Little Susie Homemaker

Author: spfled

  • Thanksgiving ’25 adventures (Part 2)

    To read from the start of our trip, click Thanksgiving ’25 adventures (Part 1)

    As we started back home after spending Thanksgiving with my family in WI, we had good weather and clear roads.

    Beautiful red barn against the snow – GORGEOUS!!!

    We made it to Jackson, MN that first day driving back, headed into town for dinner, and then went to bed early. There was plenty of snow on the ground from the storm that had blown through a few days earlier.

    When we got up to leave Tuesday morning, the truck said it was 3 degrees!! I always tell my husband when either of us complain about the gray, rainy days in the Pacific Northwest, that I’d take that over blindingly sunny, take your breath away cold back in the Midwest. This was one of those days – beautiful, clear day (from inside) but brutally cold!

    As we headed west that day, we knew we would end up in warmer weather as we were driving out of the polar vortex.

    ‘Dignity’ statue at SD rest area.

    On our way to Rapid City, SD, we stopped for gas in Mitchell, SD and I made Hubby drive past the Corn Palace. I remember stopping here as a kid and knew he needed to see it. (He’d argue otherwise. His life is complete without seeing or stopping at tourist traps).

    The Corn Palace is literally made out of corn. Husks, cobs, stalks, etc. I was there on a family vacation when I was 13, and it had been around long before that.

    From there, we continued west and took a quick drive through the Badlands National Park. I had also been through here on that same family vacation. This time of year is beautiful with the snow. But, because there wasn’t much sun that day, the color striations in the hills didn’t stand out quite as much as I remember.

    In the 20ish miles we drove, we saw more wildlife than all the years combined we’ve been in the North Cascades National Park. We saw pronghorns (like an antelope), bighorn sheep, turkeys and bison!

    We will definitely come back to this park in the future and explore it on foot. It is also a dark skies park, so we’ll enjoy trying to see the night sky while staying there.

    Continuing west, we headed into Rapid City. (Coming out of the Badlands NP, we were in Wall, SD but I couldn’t convince hubby to even drive past Wall Drug)

    We stayed in Rapid City for 2 nights in a cheap Travelodge motel. (This was the trip of cheap motels.) It had been updated but definitely had opportunities. It was a sufficient place to sleep and that was what mattered. (And it was pet-friendly)

    The next morning, we headed up to Mount Rushmore and then drove through Custer State Park. It was a day of adventure! The views of Mt. Rushmore were NOT.

    From Mt. Rushmore, we headed to Custer State Park, but due to winter road conditions, we had to take a detour route (there’s a 7 mile section that is closed in winter). It was a pretty drive.

    We stopped into the Visitor Center and knew that the wildlife loop was open, so we kept driving through. The drive through Custer State Park was quite foggy. We were able to see quite a few animals, but no views of the surrounding landscape.

    Foggy drive thru Custer State Park

    We were glad to get back to the motel that afternoon and relax.

    The next day was much clearer. We drove back up to Mt. Rushmore and were actually able to see it.

    From there we headed to the town of Custer and then out of the area, back to I-90 heading west. We did stop along the way to see the Jewel Cave National Monument. (I’ll do a separate post about this) We stopped for the night in Sheridan, WY.

    I wouldn’t mind going back through Sheridan and exploring it a bit more. When we left the next day, we stopped into Java Moon coffee shop. It was very cute. I love a small-town coffee shop where all the old folks gather for morning coffee and friendly catchups. This seemed to be the place for that.

    We then drove to Missoula, MT for the night. It was a beautiful day driving through Montana and getting to see spots that we had driven through in the dark on our way east. By the time we got to Missoula, it started snowing. As we pulled off the interstate, it got pretty heavy.

    We pulled into the CostCo for gas, and then hubby suggested we go inside and check out what they have that is likely different from our CostCo. We left with a Christmas tree as we figured by the time we got home, our CostCo would be sold out. Turns out, the Missoula CostCo had sold 6 trees in 4 days. People there, spend $5 to go cut their own from the forest rather than buying them. Last year, our CostCo had sold out in less than 4 days.

