January Ice Sculptures & Burning Desire Quilt (Fire & Ice)

We took a walk downtown Anchorage last week. I had dropped & smashed my iPad, so we took it  to a place downtown to be fixed. We did some shopping, used one of our gift cards for lunch & then took a stroll through town square. I'm glad we did it then, because yesterday a pineapple express blew into town & we hit 50 degrees! Everything in melting & turning to MUSH! Who would've guessed we would have spring breakup in January!

There were some NY themed sculptures.

Chess piece, & a church.

A fantastical dragon, & wind boat thingy.

The spiked balls fascinated me.

This was just a beautiful design, something like I would do on a quilt!

& some sea life.

Segue here to my calendar quilt for 2014. The theme was our Burning Desire, & this was mine. I finished way back in May, but didn't want to post it until after I'd given all of my calendars out for this year.

My Burning Desire- is "Retirement".

I printed a photo of my own feet in flip-flops & used "Printed Treasure" fabric to print it out.I cut away the bottoms of the flip-flops & used some "special" fabric I bought several years ago for them. It was printed & sold to raise money & awareness about prostate cancer, which my husband had about a year before I had found this. I hid it underneath the feet, for a subliminal message to stamp out prostate cancer, but used bigger pieces for the back side, where only the people I wanted to see it could see it. (It may be offensive to some folks). I pictured the back last, so if you are offended don't leave a comment, please!  Or don't look at the last photo on this post!

The "water" is several layers of sheers & some silk & wool rovings needle felted into the piece. Quilting , appique, & fellting were all done together. Beads were added to make "bubbles ". Edges were left raw, then covered with the seaweed yarn. Next I added shells, driftwood & moss, coral & other bits for a border.

Last I painted Aleen's "It's OK To Wash It" fabric glue all over the tan fabric, & poured on the real beach sand.

Here's the R rated back side

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my burning desire to stamp out prostate cancer fabric!

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!!!!!!!!

Close yours eyes if you can't take it!!!!

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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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!