Mountain Musings

Sew Fun

Winter afternoons are perfect for cozying up inside and getting out a sewing project. So that's just what we did, these sweet young ladies and me.

We selected a simple tutorial which showed a method for making a skirt without a pattern, and they had chosen a colorful fabric to make a skirt for one of the girls.

Our kitchen table was a great spot for spreading out the fabric and cutting out our skirt. Each girl took turns following the instructions and completing each step.

Here we are figuring out settings on the sewing machine and getting ready to start sewing seams!

These girls had a great foundation in sewing skills and were excellent students. They were eager to work on the various parts of the process.

13-yr-old Pearl took the helm and stitched the casing for her skirt's elastic waist.

The girls watched as I demonstrated techniques for gathering fabric.

Yay! The elastic is in! The skirt project is nearing completion.

After we hemmed the skirt, Pearl tried on the new creation. Great job, girls.

These friends are soon moving away to far-away Australia, so it was wonderful to spend this time with them.

~Hannah

A New Barn Quilt

The following is a description that's written on my Pinterest page, and it pretty much describes me to a T:

I love fabric and old quilts...and barn quilts, too, and old barns...bird houses, watering cans, gardens, and white picket fences...and all things country.

I promised to post about the new barn quilt I received in my stocking this past Christmas. Well...really...there was a piece of paper saying that Tom had gifted me a barn quilt and would install it wherever I wanted.This particular barn quilt is extra special to me because my quilting teacher, Barbara, over at Quilting Gal, painted it!

Here's a photo below that I took from Barbara's blog that shows some of her barn quilts. They are all beautiful. You can see more of her barn quilts on her Pinterest Barn Quilt Board.Tom secured the new barn quilt on the side of his tool shed, and it can easily be seen when we're sitting on the deck (in warmer weather!):Here's the picture of the same quilt in the snow that I posted just recently: Here's my other barn quilt below which I've had for a few years. It's installed on my garden shed....yes, his and hers sheds, and they each have their own barn quilt! I can't wait until there are beautiful flowers growing again around each of these sheds!

Both of these barn quilts are the 4x4 size. But...Tom also complimented the larger barn quilt with a smaller 2x2 size that is just perfect to greet visitors at our front door. Barbara painted this one, too. I love them both!:And for a final photo...here's Barbara, yours truly, and Barbara's mother when we met up at a local restaurant last spring. Looks like none of us have a clue where the camera is on her cell phone! Ha! But I treasure this photo because of the special time we enjoyed together: Hope you enjoyed seeing my new barn quilts! You'll have to come see them in person!

~Deb

A Look Back at 2015 ~ Part 2

Many, O LORD my God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy thoughts which are to us-ward. There is none to compare with You: if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered. ~ Psalm 40:5

We've been highlighting some special times and remembrances from 2015. Part 1 ~ Winter/Spring was posted here. And today begins Part 2 ~ Summer/Fall.

July, 2015...Georgia Visits Virginia. In July Eric and his family came to Virginia for a "courting visit." Fourth of July celebrations filled a fun weekend! Here's the gang around the picnic table: At the end of the weekend, we took a picture of both families together. Very fun times:Also in July we celebrated Granny's 87th birthday. Jonathan, Hannah, and Sarah brought in her favorite pound cake with a candle in the middle. I think turning 87 should certainly be a highlight to a year, don't you?August...Virginia Visits Georgia.

On this particular courting weekend we toured a historical home, painted a garage together, played games and more tennis, and visited an Olive Oil store. Here's Hannah tasting some flavors of vinegar: My friend, Victoria, and I visited a flower garden:There are actually so many pictures that I could post of visits from this summer between our families....but everything can't become a highlight! This is just a smattering to give you an idea.

This photo of Sarah and Eric together after church on Sunday is a nice highlight from our trip to Georgia:  

In August Tom and I celebrated our 35th Anniversary in Alexandria, Virginia.We wrote last year about our anniversary trip near the end of this post, along with other happenings around that time.

