Quilts finished

after Christmas gifts were done.  The first was made up of extra blocks from Becca's mystery.  I added borders and made it into a table topper.  The second is using Brenda's pattern "Kisses and Cuddles"  and Moda's line of fabric called the General, so, of  course, it's name is General Hooker!

Just took a wedding gift off Gertrude and did the machine part of the binding.  The wedding is Friday, so should be in good shape.  Would have been better if I hadn't had to frog stitch 4 or 5 rows.....but now it's in the last phase...hooray!

Christmas gifts

Decorating the tree

The man child and I decorated the tree while DH supervised with his phone---hmmm...is that possible????

Under the wire

This one was done in the nick of time!  I was putting in the last binding stitches, the label and in the washing machine on Friday just before my eldest and his family came down---he will be on the Slope for Christmas, so last weekend was our only time to get together.  But I did it!!  The grandson's name is Tory and green is his favorite color.  Sadly, he didn't come with the family as he had a college final on Monday :(

Culprits Return

to the scene of the crime.  I was rudely interrupted while peacefully blog cruising by lots of banging under my bed room window.  There they were--mama and her twins, munching--no tearing at--my poor dead peonies.  I have tried to take photos of them thru the window before and I now know better.  So I  made a mad dash out to the deck and of course Mama wouldn't stay, so she is headless in this photo.  Serves her right to have missed her moment of glory!

Encroaching critters

These tracks were on my deck two feet from my french door this morning.  He (or she) had wandered all over and had to climb 3 steps to get there!! Our moose have no fear--we don't have a dog and leave the peony bushes for them to munch.  The only time I don't want them around is when I'm trying to get to or from my quilt studio!

Thanks giving was wonderful--DH was home and we spent the evening with my brother and his family.

Almost finished

The guest bath just needs a medicine cabinet and it's done!!

Wind storm

results from yesterday.  We were without power for about 12 hours and had wind gusts up to 65 mph.  This 90 foot spruce bit the snow.  More firewood!

Design Wall Monday

It is now off the wall and loaded on Gertrude.  The panto is picked, the thread chosen and the bobbins wound (hopefully enough).  So later quilting will begin.  This is my first BQ quilt, and I must say it is fast and simple; but what would you expect with 15 inch focal squares!!

I hate winter

and especially now.  As you can see from the photo, the snow came too early.  The deck still has furniture on it and my car still has the summer tires on it.  DH didn't have time to get ready for it before he had to go to work.  The week in Seattle threw everything off and the snow was early and stayed.  Oh, well.  As long as I stay out of ditches and don't slide into anyone (or an intersection!) I'll be happy!

Back at it

Yesterday I got this one quilted and today it's trimmed and the binding half done.  Tonight I'll put in a "comfort" movie and do my favorite part of a quilt.

Monday

and I think I'll live.  Some guy hacked and coughed right behind me all the way from Seattle, and he won.  I've been sick since Tuesday and today I'm finally feeling a little better.  needless to say, no quilting has been done:( or housework!  I did do some ironing --two shirts, rest 15 minutes, two shirts, rest.....I hate not having any energy!  I like feeling good when I do nothing! So I'll try to get my house in a semblance of order today..........

More photos

Seattle

was fun as usual.  DH got his new eyeball--now before anyone freaks out, he has an ocular prosthesis that he has replaced periodically. So we have a collection of eyeballs!!

There is a store called All Saints downtown that features steam punk clothing and accessories that has an absolutely fabulous display of antique sewing machines.  I was in hog heaven!!  Look at this---an antique long arm??!!  Click on the photo to see this up close! (On the right you can see a couple of the machines in the window) Will post more photos tomorrow

TaDaaa

Here's what's happening at my house---fun,huh?!?  I'm staying as far away as possible, tho sometimes I am required to hand over a tool, or a paper towel!  Very different from my dated stenciled strawberries and sliding glass doors--this will look wonderful when finished.  Now I'm on the hunt for the perfect shower curtain!

