Quilting Baby Dollies

"Once upon a time...

...there was a beautiful little princess...

...she lived in an enchanted castle."

Click twice on photos to see enlarged version.

The quilt top is nearly finished.  How do you like Lyla's Dollies?

And the darling princess backing, just adorable, isn't it?

The next step is adding border.  I tossed a few scraps (middle picture) beside the top to see how a simple mix of apron fabric blocks would look.  Decision made!  I'll sew a strip of 4" squares of the four different apron fabrics to make a colorful block border.  Once that is complete, I can sandwich the top, some lightweight polyester batting, and the princess fabric backing, and take it  to be professionally quilted.  The binding will be bubblegum pink with white dots, same as the base of each dolly's dress.  Finished size should be about 57"x39".

Fall in the Mountains

Fall in the North Carolina mountains is a wonderful experience.  This photo was taken on the Blue Ridge Parkway, between Blowing Rock and Grandfather Mountain.  Leaving is always the hardest part.

What a difference a day makes!  Same view of the same tree  in my front yard, but less leaves.  Blame it on a rainy, windy night.

Will I Be Homesick?

Contemplating the day we sell our house, a big home on a pretty piece of property with a pond out front and woods behind.  It's actually gotten too big.  We don't ever use the formal living room or dining room, opting instead the coziness of an eat-in kitchen and family room.  I converted Robert's room into a sewing room and plan, once David moves, to move my sewing stuff into his room with more windows and bright afternoon sun, making Robert's room a guest room.  Will I miss bears and racoons that plunder our garbage?  Nope.  Will I miss the amradillos that turn our lawn into a bombing range overnight, holes everywhere?  Maybe.  I love the wildlife here - turkeys, red-tailed hawks, sandhill cranes and the many water birds , gopher tortoises, bunnies and deer that frequent our yard.  Hearing a pack of wild coyotes screaming at night is frightening and will sit you upright in bed from a deep sleep.  Twenty-four years in one place and one plants deep roots.  My neighbors are my dearest friends.  All things must come to an end and one day, more sooner than later, Mark and I will sell our home and move to our NC place.  One winter there, and I feel confident that Mark will be ready to bail out from the snow and get a second place here, in Central Florida.  A condo or a small place in a retirement community would suit me fine.  I wonder what the future holds?