Thanks Mom

I've been enjoying this hunting season. It has been years since I had last been hunting. Living in big cities without a car is not conducive to getting out in the woods and chasing critters. But this season I have already been out four times. When I began gathering my gear for this season I became aware of one item I did not have; a game bag. Growing up, my father carried a game bag that once belonged to my grandfather. My grandmother had made it for my grandfather to carry sandwiches and coffee to work in. It doubled as a bag for pheasants and rabbits; and believe me when I tell you, it has seen its fair share of them. I wanted a bag identical to my father's. With that in mind, there was only one source that I knew could provide it; my mom.

I haven't posted much about my mother on this blog, though she is known as quite the quilter; quite the seamstress. She is also quite the pickler, bargain hunter, baker, and loving parent amongst other things good. The mother of nine children, some a bit more surly than others (ahem), she has a sixth sense for ways to save a nickle. She regularly clips coupons and as children, we were her army of sales receipts and Universal Product Code (UPC) scavengers. We were always on the look-out, and often returned home with receipts found in grocery store parking lots or plucked from garbage cans, as well as UPCs torn from packages of our friends' lunch snacks. She'd mail in her assembled proof of purchase and in a couple weeks would receive a unique, yet free item. One which vividly sticks out in my mind was the duffel bag she received brandished with the name Colgate across both sides. I was embarrassed to use it, but she assured me that Colgate was a fantastic college with a great basketball team. Well done mom! Her uncanny knack for coupon clipping, is only surpassed by her sewing and quilting prowess. She is a perfectionist with a needle and thread and is gifted with the artist's skill of coordinating colors and patterns in complex and intricate arrays. I don't know how many elaborate, hand made quilts she has created over the years; I don't even know if she could recall the number exactly. She has made quilts for friends, siblings and myself. One of which, she created for me with a few yards of bicycle print fabric I found at a bike swap. That's worthy of a blog post all of it's own. Needless to say, when I asked her if she could make a game bag for me, she was delighted. Using approximately the same dimensions as the bag my father caries; she created the bag shown in the pictures here. I love it. Take a look at those seems; the detail is flawless. I'll be carrying shells, water and hopefully a few critters in it this season.

Thanks Mom.