On the wall of Mountain Stitches by Susan in Gatlinburg, TN is this off-center log cabin square set into a quilt of an original design.

Although all the quilting shops I visited during the East Tennessee Shop Hop June 4 through 14, 2015, showcased their finest work on their store walls, this one quilt became a focal point at Mountain Stitches by Susan in Gatlinburg.  Susan, the owner of the shop, took the barn photo assigned to her shop (each of the 12 shops had one) and set it off-center into a log cabin block.  Then Susan incorporated the block into this muted-color quilt of her own design along with a splash of Grandmother’s Flower Garden motifs and a gaggle of Flying Geese. Final impression?  Lovely interpretation of the quilt challenge and perfect for this Travel theme: Off-center!

For more entries into Ailsa’s theme this week, click here.  You’ll find her blog, Where’s My Backback, filled with off-center but right-on-target photos.

Were the 60s ever this colorful? Great little VW bus quilt at Gina’s Bernina, Knoxville.

A quilting Shop Hop, I’ve come to discover, not only acquaints you with the latest fabrics, cutting tools, and ways to form blocks, it just by golly grabs you.  After visiting six shops from Jonesborough to Crossville, I couldn’t wait to take on the last six in Sevierville/Gatlinburg area in this well-organized, eye-opening East Tennessee Shop Hop.

Pieced flag quilt — Machine Quiltin’ by Iva, Sevierville

And it’s a good thing we shoppers had from June 4th to 13, 2015, to see all 12 shops.  It takes a while when you’re careening around bends and curves on the back hollow roads just to get to ’em.  It’s amazing what you’ll do to earn a free fat quarter and a stamp on a Passport card!  Here’s a snapshot of what the last six shops had in store.

Holloway’s Country Home Custom Handmade Quilts

(3892 Cosby Hwy., Cosby; hollowaysquilts.com; Facebook: hollowaysquilts)

In what may have been the prettiest setting of all, Holloway’s sets up shop in a log cabin in rural Cosby — and who wouldn’t want to sit and stitch on this porch?  Filled with bolts of country colors, finished quilts hanging from the rafters, and even socks for quilters, the ladies at Holloway’s demonstrated how to make a tiny, wearable pieced pin and directed me to the printed sayings you can purchase to make any quilt special.

Porch at Holloway’s Country Home with covered bridge quilt hanging on the wall.

Mountain Stitches by Susan

(601 Glades Road, #13, Gatlinburg, TN 37738; moutainstitchesbysusan.com)

It was Susan’s husband who greeted me, and that’s when I realized this shop is a family affair.  When I looked up after receiving my free pattern, a fascinating off-set variation of the traditional log cabin pattern using the Shop Hop barn caught my eye. Susan directed me to two rooms filled with tasteful, heritage fabrics that she identified as patterns developed during the Civil War.  Mountain Stitches, tucked away in a spot you’d hardly know is part of busy Gatlinburg, is one shop I’d come back to just for Susan’s eye for combining fabrics.

Off-set Log Cabin pattern with barn quilt picture: Mountain Stitches by Susan, Gatlinburg, TN

Red Barn Custom Quilts

(628 Dolly Parton Parkway, Sevierville; redbarncustomquilts.com)

If you like the convenience of kits, head to Red Barn where finished models (and available kits to make your own) await.  Filled with fabrics for all sorts of projects (holiday, traditional, modern, etc.), Red Barn offers a variety patterns and honest-to-goodness advice.  Along with my free fat quarter, for example, I was handed a Scrap Sack Pattern using just what I had in hand.

One of the prettiest models along the East Tennessee Shop Hop — Red Barn Custom Quilts

The Cherry Pit

(115 Bruce Street, Sevierville; quiltingatthecherrypit.com)

On a quiet side street in busy Sevierville, the staff of this artfully arranged and filled-to-the-brim shop welcomed me in immediately with a demonstration for a pieced table topper.  It wasn’t long, though, that I spotted completed models throughout the store arranged in vignettes where coordinated materials were available for shoppers to make their own. One highlight:  each visitor received a variation of the Cherry Pit’s Shop Hop barn quilt pattern with several appliques (silo, Christmas tree, pumpkin, etc.) that could be applied on top. What a great idea!

