Williamsburg, VA...A Crafter's Delight

 I could visit Colonial Williamsburg many times over and never tire of it. Two friends and I drove there for a three night, mid-week, girl's getaway. We rented an Airbnb which was a ten minute drive away from Colonial Williamsburg. 

The three of us have gone away often together and we have our travel routine down pretty well. We typically go exploring during the day and settle in with sewing or hand work for the evenings. On this trip, we met up for lunch with a mutual friend who lives in Williamsburg. She recommended Carrot Tree Kitchens . It was a very nice, bustling place. I had a slice of spinach and feta quiche and a cup of tomato bisque soup. It was a rainy day and this was a cozy, satisfying meal. After lunch, we headed over to Liberty Hill Needleworks . Oh my, this is a wonderful shop for cross stitchers! I was here last December and thought I shouldn't need anything this trip. But that thought went down the tubes fast. 

 

A wall of linen, nicely arranged by count and color.

All types of floss plus another wall of DMC and yet another of silks.

After that bit of fun, we checked into our Airbnb. It was pouring rain and we got soaked to the skin carrying in our suitcases and gear. We changed into dry, comfortable clothing and settled in for an evening of stitching and gab.

The following day, we headed out to Willow Grove Primitives.  What a fun and well stocked shop. It consisted of two buildings, one being an historic house. It was nice to see that much of their stitchery, applique, and hooked items were crafted by local people. I found a pretty fall garland and three stuffed pumpkins made of gold flowered cotton. Next, we went to the New York Deli for lunch. This place is a must. We dined here last December and I could not wait to come back. After lunch, we stopped at Lightfoot Antique Shop where Kay found two nice antique frames. From there, we went to the Premium Outlet Shops. This conglomerate of stores seems to still be doing well as far as outlet malls go. I found two shirts for Steve at the Columbia outlet and nothing for myself anywhere else. After this full day, we again headed back to the Airbnb for an evening of stitching. For dinner, we had ordered Greek salads to-go when we were at the New York Deli for lunch. They kept in the car until we got home.

 

Now that's a Reuben!

 

The next day, we once again headed out early. The rain stopped and the day was beginning to brighten. Our first stop was back to Liberty Hill Needeworks. I am not sure why we did this, but Kay wanted to go back. I wasn't planning to get anything more until I spotted a pattern that had been on my wish list for a year. I don't know why I had not seen it when we were here two days ago. It is a sampler titled, "Louisa Barney 1892" by Reflets de Soie. The pattern is so beautiful to me that I decided to add it to my purchases. The Needleworks shop owner and her staff gave me a huge amount of time to get this pattern set up. I decided to stitch it in silk floss and they needed to convert all forty colors from DMC to Needlepoint Inc. Due to the cost of silk floss, I bought only fifteen colors for now. This is enough to get started. I may have to stretch this project out over a couple of years. The pattern is so beautiful and I know it will give me joy to stitch it.

After the Needleworks shop, we drove over to downtown Williamsburg. We were all hungry and decided to at at the Cheese Shop on Merchants Square. They make delicious sandwiches on all kinds of wonderful bread. We dined at the tables outside and enjoyed our lunch while we watched passersby. We ducked into the candy shop next door and each bought a milk chocolate covered caramel turtle to eat while we walked up the main avenue to take in the town and sights. (What great restraint it was to walk out of this candy shop with only one candy!) There were many people out and about. As always, it is easy to imagine oneself in Colonial times when walking around this place. Since we were just here last December, I did not take many photos. 

 

All the gardens are lovely here. I like the simplicity of this boxwood and Gomphrena.

This man was playing a lively fiddle tune. I hooked arms with Kay and got her to take a turn with me : )

Sadly, our week was coming to an end. Our plan was to make one more stop on our way home the next day. We wanted to go to Millstone Quilts in Mechanicsville, VA. Kay and Pat had been there several times in years past, but not recently. It is getting harder and harder to find reproduction quilting fabric and they knew that this wonderful shop carried a lot of it. The old mill building was fun to be in, albeit a little dark. There were several rooms of fabrics within two and a half stories. I was able to find yardage I needed for backing on a Jo Morton quilt I am piecing. There were so many beautiful prints that I was quite overwhelmed with wanting to buy everything. In addition to the backing fabric, I carefully chose some fat quarters to use in specific doll quilts I hope to make. We agreed that we will need to come back to Millstone Quilts again some time.

Back home to reality. There is work to be done! 

 

 

 

 

Reworking the Perennial "Step" Bed

 

 

We have garden steps that go nowhere. 

