Moving South (Zolfo Springs, FL)

We have covered a few miles since my last posting.  We are still making our way south towards Key West, FL.  

We stayed for the first time in Three Rivers State Park with a site on the river.  We had a great view of the airboats passing by while letting the cats explored.  We only stayed for one night and wished we had planned for more nights.  Maybe next time. 

 Our next stop was at the Suwanee River State Park.  We have been here before and had enjoyed walking the Lime Sink Run Trail several times.  This time of year it is not so much fun between large spiders making huge webs to walk through and mosquitoes having lunch on us.

Needless to say, we only walked it once this time. 😐

I did get a few good photos between ducking and dodging....

The big wheel below is from an old paddle wheel steamboat near the river path.  A much better walk under big shady trees with Spanish moss.

Next stop was Clermont, FL near Orlando.  Since June, my schedule has been to get out early before the day becomes too hot and humid for walking.  As soon as I return, we take cats out.  Hard to believe Fall officially starts tomorrow.  The weather still feels more like mid-July.

Most days have been very hazy so we end up spending most of our time indoors unless we have some shopping to do.

One good thing about hot days is that it does motivate me to get moving early enough to get those golden moment photos!  I'm rarely out the door before sunrise. 😀 ...or out of bed. 😴

By noon, the clouds are building up and soon we have a downpour that will last for about an hour or two.

We even had a nice rainbow one day.

Did I mention that our site backed up to a cattle's field?  It must have been a large fenced in area because the cattle only showed up once in awhile. I have never seen such happy cattle with so much energy by showing off their prancing and head butting skills.

We had a couple of visitors one day.  One of the Sand Cranes was begging for food until I showed him open hands.  Can a Sand Crane looked disgusted?  This one certainly gave it a good try as he walked away from me. "The nerve of some people.  Take a photo and NOT offer any food! Really!"

One more photo of the lake reflecting the clouds before we left the Orlando TT campground.

Dan discovered a Cat Cafe nearby.  I have read about the cafes in Japan and never thought we would have the opportunity to visit one in the US and here was one within a 10 minute drive from our campground!

 

The Orlando Cat Cafe is a partnership between the Axum Coffee and the Florida SPCA. All cats are up for adoption.

We ordered a small lunch with drinks from the cafe and paid $8 each to enter the Cat's room.  They limit the cat's room to 20 visitors at a time.  It was a slow day for visitors so it was nice and quiet for the cats.  We spent our time eating lunch, watching cats play or wander around, and hearing about their stories.

A very relaxed atmosphere for cats to meet their humans.  After visiting a Humane Society and seeing so many stressed out animals in cages, I have to admit that I was a little worried that I would feel very guilty for not adopting a cat, but they all looked very happy with their new temporary home.  Except for this one....such a woeful look.  Her look must have worked well on someone because her photo is gone from the adoptable list.

I felt good that we were able to donate some time and attention to the cats.  Adoptions have been very good since they started the Cat's Cafe.  I hope this idea catches on in other towns and we start seeing more of them.  

On The Cutting Board

I finally finished quilting all four quilt tops.  

I'm binding them now....

...and getting plenty of supervision from Max.  😻

2 down and 2 more to go!
Happy Quilting!

Recycled Roadrunner (Columbus, TX)

We have been spending most of our time hanging around the campground near the Colorado River in Texas.  Just taking it easy.  I haven't been taking a lot of photos so I thought I would share the photos from the Las Cruces Overlook Rest Stop.

Desert Willow and picnic area

I couldn't have asked for a more perfect day for viewing the mountains and the valley.

The picnic areas are covered and kept very clean with a grill.  Big rigs can stay overnight if you don't mind dry camping.

We really did not need to stop, but I wanted to see the recycled Roadrunner that watches over the valley. 

He was definitely worth the stop!

The artist did a wonderful job of catching the roadrunner's face using soles of shoes, wires, and a reflector with a bicycle tire for his eye.

I could see his wing had keyboards, stereo parts, and toys.  Can you see the horse?  He is just below the film wheel.

The tail had wire mesh with smaller items like cell phones, strips of metal, and belts.   All in all, it was quite interesting.  If you happen to be on I-10 and driving through Las Cruces, I highly recommend stopping here even if you are not ready for a rest.

A couple of more photos to share with you....

Moon over Benson, AZ

This is my favorite with a deer being more curious about the cats.  The cats were rather blasé about the whole encounter.  They just sat there giving her their bored look as she got closer.  She did not act threatening, but after taking this photo, I stood up to scare her away.  I felt she got a pretty good look at the strange critters and did not need to get any closer.

Curious Deer watching our cats near Medina Lake

On The Cutting Board

Since we are spending quite a bit of time around the campground, I have been able to finish another six Happy Campers.  Now, I need to spend some time taking photos and getting them listed in my shop.

 Here are some close-ups of the embroidery on the new ones.

 I started appliquéing the vine along with leaves and sweet peas on this quilt.  I should have this one done soon.

I want to get the second quilt top done before I start quilting the tops.  Time to get back to my Sweet Pea vine!

Happy Quilting!

Spring Equinox (Sutherlin, OR)

Spring is here!....or almost here.  Either way, I'm ready to start celebrating spring by getting back on the road and doing some traveling.  We leave on Monday!  We will start with Eugene first before heading south.  Oh, did I mention that we have changed our travel plans?  Yep, the weather is not cooperating.  Instead of heading due east to Bend, we will head south.

