Last Saturday my niece and I took a coiled basket weaving class in nearby Etowah Tennessee. We signed up for it several weeks ago.
We took off early Saturday morning and decided to stop at a quilt shop on the way to the class. I had been to the shop several years ago and was happy to see that it was still there and owned by the same sweet family. Not only does this shop sell quilting supplies but also beautiful hand made quilts and other quilted items. They also do quilting classes.
I even bought a set of quilted placemats.
We continued on to the basket class. It was being held in the old Etowah Depot.
The basket class was a lot of fun. It lasted for about four hours. This is a beautiful old building and there is so much history within the walls. The woman who taught the class, Tonya, was just a true gem. She is so talented and teaches lots of classes locally and even travels to other states. She teaches a beaded bracelet class that I am interested in. There was a lunch break but we kept working through because we wanted to finish our baskets. The baskets we made were small. It was just to give us a lesson in making coiled baskets. I am going to put rings or earrings in mine. I have already bought the supplies for making another larger basket.
The instructor went from table to table helping us with our baskets. She was so awesome.
Most of the group after working on their baskets and some showing their finished baskets.
Some of the supplies for the class.
My basket. I can’t wait to try a bigger one.
Have a wonderful rest of your weekend. Happy Memorial Day!!!
I am joining Natalie The Explorer over at Weekend Coffee Share and wow you should see the beautiful flowers she has to show us. You can check out her post here
Hello and happy Sunday. I haven’t had a chance to share coffee with you in quite a while. Come in and I will make you some very strong coffee, the way my husband likes it, or a light roast, that’s for me. Or we can have tea, water or a big Diet Coke. Let’s catch up.
What I have been up to you ask? Work. My work load is always crazy in July because I work in tourism. July is our most popular month for visitors. Our hours have been long. I am usually too tired by the time I get home to do anything but eat some dinner and watch a little TV or read. I have been going to bed before dark. Yeah I’m that old. Ha!!!
The weather where I am? HOT, HOT,HOT. The humidity has also been really high. It almost feels like you are walking through warm water when you are outside. You can see that after today we might get some rain and a slight break in the temps.
What am I reading? In typical me fashion, I am reading two books at once. I don’t mean for this to happen but while I was in the middle of this book,
I actually own this book so technically I can finish it anytime. But it is such a psychological thriller it’s hard to put down.
This one became available on my Libby app.
I had been on the waiting list for this one for months so I had to grab it. It’s really long and I know it will probably take me the full two weeks to finish it.
What I am watching? As I mentioned, sometimes after work, I just like to veg out watching TV. I discovered this great cooking series called Zoe Bakes. I think it is on MAX. Zoe Francois is a self proclaimed dessert lover and baker. She loves to eat cakes, pastries and anything sweet, almost as much as she likes baking them. The recipes are very user friendly and she does them step by step. She has a very unusual way of doing chocolate chip cookies. It’s not in the recipe but in the actual baking. I plan to try them today so I will let you know how they turn out. I’ll tell you this much. She takes the cookies out of the oven halfway through baking and lets the pan drop onto a flat surface. This takes the air out of the cookies. She does it a couple of times during the baking process. Supposedly it makes them a little flatter and chewier. I’ll keep you posted on that.
Isn’t she a cutie? I just love watching her. After a long day at work there is something soothing about watching people cook. As long as it’s not me.
What am I loving? Well I have to tell you about my orchids. I now have eighteen. I know!!! Too many? Never. When my mother in law passed away last week. I received these beautiful orchids from my work family. There was three in this beautiful planter. All three are different sizes and colors. I thought that was just the sweetest thing because they know how I love orchids. I think our local flower shop was a little confused when several people called within a day or two to ask if they had orchids. They did not. My co worker had to buy these at a local grocery store. I thought she arranged them so nicely in this planter and she even added several bags of my favorite dark chocolates. So nice.
Isn’t this planter beautiful? I’m not sure if I will keep all of the orchids in the planter. So far I have moved one out.
What projects have I got going on? Well I finally finished the blue shawl. I washed it and blocked it a little, it really didn’t need a lot of blocking.
I love this color!!!!
I also decided to switch to crochet for a minute and I started this little bo-ho bag. It is super easy and works up really fast. I needed something that didn’t require a lot of thinking or counting stitches. I will probably use this to carry some of my other knitting projects. I can’t wait to finish it.
