Farewell, Gloria! You Will Be Missed.
It's been a while since I posted but I am coming back. There have been a few painful events in the quilting area of my life but they are behind me now and I'm resurrecting my blog--even though no one out there will probably even happen by to read it anymore.
I had to post today to note the passing of one of our well-known area quilters, Gloria Granger. Gloria machine quilted for many in our area of Upstate South Carolina and western North Carolina as we are situated on the border of the state line under the shadow of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Gloria was a sweet, giving, easy-going lady and everyone who knew her thought well of her. I would only hope this could be said of me one day. Gloria suffered a heart attack a year or so ago and her doctor eventually told her to give up the quilting she so loved. She died at a young 56. Gloria will be buried today and I cannot attend her funeral as I am manning the quilt shop while Becky is vending at a local quilt show but she and her family are in my thoughts and prayers.
One of the entries in her guestbook says, "Save me a seat in the sewing room. I'll be seeing you soon." If we as quilters look around we see a lot of gray hair, glasses and possibly other accoutrements of old age among us. I am 46 and as an employee in a quilt shop, many of our regular customers are retired from their careers, many grandmothers or even great grandmothers. So, say a kind word to them. Admire their quilted works as this is what they will leave behind as their legacy on earth. Gloria touched many lives through her quilting. We will miss her.
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Saturday, August 09, 2008
Cherry Blossoms and an Eastern Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly
An Eastern Tiger Swallowtail by Momba on Flickr
Sunday, June 01, 2008
Sunday, May 04, 2008
A Quilt of My Church for our Centennial Homecoming
This is the quilt I made for our church's centennial homecoming service which was today. I actually found out I was to make it after I made an innocuous statement at the centennial planning committee meeting to the effect, "Oh, I should have made a quilt of the church. . ." as in "too late now" when it was mentioned that two artists and former members were painting pictures of the church. That meeting was about six weeks ago and the minutes came out about two weeks later and they read in part, ". . .three pieces of art will be on display, .. . one a quilt by Jody Raines . . ." What? Panic! Had a lot of loose ends to tie up, a thread painting program to do for a guild in North Augusta, SC, etc. so I made this in one week working on it all day long. We had it framed to avoid it being touched by a multitude of hands, large and small. Thank you, Roger Newman of the frame shop in Inman! I'll post about it more but my batteries are on 8% and so is my body at this time of night, 10 p.m.
This is the quilt I made for our church's centennial homecoming service which was today. I actually found out I was to make it after I made an innocuous statement at the centennial planning committee meeting to the effect, "Oh, I should have made a quilt of the church. . ." as in "too late now" when it was mentioned that two artists and former members were painting pictures of the church. That meeting was about six weeks ago and the minutes came out about two weeks later and they read in part, ". . .three pieces of art will be on display, .. . one a quilt by Jody Raines . . ." What? Panic! Had a lot of loose ends to tie up, a thread painting program to do for a guild in North Augusta, SC, etc. so I made this in one week working on it all day long. We had it framed to avoid it being touched by a multitude of hands, large and small. Thank you, Roger Newman of the frame shop in Inman! I'll post about it more but my batteries are on 8% and so is my body at this time of night, 10 p.m.
Monday, April 07, 2008
Part Two of My Ocean Lakes Post
See below for our family pix from Spring Break at Ocean Lakes. I just had to blog about it. Ocean Lakes Family Campground comprises 310 acres of camp sites and permanent sites and one mile of prime real estate along South Carolina's Grand Strand of beaches. It is owned by Leonard "Popo" Jackson and his wife and is packed with campsites, permanent sites, an indoor and outdoor pool, meeting facilities, a pavillion on the ocean, bath houses, laundry, security, a golf cart sales and rental building, the front offices, food, etc. Here is the Meet & Eat where you can grab a burger. Note the mix of golf carts and cars. Golf carts are the preferred form of travel (electric only and no drivers under 16 or anyone after curfew at 11 p.m.). The Meet and Eat is next to the Sandy Mart which carries everything from swim suits to RV parts to ice chests to souveniers and candy.
