New Friends New Faces

Making friends has always come easy for me. I love to meet people who have the same interest as I do. Take for instance the two nice women I met on Saturday at the Shallotte NC Farmer's Market. Their names are Sarah and Sally and they are Mother and Daughter. They own and operate Indigo Farms here in southern Brunswick County.

Indigo Farms is a farm girl wannabe (that's me) utopia. Fresh seasonal vegetables grown right on the farm, organic and conventional. They also have a greenhouse with plants, flowers...you name it and a small cafe with homemade sandwiches, pies and cakes made by the sweet ladies that work there. They also have ice cream!!!

On Saturday they had the most beautiful, red, delicious strawberries (just picked the day before). I could not resist...I had to have a quart for the homemade ice cream hubby and I were going to make on Mother's Day. Fresh just picked organic lettuce, brocoli, cabbage, peas (both sugar snap and spring peas). Down at the next table they had fresh picked green beans, squash, freshly dug new potatoes....well I could just go on and on. Needless to say my Sunday dinner was divine!!! And the ice cream just wonderful. Thank you Sarah and Sally for providing wonderful produce for us here in Brunswick County....what could be better than knowing where your food came from and by whom!!! Keep up the good work. And for those who love to visit farms check out indigofarmsmarket.com You will be glad you did

Flowertown Bed and Breakfast

One of my favorite quilt shops is People Places and Quilts in Summerville, SC. And ever so often, I hear them calling me. Well...not really....PPQ doesn't pick up the phone and say "Dottie...we need to see you...come to Summerville...Actually it is Dottie's brain saying: "Dottie..Summerville is calling...you need to go and make sure that the ladies at People Places and Quilts are doing their job correctly" and all that good stuff that your brain makes you do!!!!

So at 6:00 am on Saturday my husband and I were in the car heading south to Summerville. We missed Eggs Up in Litchfield Beach ( I thought the restaurant was in Pawleys' Island) and so we ended up in Georgetown at a quaint little cafe and had the best eggs and grits evah!!!! There is something about stone ground grits...sorry Quaker Oats....the real deal is better!!!!

Arriving in Summerville we checked into Flowertown Bed and Breakfast and then it was off to Sew and Sew, The Downtown Farmers Market, all the other shops on the square and finally to People Places and Quilts. I feel very happy that I was able to "stimulate" the economy in Summerville and especially at Sew and Sew and PPQ. The Historical Society of Downtown Summerville was also having a festival with antiques in the square...so it was quite a day!!!

Our dinner was at The Continental Greek Restaurant and it was fabulous. We were joined by our friends Abby and Emery and Abby's roommate from college Melissa (nickname: "Cupcake")
We returned to the B&B and sat on the porch and admired the wonderful gardens the inn has and all the Bonsai carefully displayed in the garden. What an art form.

Sunday we enjoyed our breakfast at the inn and then a quick tour of a couple of more shops and then it was home to Southport. A quick getaway even for one day can stimulate more than the economy of a particular place...it stimulates the heart and mind of the visitor!

Hey Mr. Bonnie Man

Instead of Hey Mr. Tally Man, tally me some bananas...I was singing Hey Mr. Bonnie Man, bring me some basil plants!! I was searching all over Southport on Sunday for basil plants. Actually there are only two places selling basil plants on Sunday in Southport, (or any other day for that matter) and that would be Wally World or Lowes Home Impr. They were both completely sold out of all herbs and most of their veggie plants. And they were both waiting for the Bonnie Plants truck or as I say Mr. Bonnie Man!!!! On my way home without basil plants, lo and behold Mr. Bonnie Man was at Wally World. I did a quick turn into WW and with in seconds I had latched on to some beautiful basil plants. They are in the ground now in my garden and I eagerly await them to grow so I can have fresh basil all summer long....YUMMY!

My little friend Kayla came over Sunday to help me finish planting my periennial bed. Before we went to the garden we (Kalay, GJ, hubby Steve and myself) had a wonderful breakfast of oatmeal waffels, fresh strawberries, bacon and coffee. Food was wonderful, and conversation was great too. What a wonderful way to spend a morning, good food and friends.

