Texas Holding Pattern (Whitney, TX)

We have been very fortunate with timing and our Thousand Trail RV park membership.  In March, we managed to get a very nice shady site with full hook-ups and some privacy at Lake Whitney TT RV park.  We were lucky to get a site with sewer and 50 amp since there are not that many in this park, so we can use our own washer/dryer instead of the park's laundry room.

Under our contract agreement, we can only stay for three weeks at a time in one park.  Our plans were to move on to Bay Landing then to Texoma, TX before making our trek back to Oregon. 

Path to Lake Whitney

Before our three weeks were up, the lockdown was announced and some of our reservations were canceled.  We thought about making a fast move north, but there was also the problem of closed rest areas along with national and state parks.  Plus, there was the question of privately owned parks being closed to newcomers.  We decided to stay in Texas, but we were also worried about new reservations with Thousand Trails and getting to the new location before they closed for shelter-in-place orders.

That's when the Thousand Trails HQ offered to shelter-in-place all current campers.  They have done this several times since the US started the lockdown.  The staff here has been great in answering questions, offering to shop, and opening a small food bank for the park's campers.

Lake Whitney

We have been here for six weeks and are now extended thru the first week of May.  We plan to stay in Texas until late May when we hope to try again for our move north.

Blooming Indian Paintbrush

We could not have asked for a better location to spend our quarantine time. We walk every morning as long as there are no morning thunderstorms in the area.

Blue Bonnet

We have access to the lake along a couple of trails with fields of blooming wildflowers.  Such beautiful views!

Except for our walks and our once-every-1-to-2-week grocery shopping, we are not leaving the coach.  After 40+ years of thinking this is just another chore, I never thought I would get so excited about going grocery shopping.

The county we are in has a low count of Covid-19 confirmed, but we are still careful while shopping by wearing our masks and following the guidelines.  

I had trouble concentrating on any one thing for the first couple of weeks. I found it hard to read or watch TV without thinking 'well, they can't do that anymore', but I finally got into a routine that worked well for me.  Max was certainly accommodating by changing his nap time so he could get extra cuddles.

All the cats have been enjoying the extra time we are spending with them.  I believe they are more spoiled than ever before.  Dusty now demands attention when we wake up, time for bed, and before we can get on our laptops.  Even when we are outside, he expects us to talk to him and walk him around the site.

Can't you see that I'm using the laptop?  You'll have to wait!

On The Cutting Board
All the quilts that I was working on back in December were still works-in-progress until recently.  I finally finished the embroidery on the last two quilts and pulled out my table for a week's worth of layering, quilting, and binding.

I'm happy to report that along with my great-grandson's baby quilt, I have finished five more quilts!

Blake's Jungle by Rachel Newman

The three quilts on the right have the embroidered carousel horses and unicorns. But the bird quilt....well, I really did not think I would finish that one. It fought me the whole time. This pattern is called "Twitter" by Meags & Me, but I prefer calling it "Tweeters" due to all the cute birds.

The photos are not the best since I had to use our outdoor folding chairs to prop them on before I stored them away. I usually use the children's play area to hang the quilts for photo taking, but I won't be doing that anytime soon. There are times when our new 'normal' feels a little surreal.

Fenced off playground

Here's quilt #5. The last time I mentioned this project, I was having a hard time trying to figure out how to proceed. I decided for the first time to use fusible webbing and raw edges in a quilt.

After I finished the embroidering, I doubled all of the white fabric using fusible webbing. I then fused the double-layer to the black cat and used the button-hole stitch along the raw edges. I just hope it will hold up to a lot of washings. The cat's body and head were done with turn-under appliqué.

Once he was appliquéd to the quilt, he seemed a little hard to see. Outlining the cat with large white stitches helped, but from a distance, he still blends in.

I found a new way to take photos
of my quilts using two clothes hangers.

As you can see, Hitch was not impressed and wanted to know if it was time for dinner. He is just wasting away waiting for me to feed him.

whatever....where's my food?

Stay safe. Stay healthy.Happy Quilting!