The Sun Actually Came Out

Saturday,  5/31

Another early start and what we thought was going to be a sunny day.  But one hour into our ride it started getting very cloudy and then very foggy.  Rain wasn't as bad today. As soon as we entered Texas the sun came out.  We traveled over 300 miles again today and ended in Amarillo, TX. We set up camp, walked dogs and drove to the nearest car wash to clean off the very dirty tow car.  Then Johnny wanted to see historic Route 66.   Well guess what?  Here in Amarillo there is only one block left. Plus it was widened and it's full of shops.  Not what Johnny expected and he was very disappointed.  We walked thru 2 antique shops....I'm lucky I got him in 2.  I did find 2 tea pots that I plan to make tea Cozies for and sell at my craft show.  Great gift idea for the tea drinker..

 

Check out the vintage clothes in this one shop I went into.  Boy was it fun to see all the poodle skirts she had. And if I was looking for them, she also had a ton of Red Hats.

Then on the way back to the camp ground we decided to stop for dinner at the steak house that has the 32 oz. steak.  Our waiter tells us there was a lady in there recently who ate not one but 2 and the first one in less than 5 minutes.   WHAT!!!!  I just find it hard to believe.

So we are now in HOT, DRY, weather.  And I promise you I won't complain.  I'm over winter and rain.  I will now start piling on the sun screen and wear my shirt.  Nothing on TV any more and the sun is still bright at 8 pm and I should be sewing. But to take it out for a few hours and have to pack up again is just crazy. These one nighters, trying to get to the Grand Canyon makes it hard to unpack.  When we hit somewhere we plan to be a while I can unpack and start sewing.

We head out for New Mexico tomorrow and for sure don't want to stay more than over night there. After that if we are making good time we will look for some places to visit before the Grand Canyon. I have been posting pictures on FB but just can't get them here right now. With Flagstaff burning, and we haven't seen the news to see if the road are still closed, Oak Creek Canyon is out. So that's it for today. I may buy a book and read for a while. My Daisey and Lacey are asleep on the couch with me, Johnny is in bed under the new Quilt and life is good.  Until tomorrow.........

Hey Look It's Raining

Friday, 5/30

Hey, notice a theme here....."it's raining, it's pouring....the old man is snoring"

On and off rain for 320 miles.  We tried to make it to Oklahoma City but rain and 2 jackknifed truckers cost us several hours.  So we are several hours east at a KOA campground.  This place has some barnyard animals to see and the owner (Peggy) is a quilter and has a Yorkie. Wow. She looks like Daisey. Peggy took me in her sewing room to show me her quilt BOM she is working on.  It's all needle turn appliqué. Just beautiful.

Because we stopped earlier than usual, I was able to leisurely walk the girls, rest a little and cook dinner and be done early enough to attempt to blog.  But can't get on the web page so I'm taking notes that I will transfer later. I went to the restaurant here and got some peach cobbler and ice cream for dessert. Very good. Just what we needed. I almost took my machine out but decided to do more hand sewing. Hopefully tomorrow we will go out to eat dinner and I will sew a little. I have some ornaments I want to work on.  Keep praying for Daisey's recovery...or at least that she does a little better.  Have a good night all....see you tomorrow.

Our Service Appointment

Thursday, 5/29

Guess what????? The RV Park we are in, is in the flight path of plans taking off from 3 am to about 6 am.  So we have been up since about 5 am.  Johnny goes to take Daisey for a walk and agin it starts to poor. And hasn't stopped. Our drive to the dealer is about 15 minutes and here we are in the customer lounge.....on the couch with our pillow and blankies........waiting...........

Now get this.....we called a month ago to make this appointment and came here yesterday to see what time to be here. We were told when they opened at 8 am. So here we were and guess what the guy in the service department says to Johnny........"well we will try to get to you today, but can't guarantee it. What!!!! He says it isn't his fault it's raining....so he was asked why don't you pull the rig into a bay.....dahhhhhhh. Lucky for them it stopped raining and they were able to get everything fixed.  We get back to the campground and go to walk the dogs and again it starts raining.

We decided to have a big lunch and pot pies for dinner.  Off to Cracker Barrel  we go.  Then back to take a nap.  Ahhhhhh the life of retirement.

Wednesday, 5/28

We got a slow start today. This humid, overcast weather just made us both slow. Plus we are both worried about Daisey.  She slept in her bed all night and I stayed on the couch just in case. After a little breakfast we walked the girls and headed over to our dealer to see what time to bring the coach in for work.

