Settled In Our New Home (Bridgeport, TX)

I feel like I am living in a miniature condominium on wheels.  Our new home has better appliances and furniture.  A dream home for sure!  I wasn't so sure I would be happy to leave our old Bluebird with its quirks and its own unique characteristics.

Moving Day

It was strange and sad to watch our old Bus drive off, knowing I will not see it again. I know one thing - I do not want to go through a move like this again for a very very long time. The next move will have to be our last one - into a park model or a nursing home. 👵

Now, that I have had a little time to get to know our new home, I am quite happy with Dan's decision to buy this 2003 Foretravel.  It will be a very comfortable home for many years to come.

Well, would you like a tour of our new home?  Great!  We will start with the bedroom.

Slideout- Desk in bedroom

We have one small slideout in the bedroom with a desk set in it.  This desk sits a little high from the floor for cutting or sewing.  It comes up to just below my chest.  I have to raise my arms quite high to do anything on the surface, but it is perfect for using it for ironing or other close hand work that needs to be on a flat surface.  As you can see, I filled up the space below with more quilting supplies.  Once compartment holds our printer.  Excellent spot for it.  Now, I can start coping quilt paper blocks again without making Dan move!

Ceiling fan and plenty of overhead storage

We do not have as much space in the compartments below.  At first, I wasn't happy about losing all that storage,  Then I realized that now most of my supplies will be inside and I won't have to wait until morning or the rain to stop and the ground to dry so I can look for that one piece of fabric that was stored below.  Yep, every nook and cranny has been filled with fabric, supplies, and books.  

dark outside so it was hard to get enough light for photos

I just have to remember where I put everything....

Minion

Our bed is a little taller than the last one.  We worried that our old cat Squirrel would not be able to get on the bed at night, but he fooled us by climbing up the covers.  Not good for the covers...oh well, at least he is happy and not getting us up in the middle of the night to help him.

Bed is Cat-Approved

Our first night was bad with all the caterwauling all night long, but as you can see, they got use to their new home quite fast.  They all like the desk at night.  A great spot to watch for night critters.  I know because they all land on me in the middle of the night when they are done looking out the window.  Ooof! 😽

2 of 3 clothes closets and laundry

Our new bathroom is quite a bit bigger with 3 large clothes closets and a laundry closet as well.  I was able to fit quite a few of my quilt items in the bottom of this closet with our winter jackets.

I love the fact that I can now heat just the bathroom with the aqua hot heating from the floor registers.  So nice to have warm tootsies while brushing my teeth or getting ready for a shower.

bathroom

The aqua hot heating runs throughout the motorhome.  We also have ceiling heating pumps vented throughout the motorhome so I can stay toasty warm all winter.

Skylight in shower

All the furniture is covered in microfiber leather-like fabric that is self-healing. It is warm to seat on and the cats don't seem to like the fabric for scratching...so far.

I was so surprised to see my pillows were a perfect match to the sofa.  The previous owner said the fabric color is called Salsa Red.  Perfect!  With this color scheme, I am able to keep my southwest decor which is good since I just made all those pillows.

Slideout has sofa and dining booth

The layout of the living space is like being back in a house. The front slideout includes the sofa and the dining booth.  I like having the two small windows that gives me a view of the front and back areas.  Actually, I like all our windows.  They are large and open wide giving us plenty of air and views of our surrounding area.  Right now, I can see the lake and watch the birds flying around in the bushes behind our site.  It makes for great entertainment during breakfast.

dining booth and back window

I tried out our dining area for sewing today.  It will be all right for small projects.  For larger projects, I'll have to bring in my folding table.

Dan has claimed the recliner as his favorite spot to sit while I find that I like the couch.  The furniture is more comfortable.  My feet touch the floor except when I sit in the passenger seat and the previous owner made a foot stool for his wife that he gave to me.  I do believe it is going to get a lot of use while we are traveling.  But wait!  There's more....the passenger seat also has its own foot rest that pops out.  I believe I can be quite comfortable with the foot rest out while working on some of my quilt projects with a cat in my lap!

Ekornes recliner

All the cats like the new recliner.  They have already had a couple of battles over who gets to sleep in it.  It is not unusual to see two of them sleeping together in the morning.

The kitchen has a nice design to it.  I can move around without being in Dan's way when he is sitting in the dining booth.  Notice my new refrigerator?  It is huge!  We are having a hard time filling it up, but that's okay.  It is nice to store food and be able to find it again without removing half the contents of the fridge.  We also have an Advantium oven.  We speed-baked croissants and baked potatoes for Thanksgiving.  Perfect!  It has been a long time since I have served toasted brown croissants.  I may never use my roaster oven again.

Advantium Oven

The kitchen counter will be my new cutting area and with the ironing set up in the back, I should be able to add a few extra steps to my Fitbit.

Well, I hope you enjoyed your tour of our new home.  We are still getting use to it.

On The Cutting Board

I did manage to finish embroidering Drummer Boy from the "A to Zzz Snowman" quilt pattern.

I hope to have a little more time for sewing and hand work during this month.