    By evening, the snow seemed to have stopped, but the next morning as we were leaving, it looked like it was still trying to start snowing again.

    Thankfully, the drive home that final day looked worse than it turned out to be.

    It rained through the mountains, then to a bit of snow at Lookout Pass (Montana/Idaho border), but road conditions were good.

    We took advantage of the lower gas prices in Idaho before crossing back into Washington and stopped at a rest area. We had to park in the trucking area and saw these guys idling at the rest stop.

    We were glad to get home. While we loved getting to spend the holiday with my family, we will never drive cross-country at this time of year again.

    There are gorgeous areas across this whole country that we look forward to revisiting in the future. We will do it with our trailer so we can spend time exploring on foot and not just driving straight through.

    As my husband & his daughter say when things aren’t going quite as well as hoped, “we’re making memories”. We definitely made some memories on this trip! 🙂

  • Thanksgiving ’25 adventures (Part 1)

    Hubby & I headed to Wisconsin for Thanksgiving to spend the holiday with my parents, my younger brother & his family.

    We decided early on that we weren’t flying (flying at Thanksgiving is CRAZY!!!) and we would drive. We have a geriatric dog that my husband doesn’t want to leave, and the dog can’t fly.

    What an adventure it turned out to be!

    Growing up in the Midwest, I knew that this would potentially be a risky deal as weather is very unpredictable this time of year. I packed an emergency bin (that hubby thought I was going overboard with packing) but we were prepared should anything happen.

    Thankfully we didn’t need to use the emergency bin, but I’m very glad we had it along. (Snow pants, hats, scarves, emergency blankets, snowshoes, micro-spikes and extra winter coats.)

    Inspecting the room or put himself in the corner, not sure which LOL

    We left the Sunday before Thanksgiving and headed east on I-90 across Washington, the Idaho panhandle and Montana. In eastern Montana, we headed north on I-94 through North Dakota.

    Heading out of the PNW on I-90
    Bullfrog Overpass near Cle Ellum, WA (oops, emergency demo due to damage from an oversitzed truck)
    Central WA fog bank heading across the Columbia rivier

    On our first morning, we had a beautiful sunrise as we drove through eastern Montana. And a beautiful drive to Dickinson, ND for our 2nd night.

    We were able to stop into the visitor center of Teddy Roosevelt National Park and take a quick look around. We chatted with the ranger and got lots of info and advise from him for a future visit. We’ll come back in a better season to check out that park.

    The next morning things started getting a bit snowy!

    Eastern MT sunrise
    Morning start in Dickinson, ND

    We headed east out of Dickinson, ND knowing that there was a winter storm coming through. It was an interesting day driving to say the least.

    We drove anywhere from 15-50 mph in an 80-mph zone from Dickinson to Fargo. Along the way, we started seeing vehicles in ditches, semi’s or fifth wheels jack-knifed and overall, really bad driving conditions. Several times, the wind would catch the backend of our pick-up truck and cause us to fishtail a bit. I’m very thankful that my hubby did such a great job driving that day.

    Near white-out conditions
    Not-to-scenic view
    15 mph driving
    Wrong-way trucker

    At one point, traffic slowed and as we passed, we saw the above semi heading west-bound in the left lane of eastbound I-94! We didn’t see any tire marks that indicated how he got that way. The center median between east & west bounds wasn’t broken, there were no tire marks in the ditch, and we didn’t see any slide marks that would have gotten it spun around. It’s a mystery!

    We pulled off the road in Fargo to let the dog out and decided we were done for the day. I called the hotel chain and explained the situation, and they graciously refunded our points for the night so we could then use them book a night in Fargo. There was no way it would have been safe to continue on for several more hours. (We learned later that I-94 westbound in western MN had closed due to a 15-vehicle pileup. I’m not sure if that would have closed eastbound, but I’m glad we didn’t try to find out.)

    By the next morning and a good night’s sleep, conditions were significantly better. We left Fargo and headed toward mom & dad’s. It was fairly snowy the whole rest of the way and we drove slower than the speed limit, but it worked out just fine. We arrive safely.

