Mid December

Here it is mid December already. I've been in a bit of a funk. We have lost 2 dear friends since October 30th, & the dark days has just made it a little harder.

We had about 20 inches of snowfall yesterday. I do have my house all decorated for Christmas. I've been going through the motions, hoping that my actions will help to make me feel more in the mood. 

This is a quilt I finished the quilting on for my friend Jackie Carley. She left me a lot of spaces to quilt in. It really was a fun one to quilt.

Below is another of Shirley Fraser's beautifully pieced quilts, that is so big I can't get a full photo of the top. I have to do some doodles & see what I come up with for designs for it. The colors alone should make me feel brighter & happier!

The last quilt below belongs to my friend Carol who is sick right now. I've been working on this design for it, but will do Shirley's quilt first so I can concentrate on getting Carol's done as perfectly as possible, without feeling like I need to rush. They will both take some time.

Here's hoping you all have a very Merry Holiday season!

A Day in New York

                                      

I am so far behind on blogging! We made a trip to New England a few weeks ago. We took a side trip to New York City. I had never been there & it had been 30+ years for Warren. We rode the train into Grand Central Station. A short walk landed us in Times Square. It was such a surreal experience for me, to be here in the middle of these iconic buildings, seeing things so familiar because of movies & TV.

Following the Maps App in my iphone, we headed for Mood. A few blocks over we found the Fashion District.

   

I looked up, & there I was in front of Parsons School of Design. Being a fan of Project Runway, this really tickled me!

We got to Mood (THE fabric store used by Project Runway for any of you who have never seen the show), & I had my one & only celebrity sighting while in NYC! That's right, it was Swatch the dog! I did spend a little time petting him, unfortunately I didn't get a shot of that, because my dear husband didn't know how to use my camera!

After I fondled a lot of fabric, & spent a little money, we went in search of the Cake Boss Cafe. When we found it, I got to taste my first ever Cannoli. They were wicked! Warren went for the brownie.

After the snack we went to see Newsies. We had front row center seats. The show was great. The conductor of the orchestra was an arm's length from me, & he made funny goggley- eyes faces at me, to make me laugh. Actually I was pleasantly surprised at how friendly everyone we encountered in NY were. We really had a fun day there, & I want to go back & stay a few days next time; really explore & taste more of New York.

Wonderful Weekends

 I think I'd better take a little time out to post what has been happening in my life. The quilt show went really well. I came home exhausted & happy after spending the weekend talking to people & admiring quilts. I was interviewed & featured on the local channel 2 news. I was told I looked & sounded great, but didn't see it myself. I used 12 racks to display a fair sampling of my quilts, & a few dolls, & encaustics.

Below is the Calendar Girls display, all of our Burning Desires.

I'm thrilled to report that the quilt that I recently quilted won a viewer's choice ribbon.

My fellow Calendar Girl friend Barb Russell, got VC for clothing.

Kay Fierero got VC for her wonderful applique' quilt.

My friend Rachel Korshin got a well deserved VC For her beautiful quilt.

& the Art quilt category was Gale Ramsey. It's funny because the night we set up, I went around snapping pics of my favorites, & every one of these were in that group!

I worked the next 4 days, then took off for Edmonton Thursday Night. I went to Babysit for the weekend, while son Brandon & DDIL Laura went to a college reunion. I had a blast with the girls. This is Zoe.

We attended a neighborhood art fair. I got to play with a hoola hoop, & surprised myself by actually getting it going! Carys snapped the picture!

Carys & Zoe, & little Simon (their neighbor friend) also played with the hoops.

The kids each did a little spin art. I want one!

Carys loved the stilts. Her buddy Jacob is here helping her stay up.

We also played at the park down the street from their house. Zoe is like a monkey on the rock wall. This was about 8 feet in the air! She had no fear & all I could do was stand below ready to catch if she fell!

On Sunday carys had a party to go to. I braided her hair for her.

Monday Brandon & Laura came home. Laura had to go to work, & Carys school. Brandon took Zoe & I to a little diner  for brunch, then out to the airport so I could catch my flight home. I crawled into bed Monday night exhausted & happy. I had to work 2 more days & tomorrow I'm on vacation again!

Anchorage Log Cabin Quilt Show next Saturday & Sunday

The quilt show is next weekend, at the Phillips-Conoco Atrium, on &th & G Street, downtown Anchorage.

I will be there with all of the quilts that I have been able to round up. I am honored to be the featured quilter this year. The doors are open, 10 to 4 both days.

A Gift from Judy & A Travel-Folio Tutorial

My friend Judy Evans, surprised me yesterday with the cute table topper quilt! Thanks Jude! It looks great in my kitchen. The hand-dyed runner under it, was a gift from Anita Heady. I am blessed!

I got ambitious this morning, & started playing with scraps. I took a bunch of seemingly unrelated, & frankly ugly looking bits (when mixed together), & fused them all on to a sheet of Heavy Heat & Bond.  

    

Once they were fused into one piece, & peeled them off from the paper backing & chopped them up with my wavy rotary cutter.

Next I cut 3 pieces of the stiff batting (Like Fast to Fuse, or whatever you use to make fabric bowls), & I laid them about a finger width apart, on the paper that I had peeled off of the Heat & Bonded fabric.

Next I layered on the bits of fabric & fused them to the batting.

After they were all fused on, I trimmed the edges back even with the batting (keeping the paper that I had built it on intact).

I layered some black pieces, some Angelina fibers, a metallic mesh, & a very dark green silk chiffon on top of the trimmed pieces.

Carefully pinning the edges of the top layers to the paper backing, I took the whole thing to the machine & stitched the edges, paper & all.

A little light quilting through it all, & ripping off the edges of the paper, this is what it looked like from the back side.

& front side.

I covered the gaps, between the pieces with a wire ribbon, & stitched the edges with a funky stitch.

I finished the top, & bottom edges with some piping, left over from another project.

Lined, & clear plastic to hold my passport & tickets,

A pretty yarn, & special lamp-work bead for the closure.

 

Ta-dah... I'm ready to travel.. next stop Edmonton! I'm going to get to babysit my grand girls soon, for a too short weekend!

I have to give credit to Sue Bleiweiss, & her Note-folio, for this is certainly where this idea germinated from!

Went to the Alaska State Fair

 Mooses in the yard greeted us when we left to go to the State Fair! 

 Mama wasn't looking too happy, so we took the long way around to get to the car. YIKES!

 It was a beautiful day in Palmer, Alaska.

 Warm & sunny, no breeze off the glacier. Almost too warm!

 I checked out the quilts.

 My ALCQ friend, Kaye Fiero won some ribbons with her beautiful quilt.

 I liked my friend Ruth Simpsons wooly bunny.

These were some others that I really liked.

These salmon were glass mosaic.

I enjoyed this window too.

& this fish above, & the skateboard fish below.

I also loved this strangely ugly & beautiful fish too.

Some of the people attending were quite colorful too.

The traffic heading to the fair when we left was backed up for miles. We were happy to be going the other way!

Sunday we spent the day cleaning up the yard. Getting ready for winter. Then I worked on sorting quilts for the quilt show next month. I'm going to be the featured quilter,& had to figure out how may racks I'll need for display. Broccoli was there to give his stamps of approval.