Back from vacation and a quilt sneak peek

We are back from our hunting vacation - we didn't get any deer, but we had quite an adventure.  That's what matters, right? Right?!  ::sigh::  We do have blacktail season still open in our area, but I have little faith of the archery hunting around here.  Oh well.  Here are a few pics from our trip.

 Setting up the tent:

We ended up getting snow:

A LOT of snow:

Too much snow in fact, and we pulled out early because the road was slick even with 4 tire chains and in 4-low.  There are some scary spots on the mountain when conditions are like this.  One couple wound up sliding off the road the day before we left and it was a STEEP incline, probably at least a 45 degree incline.  Luckily another hunter had a big pickup with a big winch and he was able to pull them out.  They were SO lucky!

So, onto quilty news.......

I have a project I just finished up for Moda Bake Shop which should be posted anytime now.  Here is a sneak peek!  I stepped out of my comfort zone with the quilting (and binding) on this one and did a sort-of ''orange peel'' type quilting and a wider-than-normal binding with a faux piping/flange.  I'll show you more after the project is posted on MBS :)

A vacation of sorts

It has become a tradition for hubby and I to take 1 1/2 weeks 'vacation' around Thanksgiving..... not for Thanksgiving, but for our annual hunting trip!  This will be our 4th year doing this.  The first year we stayed in a cheapo motel that had a kichen in it (that was pretty nice, but even if it was only $65/night, that adds up!).  Then, we acquired a wall tent (and it only cost us a bottle of whiskey, what a deal!).  The tent was huge and hard for us to put up on our own, so we made it smaller and bought smaller steel for the supports.  Now we can put it up on our own.  It's still not easy, but it sure is a lot cheaper to do it this way.
Here is a pic of our tent after it's alterations on our first hunting trip with it:

Last year, we bought a beat up tiny little enclosed trailer, repaired it, and it's now exclusively the wall tent trailer.  I am very happy that we did that because those wall tent parts are too heavy to move around and they take up precious storage out of the trailer!  This is a pic from last year.  It was a dry year, so we left the tarp off the roof at first.  I think it's supposed to snow this year, so the tarp will definitely be ON!

We haven't harvested a deer the last 3 years, but our confidence level is high this year.  We both have new bows and we have practiced more this year than the 3 years combined.  I am crossing my fingers/toes that we are able to harvest some meat for the freezer this year!!!

I am so glad that our youngest son is still at home to house-sit and puppy-sit.  Lucy would probably do really well in a kennel, but it's nice not to have to worry about doing that to her!

Leaders and enders

I have been working on my April Showers ''Metro Rings'' quilt without really working on it - just using it as a 'leaders and enders' project when working on my Daysail quilt for the Moda Bake Shop :)

I'm getting quite a pile done......  after trimming is done, can't wait to start making the triangles into squares - once that is done, the assembly should be easy peasy!

waste not, want not

I have been saving the cut-offs from the batting from my last several quilts - there is always about 20'' or so 'extra' that I save....

So, sewing 4 scraps together made one 'new' full batting, yay!  No waste and saved myself some $$.  Gotta love that.

Daysail happy mail

Happy mail from Moda!  Wohoo!  I couldn't wait to unwrap one of those jelly rolls!  Fabric is Daysail by Bonnie and Camille :)