    View from our room in Fargo, ND
    Storm had stopped, roads were better

    We enjoyed a very nice time with my family over the holiday. My SIL was working on Thanksgiving, so we had the traditional dinner on Friday. But we got to hang out all day with family both days, which was fantastic!

    Saturday, winter storms hit southeastern WI with 8-10″ of snow. It was beautiful and nice to be cozy at mom & dad’s for the day. We were glad we had 4-wheel drive.

    Snow in mom & dad’s front yard
    Silly selfie

    We had a wonderful visit with family and were glad we were safe!

    Part 2 to come (we have to get back home!)

  • Fall 2025

    November has started in the PNW in the typical dark and rainy fashion. But that just means, indoor projects and hobbies!

    I have continued to work on getting the free fruit processed. The Liberty apples are applesauce, canned and stored on a shelf in the garage.

    Garage shelf with applesauce as well as freeze dried meats and broth. And cool storage for onions & potatoes

    The cider apples are pending processing. Once I finished that box, I’m done with this batch of fruit. These will get sliced and either freeze-dried or frozen.

    The pears were diced and freeze-dried. And also turned into vanilla pear butter. I have it in the fridge and need to water bath can it so it will store well.

    The hubby & I cleared out the den closet and rearranged and added a couple of new shelves. It’s not finished yet, but so far it has drastically helped the storage ability of that closet! I look forward to filling it with more goodies.

    New shelves in den closet with a lot more room to expand! I have it sorted by fruits, vegetables and ready-to-eat meals. Broths are in the kitchen cupboards and in the garage. And meats are in the garage.

    One great thing about cleaning out that closet was getting all of the freeze-dried food organized. We have quite a bit of fruit and vegetables.

    I was able to see how many pre-made meals we have available. I’ll need to work on getting more ready for next summer’s backpacking adventures!

    If you’ve ever thought about getting a freeze-dryer yourself, Harvest Right is running their Black Friday sale *during the month of November. Check it out! All freezer-dryers are discounted this month!

    old-style Small Harvest Right freeze-dryer.

    One project I’ll be working on after finding some old seat covers from the RV is to repurpose those to make a cover for the freeze-dryer. Since I have it in the garage, we always have to remember to throw a tarp or a towel over it when my husband is doing anything in the garage that will make a lot of dust.

    The jam shelf is also filling up this fall. We don’t eat a ton of jam so I’m finding that if I make small batches every other year, that gives us plenty.

    Apple butter, quince jam, ‘raspbarb’ (raspberry/rhubarb) jam and tayberry jam

    One thing I plan on doing each spring is to turn any leftover frozen berries into jam. Once the berries start coming in, I need room in the freezer for the fresh ones so will clear out the previous seasons.

    And the final piece of news from the last few weeks, I have started listing my embroidered tea towels in an Etsy shop. (https://spfled1016.etsy.com) Go check it out.

    These are customizable and I can make them in a day or less. They make wonderful gifts (holidays, showers, weddings, house warmings, etc.)

    I hope your autumn is going well and you’re looking forward to Thanksgiving! I’m grateful that you’re reading my blog! Thanks!!

    (*this is an affiliate link which means I’ll make a % of any sales that result from you clicking through my link)

  • Fall Harvest

    Fall has arrived and so has the harvest to be put up!

    I posted in a local FB group that if anyone had fruit trees that needed picking, I was available. I got two offers to get fruit FOR FREE!!!

    One lady had apple trees and I came home with 4 boxes! I overestimated my energy level to process all of those apples. (It didn’t help that by the time the weekend was over, I had a pretty nasty cold for a couple of days.) I gave one of the boxes to a family at my church.

    With the apples, I have made a double batch of apple butter, 4 quarts of applesauce (so far) and freeze-dried 2 trays (so far) of apple slices.

    I have another batch of applesauce started and will finish the box of the red (Liberty) apples making those into sauce. When I cook them down, I run them through an old-fashioned sieve and end up with a lovely pink sauce because of the red skin. My husband has been enjoying eating what’s leftover in the sieve.

