Mountain Musings

Secret Quilt Project Revealed!

Yes, the secret project I've been working on this spring/summer was gifted this week, and I can finally tell you about it!

Last week I met up with my long-arm quilter in Mrs. Rowe's parking lot. I wrote about Snowbird Quilts earlier this year and how she travels over from West Virginia every Thursday to pick up and drop off quilts. See that post here.

This is what the back of her car looked like when I arrived! Full of quilts to return to folks. That's my bag on the far left ready to be picked up. It is thrilling to have a quilt returned which so much work has gone into!

Once home, I immediately got busy binding the quilt:

After taking this 96"x96" queen to the laundromat to make sure it had all the crinkly goodness of a newly cleaned quilt, I wrote the label:

"Made by mom especially for Jonathan and for his new bed made by dad."  And I included this new label I just purchased from Sweetwater:

Life is better with a Quilt....Agree? I am going to love putting these labels on every future quilt!

We told Jonathan we were going down to his house (while he was at work) to do a couple of projects for him.

One of the projects was to secretly launder all his bedding and then make up his bed with this new quilt for him to find when he went upstairs that evening after work.

Jonathan texted as soon as he saw his room that he loved the quilt! And he was truly surprised! The secret project was a big success!

So...brand new queen bed for his house! And now brand new quilt!  Now...on to the next sewing project! What will it be?

For quilters who are interested: Pattern is Candy Mountain #819, from Country Threads Quilt Shop (which has been closed for ten years...but you can still get patterns on Mary's blog, Chicken Scratch/Country Threads by emailing her).

Read the post about Tom making the bed here. Or you can also see more photos on Tom's woodworking blog here.

~Deb

Summer Garden Update

The photo above was taken earlier in the summer just before the sunflowers (behind the zinnias) started blooming.

The photo below was taken this morning, and the teddy bear sunflowers are now showing their faces:

I love walking down to the garden...seeing the flowers and gathering the new produce:

Cucumbers, yellow zucchini, squash, tomatoes, okra, and peppers...just some of our garden veggies this year:

Last summer I tried yellow zucchini for the first time (loved it!). I had a few seeds in the packet left and planted those this year. Great harvest and great for making Zucchini Squares, a favorite of mine.

The okra did well this year, even though a bunny sneaked in and nibbled some leaves when the electric fence was turned off. I have learned....you cannot turn your back even for one day on okra!

I like to saute okra in olive oil, seasoned with salt and pepper and cajun seasoning...not slimy at all:

This year I planted watermelon for the first time!  The smaller Sugar Babies are coming along better than I thought after a very slow start!

Here's the watermelon bed with Italian sweet peppers to their right:

Don't forget the black eyed peas...a favorite of mine. I used this link to prep perfectly cooked peas in the instant pot. I like to season with rosemary from the garden:

I harvested rosemary earlier in the season:

We planted rhubarb about 10 years ago before Sarah got married. She always made rhubarb pies for the farmer's market. Now we have even more rhubarb plants because the seeds will blow in the wind and spread:

I like flowers inside the garden and around the perimeter,too. This group of zinnias and sunflowers is inside the picket fence garden:

These pink yarrow and lavender are inside the larger garden:

These tall yellow yarrow are beside the garden gate...planted many years ago as one of our first purchases from Andre Viette Nursery:
The hyacinth bean plant finally started growing through the obelisk. Then I think that same rabbit found his way inside the larger garden and all those leaves in this photo, except where he couldn't reach at the top, are all gone! So pitiful! 

That's willowy asparagus in the background:

And last, but not least, the hollyhocks are growing at the front of the garden...not around the outhouse as seen at most homesteads long ago. You can check out this link to read about hollyhocks, the outhouse flower!

 

"I was going to town today...but my hollyhocks are blooming!"

Since I love gardening and quilting, I absolutely love this wall hanging below which I saw recently on the Red Button Quilt Company website. It's called Hollyhock Heaven, and I would love to make it!

 

So you know where I'll be...you can find me in the garden or in the sewing room!

Thanks for following along on the blog and checking out the garden update!

~Deb

Birthday Week Activities! Part 2

For my birthday celebration, we headed over to Jonathan's after lunch for the annual birthday Peter Paul Mounds cake I've had every year since I was a little girl...

Bring on the birthday cake...but let's not burn down the house! 72 big ones!

"Make a wish, Granny!"

After the cake and ice cream, the kids were ready for some slip-n-slide water fun and some practice shooting for the dads....

This little one was part of the water fun for the first time. How cute is he in his little swim suit...it says Captain Adorable...yep, he definitely is!

After the kids had their water fun, the guys congregated on the shady front porch out of the sun and safely did some practice shooting:

All the ladies and children were inside during this time...and I enjoyed being with these two guys:

And these cousins got reacquainted with each other:

The girls in the kitchen....what a wonderful welcome sight! They were in charge of my birthday dinner, Snow on the Mountain with all the toppings. Delicious! Thank you Hannah and Sarah!!