Here is one of the sites which represents the 'early days' of Ocean Lakes, a trailer with a porch wrapped around it. You can still find those but they are becoming antique relics of the distant past as general prosperity has increased and the surplus of wealthy retirees moving to the beach has increased from the '50's and '60's. It's not uncommon to see little signs saying "We've spent our children's inheritance!"
Now you find lots of these, mansions by the sea squeezed in beside more humble abodes, trailers and campers. This is the one Jerry wants when we hit the lottery. Oh, and did I mention the lakes? Ocean Lakes really does have lots of lakes interspersed where you can fish or just watch the ducks, swans, geese and turtles.
And this guy is demonstrating the pace of life Ocean Lakes has to offer. See him snoozing underneath his neon palm tree in his hammock under the cool shade of his RV rollout UV canopy? If you're middle to upper class, it don't get no better than this right here as Larry the Cable Guy would say.
And speaking of decorations such as the natural looking palm tree pictured above, this is my favorite as far as landscaping in Ocean Lakes. So cute! As much fun as lying on the beach or collecting shells is riding around on the golf cart people and dog watching and perusing the various types of housing. Plus, as parents, you can let your preteens and teens run free because security is so high, you have to have a pass to get in and there are so many other kids down there, you know they've either got to be on the basketball courts, the beach, the pool, the Meet and Eat or somewhere they congregate. There is even a small section of ocean front road the teenagers call The Strip and you can find them riding back and forth in their golf carts checking each other out and asking that age old question, "What high school do you go to?" And you will find RVand car tags, little house signs and various t-shirts from Michigan, New York, Ohio, Virginia, North and South Carolina, out west, Canada and various points from around the globe. Truly, it is middle class Shangri-la. Everytime we go down we seriously consider what we could get if we sold the farm, the house, the John Deere and everything else we own and move down. Unfortunately, with the price of real estate down there (and you're not really buying the real estate--you never own the ground your place is on--you lease it for various amounts per year depending on the size of the house and your proximity to the ocean) we could only afford the lowliest of the little trailers and would still have to work full time. Oh well, we can dream!
See below for our family pix from Spring Break at Ocean Lakes. I just had to blog about it. Ocean Lakes Family Campground comprises 310 acres of camp sites and permanent sites and one mile of prime real estate along South Carolina's Grand Strand of beaches. It is owned by Leonard "Popo" Jackson and his wife and is packed with campsites, permanent sites, an indoor and outdoor pool, meeting facilities, a pavillion on the ocean, bath houses, laundry, security, a golf cart sales and rental building, the front offices, food, etc. Here is the Meet & Eat where you can grab a burger. Note the mix of golf carts and cars. Golf carts are the preferred form of travel (electric only and no drivers under 16 or anyone after curfew at 11 p.m.). The Meet and Eat is next to the Sandy Mart which carries everything from swim suits to RV parts to ice chests to souveniers and candy.
Here is one of the sites which represents the 'early days' of Ocean Lakes, a trailer with a porch wrapped around it. You can still find those but they are becoming antique relics of the distant past as general prosperity has increased and the surplus of wealthy retirees moving to the beach has increased from the '50's and '60's. It's not uncommon to see little signs saying "We've spent our children's inheritance!"
Now you find lots of these, mansions by the sea squeezed in beside more humble abodes, trailers and campers. This is the one Jerry wants when we hit the lottery. Oh, and did I mention the lakes? Ocean Lakes really does have lots of lakes interspersed where you can fish or just watch the ducks, swans, geese and turtles.
And this guy is demonstrating the pace of life Ocean Lakes has to offer. See him snoozing underneath his neon palm tree in his hammock under the cool shade of his RV rollout UV canopy? If you're middle to upper class, it don't get no better than this right here as Larry the Cable Guy would say.
