Caravaning Quilters!

I love the lengths that quilters will go to do what they want to do wherever they want to do it! Travel 500 miles to take a workshop? Completely sane if you can get 3 or 4 other quilty friends to join you on your adventure and do it in a MOTORHOME!

Our first workshop day was a busy one. We gathered and set up for or Bricks the Barnyard workshop on Friday….has been been almost a week ago already?! And I was so tickled that so many had gathered from so far away!

One quilter, Linda, came all the way from MISSOURI! No, it wasn’t just for the workshop days, she had friends or family in Fairbanks I believe, and she just arranged her trip to visit them so it would coincide with our dates in Delta Junction. Quick Thinking! I love this kind of determination!

What was even more fun was the fact that as Linda drove her way IN to Delta Junction….she wound up following a huge motor home…

And she knew right there that she was headed the right direction! Look what was in the back window!

LOL!!! When I saw this I about died laughing! ((And I admit it, it was fun for DH to see it too!))

The posse in the motorhome? They had come all the way from the Kenai Peninsula and beyond. Something like over 500 miles away, driving 9 hours one way through the wilds of Alaska to come spend the weekend with us! Talk about dedicated quilters!

A cheesy pose, somewhat in the shade….on the ONE afternoon we actually got blue sky---and we were INSIDE SEWING!! But do you see that beautiful blue? Awesome!

It was a lot of fun seeing what people brought to sew with! Christy had her beautiful kelly green featherweight humming away…what a beauty!

		Bricks in the Barnyard, Delta Junction AK 2011 VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

This time we also ran things a bit different. Since people came from so far away, we did the lecture and trunkshow at lunch time, instead of having everyone come back in the evening again. It worked out really well! We had more people from the guild who weren’t taking the workshop come and join us, and we had a good crowd.

It was also the first time that DH had actually sat through one of my lectures and saw just what it is that I do when I am on the road. He is very reserved with how he expresses himself, but I think he realizes just what it is that I do, and how important it is to me and how much really goes into it. I don’t think he actually saw this as a “job” before! Come to think of it, I don’t actually think of it as a “job” either --- I love it so much I can’t imagine doing anything else, but I think he GETS IT better now :c) He also knows that no matter where I travel, I am in good hands! Quilters are awesome people, he knows you will take good care of me!

My time this week has been spent sending off next year’s articles to Quiltmaker ((Oh, do we have some fun scrappy blocks in store for next year!)) and working on the projects that need to go in the next book. Deadlines loom! I’m sewing like a fiend this week…..

Because NEXT WEEK! TADA!!!! It’s our Caribbean Cruise adventure! Lori is flying into Orlando. I’m going to go down to Columbia SC the night before she arrives and stay the night with Jason and Kim and love on my Grandkitties a bit. I’ll also stop in and see how Jeff is doing……and then in the morning I’ll head down to Orlando, pick up Lori, and head to Port Canaveral! I CAN NOT WAIT!!

We were talking the other day of things we want to do….and I told her, you know….I’d like to spend some beach time, and some reading time, and some relax time. Let’s play it by ear! Shore excursions with 200 people are just feeling kind of crowdy to me right now. I’d love to walk and walk and walk the islands. I’d love to find good food, fun shopping, maybe bike ride…but mostly, relax!

And when we are at sea…WE SEW!!!!!!

The Long Way to Trollville!

Lorraine emailed me shortly after ((or during??)) My trip to Sisters Oregon when I had pictures of my Troll Sister included in some of the posts! I love trolls! I used to play with them when I was little, envied my aunt’s collection of them….I still love them!

Well, Lorraine said she had some troll FABRIC and was sending me some--

And ….I waited…and she waited…and nothing showed for quite a long time!

Well, today, I am happy to report that this package showed up in my mailbox..a large SQUISHY one! The Trolls had arrived!

This is SO funny!! I can honestly say I have never seen troll fabric. Never seen trolls in shorts either..lol! I love it!