This applique variation using a silo and wagon was one of the free patterns distributed by The Cherry Pit, Sevierville, TN

Machine Quiltin’ by Iva

(1020 Old Knoxville Hwy., Sevierville; ivasquilts@bellsouth.net)

With a drawing contest jar and prize baskets filled to the brim right on the front porch, Machine Quiltin’ by Iva drew guests in immediately.  Known for an extensive collection of quilted wearables and totes, this shop has perhaps the largest supply of batik fabrics of the Shop Hop bunch.  Rooms filled with collections from such suppliers as Thimbleberries invited quilters to see (and buy) the latest fabrics for their projects. And, as their name implies, you can have your quilt tops machine quilted by Iva!

Cute, wearable quilted jacket at Machine Quiltin’ by Iva

Gina’s Bernina Sewing Center

(10816 Kingston Pike, Knoxville; ginasbernina.com)

Just as the name implies, Gina’s is THE source for fine Bernina sewing machines. But much more awaits — full displays of children’s patterns and fabrics, little projects like pillowcases, quilting books and supplies, and, my favorite, colorful new fabrics from the Kaffe Fassett collection.  Just days before the Shop Hop, Gina’s staff put the finishing touches on an artsy quilt with wool embellishments.  Classes, helpful staff, and ideas for new projects — this is a one-stop shopping experience for the novice or experienced quilter.

Quilt with wool embellishments: Gina’s Bernina Sewing Center, Knoxville

After turning in my card complete with all 12 stamps, I took my freebies and purchases home.  Of course, I wonder what I’ll start next.

Quilter socks at Holloway’s Country Home, Cosby, TN

Just one more thing:  I was overwhelmed from the start at the work of the shop owners and staff to prepare for an event of this magnitude.  From the decision to use pictures of East Tennessee barns adorned with quilt patterns as a theme came a coordinated effort to place a finished quilt in each shop, to offer quilt blocks to customers, and to spiff up displays and models throughout each store.  And some shop owners took the theme further, creating additional quilts and wall hangings unique to their store.  As Julia Ranney at Little Blessings in Crossville told me, “I stayed up ’til 3 AM several nights to get it all done.”  And I suspect most shop owners did the same.  But it all adds up to an event worth seeing — and appreciating.

Jane demonstrates how to make a pieced table topper at The Cherry Pit, Sevierville, TN

If you want to go next year . . .

• Put these dates on your calendar: June 2 – 11, 2016.
• Mark off about three days to see it all, drive it all.
• Plan a stay in beautiful East Tennessee using tnvacation.com or TripAdvisor.

Hope you’ve enjoyed your virtual tour.  And if you’re a quilter, let me know.  Better yet, show me something you’ve made!  Love looking — whether I ever get around to quilting something myself or not!

Rusha Sams

To read Eye candy for quilters: East Tennessee Shop Hop 2013, Part I, click here.

Vivid fabrics by Kaffe Fassett liven up a traditional quilt pattern.

This week, I’m traveling to 12 quilt shops participating in the annual East Tennessee Shop Hop.  And although I grew up watching my mom make quilts, these new fabrics in somewhat traditional patterns are nothing like what she put together.  (But she’d love them, no doubt.)

Vivid colors front and back on this quilt designed by Kaffe Fassett.

The vivid colors and contemporary patterns are the inspiration of Kaffe Fassett, a London designer who has made his mark in the design world in various textile fields:  needlepoint, knitting, and now quilting.

Were the 60s ever this colorful?

This cute piece isn’t a Fassett design but one I couldn’t resist sharing.  It’s a vivid summer somewhere!

For more vivid entries in this week’s Weekly Photo Challenge, click here.

All quilts shown are on display at Gina’s Bernina Sewing Center, 10816 Kingston Pike, Knoxville, TN 37934.

The signature Double Wedding Ring Quilt of the Pilgrim/Roy Collection on exhibit at Museum of Fine Arts Boston

While in Boston prior to the 2014 Marathon, we saw city buses sporting a colorful double wedding ring quilt.  We couldn’t help but notice.  The vibrant, pop-art quilt with its striking purple background and spinning wheels of color filled the side of the bus from top to bottom, luring us to the Pilgrim/Roy Collection of eye-popping quilts on exhibit at the Museum of Fine Arts.  I couldn’t wait to see it.  Not only has my mom cut, pieced, and stitched quilts for just about everyone in the family, she has introduced us all to the fine art of combining colors and geometric shapes to produce art worthy of display in any museum.

