GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES DAY TWO

Jorge and I decided to go to Cades Cove Loop.

It's an 11 mile trip where we saw many

log homes from the original settlers of the area.

The drive was absolutely beautiful.

We met a couple from North Carolina that were

celebrating their 30th anniversary just like us!

We had a wonderful time talking with them.

As we drove home, Jorge wanted to stop

at Zaxby's in Sevierville for a chocolate shake.

We ended up having dinner there.

Sadly, we weren't impressed with the meal.

Jorge did like his shake.

We made our way back to our cabin

going through Pigeon Forge.  

One thing I do have to say about

this place is that it is very family oriented.

There are lots of attractions geared just for families.

 John Oliver's home.  He and his wife were the first

white settlers in the area.

 Cades Cove Primitive Baptist Church established June 16, 1827.

 An old Methodist church.

 Cades Cove Missionary Baptist Church established 1839.

 Elijah Oliver's home.  He was the son of John Oliver.

Before we started our trek on Cades Cove,

we spoke with one of the rangers and she told us

that bears love coolers because of the taste they have.

It's sweet to them.  Go figure.

This pitcher was destroyed by a bear.

 King Kong at Pigeon Forge.

GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES

My husband and I planned to celebrate our

30th anniversary in September instead of August

because of the heat.  We remember how

hot it was when we got married 30 years ago.

We chose our destination to be Gatlinburg, Tennessee.

 The cabin that Jorge and I are staying in.

We were told that black bears are in the area.

The garbage cans are in bear proof cages.

 Our anniversary dinner.

Steaks, salad, rolls, and wine.

Brownies for dessert.  

We have to have chocolate.

 On Sunday, Jorge and I were on our way to church.

I'm so glad I had my camera ready because out came a bear cub.

I saw the second cub rolling down in front of our car.

Jorge had not seen him and I told him to stop.

They both rambled on but we didn't stop or come out

because we did not see momma bear and we didn't want to see her either.

Jorge and I went to church in Gatlinburg.  

We learned that this church was formed in the

early 1800's on Baskins Creek.  It was moved

to its present location in 1991.

 Not very often do you see signs like this.

 Jorge and I asked a local which restaurant we should go for dinner.

He told us that to go to Riverstone Restaurant.

Boy was he ever right!  The food was delicious.

The restaurant is located in Townsend, Tennessee.

 Look who Jorge and I bumped into but Santa Claus!

He was awesome!  He said he was on vacation

before Christmas came.  

 Jorge and I are Clingman's Dome, the highest point of the Smokies.

You can see why they're called the Smokies.

Sunset.

How do we end our evening?

We go to Starbucks and we have coffee.

QUILT JUST FOR ME!

The last several weeks I've been really

busy making quilts for other people.

To be perfectly honest,

I've reached quilt burnout!

When I finally understood the warning signals,

I took a break and decided to make something for myself.

I made a small quilt for myself.  

The blocks measure 3" finished.

Taking the break was exactly what I needed.

All I need to do now is just finish quilting

the borders and put on the binding

and I will be done.

This will be one of the few

quilts that I will actually keep for myself.

AFGHAN

I have a dear friend who got me started again with yarn.

I had taught myself when I was a newlywed.

Most of my work at that time was not good at all and I gave up.

With her encouragement, I started back up again about three years ago.

Lisa, my friend, is an avid yarn lover.

I was thinking what I could give her for Christmas

and I thought an afghan would be nice.

This particular afghan took me about four months to complete.

It was much easier than I had expected.

Here are the directions to making this afghan.

• Chain 171 loosely.
• Row 1:  DC in fourth chain from hook and in each chain across.  (3 skipped chains count as first dc): 169 dc
• Row 2:  (Right side):  chain 3 (counts as first dc, now and throughout), turn; dc in next dc, work popcorn, (dc in next 3 dc, work popcorn) across to last 2 dc, dc in last 2 dc:  42 popcorns.
• Row 3:  chain 3, turn; dc in next dc and in each st across: 169 dc.
• Row 4:  chain 5 (counts as first tr plus ch 1), turn; skip next dc, tr in next dc, (ch 1, skip next dc, tr in next dc) across: 85 tr.
• Row 5:  chain 3, turn; dc in each ch-1 sp and in each tr across: 169 dc
• Row 6-67:  Repeat rows 2-5, 15 times, then repeat rows 2 and 3 once more.  Finish off.

MOTORCYCLE QUILT COMPLETED

I finally finished piecing the quilt together.

All that is left is to quilt it.

I have not decided yet how to quilt this.

The quilt will make its debut this weekend at the

state rally this weekend.

MOTORCYCLE QUILT

As many of you know, my husband and I love to ride our motorcycle.

Every once in a while, I get the desire to buy one for myself.

I have shared with you our adventures on the

motorcycle as we ride in Indiana and in the East coast.

We both are members of the  Christian Motorcyclists Association.

They are based in Hatfield, Arkansas.

Their minister to individuals in the motorcycle world 

in many different ways.

The CMA holds a fundraiser only once a year.

The association keeps 40% of the funds.

The other 60% is divided between three different organizations.

They are the Jesus Film Project, Missionary Ventures, and Brother Andrew.

If you are interested in learning more about their work,

click on the link below:

Christian Motorcyclists Association

With that little blurb about the group my husband and I are involved in,

each chapter is responsible for raising funds for Run for the Son.

The chapters can raise the funds throughout the year

in many different ways.

So with that in mind, I'm making a quilt for our chapter to raffle off.

I don't know where I found the motorcycle fabric but I'm glad I bought it.

The quilt is going to be a queen size quilt once it's all done.

Pictured below are the two blocks that I have made for this quilt.

I plan on having it ready by next week in time for the state rally.

That's when I'm going to take it and start selling tickets.

If you are interested or know of someone that would 

like a motorcycle quilt, please contact me.

PATOKA LAKE DAY THREE

Yesterday the day started off not well for me. My stomach was not doing well. The weather also did not cooperate for us to go boating. So we all had a relaxing day. Jorge and I did a power walk for 1.5 miles. I just did not want to go running. 

We headed into town to go antiquing. Jorge and I realized that French Lick and West Baden are right next to each other. We went to two antique stores and found a few things. Jorge was happy in finding tools made in the USA.  I found a nice green bowl for a birthday present for a friend of mine. 

We headed to the West Baden Hotel. The entrance was beautiful with brick paved roads and hydrangeas lining up the center of the road. The hotel has beautiful sunken garden with perfectly manicures bushes and no weeds I their flower beds or lawn. How I wish mine could be that way. We found out that the hotel was used as an Army hospital during WWI.  

We ended the day with David and Amber making a delicious meal of shishkabobs, salad, and beans. We went out for a sunset boat ride and came home to watch a movie. Life is good. 

The first antique store we went to where Jorge found his tools. 

The entrance to the Wet Baden hotel. 

One of the views of the hotel. 

I loved the porch. 

Howdy and his driver. The horse is 17 years old and very gentle. 

The beautiful sunken garden. 

The beautiful hydrangeas. 

The second antique store we went to. It originally was a furniture store. 

David having fun with the grill. 

A delicious meal. 

A sunset boat ride.