Off again

Am leaving for the airport in 20 minutes--off to Seattle with DH.  Hoping the rain holds off!  I'll be back in a week, hopefully with fabulous photos to share.

Glass art

from found items.  A quilting friend and general crafty person made a few of these using various glass objects, and I had to have this GREEN one!  Besides a glass vase and glass candle plate, I think part of the top is a headlight, or it might be a light bulb?!?  Anyway, I love it!!

UFO done

This has  been languishing in my tops done pile for awhile, so thought I'd try a new panto out on it.  So, it is finished--finally!

Retreating

My quilting group is retreating in Homer--and I'm not there due to a scheduling misunderstanding with my DH.  So.....here's what I'm up to by myself.  Am planning on getting the blocks, rows and inset edges on this weekend so I can show it off to Barb, the designer and teacher of the class I took for this quilt. (She is at the retreat.)
That said, I'd better fill my water bottle and get out to the studio!

Sunflowers

Ginger Salmon--YUM!!!

This is one of DH's recipes for salmon--works great on fresh or frozen fillets.  This is using silver--red is best.  Right now the last batch of reds are in the brine--they will go in the smoker tomorrow; then this year's smoked salmon will be done--hooray!

Quilt class completion

I finally broke down and took a Cotton Theory class--the bath mat.  No way am I doing a quilt in this method!! (I DO have a longarm!!)  But I've wanted to try one, so this tiny project was perfect. (And it only took two classes plus a LOT of time at home to finish)  If curious, check it out at the website---very interesting!
By the way, it looks wonky in the photos cuz it's been washed and dried in the machines--after all, it IS for use, not decoration!!

Flamingos

were carefully transported in my purse.  These beauties were spotted by my sister in an antique shop and had to come home with me.  They reminded me of knick knacks either my mom or my neighbor had when I was 4 (that fact explains why I can't remember whose they were as I spent a lot of time at Mrs. Maltby's house!!) Does that make me an antique, too?!  Don't answer that--I prefer to think of myself as a "collectible"!

Baby quilt finished

Just put the last stitch in this last night.  DH came home from work 2 weeks ago and asked me if I had a baby quilt ready to give away . He wanted one for the grandson of a coworker .  I didn't--I know, I should, and I will be working on that!

Also spent a delightful day on Monday with Ron Paul and his wife, Laura Lee Fritz.  Ron did some maintainence work on Gertrude while giving me lessons on what he was doing, and Laura lee and I visited while she played in my threads, wrote down thread info for me, and hand stitched on a couple of her creations.  She is a quilting design author, so of course I bought her newest book!!

Dinner plate dahlia

DH just cut this beauty which measures 9 inches in diameter.  I floated it in this crystal bowl, which you can't see cuz the flower hogs the whole thing!!

Better late than never

I've had this photo on my desk top for ages--just forgot to post it here!!  This is my new ironing board in the usable position--it goes up flush on the wall, (in case I host square dancing or something similar in my studio!)  DH made this to my specs.  The blocks on it are the leftovers from Becca's mystery--they got turned into a small Christmas quilt (still in the top stage---a lot of mine are there---must get quilting so I'll have finishes!)

I'm back

and haven't gotten back into the swing of things yet.  Vacationing is hard work!!  The house boat on Rainy Lake was fabulous!  I got into Fargo after being up for 25 hours.  My sister and niece met me and we took my mother to lunch for her 80th birthday.  Then drove back to Bemidji, repacked, and drove to International Fall to spend 3 days on the houseboat.  So, of course, in the confusion, I forgot to repack my camera!!!  Sister dear is gonna send the ones she took.  Here is one of some of my family at a bar-b-q Kim had at her house.  My sister-in-law and 4 of her kids, my sis and her 3 and me.  We also took a couple of road trips and did some antiquing and quilt shop hopping!  Will take a photo of the best find later to share.

