Oh Where, Oh Where Have I Been?

Well, that is a long story.  The first weekend of November was my sister-in-law's wedding, which took place in Tennessee.  We flew out there and was able to hang out with my in-laws and lots of family before the big day.  Then the happy couple got to leave to go on their honeymoon, and we helped my in-laws babysit our niece before we had to fly back to California.  Here we are as guests at the wedding, doesn't my man look good in his bow tie.

While in Tennessee, we had a blast!  I got to indulge in going to a few quilt and yarn stores.  My goal at the quilt stores was to buy fabric for Bonnie Hunter's mystery quilt  entitled En Provence as she had just come out with the colors.  Boy did I find some great finds.  I of course was not a good blogger and can not produce footage of my visits to various quilt shops, however I can at least tell you where we went.  The quilt stores were Pappy's in Maryville, TN, Gina's Bernina Sewing Center in Knoxville, TN, Ready Set Sew in Chattanooga, TN and Hyderhangout: Quilt Fabric and More in Cleveland, TN.  I enjoyed each one of these stores for different reasons, and of course I did not leave without buying anything.  I do love supporting locale quilt shops.

While we were down in Chattanooga we went to the Ruby Falls, and had an awesome adventure, just my husband and I exploring.  Here is a picture of us in front of the falls.

If you do not know about Ruby Falls it is in an underground cave, and we were approx. 1100 feet below the top of Lookout Mountain.  The tour was fun, and we got to check out an amazing natural feature.  I also like the building they built from the limestone they pulled out while excavating what they were originally trying to find, which was the Lookout Mountain caves that had been sealed up by the railroad that had come through, and from the tour trail they built.  We also wanted to go to a Civil War battle ground in Georgia, but we are going to save that for the next time we are out.

We also visited the Appalachian Museum which is north of Knoxville in Norris.  It was awesome, especially all of the old quilts and buildings they have there.  I will be doing a separate post in the next week of all the pictures I took there.  I love history.

We then left Tennessee to return to California to have about a 12 hour turn-around to drive four hours north of San Diego to the hills of Santa Barbara for a camping wedding for my best friend for college.  There I finished jewelry for the wedding party the day before (talk about cutting it close), and had a great time.

By the end of these two weeks we had traveled across county, slept more nights on the ground then we remember doing as kids, celebrated two different marriages only six days apart and had a wonderful time.  But, as a result we were exhausted.  We returned, unpacked, organized and started to recover to only have it be Thanksgiving already.  Then I got sick and now we are here on December 3rd, deep in the holiday season.

I still owe three things between the happy couples.  Two wedding quilts and a cross stitch marriage record.  They know the items will eventually come, so I better get working.  But first, I need to get my husband's Jester costume for our church's medieval dinner done for the dress rehearsal and performance next weekend.  I'm cutting it a little close, big surprise, as I am always behind it seems.  Positive thoughts.

When we got home from the trips, I was able to put all of the fabrics I bought and my stash and created this color pallet for the mystery quilt.  I can not wait to start as I love the colors (Clue 1 and Clue 2 have been published), but I have other things that need to get done.

Time to work on that Jester costume.  Wish me luck, as it is my first time making clothes....

-Christina