After an hour there we headed off to Graceland.  We bought tickets for the tour of the planes, cars and several other exhibits of more clothes and other items. Just amazed at how many jump suits I have now seen. Many in the mansion itself and more in all these other exhibits. The work and detail on them is amazing. I can't imagine how much they weigh without the belts.

We lunched at home and walked the girls again before another storm came in. So since this afternoon it's been raining again.  We all napped, had dinner and now we are watching tv.  I'm still unable to post pictures..Internet service is very slow and almost makes it impossible. I'm typing my journals now in my notes and will try to post them when I can. Pictures may just have to wait. Daisey has shown little improvement. She has now come to me on the couch and gave me a kiss. She also ate her dinner and has walked a little outside.  But doesn't great us at the door or play with her toys.  Just lays on the couch. We were wondering if we should cancel the trip and bring her home. We will reevaluate her again tomorrow.

I've been doing some hand work on a wall hanging I wanted to finish.  Lots of appliqué work so this is a good time to finish it. Looks like it's going to rain all night again. Just as long as we don't loose the tv.

We arrive in Memphis and This Happens

Our first day out took us about 5 1/2 hours.  We stopped first at Pilot to gas up which took a while since we are now in the truck lanes and have to wait our turn....then off we go west bound on I40. The girls are doing much better this trip.  Daisey next to me on the chair and Lacey on my lap.  Around 1pm we stopped at a rest stop to walk dogs, stretch our legs and I made lunch.  Then we were off again.

So we arrive at about 4:00 pm at Yogi Bear's Jellystone RV Park, hook up electric, walk dogs and the sky opens up.  REALLY ????? Is this how it's going to be?






After a long downpour I was able to walk the dogs. Little puddles were like a lake to Lacey and her legs and feet were soaked.  After their walk Johnny wanted to go for another rib dinner and this time to the Rendezvous Restaurant. Very famous for their dry ribs.  Ok I'm not into ribs like Johnny is so I order chicken.  Now I'm going to be a food snob......first I don't like dry rub.....second I don't like any food that has too much heat, and third I don't like vinegar base bar b q sauce. The dry rub was too hot for me, and the coleslaw even had this hot rub season in it. So I didn't eat much of my chicken, especially since it was also too dry. Then they served cold dinner rolls and when we asked for butter, the waitress (named Joanna) says. We don't serve butter with our rolls. The atmosphere was great and so was the service, but I couldn't wait to get home to find something to eat.  I like my ribs and sauce better.  And Johnny also admitted he wasn't crazy about the ribs.  We like sweet sauce with wet ribs. Lesson learned. No more dry ribs.....

Weed Killer Recipe

Here is a recipe for week killer that quite a few Master Gardeners use.  I have not used it yet, but have been told by some that it works. Of course you know if it rains, it must be reapplied. If anyone uses it, I would love to hear from you and know if it worked.

Great Dinner

Last night Hubby and I went to my BFF's house for dinner. Her son, Darin, who is a chef cooked us a feast. Crab cakes, honey mustard chicken, sautéed spring veggies, pasta, and lots of desserts. There was enough food to feed the entire neighborhood. We all went home with care packages and boy did I have a great lunch today.  Thank you Chef Darin, Angie and Al for opening your home to us and presenting a wonderful meal.

Sold My First Big Quilt

I sold my first big quilt which I had made for our first motor home 2 years ago.  Its call turning twenty.  I used over 26 different fabrics and made it for our queen size bed.  My friend Brita did the Long Arm Quilting and customized each block with something different.  It turned out beautiful. After buying our new motor home I needed a king size quilt with more browns in it.  So I made another one and put this one for sale.  My long time friend from Florida bought it for her son Michael.  I know it is going to a good home and will be loved for a very long time. Here are some pictures of the beautiful quilting.

There's Nothing Good on TV

So with all the prime time shows coming to their seasons end.....I have nothing to watch on TV at night.  I've seen the re runs of the re runs.  I have trouble seeing at night to sew and I'm sort of tired from sewing al day or cleaning.  So I go to Pinterest and look up Nail Art.  LOTS to look at.  I decided to play and try my hand (get it, hand) at it...lol...

You start with your base coat.

And end up with Water Melon Slice Nails. Not easy to do to yourself.  It will come off this weekend before we go away. 

Guess where I went today?