What a nice visit we have had. Please come back soon. Oh and before you leave I will take you to see some of my other orchids. Several of them are blooming and so beautiful.
Hello friends and happy Sunday. Come in and share a nice cup of coffee or tea or hot chocolate with me and we will catch up on things.
I think we would talk first about the weather: Our weather yesterday and so far this morning looks perfect. Temps in the mid to high 70s F and sunny and clear. The sky is a beautiful shade of blue. We did have some rain earlier in the week and a lot of clouds. This caused the partial eclipse in our area to be a bit of a flop. But we had the total eclipse here in 2017 so it will be hard to beat that.
What am I reading? I am still reading The Shell Seekers. Because it is a big book, and one that I can’t really take to bed with me, it’s going to take me a while to finish. I like to read before I go to sleep at night. I am also reading Still Life at Eighty by Abigail Thomas. I love her books. I have to say this one is a bit of a downer but I just started it so we will see.
How is work you ask: Well it is absolutely crazy right now. I work in Tourism and we are really gearing up for the season. So much to do before summer. My work load has been a lot with not a lot of down time.
What I am loving: I am loving the flowers that are blooming. The Azaleas are blooming. My Irises are blooming this year. They really didn’t do well last year. I did some research and discovered that they probably needed to be thinned. I did that and gave some to my nephew and his wife. I love spreading them around. These are very special because my mama had them at our house where I grew up. When she passed and we got ready to sell the house I made sure to get some of them.
What projects have I been working on? Well I finally finished the heart cross stitch that I have been working on for years. I started it a few years ago for Valentine’s Day. When I didn’t finish it in time for Valentines, I put it away until the next year. Finally after doing this for a couple years I decided to work on it until I finished it. So that is what I did. I love hearts so much, why just put it out for decoration on Valentine’s Day. I decided that I will keep it out all year.
Finishing the heart cross stitch has made me want to tackle a lot of other unfinished projects.
I had just started the hearts: probably 3 years ago
A little more progress. My Scruffy was still with me then. He always loved to snuggle when I was sewing or knitting.
This is where I finally decided this thing was going to be finished.
I did finish it and washed and pressed it.
And framed it. I love the way it looks.
So what has been happening with you? I think I will wander outside and enjoy this nice sunny weather.
Hello and happy Sunday. Come in and have a nice cup of coffee or tea or some hot chocolate with me. Let’s catch up. What have I been up to you might ask? Well let me tell you about my weekend in Nashville last weekend. I had a short mini vacation with a friend from Pennsylvania.This is how it went:
Last weekend I spent a few days in Nashville with a friend from Pennsylvania. We met several years ago at a cave convention. Yes there really is such a thing. We just became friends really fast. We have been talking about this Nashville trip for years. Every time we planned it something came up and we weren’t able to do it. But it finally worked out.
My friend Ann flew into Nashville Friday afternoon. I am about 4 hours from Nashville. I picked her up at the airport and we started our adventure.
We stayed at the Hotel Vanderbilt which is very close to downtown without the horrendous downtown prices. Also a perk with this hotel is that we had shuttle service to and from a certain mile radius. This covered downtown. Another perk was the Commodore Grille within the hotel that offered amazing food and local song writers and singers every night.
Our first night in town we decided to go to the strip in Downtown Nashville on Broadway. I parked my car at the hotel and we checked in. Our room wasn’t ready but the hotel stored our bags and off we went via a short shuttle ride to downtown. It was so much fun and so loud. It is not for the faint of heart. Weekends in Nashville are a bit crazy. A singer from near Ann’s hometown in Pennsylvania, Josh Gallagher, would be singing in a couple of different bars during the weekend so we wanted to see him and his band perform. Josh was a top 4 finalist on The Voice in 2016. We caught the last few minutes of his performance on Friday night but he was also playing on Saturday at a different bar. One thing I love about Nashville is all of the wonderful music. So many country music legends have been discovered in small bars in Nashville. You never know, you might be watching the next Alan Jackson or Morgan Wallen.
As you can see it was fairly crowded. It was Friday night after all.