I have a feeling I’m going to have to gift some of this on to TONYA who is collecting ugly interesting fabrics for her Legos quilt! What a hoot!….what say you Ton, or are these guys too big to cut up into your little pieces? :cD

Come on now….didn’t you love trolls back in “the day”??

Thanks Lorraine! It looks like there was a wrong number in the zipcode and that is why it took so long! I’m happy it is here…..this really made my day!

As Seen Around Town….

I’m catching up on things…always seem to be chasing the elusive chore that remains undone, but I’m always catching up! Do you feel that way? Is it ever conquered?

Like this morning….I reached the point where I could not stand the inside of the fridge anymore. Not that it was bad, but something drove me into checking expiration dates on all the dressing bottles and other items that have been in there untouched for a while. Do you clean your fridge on a regular basis, or just as it needs it? Or is “behind closed doors” safe enough to put it off a while longer?

It seems like I don’t even SEE that there are sticky things in there until I see it all at once…it creeps up on me and BAM!! It becomes a clean out the fridge day! Or --- Maybe clean out the fridge happens because I am avoiding something else that needs doing, and cleaning out the fridge seems like a legitimate excuse to put the OTHER thing off…hmmm….

Maybe that OTHER thing is the need to wash windows too?

I was going through my Alaska pictures, trying to put things in order, and it seems like I am down to a bunch of random stuff, how do I post that and make it flow? I have no clue! So we’ll start at the top!

We DROVE through North Pole, AK!! And serious, there is Christmas stuff there all year round. See that sign at the beginning of the post?! We had to drive around to find it…it’s on a bit of a busy corner, but I made DH stop and let me out so I could run across the street and shoot it. With the camera. But since everyone is allowed to carry a gun in Alaska, I’m sure that there has been shooting of the other kind too!

We even found Santa Claus Lane!

We kept on driving through North Pole, and wound our way down to Delta Junction:

Are you getting tired of seeing pics of me posing with signs? I never know how to pose – Do I stand here like a soldier, or do something silly like point at the sign? Well, let’s just stand here. Okay. I’m sure by this time DH was tired of taking my picture at “landmarks” but he was a good sport about it!

Here we have me with the world’s largest mosquitoes! Serious—Even in 50 degree weather the mozzies are HUGE and BITING! I love that yellow sign to the right that shows the buffalo butting heads with a tractor…LOL!

How about the monument marking the END of the Alaska Highway!? Dave loves to watch Ice Road Truckers, and he was thrilled to be on some of the same roads…..some how it is NOT the same if it is August, but I couldn’t convince him of that!

Now THIS PLACE is a Delta Junction ICON! This is the Buffalo Burger Drive In! Best burgers anywhere, and they will come right out to your car to take your order. Remember back in the “olden days” when drive in food was served on those little trays that clip over your car window? They STILL have those! It was so good, we ate burgers here twice…and came back one other time just for the ice cream. All the meat and dairy is local. They close up in the winter months.

I was told there are quilters from all over who will wait for the drive in to re-open in the spring/summer before they hit the quilt shop! They will call first! “Is the drive in open yet?” And then plan their shop hops around it!

This was just SUCH a wonderful place! I feel like I’ve made life long friends in Delta Junction and I hope it won’t be long before I can come back!

Evening Edition, Free Kindle Book!

I’ve had a WONDERFUL relaxing catch up day! Gosh, did I need this….I even scheduled myself for a lovely 90 minute massage this afternoon.

I am complete JELLY!

Today has been a day of mostly paperwork related stuff. I had website work that needed attending to. I had a weeks worth of mail to sort through and bills to take care of and a full email box to clean out.

I opened my 2015 Calendar ((!!)) and it is filling!

While we were in Delta Junction, AK, DH and I stayed in the most wonderful B&B, and I really loved sitting around the dining table listening to Lonnie tell the stories of Hillcrest B&B and things that have happened to them out in the wilds of Alaska!

So when I came upon this Amazon freebie, I snagged it!

The Trouble with Green by Liv James is free today from the Amazon Kindle store, and has received a perfect 5 out of 5 stars based on six customer reviews.

