Summerland And The Bear

This past weekend we hiked the Summerland Trail, part of the Wonderland Trail that circles Mount Rainier.  And we met a bear.  We had such a fun and exciting weekend, so I thought I would share with you our adventure.

Top of Summerland Trail

We wanted to go on one last trip before the start of the school year, so we packed our things, and drove about 2 and a half hours to Mount Rainier.  It was the perfect weekend.  The weather was amazing!  We weren't the only ones who knew it though.  There were a lot of people there enjoying the scenery and the many trails Mount Rainier has to offer.   The first night we made it to the Naches Campground, then packed up and found a nice spot at the White River Campground, closer to our hike we wanted to take.  This is a big campground, but it fills up fast on the weekends.  I highly recommend it though, it is beautiful and close to some really great trails, one being the Wonderland Trail.  This trail circles the mountain, and my husband did the whole thing with his brother and friends before we ever met.  

Here are a few pictures of us at the White River Campsite.

Saturday Morning we got ready for our big hike.  We decided to do the Summerland trail, a 4.2 mile hike to a beautiful high mountain meadow.  Nathan took a backpack, and I took the baby.  Like I said, it was a perfect day, and that means there was a lot of people wanting to do the same hike.  We had to park a ways away to even get in.  Regardless, it was worth it.

Ok, I'll tell you about the bear now.  I know that's probably the most important part.  So we were maybe a half mile into the hike, when I got the idea that we should discuss what to do if we saw a bear.  "Ok kids, what do we do if we see a bear?", I said.  Now, my husbands reaction was priceless: "There is no way that's going to happen! I hiked the entire Wonderland Trail and never saw one!".  Yeah, I figured he was probably right.  This was a high traffic trail today and the bears were probably far far away from the scent of our soaps and perfumes.  But what was the harm?  So we all decided that if we saw a bear, nobody was to run off.  We needed to all huddle together and yell really loud.  That I thought would be the best bet to being safe and the kids were happy about it.  

So then I took the lead.  This was maybe 5 minutes after we had that discussion.  As I rounded the corner, I was roughly ten feet ahead of the group, and there in my face was...a black bear!  Okay, maybe not right in my face.  But that's all I saw was this shinning golden brown fur in the sunlight.  The bear was nose down, grazing in the foliage.  My first thought was, "Why did he not hear us?!!".  We were all talking the entire time, he should've at least heard us coming, if not smell us first.  

So immediately I turn around and all I could say was "Bear! Bear!" as I grabbed my kids and gathered them in a circle.  All my husband said was, "What? There's no bear.".  In my mind I was thinking, "Are you crazy!! How do you not see that?!", but what I didn't realize was that a big fat tree was blocking the view.  My husband saw that I was serious...finally, I'm sure he thought I was teasing, and took off his glasses to see better.  While I was scooting the kids back, he was walking forward.  By now the bear had moved further down the hill and was nearing the trail so they all could see him plain and clear.  In my mind, I thought he was going to walk right up to us and ask for crackers.  This bear must've been somewhat used to humans.  When he had crossed the trail in front of us, Nathan hooted really loud to get his attention.  

All the bear did was slowly look up at us, perk his ears, then return to his foraging and continued downhill, towards the river.  That's it...

Yeah, he really didn't care about us at all.  When he was almost out of view, a few more hikers caught up with us and we told them the story.  We also met some forrest rangers, who by now must have documented the sighting.  

Nathan was upset he didn't have his camera ready.  That would've been cool, but also dangerous.  I've heard stories of people following bears to get better pictures, and then getting eaten.  Better safe then sorry.  

So we kept hiking, laughing and relieved that we were all fine.  However, let me tell you, I was completely out of shape to be carrying a baby on my back, but also this hike is literally up hill the entire time.  Well...not on the way back of course...just to make that clear.  :) 

On the way Up!

Exhausted...the kids did better than me

Me, tired again.  Kids doing great.

We finally made it to the top, and it was all worth it.  The view is unbelievable.  Do this hike! You must! Next time I'm going to excursive first, then I will enjoy it more. 

There is a cute little family of marmots up there.  They make a high pitch squeal that has them all pop their heads up and do a head count or something.  Probably making sure we aren't crossing their territory. 

That little bump on the right is a marmot too.

I couldn't miss a day of my Spoonflower sketch per day challenge.  I didn't have much time but it was fun.

We drank this beautiful running water.  Best water I ever tasted. 

We tried a group selfie. :)

Another hiker was nice enough to take our picture, then it was time to head back down.  

My husband is so awesome that he carried the baby and the backpack on the way down.  I was almost dead, so thank goodness he is strong.

My son took this picture of me.  

We found this little army guy nailed to a log, so we took a picture.

