Slowsville

Happy Sunday morning to you, my friends. We're still in recovery from a very slow Saturday, here at the Three Cats Ranch. I already had in mind to spend Saturday on slow-stitching, but I didn't realize it would include a day of sloth. On a productive note, I finished the binding for my challenge piece. Get ready because this will be your last peek until the reveal on February 1st of 2023(!).

I don't know about you, but when I've worked obsessively over something for more than just a few days, it's hard to make the transition to the next thing. There was plenty I could have done yesterday, but the kitties were tired after so much helping in the sewing room. They needed a day off. With all their rumblings about organizing a union, I decided to let them have a day off. It was Saturday...and nearing Christmas.

With the challenge quilt finished, I'm ready to chip away at my WIPS. As I mentioned in yesterday's post, I needed to embroider the names and places for the next three Shop Hop blocks, and that was how I spent most of the day. This first one was from a quilt shop in Montrose, Colorado, Ladybugz Quilt and Yarn. I'm always curious to see if these places are still in business, and this one is, apparently.

We were there staying at a state park near Montrose while we rode ATV's in the Ouray and Silverton areas. I chose this fabric for the many fritillary butterflies we'd seen on our rides.

This next quilt shop was a good one...a big shop in Farmington, New Mexico, called the Patchwork Pig. It was a huge store, apparently still in business, with the cutest pig decor all around.

I selected this fabric because of their beautiful Native American prints. I ended up spending a lot of money here because of these beautiful fabrics.

Finally, this one from a funny little quilt shop near where we've spent many a summer camping and boating. The quilt shop was quite a surprise because Mossyrock is a tiny little town. I'm amazed it can support a quilt shop. 

The quilt shop doesn't have a web presence. When I saw it, I had an idea it was a quilt shop of convenience. 

I've seen certain shops that turn out to be co-ops or else individuals that call themselves a quilt shop in order to get wholesale prices on fabrics. Either way, the woman there was sweet as could be, and I enjoyed visiting her shop. I believe she also does long-arm work there.

I like this fabric and I chose it because it commemorates the many summers we spent at a nearby state park, and then later at a private RV park. This was our view of the lake on our last camping trip:

And so this fabric seemed a perfect choice for my quilt.

Sadly, the park where we've always stayed is under new ownership. The first thing the new owner did was to double the price of a night's stay there. It's the most expensive RV park we've seen in all our travels now, and we'll be discouraged from staying there ever again.

So when I said it was our "last" camping trip earlier in this post, I'm afraid it really was our last camping trip there. We're on the hunt for a new place to stay next summer, but it will probably be a different lake. We liked that we could rent a slip and leave our boat in the water, rather than having to take it out of the water at the end of each day. We have our eyes on a place near Starbuck, Washington, where slips can be rented on the Snake River.

Okay, but enough reminiscing about days gone by. There's serious sewing to be done today, and there are blueberry oatmeal pancakes to make. I'm moving on.

Today, I'll take the first stitches on the Bernie embroidery piece:

 I have in mind to stitch it all in black, except for blue on the mask, and some color in the mittens. Then, as long as I have all the fabrics laid out for the Shop Hop blocks, I'll probably make those first, and then I'll get to work on the next Vintage Linen quilt block. Oh yes, and I suppose I should do the housework I was supposed to do yesterday. Kitties are going to have to show some signs of life because there's plenty of work to be done.