1/5/2022 0 Comments Thank You For Sundogs!1/5/22 You might have noticed that I have a thing about sundogs! Sundogs are infrequently seen and don't last for long. To me, it's like finding a 4 leaf clover! So when my sister-in-law, Mary, snapped this photo, it boosted my mood and I hope it does for you, too! She lives in a spot that gets cold, snow, ice and lots of wind! The perfect combination for sundogs! While sundogs are blazing up north, I've been making some progress on my hand sewing work. The pictures below show my "studio"! And the messy kitchen counter, but those are clean dishes, at least! And my vintage crockpot! I was working on completing row #8 in my current English Paper Piecing project. The way this is assembled is row by row horizontally. There are 40 rows and 25 hexagons in each row. Then the row is stitched onto the previous row. There is a whole grid that shows me which colors go where to make the final result look like it does in the bottom picture. I started working up the individual hexagons quite awhile back. I use a fabric glue stick to secure the fabric to a paper hexagon. Yesterday, I started to remove some of those papers on the back side of the quilt, and had a few struggles. Normally, the glue loosens with time and the paper is easy to pop out. But whatever glue I was using back then was not acting that way, or maybe I had used too much? Either way, I ended up moistening the problem spots, and after 15 seconds the paper released. Then I had to iron the back side because a lot of the edges and corners were a bit out of place. So I'm going to need to do some trials as I go and make sure the glue I am using is OK. Because I would really like to complete more rows before I put this one aside and start in on something else in my bag of tricks! The last photo shows the full quilt, not my own picture! It's called Hex On The Beach because, well, it's hexagons and the fabrics used are a beachy/nautical theme. Nothing to do with the fact that we are looking forward to some beachtime! In case you are wishing that you, too, could have Hex On The Beach, I know you can get all of the papers to make this for yourself, I know that Paper Pieces can supply those. The fabric is a different story, because it likely is not all available anymore. However, you can create your own color story and have just as much fun or maybe even more! One thing that I will note is the fact that the called for paper pieces are 1" hexagons. I switched to ¾" hexagons. That is because the kit I used contained all the fabrics pre-cut, and the 1" pieces that I tried seemed to be too skimpy on the seam allowance compared to what I usually use. Paper Pieces has an option to purchase the template to use in cutting the fabric and if you get that, ask for the ⅜" seam allowance. My finished project will end up smaller than the kit states, which is 43" x 60". That's enough Hex On The Beach for today! 1/6/22 Our big excitement for today was an alligator sighting! There is a little spot in the park that has a little observation deck, and the rangers had told us that there is a gator in the park that is sometimes seen there. Today, Bob spotted it! He was biking, so came back to the campground to pick me up and we went back to the spot. The gator hadn't moved at all, but probably wasn't dead! She/he didn't move at all while we watched, and we couldn't see her entire body, I guess she's camera shy! There were some little turtles perched up on a log, too. To give you a little better perspective, there's a picture of Bob, too. The gator is on the bank just right of him. He refused to poke her with a stick so I could get a picture! This morning we went on a long walk through some neighborhoods around the park, it was perfect weather for it. We ended up down at the waterfront at the East Beach of Ocean Springs. I enjoy looking at the neighborhoods, and I picked out this house to turn into a retreat house! Bob is really looking forward to that! And it's nice to see some flowers in bloom, no matter what the season is.
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1/4/2022 1 Comment Coastline!1/3/22 We made it to the coast! Yay! We did not have a long day of driving, so we easily made our way south through Mississippi to Gulf Islands National Seashore, Davis Bayou campground. But before we get to that, here's our last campsite at Wendy Oaks RV Park, Florence MS. It was a cold night there, the temp was below freezing but not enough to freeze our pipes nor this little lake. Back to the bayou -- This is actually not an island, like the rest of the area of this park. We are on a bit of land next to the small city of Ocean Springs, not far from Biloxi. It's a quiet, green oasis for us for the next 6 days. We had some time to get our bikes out and ride them a short distance to the Visitor Center before heading back to the trailer before dark. Wouldn't want to run into one of the local gators after dark! The staff at the Visitor Center were very helpful with maps and information, and we watched the video about the park. 1/4/22
Today was a late start for us, just nice to laze around a bit and realize we don't have to drive at all today if we don't want to! We did eventually get something to eat and drive a short distance into Ocean Springs. We parked in the old downtown area and enjoyed window shopping, getting some local coffee, and later a little lunch. We also picked up some groceries and stopped at a Walgreen's to arrange to pick up a prescription tomorrow. It was cool but sunny, and warming up to 50 in the afternoon. I liked the downtown area, some nice shops that I will stop back for when I can go without Bob! It's not that he complains about it, but sometimes I can read the unspoken message from him that he would rather be doing anything else in the world! Maybe you know what I mean!? The trailer is feeling more homey, now that we can leave some things out since we aren't moving for a few days. Some family pictures, the lawn chairs, bikes, etc. Bob also disconnected a stereo speaker that was on the floor under the dinette. It was an obstacle to getting the recliner positioned optimally. And it didn't really provide a lot of enhancement to the sound for music or TV. Now we just have to find a place to stow it away for 3 months! Space is always a consideration with everything having to do with our trailer. We intentionally did not pick a larger trailer for a number of reasons, which we still stand by, but we also have to live with the fact that 27' x 10' = 270 square feet of living space for 2 adults! Since we might someday want to trade this trailer for something else, we keep all the original stuff. Our evening entertainment was a few episodes of "Bones", a TV series that we didn't watch before. So we've started at the beginning and watch it when we feel like it. We haven't had good luck with trying to stream video when we are traveling, so we do buy second-hand DVD's to bring with us. When we finish, we can drop it off at a donation center. And we have a tiny bit of space freed up! 1/3/2022 0 Comments Rain, Rain, Go Away!1/2/22 Three state lines crossed! That doesn't happen very often! To be honest, Tennessee was just a short drivethrough around Memphis to get to Mississippi. We travelled a lot of soggy miles yesterday, through a lot of agricultural area that will need to dry out if anything is going to get planted this spring! I don't know what the soil is like here, whether it holds onto moisture or not. At home, we live on a large sand dune, or so it seems! We do have very sandy soil and water runs right through it. I don't think there is much sand in this soil. We rolled along from 8ish to 5ish, and the 3rd day of driving/riding is taking a toll on our muscles and joints! Bob has done all the driving so far, because of the sketchy weather. We've been listening to a book by Nevada Barr, Flashback, about the Dry Tortugas National Park. We will be visiting there in March. If you're not familiar with this author, she writes a series of books about Anna Pigeon, a ranger at various National Parks. It's fiction, and entertaining especially if you have been to the parks in the stories. The picture below shows our array of accessories for travel. In the lower left corner of the windshield we have the Tire Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS) mounted. It works by bluetooth with sensors placed on the trailer tires, and lets us know if they are all up to pressure and not over heating. In the center of the dashboard, we have the trailer rearview camera screen mounted. This helps a lot, not only for backing into a site but for better visual on what's driving behind us. Just left of that is a phone mount for the phone taking this picture, and another phone mount on the lower right along with charging cords. Between the 2 phones and the in-dash screen, we can watch the map and weather easily, and get some entertainment, too! As you can see from these pictures, it was a grey world all around us! We'll be grateful for any little bit of sunshine when it comes our way!
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February 2022
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Hi! I'm Pam! Join me on this journey through the next steps of life!
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