Sunday, July 03, 2011

It's that time of year, here in the Land of the Midnight Sun, where most of us tend to get a little manic because the sky never gets dark. We've been very busy with getting ready for my show, & gathering with friends & entertaining too.


 One kind of funny thing that happened this past week (which wasn't so funny at first) was an incident with my Rowenta steam generator iron & my cat. I'm talking about the iron that runs around $200.00. I went to iron a small piece of fabric on my small ironing pad, that always sets on the table next to the iron. I hit the steam button, & got this HORRIBLE smell of ammonia. I thought, "Oh no, Broccoli has peed on my ironing pad!"

I shut off the iron, threw away the ironing pad, & proceeded to tell my DH that we needed to take Broccoli to the Vet to get checked out. I figured he either had a cystitis going on, or crystals in his urine. Well Broccoli checked out fine. Aside from being a little on the concentrated side, he didn't have any abnormals on his lab work, & the vet just recommended wet cat food with a little extra water mixed in.
That's not the end of the story. The next time the iron was turned on, Warren was going to iron his shirt. He hits the steam button, & there it is again. Ammonia!  UGH!  This time, I looked closer, & realized the "water" jug that I had filled my iron with had "UREA" written on the label in my own handwriting! I had mixed it for dying fabric months ago, & the jug had been setting right next to my water jug that I had just used up last week!  After much rinsing, & running lots of steam through the iron, it smells & works fine, & Broccoli is happy to be home & eating wet cat food!

Aside from that little comedy, we had a fun evening with new friends. This is James with Warren out on the deck. James is a friend of my son Brandon. They worked together in Kwajalein for the past 5 years. James & Susie, along with her son Blake came over for dinner on Thursday evening. They are in the process of moving to Fairbanks. 
We also had Bryan &his friend Brandon  over too. Bryan is Anita Heady's son. The 2 boys are fresh out of the military, & are signed up to go to UAA this year. I told them I am adopting them for now. We had dinner with them Wed., Thurs. & Friday this week! They are nice boys.
On Friday, it was the official opening of my quilt show at the Midnight Sun Brewery Restaurant. As the "Artist of the month" I got to "Tap the Firkin". I didn't even know what a "Firkin" was!

Well after some instructions, I was given this heavy metal mallet...
& after about 6 good whacks (only one of which hit my thumb), the beer was flowing, & the party began.

My friend Judy took this shot of Susie, James, me, Warren, Brandon, & Bryan.


The star of my show, "Oh! to Dance With a Dolphin!", looks nice on the wall. I have 26 quilts hanging in the show.

Some of these guys looked familiar. (Docs we know, who shall remain unnamed).
Friends Mindy & John came too late for food, so after the restaurant closed we all went to our house & I threw together a late meal.
This morning I went to Mindy & John's for breakfast, & Mindy had made a Fused glass necklace to give to my friend Judy for her birthday, which we celebrated this evening.


This was the card I made for her,

& the necklace by Mindy.



Judy loved it.

Now that the show is up & running itself, I can get to work on the next Fiberactions challenge, & customer quilts.Whew! I'm looking forward to darkness again!

10 comments:

Anita Heady Fiber Arts, LLC said...

You are a busy gal, Deb! Love your dolphin piece. Thanks so much for welcoming Bryan and Brandon to Alaska--Bry is your #1 fiber arts fan.

Delighted Hands said...

Excellent way to kick off your art show-very funny about the cat and the iron! Still smiling....

Deborah Levy said...

Glad Broc is fine...the iron thing sounds like something I could do....

Looks like the show is going well, enjoy it!

Digitalgran said...

I loved that story about your iron and Broccoli :) Good luck with your exhibition.

Stephanie said...

It was great seeing you yesterday Deb, I hope you like the book I suggested.

Nancy said...

I came to your blog from Wanda's. Very nice blog and your kitty is so cute. I used to have one that looked just like that. Would you consider adding the gadget to allow subscribing my email? It makes it so much easier to follow a wonderful blog.

Kathy -MIQuilter said...

Congratulations on your show, I know it will be very successful.
Your card and Mindys necklas were beautiful.

Nancy said...

Thanks for adding the subscribe via email gadget. I just subscribed.

Kathy -MIQuilter said...

Your dyed shirts look wonderful!
Someday we'll do it together again.

Marsel said...

Thanks for the great laugh -- poor Broccoli! :)