Vacation Complete

Yes, we are home from our near-month vacation to Florida. It was a wonderfully successful experiment for us as we'd never traveled for such a length of time. Twenty-four days mostly cooped up in the car with DH has the potential for disaster. Fortunately for him, I am a very easy person to live with - why, doggone near perfect! *heheh*

My best vacation picture; taken on Tsala Apopka Lake.

I took a bunch of projects for stitching while in the car, but you know what? I barely did any. I had so much clutter around me - atlas (yes, we are old-school), phone, brochures, trash bag, purse, food or snacks, plus multiple drinks - coffee, iced tea, water - there just wasn't room for one more thing. More than once, I thought about sitting in the back seat to sew! But that wouldn't be a very good co-pilot, so I refrained.

Gulf waters going down the Florida Keys.

 

And, honestly, I enjoyed seeing all the sights. Had I been stitching, I would have missed some wonderful sight-seeing. While I have been to Florida several times, those were mostly single-destination visits. We hadn't been out to actually see the state. This trip afforded us the opportunity to really tour around. 

Mexico Beach, on the Panhandle; shoes off!

We entered Florida at the very western tip of the panhandle, and over the course of the month drove all the way to Key West. We circumnavigated Lake Okeechobee, made two trips across Alligator Alley (going to KW and returning), and saw lots of the area along the northern gulf coast. We had pontoon rides, cabin cruiser rides, ferry rides, trolley rides, and recumbent bike rides. We visited with family and friends all across the state - some live there full time, while others winter there every year.

Cabin Cruiser; owned by friend of friends we visited.

 

The first morning we were home, we had 3" of snow. Welcome back to Ohio, right? 

 

Now that we're back - got here late afternoon Thursday - I have been getting back into some sort of routine, and dreaming about stitching. Finally, yesterday afternoon, I'd had enough dreaming. I laid out blocks for my Temecula Baskets quilt. Since I am not using a pattern, I had a couple of ideas for how I could possibly arrange these blocks. Here are my current favorites. I labeled them "A" and "B" - feel free to chime in with your opinion. I need to make more blocks, so I won't be deciding just yet. 

Because I just couldn't begin to make my brain think hard enough to cut out more baskets, I began sifting through a bag of 2.5-inch squares; these were scraps acquired in the exchange we Frankfort girls did a few months ago. By gosh, it was kid-in-a-candy-store goodness, I tell you! I will share pics in tomorrow's post.

To sign off today, let me share a few more Florida pictures. I estimate taking over 700 pictures; so sifting through has been time consuming, to say the least.

Manatee momma and baby.

Fertile, dark soil for growing caladiums.

Flock of flamingos.

Grove of Bismarck Palm trees.

Marshy waters & waterfowl at Lake Okeechobee.

Bougainvillea.

Happy Quilting, Friends!