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This morning, I was walking the dog, glanced at our garden and saw it was moving! At a closer look, it was filled with butterflies. They were moving from flower to flower and the impact of orange moving against purple and green was inspiring.
I grabbed my camera and snapped some photos. I tried taking a close-up. It is blurry, but I liked the play of color.
I’ve seen lavender wands at craft shows and want to try making one. . .
Yup, that’s right. Hollywood, right here in Tennessee!
Last month, the new Hannah Montana movie was shooting in our town.
When we moved here 18 years ago, we fell in love with the southern charm, the rolling hills and our small town. Our town has a traditional courthouse square, with stores surrounding it. Part of the film was shot around our courthouse and the square.
Our Courthouse Square
I decided to wander into town several times during the filming. Nope, I was not interested in spotting Miley Cryus or in getting her autograph. However, I was very interested in seeing a major motion picture being filmed!
After arriving on the set, which included several city blocks, I stationed myself to watch the action. When I arrived, many of the extras were on their marks, waiting for their cue.
Extras on their “marks”
I guess the scene included rain, since the prop crew kept wetting down the street. It was 85 degrees, so the water was evaporating almost as soon as they put it down.
Oh looked, it rained!
It was interesting to see the “new” businesses that appeared for the movie. Apparently, we needed an Italian restaurant, a shoe store, a music store, a hardware store and a real estate office downtown. While we really do have all these things in our town, it would be nice to have them all together just off the square. I had to take a photo for our “Disney downtown.” Too bad it is not real.
Disney Downtown
It was fascinating to watch all the activity.
Setting up a shot
We can’t wait to see the movie next year. It will be fun to see our hometown on the big screen.
I’ve been working like crazy, getting ready for Market and my upcoming trips in June. This afternoon, I decided to take a break and sit on our front porch.
The weather was perfect, some sun, some clouds and 75 degrees. We just had rain, so everything was green and the air was crystal clear. As I looked into the distance, it view was beautiful.
While sitting and reading, I snapped this photo of the ferns. I love the play of light and dark in the palm fronds.
This week, I planted some lavender in our front flower boxes. They smell great. They must be happy, I see some flowers.
Again, I love the play of color lavender and green with the white fence and the play of shapes; lavender against the straight fence.
On the back porch, I have pots of herbs; sage, thyme, basal, dill and rosemary. Two tomato plants are waiting to be planted in our small garden on the hill. After 5″ of rain two days ago, the ground is still a bit muddy. . .perhaps in a day or so.
I love having these herbs right off the kitchen. There is nothing like fresh basal with garden tomatoes, fresh rosemary with salmon, baby carrots with a hint of dill. . .yum!
We live south of Nashville, near the city of Columbia, Tennessee. This is a beautiful part of Tennessee with its rolling hills and beautiful scenery.
Columbia is the “home town” of our 11th president, James K. Polk.
This area is home to many antebellum mansions and historical sites.
Columbia is also known for “Mule Day.” During the 1st week in April, our town swells in size with the addition of 200,000 visitors from around the world.
What is Mule Day?
“Mule Day” in Columbia, Tennessee has been a tradition since around 1840, when the first Monday in April brought huge crowds to the animal livestock show and Mule Day Market (originally called ‘Breeder’s Day’).
Mules were such a big business in Maury County, that at one time, the Columbia Mule Day had the distinction of being one of the largest livestock markets in the world.
Mule Day, with its festive air eventually evolved into what is now an almost week-long celebration of the mule. Thousands of visitors come to Columbia to take part in the numerous activities ranging from working mule and best of breed events, to horse shows, arts and crafts booths, and a flea market. The smell of barbecue specialties and homemade pies blends with the smoky aroma of roasted corn and funnel cake sweetness.
It’s springtime in Tennessee. . . love it!
I try to exercise 5 to 6 days a week. Most mornings, you will find me walking 2-3 miles before 8am. When it is rainy or snowy, I ride our exercise bike or use our mini tramp. (On that note, why I don’t weight 98 pounds is beyond me, but that is a topic for another day!)
To pass the time, I listen to my iPod Nano.
So now to the question, what’s on my iPod?
I have a workout playlist, featuring high octane performances by Christine Aguilera ( Fighter ), Kelly Clarkson ( Since U Been Gone ), Chris Daughtry ( ”Over You“, “It’s Not Over” )
Lately, however, I’ve been listening to Podcasts. 45 minutes passes in an flash. I just love multi-tasking!
My current fav Podcasts:
And The Lost Podcast with Jay and Jack
Some lingering Lost questions (and why I keep watching!)
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Where is the island?
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What is the smoke monster?
