Heatwole Campout at Lake Norris Dam

Our Heatwole family ...





... met in Lake City, TN at the Norris Dam State Park for our campout.

You can see more pictures on Polly's blog here.

Joel is learning more facts about Norris Dam.

The Lenoir Museum is close by and has artifacts that depict the Appalachian way of life.

Coleen and June admire pretty glass in the museum.

Polly liked this old Willcox and Gibbs sewing machine.

I liked the General Store area.

The Rice Gristmill was close by and fun to explore.

The Caleb Crosby Threshing Barn was relocated here in 1978.

Figuring out details at the threshing barn.

Our tour is almost over.

 Back at camp ...

Let's move our tents to a different location!

Yes, that's better now.

Corn Hole was one of many games with lots of visiting and cheering on the side lines.

Polly showed us a quilt she is working on for a booth at their up coming church conference get-together.

Mother was in awe with all the people present and all because of one choice she made when Father ask her to marry him.

Twenty-five of the 43 cousins were present.

Claire taught us a few pointers on taking pictures. (Now, if I can only remember all she said.)

Autumn and Justus

Timmy & Diana

Siblings, Gabe & Claire. Doesn't Polly remind you of Father?

Jim & June

Cousins -- Rebecca, Justus, & Amy

Dustin and his girlfriend Gina

Aaron, Aimee, Emorie, & Madolyn

Benjamin & Melissa

Jillian fixing scrambled eggs for brunch.

Claire & Katina. They really are twins!

Sheri

Jim & June with 2 of their grands, Kianna and Afton

Sanford & Sheila. Some people think I look like her.

And here is Dustin & Gina again.

Katina and Brock

Yours Truely

Perry & Emily

Josh & Jillian

Julian & Jodie

Sheila and Caleb

Mike and Hannah

There was some good singing around the campfire and then Aaron fixed a big kettle of popcorn.

Oh, look how this app shows the night sky!

A grandaughter for each of these Grammas.

Sheila shows us how she can "talk" her text messages.

Craig & Angie

Barbara tried to teach Georgi the "do-re-mi"s.

Josh & Hope

Poor Kiana, with an insect bite and untammed hair.

There! I'm sure she feels much better.

Katina "woking" meat for brunch.

Claire arranged a beautiful plate of fruit for brunch.

A wonderful game of 4-square brought back childhood memories for me.

Barbara, is that roaster as heavy as you think?

The trash was a never ending job.

Camping has been just too much fun for Joshua.

--Parting Shot--

Traveling Home

Pork BBQ

Dustin, Gabriel, & Sheri (Heatwole cousins) helped cut up the pork for BBQ for my meal at the up and coming Heatwole Campout.

Our Front Porch

I'm loving the fellowship of the "Pre Heatwole Campout" on our front porch.

Thread Breakage and Skipped Stitches

Oh, dear. What do I do now? My fun little project is coming to a halt.

I have changed needles and more needles. I've changed thread and still the stippling is not going good. Can you see the skipped stitches and thread problems?

I'm now wondering if it's my batting. It's of unknown content and it has a very thin coating of something kinda like a plastic foam over it. I'm wondering if it is dulling my needle and making my thread shred. Now that I've come this far, what is left to do but pitch the project? Any suggestions?

More Ghost Quilting and Uncle Lester

Saturday Morning -- Through My Kitchen Window

The "Ghost Quilting" technique is fun and catching.

I'm working on 2 more.

Paul and I were to Indiana recently for his Uncle Lester's funeral.

We spent one night with Paul's cousin, Benny & Miriam.

We got so sleep under this quilt made by Paul's Aunt Emma.

Miriam had this pretty quilt on their bed.

Paul's Uncle Wilmer is not well and has been in bed for 3 months. His daughter Naomi and husband Jim take care of him.

Aunt Ruth and a lot of Paul's cousins came to visit him while we were there.

Paul's Aunt Anna Marie and more cousins.

Ghost Quilting

I took a quilting class in Jackson recently with Ms. Martha Ginn as my teacher.

She had each of us cut out a 6”X6” piece of focus fabric and fuse it to a larger piece of border or background fabric.
Then in class she gave us ideas on how to quilt the center piece and extend the quilting into the large border.

Family Times

Too much fun!

Ashton’s lips are all puckered ready to give Clyde his love!

I love having family come for a visit. It was great having Perry & Emily with their son Andy stay with us for a while.

Joel, Sheila, and Georgi with their tiny little Talya.

Other recent guests have been Myra & Joey Klies.

Blokenlopee & Great is Thy Faithfulness

This poor lady looks like a stern teacher giving a boring lecture. I found her at this Fairy Quilt Godmother site. She was a lot of fun to make. I'm hoping to get her quilted soon.

Here is a picture that Mother painted for Paul & me and gave it to us as a wedding gift.

I tweaked it on the computer and ...



... and Emily and I made it into a small quilt for Mother.

For Paul's mom, I took a picture of a quilt that she was hand quilting. She had embroidered the blocks many years ago when she worked at the hospital on night shift.

Again, I tweaked the picture ...



... and made this small quilt for her.



Bloggers’ Quilt Festival : Spring 2012

Thanks to Amy's Creative Side for hosting another fine Quilt Festival.



Laura's Quilt -- This quilt started out as a Tossed Nine Patch but became so busy you couldn't see the design. So, I found another idea from Film in the Fridge's Timber Quilt to use my 'already cut squares.' I sewed two red squares together to make the rectangle and then cut the chartreuse fabric squares into thirds for the narrow strips.

Since the quilt was wider than 44" I added a wide improv strip of the leftover scraps to the back to make it wide enough for the top.



The label was sewn into the back on top of the pieced strip.

I'm sure going to miss Laura. She's leaving today but plans to come back and visit, often, I hope!

Square in a Square Pinapple

Yaaaaay! I met my goal of cutting out a small quilt using a color pallette suggested by Vicki and Judy. I'm also using this quilt as a demo for our Possum Town Quilters this Saturday. Here you can see my fabric and 2 of the finished square in a square pineapple blocks I'll be demonstrating.