    My applesauce is literally just cooked down apples. I don’t add anything to it. I prefer unsweetened and these apples are so sweet, I definitely don’t need to add anything to them.

    Another lady had an Asian pear tree that was ripe. Unfortunately, that one ended up being too tall to get much, but I did come home with 3/4 of a box of pears.

    When I got home that afternoon, I made some ginger pear muffins from the Trim Healthy Mama membership site. They’re delicious!

    I plan on making a batch of pear jam and then freeze-drying the rest of them. I like pears as snacks when we’re hiking but then can easily rehydrate them for baking.

    We also harvested the quince from the quince tree. My husband planted the tree as a novelty in the backyard last year and there was 1 quince. This year, we picked 13 for just under 9 lbs. of fruit.

    I’ve had to look up quite a bit on quince to know what to do with them. These are Portugal Quince, and they look like a large pear. They can be eaten raw but are quite hard and very tart. But when they are cooked, they sweeten up and have an almost tropical scent.

    Unfortunately, when I cut the first one open (and each one so far since) they’re brown on the inside. I have a message to the nursery we bought it from to see what they think.

    UPDATE: I heard back from the nursery and they confirmed they were overripe. Next year, we’ll pick them as soon as we can smell them while on the tree.

    But, we did bake the first one and my husband ate it. I don’t think it had been cooked quite long enough as it was still pretty hard. And today, I’m cooking down 3 of them to try quince jam.

    The best way I can describe what quince tastes like is a peach/pineapple cross. It’s good, just unusual. I believe I cooked down enough for 1 jar of jam. We’ll see what happens!

    UPDATE: The finished jam has a delightful flavor that I think is a peach/pineapple mix, my future SIL said he thought it tasted like pear. My husband and stepdaughter both said mango. So, pick your fruit flavor, but it’s a really bright flavor for a fall fruit. I like it!

    The weekend will tell how much of this processing gets finished. Happy Fall!

  • Garden Wrap-up 2025

    I’ve been missing from the blog for a bit, mostly due to not being home, but also some technical issues I didn’t feel like dealing with. Those are resolved now and I’m back!

    We were in Europe (Italy & Spain) for just about all of September and I thought I would miss out on harvesting my garden. But, it waited for me!

    I came home to a cucumber, lots of tomatoes that were ready to harvest and still ripening and two spaghetti squash.

    We put up a trellis for squash and cucumbers to climb and the spaghetti squash went crazy! These two are literally hanging between the trellis and the maple tree across the sidewalk from it.

    Those tendrils loved the maple tree and bamboo that were easy grabbing distance from the top of the trellis. The squash are still working on ripening.

    When we came home from our trip, we also had quite a few berries ready to be picked. The goji berries had been prolific while we were gone and some had rotted on the stem. 🙁 But there were still a LOT to be picked.

    The ever-bearing raspberries were the same. They are still going here toward the end of October with some having rotted on the stem while we were gone.

    This past Saturday, I went and picked apples and came home with 4 boxes. I overestimated my energy for homemaking though (having gotten a cold the next day) and gave a box away to a family at church.

    But with the first box, I made a batch of applesauce, a double batch of apple butter and freeze-dried 2 trays of apple slices.

    Today’s activities will include more apple processing as tomorrow, I’m supposed to go to another house to pick Asian Pears. Tis the season for putting things up for the winter.

  • Garden – June 2025

    My garden is growing!

    I wasn’t sure how things would work with being gone at the wrong times this year, but thankfully things seem to be chugging along.

    Some things are just plain slow, and I need to do some education to figure out why (beets – yeah, you!!). And some things are plugging along as expected and should be ready to harvest on time soon (peas – way to go babies!!)

    Asparagus, Cauliflower and Volunteer Potato
    Peas, Kale, Black Beans, Cucumber, Spinach, Lettuce
    Beans, Beets

    In the main garden, I have a couple of volunteer potatoes. I didn’t buy seed potatoes this year. I had a couple of potatoes from last year that had sprouted. There was also a leftover store-bought organic russet that I used as well. Time will tell how any of those turn out.

