NOW WE ARE OFFICIALLY DONE!!!!!

As is soooo typical with home remodeling....one little thing leads to the next, and the next and the next.  Ours began in July when the deck replacement started. Well the work did, the planning and decision making whether or not to go down this path or move had been going on for nearly a year.

We are now officially finished....THE END!!  Though this is generally a dedicated fiber blog, I do know our lives go beyond our passion/hobby/business.  I've chatted/complained about the goings on around here, so hopefully you'll be interested in seeing the original and the current look of our home.

Of course this is probably everyone's vision of what a house in the Smoky Mountains should look like....what one doesn't realize is just how much maintenance all this wood requires.

We've eliminated lots of it....if our budget would have allowed, I'd have removed the log siding too.....but that's not to be...and probably best anyway.  We now have a newer fresher look that buyers seek, plus the charm and what their imagination desires.

 Longer view with a glimpse of the fall color which is just beginning to peak.

This was actually taken on our afternoon walk 2 days ago.....beautiful...and I did NOT do any Photoshopping to it.

APPALACHIAN PORSCHE CLUB

We belong to the most marvelous Porsche Club!  The Appalachian PCA does an outstanding job of organizing monthly day time drive and dine events to interesting locales with friendly, welcoming members.

 This past weekend we meet up and as is typical, there were two groups of about 10 cars each.  Each one has as a leader and a sweeper who keep track of everyone in between via hand held radios.  As you can see, the weather didn't look like it would cooperate.

 We all headed to Lake Lure for Pontoon boat rides with the hopes of a sunny, warm day with beautiful fall color.  It wasn't sunny and it definitely wasn't warm but for the most part it didn't rain.  No real color either.

Our group filled 5 boats, trolling the lake and enjoying the wonders of our smoky mountains region.  Lake Lure is famous for being the filming location of the movie "Dirty Dancing", none of the iconic buildings are still standing.  This fact may be a surprise to many since it's assumed it was created in upstate New York.  

As we headed back to the dock, the next stop was to be a lovely group lunch. However 'the husband' has been experiencing dreadful pain again, so unfortunately we bade goodbye so he could get home and rest.  

STILL TRANSFORMING

Talk about a change.....and some VERY hard workers....I felt so badly for them working in the cold and YES....rain on this slippery metal roof, I baked brownie for the crew to keep up their strength!

 Trucks, material, ladders, and people everywhere.  6 days into this transformation.

I mentioned several posts back that our roof was steep......you can really get a good impression of just how steep. 'The husband' who worked in the scaffolding business in Chicago for 30+ years (where buildings were big and tall) was relieved to see the crew were tied on...did I mention it began to rain/mist and can you just imagine how slippery the surface is??

We have a LOT going on this weekend.....so just in case I can't drop by again before Sunday.......I must leave you with this:

GO PACK GO!!!!!

BACK IN BUSINESS

No pouting was necessary.....my machine was serviced quickly and efficiently thank's to the new Janome dealer in our neck of the woods....still a distance from us....but oh so lucky to have one only about 90 mins. away.  Sassy Stitchers in Franklin, NC is the place to go. 

Plans with the hubby for the next few days....but after that, this machine will be burning up!!!

WHILE THE MACHINE IS AWAY....BUSY HANDS ARE STILL PLAYING

Fall leaf peepers have arrived and are shopping at Woolworth Walk, downtown Asheville, NC.  My inventory of felted acorns have been a good seller....so.....

Out comes the wool roving......

No matter how quickly I try to work, wet felting is NOT a method that can be rushed.  I average 30 minutes to make 5 'bodies'.

Perfect activity to catch up on Bravo's trash reality shows!!

TA DAH!!!!

Linking to:  Nina-Marie's Off the Wall Friday, Sarah's Whoop Whoop Friday.

MACHINE DOWN!!

I'm the first to admit my dislike of free-motion quilting...oh I admire those that have conquered the skill, but over-all I've always been more of a handwork person.

However, in order to offer wall art for sale at an attractive price point, shortening the time commitment while maintaining high quality work has led me to utilizing the machine more and more.

Recently I was whining about the tension issues I was having while attempting to quilt a piece.  Turns out, it wasn't just my lack of FM skills, my machine decided to disrupt the tension, even when sewing a straight stitch.  Living in our area has some drawbacks.....one is access to repair people. ANY sort of repair needs will lead to hair pulling. In this case, there's not a single Janome dealer closer than a 3 hr. round trip drive.  

My Janome 8900 is now in the hands of someone who can hopefully get it up and running quickly.  Thankfully, I have a spare machine (thank you Denny).  My first love, a Pfaff.  I'd have stuck with that brand except after who knows how many times this company has been bought and sold, their machines are now quite inferior.  Fortunately, the old faithful 7570 I have still makes me smile.

JUST WHEN I THOUGHT WE WERE FINISHED!

Our peaceful mountain valley has one drawback...the WIND!  At times we experience strong prolonged winds which have played havoc on our roof. Our home is very tall and the days of us doing any of our own shingle repair are long gone.  So after, yet again, a few more shingles took sail we decided it was time to fix the problem for good.

 So........our home refresh continues....the ugly old green (too small) gutters and downspouts are being replaced with matte black ones to complement the black accents of our new porch/deck make-over.

