Needlework extravaganza

Headed to Albemarle, NC, Saturday to attend a quilting vendor show at the Stanly County fairgrounds. It was a beautiful day, a peaceful drive about 40 minutes from my house, in a very rural area that has definitely seen better days. I didn't take any pictures inside, as it was kind of crowded, but I got some nice pieces of batik fabric, and enjoyed the morning.

I've been working (off an on) on this wholecloth piece that I batiked last month. I'm almost finished with it, here's some pictures of it from a few weeks ago. The thread is YLI Soft Touch that I bought at a quilt show a couple of weeks ago, I really like how it sews. The thread is purple, periwinkle, and blues, not green (the green is a chalk pen I used to draw lines initially when I was trying to "plan" my quilting design).

And, finally, I have to mention the drought conditions here in NC. All weekend, Tennessee, an adjoining state, had rain, rain, and more rain. In contrast, we haven't had any major rain for at least a month, and things are dry, hot, and dusty. My flowers were doing very well until this past weekend, when it was in the mid-90s and no rain, and low humidity--the news people on TV called it a "Flash Drought". Yesterday we had a very minor rainstorm, which ended up being only about 1/4". Not enough to even make a difference. This is the hardest thing I've dealt with since moving to NC five years ago--I never wanted to live in a desert, but feel like NC is becoming one after 4 years of very dry weather.