Gibbs Gardens, Ball Ground, Georgia, Wow!!!

We stopped at Gibbs Gardens in Ball Ground, Georgia, north of Atlanta, but not far. We didn't have an easy time finding the Gardens, as we didn't see any advertising or much in the way of information.  But it was well worth the trouble to get there. It is beautiful and my photos don't even begin to capture the colors or the size of the gardens that's why I gave you the link above to go to their website to view their professional photos. I would love to be able to visit several times to see all the different trees and plants at each season.  

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 We were headed home after seeing the Gardens but managed to stop in Paducah, KY., to visit the National Quilt Museum. We had been there once before but most of the quilts were new to us. They won't let you take any pictures, with or without flash, so a person just has to try to embed all the outstanding quilts in your head. Which you know is impossible!! That's all for this time and I think I have hit about all of our trip highlights with the last few posts. The yard work is calling me now. Sew until next time, have a "Stitches" kind of day...see ya again soon....

More Quilt Festival, Trenton, FL.

 Warning, this is a lenghty post with slideshows and pictures!!!  This was the 5th Annual Festival held in Trenton, FL. and I understood that it is held the 2nd Saturday in March each year. If you are ever anywhere in the area and love quilts, crafts, antiques, food and etc., you should be there on that day. I loved it!! Can you tell?? The featured quilter for the day was Madalyn Jones. She quilted over 300 quilts in her livetime, wow!! And she lived 1/2 mile from where she was born, all her life not far from Trenton. I have made a slideshow of some of her quilts.

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I hope you enjoyed the quilts made by Madalyn Jones. I loved the story about making the quilt for the Dr.'s wife and getting a set of dentures..Her quilting was beautiful. I talked to several of her granddaughters and daughters and they all commented about getting to see so many of her quilts all in one place, it was so inspiring for them. The next pictures are of a quilt made by the Possum Crick Quilters from Gainsville, Fl. It is the second one they made in the 1980's as the first one was stolen. It was cut right out of the frame, can you imagine?? It was really cute and Madalyn was one of the maker's on this one too.

The next slide show is just the rest of the town with quilts hanging and the Suwannee Valley Quilt Shop. Wonderful quilt shop and if you are ever within "striking" distance and don't stop, that's sad, really sad! It is a "full" service shop with over 6,000 bolts and more books, notions, patterns and much, much more, than you can even imagine.

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Trenton, FL. Annual Quilt Festival, Fun!!!

Well, my one or two days turned into about 12 but 1 and 2 make 12, right? I'm back to tell you  and show you pictures about the Quilt Festival in Trenton, Fl. It was a great day and we saw so many quilts, that it made our eyes pop!! They had a quilt turning with antique quilts and a speaker that  "sorta" told the audience what era or year she thought the quilt was made. It was held in an old restored train depot and they had quilts hanging all around the walls, just flapping in the breeze. Here's a slide show with the quilt turning quilts.

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That's all for today but I will be back with more of the Festival. The Featured Quilter and more quilts to see. Sew until next time, have a Stitches kind of day...see ya soon.

Where In The World Have I Been?

Well, I've been gone for 2 weeks and had a great time. My friend, Betty and I had talked about taking a trip for several months so we left on March 4th and headed south. We had some plans to stop and visit a couple of different friends and then just do sight seeing in between stops. The very first "sight" we saw was this tree with about 30 bald eagles in it, just south of Council Bluffs, IA on I-29. Wow, what a sight it was!!!

There were more eagles in a couple of other trees and many flying around over the water. We estimated that we saw 90-100 all together. I had always felt really lucky to see one or two but this was just over the top!!!

We traveled down through Missouri, Arkansas and to Biloxi, Ms. and then to Tallahassee, Fl. In Tallahassee we visited the MacClay Gardens. They were beautiful!!!

The moss

Azalea's, Dogwood and Palm Trees

Brick Path leading to the house

From the MacClay Gardens, we went to the Goodwood Plantation Museum and Gardens. It's in a residential area in Tallahassee now but don't think it was when it was built. The house and furnishings are outstanding, the gardens not so much but they are working on getting them restored.

After leaving Tallahassee, we headed for St. George Island, Fl., to see Grace and John. We spent 3 delightful days with them on the beach. St. George Island is small but has some nice white sand and we left a few foot prints there. It sure is different than Iowa!!

Betty enjoyed sitting on the beach, listening and looking at the ocean. We saw dolphins in the distance one day.

The lighthouse on St. George Island



Brown Pelicans on the posts...

One morning Betty went oystering with John and we had fresh oysters and shrimp for dinner that night..yum, yum, very tasty. The next day, we "girls" went to Panama City to a quilt shop "Quilting by the Bay". It was fun to visit the shop as I had been on their site many times on the Internet and probably had even placed an order or two. We all purchased a little "something".  Betty and I left St. George on Saturday morning, March 10th and headed for Trenton, Fl. to a Craft and Quilt Festival, it was a good day for sure. I'll be back in a day or two and tell you about that day with a lot of pictures to show you.  It was wonderful and lots of "quilt" eye candy for us. Sew until I come back, I hope you have a Stitches kind of day and I'll see you soon...