Backpacking food day

I found that making my own backpacking meals gives me control over what is in my food.  The pre-packaged stuff has a lot of chemicals in it which really upset my stomach.  So I make my own.  I dehydrate veggies and chicken.  I buy freeze dried beef.  This day I made up 20 days of food.  I will need to make more for my CO trip but this is a start.

I thought I'd try this one more time.
Making toothpaste dots.  I am using the toothpaste the example showed.
It is much thicker than Colgate.

All squirted out and will just leave to air dry.

Like cake decorating there is always the chance of a blowout.

On to making up meals.
Chopping up more cauliflower.
People recommend using the food processor.
I find that leaves big chunks so chopping it by hand after steaming it works just fine.

Ready for the dehydrator.

Freeze dried beef.
Can't make that.
Well unless you count the old, yucky beef I find buried in the freezer that is all dried out.

Mmmmmmm......looks like wood chips.
Tasty.

From the right going clockwise, lots of beef stroganoff, curried chicken with cashews and peas and chicken with mushrooms and peas.  My three favorite meals.  I used dehydrated cauliflower instead of couscous.

The ingredients I bought online.
Thank you Amazon.

You have to add these to keep the oxygen out.
At least that's what everyone says so, ok, I added them.

Sealing but not vacuum sealing. 
Vacuum sealing makes them too hard. 
Then it's like packing rocks in your food bag.
Soft bags pack much better.

Cut down to remove weight and labeled to show whats in it and how much water to add.

Powdered eggs with dried spinach.
Add boiling water, mix and boil in water and you have REALLY good eggs!

I thought I'd try these.
Found out they have WAAAAYYY too much fiber.
Intestinal agony!
Nope.  Not taking this on any trips.

My attempt at keto bread.

Turned out pretty good!

My attempt at keto tortillas.

Turned out pretty bad!!

Thought I'd try this dried milk.
It is absolutely awful.

And we are getting more snow.
This was taken at work.

Dehydrating 6 tubs of mushrooms.

The billions of squares are done. 
Now I have to cut out an equal amount of black diamonds.
Tedious.
Boring.

Success!
I haven't tried it yet, but I'm sure they will be fine.

And we are getting sleet and snow again.

Mushrooms dried and ready to go.

Toothpaste chips mixed with a little baking soda to keep them separated.
Should last all summer.

Done!  Whew.  That was not fun.

Now ready for the fun part.
Sewing the blocks with the fabric I have gathered over the months.
My example is taped to my sewing machine.
256 little blocks...... my room will look like this for a long while.
And with that I am all caught up on posting my pics.

I will be retiring from LFG on 3/9/18.
Scary and exciting all at once.  It's a new feeling I haven't felt before.
Looking forward to the adventures I have planned and to the day when Alan retires which is 10/26/18.
(Ugh, it will almost be winter again!!)

Winter, Winter, Go AWAY!

Quilting....done.
It only took her a week to get it to me.
I love the way she added more features to it.

Now it's binding time.

 

I didn't take a pic of the leaves I tooled in our class.
But I did take a pic of the instructors sample page, which is much clearer than our photocopy.

Just enough snow to xc ski.
Went 6.2 miles which felt good.

My boots are too small.
My feet are collapsing and getting longer.
Sigh.

Last corner.  Almost done.

Officially done.
Folded on the bias and stored away.
It will go in the Omaha Guild show at Embassy Suites in June.
Hope to see non quilting friends attend!

I decided to start on the bed quilt.
The purple one has to wait.
My design requires something like 246 squares.
This will take a little while.
(This is the foundation for my string quilt.  Bridal runner found at Wal Mart on clearance)

Watching the Olympics while I cut.

Our final class.
Learning how to do scrolls.

Chris and I had fun.
I look forward to seeing her completed project and will help her with the sewing.

It's 2/18/18 and I did an 8 mile hike with some new friends who hike the Loess Hills in Iowa.
It was either snowy....

Or grassy.

What do you think...planted trees?
Ha ha ha!
It was frozen in the morning and muddy/slippery/slushy later on.

Oh look, more snow in the forecast.
Winter continues.

Keeping busy. Will that make spring come sooner?

 The LAST bittersweet spray.

I used a scrap piece to figure out how to embroider the flowers on the cornerstones.

I decided to use the simpler version and add a red center for "POP".

Centered and ready to embroider.

The top is done and ready for the final border.

The embroidered cornerstones.

Ok, The toothpaste chips were a total fail.
The guy was wrong.  Do NOT dry them in the dehydrator on the lowest setting.
They turn into blob disks.
So I ordered these.  They are tablets.
I tried them aaaaaaaannnnd not too keen on them.

Dreaming of days like this.
Maybe with less rain clouds but I'll take rain any day over snow.

Another leather class.
Now we are learning how to do flowers.
The Sheridan way.
(still not sure how this differs from other leather methods)

All cut out and ready to tool.

Demo from the instructor.

Somehow this became the project we are supposed to work on.
(Later it was decided it would NOT be our project since we didn't have enough time)

I ended up drawing up a pattern for this anyway.
Who knows, I may actually make one.

Time to dehydrate cauliflower.

And this is what 5 heads of cauliflower looks like.

Mishka had surgery.  She was spayed and had her dew claws removed.
Her back legs look like plucked chickens.
She became used to the cone, bashing it into everything.
Especially the back of your legs, which hurts very much.

I just had to take a pic of this.
Is this TOO MANY LIGHTS?
Maybe?

Adding the final border to the quilt.
I decided it does need this.
I like to frame my quilts with borders.

Ready for quilting.
Not doing it myself.  Going to pay someone to do this.
Someone who is talented and knows how to add character to a quilt top.

I had to remove all the loose threads from the top.

Then press it after the threads were removed.

I ordered the backing from two different shops so they are different color batches.
I don't think it will show once it is quilted......

Instagram post by the Quilted Moose.
I stopped by to show the gals I was finally done with it.
Now off to the quilter.

My new favorite blue for doing Appliquik applique.
MUCH cheaper than the glue they sell.

The cone is good to hold things.

It's snowing again.
It's 2/6/18

It is pretty but I'm PRETTY tired of it.

Isn't this a lonely site to see?

My dermatologist recommended this.
It is supposed to add sun protection from the inside out.
The reviews were good and I didn't see any bad side effects.
I'll do anything to protect myself from a sunburn.
Anything but stay inside!

Project for the evening.
Major surgery.
Adding new squeakers and repairing damage.

Mr. Bunny has a major side wound.

Mr. Squirrel has a major head wound.

Mr. Raccoon was almost decapitated.