We live 30 minutes west of Asheville, NC in Crabtree Township in Triple Creek Meadows, which is in Bald Creek Valley. (Got that??) The first photo was taken from the lowest part of our development, probably around 2,800 feet elevation. I love looking at the cloud cover below. The little creek gurgles along the west side of our property.
Each morning 'the husband' and I do a 45 min. trek up and back down the mountain road in our development. The 3 horses along our route know we come bearing apples. The fence is electric....so this feeding task is done carefully by both parties.
Our walk takes us up to this spot, about 4,000 feet elevation (our house is at 3,200) Beautiful and it will all be waiting for me when I return next Sunday!
I'll be decked out in my Packer sweatshirt (arms already raised in triumph) and my lucky socks....they never fail! We want a win for Brett, he's so deserving! I grew up about 45 mins. from Green Bay, and like most cheeseheads....we love our Packers.
I knew I'd adore this gal even before we said our first hello. I was told she loves bright colors and heart motifs. With that knowledge, I designed this small bead embellished felted wool piece for her. 
Georgia arranged for our group to have a private tour through the Warm & Company manufacturing factory which is nearby. They are best known for their Warm & Natural Batting, Steam-a-Seam, and other battings with varying fiber content. Their newest product is a flame retardant batting for children's quilts that will be available soon at Jo-Anne's. We were delighted to know that this US manufacturing company uses cotton that is grown in the US, mostly from Georgia. YEAH!! Although I took dozens of photos, these couple of views should give you an idea of the process. The facilities were spotless. As we watched some of the batting being hand cut and individually packaged, we found it difficult to keep our hands from reaching out and grabbing some.
This is a carding machine. Cotton from huges bails is spread onto a cement floor and this machine runs back and forth over it, cleaning and breaking it into tiny fibers.
After carding, the cotton goes through more machinery and into a 'fluffer". (The purpose is to separate an puff the fiber with blowing air.) It's incredibly soft and thin.
The 'fluffed' cotton is now feed through another machine, until it is 7 layers thick.
Those 7 layers now pass through the needle punch machine. The quality of the photo is not great as it was taken looking through a plastic viewing window....but you get the idea. It comes out looking like the batting we are all so familiar with. It's then feed onto huge tubes and stored until it's cut again to size and put onto smaller rolls, bolts, or shrink wrap packages.
Wouldn't you love to have access to just one of these boxes? I was so surprised to learn they employee only about 27 people....heck, they must work day and night to keep us quilters so well supplied!
Why would anyone purchase this fabric?? Luckily I did. It was bought to use as a lining in a "Mr. Potato Head" (theme) garment I'd designed. I couldn't imagine ever having another use for it, but being a quilter, one hordes fabric, and so it was still sitting on my closet shelf when inspiration hit again. The story enfolds below:
Jan Vander Hill, of Wind Lake, WI, one of my students (now a good pal) has traveled on nearly all my tours/cruises. Because she so often gets annoying seat mates (non-quilters) on airplanes, while traveling from Paris to Iceland, I made sure she'd be seated with others from our group, rather than the general public. 
Here's a peak into my newest book, which introduces the basics of working with, and embellishing felted wool. I've become completely smitten with this material. My ideas/designs flow faster than my needle. There are 16 projects featured in the book, "Lines & Circles is a 15" wall hanging, though it'd make a great pillow cover as well.
