Rotted

Oh man, is it exhausting to be a dog! Especially a girl dog who is usually on sentry duty. But today is Friday and since John has to be out the door by 7:00 for a breakfast meeting-thingy, we all have to get up before 6:00 to have our walk! Makes for tired puppies. Good thing there are blankets to keep warm with and that also help to block out that bright sun.

Happy Friday everybody!

Diane Kimono Dress

My version of the Diane Kimono Dress.

I had almost entirely given up on ever being able to make clothes for myself after a few miserable, frustrating, and money wasting attempts using patterns from some of the major designers, like you find at JoAnn's (I have almost entirely given up on that store. I am so fed up with the quality of the products and lack of selection). While wandering through one of my new favorite quilt shops, I found patterns by independent designers and thought I would give this one a try. These designers go by measurements, which seem to be completely accurate. The patterns are actually written in English by the designers and do not assume that you know what you are doing. The instructions also go into detail about why you are sewing a certain piece in a particular way, which is so helpful and discourages shortcuts because the step seems unnecessary. I have already purchased a few other patterns from this and another designer. I really don't mind paying full price for a pattern that I know I won't mess up and will use many times over. There are a few adjustments I will need to make if I use this pattern again, of course, but overall I am really happy with how it turned out.

What do you think?

Glacier Trip

As promised, here are some photos of our trip to Glacier National Park in July. We stayed with some friends of Mom and Dad in their cabin at Glacier Bible Camp. It was a houseful, but fun. We had a packed week of relaxing and adventuring around the park. Daisy and Tony drove out with us and stayed at Triple R Kennels in Columbia Falls. I think for the most part they enjoyed it, they were able to stay together and had a big yard to run around in during the day.

McDonald Lake

We spent two days at the lake, sitting around, grilling, taking tube rides, and soaking up the sun.

Bella and Uncle John about to go for a ride.

The girls in Whitefish trying to decide where to eat lunch.

John and I took the girls up the Going to the Sun highway. We were all impressed with how much snow was at the top, even with the 60+ degree temperatures.

Dad and Alana hiked with us to Avalanche Lake. It is a good hike to a gorgeous spot. Alana did really well and seemed to enjoy it. She had a great time climbing all the boulders and finding bugs and rocks, she's such a science girl. (John loves that!)

This is a bit fuzzy, but I still love this picture of Alana.

Avalanche Lake.

Dad counted seven waterfalls coming down into the lake. It has been so wet this year, the ground was soggy in places and it was actually quite cool.

Avalanche Creek

In the evenings I was finishing up the binding for Jack's quilt (see previous post). Bella wanted to sew "something beautiful" so I had her find a dress-up outfit and we used DMC floss in all kinds of colors to embroider the bottom of the dress.

She really took to it and was working on her own after not too long. She's got the hang of it now.

John hiked by himself (I know!) up Gunsight Mountain, stopping part way up to eat his lunch at Sperry Chalet. There are a couple of chalets in the Park that you can hike to and stay in. This one does provide meals, but you have to bring everything else in on backpack.

One morning we floated down the Flathead River from the campground at Hungry Horse to Columbia Falls. We were told that the 6 or so miles would take us 3-4 hours, but because of the amount of water and the fast currents it took us only and hour and a half. Dad came with us and it was fun, expect for the part when I almost died!

Well, not quite, but I did almost miss the launching area where we were being picked up and I had to jump out and drag the pontoon up. I was kind of out in the middle of the river and my life jacket got stuck on one of the bars, so I panicked a bit. But I made it, only to realize about 15 minutes later that when I jumped off, I lost an oar. We looked for it and it was found barely hanging onto a tree just a bit down stream. Lucky! We only had to replace the special ring attachment thingy instead of the whole oar.

It was a great trip and so fun to spend quality time with the girls. We are looking forward to another visit.