And speaking of decorations such as the natural looking palm tree pictured above, this is my favorite as far as landscaping in Ocean Lakes. So cute! As much fun as lying on the beach or collecting shells is riding around on the golf cart people and dog watching and perusing the various types of housing. Plus, as parents, you can let your preteens and teens run free because security is so high, you have to have a pass to get in and there are so many other kids down there, you know they've either got to be on the basketball courts, the beach, the pool, the Meet and Eat or somewhere they congregate. There is even a small section of ocean front road the teenagers call The Strip and you can find them riding back and forth in their golf carts checking each other out and asking that age old question, "What high school do you go to?" And you will find RVand car tags, little house signs and various t-shirts from Michigan, New York, Ohio, Virginia, North and South Carolina, out west, Canada and various points from around the globe. Truly, it is middle class Shangri-la. Everytime we go down we seriously consider what we could get if we sold the farm, the house, the John Deere and everything else we own and move down. Unfortunately, with the price of real estate down there (and you're not really buying the real estate--you never own the ground your place is on--you lease it for various amounts per year depending on the size of the house and your proximity to the ocean) we could only afford the lowliest of the little trailers and would still have to work full time. Oh well, we can dream!
Half a Week in Paradise!
We, along with half of the upstate of South Carolina, migrated to Ocean Lakes at Surfside, below world famous Myrtle Beach for spring break. I think this may take two posts to get in all the pix and the info I have about Ocean Lakes. I would love to do a documentary about it. Here's Joanna showing a shell she found.
Here's Ben with the wind blown look on one of the cooler, more blustery days. We got down there about 11 p.m. Wednesday and it rained all day Thursday so we visited Bass Pro Shops and took naps. Friday it was partly sunny and cool. Saturday and Sunday, beautiful. We were depressed to have to pack up and leave.
Here I am post-skin cancer with my big ole sun visor and my big ole shirt hiding some of my big ole self. But since I'm usually the photographer, I did want to document that I was there.
Here they are (oh, by the way, Maggie had been there all week with friends and it had rained most of that time so she chose to go on home Saturday instead of staying another day--of course, she and Nick were going to pick out his tuxedo for prom which is next Saturday so I'm sure that weighed in heavily in her decision) on the golf cart which is the preferred mode of transport around Ocean Lakes and, like many other indicators, the more prosperous you have been in life, the bigger, grander and more pricey your golf cart is. People watching is part of the fun as well as driving around, and in our case, dreaming of which house you'd buy if you hit the lottery.
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
My Favorite at the Pigeon Forge Show
This was my favorite quilt in the professional division at the annual Pigeon Forge, Tennessee quilt show this past weekend. It was made by Patricia Kerko of Sunset, SC (a fellow South Carolinian) and she used fabric paint to do the face and lots of stippling, feathers, and other techniques.
This one is called Sissy Loves Carrotes by Lynn Drennen of Lindsey, California and since my FIL has donkeys, this is quite typical of their everyday behavior. You could purchase "Sissy" for a cool $3,000.
I'll post more quilts from the show but I had to show the photo that proves I am a good mother. My Dad who goes with us every year likes to take the children, my three and my brother's three to ride go-carts. It was a rainy, chilly weekend and I really didn't want to ride. But the older ones, all 13 and above now, didn't want to ride with Joanna, 8, and Jerry claimed he had a headache so, here I am. There's my neice, Sydnie, zooming ahead of us and I had it floored.
And look what we found off of Hwy. 411 on our way home. Down a side road I went and there it sat. Gorgeous.
This was my favorite quilt in the professional division at the annual Pigeon Forge, Tennessee quilt show this past weekend. It was made by Patricia Kerko of Sunset, SC (a fellow South Carolinian) and she used fabric paint to do the face and lots of stippling, feathers, and other techniques.
This one is called Sissy Loves Carrotes by Lynn Drennen of Lindsey, California and since my FIL has donkeys, this is quite typical of their everyday behavior. You could purchase "Sissy" for a cool $3,000.
I'll post more quilts from the show but I had to show the photo that proves I am a good mother. My Dad who goes with us every year likes to take the children, my three and my brother's three to ride go-carts. It was a rainy, chilly weekend and I really didn't want to ride. But the older ones, all 13 and above now, didn't want to ride with Joanna, 8, and Jerry claimed he had a headache so, here I am. There's my neice, Sydnie, zooming ahead of us and I had it floored.
And look what we found off of Hwy. 411 on our way home. Down a side road I went and there it sat. Gorgeous.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Ben's Birthday, the Georgia Cousins and Favorite Quotes
Here was our Ben on his 16th birthday blowing out the candles on the cake his grandmother made him while the Georgia cousins and his sisters look on. He was a big boy when he was born, 9 1/2' to be exact and I thought they had left him in there too long. He was so big he could barely open his eyes at first and it took two people to unfold him to change his diapers. Now he's about 6' 2" and probably still growing! He played football for one season and decided it wasn't for him and now I get funny looks from the coach who expressed much dismay when he quit. What can I do?
