The Avant Garden

It has rained for about 24 hours and I had to choose between cleaning my room or doing a blog entry and here I sit, typing away ...

But I have been avant-gardening as well. The stones on display out at the bascom came home in the midst of a mad drive between North Carolina and Georgia and back again. The hand-truck idea did not work out too well:

My friend Dave Spangler rode to Highlands with me and took that video as well. He helped a lot with the rock-toting and is now a legend around the Rockpile.

But right before that happened, this was happening:

Cool shadow. I've always wanted to make a stacked rock sundial like this one, but with a rockstack instead of a strange guy standing there all day.

While in Georgia, I took this picture of my brother-n-his-wife's kids, Allie and Samuel, on my Time-Goblin (or Time-Gobbling, if you prefer) Quilt Top:

They are so cute. I had a nice time with them ... fed 'em, entertained 'em, even changed a few diapers. 

Behind the sewing machine, I made this "World Series '09" snugglesack:

That's the Avant Daughter modeling. It has a definite baseball theme ... or not. 

Speaking of Spangler, he took this kinda funny pic of me:

while I was repairing one of the Three Wise Guys out at the bascom.

Is this a cool pic:

?

I think so. That's part of "The Coven," as Rob has deemed that little corner of his yarden.

Well, in the true spirit of my Appalachian neighbour Snuffy Smith, I am off to the attic to see if the roof-leak buckets need emptyin', or maybe I will emulate Snuffy and let the Avant Maw do it.

as I put the last three pieces of material on what is known around the Rockpile as the Time-Goblin (sometimes one hears "Time-Gobbling," but either one works) Quilt Top and felt a large weight off my shoulders. This is the final result, at least most of it, laying on the floor in the foyer:

I must admit I am prettty fond of it, but I don't know what to do with it now. The last quilt I made is going to go to The Life o' Mike Auction and Hootenanny this Sunday. I am hoping those good folks can auction it and get some funds for their cause out of it. Y'all oughtta go if you're in the neighbourhood.

That Time-Goblin sure is heavy. Not like rocks, but heavy.

Speaking of rocks, I got this cool CD of pics from a guy down in Clarkesville, Georgia (I only know where it is because every time we went to Tallulah Gorge, we'd see the sign and someone would have to sing, "Take the last train to Clarkesville, and I'll meet you at the station ...") who has a rock garden as well. Check this out:

His name is Don Preece and that's on his acreage in Clarkesville. 

He went to the bascom and saw my trailer hitch stack

 and did one of his own:

 which I think is about cool times 18 (cool X 18).

I am going to post some more of his pics soon, but will call him and get some details on some of them. He and his wife both invited me down to visit. I'd like to do that. We'll see.

Sunday afternoon Rob and I went out to Bent Creek, to the Place Where God Hangs Out, to be exact. I fixed up this old friend, DoubleArch:

My goal was to fix the Roadside Serpent, too, but I ran outta juice. Next time.

Halloween, I am going to the bascom to bring home the stones that are out there. I'm not in stone-shape right now, as I have seen more football and sewing than Dirt lately, so I kinda dread it. The Avant Son (eldest) is coming along for vehicular and muscular support.

Come by and say "Hi." Bring gloves, and I will let you help -- for free. Enjoy Asheville's unique "Avant Garden Experience" while toting 4,000 pounds of Stone.

are fewer and not as intensely halcyonic as the Halcyon days of Spring, but we have had a stretch of Autumn days recently that is beyond words. I won't even try a description, and this picture doesn't come close to capturing the light I enjoyed today on a trail bathed in yellow from overhanging leaves at sunset:

It's still warm enough to get in the Swannanoa and do things like this:

So I did. That's Rob's Arch #26, we believe.

Behind the sewing machine, I have gotten a touch of the quilting bug. This one is made mostly of material already in my possession (I spent $14 on a few extra yards) and a sheet I bot at the outlet place for $5. I think it is cool, primarily because of the fabrics:

It fits a twin bed.