Product Description

Josie’s life turns upside down when her earth-friendly inns get national press. Her architect husband gets a job offer on the other side of the country, the owners of her best inn disappear, and an unwanted guest drags danger to her door. As Josie is drawn deeper into her guest's twisted plan, she determines that she must fight the ghosts of her past if she has any hope of survival.

There were NO stories like this one from the B&B that I stayed in, but we were shown pictures of a HUGE bear that was right up in the sliding glass door…YIKES!!

We were told, “But there are no snakes, and no poisonous spiders!” As if THAT makes everything better? Bears! OH MY!

Some have commented that it’s not fair that I don’t list the Nook or other books. This blog isn’t about listing all the free books that are out there for every platform. I list what I choose to read because it was something that I found interesting enough to download myself for my OWN reading :c) I have a kindle, and I use it.

If you don’t have a kindle, you can download these to your computer and read them there, or if you like the title and the description, check them out of your library.

You can also download them to your phone if you have a smart phone by installing the kindle app.

You can use a kindle app on your ipad, or other tablet. I have a Toshiba Thrive, and I love it!

I just post what I like…..and that’s all there is to it!

As always, double check before clicking that this book is still free, prices can change without notice ---

Enjoy!

A Day to Unwind!!

Hey All!

We got home from Alaska last night around 7pm ----you know, Alaska is just NOT an easy place to get to or from if you fly out of Greensboro, NC!! We were tabulating and calculating just how many hours it had been since we had been in a bed, and it was something like 28 hours or more!

Get this…

We woke up at 8am Alaska time in Delta Junction, and drove 330 miles back to Anchorage to catch our 12:30am flight out, which was delayed til after 1am….

I just wiled away the time stitching on my hexagons in the terminal until we finally boarded. Don’t I look like I’d been up about 16 hours by this time? LOL!

We got to Seattle at 5am Seattle time, no time for breakfast, we had to rush to get on another flight!

We flew from Seattle to Houston, and then the ZOO started…I’m not sure if it was because we were so overly tired already, but we were laughing hysterically at one point.

Stupid Stupid air traffic control!! According to our pilot, they changed gates on us THREE TIMES upon approach, and had us pull into the INTERNATIONAL TERMINAL! from SEATTLE?!

Well, they usher us through corridors, down hall ways, over this, down that, and we CAN’T go through customs! No one has a passport..we just have drivers licenses? And they hold us up. And keep us there until they decide what to do with us. All 141 of us. Plus the pilots, the crew...everyone was stuck in customs!

Many people were missing connections by this time….what a huge disaster! WHY did they pull us into there?

They ended up escorting us, police and TSA guards directing us…BACK to our gate….back through all those DO NOT ENTER signs…

all the way back to our gate so we could be escorted through a DIFFERENT corridor that dumped us out somewhere near baggage claim, but NOT through customs. Why was there not an agent there to direct us this way when we got off the plane in the first place? Serious. It was SUCH a mess!

They had to check our IDs and boarding passes against the original manifest. Some people didn't HAVE their boarding passes anymore, all the trash got passed to the flight attendants as they were collecting trash before landing. I usually throw mine away, but luckily, this time it was still in my bag-- :c/

We grabbed some late lunch in Houston, it was about 1:30pm at this point, and we really hadn’t eaten anything since dinner the night before in Anchorage.

One more flight, and we were finally touching down in Greensboro.

SADIE was SUCH a happy girl to see us! She was doing tricks even WITHOUT treats she was so excited! LOL! I grabbed my camera and caught this little video:

It’s a narrow video, I was doing it from my phone, but I think you get the idea of just HOW HAPPY she is!

I have more to post on Alaska, but today is an unwind day for me. I need some time to unpack, do some laundry ((load 2 is running as I type)) and get things back in order.

I was looking at my past month’s calendar…from Iowa, to Minnesota, to Alaska…I think I’ve only been home 3 days in between! Crazy life, but I love it!

I had to lay out my hexagon section to see how far I’ve come on it….