Soon the asphalt shingles will be gone and updated with a charcoal grey metal roof.  Our great room wood tongue and groove ceiling soars about 27' high and now we'll never have to worry about leaks damaging it!  If only we could only get rid of that log siding.....so charming to look at but a real maintenance pain!!  

All the expenses we've incurred with this refresh have exceeded our original plan, but it sure beats having to move!  Asheville area real estate continues to be a hot market so hopefully that will hold for a good long time until we are ready to sell.

Note...it's the middle of Oct. and there is barely any of our famous fall color...most trees still have their leaves.  They say it's because we've had such a warm and dry fall....UNTIL now....it was 35 degrees when I got up at 5:00 AM and rain is predicted.

RED TREE - The Transformation of a Failed Design

This piece is quite different than my original vision.  My style has evolved toward less cluttered, sparser and cleaner designs.  A far cry from my days of embellishing/beading every piece of fabric that stood still long enough!

After adding a facing to the Red Tree wall quilt, I had to admit the piece was simply too plain, even for me.  So now it's been married with a beautiful Japanese print that I machine quilted and bound.  It's become a 'quilt on a quilt!'

  RED TREE -  31" x 27.5"

Available Here

Hand-dyed silk nail, cotton batik, Japanese print fabric, appliqued 

and machine quilted.

Update -  I'm not sure my explanation was very clear......here's a detail of the 'quilt on a quilt'.  The center piece is a stand alone wall quilt.....placed on a larger quilted background....it's not a border in the normal sense.

REQUIRED ATTENDENCE

Petit Lemans, a premier 10 hour road race, is held at Road Atlanta every October. It's always an exciting race because there are 4 different categories of cars running at the same time...requiring the super fast prototype vehicles to navigate around the slower classes.  Car enthusiasts look forward to this very competitive event, while wives like me dread the 3 days of loud cars, terrible food, either too hot or too cold weather.  Alas, we go every year.

Porsche has now teamed up with Coca Cola thus a new look for their two factory sponsored cars.  Personally, I'm not a fan, preferring their old school styling of the past.  Unfortunately, the new look didn't bring them a win....they came in 4 & 5th of their class.

The saving grace of these type of car races is the Porsche Club of America's hospitality tent and their Porsche only parking for about 200+ cars.  A very impressive site.  It's so large I couldn't get all the cars in just one photo.

On my personal "keep myself amused' list is license plate viewing. I'm very late in coming to the TV series Black List.....I'm guessing this owner is a fan too.

You could hear a pin drop as this very respectful huge crowd stood with hands or hats over their hearts, as the National Anthem was sung while two sky divers carrying American flags, landed on the start/finish line just before the race began.

That was followed by HUGE, numerous bangs of fireworks to mark the start of the race.

We stood on the medical helicopter pad overlooking the last turn as the cars made their first lap around the track....this driver ended up sideways but fortunately got himself straightened out without further incident.

The weather was actually perfect this year and surely I must have lost a pound or two with all the miles we walked around the track.  Back home now....and ready to sew again!

MAKING PROGRESS

Applique is all complete....and a new finishing idea is taking form.....

The idea is bold but I'm having trouble executing it......wasted about 8 hours yesterday - stitching & ripping......  BUT.....I am not easily deterred....so....check back soon to see if I conquered the technical problems.

SLUMP

YIKES......I fear the home refresh distractions I've been experiencing most of the summer has now allowed 'design brain freeze' to take over.  All I seem to be doing is shuffling fabric....the design is not developing.

This is a totally new situation for me......ideas have always been easily forthcoming.  Naturally, developing them into a one-of-a-kind piece takes time and patience.  Given my slow start, I guess I simply need to allow more time and lots more patience for this project to move forward!!

PACKER FANS ARE IN LOVE

AWESOME -  Packers 34 -  Dallas 24

Season4 - 1

A new superstar has emerged  - # 33  Aaron Jones  - a 4 TD game

GO PACK GO!!!!

WORKING SLOWLY

WOW....who knew?  Starting with a clean, almost pristine studio should be invigorating with design avenues wide open.  Instead, I spent two days shuffling piles of fabrics, notebook ideas, and mental images not being able to settle down and select one direction.

Perhaps this rather uninspiring piece of hand hand silk noil is a reflection of the mood??

 It got more interesting when I pulled out this deconstructed piece and decided to marry the two.

  I tend to drift toward uncluttered whole cloth as backgrounds for my designs.  Hopefully not boring, instead the goal is to create pieces that can hang in a room and be enjoyed for a long period of time. I prefer to avoid making the big shiny star piece that wears out its welcome too quickly.

For this project's background, I chose a nearly tone on tone batik with the appearance of a woodcut.  To provide the stitching control and accuracy I desire.....painter's tape strips are cut, measured, and positioned on the stabilized fabric.

This will become a double straight line pattern......after sewing along the left side of the tape, it's removed and my pressure foot becomes the guide for line #2.  

Check back here won't you??

In the meantime check out these links to explore what other artists have been working on this week:  Sarah's Whoop Whoop Friday, Nina-Marie's Off the Wall Friday.

BLANK SLATE

Now this is a sight rarely seen in a quilter's studio! How mine came to look like a blank slate is a mystery to me.  I don't ever recall not having 2-3 projects in the works.

Now that all the home projects are complete I can concentrate on developing a few of the many ideas (always) brewing in my mind.

I'm sure the fabric will be flying soon......check back in with me won't you??