On The Road To Franklin NC

 We have set off on our way to meet our new grand baby.  There are a few stops along the way. We travel with the boys loose in the truck cab.  

Cole settled right down but this leg of the trip Finn was pretty restless.  I snapped a pic of my boys all together.  

That face!

As I said, Finn was restless and was on Chris's shoulders for quite awhile. 

 He seems to need to be near the driver at all times, whether Chris or me.

Look at my good boy!  He likes to sleep on the center console.

 We drove part way to Walton KY for the first night.  The church we belong to has a parish there.  We stayed in the school parking lot overnight then got up and went to mass in the morning.  If you ever get a chance, the church is beautiful!  The mass is in latin and it is a beautiful one.

Chris didn't realize that the screen door needs to be FIRMLY shut or Cole will get out so of course he did.  We were out in the dusk trying to cajole the cat to come out from under the camper.  Sheesh!  

We finally got him out and back in the camper.  

Then on Sunday we headed out for Franklin, NC.  

That is where the RV quilt retreat is being held. 

 I had to back out as my daughter wanted us to isolate as much as possible before the baby comes.  

We got to the RV Great Outdoor park around 4 PM and they took us to our site. 

 It is right across from the clubhouse.  This is so cool! 

 I can watch the comings and goings of the quilters without being in the clubhouse! 

 I did "meet" the person running the retreat and several others, at a VERY safe distance.  

This is our campsite.

We climbed to the top of the "hill" and this was the view.

At the office, where I checked in for the campsite, I was able to get a retreat shirt too.

Finn was SO tired out from all his antics in the truck.

On Monday, Chris was able to take Finn out in his cat sling for a walk.  

Finn cries until Chris takes him out, LOL.  

They sit together outside at night too.  Oh these two!

There are cabins on the other side of the hill so we walked up the VERY steep hill to check it out.

I thought to snap a pic at the bottom of the hill after we got back down.  

It made me realize I need to work harder to get into better shape, haha.

I will stop here for now.  

We only have good connections to the internet in the am but I will post as I can.

.

Cole is doing much better.  I will post an update on him soon too.

We are still doing his Go Fund Me, and you can click here to donate.

Thank you to anyone that has donated.

If you can donate we would really appreciate that so much!

~XOP~

Fall Camping

 As you saw in my previous post, most of the weekend was spent worrying about Cole.  We did get out and I did do a little sewing.  This is our set up.  Notice the pet tent?  Cole loves this while Finn, not so much, LOL.

The fall colors were just beginning to peep out.

Laying on this quilt on the couch looking out the window was Cole's favorite past time.  

While Finn just wanted to sleep on the pillow.

We have this sticker on the outside window and it was such a great pic with the reflection of the trees.

My sweet hubby kept asking me if I wanted to sew.  I just wanted to sit and be anxious all weekend, but he knew better.  He kept asking if I wanted my sewing table set up and I kept saying no.  He was like, I'm just going to set up your table.  Then I'm just going to set up your sewing machine, haha.  So just to make him happy I got my stuff out and sewed a few new masks.  I used the new Creative Grid template and it was so easy to use!  I made us each a few new masks but honestly my heart was not in the sewing. 

I made myself a black cat mask with the spooky trees on the other side.

I made 2 more MSU masks for hubby. 
This size is the medium. 

 I think it looks giant because of the angle of the picture.

I guess that having a little "normal" was good, especially as you know, my Monday was not a fun one!

~XOP~

Fall Camping

We went off camping last week

 (likely our last outing for the year).  

I packed up the boys and Chris got the camper.  

This is how Finny rode the entire way 

( almost 3 hours).

While Cole just relaxed in the passenger seat on "his" pillow.  

It is a half yard of fleece filled up with my teeny tiny scraps and 

batting cut offs that I can't use for anything.  

I thought you all might enjoy a few photos of our camper.

 I stepped out one day and saw my Sparty mat covered with fall leaves.  

Pretty photo!

In the previous photo you can see the pet tent set up sans the pets.

Here they are enjoying their tent while we enjoyed a campfire.

Chris seemed to like the great outdoors as much as the boys!

One afternoon we stopped at Tony's for Tacos.  SO GOOD

There is a fruit market close by that had amazing produce!

Cabbages and Cauliflowers bigger than my head!

The gourds and squash were all outside and looked so pretty.

No trip is complete without stopping at the Bittersweet Quilt Shop.

My haul.  

I ended up back there two more times for a friend that wanted more of the star print on the bottom.

If you need some too,  here is the selvage information.  Bittersweet no longer has any though.

The boys enjoy hanging out on the couch watching the birds and the leaves fall.

We also stopped at Northwoods (because of course we did) and I met up with Big Foot.

Finny likes to lay on the bed and ask for pets every time you walk toward the bathroom!

Chris set up my sewing table.

I managed to get all the blocks sewn for 2 Double Slice quilts!

And Finn thought it was a fine place to hang out.

 Cole just laid down next to me 

Until it was dinner time and the I got the stare down.

I think this pretty much sums up our extended weekend. 

It is going to be great when we can do this more often!

Is it retirement time yet?

10 more months! 

(but who's counting?)

~XOP~

Camping

We took our fifth wheel out to camp last weekend.  

We belong to a camping network and have decided we want to try to use it more this year.  

We headed out to Omer, MI about 2.5 hours north of home. 

We always think it looks so big until we go camping and see 

we are actually more medium to small sized!

We travel with the cats in the cab of the truck.  

They are the happiest when they are with us.  

Finn is usually either on Chris's lap or his shoulders.  

While Cole likes the console or the floor at my feet.  

This has been true since they were kittens and traveling with us.

We headed in to West Branch to explore the town.  Imagine my delight to find a quilt shop!

I fell in love with this stack of fabrics by Northcott called Soho.

This was the inside of the shop.  They had a pretty nice selection of fabrics too.

While I was in the shop Chris was exploring the town.  Of course he found the ice cream shop!

There was a cute fountain on the main street so of course a selfie was in order.

We stopped in a wine/cigar shop, where I found this amazing cigar box. 

"Betty" reminded me of one of Tula Pink De La Luna girls.

Pretty similar don't you think??  There were 2 other women designs of this line of cigars too.

We went into the antique shop and I spied this Armadillo bowl(?) 

 I'm sure someone found it dead and decided "hey, let's make a bowl/scoop out of this".  

LOL  Certainly a unique conversation piece, isn't it?

Back to the camper and Cole was begging to go outside and explore. 

I have to say we are both smitten with his Olivia Cat Jacket harness.  

I ask him if he wants to go outside (if he is not already asking) and then I pat the couch.  

He jumps up, purring the entire time I put his harness on.  

I set him on the floor and we walk to the door.  

I then hook him on the lead and voila, he has time to be an outdoor panther.  

He is so handsome!

Finn, on the other hand prefers to lounge about in the camper.  Not quite the explorer his brother is!

When it comes to mom time though they BOTH like to "help" me when I am cutting.  

It appears there is a space for everyone when I have some cutting to do.

 Right after I was done cutting, we headed to the pool as it was quite a hot day.  

This campsite backed to the woods, so we had lots of shade. 

Even in 80 degree weather we didn't run the AC.  

Opening all the windows and using the fans/vents worked GREAT!

Heading home found the boys in their favorite spots.  

It seems there will not be any camping in the month of July, bummer, but maybe August.

We will be doing more in September (in NC) and in October though.

~XOP~