Finished! And almost dead! Oh, and some kind soul saw us waiting there (Nathan was getting the car) and warned us that there was a bear in the area.  Isn't that nice? :)  He was a little shocked when we told him we were the ones that saw the bear, and we didn't seem too concerned.  

The next day, we just did a small, small hike around a little lake.  I can't remember what it was called, sorry.  It was just off the road on the way back home.

Do these pictures make you want to go to Mount Rainier?  They do for me...I want to go back now.  

Until next time!

Garden Delights!

We have been gathering and making all kinds of delicious food from the garden.  I know I've been sharing pictures on Facebook and Instagram, but I thought it would be fun to share these on my blog. Gardening is so much work, but I tell you it's worth it!

We have an abundance of peppers! I took some more pictures of them that maybe I can share later.  I love the variety and shapes that they make!

My uncle lead me to this Paula Deen peach cobbler recipe, and believe me...it's the best recipe and most simplest recipe I have ever made! And yes, I know that means more butter...but butter is not bad for you okay!? Seriously...I'm really serious.  

My husband Nathan is the salsa guy. He knows how to make this stuff, and there is absolutely nothings like fresh salsa...NOTHING! :)

I love yellow tomatoes...and I thought this was fun.  I've been playing with illustrator...I could probably spend all day with that.

Love this variety of colors and shapes!

My son actually insisted on stacking these...and I think he did a pretty good job. :)

Happy Gardening!

Spoonflower Challenge: Day 11-20

I just realized it's been another 10 days of the sketch per day "Spoon challenge" I've been participating in from Spooflower.com.   That makes 20 sketches total!! I really feel good about this because its been helping me to cultivate a good habit.  

I feel like the purpose of this challenge (at least for myself) is not to try to create a work of art, or the best picture each day; It's to just draw something...every day.  Not miss a few days and then catch up.  It defeats the purpose in my mind.  I'm not saying for other people that's bad, they can do what they want.  But for myself, this is my goal. 

 It can be a little scary posting your work for all to see.  Sometimes people (intentionally or unintentionally) make fun of it, or don't like it.  I'm not saying this happened to me, but it could happen, and I guess that maybe it does without me knowing.  And sometimes you spell something wrong and get embarrassed...okay that did happen...but it was really late...that's my excuse anyway.  Sometimes you put something out there that you think is great...and then you get no response.  It's just the way it is.  

I think what's important is to just keep trying and learning as I go, and not worry about what others may think because I'm doing what I love!  I know I will get better, because I can already tell a difference after 20 days.  Just think what a year would do!  

 The first few sketching include handwriting because that was part of the challenge.  We were asked to work on lettering and I enjoyed it, even though it's not something I normally do.

Prompt #6 "lemon"

All I could think of was this quote by Ina May Gaskin.  She's a midwife...you can look her up. 

Prompt #7: "Book" 

This one surprised me because I didn't take much time on it, and don't really like it.  The funny thing is, it has the most likes by far of all my drawings.  I don't know what to think of that!

Prompt #8: "Arrow"

To be honest, this is one of my favorites of the word art prompts, but I don't think anyone else really likes it at all.  I still do.  :)

Prompt #9: "Tea"

I got this phrase from a bumper sticker that Mountain Rose Herbs gave to me when I was at a Mother Earth News Fair in Puyallup, WA.  I love it, so I made my own version. 

Prompt #10: "Toast"

I really wish I had more time with this. I think it could've been a lot better

Drawing #16

These are sketches for a fabric design contest I'm participating in from CreativeLive.  I'm sure I'll talk more about this later. 

Drawing #17

The sketches from Saturday became a lot fancier.

Prompt #11: "Platypus"

This one I thought was cute, but don't look too long. I'm told it's kinda inappropriate.   Really, it's supposed to be a mommy and baby platypus okay?! 

Prompt #12: "Hedgehog"

He's kind of cute.  Might be fun to work more with him later. 

Prompt #13: "beetle"

I needed to draw lady bugs anyway so this was fun.

And here is my extra.  This was my second attempt at the "lemon" prompt.  It was late, and all the sudden I had an idea for another sketch.  I was so proud of myself and thought it was great, so I took a pictures and posted it, then went to bed.  When I woke up, I had a comment left on Facebook...that basically made me feel like an idiot...I spelled a word wrong.  I'm sure you already noticed.  I'm glad though someone said something, because it may have been a long time before I actually noticed!!!

Well that's all for this week.  In another 10 days, we will see where this takes me!!

Glue Freaking Basting!

I have something I want to tell you about, but it's not something I invented.  I just wanted to get that straight in the beginning.  You may already know about this because it's become very popular lately.  That's okay, because I know I'm just jumping on the bandwagon, but I want to share with you how much I like it anyway. It's called glue basting...or I call it glue freaking basting...because I like it so much!!

You can read about glue basting from Cristy Fincher on her blog here!  She is the one I learned it from, and she has all kinds of information about it.  I highly recommend visiting her page.

