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!

Back On The Road Again (Conroe, TX)

We have been back into our home on January 2.  I am so happy to be back home and back in a campground. So Happy!...that I have been staying busy with walks, enjoying my kitchen, making up for lost outdoor cat time, and of course, quilt projects.

I have to admit that living in the apartment for a couple of weeks wasn't too bad.  All three cats staked out their sleeping areas while Dan and I tried to form some kind of routine in our temporary quarters.  The hardest part was the traffic noise from the highway (only 50 feet away) and trying to fix meals.  The kitchen only offered a toaster and a microwave, so Dan bought a hot-plate to leave for the next tenants.  Lucky for us, we are quite happy with cold meals most of the time.

This is my throne. 
You can share the sofa with the other two minions.

 I had to share a photo of the Xtreme's office door with their graphic quilt block.  Pretty cool, right?

I went one time with Dan to check out the repair progress.  I'm really glad we did not stay in our coach.  The fumes were strong inside the bay area.  I noticed the workers wearing air-filtered masks and wished I had one!

As you can see, the work was worth the wait.  There was a nine-inch crack running from the bottom corner of the slide that almost touched the bottom seam above the tire.  There were several spots that needed touch-ups and fiberglass repair that were glaring before and now looks perfect.

 While we waited, we spent some time exploring Nacogdoches' walking trails since there was no place to walk around the business area.

 We ended up going to the park and walking several of the different trails.

The trail linked under the street from Pecan Park to Stephen F Austin State University with more walking trails through the campus' botanical gardens.  From the campus, we were able to cross over a bridge to another trail that took us into an azalea garden with artwork to view.  Which was great since there wasn't much in bloom at the moment.  I would love to be here in the springtime for the blooming season...or would that be the sneezing season?😕

The artwork below is my favorite.  It looks like a Tiny House with Attitude!

And speaking of houses, I just love this B&B house.  Isn't it gorgeous?  We came across this beautiful house while walking around the downtown area.  The Jones Family house was built in 1897.  The link has better photos.

Moving back into our coach seemed a lot easier than moving out and it went a lot smoother not to mention a lot faster.  Maybe my attitude had something to do with it.  I was in a hurry to get back into our old routine.  As you can see, so did Max!  He's back to his favorite spot on the dashboard cleaning his fur despite being close to the highway and all the traffic noise.  We were parked in front of Xtreme's building when I took this photo.

Dusty is back to his old habits as well.  Time for breakfast?  Time for Dusty's "give me attention" time!

On The Cutting Board

Even Hitch showed how happy he was to be back home by helping me arrange my Day of the Dead blocks.

Yea, you really should consider putting
a handsome kitty like me right here.

I'm way ahead of you, Hitch!  The following photos are the projects I worked on during our stay in the apartment.  This one is quite a challenge for me.  I'm trying to decide how to add this embroidered kitty's face to the quilt.  I might need to use fusible webbing with embroidered raw edging this time instead of turn-under appliqué.  To be continued.....LOL!

To make the waiting time in the apartment go faster I packed up a lot of handwork-only UFOs to take with me.  I did quite well with getting almost all the projects ready for the sewing machine.  I finished hand-piecing the last five blocks for the Southwest quilt.  Now I need to sew on the sashings and start basting the blocks for quilting.

I had two of the three Unicorns done before we moved so finishing the last one only took a couple of hours.  I just need to spend some time sewing all the blocks together.

I love browsing through Urban Threads for new embroidery projects.  The site offers machine and hand embroidery in the same design at low prices.  The cute Unicorns above and the Carousel Horse below are from Urban Threads.  I have two more Carousel Horses to embroider before sewing the blocks together.

This Christmas beaded project was the only decoration I took with me.  It was almost done.  So finishing this one kept me from missing my little tree and decorations this year.

Okay, one more photo of my second try at making the Twitter quilt pattern.   Coming up with a paper-piecing pattern for the 4-inch on-point windmill block made it so much easier.  I had finished the top before we moved but forgot to take a photo to add to my last post.  So, here it is!  Ta-Da!  I'm very happy with the end results.

Well, I feel like I have created a bigger pile of UFOs.  At the same time, I did manage to move all of them towards the finish line.  Now I need to start a 'get 'er done!' mode!😊

Happy Quilting!

Día De Los Muertos

 Day of the Dead

I never get tired of wandering around historic Old Town Albuquerque - an old Spanish settlement founded in 1706.   There are several sites with information about the historic Old Town area.  I only picked out two of the sites. Here are a few photos I took along our walk...just to give you a taste of the old southwest....

shady walk

San Felipe de Neri Church rebuilt in 1793

Ristras

We walked around the Plaza surrounded by traditional adobe style buildings doing a little window shopping, wandering down little alley ways, smelling delicious spicy aromas, and viewing a variety of artwork. 

It is always a peaceful walk.  I find the multi-cultural artwork and the southwest colors are very inspiring.

Old Town is getting ready to celebrate the Day of the Dead and All Souls Day.  The Mexicans have celebrated the Day of the Dead for centuries.  

Later, the Spaniards moved the celebration date to coincided with their All Souls Day with the Day of the Dead to keep the ritual more Christian.   

If you want to read more about the history, please click on the following links:

Dayof the Dead History and Day of the Dead in Mexico 

Today, depending on the location the Day of the Dead is celebrated in many ways.  Basically, it is a time to honor the dead by playing their favorite music and fixing their favorite foods.  This is a wonderful way to remember loved ones and to celebrate life.  

Here's a Treasury filled with Day of the Dead artwork.  Enjoy!