Cute & Durable - Hah!

Cute!

"Pawsome" it says....

"Layered Durability" it says....

"Double the durability and lasts twice as long" it says.....

Two hours later:

Maybe not! says me! 

Definitely not, say Kaitlyn & Vicky.

If I'd simply thrown $15 in the trash, I wouldn't have had to clean up the mess and throw the remains in the trash!

If you'd done that, say Kaitlyn & Vicky, we wouldn't have had as much fun!

If I had thrown it away, says me, I wouldn't have to pick up poop adorned with pieces of "durable" green rubber!

A Weighty Matter

When I see this cartoon, it makes me think of Lesley Gore singing "You would cry too if this happens to you!" (Now I've planted that song in my head for the rest of the day.)

One of our first stops after we loaded up and began our trip was to stop at the truck scales to get our weight.  

As shown on the receipt, our weights: 

Front: 13,960 lbs

Back: 23,820 lbs

Michelin has a chart for every tire that tells what the pressure of the tire should be when cold (65 degrees) based on the weight and size of tire. 

So, now the Mister can get out his tire pressure gauge and make adjustments. This will also make the handling of the motorhome a bit better as we go down the road. 

And, Sew it Begins!

No sewing! Sewing had to come to an end, for now! 

The last few weeks have been rather hectic preparing for our annual trek west to visit with the family. In addition to the normal flurry of last-minute appointments with doctors and dentists, planning and piling things we want to take and those things that are staying home, and finishing up some last-minute sewing projects, I can add the confusion of having a new motorhome and not knowing exactly what can fit on it and where we are going to stash it. 

A few weeks ago I completed the plans for the initial part of our journey:

• First stop: Fort Clinch State Park, Fernandina Beach Fl - 2 nights
• Second stop: Hilton Head National RV Resort, Hilton Head, SC - 3 nights 
• Next stop: Apple Valley Farm RV Resort, Lake Lure, NC - 3 nights
• Final planned stop: Pool Knobs Campground, LaVergne, TN - 3 nights

It doesn’t look impressive. It doesn’t look worthy of the amount of time I actually spent searching maps, planning routes, and contacting and making reservations at campgrounds. Despite all of that time, I didn’t get very far! I am wary of projecting out further in our journey. I hesitate to do that because it seems that every time I have, our plans have changed and I needed to cancel reservations, then search our route, locate alternative camping spots and make new reservations - twice the work!

So, with my plans we will soon reach the edge of our mapped journey. We will reach “Here be dragons” territory. (In medieval days early explorers would draw dragons and sea monsters on uncharted areas where unknown possible dangers could exist.) I don't believe there are dangers here. We know our final destination (California) and we know there’s a lot of miles between Tennessee and there. We know there are rivers to cross, thankfully on bridges, lush green landscape and arid, sandy desert, mountains and valleys. We have Interstates to drive, and secondary roads to explore. But, we’ll take it all one day (night) at a time to determine where we go and where we will stay. We plan to make a few longer stops to explore along the way, and we will just pencil those in as we go. 

What a great way to travel and see the country! 

Crank 'em Out

I've been on a roll with quilting over the last year. I have almost been in panic mode, wanting to use up fabric I have acquired, before succumbing to the call of new fabrics, new colors, new designs and new patterns. It has basically been a quilting frenzy, and I'm not totally thrilled with what I cranked out.

This was a quickie 4-yard pattern that came with a bundle of fabric I purchased in 2020.
I'm not a fan. 

Here's another oldie...a kit purchased sometime around 2020....get got 'er done!
Again, I'm not a fan of it.

I think I purchased this panel to make a fabric counting book before my grandson was born. He's now 6. 
Another "get  got 'er done" quilt - although I do kinda like this one! 

I called this quilt "Bye, Bye Blues" It was made from scraps of blue fabric left over from past projects. I do like this one!


This is the back of the quilt - basically another quilt! 

I think I bought this kit in 2017. I was enamored with the thread spools.
Now, as my son would say, "Meh"
Well, it's another "get got 'er done" quilt!