So basically all you need to glue baste, is a bottle of Elmer's Glue, the special fine pointed glue tips from Cristy Fincher that you can purchase at purpledaisiesquilting.com or sharonschamber.com, and an iron.  I was lucky and won the glue tips in a giveaway, but they are very inexpensive.  

That little tab on the top of the glue tip is from a clothing tag.  It just fits perfectly in there to act as a lid.

Now all you do, it's just as simple as this:  Take the pieces of fabric you are going to seam, run a thin line of glue along the edge of one side, place the other piece on top, and briefly heat set the edge with the iron.  

There you go.  It's done.  Now sew your seam and see how easy it is.  It doesn't move, it doesn't pucker, it keeps everything in line so you can have perfect seam, and it makes sewing go by so fast.  

Some may think that glueing is going to be time consuming, but I personally don't think it is.  Pinning takes time too, but this just is so much easier to me than pinning.  Then you may say, "Well I don't pin smaller pieces".  Well I don't usually either.  But that doesn't always turn out so accurate.  If you are doing a quick baby quilt, then yes, you might not need to do the glue basting.  But if you want all your quilt seams to match up, this will help a great deal.  

The first time I tried this method, I was sewing large pieces together.  I made this Big Star quilt by Jeni Baker, that later turned into a Big X, with borders.  I thought I would test it out on this, but soon realized that sewing long pieces of fabric together with glue basting is the BEST way to go.  

I had to climb in a tree to take this picture. :)

Do you ever get annoyed when your fabric shifts, even though you carefully pinned the entire seam?!?  I do!!  Sometimes a walking foot will help with this, but I have found that glue basting works even better! The fabric doesn't shift because it can't shift.  So really, you could use glue basting for anything from curtains to dresses.  Anything that may slip or shift, even if you use pins or a walking foot.  It just makes life sew much easier.  :)

And the cool thing is, just spraying  a little water on it will undo the glue if you made a mistake or don't want it there.  Elmer's Glue is washable, so once your project is thrown in the washer, it all goes away.  But really it's such a small amount that you don't really notice it anyway.  

Look how nice and straight these fabric strips turned out!

And of course, it's always nice when your seams match up like this:

Fabric by Bari J. from Art Gallery Fabrics

I also recently made this mini quilt by Elizebeth Hartman called Love Triangle.

There you have it, that's Glue Freaking Basting in a nutshell! 

Spoonflower Challenge: Days 1-10

I have been wanting to get back into drawing lately...actually I always want to but don't make the time for it.  So when Spoonflower, (A site for designing and printing your own fabric) invited everyone and anyone to join their one month of drawing "Spoon Challenge", I accepted right away!  Each week they give us a theme and a prompt per day, and then you tag your picture with #spoonchallenge.  I guess they take the weekends off for prompts, but I've been drawing since the 1st anyway.  I have really enjoyed it so far, but I'm kind of all over the map with my style.  I haven't done this is so long that I don't really care.  I'm just having fun, and I'll see where it leads me!  I thought I would share the first 10 days, and then every 10 days from there. 

Day 1 

I had this song in my head when I woke up the first day.  It's by Noah and the Whale and it's called  "2 Bodies 1 Heart".  Go check it out it's a good song. :)

Day 2

The Jackalope...except my husband informed me that a jackalope is a jackrabbit plus antelope...and this looks like neither.  Let's just say it's a baby and then I can try this again with the proper antlers and rabbit body.  

Day 3

These were fun, and I called them "Healing Flowers", not because they are literally medicinal flowers but because pretty flowers will brighten your day. 

Prompt #1: Cactus

It's a cactus heart.  I'm not too fond of this.  

Prompt #2: Mountain

I decided to do the Teton Mountain range.  If you already knew that, I like you. :)

Prompt #3: Tree

This was the Pear tree in my uncle's yard.  It's really pretty but I don't know if this picture does it justice.  

Prompt #4: Landscape

All I could think of were crop circles.  We are surrounded by cornfields so I guess that's why.  

Prompt #5: River

This one just evolved.  I picked up a cheap pen and started drawing.  Then later I added colored pencils.  I had fun with it! 

Day 9

We have a lot of summer squash growing in the garden.  Some ended up yellow, green and then this one with it's interesting design.  I have a whole bowl of them that maybe I could do later...if I can find the time!  This was done completely with Prismacolor pencils.

Day 10

These are some mint leaves I plucked from my plant, also done with Prismacolor pencils.  The only thing I didn't think about was that lack of water means...it will shrivel up fast!  So it was a little frustrating when the leaves started curling before I even realized what was happening.  I had to kind of wing it towards the end.  It's okay though, it was just practice.  They smelled good at least!

Thanks for stopping by! Let's see what the next 10 days bring!