Happy Birthday Cole, Happy Birthday America!

July brings to fun things ~ Independence Day on July 4th, and Cole's birthday on July 6th.

On the 4th we had lots of fun with some left-over fireworks...what they were leftover from, who knows? Either last New Years or last 4th of July... But either way, we were glad to have 'em. We didn't have any of the great big impressive stuff - but we had fun with the sparklers & stuff. And it's always fun to take pictures of the sparklers.






Our neighbors had some of the really BIG fireworks, though. So, we ended up abandoning our stuff & standing at the front gate watching them light up their stuff. Their yard is small & has lots of trees, so they had the brilliant (?) plan to launch in the most open, flat spot available to them...right next to the road. It was really much too close to the road & approaching cars often swerved away from the action - but boy, did they put on a show. We laughed...how bizarre is it for us to sit at our gate & enjoy watching the neighbors break the law with their pyrotechnic show-by-the-road... and photograph it!?! Here's a collage of the ones I caught on film.

Today is Cole's 12th birthday. I can hardly believe our baby is 12! He's such a great kid and a delight to our family. He's growing like kudzu lately, too. He's constantly hungry and has even been dreaming about Wendy's bacon burgers. Cole really doesn't care for cake, so I didn't make him a birthday cake, but he wanted bacon for breakfast this morning...so I stuck a candle in with his birthday breakfast & we sang! Now that's REDNECK!!
This afternoon he wanted to go see the movie 'The Last Air Bender' & then eat out at his favorite place...Pizza Hut. WAHOO!! Happy Birthday Cole!!!! We love you!!!!

Carpe Quiltem

Carpe Quiltem.... seize the quilt!

The Lallyquilters have the biggest hearts of anyone I know. Each lady in the quilting group has gifts, knowledge and stories to share, all this enriching, delighting, and touching the hearts & minds of the group. Recently, we decided to make a difference in something that affects almost all of us. Each and every one of us has been touched by cancer in one way or another - either a personal battle, or a loved one or friend has had to deal with the dreaded 'big C'. Sometimes these battles have happy ending, other times, the disease is just too strong. Using our gifts - our quilting skills - we decided to make a raffle quilt that will help Conquer Cancer ...all of the proceeds from the raffle will be given to cancer research. In a small, but personal way, we are helping stop cancer.

Each lady who contributed picked a 'cancer awareness ribbon color'...pink for breast cancer, etc, and made an Ohio Star block. Then she mailed the block to Dondy in PA. Dondy collected the blocks & assembled the quilt top, back, and presentation bag using these special blocks. Her attention to detail, arrangement of the blocks, pressing, and fabulous workmanship was amazing! Upon completing this portion of the quilt, Dondy then mailed it to me. My job was to quilt it. So for the past couple of weekends I've been totally focused on that...and in my happy place, because I'm been quilting like crazy! In addition to quilting 'in the ditch' on each individual block, I also quilted a little Celtic motif between each block top/bottom/side, and then an expanded version of this Celtic motif all along the outer border.

Here are some pictures of the quilt's sojourn at my house....

















The next step on this quilt's journey is back to PA, this time to Valerie, who will prepare it for the raffle which will take place in Ontario Canada at the Fergus Scottish Festival & Games in mid-August. Valerie will help us publicize the quilt, handle the raffle tickets. When we have a winner - I'll add additional information & pictures but for now, the Lallyquilters have worked together, encouraged each other, and supported this very special project together...Carpe Quiltem!

AUGUST 20 UPDATE - the raffle raised almost $900.00!!!! WAHOOOOOO!!!!!!!

June 2010 - Our 25th Anniversary in "Mayberry"

Mount Airy North Carolina is the home of the real "Mayberry". It's a charming little town that has embraced it's claim to fame - the Andy Griffith Show. It's old main street has lots of quaint shops, Opie's Candy Store, The Bluebird Diner, Floyd's Barber Shop, and Snappy Lunch...and yes, I found a quilt shop.

Further down the street is the 'Old Court House', and Wally's Service Station - home to the old squad car rides. Tucked behind Wally's is the Darlin place...complete with a still. The folks in Mayberry are just as kind and friendly as the folks old in the old tv show....Southern hospitality as it's best. We had a fun day there enjoying the scenary, small-town atmosphere, and just being together on our anniversary.

Stone Mountain State Park, North Carolina

We went camping for our 25th anniversary in Stone Mtn State Park NC. We've never been there, and didn't know much about it, but picked it based on it's proximity to Mount Airy NC, and it's remote campground. It turned out to be a very nice place. The campground wasn't crowded - always a plus - and it was quiet & peaceful. Our camp site was next to a gurgling creek, and had a nice view of the little valley we were in. While we would have like to have had more shade, we made our own shade with an old tarp we always take along 'just in case.'

Hiking in the park was fun. Beautiful forests, and well maintained trails are always a good thing. (Even tho' the signs were not always clear!) There was a 200' waterfall tumbling down the mountain ~ quite a sight. Blake was the only one brave enough to hike around the entire mountain. (Yeah, the rest of us are wimps.) There was also an old homestead in a meadow beneath Stone Mountain. Rock climbers were scaling the granite walls - what a challenge! I think they were crazy!

We spent some time next to a creek where the boys played. They mostly skipped rocks & just splashed...but Cole always finds a way to totally immerse himself in any body of water.

The Blue Ridge Parkway is beautiful. Every twist and turn of the road brings another stunning view of the mountains, valleys and forests. While the weather that day was a bit dreary, it's still pretty hard to mess up a fabulous scenic overlook of the mountains.






















Around camp we spend a lot of time reading, just sitting around, playing games, and just generally enjoying being together and as well as being lazy. Blake found some blueberries while on our waterfall hike - he enjoyed them in his pancakes.





Blake discovered a GIGANTIC apple tree in the campground. It was absolutely HUGE! We think the little valley where we camped must have been an old homestead - and this apple tree left over from the original farm. We've never seen such a huge apple tree.
























Happy Anniversary....