Ooooh! Only a bit over 2 rows left to complete this section!

I’ll need ONE more section just like this to fill in the upper right, and two mirror image sections to fill in the lower right and upper left…and….and…..and…

THEN WHAT?!? What will I do for a carry around project then?! I almost don’t want to think of it! Will I do more hexies? Maybe. Will I move on to Applique? Maybe..or maybe I’ll hand quilt something small…or…????

But for today…I rest!

Alaska Shop Hop!

If you are going to fall OFF the wagon, as far as stashing fabrics goes, Alaska is a great place to do it!

I was condensing plastic shopping bags full of fabric, and I didn’t realize just WHAT I had accumulated!

I’ve hit FIVE shops so far! FIVE. Oh. Man. And it all started with the Alaskan themed fabrics…I just needed some! I don’t have a whole lot of batiks, but I’d like to do an Alaska themed quilt to capture this great trip, and if I buy the themed batiks..then I have to have the go-withs, right? I mean, once I set my foot in that sinking ship, it was all over!

I had PLENTY of encouragement though, so maybe I can blame it on my friend Kathe! Kathe and I have known each other “online” since about 1996, and have met in person a couple times. She lives up here outside of Fairbanks, and I got a message from her on my phone ((When we finally got back to where we could GET a signal—)) that she wanted to see me if I was still in town.

We had just pulled into Denny’s in Fairbanks for breakfast, and I called her back as soon as I found her message. She was on her way to work, but said she would turn around right there and come meet us! How cool is that?

We had a great visit, and it was wonderful to see her. And can you tell from the picture, that we were at the world’s NORTHERN most Denny’s? LOL!!

Kathe directed me to a couple of Fairbanks quilt shops that were close by, making up shops 3 and 4 on my wild Alaska tour! More bags, more added to the collection of Alaskan treasures!

Upon reaching Delta Junction, we hit the Calico Cow too, bringing the quilt shop total to 5. in 3 days. That might not be a lot to you, but I’m not a big shopper ((or so I’m lying to myself!!)) But it is great to find stuff that I just can’t find in North Carolina!

So what is coming home with me? A variety!

Some 1/3 yard and 1/2 yard cuts to add to my black and whites! ((Yes, they look pink, but they are not! It's the lighting!)) I’d rather buy a 1/3 yard cut for a piece that measures 12” X 44” than a Fat Quarter that measures 18” X 22”. It’s just a better use of the fabric for me, and usually costs about the same as a Fat Quarter anyway.

5 .5 yards of a very cool brown I’m going to use for a backing right away ((Does this count toward stash accumulation if it’s going right on a quilt??!)) This was on the 50% off rack, and it feels SO nice.

A couple of half yard cuts of some shirtings that were also on the 50% off rack. Backgrounds are always ALWAYS legal, right? Okay..I don’t have to count these in the total either then, right?

Scrap bags of batiks!! These were from “Seams Like Home” in Anchorage….these are 1lb bags, and there has to be close to 2 yards in each. It’s helping me build a variety because I don’t have much of a batik stash, and these will round out the Alaskan ones I’ve picked up ((Yes, and the rationalization continues!))

THESE are the alaskan fabrics. Aren’t they cool?! 1/3 yard cuts again…I’ve got whales and moose and otters and more orcas and all kinds of feet and a bigger piece that has puffins on it….it was on a sale rack for 20% off if you took what was left on the bolt.

I found these three 1 yard pieces at the Calico Cow on the $5.99 rack……awesome, blossom!!

And it doesn’t stop here! Though I’ve had to reign it all in…our bags were already at limits and I can only replace the weight of the books that have been sold..using the fabric as “packing material” around those that are left….and trying to keep the bags from going over their weight limits! It’s a tough juggling job I tell ya!

These were the scraps available for Friday’s Bricks in the Barnyard workshop….and I wished I could take it all home! Good thing there is no room in my bags….but I WAS told that I could ship the overweight stuff home in priority flat rate mail boxes…hmmm…I’ll have to think about it!