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What is the healing force of the island?
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Who is Darma. . .really?
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Who build the four-toed monument?
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How did the Black Rock end up in the jungle?
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Who is Jacob?
I have tons of songs on my iPod as well. Some of favorites. . .
SONGS ON MY IPOD
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k.d. lang (Hallelujah is amazing)
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Michael Buble (Anything he sings!)
I’ve enjoyed my few weeks at home, but it’s time to get back on the road. In April, I have 4 trips scheduled.
The first one is to the Colonial Piecemaker’s in Williamsburg, Virginia. (One of my favorite places!) I’m looking forward to my visit with them.
Next is the Araphoe County Quilters and the Columbine Quilt Guild in the Denver, Colorado area. Can’t wait to visit them!
The final trip for April is to the Somewhere Quilting quilt shop in Johnson City, Tennessee. Love eastern Tennessee and looking forward to this visit as well.
As with any trip, there is always lots of planning. This week, I spent several days printing and packaging handouts, sorting quilts for my classes and lectures and packing class supplies.
For each trip, I unusually plan on 2 or 3 days of concentrated prep time, not to mention the months of planning with the program chairs of each guild. Kudos to these hard working people who plan workshops and lectures!
As you can see, Cocoa is helping as I sort quilts in to “workshop” and “lecture” piles for each guild.
Whew! The first round is printed, collated, sorted, packed and ready for shipping. Round two will be next week!
I’ve just gotten my sample cuts from my new fabric collection, Nami. For Spring Market, I’ve also added new colors to my Gilded Greenery collection. These sample cuts have also just arrived.
I’m so pleased with both collections! In the past few days, I’ve been working on quilts and samples for Spring Market and my Schoolhouse presentations.
Here’s a look into my sewing studio. You can see the infamous “fabric closet” on the back wall of the studio. This is the one I cleaned out this weekend.
I usually spread out when I work. I have two different cutting stations. This one is on my Koala sewing cabinet. I have the Koala Quilt Mate III. I’ve had it for about four years, don’t know what I did before I had it!
I’m working on the blocks for one of the Market quilts. If you look closely, you will see my constant companion, Cocoa in his bed, under the table.
Several weeks ago, he enjoyed playing in the snow!
I have some of my favorite notions out while I’m working.
I LOVE the new .07mm mechanical pencil by Clover. It is a fine tailor’s chalk and is perfect for marking.
I also love my wool Ewesful pincushion. The lanolin in the wool keeps my pins sharp and I never have to worry about the pins rusting.
Here’s a look at my other cutting station and my Block Butler design wall. The quilt on the wall is in progress and uses two textures from the new Nami collection and two new colors from Gilded Greenery.
Another sneak peek at two textures in my new Nami line as well as two new colors in my Gilded Greenery collection. Gilded Greenery Saffron and Cinnamon - I LOVE the rich colors of these new colorways. (There are more colors, but I’ll show those later.)
A close-up of the Gilded Greenery texture.
If you look in the corner of the photo above, you will see a basket with work in progress. Here another sneak peak at a 3-D cube in a 4th dimension. I’m playing around with this and hope to have more time to dedicate to this concept later.
All the warm weather has put me in the mood for some spring cleaning! My fabric closet in my sewing studio was a mess! I could not find anything and I was getting pretty cranky about it.
This weekend, I decided to tackel my sewing studio. After about 15 hours of cleaning, sorting and weeding out, I finally finished! What a beautiful sight!
Here is the closet, all sorted and beautiful!
This shelf holds my Gilded Greenery and Essence collections. Now, I can find the colors I need, as I design quilts for these collection.
Gilded Greenery - color Danube
Essence - Arctic
The next shelf holds my blue, green, black and white fabrics. (Hmm, looks like I need a few more blacks and whites!)
The third shelf holds my teal, yellow and orange fabrics.
On the top shelf, I have my hand painted, sun screen and hand dyed fabrics. I decided to store these fabrics in these see through bins. It makes the fabrics easy to find and keeps them neat.
On the side of the closet, I’ve stored my previous fabric collections. I try to keep some of each fabric, so I always have a reference. I also have batting at the top of the closet.
Notice the “sewing fairy”, she is guarding the fabric. Don’t mess with her!
I also sorted my Koala notions cabinet. I can finally find all my stuff!
The thread drawer.
Notions drawer - all organized!
The rest of my closet has also been cleaned out. I love to use baskets to keep things sorted. The stuffed animals are for fun!
Another sewing fairy guards this side of the closet!
I’ve also been working on quilts for my new fabric collection, NAMI, for Blank Quilting.