Museum of Fine Arts Boston

To say the least, the exhibit dazzles the eye and stirs the soul.  You could be attracted to any of the sixty graphically bold American quilts just for the patterns . . . or the colors . . . or the workmanship.  But taken as a whole, this body of work takes your breath away. Displayed in dark rooms, the spotlighted quilts move those who stand silently or speak in hushed voices as they contemplate fabric choices, patterns, and hand-stitching.  The curated collection includes well-documented acquisition details and the names of makers, if known. We think you, too, will enjoy seeing these special American artifacts that are artistic in every sense of the word.

Visitor admires a Mariner’s Compass quilt: Massachusetts, about 1840

Bold Colors

Many quilts in the Pilgrim/Roy Collection — almost all, in fact — are notable for rich, vibrant colors that have stood the test of time.

Center Medallion tied child’s comforter: Missouri, 1910

Mennonite, Nine Patch: Pennsylvania (Bucks County), 1880s

Amish, Snail’s Tails: Illinois (Arthur) about 1930

Close-up: Snail’s Tails: Pieced wool plain weave and twill top

Chain Star: Midwestern U. S., 1940s

Close-up: Chain Star. Pieced and appliqued printed cotton plain weave top.

Optical Illusions

If you move one way and then another, you’ll note something different about the quilts that “fool the eye.” Whether it’s the pattern or the combination of fabrics or even how light comes into play, it’s fun to look more than once at the optical illusion quilts.

Yellow Baskets: New York, 1920s-30s.
Perhaps not intended to be an optical illusion, this quilt took on a different appearance as we moved from side to side.

Close-up: Yellow Baskets (At times, grays became more dominant in the background.)

Detail: Yellow Baskets

Striking Geometrics

Although many quilt patterns are quite traditional, the choice of colors can add a modern-day geometric quality or a bold statement as lights and darks contrast.

Lend and Borrow: Pennsylvania (Lancaster County), 1870s

Close-up: Lend and Borrow

Mennonite: Double Irish Chain on point: Pennsylvania, 1880-90

Stitching detail: Double Irish Chain

Log Cabin Variations

At least one long wall and then some was dedicated to quilts using the Log Cabin pattern — squares made up of tiny strips of fabric, half of them light and half dark.  But it’s placement of the squares that determines the overall pattern.

Log Cabin, Sunshine and Shadow variation: Illinois, 1870s. Maker: Rebexy Gray.

Close-up: Sunshine and Shadow

Log Cabin, Multiple Barn Raising variation: Pennsylvania, 1930s

Log Cabin, Windmill Blades variation: Ohio, about 1890

Close-up: Windmill Blades variation

Traditional

Even the traditional patterns became extraordinary with the bursts of color and attention to detail.

Fans: Pennsylvania, 1900-10. Pieced top of wool plain weave and twill with silk embroidery.

Wild Goose Chase: Pennsylvania (Lancaster County), 1880s

Detail: Baltimore Album Quilt, Maryland, before 1847

Detail 2: Baltimore Album Quilt, Maryland, before 1847

Quilts and Color: The Pilgrim/Roy Collection is on exhibit from April 6, 2014, to July 27, 2014.  Be sure to check the website for dates and times.  To purchase the book you see below, click here.

Quilts and Color: The Pilgrim/Roy Collection by Pamela A. Parmal and Jennifer M. Swope
http://www.mfa.org/collections/publications/quilts-and-color

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Avenue of the Arts

465 Huntington Avenue

Boston, Massachusetts 02115

General Information: 617-267-9300

Website: http://www.mfa.org

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mfaboston

To purchase Quilts and Color: http://www.mfa.org/collections/publications/quilts-and-color

My Pinterest board on Quilts: http://www.pinterest.com/rushasams/quilts/

A UT fan checks out the antiques at Ramsey House Country Market

Fall for me just wouldn’t be the same without a trip to Ramsey House for the annual Country Market.  And since last fall came and went without the annual celebration, I was feeling a bit of withdrawal.  The Country Market celebrates so many things I love about East Tennessee: colorful fall flowers, homemade cobblers, homey crafts of spinning and quilting, and primitive antiques on burlap-covered tables.  It’s fall at its finest, and I was glad I had the morning to myself to meander the fields and talk to the people who make it happen.

