Category: North Carolina

  • It’s time for my annual ritual of summarizing the previous year and writing about my hopes and plans for the next year. In 2025, I let go of more of my blogging and turned my blog into more of a web site. In late January I headed to Tucson, Arizona to visit my dear friend…

  • A long weekend over Halloween at the Big Lynn Lodge in Little Switzerland was another balm to my soul. I found this group of fiber artists on Facebook, and not knowing a soul there, I headed off for the Blue Ridge Mountains again. Now I have a new group of friends. The only requirement to…

  • This was the third year that I’ve attended Edwina Bringle‘s fiber art retreat at Wildacres Retreat near Little Switzerland, NC. I’ve fallen in love with this area (and Edwina). It broke my heart when Hurricane Helene devastated so much here last year just after I left. The people here at the time had to be…

  • No April Fool’s today. Nothing could shock me. I would believe anything. I can’t seem to deal with updating this website. I don’t want to make anything for sale. I haven’t been doing my stitch meditations for the past week. I don’t feel like starting seeds or planting anything. I don’t care about cooking any…

  • Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024. I am 3/4 of the way through! I may even finish this in time for Christmas! Although we had to vacate our rooms by 9:30 a.m., my classmates cleaned up the studio and we trickled out until it was just Edwina and I, working on my tapestry and her on a…

  • Friday-Saturday, Sept. 13-14, 2024 The fog and a few showers rolled in. The rain was needed though. Dust covered the cars in the parking lot from the drive up the roads to Wildacres, which were partially paved. I finally bound my “Dark Forest” book, although it could use a press under weights and I still…

  • Wednesday-Thursday, Sept. 11-12 A gorgeous day beckoned, and we decided to go to the Switzerland Cafe for lunch. However, it was closed, so we checked out their general store and the awesome book/coffee/gift shop next door, Little Switzerland Books & Beans. This is the kind of bookstore I’ve always dreamed of having – an old…

  • Wildacres Fiber Retreat, Part I

    Monday-Tuesday, Sept 9-10, 2024 Edwina Bringle, that fascinating and multi-talented artist who has been a teacher and mentor to so many fiber artists, held a second fiber retreat at Wildacres Retreat, a mountaintop retreat facility near Little Switzerland, North Carolina. I attended last year, and jumped at the opportunity to go again this year. Because…

  • Well, gosh, I nearly forgot about posting this third part of my trip to the Folk School August 4-10. I have almost always stayed in Keith House, which is the oldest building in use for housing on campus, and I love the vibe there. This time I shared a room with two women from Tennessee…

  • I’ve needed to go to the lake since mid June. It’s the place I am drawn to when my heart needs healing. Usually I need a few days by myself, but Sandy knows to give me my space when we are there. With Diego’s short life prognosis and Pablocito suddenly being the only mammal at…