Shop Hop, Donkeys and Mother's Day...Oh My!

Happy Mother's Day to all the quilty mothers out there! I had a glorious day, but we'll get to that in a minute.
The last couple of days Stephanie and I navigated the north Georgia countryside visiting quilt shops and adding more fabric to our stashes. What could be more fun than choosing from rows, stacks and bins of beautiful fabric from six different shops?! Let's just say, I had better get sewing in order to justify the bag loads I brought home. There were many bargains and snacks at every stop. We will be re-visiting some of the shops again because we have coupons!!

The haul of new fabric for my stash!

Backing and juvenile fabric for charity quilts

Backings, 30s and modern fabrics

Foodies and fillers

One shop had all the modern fresh looks I love

Sale shelf goodies

Kaffe and 30s FQs

Eclectic bargains from one of the Dahlonega stores

I was the driver for the 'tour', so I ventured over to Coffey mountain where Stephanie lives, almost at the tippy top. To get there, you drive past a ramshackle little barn with a donkey outside, and another donkey halfway in. (The back half of the donkey on the outside of the shack) Then you pass the herd of cows with their babies all lounging in the shade. Then...straight up! I have mastered the scary driveway by going as quickly as I can and not pausing for anything. Works for me!

Happy outside donkey

The shy 'inside' donkey

moo

At the top of the fence post, in the trees, at the top, is Stephanie's house!

See it now?
Okay, Mother's Day. After a blueberry waffle breakfast, (I made that), we were off to Clayton, which is in the northeastern corner of Georgia. We stopped at a gourd stand in Mountain View and learned everything there is to know about gourds. The ladies who ran the stand were delightful. One woman made all the birdhouses, baskets, lampshades, and animals out of the gourds the other woman either grew or bought from growers down in Valdosta. They sold the seeds, too, if you wanted to grow your own gourds, but we passed on those. Mr Wazoo bought us five of the birdhouse gourds to hang around the yard, hopefully to attract birds.

The gourd store in Mountain View, GA

The gourd artist at work on a bear

We bought gourds like these.

The ride continued to Franklin, NC, through the Smoky Mountains and back through Murphy, NC. The weather was perfect, and the scenery un-matched.

The road into NC

The Great Smoky Mountains

When we got home, I prepared the samples for my tutorial tomorrow and put away my shop hop booty.  My next project is all cut out and the blocks are matched right sides together and ready to sew. I'm itching to get going on it, but will have to wait until Tuesday to start.

A project heavy on the Kaffe fabrics

Another perfect day in Georgia!