Ill give you two hints.  Starts with Knox and ends with ville. Yes I returned to Knoxville with my Bernina Sewing Machine.  Set it up this morning and started sewing.    Crack!!!!!!! Broken needle. Changed the needle, re threaded it and started sewing........CRACK! Another needle broke.  When I put the 3rd needle in I noticed it wasn't lining up with the hole in the throat plate. Kathy at Bernina who to me is one of the best machine experts took the machine in to the tech and for several hours they worked on my machine while Johnny and I waited.  Turns out the throat plate had to be moved forward and how and why it moved is beyond me.  So another day went by without accomplishing much. I have not tried to sew again as I was just a little too stressed and needed to just chill the rest of the day. Tomorrow morning is going to be a test. If it doesn't work I just don't know what I'm going to do.  If there are any Bernina 830 owners out there having the same trouble please let me know so I don't think I'm the only one.

The Monday Sewing Group at the Cove

Twice a month on a Monday a group of ladies meet at our Welcome Center to gather and sew.  They are a great group of quilters, some that were once members of my Guild years back and some new to the area and some from Crossville.  Now that I don't work, I decided to stop in and say hi.  Here are a few of the quilts the ladies brought in for Show and Tell.  They are all beautiful.

This quilt made by Verda is all Thimbleberries Scraps.  She collects scrap fabrics and turns them back into beautiful quilts.

 

This quilt is made from the patterns that just use 3 one yard fabrics.

 

Barbara makes these thru the window quilt wall hangings in all seasons for her family members.

 

Gathering and socializing

 

Another 3 yard quilt.

Back On the Road Again to Knoxville

I'm back from Knoxville again, picking up my big machine for the 2nd time.  I took it in for annual service and several issues and wound up leaving it there with more issues.  One week later it was ready for pick up.  Well...................when I got it home and started quilting on it.....................my BSR Foot still didn't work and I had 2 new issues.   So very frustrated I had to call back to my dealer and arrange to bring it back in. I'm told that with these new hi end machines, every time you do updates it throws other area off and they then need to be adjusted.  Now mind you, this is not a few miles away. I travel 80 miles each way.  So I dropped it off again and this time it was closer to 2 weeks. I'm now behind on my orders and its very frustrating. Although I have 2 back up machines, they don't work as fast and as well as this machine.  This morning Johnny and I got back on the road and headed back to Knoxville.  I'm home with the machine now but haven't had a chance to set it up as it started raining when we got home and I cant get it out of the car yet.   Plus we have another issue that started this morning that Johnny has been working on.

OUR TOILETS PLUGGED UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.  Yep, right when we were ready to leave.  Not one, not 2, but all 3 on the first floor and I was afraid to check the upstairs.  So when we left this morning, we headed up I40 and hit the first McDonalds we found.  Me in bathroom, Johnny on the phone trying to find our plumber.  Got breakfast to go and we proceeded to the Bernina Dealer.  This is not the first time this has happened, but it seemed to fix itself after Johnny used the snake and with a little time. 

We got the machine and headed home. But first I wanted to stop at our new Country Cupboard for lunch meat and stuff.  $52.00 later we were on our way home again.  Did I tell you Johnny didn't have the plumbers number in his phone and never got a hold of him......BUT WAIT!  we just passed his truck going the opposite way.  Johnny makes a quick u turn and we start back towards town trying to catch up with him.  We get right behind him, and call his cell number printed on the back of the truck.  Got him to pull over and talked with him a while about the problem.  Almost sounds like its the septic tank.  We've been home now a while and Johnny seems to have found the problem and with the help of our plumber on the phone it may be taken care of.  We'll know by morning if everything backs up again.

Starting to Finish UFOs

I am so proud of my BFF as she has started finishing her UFOs.  I have been on her case for a while because most of her UFOs just needed borders or just putting the blocks together.  So as of yesterday I think she has brought to Loretta for quilting 4 or 5 quilts.  Way to go Angie.

So because my BFF is showing me up I decided, while getting organized I would take my UFOs, put them all in bags, and store them in the empty dresser in my spare room in the order I want to finish them.  Here is one I took out and saw the sections of most of the blocks were ready for assembly. I ironed them, laid them out, and started putting them on my design board.  I will complete the blocks and see what I have.

This was a class we had in our guild quite a few years ago.  I'm anxious to see how it turns out.

Trying to Get a Little Organization

This weekend I decided that Saturday and Sundays I will not sew.  Instead I plan to dust, and clean up my sewing room and reorganize.  Due to the fact my storage cabinets are on hold, I packed up my other crafts back into tote boxes and moved them back to the attic.  I now have more room there since I cleaned a lot out last fall.  I also started putting some of my fabric of more than 2 yards on bolts.  This way I can see it and maybe start using it.  I took my Bernina 440QE which I use for mostly Embroidery and gave it its own table for now.  Leaving my 2 long 6 foot tables for laying out projects and classes.   Now after blogging a little I plan to dust and wipe the floors and get ready for Part 3 of my Beginning Quilting Class tomorrow.