Happy St. Patty's Day & AFF Ribbons

Well, it's been a FULL week here, & frankly I'm glad it's over. We're all tired & maybe a little cranky after the hard work we put into the Alaska Fiber Festival. The show was good. A few things could've been better, & we're going to try to learn from the hitches. Nothing major, just a slow start to the Fashion Show, (but I wasn't there, so don't know about it first hand).

Today I thought I'd just do a quick post to show you the award ribbons that I made for the show. I really had fun with the Art Quilt Ribbons. I didn't get any of them back. My quilt wasn't included in the judging. Oh well.

This was 1st place Art Quilt.

I used a piece of my friend Mindy's fused art glass in the center, & embossed the center together with embossing enamel. It was pretty messy, but I liked the results. I wired & beaded & sewed the center into a circle of copper mesh.
2nd

& 3rd place were done the same way.

I made 2 of these for the Aussie Challenge viewer's choice awards.

This was for the Recipe Quilt Challenge.

I liked how this one turned out. It was for the "Barrowmore Quilt Challenge".

I loved this purple fabric when I bought it, & it was very expensive, but I doubt I would ever actually use it on a quilt, so I thought this was a good use for it.

These 2 were for the 50/50 challenge. It was art to wear by 2 people.

Trendy Trench Coats, 1st

2nd

& 3rd place.

This last is made from leather, was for the Tundra Boot Challenge.

When I 1st volunteered for the ribbons I was thinking I'd be making somewhere between 3 & 6. I hadn't realized that it would end up being 14. I was proud of how different I managed to make the ribbons, & made them to fit each challenge. It was actually fun!

I'll add more on the AFF later this week. Right now I have to run to UPS to mail out the Hoffman Challenges & pick up some of my quilts from downtown. The owner of Sivigney Art Gallery downtown, came to the show yesterday, & asked if she could keep my "Oh! To Dance With A Dolphin" longer, & would I be willing to do a show in her gallery next winter. Of course I said "Sure", so I guess I better get busy cranking out pieces to sell!

Alaska Fiber Festival Quilt Walk

Today we kicked off the AFF with the Quilt Walk in downtown Anchorage, in conjunction with the 'First Friday', which is an Art walk the 1st Friday of each month. It was the first time I was ever able to do the Quilt Walk, because the 1st 2 Fiber Fests, I had other duties during the walk.

This first photo is fellow blogger Marguerita McManus & her daughter Sarah, with little Morgan. They were there to sell the book they recently got published. It's 'Crazy Shortcut Quilts'.
No Roxanne isn't napping here, I just caught her mid blink. She probably needed to rest her eyes from that fabric on the table in front of her & Debby Boyce.

I actually did the Quilt Walk twice tonight. The first time I went with Roxanne to deliver fliers to each store. We met up at Kobuk with her friend, & they got into the free pastries that were being given out.

The young lady in the red floral shirt to Roxanne's right made the stained glass pieces in the window below.

Antique quilts were hung above old fashioned candies. This store is the oldest store front in downtown Anchorage.

I wish I could share with you how this place smelled. It was a Heavenly mix of spices & teas, & coffee, & eclairs. I could almost taste them in the air. I breathed IN a lot while I was there.

After Roxanne & I finished the walk in just under an hour, I met up with my friend Josetta, & did it again, quite a bit slower, but we stopped more to look, & I was tired from power walking with Roxanne. Her legs may be on the short side, but that girl can walk fast!

Josetta took pity on me, & walked slower for me.

We met up with a few of the ALCQ quilters admiring the antique quilt in Tracy Anna Bader's little shop. Her coats are wonderful wool felted creations.

In this little tiny shop on 4th Ave. Sevigny (I'm not sure if I'm spelling that right). This girl had walls full of beautiful brightly colored water color paintings, & behind her here she put my quilt, & too the right of mine, & just below two of Nancy Dobson's quilts. It was amazing how well they went in her store. She told me some of her paintings are being made into patterns for quilting.

Here Lynnette Motz, along with Joesetta & a lady with a cute dog are checking out my Ebay purchase of a quilt made from blocks rescued from in an old barn in Pennsylvania that was about to be demolished. Marcia Marcantonio saved them, & put them together with some hand dyed pink fabric, to turn it into this quilt.

We stopped in at The Quilted Raven. The only downtown quilt shop in Anchorage. She had a lot of Alaskan patterns & prints.

This 1880's Pineapple quilt greeted us in the entry way.

Tamara at Killer Designs has 5 of my quilts on her wall. I didn't think to take a picture of them. duh...

The Snow City Cafe was a hopping place. They had a Jazzy band playing,

& Mary Hertert's amazing dimensional works were hanging on the wall .

Mary herself , looked to be having a good time. She went well with her "Fire" piece here.

I got Roxanne to pose in front of her quilts.

The camera just doesn't begin to do them justice.

Another of my antique quilts, the Log cabin quilt on the back wall was in the same shop, Virtu.

Out of the Closet was closed by the time Josetta & I got there, but she opened the door & invited us in.

This very cute chair sets by the front door.

She also showed us the dressing room. Isn't this table cute? The drawer front is covered in buttons.

Curtains over the Change Rooms had old clothes sewn on them.

The store is full of wonderful vintage clothing.

6th Ave Outfitters even got into the spirit of things, & placed 2 of Roxanne's antique quilts in their window.

This quilt by Margaret Smith of Eagle River was at Stephan's Fine Art gallery.

Back at the JCPenny Mall, Gail looked colorful in her quilted vest. We made it back in time for Josetta to win the drawing, for Kennith King's lecture.

For any of my snowbird friends who might be missing Alaska right now, don't. This is what it looked like all day yesterday, & again this afternoon. We did have a few hours of bright sunshine this morning, but it was back to rain & spring breakup by 3 pm. The car below was one of the cleaner ones on the road.
The mess outside has been reflected by the mess with in these past few days too. We're installing some cabinets in my studio space, & I shoved everything from that side of the room into the middle while we worked on getting them in. I'm going in there to clean when I get done here. I still have to finish the ribbons for the Alaska Fiber Festival too. Next weekend is the show.

We worked on last minute plans, getting gift bags ready, & display tables set for the show. That's fellow blogger Roxanne on the far right. Tomorrow night is the kickoff starting with the Quilt Walk downtown. I have 6 of my own quilts, plus 2 of my antiques quilts hanging around town right now. Between work & all this stuff, I feel like my vacation is only a distant memory. Warren went back to work this evening.

At quilt guild today Linda Postlethwait showed this beauty. It was so big she had to hang it from the balcony to show it.

My pal Mary Lee made this cute one. I had to post these for Margaret to see. We miss you Margaret.