    I’ve tried planting things more interspersed to not waste space, but also to hopefully have things that help one another. Since beets prefer cooler weather, I’ve planted bush beans in between the row of beets.

    (Maybe I should take a gardening class – its all one big experiment)

    The berries that line one side of the main garden are all doing well. The Logan Berries skipped last year but appear to be a bumper crop this year. Tayberries are already ripening. And the Boysenberry has a lot of blossoms.

    First Tayberry harvest
    Boysenberry
    Logan Berry
    Tayberry

    The side garden is doing well. We added a hog panel as a trellis. The tubers, squash and cucumbers all need something to climb. I planted zucchini, yellow summer squash as well as spaghetti squash and delicata squash. Thankfully, at least 1 of each one has come up.

    Cucumbers are planted along both sides of the trellis.

    My hubby planted about 4x more tubers this year. Now to figure out how to cook them properly to eat them!

    The side yard also has most of the rhubarb, raspberries and the biggest, more prolific blueberry bushes. The raspberries are beginning to ripen, and I picked the first one last night.

    Blueberries and Rhubarb
    Squash(es), Cucumbers and Tubers
    Raspberry

    A couple other random things that are coming along – the black currants and honey berries are almost ready to harvest.

    The main potatoes are in a pot and doing really well! I can’t wait for the blossoms! Have you ever smelled a potato blossom? Seriously, why has no one ever come up with using that scent??

    Goji berries are going crazy and starting to ripen. The quince tree has lots of little quince growing. And the tomatoes are in the ground. (I have basil and parsley planted nearby. These were from seed so they’re VERY behind)

    Black Currants
    Goji Berries
    Honey Berries
    Pepper and Potato
    Quince
    Tomatoes

    The flowers throughout the yard are beautiful and doing well. The peonies are just about finished up. The allium look gorgeous. And the sedum I planted in the fall from the neighbor are all doing well.

    Alpine strawberries are ripening. I took a couple of shoots last year and managed to keep two of them alive over winter. I’ve planted those near the asparagus as they’re supposed to be great companion plants.

    Allium
    Alpine Strawberries
    Sedum

    For missing April and getting things started, I’m pretty happy with how things are going. I’m gearing up for the July harvest as the blueberries ripen up.

    I’m hoping to harvest 100 lbs. If I get that much, great. If I don’t, that’s great too!

  • Patio Cushion Refresh

    With Joann Fabrics closing permanently, I have made a few too many stops in there to look for deals on fabric. While visiting my parents in WI, mom & I went into the Joann store. The day we went they had a sale for when you bought the rest of what was on a bolt, you got an additional 50% off the price (which was already 70-80% off).

    I’ve had my eye on this fabric every time I’ve seen it, but because it is canvas, it is too thick for quilting. But I love the pattern. I took a picture, sent it to my husband to make sure he didn’t hate it, and then bought the rest of a bolt. It was 8.5 yards. (Turns out, I probably needed at least another half yard)

    I decided this would be really pretty to recover the cushions for the patio chairs. There is nothing wrong with existing cushions, except that the fabric is faded.

    Once I got home, I took one of the cushions apart to use as a pattern. I knew I needed cording for these, but as I took them apart, the existing cording is plastic that I can reuse.

    Once I cut out all the pieces, I put the various pieces together and started sewing. Having so many components to sew together took a bit to get in the groove, but I got there. I have learned some lessons on the first one to make sure the remaining three turn out better.

    My husband’s first reaction to seeing the finished cushion was “wow! That has a lot of color in it!” LOL, yes it does. Then, this morning, he sat outside to drink his coffee and said he really liked it and I did a great job. <3

    I really like how it turned out and am looking forward to getting the remaining three cushions finished. It is so much brighter, fresher and cleaner. Maybe we’ll actually end up sitting out at the patio table now.

  • Garden – May 2025

    Spring has sprung in the Pacific Northwest! We were on vacation the month of April. With not being home, I wasn’t sure if I’d get much of a garden in this year. I decided to give it a shot and plant a variety of seeds before we left.

