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| Trout Lily |
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| Chapel Rock |
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| Marsh Marigold |
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| Our Dinner Spot by Mosquito Beach |
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| Lover's Leap Arch |
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| The coolest tree ever - look at that root! |
5.29.2015
Backpacking in Pictured Rocks
5.08.2015
Shawnee NF Garden of the Gods to Lusk Creek Backpacking
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| My kind of car camping |
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| Garden of the Gods |
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| Garden of the Gods |
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| View out into our hike |
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| One-Horse Gap |
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| Dwarf Larkspur |
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| Spiderwort(?) |
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| An awesome swimming hole (now complete with snake!) |
4.09.2015
A pitiful (but wonderful) XC ski season
Alright folks, after weeks of 30-70F weather and a solid couple of rains, I am prepared to admit that it is now well into spring in the barren north. It is spring, and I have gone skiing exactly seven times this winter. Seven times. Over four trips. Not a single ski was even within city limits! Our snowpack has been terrible this winter.
We took one pleasant, if patchy, ski up with the SO's family around Christmas. In late January, we went for a leaf- and grass-ridden ski just north of Madtown. Our third trip was up to Minoqua Winter park (nicely maintained, reasonably scenic, bitterly cold), and, after a long morning trying to get the car started, we hit Nine-Mile Rec Area/State Forest on the return trip (always beautifully groomed, though perhaps not the most beautiful ski in the state of Wisconsin).
The last ski trip of the season was the one for the money. Ali's boss disappeared on a Friday, so our 2-day trip turned into an awesome 3-day vacation. We got to Nine-Mile by early afternoon. (We didn't completely blow off our lab work.) Every previous trip to ski in Wausau has begun with the intent to complete the 20k loop, plus or minus some of the "alps" sections, and since we were finally bright enough to try this on the first day of our trip instead of the last, we actually made it the whole way around this trip. As always, the grooming was perfect. There were even fewer oak leaves scattered across the classic track and a complete absence of patchy ice (a miracle for late winter). After knocking out 20k in just over two hours, we had plenty of time to get up to Ironwood.
For day two of our three day weekend, Ali & I headed over to the Porcupine Mountains - perhaps my favorite place within a 8 hour radius of Madison. The weather was perfect; we had bluebird skies and the warm sun on our faces, and the XC ski trails had actually been groomed! (The park claims that this is always the case; I'm used to either having to break my own trail or follow an old track through unrolled snow.) The track was fast, and we covered at least 75% of the trail system. The West Overlook was darned near perfect (a bit brisk), and the Big Hemlock Trail, which is my favorite for it's giant trees and impressive solitude, was beyond compare. We lunched down at the chalet (yummy pasties!) and were about to head out on the Lake Superior loop when somebody reminded us that we had switched into Eastern Time and the chalet was closing soon. Rather than have all of our gear locked inside while finishing our ski, we headed home with the sun still high in the sky. Our favorite restaurant was mysteriously closed, but we managed.
Day three, we headed over to ABR. The skies were dark when we arrived, and a fine snow began to fall as we headed out on the Sunrise trail. We set out to cover all of the classic-only trail, and we succeeded in a rather roundabout fashion. On our way from the wildlife-named trails to the tree-named trails, the sun finally broke through the clouds, and we had an hour or so of skiing before the sky became overcast again. Once again, we were off the trails a little sooner than expected. This time it was due to an eerie absence of other skiers (and of course our long drive home). I'm not sure that a longer ski would have been as pleasant; after three months without snow, we had hoofed over 60km of skiing within three days.
We took one pleasant, if patchy, ski up with the SO's family around Christmas. In late January, we went for a leaf- and grass-ridden ski just north of Madtown. Our third trip was up to Minoqua Winter park (nicely maintained, reasonably scenic, bitterly cold), and, after a long morning trying to get the car started, we hit Nine-Mile Rec Area/State Forest on the return trip (always beautifully groomed, though perhaps not the most beautiful ski in the state of Wisconsin).
The last ski trip of the season was the one for the money. Ali's boss disappeared on a Friday, so our 2-day trip turned into an awesome 3-day vacation. We got to Nine-Mile by early afternoon. (We didn't completely blow off our lab work.) Every previous trip to ski in Wausau has begun with the intent to complete the 20k loop, plus or minus some of the "alps" sections, and since we were finally bright enough to try this on the first day of our trip instead of the last, we actually made it the whole way around this trip. As always, the grooming was perfect. There were even fewer oak leaves scattered across the classic track and a complete absence of patchy ice (a miracle for late winter). After knocking out 20k in just over two hours, we had plenty of time to get up to Ironwood.
