Another quilting project complete

It's been a cold week here in Michigan, so a good time for sewing.  I completed another wall hanging -- yeah!  I started this one back in the fall, and had the embroidery done before Christmas.

I still needed to find the wool to make the leaves and the poinsettias, though.  So, last weekend while Tom and the boys were at the Auto Show, I went to a quilt shop close by that I knew carried wool -- I thought for sure they would have scraps where I could find a couple shades of red and green that I needed.  Sure enough, in the "wool room" they had a washtub full of wool scraps that they sold by the ounce.  I founds the reds and greens that I needed, as well as some other little bits of wool that I can use to try my first penny rug (following the great directions that Paulette included in her blog several months ago.)  Here's a close-up of the embroidered design with the wool leaves and poinsettias.

With that done, I could finally finish the surrounding blocks and assemble the entire quilt.  I finished it up this afternoon, and I think it turned out really nice!

Now, I just have to quilt it, and then I may still get a few months of use out of it!!

On the house front, we've been communicating with a realtor who offers a flat-fee MLS listing, so we think we're going to give that route a try, but we may try to get quick refinance in before we list it again.  It's been a few years since we refinanced, so we can drop our interest rate by another percentage point.

On the camping/RV front, we are still finalizing our camping plans for this summer.  We did make an appointment at Newmar to get a few last (hopefully last!) warranty items taken care of over Easter break.  Hopefully the weather will cooperate, and we won't be pulling the RV out in the snow!!

RC racing

Today the boys were off school, so they were home with me all day. I had to work, but they just played and worked on their radio control cars. We had told them we could go to the indoor track tonight at the local Hobby Store. Friday night is family race night.

So, after Tom got home from work, we loaded up their RC cars, batteries, chargers and tools, and headed into town. After a quick stop at Wendy's for dinner, we arrived at the Hobby Shop. It was already packed, but they found a spot at a table to unload all their stuff. Racing starts at 7pm, and until then the track is open for practice. Nicolas and Bryce both spent some time running their cars. Everytime we go, the track is different -- they move jumps around, and add new barriers, just to keep it interesting. These guys need some more practice before they are ready to compete, but they had fun during practice time and then watching the older guys race. There's quite an age range -- grown men who think they are still kids, all the way down to little guys who can barely manage the giant radio control!

I took off for awhile to get some grocery shopping done, and then came back to watch a few races. They race until midnight, but we took off around 9:30. It was fun, and the boys really enjoyed themselves. Pretty reasonable, too -- just $10 each for the whole evening, racing in as many races as you can get into. I told them they could spend their Friday nights at the track, and I can stay home and sew!!

So, that was our evening -- now I'm going to get some sewing time in!

Summer camping plans

Yes, it's that time of year -- 6 months from today would be July 18th, so we've definitely got to get busy with our summer camping plans! Michigan campgrounds fill up really early! Luckily, the places we're looking at for a June trip and 4th of July week have plenty of space available still, so we haven't missed out yet. We want to get up to Thunder Bay Resort to Visit Howard and Linda (RV Dreams) while they are there, and are still trying to figure out the best timing to go there. The only bad thing about that resort is that it does not have a pool, but it's pretty close to Lake Huron and several state parks on inland lakes, so we should still be able to get some swimming in. We met somebody last year who recommended the Little River Indian Casino RV Resort in Manistee, so we might try that one, and then possibly go back to a few favorite spots (Indiana Dunes, and South Haven).

We're glad that the weather is improving for many of our RVing friends out there . . . it's been pretty balmy here in Michigan, too, but we still have plenty of snow around! This morning was really beautiful -- we had a lot of fog, and it froze on all the branches of the trees . . . too bad I didn't have a camera on me!