Camp Quilt is done....

So I finished the quilt that is going to go in the trailer.  Boy do I ever realize how hard it is working with cheap, not so great, fabric. But the end result turned out ok. The quilt measures 67" x 79" (the biggest I've done thus far!) I'm not super crazy about this quilt, but it is super soft and cuddly. For the quilting I tried something new (and realized I'm awful at it!). I did a swirly-q-loopy type pattern around each square. The quilting really is horrible so please don't look too close! After a while of quilting I looked at the back and saw that there were some tension issues but there was no way I was ripping out seams, so I just left it. It's not a gift for anyone and is going to stay in our trailer for our camping trips, so no biggy.

I'm excited to use it because we have a camping trip planned in a little less than 2 weeks. We are headed to Bridgeport, CA which is where I met my husband 9 years ago at another camping adventure with a big group of people. It's one of our favorite places to camp but now also one of the most saddest places for us. 3 years ago we were camping there for the Fourth of July and our 2 dogs ran off to do the the thing that dogs do and only one returned. We were wilderness camping in the middle of no where. We searched for four days for him. Then went home made fliers and hubby returned to the town and posted the fliers all over town. He stayed another week searching for him to no avail. He hiked at least 10 miles each day out in the wilderness. We like to think since it's a real "hot spot" to go for the 4th of July, that another family found him and decided to  keep him. So this will be our first trip back since we lost our beloved "Mason".

Now, on to happier thoughts, I'm just so excited to get one more camping trip in (probably our last for a while) and see the beautiful Fall colors. Right now we are living in the desert in the middle of Nevada and it's just horrible. No trees, no pretty colors and it's been in the 90s everyday. (but that will change later in the week! Which I'm thrilled about! It's actually dropping down to the mid to high 60s!) I'll take some pictures of our camping and be sure to post those when we return!

7 years ago......

Way back in 2002 I told my husband I wanted to make a quilt. Mind you, up to that point the only other time I even sat behind a sewing machine, let alone sewed something was in 1985 in 8th grade Home Economics! So we proceeded to the local Sears and bought a Janome model that was made for Sears at the time. It was some quilter's edition in that it came with a walking foot and some quilting guide bar (that I've never used!). But basically, it's just an average regular sewing machine. We paid a whole $270 for it. So anyway, I went to the local Walmart and bought some fabrics that I liked at the time to make a basic patchwork quilt. I assembled the quilt top and then that was it. I had no clue how to finish it. I didn't know about blogs (if they were even around way back then!), I never even considered taking a quilting class. I had some books, read about quilting and was completely lost. Had no clue how to do a binding or even quilt it for that matter! I shoved the quilt top in a drawer and it was never pulled out again. The machine was put away and wasn't used again until March 2009! Now that I'm quilting, I realize how bottom of the line my machine is and how a better machine would probably make quilting a bit easier, but I'm use to this machine now. I know eventually I'll get another one. But that is rather intimidating to me. Which one do you get? What's the best machine? Do I really want to spend thousands of dollars on it? So for now, this will do.

Yesterday I was rooting around some stuff in a closet and low and behold I come across that very first quilt! I don't really care for the fabrics, they are very cheap and not "quilt shop" quality. BUT the funny thing is is that the past few days I've been thinking about making a quilt for our camping trailer. I've been looking online at different fabrics and just really haven't found anything that I want yet. #1, I don't want to spend a whole lot on the quilt since it's just going in our trailer for when we are camping. #2, I really want something sort of rustic looking. #3, this sounds crazy, but I don't want to be super in love with it because I'm afraid if I am, then it won't go or stay in the trailer! ANYWAY.....after coming across this sort of ugly 1st quilt, I think I now have a quilt for our trailer! Luckily the bag it was in still had some fabric in there. So now I need to make it a bit bigger and finish this sucker up!