May Turtle Trot (and Nashville)

It's Turtle Trot time once again! 

If you're just joining us, Turtle Trot is a Stitch Along.  All the participants posted ten projects to work on in January, and through the year we show our progress, or lack thereof, on the tenth of each month.

But for me this past month was for the most part devoted to things other than my nine remaining TT pieces.  I spent a good deal of time working straight through on the Bloom piece that I showed in my last post, and I took two trips, one to the EGA Heartland Region Seminar in Minnesota that I talked about here, and one last week to Nashville, but not the Nashville in Tennessee that you're probably thinking of.  Folks that live beyond the Midwest United States may not realize that there is a Nashville in Indiana.

It's a small (pop. 1,084) town full of gift shops, galleries, restaurants and southern Indiana charm.

While many of the items for sale are not made locally, if you look you can certainly find homemade goodies.

Brown County State Park is just a few miles away.  It's quite pretty, with hills, trails and a lake.

We managed to find this flat, paved(!) quarter-mile trail through the woods.

There's an old, somewhat rickety fire tower in the park that I couldn't resist climbing.  The structure shakes when there is more than one person climbing it.  The trip down was actually more difficult for me than the trip up, because I have a slight case of acrophobia!

Southpaw Stitcher staff stayed safely on the ground during my climb.  See him there by the tree?  I was about halfway up at this point.

We stayed at this cabin in the woods.  From here, you couldn't see the road or any neighbors.  It was awesome!

The cabin was very spacious. Let's go inside...

 It had a fully-equipped kitchen. 

We ended up doing the same amount of eating in

as eating out.

 The rustic living room. 

(But there was a flat screen TV, too!)

Balls of crochet cotton the the mantel.

Dining nook.  Notice the little shelf next to the doorway

filled with books to read and games to play.

The outside was "spacious," too.

This is Southpaw Stitcher staff,

staring up at the trees in the backyard.

But the best part of the cabin was...

..the screened-in porch with comfy chairs...

..and Mr. Woodpecker.

Back to the Turtle Trot.

But before I show you any stitchy photos,

take another look at the turtle in the first photo.

He is a Nashville turtle.

Look at the ground he is standing on.

Did we find him in the yard?

No, that is the middle of the road, people!

It was one of their paved roads, too.

But that just adds to the charm, right?

I must mention here that

Southpaw Stitcher staff shooed the turtle

into the relative, if temporary,

safety of the grass by the side of the road.

Now, on to stitching.

I worked on two of my TT pieces.

As we approach the 4th of July

(I know it's still two months away),

I took out Plum Street Samplers' Liberty Inn.

Last month.

And this month.

The construction of the Liberty Inn continues,

if somewhat slowly.

There are many guests booked for the

grand opening of the Inn on July 4th.

I do hope they will not be disappointed!

 And last but not least,

regular readers should know what's coming next.

Of course, it's Needle Delights Originals' Summer Logs.

Here's where I was at last month.

And we have a finish!

I skipped ahead of my ANG chapter's SAL a little bit.

I should have saved that last pastel corner

in the lower right for this coming month,

but I once I picked it up, I didn't want to stop.

Thanks for coming with me to Hoosierland!
Happy Mother's Day to all the
moms and step-moms out there.

Hope your weekend was fun.