Moving the Camper

Sunday the hubster and I took off to bring the camper to his next job site. He'll be home for hopefully three weeks but we are limited on space to park the huge thing.

We left Tennessee around lunchtime in the rain. The mountains are beautiful in the rain. It feels like you are in the clouds.

I do admit to being more than a little nervous while we were coming thru the mountains. Traffic was heavy and I really have not ridden in the tow vehicle many times over the years. I'm usually following or at home since the boy loves to help the hubster do this. So this is what I did while we rode. Lots of time to handquilt and I got a lot accomplished on this part of the double wedding ring for my sister. My stitches aren't too bad for riding in a bumpy truck. 

 Another view of the ride.















And last but not least this is how we ended up at the new campsite....NOT fun! We were stuck! The owner had to come with his tractor and pull us out. I wish I had taken a picture of that but I was too busy holding my breath!

A week away..

Dh has been working out of state the last month. I hate him being so far away but it did give the boys and I the opportunity to get a week away. Things have been crazy lately so it was much needed.


We started out Monday exploring the lake we were camped by. Beautiful....absolutely beautiful! And that water? Warm, it probably helped that there are three power plants using that lake for cooling. Temps in the 70's that day didn't hurt either. This end of the lake was shallow and the boys had a blast walking all over that part. There was some amazing driftwood that made me so want an aquarium again. Sadly though I hurt my foot walking that day and was laid up the next day so the boys spent that time exploring the woods and riding their bikes.

Look at the size of that deer track! The boy wear a size 11!

Snail and turtle shells.....

Rinsing off the turtle shell               

Bird tracks in the mud

I rallied after resting my foot (getting older and having issues suddenly pop up stinks) and we went to Sevierville next. There is a huge knife store there and the boys were begging to go to it. So being the kind of mom that thinks every boy should have a good knife, off to the knife store we went. I'm not sure that the youngest will get a lot of use out of what he got other than being able to show it off to his buddies. I will benefit about as much because I earn "Coolest Mom" status for awhile lol.

Oldest son got one he can actually carry in his pocket....look at those curls he has! He definitely got that from me.

Cleaning time!

Yes the machine....the house can wait lol! I've done several baby quilts and some piecing and it was time to clean and oil my machine. Boy was it due! She is now purring right along.

Anvil Blocks...

I've been busy making these little 6" blocks for awhile now. I started a few months back and thought I had cut all I needed for a king size quilt. Obviously I was wrong because I got 5 rows made and ran out of pieces. Hmmm.....I also ran out of the fabric I was using or its hidden somewhere in the depths of one of the scrap bins. That put me in a slump and I put them away till this week. Then I got an idea and pulled them out, I decided to scrappy it up! Here are a few of the scrappies.

 These are the original blocks I started with so not too different.

 And these are what I plan on adding in...I'm going to take apart the rows I already have done and blend in these brighter and scrappier blocks.

 I don't know why but for some reason these blocks were so hard at first. Now they're easy but I still put this one below together wrong lol.I was talking and sewing and apparently I can't do both.  I do wish I had made them a bit bigger though, maybe 9 inches. While I'm making these I am going to just go ahead and make enough to do a small lap quilt that will be gifted to someone.

Snow day

Enjoying it while it lasts!

A Perfectly Relaxing Day....

That is how I would describe yesterday. Other than a short trip out yesterday morning I stayed home and played in my studio all day. I made the ties for my niece's crib bumpers. I'm not yet brave enough to make the actual bumpers so I'm working my way up to it lol!

I used my new iron to press them and then I started pulling scraps out for the anvil quilt I set aside a few months ago. I didn't have anywhere near enough fabric cut and was out of what I used so I got frustrated and put it up. Now I am refreshed and just making it scrappy.  I pressed and pressed and pressed, and then I cut more 2.5" squares and I pieced more anvil blocks.

Netflix was on and I was chilled! If you haven't seen it google "Netflix and quilt", there is a neat t-shirt being printed now with that saying. While I would love to have one I'm NOT paying $27 for a t-shirt!

I woke up this morning to a light dusting of snow on the ground.....I was hoping for more since this is all we've gotten this winter but we'll take what we get. I'm hoping it will set the blackberries so we have a good crop this year. Blackberry muffins, blackberry pancakes, blackberry jam.....yummy!

 Here's my setup yesterday. My little basket of leaders and enders over on the right is filling up. I may work years on that though before I have enough to make any size quilt. I'm also questioning my sanity of the size of those tumbler pieces.

 I had a bedtime snack of my dd's homemade peanut butter cookies and a glass of milk and Miss Calikat thought since she helped me quilt she deserved some too! See her in my lap above? It turned out she only wanted the milk though. Spoiled cat!

 After our snack we decided it was bedtime and since the hubster didn't make it home this weekend due to the weather, Miss Cali snuggled up and slept with me. That is where she stayed all night long and anytime I moved she stuck her paw out to grab my hair.

A new iron!

Technically I didn't "need" this iron. I have an iron that works but it's lightweight and I really like a heavy iron for pressing. So for weeks I have been going back and forth over whether or not to do this. I finally broke down though and boy am I happy I did! I love the feel of this. It's nice and heavy and pressing blocks doesn't seem like work. I do need to get used to the fact that it has an on/off button. My other iron is a really cheap one and that is one thing I have missed having. I even used the steam function and it was great. So this is my excitement for the week. Now I am just itching to press fabric lol!

And here is the baby quilt for my niece. I am also making crib bumpers for her (first time doing that) and I used my new iron to press the ties for them.

Can I just say how much fun I am having with Google?

Right now Google is rocking my world lol! Everyone has google right? But are you really using it? I know I wasn't. I mean I checked my email and that was it. It all started with our homeschool group having difficulties with yahoo email. Some get the emails but quite a few don't get them for weeks if ever. We started looking at google groups to see if it would be a good alternative for us. We think it will and this summer we will make the transition. But then I started playing around with all the other things google has to offer. Like photos....usually it is a slight pain to email photos from my phone to the computer, with google photos though I just pull them up. Probably the neatest thing though happened Sunday night. Dh travels for work and is having to miss our small group study on Sunday nights. We're studying Revelation and he was upset he couldn't be there. So I recorded it on my phone, uploaded it to my google drive and shared it to him. Worked perfectly!

In the quilting world I've been busy!! My room is clean and I've turned out two baby quilt tops in two weeks. One will be tied tonight and the other just as soon as I can piece the backing. I didn't take a picture of the first after it was completed but here it is in the making. The backing is below and will be turned diagonally.

 This one is for my great nephew due in May. I also have to make crib bumpers to match this.

And yes, I shared these from my phone with Google photos :-)

Such a busy year!

This year my baby girl graduates. I am not sure where the time has gone. In my mind she should still be this little smiling, snaggle-toothed child. But in reality she is a beautiful young woman. We're trying to get ready for graduation.....oh the details of it all. Decorations, programs, invitations, caps and gowns, food, just so much to think of and prepare for. We went to the beach last month to take senior pictures and were blessed with absolutely gorgeous weather. I mean it was February and we were in shorts! These are two of my favorites. She had to have her brothers go with us for the pictures.

Only two more to graduate from our little homeschool and we will be done. I'm not quite sure what I will do with my time then. Most likely I will go on the road with the hubster until he retires and I will spend a lot of time quilting.