Treasure Hunt

I thought that all the quilts I was going to be able to see on our trip would be at the Cornbread Festival's special exhibit of the Inspired by the National Parks quilts. I was wrong! My new sister-in-law, Chris, pulled out of a trunk two quilts made by her Grandmother!

Pinwheel

The first quilt is a pinwheel block set off with plain squares. I believe the print fabrics are 30's. Chris said that she had heard that the quilt was made from feed sacks.

Old blanket

The quilt has some disrepair. It has been well loved. The batting is an old chenille blanket! The quilt weighs a ton!

Machine quilted

This quilt was machine quilted. I believe that it is the only quilting that was done, contemporary to the making of the quilt.

Full view

Each block is made using only two fabrics. The backgrounds are all solid colors. There are some fabrics used more than once, but I believe each block combo is different.

The backing

A totally unrelated fabric was used for the backing. It was also folded to the front of the quilt to make the binding.

Bowtie

The second quilt was made using polyester double knits! My guess it would have been made in the 70's. It has some fantastic double knits!  Even the knots of the bowties are made from fancy double knits.

Love it!

I can just see this as a dressy dress!

And printed double knit!

I love how the fancy yellow from the knot in the first block is used as a background in the lavender block.

The whole quilt

The blocks were definitely laid out in a pattern. I would imagine that the blocks were made using scraps.

Bowtie back

Interestingly enough this quilt has a cotton backing. Which is also folded to the front as a binding. The quilt is hand quilted. What treasures for Chris to own these wonderful quilts made by her grandmother! Although Chris was raised in Louisiana, her mother's family is from Mississippi, so these are Mississippi made quilts.

Great Smoky Mountains

After our visit with Matt and Chris we headed a bit farther East to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Oh my! What a wonderful place!  We stayed in the campground at Cades Cove. We also took a drive through Newfound Gap and hiked up to the Clingman's Dome for wonderful views. We will definitely be going back again,

Wall of Shame

I don't understand people. This is a photograph of graffiti on a cabin in the park. People proudly signing and dating their names on a historic landmark despite signs everywhere pleading to leave no trace. It is happening on every building in Cades Cove. Some of the dates were as recent as March of this year. Such a disgrace. It is because of this kind of behavior that eventually the park will have to close the buildings and you will only be able to view them from a distance instead of being able to walk in and feel the essence of  how it was to live there. What is wrong with people? Such a wonderful, historic place and they have to ruin it for future generations.

Turtle Rock

We stopped at a campground in Wyoming for a night. The feature was Turtle Rock. We hiked the trail going around it, probably 4 miles. I still have to google it, the sign did not state the distance. It was fun. Lot of families were there since it was Mother's Day.

Linking to Nina-Marie, Amanda Jean, Myra, Cynthia, Sarah, Emily, Nicole