The Giving Quilt

Jennifer Chiaverini has written another Elm Creek Novel. I read it while I was on vacation. It makes me wish that Elm Creek & all it's quilters were real. I'd love to sign up to go to this place & meet these people. She has moved back to the present time, & a week of camp centered around making quilts for Project Linus. The project is real, & the characters feel real. She weaves a beautiful story with new characters introduced, & old friends brought back. 

I picture Sylvia much like Helen Kelly, who used to write articles for Quilters Newsletter. I went to one of Helen's lectures once, & learned so much from her.

It's another warm cozy, easy read. I really enjoyed it.

I got back from Seattle over a week ago, but it feels like only yesterday. We had a great time, & I'm already looking forward to our next trip. I'll post photos later. Spent a lot of time holding the baby.

I worked hard this past weekend on the biggest quilt I've ever worked on, & it's been a somewhat trying experience. I'm not sure how I'm ever going to photograph it, unless I can go with Mary when she hangs it at the Airport.  I haven't forgotten about the prizes I owe, they are on my "To Do" list.

 Happy Halloween all!

Post #700 /Birthdays/ & the winner is...

Today is both my DH, & my DS#1's birthday. My how they grow up fast. Below in the stripe shirt is Brandon, next to his sister Michelle, & brother Corey. Brandon turned 40 today (somehow that makes me feel older than anything else ever has!). He is on his way to Portland, OR today, & we will be meeting them in Seattle Wednesday night. I post some grown up pictures after the trip.This picture is how I see my children every time I dream about them. Gosh I miss them.

To calebrate the day, we drove down to Girdwood, here is looking across Turnagain Arm (part of the Pacific Ocean), to Hope, Alaska under the clouds over there. Trees that still have their leaves are gold.

In front of the Double Musky wine bottles decorate a tree.

This is what it looks like every day  before they open the restaurant. It's been listed as 1 of America's top 10 best restaurants.

We had a great meal, & Warren enjoyed a piece of carrot cake for his birthday.

At home on the quilting front, I have a bit of a problem child on Lily right now. My friend Mary made the biggest darned quilt I've seen since Don Locke's Last Supper. It is big & unwieldy, & the boarders are a tad tight, with the center wanting to poof out. I've layer extra wool batting on top of the cotton batt in the center to try & solve the problem, & now I am quilting it into submission!

Hopfully it will work out ok when I'm done.

I cut out all of the messages from the last 3 postings, & had Warren draw 2 names in celebration of this 700th post. The winners are, Stephanie Briggs (& since she's right here in town, I decided to draw a 2nd name), & it was rvquilter. So contact me at akquilter1@acsalaska.net, & give me your address. I will send you a prize by the end of October (since I'm working the next 2 days, then leaving town for a while).

 Thanks to every body for the nice comments. 

Robbie Joy Eklow was a lot of fun. We found a lot of common ground & I told her she needs to bring her husband next time & stay with us. The guys can fish & we can dye fabric together.