Travel and Works in Progress Update

Hello Everyone! It’s been two weeks since you last heard from me. We went camping last weekend at Fort Mountain State Park in North Georgia and I’ve been pretty busy trying to meet a few quilty deadlines.

I think we’ll start with the quilting WIPs first. The week before we went camping, I had two things to finish, the top for the Halloween wall hanging I’m working on for The Art of Home Club (which I did), and make 88 flying geese for the Sew Your Stash Along, Step 6. Our guild meeting was on Monday night, the day we came home and I knew I wouldn’t have time to work on it then.

Sew Your Stash Along

It took me two and a half days of just working on the Sew Your Stash Step 6 by Diane Knott, but I finished them before we left. I really love how this quilt is turning out. The next step are pumpkin seed blocks. Diane pieced her blocks, but I think it will be faster for me to applique them. What I need to decide on are colors. I’m going to go with either dark blue seeds on light background or light seeds on a dark blue background. What do you think? Step 7 will be my last round, though. At that point the quilt will be 70″ x 70″ and that’s big enough. I don’t plan to use it on a bed.

While we were camping, I started working on the embroidery for the Happy Little Things Free BOM by Jacquelynne Steves.

The one on the left is part of the free patterns and the one on the right is from her Bitty Blooms Collection in The Art of Home Club. She is going to make the Bitty Blooms available to buy for those who sign up for the BOM. If you are interested in the BOM, you need to sign up here to receive the patterns by email. The BOM starts on the first Monday in August.

I also received the June Sew Sampler Box from Fat Quarter Shop. This is my favorite so far. It has two charm packs from two of my favorite designers, Corey Yoder and Sherri and Chelsie. I love the patterns that came with it and want to make it a priority to make them.

I’ve started quilting the Halloween wall hanging and mug rugs and I may show a little peek in my next blog post. I will be writing lots of pattern instructions next week. I also have two cross-stitch finishes that I want to get fully finished into displayable objects.

Now for our trip.

Fort Mountain State Park lake and beach

The weather was beautiful. We arrived last Friday about lunchtime, the temperature was 69 degrees. We had lunch, then got the camper set up, then went for a stroll around the lake.

It was still cool enough that I wore my jacket while on the shady part of the lake. The first night temperatures were in the high 40’s, then the other three nights were in the low 50’s. Unheard of for the middle of June in Georgia! Even sitting in the camp site on Saturday and Sunday morning, I needed my jacket on.

I don’t often show our meals, but we eat pretty good on these trips. We had shrimp scampi, grilled corn and a salad our first night with a bottle of wine we picked up from Crane Creek Vineyards on our last camping trip.

On Saturday, we went to Ellijay and did a little shopping and had lunch. I found a few treasures. I have some ball jars, but not blue ones. I should be getting a cross-stitch pattern and floss for a new series by Hands-On-Design and Pricilla Blain called Chalk Full that has a blue ball jar featured in each seasonal pattern.

Engleheim Vineyards

After lunch and shopping, we headed to Engleheim Vineyards. We sat outside and enjoyed live music and a bottle of wine. The owner gave us the go ahead to tour the vineyard, so we did.

We had a very pleasant afternoon.

On Sunday morning, we did our only hike on the Big Rock Trail in the park. Big Rock is a good name for it, the trail is very rocky and is rated medium because of that.

There is a small waterfall along the trail, which I always love to see.

Rhododendrons in bloom on left.

We diverged from the Big Rock Trail to hike on part of the Gahuti Trail, the 8 mile loop around the park, then the Campground Loop Trail back to the campground. A very nice hike. That afternoon, we hung out at the campsite and watched everyone else pack up and leave. We haven’t camped on a weekend for years and the campground was full. It was nice to see families and kids enjoying nature, but Sunday evening was very peaceful and it felt like we had the place to ourselves.

We had a great time, as always, but it will be September before we get out again unless we get a few days with lower temperatures when my husband is off from work. I hope you have a very pleasant week and thanks for stopping by.