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!

Worldwide Quilting Day! (Whitney, TX) 21 march

  March 19 was the first day of Spring and with Spring comes hope.  

I am hoping I am finding you and your family members doing well during these uncertain times.  

Thanks to social media, I have many quilting friends living around the world.  So today, I thought I would take a break from all the news to celebrate Worldwide Quilting Day on March 21.  Quilt Alliance is celebrating National Quilting Day through their Facebook page.  They are asking for your stories and pictures.

And if you happen to run out of supplies for Quilting Day.....okay, stop laughing and get up off the floor.  You probably know this already, but just in case someone hasn't heard what some of the local shops are going to stay open and serve their customers.  I have seen quite a few local quilt shops offering curbside pick-ups.  Some are taking phone orders while others are offering both phone and online orders.  It warms my heart to see and hear how people are finding ways to work around our social distancing.

Last month, a friend of ours, not to mention, a brilliant quilter,  pointed out that we were staying in a park close to the Texas Quilt Museum.  Thank you Cathy! (right now, the link is only showing the museum's store)

Dan saw Cathy's suggestion and offered to take me to La Grange for the day!  Just a reminder, this was in February.

This is my first view of the inside surrounded by quilts above and on the walls.  Oh my!

This photo includes the museum's gift shop and nearby....

a Raffle quilt.

 "Home Is Where The Army Sends Us" by Kristin La Flamme  This one I can relate to with my husband being in the Air Force for 27 years with the many moves and relocating our family to new areas.

I love how she set up her fiber art homes inside a shopping cart.  

Below is another room displaying some unusual fiber art.  Yes, the one quilt next to the Lynx quilt is glowing.  My close-up did not come out. 😒

Mary Pal created "The Drifter" with cheesecloth on a black background.

Just look at the detail of wrinkles around his eye.  In case you are wondering what he is holding.  He is playing the harmonica.  I spent quite a bit of time staring at this one.

On the opposite wall, the empty fast food quilt caught my eye with all the wording in it.

"The American Still Life: The Weight of the Nation" by The Pixeladies (Kris Sazaki & Deb Cashatt).

The Pixeladies create their artwork with words and phrases cut from written articles that were collaged on paper, scanned and printed on fabric creating a wholecloth that is heavily quilted by machine.  Their statement is perfectly clear in this piece.  I wonder if they will create a quilt about what the world is facing this year.

The "Geometric" by Fumiko Nakayama used the traditional mola reverse appliqué.  She used the original techniques developed by the Guna people of Panama.  Her stitches are so tiny that I almost went cross-eyed trying to find them.

I am very envious of her perfectly round circles.  I have the hardest time keeping my fabric from getting pointy folds no matter how thin I trim my seams.  They say practice makes perfect.

I was pleasantly surprised to see Caryl Bryer Fallert-Gentry's "New Dawn".  I have been following Caryl for more than 10 years.  I find it fascinating the way she manages to make most of her fiber art look like it is always in motion.

The Phoenix is one of my favorites.  I love the spiraling flying geese, but getting a close-up look of the Phoenix's face and eye....oh my! 

If you are interested in seeing more of her work, she has several in her gallery online for viewing.

Two more photos of quilts in a third room.

There is a slide show on a continuous loop talking about different quilters that was quite interesting to watch.

We also spent some time walking around La Grange's downtown area....

viewing another beautiful and unique county courthouse.

 I especially liked the gargoyle staring down at the visitors as they walked towards the doors.   There was another one on the opposite side.

 We have moved to Lake Whitney, TX and will be here until April 5.  We have extended our stay in Texas a little longer after being notified that the Oregon State Parks are closed and our reservations have been canceled.  Of course, our travel plans can change if this situation improves.

Path in Colorado River TT park

In the meantime, we will take isolated walks around the park and keep our outings to early morning trips to the grocery stores.

On The Cutting Board

After visiting the Texas Quilt Museum, I went next door to a quilt shop and found the perfect backing for the Jungle quilt.  After washing the fabric, Hitch decided he needed to supervise my ironing and make sure I got all the wrinkles out.

Later, Hitch consulted with Dusty about how they liked the new quilt and the backing.

Dusty helped me with arranging the blocks for another quilt.  He was a very big help.

Dusty likes this quilt the best.  He is waiting for the birds to move.  Tweet! Tweet!

 By the way, the shoe on the bed happens to be Dusty's chew toy.  It was one of my shoes until Dusty claimed it.  I'm just glad he stopped chewing on my other shoes.  The stinker went through half my working shoes before we came up with a compromise.  He can have one pair of shoes, but he needs to leave the other shoes alone.  He has honored that promise since we left Albuquerque in 2009.  Such a good kitty!

One last photo of the Texas Blue Bonnets in the nearby fields.

So, what are you doing to stay busy?  Reading?  Creative projects?  Movie marathons!
Stay safe, stay healthy, and Happy Quilting!