I can't take credit for the fabric on this one. It wasn't from my "stash", 
but I had to get it done as it was a project from the Quilt Guild I belong to. 
I was given this fabric, and had to make something out of it and return the finished
project to the fabric's owner. I really stepped out of the box on this one
and I love how it turned out!

Christmas was coming, and I had purchased a cute tree skirt pattern in 2018.
I decided it was about time that I used some of my fabric to make the tree skirt.
I was pleased with this "get got 'er done"!

I began quilting in 2015. I used to sew scraps together as "leaders & enders" 

when I was sewing pieces for other quilts. I turned the sewn scraps into 6 1/2" squares. 

I had about 70 of them, and always planned to make some sort of quilt with them. 

I used a quilting design software to "design" this quilt.

I decided to call it "Candy Corn"

I had some sort of brain fart when I cut the yellow rectangles to make 
the triangles. I ended up with a huge stack left over. So... I took more leader/ender 
squares and made a similar quilt with the leftover yellows - using the right and wrong
side of the fabric to make this "Macaroni & Cheese" quilt.

The back of both quilts are also pieced, and used the remaining 
leader/ender blocks. 

This is another project for the Guild, where I was given the fabric
and had to create a quilt to give back to the owner of the fabric. 
This isn't actually finished as I want to appliqué leaves on some of the trees. 

I went to Hamilton, MO in 2016 - home of the Missouri Star Quilt Company.
This is THE Mecca for quilters. I picked up a few "charm packs" with
varied design and color ways of a "collection" of fabric. This year I finally selected the pattern "Night Sky" from a Jenny Doan collection (she is the quilt maven of the MSQC) and I created this quilt. 

Then something happened. I had a "slap upside the head"moment. I realized I was cranking out stuff...and it wasn't satisfying me in anyway. It wasn't igniting anything in my heart. As I came to this realization, or perhaps the "baseball bat" that hit me up side the head that was the cause of my rethinking,  I attended two presentations by quilt artists who talked about embellishments on quilts: Margaret LoBianco and Susan Cleveland. They made me see that going a step beyond, taking extra time to be precise and finding ways to stitch in something of myself makes the quilt - not just the physical steps of sewing pieces of fabric together. Later, a chance meeting with quilter/author Marianne Hatton, made me realize that I needed to step back, take a deep breath, and examine why I quilt and determine what aspects of the craft excite me. 

While this metamorphosis was occurring, I was finishing the NightSky quilt. I completed the "flimsy" (the quilt top before it becomes part of a sandwich that is quilted).  I was not very excited. I stared at the large white blocks in the middle of the stars. They were like black holes in space - a whole lot of nothingness.  I experimented with using fabric pieces to create blades of a pinwheel - in the picture above I had just pinned the pieces on so I could sit back and stare some more. I liked it. I made more pieces and painstakingly pulled apart seams and inserted the fabric pieces in the center of each white rectangle. I have finished the pinwheels with two colors of fabric circles appliquéd in the center, including some decorative stitching, and most recently a few beads.  I love how this quilt has evolved, and will continue to be transformed as I get it on the long arm for quilting. It's a simple quilt, but for the first time I am truly excited by a quilt I have made!

Close up detail of 3-D pinwheel

Here We Go Again

 It's happened again. We saw an RV. We fell in love with the RV. We decided to "think" about the RV. We did...for a moment. We priced it. We priced our trade. We drove home in a "new to us" RV! 

This is a Newmar NewAire 3543. It is 35 feet, 10" long. It is barely used. It is beautiful. But...it is also causing brain drain. After having several Tiffins, we are not familiar with the electronic systems on this motorhome. When we want to turn on lights....we have to think about it - hard! Same thing with trying to put shades up or down. It will take some time. We will get used to it!

I'll have to take some more pictures, as we are settling in. Currently,  however, everything from our Breeze is in the guest room....

and the living room...

and the garage...

and the laundry room!