Here is a sneak peak. We will be debuting this collection at Spring Market. As we get closer to the release, I’ll show more of the textures and colors.
Be sure to ask your local quilt shop for Nami, designed by Karen Combs for Blank Quilting.
Nami is a oriental inspired collection. This is the wave design, inspired by an antique Japanese texture. This is the indigo and white colorway.
Nami in the black and white colorway.
Nami in the red and black colorway.
This morning, at 5:48 (GMT) was the Vernal Equinox. You know it’s not true, but as legend goes, an egg can be made to balance only on the Spring Equinox, also known as the Vernal Equinox.
The Vernal Equinox is the moment when the sun is positioned directly above our equator, giving us all an equal period of day and night. The Spring Equinox is great for us lucky folk in the Northern Hemisphere because the days are about to get longer than the nights. If you live in the Southern Hemisphere, March 20th marks the Autumnal Equinox and the beginning of fall.
I didn’t want to try balancing an egg, so I decided to take some photos. The signs of Spring are everywhere in middle Tennessee.
Our Trident maple tree is swelling and getting ready to bud.
Up on our hill, the Bradford Pear trees are blooming. Our son, Josh, calls these “fish trees” . . .since they smell like fish when they bloom. Beautiful to look at, but don’t bring them into the house for a floral arrangement. If you do, the house will smell like garbage. I know, more than you want to know!
As the sun was coming up, I saw this beautiful scene.
Our ground is warm, but the air is cold, resulting in a beautiful misty landscape. I could see the outline of the river in the distance, from the rising clouds of mist.
Happy Spring to everyone!
It’s true, we love Tennessee and part of the reason are the mild winters. . .however, we do get snow from time to time.
Yesterday was one of those times. We had rain, high winds, turning to freezing rain, sleet and finally snow. When we woke up this morning, it was a winter wonderland!
Cocoa was confused by it, but found it was good to eat!
perfect for a cold, rainy day
Who knew that a few ounces of milk, some steam , some coffee, the right grind and pressure could make a perfect pick-me-up. . .
Did I mention I LOVE my espresso machine?
Back to work
Most mornings that I am not traveling, I walk our dog, Cocoa. This morning, I grabbed my new camera and shot some photos on our walk.
It is cold, but the sun was out and the little bit of snow we got yesterday has melted. I did spot some ice on the yard.
Our winters in middle Tennessee are usually mild, with a few weeks of very cold weather in February and March. The past few days have been gloomy, cold and wet, it was good to see the sun this morning.
At the end of our street overlooks a valley. With the leaves off the trees, I spotted a new house on a near-by hill. It must have been built since last winter.
On Tuesday, I posted the view from our hillside on a gray winter day. This morning, the photo looks in a different direction with the sun shining.
The hills in the distance are 15-20 miles away. On a clear day, I can see some of the houses on the distance hills. As I got to our back porch, I found the cold weather had done a number on my potted herbs. First of all, I’m shocked the rosemary has wintered over. It is beautiful and green. However, the pot is shot. As soon as we get some warm weather, I’ll re-pot it.
I love the design that has been revealed under the glaze. . .hmmm, I need to remember that for future quilting designs.
I’ve had the same digital camera for years. It does a good job, but it is big, bulky and I have to share it with my husband. It is time to get a new camera, so I headed over to Electrics Express to look over the selection.
I’m easy to please, I just wanted a digital camera that was small, easy to use, lots of features and didn’t cost an arm and a leg. After lookingthem over, I decided on the Casio Exilim Ex-Z75. It fit the bill, is pink(!) and had a case.
Why is pink important? First of all, and most importantly, it helps support Breast Cancer research. Secondly, it is pink and Rick took one look at it and said, “I won’t be borrowing that.” Nuff said. . .
I brought it home and opened the box. Lots of cords and manuals. After laying everything out, the next thing I did was to rid out all the other languages from the manual.
Wow, after removing the French, Spanish, Dutch, Italian, Japanese, etc from the manual, it only has 14 pages! That makes it easier to read and take with me, if I need to.
Now, forget the manual, on to the ”quick start” manual. Yup, had to get out my reading glasses. HATE IT! Have to find these blasted glasses whenever I read now. Getting older isn’t for wimps!
Walk through each step, (I feel so accomplished!) and learn the camera. It looks pretty easy. . . .
Okay, I admit. I’m in love with my Roomba! This little guy lifts an amazing amount of dirt, dust, pet hair, crumbs and other stuff from carpet and hard wood floors.
Why do I love him? (Notice it is a HE?? No name, but it is a he. Don’t ask why!) While I am setting up this blog, he is in my kitchen cleaning the floor. Got to love it!
Karen Combs