My shop has been busy, so I should get to work on some new mug rugs too.  And of course, I have more scrappy quilts to make.  Gosh, it is never ending!  A good thing for me, right?
Happy Quilting!

This Time.... (Gordonville, TX)

..next week, we will be in our new motorhome!  ....with very sore muscles.  I'm not looking forward to the moving part, but I am excited about having a more up-to-date home.

Lake Texoma, TX

We spent this last week enjoying some great Fall weather along with quiet walks in the afternoon around the campground.

The cats have been loving this site with bushes to sniff in the back, grasshoppers to chase, and leaves to romp around in.  Yes, two of them have actually been playing in a pile of leaves that I had swept out of our sitting area.  I never thought I would see a cat jump into a pile of leaves!

Max enjoying the sunshine

Tomorrow, we move to our transition location which is in a friend's side yard.  He has plenty of space for both motorhomes.  It is very nice of him to allow us to use his yard.  It'll certainly be easier for us to park the coaches door to door.  

On The Cutting Board

I will close down my shop so I can concentrate on our move.  I plan to list three new scrappy lap quilts when I open my shop next week.  "Mushroomville" was inspired from all the mushrooms I saw during our walks in the Oregon's coastal woodland area.

They certainly are bright and colorful.  I hope each one will put a smile on a child's face someday.

This is my spin on the Fashionistas.  The main fabric has cats dressed up in boots and bows, so I named this quilt "Purrfect Cat Fashions"  Maybe I should call it Catanistas Fashionistas.   Purrfect!

The last one is "Time for a Cat Nap!" quilt

I have a lot more scrappy quilts in mind.  These three barely put a dent in my pile.

Which means I will have to start working on some new ones soon...in my new motorhome!!  In the meantime, I need to finish up some hand work and get ready for our move tomorrow.
Happy Quilting!

Waiting in Texas (Gordonville, TX)

Since my last post, we have traveled a lot of miles.  2117 miles since 8 October. We rarely travel that many miles in a short time.  Surprisingly, our cats did not complain about the long hours on the road.  They did want to explore each new stop though.  Sometimes that just wasn't an option with the overnight location.  Ever try to explain to a cat that it isn't a good idea to go outside...yea, doesn't work.

We spent a couple of nights in Williams, AZ.  A great little town within walking distance of the Grand Canyon RV Park.  We were a little worried about being so close to the train tracks.  It would not be the first time a train has woke us in the middle of the night, but to be this close really had us thinking we were in for a couple of sleepless nights.  Turned out we worried for nothing.  The trains were unusually quiet...quiet engine...only one short horn blast at the crossings...even the wheels on the tracks seemed quieter if that is possible.  Anyway, we had no problems sleeping.

We hope to return sometime in the future so we can explore more of the area and ride the train to the Grand Canyon.

 During our two day stay, we walked the streets a couple of times.  I enjoyed the old signs the most and took more photos of them than of the buildings.

 Next time, I plan to check out this gift shop.  Looks very interesting...

I did go into this shop....Of Course!  I could not pass it by with the door sitting open just begging me to come on in.  The Quilts On Route 66 was small, but fun to wander around and talk to other quilters.  

 

We stayed one night in Homolovi State Park near Winslow, AZ.  We stayed here a couple of times when we first started traveling in our old motorhome.  Great views of fantastic sunsets!

Desert Moon

I really miss the southwest landscape, so I was quite happy when we went straight into Albuquerque, NM (ABQ) from Homolovi SP.

I'm sorry to say that I did not take a single photo during our week stay in ABQ.  I spent a lot of time shopping, getting a green chile fix from Golden Pride (more than once), visiting with friends, and seeing our old haunts.  We even drove by our old house which was a big mistake since it is up for sale and falling apart.  Such a shame.

 We are settled in Gordonville, TX while waiting for our new motorhome to become available.  We have a couple of more weeks to go.

We could not ask for a better spot to relax and wait.  This is our view from the side yard.  Nice, eh?

On The Cutting Board

All summer long, my shop was very quiet.  I think I had two sales.  So quiet that I did not think to close my shop during our trip.  I just thought it would stay quiet.  It did not.....

Lots of Happy Campers!

On the very first travel day, I received an order.  I messaged back that it may take me a few days to mail since I wasn't sure how our schedule would go or where to drop off packages.  I am very thankful that she was very understanding.

New Apple and Owl Mug Rugs (coasters)

That order was the first of many during our travels south!  It was like the first customer broke open the dam and the flood of orders started!  I was excited and stressed trying to fill the orders on time.  I really did not want to close my shop since this was the most active it had been since leaving Florida.

New Southwest Vintage Trailer

With the long hours on the road, I did a lot of sewing.  All of the photos above and below are new listings.  Some have already sold.

Tea Towel, Ornament and Quilt

My fingers are crossed that my shop will see more activity through the holiday season.  During my quiet time, I had started working on some UFOs - 3 quilts and more mug rugs.  I need to get them done and listed.  Well, I better get back to the cutting board!

Happy Quilting!