Twenty-two years ago, the vision was to replace this barren hillside with a garden. In reality, it  would have taken a crew of men with machines plus an expensive amount of plantings to bring that vision to fruition. But all was not lost. We found ourselves always climbing this little portion of hill when we wanted to walk up to the gravel road at the top. So we put in a mini version of the hillside garden. Back then, Steve got free railroad ties at his workplace. He brought a bunch of them home and then axed and shoveled out the clay hillside to set the steps in place. We then topped each step with pea stone. Over the years I have tried several different plants and shrubs to cover the area. It still a largish garden I always struggled with what to put there. It gets weedy very easily and it never looks pretty at the end of a hot summer. 

Lately, I let the weeds go for a long while and everything got really overgrown. When I knew Steve would be away for a few days and the weather would be cooler, I decided to tackle the task of cleaning it up. I drove the pickup truck to the landscape store and got a load of garden mix soil. I pruned back the shrubs and dug and weeded and dug some more. I pulled out old landscape fabric (what was I thinking using that stuff?!) and shoveled new dirt onto the area. I transplanted things I wanted to keep and added a few new plants to fill in.  

It took two days of hard labor. It also gave me great  satisfaction to complete the job. When I finally turned on the sprinkler to water everything in, that was my, "Hallelujah! The job is done!" I sat in the shade of a tree with a can of sparkling water and watched the sprinkler oscillate back and forth. The air was cool with a little breeze and it felt so good to just sit there and be finished. 

One of my best memories of the day was going back to the run-in shed, where we used to store hay for the horses, to get the garden cart. It has been years since any horses have been in there but it still smells like hay and horses. I love that smell.

I skipped the gym the next morning. I figured I had earned it, the hard way.

Ecclesiates 3:4, A Time to Cry

 Grief came to visit this week. It often lingers in the dark corners of everyday news. Most of the time I address it with prayer and introspection, determining to do more good and counterbalance the evil in this world with good. Love more, love better, love unconditionally...look to our Lord and Savior for guidance. But Wednesday's news of the assassination of Charlie Kirk darkened the sun and stilled the breeze. It caused a vacuum that momentarily sucked all common reason from the world. 

My heart is so heavy for what we have lost in the death of this good man. Evil attempted to take away our freedom of speech and open, civil debate. This same darkness wants to take away so much more. 

I found comfort in Charlie's widow's words of faith and encouragement and in her vision for her husband's legacy. And I find eternal comfort in knowing that darkness has lost. It was finished the moment Jesus defeated death on the cross. 

Erika Kirk's Words 

Wind's From the North!

 

The sky is clear and the upper and lower fields are mowed.

 Oh what glorious, cool air comes through the windows on the north side of the house! We have waited all summer for this change. It lifts our spirits and fuels our creativity. It induces me to clean and freshen every room in the house. I open windows on opposite sides of the rooms so the air flows right through. We keep some windows open at night and let the sounds of crickets and owls lull us to sleep. The screen porch is our evening haven now that the heat and humidity are gone. It was tolerable to sit there on a hot summer night but now it is downright pleasant. 

We have also begun to refresh the garden. The fields are mowed for hay which makes the entire property look brand new. The sweet scent of cut hay is everywhere. We tackled the tired vegetable beds and pulled out all the sodden, rotten tomato plants. What a disappointment they were this year. The pole beans came down too. They produced like gangbusters but were all spent now. Steve is harvesting hot peppers every day. He dehydrates some and grinds them into powders. He also makes a lot of hot sauce. I know it involves brine but I don't pay enough attention to his process. I took a turn with the dehydrator and filled it with sweet basil. I also made two batches of pesto which I will store in the freezer. 

Grandkids romped around the hay bales.

 

 

 

We had a happy Labor Day weekend with three of the four daughters and their families here for a cookout. It was an easy picnic with meats on the grill, a few sides, and two kinds of fruit cobbler with ice cream for dessert. We took walks, played outside, ate good food, and shared stories and dreams for the future. Tess and Audrey have declared that they enjoyed the family gathering for Violet's birthday party so much last month that they want to keep the gatherings going throughout the year. I say, "Amen" to that! Next month is Tess' birthday, Halloween, then Thanksgiving and Christmas. We will have plenty of opportunity to celebrate.

Dried basil leaves ready for crumbling into recipes and three jars of pesto for the freezer.

 On the quiet front, I finished stitching a large-ish cross stitch pattern. Now I must find a frame. I also took two quilts to the quilting studio and just picked them up this week. I need to bind them and then give them a wash so they pucker up. I will include them in my next post. Tomorrow Kay and I are driving to Lewisburg, WV to browse the antique shops and have lunch out. It is a very pretty drive with barely any traffic. It is my reward to self after having a routine c _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ py today. ; ) 

PS. I can't decide which font I prefer. ??