*S*N*O*W* and MOTORHOME MODIFICATIONS *C* Compass, Cover and Containers

Oh my... 

Better Dig That Motorhome Out!!!!  

We FINALLY got some snow! 

At least more than dusting.  

Steve is out there snowblowing it away from the front of the motorhome. Ya never know when we just might want to hop in and escape the winter????  That is why we back it in during the last use in the fall. Easier to drive straight out if we do decide to go somewhere. It's not in the plans right now, but you never know......  I keep reading blogs of our RV friends off in the desert and it's making me get Hitch Itch! 

Okay, back to our regularly scheduled blog:

I am going to start off the new year with posting three of our motorhome modifications at a time. I will post repairs, modifications, or neato things we have found for RVing.  I have lots of pics in my files so I will do them in alphabetical order.

Underneath that stuff, I will post my regular daily stuff..... kinda sorta fun, eh?

So here it goes, we are up to the letter C now!

MOTORHOME MODIFICATIONS 

STARTING WITH THE LETTER C

Compass:

Compasses seem to have gone the way of the past, since GPS has come into our lives.  Older RVs do not have a GPS built in. A lot of people rely on the GPS on their cell phone. What if your cell phone battery goes dead, or your GPS unit in your rig keeps saying Rerouting... rerouting.... ??? 

Both Steve and I navigate and keep track better if we use a map and have a compass to glance at. In our car, one is built into the rear view mirror and I use it a lot to keep my bearings when I drive.  Same with Steve in our motorhome.  I found him this one years ago... and we keep it velcroed to the dash.

It is a digital one that runs on a few AAA batteries,

 and has a light to illuminate at night. 

I think I found it at an auto parts store. 

Containers:

When dealing with the smaller cabinets and lighter payloads in an RV, we try to find things that stack compactly and take up less space.  Instead of the full paper bag packages, or floppy bags that could leak, I only take along partial amounts of flour, sugar, rice, brown sugar etc. I put them into containers to seal out any critters when we travel in the south.  I used to have these round ones, but they took up a lot of room and wasted space with their cylindrical shapes.

Instead, I found these containers from our local Shopko chain of stores.  Here is a link and they are on sale right now.  Gourmet-Living-8-Piece-Square-Rectangle-Air-Tight-Canister-Set   You could google the brand Gourmet Living to find some online I am sure.  They are thick plastic and have a lever of top that vacuum seals the lids down tight.

The rectangular shapes help to stack them tight, 

and keep things from sliding around. 

Cover on Console Shifting Pad:

Our Cat Engine on our motorhome has an Allison Transmission with a push button keypad on the left side of the drivers seat for shifting.  With a simple push of the button, you can put our rig into gear!  Just imagine the horror of us being outside hooking up the Tracker Toad and having someone push a button... or a dog jump up on the seat to look out the window and push a paw onto the keypad?  Yes, we always try to pull the emergency brake when stopped... but things can happen.  I was always nervous about something or some pet pressing a key when we were doing the hookups. 

Steve eased my fears by making this heavy plexiglass cover for our shifting pad.  We flip it up out of the way to lean against the wall when we are driving, and we always flip it down flat over the keypad anytime we leave the drivers seat.  Even if it's just for a minute at a wayside to grab a drink from the fridge, or pulled over to do a potty break. Better safe than sorry!

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Attention for my quilting buddies!   I found a bargain on Amazon last month. I had to wait till they arrived and I tried them before putting on my stamp of approval. I ordered 2 at the bargain price of $1.99 each and free shipping.  I figured if they were junk, I would not be out too much money.

They arrived, and appear to be well made, strong, all metal and not cheap at all.  I put one on my machine yesterday and tested it out. IT WORKS GREAT!!!!

Link:

Free Motion Spring Foot (METAL)

Here I am comparing them side by side, the new metal ring foot on the right and my older plastic half ring foot on the left.  I think the new one has about 3 times the open area in the circle than the plastic one. I can see better where I am stopping and starting or moving during free motion quilting.

They took almost 3 weeks to arrive because they are shipped from China. PS I usually try to buy American, but the hopping feet for Janome are $39.00 here in the USA, and are not as nice as these.

Look at the nice space around the needle.  Now I can see where I stop and turn and move in another direction. Especially for the pointed parts of the thread pattern.

 This is a new-to-me free motion pattern 

called "Swirls with Hooks"  

 I practiced over and over on paper to get it down right,

and commit it to my "Motion Memory" 

before tackling it on the machine.

I am using a variegated thread on top that goes from cream to gold to brown....  

and solid brown on the back with the coffee bean printed fabric as backing.

Here is the first pass down the top edge of the quilt

while pinned onto my frame. 

I think I like this pattern,

and even moreso, having the right 

hopping quilting foot to make it easier! 

I liked it sooo much that I ordered ten more! That way I have extras for each of my three machines, plus I will have a few on hand if any of my quilting group ladies want to buy one. I figure at that price, they might not be around much longer.  Instead of spending $39.00 when I really need one in the future, I can just go to my little sewing box and grab another if I wear this one out. 

While I am inside quilting, Steve went back out to do some more snowblowing.  I was kinda under the weather last night and chilled this morning perhaps running a fever, so he told me to stay inside. He is braving the below zero wind chills to clean up the driveway and parking area, as well as the parking area for the elderly lady next door. What a guy! 

Last night our neighbor two houses down went up and down our front sidewalk with his snowblower, but the snow kept falling and the winds kept blowing. Yup... it finally looks like WINTER to me!

I take care of my snowy cold man by simmering up a pot of soup!  I buy these Bear Creek soup mixes (we like the Minestrone the best!)  I had a bag of shredded leftover roast beef in the freezer to add to the 8 cups of water and the mix. Then I toss in some chopped onion and garlic, some frozen peas and a couple extra handfuls of noodles.  Simmer for half an hour and it's totally done and delicious!

There is always enough to freeze afterwards for another day, 

because it makes a pretty full soup pot! 

Now I think we are both due for a little nap.