    On March 31st, I planted beets, peas, kale, spinach, cabbage and mesclun lettuce. I hoped that the month of April would get enough rain that it would go ahead without me.

    Thankfully, it seems to have worked! We got home on April 30th and I had at least a bit of everything I planted.

    I planted golden beets and bulls blood beets. Both are growing. Now a couple of weeks after getting home, everything is a bit bigger than the pictures show. I’m looking forward to harvesting these!!!

    The peas are coming up well. I strung up some trellising using big tomato cages, a shepherd’s hook plant stand and some cotton twine. I’ve had peas grow 6+ ft tall in the past. Last year, they were barely 3 ft tall without anything to grow up. I have ‘high’ hopes for these peas!

    We have asparagus coming up which makes me really happy. My husband transplanted these crowns a couple years ago so I’ve let them go and haven’t harvested. So far, there isn’t enough to harvest yet, but I’m hoping it keeps coming up and there’s more as it continues to warm up.

    Spinach is starting to pop up and grow bigger. I’m hoping quite a bit more of this starts soon. But, I need to plant a second (and third) round of this seed.

    In other parts of the yard, we have quite a few berries that are blossoming beautifully.

    The blueberry plants are blossoming so well! I’m excited to see how much we harvest this year. Several of our plants are in their 3rd year, so they are coming into their full production!

    Huckleberry Blossoms
    Honey Berry Blossoms

    The huckleberries are also in full blossom. They are so tiny, its almost hard to harvest, but they’re so good, its worth the effort.

    The honey berry plants are also in full blossom. These plants will be the first that we can harvest as they are earlier than the other berries. We should be able to harvest these by mid-June or earlier.

    We cut down 2 of our 3 apple trees last fall. We replaced them with new columnar apple trees. These don’t take up nearly the amount of space, don’t block the sunlight for the surrounding plants, but they produce well. Hopefully we’ll get a few apples from these new trees this year, but I anticipate great results in the next few years.

    One of the things I commented to my husband when we got home from our vacation is that the neighborhood was in full bloom. The colors at this time of year are beautiful!

    I have started seeds in trays for tomatoes, herbs, and cucumbers. Hopefully those will be ready to be planted by the end of the month or early next month.

    Gardening 2025!!!

  • Away from Home: North Cascades NP

    The North Cascades National Park is one of the least visited national park in the lower 48! And thankfully, it’s only a couple hours from home!

    This is one of the favorite places that my husband and I love to spend time. We will take day trips, but we’ll also take the travel trailer up and stay the week.

    Here are some of our favorites:

    Maple Pass Loop

    One of the most popular hikes in the North Cascades is Maple Pass loop. It is technically outside of the North Cascades National Park, but at the top of the pass, you will step back into the park. It’s about a 6.5 mile (my personal Strava records say it is over 7.5 miles) and over 2,100 ft of elevation gain, but the views make every single step worth it!

    It is a loop that heads up, has amazing vistas all the way up. The views at the top are amazing in all directions. As you head back down, you’re going through the woods for the last bit.

    Blue Lake

    Blue Lake is another gorgeous lake that is technically outside of the North Cascades National Park, but well worth the drive out Highway 20 through the park.

    As you walk up the trail, you can see the Liberty Bell spire to your left. Often, there are climbers working their way up. When you get close to the lake, there are the remains of an old cabin. When you arrive at the lake, the name fits it perfectly! It is an incredible shade of blue. Take your time, sit and eat lunch as you soak up the magnificent views.

    Cascade Pass

    I have to stop myself from gushing about Cascade Pass. There is nothing at all not to love about it. Even the trailhead parking lot has amazing views. This area is called the American Alps, and this trail definitely makes that nickname make sense. My husband and I eloped at the top of the pass. (Now you know why I gush about Cascade Pass.)

    This has easy switchbacks up the mountain and then the trail opens up. When the trees open up, you can look down at your car in the parking lot. Once you reach the top of the pass, there is a gravel area with large stones set up to sit and enjoy the view overlooking the valley below. It truly is a magical place!

    You can hike down the valley in the picture to a town called Stehekin which is only accessible on foot or by ferry.