Ramsey House, built in 1797.

The focus, of course, is on preservation.  Ramsey House was built in 1797 by Knoxville’s first builder, Thomas Hope, for Francis Alexander Ramsey, one of the founding trustees of Blount College, now the University of Tennessee.  With its signature red trim, this gray stone home boasts some of the prettiest exterior and interior decorative art in East Tennessee.  The Association for the Preservation of Tennessee Antiquities purchased the house and the 101 acres upon which it stands in 1952.

Col. Ramsey (a.k.a. Jerry Griffey) welcomes guests to the Country Market.

It was fitting, of course, that Col. Ramsey (who closely resembles Jerry Griffey, owner of Gentry-Griffey Funeral Home) would greet guests to the property on this pleasant, but rather warm, first day of fall!

Log house to the right of the main house

I parked my car in the field and headed straight for the antiques and crafts booths set up in tents on the grassy expanse between the Visitor Center and Ramsey House hoping I’d see some familiar faces and a few new vendors, too!

Barbara McDonald who specializes in antique quilts had several quality pieces on display as well as bowls, pottery, and a child’s rope-tied bed.

Barbara McDonald — Dealer of antique quilts

I was drawn to this table of red and white mostly kitchen items displayed on a graphic antique quilt in Joe Wolfenbarger’s booth.  Joe owns both Gertie’s Commissary and Whistle Stop Antiques in Cumberland Gap, so we chatted about the influx of tourists to his area now that the leaves are getting ready for their big fall flourish.

Joe Wolfenbarger’s display of red and white items and antique quilt

Hugh and Barbara Webb have been painting and setting up at craft shows for almost 45 years now.

Barbara and Hugh Webb of Knoxville — artists and long-time exhibitors

I own several pins and driftwood pieces, but I couldn’t resist the almost stony face of this yellow tabby!

Barbara Webb’s hand-painted wooden cat

She’s known for drawings of old Knoxville homes as well as paintings of animals. But there was a surprise this time — tiny little birds Barbara fashioned from leftover building materials.

Little birds from The Webb’s Works

Albert and Sandra Davis of Clinton put out collections of thimbles and buttons.  But sometimes Albert just demonstrates how comfortable his old lawn chairs can be!

Ahhhhh. The joy of old lawn furniture!

Roger Farneth of Louisville brought his hand-carved canes and walking sticks as well as his best asset and the “brains of this outfit”:  his wife Madilyn.  Roger agreed to come out into the sunshine to hold his “food chain” walking stick bearing a snake coiled to attack!

Roger and Madilyn Farneth of Louisville brought hand-carved canes and walking sticks along with jams, jellies, noodles, peanut butter, pickles, and chow chow.

Under the name of Paw Paws Woodturnings, Joe White of Friendsville hand-turns bowls and vases of must-touch woods that I dearly love.  Black cloth contrasted the grains and colorations of the various types of wood.

Joe White hand-turns bowls of wood that beg to be touched!

Craftspeople set up a bit closer to Ramsey House eagerly shared their love of what they make from what they find.

One of the outbuildings on the Ramsey House property

Gloria Felter of Oak Ridge had come upon a stash of scraps last January and set about to make a Log Cabin lap quilt with a tiny inset piece featuring — would you believe? — Elvis!

Gloria Felter uses a hoop for the hand-quilting process.

Linda Avery and Lalena Stewart take pride in making authentic quilts under the name Tennessee Quiltworks.  They’ll be back for the October 20th Second Annual Quilt Show right here at Ramsey House —  a sight to behold, they said, since so many quilts hang gracefully on clothes lines for viewing on the grounds. (Put that one on your calendar!)

Lalena Stewart and Linda Avery of Tennessee Quiltworks

Nancy, a spinner since 2007, gave a demonstration using the vermillion piece she was spinning of cotswold and mohair. Nancy is an advocate for Pick Tennessee Products, noting that the wool comes from sheep in Tennessee.

Spinning cotswold and mohair to make yarn for a shawl.

A drying rack of lovely yarns hanging in the sunshine.

Right behind her was Mark who researches and faithfully replicates powder horns with turned wood tops.  It’s not easy, I gathered. Mark described how he heats up the irregularly shaped horn and molds it on a wooden form prior to fitting it with the top.  Many, many steps, but worth it when you see the beauty of true craftmanship.