 And the time-gobblin' quilt top is still hard at work, eating as much of my time as I allow. Rainy days and football games find me with my Bernina humming. Halfway done:

The thing is going to weigh so much that no one will want to sleep under it; and to hang it, you'd have to hire someone to reframe your house. But I seem to just keep pushing and pushing it through the hungry teeth of Elsa. The thot that "no one else has one" makes it a little easier. Football helps.

The Avant Spouse and I went out to John C. Campbell Folk School

to visit my dad, who was teaching a woodworking class, and discovered this growing-tree bench while on a walk with my mum:

 I think that is cool times 18 (cool X 18) or cool times 40 (cool X 40) or maybe even cool cubed. My hat is off to whoever created such an åsome thing.

I made a list of things to do and it all starts with finishing the time-gobblin' quilt. I complain about it, but the truth is, I really like it. The pic does not make it look appealing, but there's something about it ...

Then I will make some U.S. flag wall-hanging night lights, then clean up my room before starting any  more pprojix. It's a promise I made myself. We'll see.

the days are getting shorter, the weather cooler, and brown leaves scratch across the driveway. I have moved my energy indoors early this year, so it seems, and the projick known around the Rockpile as "The Time-gobbling Quilt-top" has cost me waaaay too many hours with waaaay too little to show for it. See what I mean:

But I have fallen in love with the thing, so onward I sew, once Elsa (my sewing machine -- she's from Switzerland) gets out of the ER. In the meantime, I dragged my old sewing machine -- which is great for sewing in straight lines -- outta the cobwebs and did this blanket repair for my friend Erin:

The tag says, "Grandma's tripping again."

She wanted this yellowish thing re-sewn, and it looked thusly this morning as I laid it out on the floor:

It will be just a little different when I return it to Erin, but she said I could get creative with it.

On the rockstacking front, I finished the mailbox post for the cabin out in Maggie Valley. Here's how it woulda looked back in the 1950s:

Overall, I was pleased with it. I might go back and make a few improvements that occurred to Rob while we were installing the thing. Still thinking.

Speaking of Rob, his daughter Chris came down from Michigan for a visit and took this pic of the debris that Rob's Upstream Arch  collected during one of our recent high-water events:

 That's enough for now. I have to go upstairs to stir the stew. Hope we see more good stuff in October. It's gonna be a good month.

are greatly exaggerated. I've just been busy with things we just don't talk about in the Avant Garden. But I did find this leftover cellphone pic from Maine:

 Maine has so many rocks that they just sit around doing nothing. Big, beautiful rocks, little stackables ... just sitting around calling out to me.

 Then the AvåntSwede came to visit and I sewed three snugglesacks:

That's friend Åsa, who flew all the way from Sweden to hang out in the Avant Garden. She was so cool that I no longer say, "That's really awesome." I say, "That's really åsome." Anyway, the snuggly on the left is for her 5-year-old son (Ture), the Swede is in the snuggly that will go to her husband (Hugo) and the animal design on the right is for her 8-year-old daughter (Sandra).

I rec'd an e from her today that said, "Good things from Asheville ... Sandra and Ture are watching telly in their snugglesacks right now."

Yesterday I went hiking on the Mountains-to-the-Sea Trail and saw this creature:

It looked so plump and yummy I almost ate it, or at least brought it home to sauté in butter and garlic. 

Most of the rest of my time has been taken up by the rockstack mailbox projick I mentioned about a month ago. Here's how it looks without the threaded rod running through it:

I hope it looks just like that with the threaded rod running through it.

As I mentioned last time, it had to be a stack first and actually balance, with the threaded rod only for permanence, not balance. Does that make sense?

The Swede and I drove out to the bascom.

Trailer Hitch Arch on Pedestal is still doing well:

and look at these cool signs they put to go with it so that folks could call it something:

Once again, as all rockstackers know, that is just a little something to make you feel like someone instead of a guy so lonely he has to make rockstacks to have someone to talk to. All those Stones come home on Hallowe'en Day. It will be a joyous reunion around the rockpile that night.