Becky’s Adventures in Quilting and Travel

This week had some unexpected plot twists.  I am a reader but I've never been into graphic novels, but I saw something that made me think some of my student may understand history better in that format; however before suggesting a graphic novel I need to be sure their facts are accurate...so I spent a fair amount of time reading books related to my content and picking some that might work for my students.  I loved some of them (March and Maus) but didn't think they would work for the purpose I need.  Of course reading physical books means I'm not able to sew as much-thank God for Audiobooks!  Then one of my best friends was in need of a babysitter because one of the regulars is a student in the district I live in and they started at normal time.  I have been wanting to go to the Arboretum at Penn State University Park for a while now and I thought the kids might also enjoy it.  I kind of expected I wouldn't see as much with two  kids along, but they really did well with

 Just around the time school closed and everything was shut down I learned that a young couple in my church was expecting their first child.  Of course I expected that none of this was going to last and I'd have no problem giving them a quilt.  When I found out they were expecting a girl I picked an Asian themed fabric with pink and rust tones because mom is a big fan of K-pop and Korean culture.  Going through the quilt shop website I picked another fabric and asked the owner if she thought they'd coordinate and about backing.  Through I series of photo messages I was ready to order (eventually adding another fabric) but it took me a while to decide what pattern to use.  I'd pinned a tutorial for this twister block on Pinterest a couple years ago and decided it would work well and the top went together super quickly.  Then the top sat on my stack for a couple months until I got a message that mom was on her way to labor and delivery...I had been thinking I might hand quilt

 This past week ended up being busier than I expected, but I also allowed myself some sewing time to make up for the retreat I had to cancel for a family situation.  My school did vote to delay the start, as I expected last week, and one of the days I’d planned to work on my room the building was closed for waxing the floors, so I gave myself permission to play. I even worked on two projects I didn’t list. So how did I do on my list? 1. Finish tying the quilt I started this week-done 2. Make a few Christmas gifts-I got some started 3. Finish the final top for the Hello Fall blog hop-done with a bonus; it may not look like a fall project but I’ll explain during the blog hop 4. Continue hand quilting a present-I made a little progress 5.just a couple more masks-I’m struggling to make myself do these.   So what’s on the agenda this week?   1. Bind some recently finished projects 2. Continue to work on hand quilting a present 3. Get backings for my Hello Fall projects 4. Make those last fe

 North Bend was the final stop of our West Virginia camping vacation.  The biggest attractions in North Bend are the rail trail and "lake." The lake is much more narrow and long than I think of when I hear the term lake.  Essentially when the river was dammed the lake continued to follow the river layout.  When we were there temperatures were in the 90s so we really weren't feeling like doing a rail trail.  Looking at the map I thought our site was going to be lakeside.  There are two campgrounds in the park and the other one is lakeside.  We were in the one that is up on a hill.  The river is down at the bottom of the hill but not visible from the campsite in the summer.  Driving around the camp we saw that they had a lodge and an education center that appeared to be nice.   In cooler weather I think we'd have enjoyed the rail trail, which extends far beyond the park.  We had been planning to find a brewery for our dating anniversary and this was the first campground

Just when I think I’ve got this quarantine figured out things change.  Now it seems I have more time to plan for school and stress craft.  I have come to realize that the more I craft the less I freak out, so it was another productive week.  I am working on lesson plans, but I reward myself with time at my sewing machine-it’s healthier than rewarding myself with chocolate,right? So how did I do this week? 1. Continue our vacation posts-done! one more stop left 2. Post about my Hospital Sketches quilt-done! 3. Try tying a quilt-I finished one and started another 4. Masks, masks, masks-I probably have enough now but I’m going to make just a few more 5. Start working on Christmas gifts so I’m not panicking at Thanksgiving -I got one small gift made, and got some ideas for store bought gifts that I’ll be buying soon. 6. Finish at least one top for Hello Fall blog hop.-I finished 2 and started one more I scheduled several appointments this week thinking that I’d get them done just before sc

I’ve been interested in the Hatfields and McCoys feud for years, so when we started discussing a closer vacation this year, my husband suggested trying to explore sites related to the feud.  Chief Logan appeared to be the closest state park to that region, so I made our reservations.   I was really impressed with our site other than the fact that the previous occupants left it a real mess.  We don’t typically complain, but among other things they left broken glass and I was concerned that someone could get hurt, so we did report it to the campground hosts.  There was a cute little brook running next to the site and it was well shaded.   We drove around the first night and then got hit with some storms.   The next morning we set off to find Hatfield and McCoys sites, but after we found Devil Anse grave we realized almost everything on our list was pretty remote and between each item we’d be driving to search for enough network to find the next thing...I think I’d actually read before th

 I have tried in the past to complete Block of the Month quilts in years past and never been able to keep up, so in 2019 I said I wasn’t going to even try.  Then Fat Cat announced one that I couldn’t resist and I figured it was fre, so I’d at least get the patterns, I got the first block done and saw the first block of Barbara Brckman’s Hospital Sketches block of the month on Civil War Quilts   and I just loved it so I decided to attempt it as well.  Amazingly enough I stayed caught up until the last month.  That one did take me a little longer but I still finished. Each of the Block of the Months that Barbara does takes inspiration from some aspect history and includes a lot of historical facts along with the block.  I have the blocks completed from an earlier one called Westering Women which was about the wagon trains.  Hospital Sketches focused on the nurses who served in Civil War field hospitals. The entire program I kept thinking there had to be something about Gettysburg and sur

 I accomplished a lot more quilting this week than I expected.  I even started a few more projects for the Hello Fall blog hop.  The end of summer is always a surge of crafting time because when school opens it takes time to adjust and I don’t always have the energy for sewing.  At the end of the week I had to switch to making more masks for myself and a coworker.   1.  Photograph my Hospital Sketches Quilt-done we had a great weekend near Gettysburg. We went to the battlefield early each morning to beat the crowds and get my pictures.  2. Put a label on the baby quilt I finished-done, now I need to get it to the baby 3. Get the next baby quilt into a top-done 4. Attempt tying a quilt again (my hand is doing a little better so hopefully I can tie)-not done, hopefully this week 5. Post about more of vacation-one more stop posted 6. Bind some quilts-I just finished the second 7. Start testing to Christmas gift ideas-I made a few things obviously I’m not posting them just yet.  I’m partic

Planning this vacation was very stressful.  Once we decided on West Virginia camping we still had the issue that their reservation system is very different from the other states we've camped in.  For PA and many other places we can see by the date what's available and limit our choices that way, for West Virginia we had to choose the park then check availability.  If I knew more about what was near each park I would have handled this better but, by the time we chose West Virginia there wasn't time to wait on pamphlets.  I'm still old school about that and like to spread brochures out and check distances and locations online, instead I went to The Touring Camper  on their blog and social media.  We've come to trust their campground reviews when in a new area, so I checked and they didn't have anything on the blog but I knew they had posted something not that long ago about the New River Gorge Bridge and thought they had camped in the area-ironically the campgrou