Mark holds powder horns that he shapes using heat and a wooden cone.

Inside the Visitor Center were appraisers offering their services for a mere $5.00 donation.  Darryl Mackley, who owns Mackley and Company in Knoxville, and Selma Burgin stood ready to evaluate jewelry.

Darryl Mackley and Selma Burgin, jewelry appraisers

Joe Rosson, News-Sentinel columnist who answers readers’ questions each week, was on hand to appraise antiques.  We talked a bit about the state of antique collecting and wondered if the next generation feels as strongly as we do about keeping family pieces in the family.  We didn’t have any answers, but we did do some head shaking and even more wondering!

Joe Rosson, columnist and appraiser, waits for his next customer.

Autographing her books was Dr. Lin Stepp, who writes modern fiction set in the Smoky Mountains with each book set in a different locale: The Foster Girls — Wear’s Valley; Tell Me About Orchard Hollow — Townsend; For Six Good Reasons — Greenbrier, and Delia’s Place — Gatlinburg. Her book covers feature paintings by celebrated artist, Jim Gray, and Dolly Parton has given her stamp of approval to someone she says “believes in all the things that I do.”

Delia’s Place, a modern-day novel set in Gatlinburg, by Lin Stepp.

Lin’s husband J. L. has a book coming out Spring 2013 outlining easy hikes anyone can enjoy:  The Afternoon Hiker: A Guide to Casual Miles in the Great Smoky Mountains. Click here to read more about their publications. Click here for Lin’s books on Amazon.

J. L. and Lin Stepp autograph books outside the Visitor’s Center.

In another area, flowers and farm goods beckoned.  Carefully arranged mums, cuttings of Sweet Annie, paper-wrapped bouquets of dried lavender, and white and orange pumpkins artfully positioned on hay bales added a fall touch to the Ramsey House booth.

Pumpkins, cornshocks, and mums for a lovely fall setting.

Sylvia looks over the osage orange for sale in the Ramsey House booth.

Stuart and Martha of Strong Stock Farm brought their signature grass-fed beef to their artfully arranged booth flanked by white-blooming hydrangeas and fall foliage.

Stuart and Martha talked to me about where they market their grass-fed beef.

In the children’s booth, little Kendall waited patiently for Mickey, the volunteer tattoo artist, to peel off the stencil and reveal a much-anticipated glittery heart.

Kendall waits for step two of her glitter tattoo!

And in the background, I heard the bluegrass stains of an old-time string band, Boogertown Gap.

Musicians from Boogertown Gap

By this time, I had worked up an appetite for either the beans and cornbread or the bar-b-que served by Janet Oakes, Charlotte Brown, and Miriam Anderson, three Ramsey House board members.  I chose the bar-b-que smoked by John Wallace whose wife Connie is also on the board.

Janet Oakes, Charlotte Brown, and Miriam Anderson serve bar-b-que for lunch.

Smoked and pulled bar-b-que by John Wallace was my choice for lunch!

You’d think that would be enough, but not so.  Two men had piled the goodness of dough and the richness of peaches into a black kettle that sat simmering over hot coals for almost half a day.  When I got there, they scooped out the steaming goodness into a cup, topped it with homemade ice cream, and watched me smile!

Dessert was a big scoop of peach cobbler right from the black cast iron pot!

Full and oh-so-happy, I joined Dr. Charles Faulkner for my last act of the day — a tour of Ramsey House!

Dr. Faulkner chats with another visitor about the architecture of Ramsey House.

Fall festivals in East Tennessee showcase the very best in area crafts, food, and the heritage of a land we love.  But you don’t have to wait until next year’s Country Market to visit Ramsey House.  It’s open year round Wednesday through Saturday.

Hoping Ramsey House has a Country Market every year!

You can have that Country Market experience every time you walk across the grounds or peer into the rooms or sit a spell on a bench and just imagine what life was like back then.

It was good then . . . and it’s still good now.

Lovely view of Ramsey House with begonias in bloom.

Ramsey House

2614 Thorngrove Pike

Knoxville, TN 37914

865.546.0745

info@ramseyhouse.org

Leave me a comment about a fall festival you’ve attended or you’ve got on your to-do list. Or just let me know what your favorite part of a country market is for you!  Thanks for reading!