For day two of our three day weekend, Ali & I headed over to the Porcupine Mountains - perhaps my favorite place within a 8 hour radius of Madison. The weather was perfect; we had bluebird skies and the warm sun on our faces, and the XC ski trails had actually been groomed! (The park claims that this is always the case; I'm used to either having to break my own trail or follow an old track through unrolled snow.) The track was fast, and we covered at least 75% of the trail system. The West Overlook was darned near perfect (a bit brisk), and the Big Hemlock Trail, which is my favorite for it's giant trees and impressive solitude, was beyond compare. We lunched down at the chalet (yummy pasties!) and were about to head out on the Lake Superior loop when somebody reminded us that we had switched into Eastern Time and the chalet was closing soon. Rather than have all of our gear locked inside while finishing our ski, we headed home with the sun still high in the sky. Our favorite restaurant was mysteriously closed, but we managed.
Day three, we headed over to ABR. The skies were dark when we arrived, and a fine snow began to fall as we headed out on the Sunrise trail. We set out to cover all of the classic-only trail, and we succeeded in a rather roundabout fashion. On our way from the wildlife-named trails to the tree-named trails, the sun finally broke through the clouds, and we had an hour or so of skiing before the sky became overcast again. Once again, we were off the trails a little sooner than expected. This time it was due to an eerie absence of other skiers (and of course our long drive home). I'm not sure that a longer ski would have been as pleasant; after three months without snow, we had hoofed over 60km of skiing within three days.
11.16.2014
Rolling Compass Star
In addition to Carol Doak's stars, I've also been a bit addicted to wombatquilts.com lately. The page has some beautiful squares posted; the quilt blocks' colors are cheerful (and they pop quite nicely); and there are free paper-piecing patterns! I found this Rolling Star pattern on Wombat's page, but it's originally found here.
This is the last of my 12" blocks. Now all of my 12" andd 18" blocks are finished; I only have the (hopefully) simple 6" stars left. Of course, I'll need to figure out whether I'm going to add any sashing (and, if so, what color fabric I can throw in) before I can assemble anything.
Still, there's a chance that I'll finish the quilt before summer!
This is the last of my 12" blocks. Now all of my 12" andd 18" blocks are finished; I only have the (hopefully) simple 6" stars left. Of course, I'll need to figure out whether I'm going to add any sashing (and, if so, what color fabric I can throw in) before I can assemble anything.
Still, there's a chance that I'll finish the quilt before summer!
11.09.2014
12" Interlocking Seasons Quilt Block
In addition to completing two blocks this weekend (two blocks!), I'm on to the set of blocks that don't even have to be re-sized! Needless to say, my geometrist-in-residence is pretty excited about this.
There's a great tutorial for the Interlocking Seasons block here; just make sure that your quarter-inch seams are exact.
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| Interlocking Seasons - Google Images provides some really cool color combinations for this guy |
11.08.2014
18" Illinois Star Quilt Block
So, I'm mildly obsessed with Carol Doak's 50 Fabulous Paper-Pieced Stars. I found it at our local library, and promptly decided that I needed to make something like 75% of the quilt blocks. Ali wisely suggested that maybe I should pare this stupid ambitious plan down, so I'm starting with just one block for my picnic/sampler quilt. That block is the Illinois block (all of the 50 stars pick up a state name from the book).
This one gave me a bit more grief than the last square; someday I'm going to just accept the fact that there will be a ton of fabric that goes to waste when paper piecing. I currently try to use small scraps and inevitably have to unpick and resew everything when my fabric doesn't have enough overlap. Someday, I may even learn which corners have to match when I'm sewing large sections of the block together. That day will be an awesome, awesome day.
Even with all of my mistakes, this block still is my (new) favorite. Do I say that every block? Regardless, this thing is gorgeous.
Only two 12" squares until I get to make all the easy, little blocks.
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| Illinois Quilt Block |
Even with all of my mistakes, this block still is my (new) favorite. Do I say that every block? Regardless, this thing is gorgeous.
Only two 12" squares until I get to make all the easy, little blocks.
11.01.2014
Delectable Mountains Block
One more 18" block for the picnic quilt down! Only one more giant block to go!!
The pattern is here: www.mccallsquilting.com/patterns/details.html?idx=8016
It went off with only two small hitches (one geometry related and one I-can't-sew-straight related). Now that the cold temperatures are back, I might even finish another block before November's up.
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