Moving South (Lakehills, TX)

Yesterday was a travel day!  We moved deeper into the south of Texas and hill country.  I'm not sure the cats enjoyed our long trip today, but I certainly enjoyed the scenery along the way.

Dusty:  Did she say TRAVEL DAY?!  oh no...

Max: Yep, that's what I heard.  I hope those outdoor cats are not joining us.
Squirrel:  Me too!  I chased that one cat away twice and he still came back!
Dusty:  Sigh....but I like it here.  Can I go outside one more time...pleeeease?

Before we left Whitney, we had two beautiful days of sunshine this week.  I took the opportunity to get a couple of photos of the Hillsboro's Courthouse.  Since the courthouse sits in the center of town, we could not miss it every time we drove through.  Many of the small Texas towns have these majestic courthouse buildings.  

We could see the clock tower long before we got within a couple of courthouse.  Once we were able to get a closer view, the details were amazing.  I love the clock tower along with the dormers, 

gables, and wrought iron.  I felt like we were somewhere in Europe.  

Of course, I had to take a couple of close-ups so I could share.

The column tells the story about the bell.  I should have taken photos of the story.  Short memory problem.

Bell rescued after a fire

The Wishing Thread by Lisa Van Allen

Amazon recommended this book because I'm a big fan of Sarah Addison Allen. When I read the description, I thought this was a story that I was really going to enjoy reading.  Some of the reviews mentioned this story paralleled Practical Magic.

For centuries, the women of the Van Ripper (Rip Van Wrinkle kept popping up in my mind...hmm) family had the power to knit spells into their projects.  They have lived in the same old house in Tarrytown/Sleepy Hollow since the Revolutionary War.  The potential of knitting a magical story about three sisters bonding, a love story, and saving the town square did sound quite interesting, but...

it turns out that the story had a hard time keeping my attention.  I kept hoping the story would finally hook me, but it never happened.  I got to the point that I started to skim just to finish it.  I'm not sure if it was the living conditions (living in a decrepit dusty old house) or the main character just didn't appeal to me (she seemed a little too mousy for someone with a mystical mysterious family background).  Plus the magic seemed to get explained away instead of leaving it to the reader's imagination.  Anyway, just because I did not like the book, some of you might enjoy it. 

On The Cutting Board

Speaking of magic, I saw "Snowmen A to Zzzz..." from Crabapple Hill Studio a couple of years ago and it put its own spell on me.  I just could not forget about it.  Each time I have seen a finished quilt with these cute snowmen, I would consider buying the pattern again.  Recently, I saw another finished one in a quilt show online and I gave in.  Yep, like I really need another project...I ordered the pattern anyway.  Can you guess which block I started with?  It wasn't 'A'.  ;)

I have also been working on more red and aqua Happy Campers.  Three embroidered and three more to go before I move on to the next step.

Time to go to bed.  I need to get some rest so I can get an early start on all my projects!

Happy Quilting!