What a mess! Vickie isn't sure she can handle the upheaval. She found "her" bag amongst the rubble and settled in. That look says I'm in for a tussle if I try to take the bag without her!!! 😁

I knew I Could - Vickie's A-musings

Hi, I'm Vickie, and I just had some great fun!

I earned 4 ribbons!! Sweet!

Me with two of. my 4 ribbons

I just knowed I could do it. I'm just a runnin', funnin', fool my mama says, on account of I like to chase plastic bags on strings. I learnded that some folks call those bags "trash bunnies" on account of a lotta plastic bags are for trash, and some dogs, like me, like to chase bunnies, and the plastic bags are the next bestest thing! 

Yeah, sometimes I do slow down and take it easy!

My mama and dad took me to a place with a whole lotta dogs. I was struck dumb, as in, not able to talk bark, kinda dumb - cause truth be told - I'm smart as a fox, not dumb at all. In fact, I was almost named Foxy Lady cause I even look like a little ol' red fox, but they named me Queen Victoria the Vixen instead. A vixen is a fox, or a shrewish, ill-tempered woman. I guess that kinda describes me!  I can be kinda bossy-like, and, man-o-man, I bark in a very high-pitched, shrewish way....just to make my humans bark back at me. I know how to get attention, yes I do! After all, I am The Queen! They either named me right, or I have grown to fill the name they gave me!

If you look at the top of the quilt I'm snuggling with,  it has my title!

Anyways, I digress (see how smart I am, although I first thought that word was degrease, and I'd love to degrease that frying pan any time it's used!) My mama and dad once happened to see a coursing event. They didn't know nuthin' 'bout it, but enjoyed seeing the dogs running after trash bunnies on a zig-zag course, and were enthralled by watching dogs run as fast as their legs would take them on a 100-yard dash. Touch down! When I first exhibited tendencies to chase the doggie poop bag on the end of the leash, they said to themselves...or thought to themselves, that Vickie might really like that 100 yard dash thing. So, they looked it up and found out it is called FastCAT. When I first heard them talk about it, I must be honest here, I was sure they were talkin' about dogs chasing' fast cats, but it turns out there ain't no cats, which would be almost as good as bunnies in my book! CAT stands for "Coursing Ability Test". It's a way to see what dogs have that ability, and boy, do I have it! I'm all about chasing that bag. I have lots of ability. Dontcha just know it!

The first night at the E-vent I got to try it just for the heck of it. I didna' need any help, I didna' need my human to walk down the course with me...I was on it, lickety-splitidy. I was so intent on what I was doing, I even forgot to bark! I runned and runned and runned as fast as I could go, and the guys in charge said I did great. 

This is a watercolor my mom did, tryin to show how fast I run!

The next two days I got to try it for real, with a timer and everything. I runned the course 4 times. My first time was 11.32 seconds, and my fastest time was 10.66 seconds. That means, even with my stubby, chubby legs I runned just under 19 miles per hour! Not bad for a Corgi - in fact, the AKC (whoever they are) has a chart showing the top Corgi scores in the USA...and I'd fall about 114th fastest Corgi. Holy cow! And, I'm just one year old. I'm gonna get faster and faster - I bet. 

Anyways, my mama and dad are really proud of me. They gave me some treats and lots of pets and lots of hugs and told me what a good girl I was. I just sat there, like a Queen would do, on account of I am Queen Victoria!

Home Away from Home

We sold the house we owned in Point Richmond a few years ago. It was a beautiful home and location, but it wasn't convenient for visiting the kids and family. Since then we have been on the lookout for a place near the kids. We looked at many homes, enjoying open houses in the area, but grew to realize that a "sometimes home" (especially at Oakland, CA prices)  just wasn't practical. After several years of looking for condos, one showed up on Realtor in October when I just happened to be in town. It seemed perfect. 

The condo is on the ground floor where the umbrella was set for staging.

The condo is on the ground floor, straight ahead

A huge selling feature was the parking area between the buildings and the street, and a nice large, open grassy area. 