Josh Gallagher
It started to rain before dark, so we went to a couple of bars to hear music inside, and then decided to head back to the hotel for dinner, and listen to the singers and song writers in the Commodore Grille. The food there is amazing!!!
The rain started and the crowds dwindled somewhat
Rainy night in Nashville
Look at this salad topped with salmon!!!! So good.
We went into this candy store that smelled so wonderful you could smell it from the street. We only looked and didn’t purchase anything.
The first morning we were in Nashville there was a fire alarm at the hotel. Everyone was ushered outside where it was a balmy 32 degrees with a wind chill of a lot less than that. Fortunately we didn’t have to stay long. Apparently someone had pulled the fire alarm on one of the floors and broken it so it continued to sound for a long time. The fire department came and checked everything out.
For our first adventure of the day we decided to take the shuttle over to the Parthenon. I had never been. The Nashville Parthenon is the World’s only exact-size replica of the original Parthenon in Athens. It is in the center of Centennial Park which is a large public park just west of Nashville. The park itself is just beautiful. A lot of activities were going on at the park on Saturday. Soccer games, picnics and lots of people out enjoying the beautiful sunshine. I will have a full post on the Parthenon later this week.
If I lived close to this park I would walk the trails here all the time. It is so beautiful.
Someone was getting ready to have a picnic
The Parthenon
Next, we got the car and drove down the road to Belle Meade Plantation. The history behind this mansion is so great. Mostly known for the thoroughbred stud business Belle Meade produced more than two thirds of all the Kentucky Derby winners including 11 Triple Crown Winners. A lot more of this history in a future post. There is just so much information here that I would like to share with you. It will be better done in a separate post.
Belle Meade Plantation
After our house tour we did a short wine tasting, there is a winery on site. We enjoyed a light lunch outside in the sunshine. It was so nice and relaxing. Ann and I both agreed it had been awhile since we had just chilled out and taken time to enjoy what was around us. A lesson to be learned here for sure. I will have a full post on Belle Meade later in the week as well. To give you a little information Belle Meade is actually a city with a population of less than 3,000 people. A beautiful place.
Before we left Belle Meade we visited the gift shop. It was so nice. There was something for everyone in the shop. I loved the handmade pottery by local artist Roy Overcast. He has done some amazing pieces.
So many to pick from.
I just had to bring a piece home. I love this color.
On Saturday night we returned to the downtown strip and it was so packed. I knew it would be on a Saturday night. We wanted to see Josh and his band again and catch the full show. They were playing at the Tin Roof. We got there about 30 minutes before his group came on. Lots of people were there for him. He has quite a following. Josh is from Pennsylvania but now lives in Nashville. He came over and talked after the show and we got a few pictures.
What a cutie he is, and just as nice.
My friend Ann with me
The strip on Broadway was getting crazy
We decided to call it a night and head back to the hotel.
A yummy cosmo
We shared these chicken tenders. They were yummy and I like the way they were presented.
On our last day in Nashville we visited The Hermitage, Home of Andrew Jackson. I had been here a few times but Ann had not. It was a bit chilly. The house tour was very short only about 30 minutes. The grounds were beautiful with a lot of the gardens starting to bloom out. Check out this cookbook I found in the gift shop. Southern Cakes. I have decided to make each of the cakes from this book. There are 60 cake recipes. I plan to share each one on my blog. I can’t wait to get started.
We couldn’t let Ann leave Nashville without visiting The Opry Mills Mall. We spent some time there and headed back to the hotel to visit The Commodore Club for the last night. We had an early night because Ann’s flight left out at 6:00 AM. I had to have her at the airport by 4:30 AM. Luckily the airport was only about 15 minutes from the hotel.
I think our mini vacation was well rounded. We had history, honky tonk, shopping and lots of great food. All things southern that makes Nashville such a great place to visit.
After I dropped Ann off I left for home. I had a 4 hour drive ahead of me.
It was very nice getting back home to hubs and the babies. I got everything unpacked and took a short nap. What a fun weekend we had hit it is always nice to get home.
I hope you enjoyed our time together. Our coffee share was quite a lot today. So now what have you been up to?
Always remember
Love your day your way!!!!
I am linking up with Natalie The Explorer over at Weekend Coffee Share. Check out her latest post and lots of others here #Weekend Coffee Share
Southern Patches 