Weekend in Tennessee

Today's postcard - I was playing with a crimper on the green and gray fabric.

On Friday, Bridget, Helen, and I left for a weekend in the Smokies. On the way, we stopped at Sam's in Knoxville for - basmati rice. Apparently, there is none to be had (in the large bags) in the Cincinnati area because of supplier problems. We did the honorable thing and bought 120 pounds to take back. Yep, that's right, 120 pounds.

Bridget's loading it up.

Sarah met us at our little motel in Townsend, and we left for Cades Cove for some photography and bear searching.

There were plenty of photo ops but no bear sightings.

Our search for a hot meal in Townsend didn't go well since things close up early there, at least this time of year. We ended up going to Gatlinburg via the Pigeon Forge traffic and went to the Smoky Mountain Brewery, one of our favorites.

It was late, after midnight, when we got back to our little motel, but we still had a fire in the fire ring beside the Little River. Sarah brought Cheerwine, which is a North Carolina soft drink, non alcoholic, to mix with rum, and garnish with lime slices.

More later.

Cookbooks and Memories

Today's postcard - the lines come from a fused-on potato bag.

There are a few blogs that I read every day, and one is Red Shoe Ramblings, by Deb. She puts a lot of heart and effort into her blogs and they're always interesting. Her photography is pretty awesome, AND she has great shoes.

In yesterday's blog, she announced that she will be giving away a cookbook just published by the Fleming County, Kentucky, Homemakers called Clothesline of Quilts. It has a picture of barn art on the cover - read back a week or two in her blog to find out about barn art. I'd seen a few barns with quilt "signs" on them, but until she educated me I didn't realize that these were more than individual efforts.

There are three ways to get in the drawing, and since I really want that cookbook, I'm including all three. To get us going, here are my cookbooks. I gave away a few of my seldom-used ones before I moved, so there are no longer a whole lot. Like many of us, I rely on internet recipes.

The first of Deb's themes is "name of your favorite cookbook and why you like it best." I'm going to talk about a couple, and this one is number two. This cookbook was published in honor of Bluffton College's 75's anniversary. It's now Bluffton University, and I'm sure that the 100th anniversary has first come and gone.

In that cookbook are my mother's cut-out sugar and molasses cookie recipes. I've tried and tried to make them as pretty as my mother did, with no luck. My sister can, but not me. Both use those pretty colored sugars and the finished products could easily have been sold in a bakery. On the other page is a ice box cookie recipe from my aunt.

My absolute fav, though, is my Great Aunt Ella's cookbook, The Household Searchlight Recipe Book, published in 1931 and 1937.

It was a journal of sorts, with notations about the events she used a recipe for, and lots of handwritten notes and pasted-in articles and recipes. Great Ella was a renaissance woman, and there are notes about how to remove stumps and uses for DDT. A look in this cookbook is a look at her story.

The second item is "your favorite recipe." I make a lot of bread, and my favorite recipes come and go, but here's the current one, from Soule Mama. It's a bread machine recipe, and there is a loaf in process right now. If you have a bread machine, you know the drill.

1 1/4 cups water

2 T honey

2 T margarine

3 cups flour (I used half whole wheat)

1 t salt

1/2 cups rolled oats

1 T brown sugar

1 T cinnamon (I've never included the cinnamon)

2 1/4 t yeast

And last, "a memory you like recalling from your past that has something to do with either food or quilts."

This is probably my first memory. I had a wooden puzzle with squares, diamonds, and triangles that made a quilt block. It seems that the pieces were different colors on both sides, but I could have made that part up. Anyway, I loved that puzzle, and I'd put it together, then take it apart and try to make a different design. I just knew that if I tried hard enough, I could make a block with a different design. I don't think it ever happened since, with adult eyes, there really weren't other ways it could go together, but I never lost hope and I'm sure that puzzle started me out on my love for quilting.

Thanks, Deb, for helping me think about great memories.

Gorgeous Spring Day

Today's postcard


It was a gorgeous spring day, sunny . . . .

and warm.

I had a tire replaced at a store on Fourth Street, and while I was waiting, I took the bus to Cincinnati and the art store, where I spent too much, not a surprise. That's where I found these blue footprints. They had very cool scrap packs of mulberry paper on sale, as well as individual sheets. I'll just pretend that the tire cost a little more.

I walked back across the bridge and spotted this banner at Newport on the Levee. I'd like to have one of those banners at my house. They really should sell them.

Lightposts Along the River

Today's postcard

Along the river at Newport -

April Challenge Update

Today's postcard - painted paper towels - the pretty texture doesn't show up.

The middle of the month is here - time and then some to start the April challenge - how I do feel about change. I enjoyed the Structured Fabrics class I took with Dena Crane and decided to use that technique since it changes the fabrics. I'll just try to build in some positive thinking to reflect that I enjoy changes.

Here are my basic fabrics.

And here is my woven check. Don't worry - there probably won't be scattered frog legs by the time it's finished.

Pictures from tonight - Nora making salad - she's just so grown up with her new haircut that it tugs at my heart.

And Aaron's bath - he loves it and he sits well enough that giving him a bath is easy now.

Tax Forms Are Gone

Today's postcard

I'm feeling good - my taxes went off in the mail today. The semi-circle of tax-related papers on my office floor is picked up and out of sight and walking to the desk is no longer a challenge. Maybe now I can be more creative.

No pictures of the post office, since it's 60's institutional ugly - we'll just look in front instead. There is a second post office in Newport, very old and charming, but it's only open in the mornings and I wasn't ready in time. I'll show you a picture of that one of these days.

When I was growing up in Bluffton, Ohio, I loved to go to the post office and admire the huge mural that took up one entire wall. I can't remember what it looked like, but a quick internet search tells me that it is "Joseph Deford and His Friends Building the First Cabin in Bluffton" by Satee Graziani, oil on canvas, 1941. That article says that most post office art works were not WPA funded but were commissioned under the Treasury Department's Section of Painting and Sculpture. History for the day.

Like Me

Today's postcard - Cape May - for Cindy

I stopped by Steph and Mike's today to pick up some oh-so-cute studio pictures of Aaron. Nora was excited that Grandma and Pap were coming and was agreeable to taking a nap before they came. She fell asleep with a nice selection of books - just like me. I'm surprised, sometimes, that the clunk of a book falling to the floor hardly ever wakes me.

Like every other day, Aaron was not agreeable to napping. He usually cat naps a couple of times, 20 or 30 minutes each, both at home and at school.

My sister likes to spend a few days at Cape May in the summer. Several years ago she sent me a picture of a pink fence with some flowers and plants. I always meant to make a little quilt of that picture and tonight I decided to just go ahead and do it, even though the little postcard doesn't do it justice. Sometimes you just have to make a start - maybe there will be a bigger quilt later.