route that got me there the same day, through Tennessee.

I definitely didn’t see any towns that we might move to, but did see a sign saying “We buy fresh ginseng.”  This reminded me of a sad article I read a while back in a national newspaper, about people who supplement their disability payments by digging and selling wild roots, for pennies on the pound.

I passed a sign for Jackson-Love Highway, which caught my attention due to the shared last name.  The "Jackson" was clearly our seventh President, Andrew.  This piece says that the "Love" was probably a Robert Love, and discusses the historical proposed State of Franklin.  There was nothing but that one piece easily found to explain the highway sign!

(If you've traveled the far northern regions of California, you've likely seen signs still promoting the unrealized State of Jefferson.  Here's a fun article about that bit of history.) 

I got to Asheville, checked in, and developed a head cold overnight.  Since one of our quilters had left the retreat with a really nasty cough that we had feared was Covid, I was relieved when I tested negative, but I drove home on Friday without getting to the show.

Last year, I missed that show due to a forecasted explosive-rain event.  Hopefully next year!