On The Move (Wills Point, TX)

We are doing a lot of miles for the next couple of weeks.  Destination:  Spokane, WA.

Since leaving Key West, we have spent almost three weeks in Central Florida getting some shopping done before moving onto the Stephen Foster Folk Culture Center State Park on the Suwanee River.  We visited this park last year, but we did not stay in the park.  The campground is one of the best for clean sites, extra large, and private.  We linked up with one of our friends and her family from our short-lived Amazon days. 

There are 97 tubular bells in this tower.  It chimes every 15 minutes and serenades visitors with music by Stephen Foster.  The sound of the chimes were very soothing and added to the overall peaceful feeling.

Our next stop was in Pensacola, FL to visit with two more traveling friends and our cats favorites (ours too).  We try to meet up with this couple whenever we are nearby.  We are not sure who enjoys the visit more - us, them, or the cats (who at this moment are spoiled beyond repair!).

Ready for 2 days of travel - Pensacola, FL

We spent one night in a Walmart parking lot in Ruston, LA.  Wow, this place was busy.  I felt like we were sitting on the side of the highway because cars were flying through the parking lot. Needless to say, we were both feeling a little sleep deprived when we woke at 5 am.  The good news is that we got a very early start on the road and made it to Wills Point, TX in time for lunch.  Traffic wasn't too bad, but we ran into heavy rains and wind.  We are east of Dallas and very lucky that we were on the edge of the damaging storm that hit the city yesterday with baseball sized hail.  The hail here was about the size of a nickel.  It certainly sounded threatening when it was hitting the roof of the motorhome.

Next stop:  Lawton, OK

On The Cutting Board

Recently, I have started a lot of new projects because my shop is almost empty....again. 

My Happy Campers have grown their own set of wings!  They are flying out of the shop as fast as I make them!  I never dreamed they would become so popular.

My cutting board is full of new Happy Campers.  The most popular has been for more aqua/red vintage trailers.  I have several of them in my WIP pile.

I have received several different requests and inquires about different mug rugs.  These requests and inquires give me new ideas for more mug rugs.  

A long time ago, my sister had asked if I could make a mug rug with a black bear.  I did not forget her request.  It is hard to come up with a design of a black bear that doesn't look like a black blob.  I'm still looking for the perfect way to represent a black bear with fabric.  In the meantime, I came across this bear profile in a tattoo website that allows people to use their designs for free, but you have to change the design.  I did this design in three different ways.  Here is a peek at the first one.

Another customer asked about mug rugs with an apple or a cat design.  The apple was easy to come up, but I'm still looking at cat designs in books and online.  I'm sure I can come up with something.

All has been put aside to work on a new Happy Camper custom order for a Southwest theme with a road runner for our Pensacola friends.  I'm so excited about this new challenge that I have already sketched out four designs!  I can't wait to get started on this one.  I have a feeling that no matter which one they pick, I will be making more of the others as well. 

As if I don't have enough projects to keep me busy, I have added more new projects to my pile below.  My time will be filled for quite awhile getting all these mug rugs ready for the shop.  What's really bad it that this is just one of my piles of new mug rugs.  I also need to get to work on some new quilts and finish my wall hangings.

I am hoping to be available for another craft show in the future.  It was rather nice to be able to talk to customers while they browsed, but it isn't going to work if I do not get moving on my projects!

 But Wait!  There's more!.....I am also trying to finish my Southwest pillow covers.

My plans were to finish four pillow covers during the winter in Key West which I am happy to say did not happen because I was too busy fulfilling customers' orders and for the two craft sales.

I did get one done.  Yep.  One down and three to go!

I should have plenty of time to finish many of my new projects on the road since we will be trying to cover a lot of miles in the next month or two.  Less distractions when I have to sit during our travel time.  I certainly cannot go for a walk during that time.  Lots of sewing time instead!
Happy Quilting!