The condo is 890 sq ft

It ticked a lot of boxes:

• .4 mile from the kids
• 1 mile from our other son
• four different grocery stores in under a mile
• walking distance to BART
• convenient bike trails/bike friendly streets nearby
• more than 1 bedroom
• off street parking for a car in a dedicated spot
• restaurants & coffee shops in under a mile

We decided to buy the condo and closed on it near the end of 2022. Before the condo was in our plans I had already arranged a trip to Las Vegas to see friends. Once we had the condo, it seemed like a perfect time to fly on to California. The Mister, who detests flying, suggested that he drive out to California bringing some items we had in Florida that we'd like to have in California, so he left a bit after me, and showed up a few days after I arrived. 

Our first night in our new "home away from home" did not go especially well!

I carried the key that was labeled "California Storage" with me. I met the movers there the next morning, only to discover the key did not open the lock. Since The Mister had signed the contract, only he could sign a form to have the lock cut off. He showed up that evening and we spent our first night on a borrowed inflated mattress with borrowed linens. We had a borrowed chair and occasional table. We had an office chair and a few other items brought from Florida and a few bins we could also use as tables. It was in the low 50's and rain had set in... and the heat didn't work in our condo - it was cold! The next day our neighbor leant us two space heaters and we discovered that The Mister had the key to the storage lock on his key ring! 

We made a trip over to the storage unit once the rain let up and brought back a few items that we hadn't packed very well, and that might not withstand a trip with the movers, who arrived the following day. 

Our condo was suddenly filled with whatever was left over when we sold the house, and couldn't seem to part with. We had a surfeit of chairs - we had enough that we could invite the whole family over, and still have spares!

The Mister takes a brief nap!

I guess we still need to unpack and organize a bit more!

After a few days of sifting and sorting, unpacking and unloading (we filled the trash bin) we were somewhat settled.

We entertained the family for Christmas breakfast. 
They walked over from their house, in the Christmas PJ's I gifted to them the night before!

After the rush of Christmas we bought a few things to make our condo a true home away from home.

 

We found an inexpensive love seat and a table we can use in the condo or out on the patio,
and I ordered some curtains and a rug online to add a pop of color


I found a lovely hutch at a used furniture store.


I added some bright color for the bath.

Guest bedroom now has a day bed and trundle sandwiched
in along with my craft and sewing table.

We love being in Oakland. We have had so many wonderful opportunities to see the family and to experience "city life"! 

Reading on the stoop with the granddaughter

Enjoying an "art in the park" installation down the street 

from the kids' house

I never know what I will discover when we are walking in 

the neighborhood! This particular evening an older gentleman

(who am I kidding? He was the same age as me!)

was making huge bubbles! The dogs were intrigued!

The dogs love walking by this fence just to see what might

pop out of the opening in the fence! 

Sometimes it is this kitty, at other times they find a small dog!

There is a huge dog park near the condo. We generally stop there

at least once a day on our way to see the kids.

One night I counted 30 dogs!

We love our condo! There are 16 condos in all. Most are occupied by young families, so we always hear children playing (sometimes crying) and there is a lot of activity. We have a nice patio, and the family enjoys coming over. With all of the other kids in the complex, our grands have the opportunity to come over and play in a safe environment. 

The dogs have room to romp in the condo, and once in a while,

when no one is in the community yard, I let them run all 

over the place!

Many of the families use the common area for get togethers. 

We had a "End of summer, back to school and farewell" pot luck

shortly before we left. 

We are also delighted to see our younger son more often. He often comes by on his way to or from the grocery store and stops in to say "Hi".  On occasion he has also brought us a sweet treat from the bakery for breakfast!

We closed up the condo and packed up our RV last week. It's time to head back to Florida and get in line for doctors and dentists. I'll miss the condo, and most certainly the kids, but it will be nice to be back home with our friends and activities that we enjoy there. However, I already have reservations made to fly out in October to enjoy another week in our "city" place!