7/02/2010

Do Not End O Summer

I still can't believe that I won this wonderful giveaway; aren't these pieces adorable? Look at the cheerful prints; it's a purse, billfold (so detailed), small bag, and keychain! They are so well-crafted, too. Thank you, Cyndi (of bluebirdswing blog)!!

I have been spending gigantic chunks of time digitizing music from not only my old vinyl records, but also my cache of old cassettes. Several cassettes had to go to music heaven, however, without making it to Digi-Land, including this one, Appalwood, that I always enjoyed. Guess I loved it to death:
Is anybody familiar with this one by any chance? Do you know where I can get another copy? I googled it and left a search for it on eBay, but nothing is available right now that I can find. Maybe there are some old cassettes laying around in stores in southern Virginia. Their home base was Independence, Virginia.

I drove up to the Smokies and stayed overnight at the Brookside Resort, that has rooms over the most beautiful, bubbling, loud creek.

I guess you can't see this (well maybe if you click on it to enlarge), but the Ripley's Aquarium (which is wonderful by the way) has this glass wall visible from the street (across the creek) where you can see the penguins swimming and playing.

I left Atlanta at 3am so I could drive through the Park from sunrise on. Arrived there exactly on time and what can I say, it was simply gorgeous. I went on to Sevierville, Tennessee (after getting breakfast at the Donut Friar in Gatlinburg; now that's a doughnut....or a few) to visit two quilt shops. They said No Pictures! at The Cherry Pit, so all of these pictures are from a shop called Machine Quilting by Iva, where the ladies were quite jolly and friendly, and had quite a large inventory of fabric, several rooms, in fact. The Cherry Pit had quite a good inventory, too, and I managed to add to the stash in both places.


The area just had their Shop Hop; this is a block from their Hop:



Here's the haul:



The Apple Barn in Sevierville is always a nice stop:

Nearly comatose and still turning out apples!

The Pattern Mart in Pigeon Forge had the most astonishing supply of quilt/craft patterns. I didn't get anything, but spent quite a bit of time just enjoying seeing so many patterns by one designer in one spot.

Sorry about all the stoplights and wires, but this looked so sensational as I was pulling out of the Food Lion:

Time to head home, driving through the Park once more:





What a treat to escape the unbearable Atlanta heat, even if only for a few days.

14 comments:

Betty said...

Beautiful pictures. I wish I lived close to the Smokies or any mountains for that matter. Here it's all flat, flat, flat!

Why do you think quilt shops don't allow pictures? I think it's good advertising, but I guess they're afraid of ideas being stolen.

I love what you won!

Linda said...

Love The Apple Barn but haven't been there in years. The Cherry Pit looks like a good destination!

Darlene said...

What a fun trip for you. Next time I get to go, too. :-)

Cyndi said...

Looks like you had a wonderful trip, Karen! I love the Smokies, but haven't been there in years! We used to always eat breakfast at the Apple Barn. And, you got some great stuff at the shops!

XOXO,

Cyndi

p.s. Hope you enjoy your bag and accessories! :o)

Lori said...

What a great little road trip!!
Love your summery winnings too!!

Erin in MI said...

I sooo envy you! Our favorite place to vacation is in the isolated cabins around Sevierville. We haven't been down there in about 3 years, and we're itching to get back! Maybe once I can find a job we'll be able to start vacationing again. Have a great 4th!

MARCIE said...

Wow! What an awesome win! Darling bag, etc. Awesome trip as well. You do know how to have fun! Donuts-fabric-scenery, how cool!
Isn't that an old Thimbleberries fabric in the cheddar? I still have some of that in tan. It's from eons ago, and look how current the color is!

Micki said...

What a great trip you had and congrats on the win!
Micki

Julie-Ann said...

I love what you won! You've been lucky. Sounds like a great trip. I love the fabric you purchased. I'm back in MKE for my last 3 weeks. After that I don't think I will drive more than 30 miles at a time for a long, long, time!

Paula, the quilter said...

I checked eMusic.com for Appalwood but came up with nothing.

Gretchen said...

I am so happy you had such a nice trip to the mountains!! Sounds like a perfect vacation to me (donuts, apple orchards, quilt shops!!!!)

Unknown said...

Susan Francis is actually my mother. Jerry Kandies is my father and Sylvia and my mother are still very good friends. I can try to see if she has a copy. Email me lmskandies@yahoo.com

Toni Fowler said...

Hey, this is Susan Francis and Sylvia DeLaney. We will send you a copy of the Appalwood cassette tape that you no longer can listen to. And, we can send you a copy of a second tape from 1988. We were thrilled to see that someone out there remembers us and likes our music! Send your address to appalwoodsb5@gmail.com and we will take care of it.

Toni Fowler said...

(Toni Fowler is helping us send you this message. That is why her name is on there.)