Full of Surprises (Sutherlin, OR)

Here's a big surprise - we sold our motorhome within two weeks from the time Dan posted it for sale on the internet and forums.  Our fingers are crossed that our good fortune will hold up to the day we trade RVs for our newer used one in Texas this coming November.  That is when the other couple will sell their motorhome to us.

We are still in Sutherlin, OR enjoying the unusually warm fall weather with crispy cold nights.  Dan has several VA appointments in Roseburg and I have dental problems to take care of before we can move south for the winter.  While we wait, we have been debating once again on which Escapees' park we like better and this time we have surprised ourselves by admitting that Sutherlin has more to offer than Benson.  The only thing we have not liked is our phone and WiFi signals are not very strong in the park.  The park now has free WiFi for the whole park, but it is hard to get a decent signal to upload one day's worth of emails.  Hopefully by the time we decide to settle into a park, this will not be a problem.

Between appointments, I have been cleaning out my closet, pantry, cabinets, and below compartments.  I'm surprised....no, actually I'm shocked at how much stuff I have been carrying around that I have not used or have barely used in the last seven years.  You would think that with our small living space, I would not be hulling around a bunch of unused items.  Hmmm, I guess it is a hard habit to break.

Before we left Silver Creek, WA, we took Shaun out to lunch at the Rivers Coffeehouse in Morton.  Not only do they offer great food and beverages, they also have a small loaning library in the back area.  I took this photo of their book column before we left the shop.  Love it!

Rivers Coffeehouse, Morton, WA

I have been noticing more used bookstores and small loaning libraries in the smaller towns during our time in the northwest along with more yarn and quilt shops.  Even some of the small grocery stores have a book stand filled with used paperbacks conveniently located near the cashiers.  I wonder if it has to do with winters here because I certainly have a hard time finding any kind of bookstore in most southern state's smaller towns.  You know - warmer winters vs. chilly winters that just beg you to stay indoors near a fire curled up under your favorite blanket and a great adventure waiting for you to read....

Or Tea!....And Chocolate!
Pinterest Link

Even Sutherlin can boast of a wonderful used bookstore called the Books Gallery.  I love visiting this bookstore.  There are little nooks and crannies to get lost in.  Chairs offer a quiet place to read.  There is always a puzzle sitting on one of the tables for anyone to work on while they enjoy their coffee or tea with delicious baked goodies.  The shelves are overflowing with so many books that there are often piles of them sitting on the floor.   Heaven!  I brought in quite a few books for trade-in and I have done my share of helping to free up some space as well!

Cool Book Nook!

from Pinterest

Can you tell that I have been reading a lot lately.  So many books on my mind lately and speaking of books or ebooks, I have found a new cozy murder mystery series that I can really dig....no pun intended...okay, maybe just a little since it is about a gardener.  Pru Parke is a Texas ex-pat following her dream of becoming a hired gardener in England.  To start out, she has given herself only one year to find a position as head gardener with a large estate.  If she cannot get hired, she will return to Texas.  Pru soon comes to realize that she is running out of time to find the perfect job position and to solve her first murder mystery which is keeping her from gardening. 

The Garden Plot by Mary Wingate

So far, Mary Wingate has written five books about Pru and I have loved every single one of them.  I have always dreamed of living in England with a small English garden in front of my thatched roof Cotswold cottage so I am feeling a strong connection and fondness for Pru's dreams.  The stories are an easy read, fast-paced, not to mention, funny at times along with little garden facts and history.  And I have to mention DCI Christopher Pearse.  For some reason, he reminds me of Downton Abbey's Mr. Bates.  I think a lot of it has to do with his quiet demeanor during tense moments or during Pru's little whirlwind moments.

  

One more thing, the books are only published as ebooks and audio.  I'm sorry to say that there are no printed copies at this time.

  

On The Cutting Board

Besides cleaning and reading, I have been getting some sewing done.  Another way to clear out more closet space by getting some of my UFOs finished.

I finished appliqueing two of my three UFO lap tops.  One with cats....of course...

...and the second one with a tiny village of mushrooms.  I think the English gardens influenced my little village by adding in some flowers.

I hope to get all three lap tops ready for machine quilting before the end of next week.

While we are staying here at the Timber Valley SKP park, I took advantage of their large community center and basted the last of my largest UFOs.  Would you believe that it has been sitting in a container for the last seven years?  I'm so happy to have it basted and ready for the hoop.  I just need to finish the True Lover's Knot quilt and I will be ready to quilt this one.

I call this one my Albuquerque Sunrise.  I designed this quilt in my Electric Quilt software while we were both still working and living in Albuquerque.  Inspiration came from seeing the sun peek over the Manzano Mountains during the short days of winter giving me something to look forward to on my drive to work.  The brilliant colors were so amazing that I just felt a need to capture them in a quilt.  Maybe I should change the name to Manzano Sunrise.

I might surprise myself and have it quilted within a year.  Right....LOL!  Well, whenever I get it done, it will be going on our bed.  It has been too long since I have made a quilt for us and it is about time for a new one to go with our new home.

Happy Quilting!