Gingerbread Houses?

Yesterday Russ and I headed to the Grove Park Inn for lunch and to view the entries from their annual gingerbread house competition. We started out with lunch on the Sunset Terrace which is the large open back porch area off the grand lobby. It was a somewhat cloudy day but the air temperature was close to 70, so it was actually very pleasant to be eating outside. The terrace overlooks the Grove Park Inn Spa and golf course and then in the distance you can see the Asheville skyline and the backdrop of the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains beyond that. So even on a grey November day, the view is quite spectacular. If you go for lunch (the food is pretty darn good, too), I would recommend that you treat yourself to a Bloody Mary!

The gingerbread competition was judged on Monday and included a lot of traditional houses, most decked out for the holiday season. Lots had amazing details, like decorated rooms visible through faux windows, landscaping, lawn decorations, animals and people... it's really quite amazing! The grand prize winner was this shoe:

The stern looking woman you can see in the mirror was a guard that would not really let me, or anybody, close enough to get a detailed photo. She was placed there to protect the work until they could install a plexiglass box around it.

Since the winner was a non-traditional house, I thought I'd share a few of the other non-traditional gingerbread houses we saw.

Of course, I couldn't resist taking a picture of this sewing machine. Notice the basket with spools of thread, the scissors, and buttons. That is all 100% edible!
How about a Native American gingerbread house?
And this carousel horse:
The next two are from the teen or youth division:
Look at this chest full of edible Christmas ornaments!

MINI Cooper Quilts

In September, we brought my MINI Cooper to our dealer, Century MINI in Greenville, for servicing.

While waiting for the courtesy car to take us to the mall, I had a conversation with the manager about the art that was on display in the show room. He was very proud of the fact that the artwork, which were framed watercolors of MINIs and artful photos of MINI features, were done by customers. When I told him that I made quilts, he said that he would be interested in buying a small wall quilt to add to the collection.

I always like a challenge, so I told him I would see what I could come up with.

Here are my efforts:

The hexagon is called "MINI-go-round." I was able to find custom printed MINI Cooper fabric on-line which allowed me to use these nice fabric images in a creative way. Lots of the MINI Cooper literature makes use of the black and white racing flag motif. It measures about 14x16 inches.

This 12 inch square is called "MINI-malism," and was inspired by an illustration in one of the sales booklets. Again, I have used the racing flag motif. The image of the car is actually painted on the fabric. I think it gives a nice illusion.

I emailed these pictures to the manager and he will buy both of them!

He said they will have them framed, which I think is the proper way to display them in a public place.

How cool is that?!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Yesterday was the open house at the poinsettia nursery in Mills River.

Going to see the plants in flower before they are sent off to be sold for the season has been our start of the holiday season ritual for the last few years. There are acres of greenhouses and a vast variety of poinsettias, the colors forming a patchwork as they are arranged on the floor by the thousands. It's quite a sight to see.

So here are a few pictures for you to enjoy:

To NYC for the Marathon!

Last weekend we were in NYC, cheering Russ along as he ran the NYC Marathon!

We arrived a few days early, to enjoy the city with our family. On Thursday, Maggie, Dave, Nora, Russ and I went to the taping of the Friday night "Late Show with David Letterman." Here are Maggie and Nora in front of the Ed Sullivan theater where the program is taped.

Earlier in the day, Russ and I had gone to the Javitt's Center to the Marathon Expo to pick up his shirt and number. Here he is!

The race day, Sunday, was sunny and pleasant. We were able to see Russ run by at the 13.1 mile mark (half way there) and then again just before the finish. I got this picture of him as he went by at mile 25. He looks pretty darn good!

After the race, we all enjoyed some "lunch" at Lenny's. Here's Russ with his finisher's medal and Nora.

And then some pictures of Nora with Ari and Maggie with Dave.

Some Fall Color

Last Sunday afternoon we did a 10 K walk with the Asheville Amblers at Montreat. Montreat is a Presbyterian retreat and private college located near Black Mountain. The weather was ideal for our walk. When the sun was out it was about 70 degrees, but there was some cloud cover, keeping it cool enough for the brisk walk that included quite a few prolonged uphills. The colors would have looked more brilliant in full sun, but it was still a very pretty fall walk.

Lake Susan is a small lake on the campus and it reflected some of the pretty color. Also visible are some of the historic stone buildings that are on the property. It's a pretty spot.

Big 3-0 in the Big Apple!

Last weekend Russ and I were on our way to NYC to surprise Nora for her 30th birthday! Maggie and Dave also arrived from Maine, so it was a real treat for us, as both our girls had birthdays the previous week. Nora turned 30 on the 26th and Maggie turned 36 on the 28th of September. Here are the birthday girls!

And here they are with Ari and Dave:

I don't show up in many of my photos... funny thing about that. But here's a shot at Heartland Brewery, just to prove I was there, too!

To commemorate Nora's landmark birthday, her boyfriend Ari arranged for a very special weekend. Not only did we arrive without her knowledge, but he had arranged for a Saturday night surprise party at a nice wine/tapas restaurant. She was overwhelmed! I don't think she had a clue... when we arrived at the restaurant she thought the six of us were having dinner there. She opened the door and about 40 people were there ready to yell, "SURPRISE!" It was a fun time!

And then on Sunday he took us all on a schooner cruise of the NYC harbor on the "Adirondack." It was a beautiful day and such a treat to all be together.

Here is a picture of the new building that is rising on the site of the Twin Towers. It's a beautiful addition to the skyline!

Some little quilts

Here are three little quilts I've been working on. Each of them is 12 inches square.
The first two I made from scraps, mostly batiks, that I had left over from a project several years ago. I always like the idea of using up scraps in a creative way. I used my Pro Chem metallic paints in gold, bronze and brass shades to stencil the figures and leaves and I'm pretty darn happy with the results. Here's a closer look at each of them:

And finally, this is a miniature replica of the quilt that Alice and I made for the Folk Heritage Committee to raffle off during this year's series of "Shindig on the Green" concerts. Alice paper-pieced the little log cabin blocks for me out of scraps from the big quilt. I put them together, quilted and bound the block. It is a nice memento of our collaborative project. It makes me smile!