2 Grandgirls

Carys is getting creative with paper.

Zoe napping on Poppy.

Having a good time in Discovery Bay!

A lovely Birthday

Thanks to all of you who have been wishing me a Happy Birthday today!

I've had a lovely birthday today. Mostly it was a quiet day. I got up early, spent time reading my Kindle while I had my coffee. Ran errands in the morning while my DH was sleeping (he worked the night shift for the last 5 nights). I dropped off 2 of my Berninas at J&H for some maintenance & minor repairs while I'm out of town. Yesterday I had Wendy & Tracy Trasky over for lessons in binding your quilt. Today Tracy dropped off a gift certificate from the local nursery to help landscape our yard future. Thank you Wendy & Tracy! You are darlings!

The stack of pink boxes were all gifts from my DH. Yes, I know, I am spoiled ROTTEN! The top 3 were Blue Ray DVDs of all of the Star Trek movies, & Back to the Future. Next were 2 books. , & last were a blouse that I fell in love with (from Chico's) when we were in Newport, RI, but I didn't want to spend the money on it, so he went when I wasn't looking & got it anyway. & the big box on the bottom held 2 new jackets, both in spring green (which I love)..

The book below came in the mail, wrapped in pre-mordanted white wool fabric, from my soul sister Kathy Jolman. When I was in Michigan Kathy dyed Easter eggs with onion skins. She had picked small leaves, & laid one on each, then wrapped the egg in a piece of nylon stocking to hold the leaf in place. She tied the stocking on the back side of the egg with a rubber band, then boiled them in the skins from yellow onions (with a little vinegar if I recall correctly), & came out with the must beautiful reddish -rusty-brown eggs with a white leaf image on one side, & a little tie-dye image on the other, where the knot/rubber band had been.

That led to me wondering what if I tried the same thing with fabric. Below is one corner of the quilt that I made (in 1995 or 96) from cotton fabric dyed with onion skins, because of Kathy's egg. It has faded some with time, but I didn't mordant it properly, because I had no clue back then. This led us to many fun dye sessions & experiments first with cotton, then wool. I moved back to Alaska in 1997, & Kathy has continued to dye wool, & now silk with the natural dyes. She has gone to Arizona & study with a Native American dyer/weaver. She has really studied & taken it to another level. This lovely book was written by a gal who was at the same class in Arizona. I think I just may be inspired to spend a few summer days this year simmering a dye pot, & using some of my own native Alaskan plants....

Tomorrow we head to Seattle to see the kids!

Spring Fever

Yesterday on my way in to work the trees were all bare branches. When I got out 10 hours later the world had turned green. It happens that way here in Anchorage. Just all of a sudden one day the world comes alive, & the rush is on toward the end of summer, & winter comes again. Do I sound sad? I'm not, it's invigorating to see Nature in fast forward, like it happens here.

It's been years since we've planted in our yard. We have been waiting to get the rock work done, before planting. Now we have to wait for Richard to come & bury the electrical wires, then we can start gardening in earnest. We are chomping at the bit.

Warren bought this orange Rhody that he wants to get planted.

I used $10.00 that my cousin gave me to help buy this Bleeding Heart, that we planted in memory of my Dad. She had given each one of my siblings a plant for their yards, but gave me cash since I wouldn't be able to take the plant back to Alaska with me. I thought the Bleeding heart was appropriate, & they are a hearty perennial here. Most importantly, the moose don't bother them!

Last night when I came home, this surprise was by the back door, waiting for me...

an early birthday gift from my DH, now if we can just get Richard up here with his trench digger to get the wires buried, I can put a nice little flower bed underneath my little French baby-bathtub.

Embellish Reveal Day

Today is reveal Day for the Fiberactions Challenge.  The word this time was "Embellish". I decided to try to use some restraint with this word. I tend to go a bit "Over the Top" with embellishing. In fact that's the name of one of the classes I teach "Over The Top Embellishing".

I used some of the fabric that I dyed  using the "Straw dying" technique. (I'll share this with you as a tutorial some time this summer.) I just free-motion quilted the whole cloth top, then started coloring with my Gel Pens. (Just regular acid-free Gel pens used in scrap-booking). Beads, wire & threads were then placed wherever they wanted to go....

I placed a few mirrors, & attached with beads (below), & with a washer covered with thread above.

Last, but certainly not least I wanted to include my DS Brandon's latest posting of our newest family member, Miss Zoe....

Quilted Clocks

Wednesday I spent a little of my time working on 2 small pieces for my July show. Both are from the same piece of black fabric, that I used a bleach pen on to draw a design. This first one, I mounted on a square canvas frame,

& this second on a circular frame. Both will be clocks when finished. The brown areas are the bleached parts, then I quilted with a hand-dyed brown thread, & added the white thread circle for contrast.

This new toy arrived in yesterday's mail. It came from my DD, Michelle. It is a sticker maker. I will have to play with it to see what I can do with it.

                              

Thursday was Calendar Girls. Rena showed us this piece that she made in the Vikki Pignatelli workshop last week. She also gave me this little work of art below. The Girls potlucked at Betty's house instead of coming up to my house, out of the kindness of their hearts, to give me a break after my rather stressful past week.Quilting friends are the best! 

Something to Celebrate

I know I've been a bit down this past week due to the death of my father, but I also want to say I was thrilled over the birth of another grand-daughter the day before Dad's passing. Here are 2 photos taken by my DS Brandon of Miss Zoe on her birthday. Her middle name is Melina (I knew that Michelle, it was a typo). We will be seeing her when we meet in Seattle in a couple of weeks, for a mini family reunion.

I also took a self portrait yesterday after getting new glasses. The old ones literally fell apart on Sunday.I liked the Greek key bling design on the side of these.

Thank you all for the well wishes & kind thoughts & prayers. My Dad had a good long life, & went at the right time for him.

                       

Remembering My Dad

We spent the past week at my brother's house. My sisters, & nieces, my DH & sister's husband all gather at Linda & Dave's, peaceful home on the lake.

I thought about posting family photos that I took while there, but nothing seemed right but to remember my Dad. I probably spent more time in actual conversations with him in the past few years than I ever did growing up. He would call me every Sunday & we would talk for over an hour each time.

He worked his whole life, & when he took time off he fished. I remember days in the boat or canoe on the lake. I miss those days.

The Muskegon Chronicle published an article about him.

I miss you Daddy.