Alleghany Quilt Show

There were little dolls throughout the show

Last weekend was the Alleghany Quilt Show in Sparta.  Alleghany is the fifth smallest county in North Carolina with a population of 10,000.  The quilt show was held at the fair grounds and there were about 100 quilts on display.

At first hubby didn't want to go in, but when I pointed out there were other men heading to the front door, he relented.  We were given a clip board, pencil and plastic glove so we could judge the quilts.  There were about 25 different categories, some with only 2 entries per category.

Here are some of my favorites:

Watermelon quilt

I chose this as the Best in Show

We had a great time.  Hubby even enjoyed himself.  A photographer took our picture and asked our names and I teased hubby that now all of his manly friends would see his pic in the paper.    I went home and got to work on my own quilt, that I started a year ago.  I am hoping to enter it in the quilt show in Ashe County in September.

Sparta

Last weekend hubby and I went to Sparta.  A very small town about 30 minutes of winding road away.  We went for the Blue Ridge Mountain Fair and the Alleghany Quilt Show.

There was music.

Crafts

Hummingbird feeders

Broom maker

Spinning

Of course there was food.  Hubby got a ham biscuit, sausage biscuit and the best lemonade we ever had. There were people selling homemade jams and jellies, spices, doggie treats and wine.  10:30 in the morning is a little early for wine tasting, but that didn't stop us.

Look for pics of the quilt show on my next blog.

Mame

 "Life is a banquet, and most poor suckers are starving to death!"

We went to see the musical "Mame" at the Ashe County Little Theatre.  All the parts were played by local actors, and they did a terrific job.  The play was set in the 1920's and Mame and her cohorts were hard drinking partiers.  When her brother dies, her nephew Patrick comes to live with her.  Not having much experience with little boys, she sends him to an alternative school where clothing is very much optional.  When his legal guardian finds out, Patrick is shipped off to a proper boys school.

Mame loses everything after the stock market crashes, but lands on her feet when she marries a rich southerner.  He later dies in an avalanche while they are vacationing in the Alps.

Patrick rebels in college and becomes engaged to a snobby, upper crust co-ed.  Mame manages to set him straight and he ends up marrying her decorator.

I loved the play so much, I ordered two "Auntie Mame" movies from Netflik.  I was surprised to see how closely the play followed the movie.  The movie with Rosalind Russell wasn't a musical, but was campy and fun.  My favorite was Lucille Ball as Mame and Bea Arthur as her boozy best friend.  Lucy has a wonderful singing voice and is always zany.  The best scene was when Mame visits the plantation of her southern beau to meet his family.  They hoodwink her into joining the fox hunt and give her the wildest horse on the plantation, Lightning.  The family is watching her run through the fields and someone yells, "She's passing the hunters, she's passing the dogs, she's passing the fox!"  She ends up falling off the horse, spots the fox in the bushes and brings it back with her.

Christmas in July

Civil War actor

Saturday was the 25th annual Christmas in July festival.  The festival started as a way to highlight the Christmas tree industry in the mountains.  There were two stages set up, one for music (bluegrass, gospel, country and steel drums) and one for dancing and clogging.  Every year there is a civil war reenactment and I don't think they know the south lost the war.  We got an early start and headed over to the Hillbilly Cafe for breakfast.  The fair was in full swing by 9 AM.

My favorite are the booths filled with hand-made goodies such as pottery, paintings, bird houses, jewelry and clothing.  Hubby bought a dirt shirt, which is a white t-shirt dyed with red Carolina clay.  I got a pottery  bowl and a collage of painted birds set into an old window frame.

Blue grass band

There were food booths too.  You could get anything from homemade ice cream, and kettle corn to tacos.

There were free goodies as well.  Copies of the New Testament, water bottles, and face painting.  All day long they had contests for wreath making and baling.

Several organizations, such as the Humane Society and the school band, charged $5.00 for parking.  One industrious fellow decided he was going to save a few bucks and parked in a bank parking lot.  What he didn't know was the bank needed the drive-thru for its customers.  I'm sure he spent more than $5.00 to get his car back.

Food vendors

My great find

Pottery Bowl

What a crowd

Winter Crocheting Completed

To keep from going stir crazy during those cold winter months I planned several crochet projects. Hubby's nephew and his wife were expected a new baby and I wanted to be prepared. The baby has arrived.  She is a beautiful 7 pound girl and we are looking forward to meeting her soon.

This is what I started with

 I made a green afghan for the baby as the sex was to be a surprise.  I also whipped up a cute bunny.  I made him several times as he just wouldn't come out right.  His face was crooked, then his ears were all askew.  I had the hardest time with the booties.  I didn't follow the directions very carefully and left out the heel portion, more than once.  The heels still look like they are lacking something.  Oh well, newborns don't notice these things.

The rose, green and white afghan is for the three year old daughter of hubby's niece.

 Now I am working on an afghan for the church bazaar in the fall, a shopping bag and a sweater for the new baby's older brother.

Fudge Truffle Cheesecake

This is one of the recipes I included in our church cook book,  "Taste of Jefferson".

Filling:
2 cups (12 oz) semi-sweet chocolate chips
3 pkgs. (8 oz each) cream cheese, softened
1 (14oz) can sweetened condensed milk
4 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla

Chocolate Crumb Crust:
1 1/2 cups vanilla wafer crumbs         1/3 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup powdered sugar                     1/3 cup melted butter

Heat oven to 300 degrees.  Prepare crust: in medium bowl combine all ingredients.  Press firmly on bottom of 9 inch springform pan.  Set aside.



Prepare filling: In heavy saucepan, over very low heat, melt chips stirring constantly.  Or put in microwave for one minute.  In large mixer bowl, beat cream cheese until fluffy.  Gradually beat in sweetened condensed milk until smooth.  Add melted chocolate chips and remaining ingredients; mix well.  Pour into prepared pan.  Bake one hour and 5 minutes, or until center is set.  Cool; chill.  Refrigerate leftovers.

This is such an easy recipe and it is just delicious.  Make it when you want to impress someone.  I just found the soften/melt button on my microwave and it worked perfectly to melt the chocolate chips.  I wonder where it was hiding for the past year?  Enjoy!

Taste of Jefferson

Our church has just published their first cook book in 20 years.  I was on the cook book committee and helped choose the name "A Taste of Jefferson".  To launch our new cook book we decided to have a taste testing event.  We asked recipe contributors to make their favorite dish and we sold $2.00 tickets.  Not knowing how many people were going to show up, we made sure we had plenty of goodies prepared.

Getting things dished into little cups was the hardest part.  Once the hot food sat out for a while, they weren't so tasty anymore.

We had a steady crowd for the two hours we were opened.  One couple had driven all the way from Charlotte and arrived two hours early.

I prepared hubby's famous spaghetti and meat sauce recipe that took over four hours to create.  I ended up bringing 90% of it back home, but it was safe to still eat as I kept it hot in a crock pot. I also made Fudge Truffle Cheesecake. Yum.  I will include the recipe in my next post.

Everyone that came had a great time.  They all said they enjoyed each and every dish they tried.  We made over $500.00 in sales and we were exhausted by the time we had cleaned up and gone home.

There are still plenty of books left if you want one!