    Big Beaver campground

    The Big Beaver campground is on Ross Lake. You can either boat in from the resort or hike in. We hiked in and backpacked in the area and loved how gorgeous it was. We backpacked in 13 miles our first day to a small campground called 39 mile, but we had stopped just around the inlet from the Big Beaver campground. The second night, we headed back to Big Beaver stock camp, but we walked up to the main campground to check things out.

    It had boat docks for easy access from the lake. Or, it was about a 7.5 mile hike in from the Ross Lake Dam parking lot on Highway 20. It had many camp sites near the lakeshore and the bathrooms were quite nice for backcountry toilets. If you’ve never backpacked, then trust me, vault toilets that are clean and stocked with toilet paper are a luxury!

    We will definitely be heading back to that area for future backpacking trips.

    Ross Lake Resort

    The Ross Lake Resort is a bucket list item. My husband & I were able to get in to stay for a couple of nights due to a cancellation.

    The Ross Lake Resort is 15 floating cabins on Ross Lake National Recreational Area. It is the type of place that you can’t just make a reservation to get into. You fill out the waitlist for each year and/or watch their website for cancellation availability. But it is worth any amount of effort to get in.

    The cabin we stayed in was one of the two duplexes. It had a full kitchen, running water, flush toilets – not what you expect when floating on a lake. It also had a small wood stove for heat if needed and a pile of firewood outside the front door. Or, if the weather is warm, take a dive off the dock out your front door to cool off!

    We will continue to try getting in this resort as it is a quiet, relaxing trip with the most amazing views.

    While the North Cascades is an easy to drive through National Park, there is a lot there! It is well worth your time to come this far north and check it out.

  • 1st Bed Quilt

    With my new sewing machine, my husband suggested that I make a quilt for the bed in our travel trailer. I suggested that I get a National Parks panel. There is a fabric designer, Riley Blake that had an entire National Parks themed fabric line.

    He liked that idea but insisted we had to have Canyonlands National Park as part of the quilt. That specific park isn’t one that was made as its own panel, but I was able to find it as part of “The Grand Circle”.

    I purchased the panel from a seller on Etsy and then got to work figuring out the colors and design to use. Flying geese was the winning quilting design. I found solid fabrics that matched the panels they would be next to. As I made the flying geese, there were extras left over that were used as a 2nd border. Hooray, no waste (or at least less waste)!

    Flying geese
    Using up extra flying geese with a 2nd border

    I had fun choosing which border color fabric to use. I took the quilt top that I had done to that point and other fabric that I had used in the trailer redo a couple years ago to the quilt store and laid it out to see what colors would work best.

    As it goes with quilting, there were a few things that came up a bit short (sometimes my math was a little off) so I added a bit more fabric to it to make it work.

    Oops, needed more fabric
    Choosing which color to use for borders

    There was an issue along the way. For some reason, the navy blue fabric melted when ironed even though it had been ironed at least 5 times previously. That fabric was reusing an old pillowcase, so I think the fiber content wasn’t as much cotton as I thought. Oops!! Thankfully, the iron was easily cleaned up.

    It was really fun to see the quilt develop as more borders were sewn on. I knew what I wanted it to look like but actually seeing it in the end was even better (and a LOT bigger) than I had imagined.

    Finished quilt top

    To finish the quilt, I was able to visit a friend who has a long-arm quilting machine. It was so nice of her to let me invade her and her family for a couple of days, and it was so much fun to get to spend time with her! (Thank you Emily!!!!)

    She showed me how to get the quilt attached to the machine and then how to run the machine over the quilt to get all the stitches in. I asked if I could do it, and I ended up doing the majority of the stitching on the quilt. It’s a learning curve, but so fun once you get in the groove.

    Emily & I
    Quilting away
    Finished quilting

    We got it finished up in 1 day. I headed home the next morning and then was able to finish the binding once I got home.

    Completed quilt

    I really love how it turned out. It’s a little bit too big for the RV bed, but that’s okay, that just means there’s more to wrap up in on cold nights.

    I believe this will be the first of many quilts to come!