Spring Time in Southport

One of my favorite hobbies, other than sewing, is to garden. I love planting veggies, herbs and flowers and watching them grow. I sometimes think I must have lived on a farm in my former life, as I find great pleasure in all things associated with farming. I am an avid supporter of any type of farmer's market, roadside stand, etc. In fact, I am presently on the Waterfront Market Committee here in Southport. Our farmers market will open late May here in Southport at the waterfront, under the giant live oaks.

On a smaller scale, I have a garden which is all raised beds. Hubby built it for me last year, and we had a good many tomatoes, eggplant, green beans, lettuce and herbs. I am hoping this year to have a better crop of the veggies and herbs. Here is a picture of my "cool weather veggies" along with my herbs. The lettuce was planted last Fall and as you can see is very nice. In fact tonight I had a salad dinner with fresh lettuce from the garden with green peppers, cukes, tomatoes, carrots, fresh local strawberries and for a meat I picked up a rotisserie chicken at Lowes Foods. Fresh and fast. Of course the veggies other than the lettuce were all store bought, but I am anxiously waiting for the fresh veggies to come in at the farmer's market.

Virtual Shopping

I love the internet! Mainly because I can go "virtual shopping". In other words when I get an itch to go shopping, but do not want to get dressed, get in the car, and wonder around who knows where, I can just sit down and get my itch scratched by shopping,( actually it is more looking these days)on the internet. I certainly do not spend as much money when I shop like this.

Today I was looking for website designers when I came across My Yellow Farmhouse blog. On it she mentioned her website "Farmhouse Woolens". I went to her website and saw beautiful woolens and other needful things. Please check out her website it is awesome. From there I saw that The Shabbee Chick Designs was the design team that created her webpage. When I went to The Shabbee Chick Design website I found Sweet Cottage Dreams blog and boy did I hit pay dirt there. Wonderful blog, beautiful music and free give aways. The blog address is sweetcottagedreams.blogspot.com. Visit and you will be pleasantly suprised!

Coastal Snowflakes

Well I declare!!! It is snowing here on the coast of NC. Will wonders never cease? Hopefully I will be able to get a picture of it so everyone will believe me. Time will tell. Speaking of time, I will have to go into work in a couple of hours. Wonder if they will call off work...Ha...I was going to call my boss and asked him if the office was opened if the schools in Winston Salem were closed due to snow....but I don't think he will think that is too funny...seeing how we are down here in Southport.

I opened my email today and had a message from The Olde Green Cupboard, a wonderful quilt shop in Jacksonville, Fla. If you have time go and visit their new "smilebox". It will cheer you up and get you starting to think of Spring and warm weather!!! As for me I am trying to think of a good Valentine project to start. My last one was a pillow made out of wool with red hearts appliqued on it. I will have a friend coming to town this weekend and we plan to sew...so I better get started thinking of a project!!!

Oh by the way...it has stopped snowing!!! It did not last long!!!

Think it, Do it, Bee it!!!

I now know how writer's feel when they have writer's block, because I think I am suffering from quilter's block, or sewing block, or whatever block you want to call it when one cannot get in the mood to be creative. I have sat in my sewing room looking around at all the lovely visuals and what do I do...just sit and stare. Do I want to quilt, sew, embroider, finish UFOs, or what? I just cannot make up my mind. Heck, I can't even think about what else I want to say in this blog...so that means I have writer's block now!

I usually get this way after I finish a big project...like the Christmas project I had this year. My sister ask me to make 12 Accessory bags with initials on them for her friend's Christmas presents. It would not have been so bad but I had to actually quilt the fabric first (18"x13" square, cross hatched). Then there was the cutting out, embroidering, putting in zippers, and adding a ruffle. It got a little daunting there, but I finished the project! I was so pooped after that I did not even want to sew for myself or make gifts. And to date I can't even think of a project to do. Woe is ME.

So, for now I will just Think It and maybe something creative will appear for me to DO! In the meantime I will visit my favorite blogs like quilt designer's MinnickandSimpson.com or Fresh Figs...they always inspire me.