And, of course, backyard Fireworks ended the day's celebrations:

The next day we went over to Gypsy Hill Park, our local very popular playground:

After lunch, Grampa took all the kids on a tractor/wagon ride. They love this every summer that they come. But hot days call for umbrellas being attached:

Other random pics caught during the week around the house:

Well, this final morning had to arrive sometime....the day folks have to leave. Some guests had already left the day before. So this picture only tells part of the story of our time together.

But we had a wonderful birthday celebration week! Y'all come back to see us!

~Deb

Birthday Week Activities! Part 1

Yes, the title is correct....birthday week! Since my birthday falls on a holiday week each year, we've always celebrated, not just one day, but all week long! And with family here for several days, what's not to enjoy and celebrate!

The grandchildren arrived last Saturday...which is the only birthday gift I needed!

We've had a wonderful few days celebrating, touring Jonathan's workplace, handcrafting a special treasure box in the workshop with Grampa, picking vegetables in the garden, going to the playground, and setting off fireworks...oh, and enjoying Peter Paul Mounds birthday cake that Sarah made.

This little 6-month old punkin' visited Granny's house for the very first time. It was fun introducing him to everyone at church:

Jonathan thought the boys would enjoy a tour of his airport, and they sure did!

Lots of excitement for these kids and lots of different planes awaiting exploration!

They were allowed to climb into this plane and sit in the cockpit:

They could sit in actual airplane seats in this plane and experience what a real flight would be like:
And then some kiddie planes just their size!

Very thankful for Uncle Jonathan taking time out of his workday to give everyone a tour:

The next exciting adventure for the kids (and for the adults helping them) was held in Grampa's Workshop!

Tom had worked for days prepping Shaker Candle Boxes...renamed Special Treasure Boxes for all the kids to glue and hammer together:

All the kids did great, and every adult did a wonderful job assisting!

Gluing the sides:

And sanding the box:

 

Even the youngest got in on the action!

I was the photographer for the project:

There are more photos over on Tom's instagram account. What a great project, Grampa!!  Thank you for the fun time!

We picked veggies in the garden, and the kids could hardly wait to see what was ready to pick! This grandson loves gardening:

Sisters together again in the garden:

I absolutely loved picking veggies with the kids:

I wish this could be an every day occurrence!

The kids enjoyed finding the blackberries that were ready to eat:

Visitors at 237 Garden Plaza...Uncle Ed and Aunt Ellen (Tom's sister):

More visitors...Hannah and Christopher, taking a garden tour:

I had been working extra hard in the garden this year mulching and pulling weeds and making the garden presentable so it would look good for Hannah, since she was always our garden girl. I think it was a success because she said she was "pleasantly surprised." LOL!

Jonathan helped carry the vegetables back to the house...cucumbers and yellow zucchini:

Love seeing Hannah in the garden again...this time toting a baby instead of garden produce!

Aunt Bet (my sister) took advantage of my garden chair to rest a bit before making the trek back to the house:

And...who wouldn't like to find this munchkin in the garden (Sarah's youngest):

This post has gotten quite long...so I'll post the rest of the celebration in Part 2.

~ Deb

When Friends Come to Visit and Hike a Mountain With Us!

This past weekend friends came to visit us here at Mountain Musings, and we had some fun activities planned for them.

It had been years since we had climbed Humpback Rocks (and it's still been years for me as I waited down below at the Visitor Center while the group hiked up)!

This is a beautiful area, and we are privileged to have lived here in the Valley for 22 years:

One of our all-time favorite things to do at the top of the mountain is sing together. The Solid Rock is often one of the choices, so other folks who have made the climb are treated to an unexpected concert!

We also love taking any of our guests who have visited through the years to the picnic area on the Parkway for a picnic while there: Hiking the trail at Appalachian Farm is another fun part of the Parkway to see how folks lived many years ago:

Raven's Roost Overlook is also a popular stop for a view of the Valley. Everything looked different to us in this season...we're used to traveling the Parkway in the fall with the other leaf peepers:

Back home again, we checked out the garden while some of the young people played volleyball in the yard, and others rested after the tiring hike:

Then it was time to get supper ready. I appreciated having so many helping hands in the kitchen! The main dish was Baked Stuffed Sweet Potatoes topped with barbecue chicken, cheese, and red onion...one of Jonathan's favorites:

And here we are chowing down out on the deck...what nice temperatures that evening to be outside:

That evening was music night! Our friends brought their instruments, and we sang and played violin, guitar, whistle, and ukulele. It was a fun time!

Every person picked their favorite hymn, and we sang some good ones! The music sounded wonderful!

The next day our friends traveled with us to church, and Jonathan hosted all of us for a meal on Sunday evening at his house. He did a great job...here's the buffet line for barbacoa tacos and all the toppings:

Lots of conversation, games, and fun!

And this game of spoons was wild! LOL!

And a final photo for Jonathan's Guest Book:

Monday morning and travel day for our friends came way too soon! We gathered out in the driveway, and they sang a blessing song to us as they prepared to leave:

Yes, I will miss this sweet boy!

~Deb