Here's the same motley crew outside Bubba Gump's restaurant in Savannah last summer. They enjoy being together but Caleb, my SIL's little one and my little one, Joanna are both fractious, bullheaded and quarrelsome at times and I find my blood pressure rising when they get into it.
On the Ohio Quilter's Journey blog, she was sharing favorite friendship quotes. This pix I took in one of the famous cemeteries in Charleston, SC, reminded me of my favorite epitaph which is on a local grave, "Remember friends as you pass by. As you are now, so once was I. As I am now, soon you will be. Prepare for death and follow me." Jerry has an ancient aunt whose epitaph should read "I told you I was sick."
And here is my favorite Irish 'blessing': May all who know us love us. And if they do not love us, may God turn their hearts. And if he cannot turn their hearts, may he turn their ankles so that we may know them by their limp." My Jerry often quotes Shakespear: "All the world is queer except for me and thee and sometimes I even suspect thee."
Speaking of Charleston, (I found disks of photos when cleaning and excavating in my basement yesterday and downloaded them to my laptop), this is the pool at the guest house where we have stayed when we go down to visit friends who now live there from our Up-country home. We don't get to swim in it as it's usually winter and the owners just allow us to stay in the guest house, not have complete run of the place--go figure! Anyway, this pool is something to see. The wall is covered with climbing fig which is quite prevalent down there. It must thrive on the salt air blowing in off the Atlantic. We haven't been down in over a year and I'm really needing a Charleston fix. There is something quite magical about it.
And here are Maggie, Joanna, Sarah and Isabelle, friends of our's who went down with us the last time we were able to go down. See the Cheezit's on the table--obviously, teenagers were present. Joanna actually had a good time despite her stoic expression in this photo! Good memories and good freinds.
Here was our Ben on his 16th birthday blowing out the candles on the cake his grandmother made him while the Georgia cousins and his sisters look on. He was a big boy when he was born, 9 1/2' to be exact and I thought they had left him in there too long. He was so big he could barely open his eyes at first and it took two people to unfold him to change his diapers. Now he's about 6' 2" and probably still growing! He played football for one season and decided it wasn't for him and now I get funny looks from the coach who expressed much dismay when he quit. What can I do?
Here's the same motley crew outside Bubba Gump's restaurant in Savannah last summer. They enjoy being together but Caleb, my SIL's little one and my little one, Joanna are both fractious, bullheaded and quarrelsome at times and I find my blood pressure rising when they get into it.
On the Ohio Quilter's Journey blog, she was sharing favorite friendship quotes. This pix I took in one of the famous cemeteries in Charleston, SC, reminded me of my favorite epitaph which is on a local grave, "Remember friends as you pass by. As you are now, so once was I. As I am now, soon you will be. Prepare for death and follow me." Jerry has an ancient aunt whose epitaph should read "I told you I was sick."And here is my favorite Irish 'blessing': May all who know us love us. And if they do not love us, may God turn their hearts. And if he cannot turn their hearts, may he turn their ankles so that we may know them by their limp." My Jerry often quotes Shakespear: "All the world is queer except for me and thee and sometimes I even suspect thee."
Speaking of Charleston, (I found disks of photos when cleaning and excavating in my basement yesterday and downloaded them to my laptop), this is the pool at the guest house where we have stayed when we go down to visit friends who now live there from our Up-country home. We don't get to swim in it as it's usually winter and the owners just allow us to stay in the guest house, not have complete run of the place--go figure! Anyway, this pool is something to see. The wall is covered with climbing fig which is quite prevalent down there. It must thrive on the salt air blowing in off the Atlantic. We haven't been down in over a year and I'm really needing a Charleston fix. There is something quite magical about it.
And here are Maggie, Joanna, Sarah and Isabelle, friends of our's who went down with us the last time we were able to go down. See the Cheezit's on the table--obviously, teenagers were present. Joanna actually had a good time despite her stoic expression in this photo! Good memories and good freinds.
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