On The Cutting Board

I decided to celebrate the beginning of Spring by making new Happy Campers with little gardens.  Only three designs so far.  I'm hoping they will be a big hit so I can make more.  I miss gardening and this is as close as I will be getting to having my own garden for quite a long time.  Best part with this kind of gardening - no backache or bruised knees.😎  I made a total of 13 Happy Campers, but only four have the garden theme.  I'm adding one a day to stretch out my new items in my Etsy shop

Since we were spending quite a bit of time at home while Dan was healing, I managed to make several quilt tops.  Below are six more quilt tops ready for their appliqué add-ons. 

I made two Sweet Pea's Garden tops in different colored sashings and borders.   A sweet pea vine will go up the side and across the top.

Below:  the one on the right is just a panel with a border added.  I have had this fabric for a long time because I could not cut it up.  I decided to just leave it whole with a border and add a couple of appliquéd animals.  The one on the left is a scrappy star quilt with dog printed fabric, so I'm adding a puppy appliqué design from "P.S. I Love You Two, A Sequel".   I'm think I will call this quilt Cosmos, The Star Puppy.  I might add some paw prints across the quilt as well.

The last two are fabric leftovers from the ABCs and the Sweet Pea's quilts using the Crazy 8 pattern.  I have two more tops still being sewed together.  I hope to have them done before we leave next week.  Including the Peek-a-boo Bear quilt that I showed in a previous post, the total comes to nine quilt tops since November.  That's if I finish the last two before Monday.

Sewing in the bedroom has definitely made a difference on my sewing time.  I'm amazed I was able to get so many done in such a short time.  Less distractions?  Maybe I should go figure it out...

Happy Quilting!

First Snowfall (Sutherlin, OR)

Two weeks ago I thought Spring was on its way with the flowers popping up and my allergies suddenly going out of control.

Our days were sunny and the temperatures were starting to rise.

Max soaking up the sun.

Then Winter decided it wasn't quite ready to leave us with a mild winter.  

We are finally getting much needed rain and snow.  

 Well, the snow isn't lasting, but it is nice to see it change the landscape around us for a short time.

The cats have not been too happy with the change in weather, but I'm sure this cold front will not last long.  It would be nice to have more rain before summer gets here.

Hitch is tired from being up all night.

Dan's foot is healing and he is back to walking on his own two feet without support.  Below is Dan's  itinerary for this year's travel plans:

  We have rough plans for the coming year. We will stay in the Sutherlin OR until 26 March for medical and dental appointments, then buy eight new motorhome tires locally (no sales tax in Oregon), and add one more 180 watt solar panel in Springfield OR.
  Weather over the Cascade passes permitting, we will move over to Bend OR on the east side of the Cascade mountains for a month or two.
  After that we will drift south through Nevada on back roads, into AZ spending around one month in Benson AZ near Tucson.
  After that into New Mexico to Texas. Several months in various places in east TX and motorhome work in Nacogdoches TX where our motorhome was built.
  After that towards FL, staying at several military bases in FL, perhaps Disney or Thousand Trails parks, and eventually to Key West FL for fall and winter.
  While this is somewhat backwards by moving towards hot weather for the summer months, it also puts us into low season in campgrounds for less crowding and more space/availability.

On The Cutting Board

While Dan was on crutches and space being limited in our motorhome, I decided to try sewing in our bedroom instead of using my 6x3 foot folding table in the living room which left no space for Dan to move around.  He had a hard enough time moving around without me hogging all the space.

There is no place to sit, but I do have a desk with enough floor space for my foot pedal and for me to turn around to the bed.  The desk has enough room for the sewing machine and the small cutting board if I am doing paper foundations.  The bed makes for an excellent place to lay out my quilt blocks...

....as long as the cats are not spread out across while sleeping.  The desk with the sewing machine is the perfect height for me to stand and sew.  I'm actually enjoying my new setup and the standing is easier on my back and neck.  I can move quickly from sewing to ironing in the kitchen.  Plus, I can leave my sewing sitting out while I eat lunch or take cats outside without worrying that my stuff is in Dan's way.

So, what have I been working on?  I have finished four quilt tops.  They are waiting to be appliquéd. For now, I'll show you my most recent project and will wait to show the others after they are appliquéd.  I found a cute baby pattern called Zoey's Quilt in one of my old Quiltmaker magazines.  I like it so much that I decided to make two of them.

Quiltmaker's All-Time Favorites Winter 2005 Zoey's Quilt

I thought this pattern would be perfect for the leftover fabrics I used in Sweet Pea's Garden quilt since the pattern has an appliquéd sweet pea vine growing up the side.  The appliqué will be a big project between the long vine with the leaves and sweet peas, not to mention, I will be doing this appliqué design twice.

Below is a photo of the first top.  In the second quilt, I will replace the dark blue sashings with dark pink and the yellow borders with aqua blue (in photo above).

 I also liked the way the top and side borders are wider than the other two borders.  It looks lopsided now, but when the vine is added it will be very cute.  

 I have also been working on more mug rugs for my Etsy shop.  I have not listed them yet since I am still working on the photos.

It has been a quiet month, but very productive for me and a well deserved rest for Dan.  Time for some more sewing!  

Happy Quilting!