My bags are packed

I'm ready to go...well, almost!  I will be flying out tomorrow night to be with my twisted sister for 2 weeks.  We will be on a houseboat for the first 5 days I'm there, doing nothing but sunning, yakking and eating!    YES!!!  It is hot out there, complete with sun.  I can do sun and hot.  Can't really complain tho...we have had some lovely weather, but now it is raining.  I will check in while gone, but infrequently.Hope you all have as much fun as I'm planning on!

Productive Day

Two tops finished and a third needing one more border and then mitered.  It's been awhile since I've done that, so will get out a book to review.  I've lost interest in the blocks that were up, so they are partially assembled and relegated back to the BOB drawer...oh, well.  I never claimed to have a long attention span!  (But I DID see 3 or 4 sets of Dear Jane swap blocks that MAY be arranged on the wall, petted and admired and maybe put together??  or maybe returned to the place from whence they came...who knows?!)

Design Wall Monday

Here's what's on my wall:

It might have gotten sewn together and the CW 9 patch might have gotten its borders, but......  A motorcycle ride was taken to the Princess Lodge in Cooper Landing and deep fried coconut crusted salmon was eaten instead,  Oh, well.  The quilt blocks won't spoil! These were taken from the BOB drawer (Bag of Blocks).  The ones on the right were left over from a quilt I made years ago (recognize the quilty friends fabric, Becca??)  and the half square triangles on the left were the scraps from a snow ball quilt that is still a top.

Many threads today

Yesterday the pieces were cut, strip pieced and cut again.  Today they became blocks.  Now I will see if any are glaringly in the wrong order ( the photo will show that as will any comments from you!).  then hopefully they will be a top tomorrow.

Late Night Visitor

Last night DH contemplated sleeping in the hammock.  Considered mosquitoes and stayed in our bed.  Good thing---a large bear wreaked havoc on our bird feeder.  He must have had a craving for sunflowers.  And he was tall--the feeder was up high on a birch tree.  Rats! Now we have to replace the feeder. :(

Did I mention this tree is about 10 feet from the corner of our garage???

Ribbons!!

Things are back to normal here.  The Quilting on the Kenai Quilt Show is over for another year, and for the first time, I got ribbons!!  This is a viewers choice show and I placed third in crib quilts (the pastel one I made as a shop sample) and third in the Challenge category.  We had to create something using the Hoffman Challenge fabric--half yard max and identifiable minimum.  First place was a wall hanging that was fabulous--the quilting on it was spectacular (as expected from Lily), second was a jacket that was juried into a show in the Lower 48 (I didn't hear the particulars as it was announced at the fashion show after I had modeled it and was dashing back down the stairs for a clothing change!), and my wall hanging was third!!

I am very tickled!

DH Recycles!

When I finally decided to buy an ergonomically correct tilt table for my sewing machine, I was informed that they were no longer available.  WAHHHH!  So I took my handy-dandy DH into the store to show him what one looked like.  (They did have one under a machine but no way were they parting with it!!)  And this is what he crafted from a piece of a bookcase he had decapitated to allow our big screen TV to fit on it.

And now he's building me a wide ironing board that will fold down from the wall.  WaHoo!!

We have babies!!

Here is mama sitting on the babies.  DH said a few days ago she was stomping them down to sit on them, but they are too big to do that to now!!

Robin eggs

While mama (or papa) robin did the broken wing act, DH took some photos of the eggs.

Homer happenings

Just got home from a trip to Homer on the motorcycle.  The sun was shining but the wind was cold!  At the beach of Kachemak Bay this was going on:  Kite surfing!!  Brrrrr!

Robin nest

My DH went outside to clean windows (he's a keeper!) and was going to use this ladder.  However, it was already being used!!  There are two nests on it!!  The other one is to the right of this one with no occupant in it at present.  So far I have seen no swallows around the many houses waiting for them to move in to.

Today is Memorial Day in the US, and I am very grateful to  every person who put their life at risk for my freedom.