Someone volunteered to take our picture together here in front of Alexandria's City Hall and Market Square:Here we are enjoying a meal at Mount Vernon Inn.: One more entry before we wrap up the Summer portion of Looking Back at 2015...

Labor Day Weekend....Georgia Visits Virginia.

We wrote about Eric and Sarah's engagement on this post back in September. These are some extra photos from that weekend.

Here are Eric and Sarah after hiking to the top of Humpback Rock: A grilled fish taco picnic on the Blue Ridge Parkway: Labor Day finally arrived, and a fun scavenger hunt took place. Here's everyone trekking around the yard trying to find clues...Sarah was looking for "something."  Look what was waiting at the end of the hunt! Highlight of all highlights!!Here are the rest of us back at the house watching and waiting for Eric and Sarah to return from the proposal site: Now that the engagement was official, a wedding was planned for November!

Looking Back at 2015...Fall.

Since the wedding to-dos kicked into high gear, posting on the blog in October was almost non-existent, although there are three newly written posts I'd like to link to.

I dated them with October dates so they will appear on the blog in the order they happened back in October, 2015:

October, Dayton Days...Hannah and I sold baskets and soaps! Read about it here.

October...Friends came to visit, and I wrote about our special time here.

October, NCFIC Conference...we spent the weekend in Asheville. Read about it here.

The best highlight of 2015, Eric and Sarah's wedding: 

I hope you've enjoyed this look back at 2015. We're looking forward to the good things the Lord will bring about in 2016!

"I shall remember the deeds of the LORD; Surely I will remember Your wonders of old." ~ Psalm 77:11

~Deb

A Look Back at 2015 ~ Part 1

Most bloggers write their previous year's highlights post in early January. Well...Hello, February! How did you get here?!

We're finally getting around to "looking back" at a few of the memories of 2015...some photos may not have made the blog the first time around and others you might remember. And some events/happenings we didn't take time to put on the blog. Take a look:

Winter, 2015....A big portion of the winter was spent over at Jonathan's house helping with various building chores. My main job was writing verses on the studs all over the house. We blogged about it here and here:Last February, Tom's sister came to visit...fun times! We're anticipating another visit from Aunt Toots at the end of this month and hope that she isn't greeted with lots of the white stuff again: Also in February friends from over the mountain came to visit...we had lots of fun talking and playing games: Here I am with my friend: On the week leading up to Valentine's Day each year, Sarah makes meals for our family..lots of delicious and varied meals all week long! We all just love Sarah's Cooking Week!

I wonder if she's told her new husband, Eric, that she has to leave Georgia and come home to Virginia to cook for us all next week? Somehow I doubt it since it's his birthday week. We'll miss her Cooking Week for sure this year!

Last March Hannah introduced a new product, Beard Oil, on her website and blog. Jonathan was her tester, and here they are together after Hannah gave him a sniff to check out the fragrance: Also in March, Hannah and Sarah met with their friends Anna and Abigail for a delightful picnic lunch and some girl talk. These are the girls who were such wonderful helpers for Sarah's wedding in November....but who knew back in March that she'd be getting married last year? In March we also hosted our friends from PA, Nelson and Sarah and their family, who were overnight guests: Spring, 2015...In April we made a trek to Atlanta for the Civil War History Tour with historian, Bill Potter. Lots of families were on the tour, including our Atlanta friends here: Little did we know that Eric and Sarah's first real conversation in this graveyard on the tour would lead to friendship, courtship, and marriage:

Market Saturdays beginning in April were a huge part of 2015 for both Hannah and Sarah. Here's Tom with Granny and Hannah at the Memorial Day market:  In June we made a trek to Michigan to honor Micah as he graduated from his Residency program:On our route back to Virginia, we met up in Ohio with Eric and his family who were also traveling back home to Georgia from a weekend away. It was a great family lunch date and their first face-to-face meeting after their long-distance courtship started:Here we are getting better acquainted with the family: Well, that's just the first half of the year! More wonderful memories to come in the second half. What highlights will be next?

Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits.~ Psalm 103:2

Stay tuned for Part 2.

~Deb