October was a Blur

 I had three quilt retreats in October. 

I got a lot done but no time for blogging. 

I am going to dedicate this post to my handwork projects and hopefully write a quilt-related post in a few days.

After Christmas, I usually pick one or two large Bucilla kits from my stash to make. This year, my second Bucilla project was a wall hanging designed by Mary Engelbreit from 2006. 

The kit...though brand new...was in bad shape. The brown ink stamped on white felt was bleeding badly...it smeared when handled for stitching. 

The ink is easily removed by soaking the felt in cold water...but the lines to follow for stitching disappear.

I embroidered on the main white piece...

grabbed a piece of vinyl and outlined the placement lines.

For the small parts of the white felt that would be appliqued in place...

I stitched on all the embroidery and then dunked the pieces in cold water. 

Once dried, the pieces looked great and the yucky brown ink was gone.

It was a huge challenge to place all the elements...the vinyl overlay helped but these kits often don't line up exactly as printed.

It is appropriately named, as it really is a Joy to see it finished.

The details are so amazing. The fancy wrapping paper for the present.

A joyful elf.

Gingerbread folks.

Thankfully the face was easy to stitch. The blue eyes pop with the dark hair. 

I have two more Mary Engelbreit hanging kits in my stash to make...and the ink is not an issue in those kits. At least one of those will be made in 2027.

My next felt project was a Merry Stockings Mantel Series...the Halloween Village 2026 , Spook School.

These kits are pretty quick to stitch up and I think it was late August when I started it. 

Frankenstein's House.

Just a fun set of spookiness. Very easy to store away.

Next are cross stitch projects I finally fully finished.

 I think the toughest part is trying to decide how to finish a piece.

This was a free pattern in 2020 for a stitch-along from Sandy Workman of Pine Needles Designs.

Halloween Stitch-Along. I stitched it on the called for fabric, 25 count, Stormy Lugana.

This was a fun piece...just stitched one block at a time.

The next two pieces have been stitched for at least two years... I just struggled trying to find a fun way to display them. I finally decided on a simple free standing design.

Girls' Night Out is a free pattern when you purchase the button set from Just Another Button Company 

I used the called for fabric, Weeks Dye Works Lilac linen, 30 count. 

I also use the called for Weeks Dye Works floss. 

The linen has more of a purple tone than the photo is showing.

And of course...I had to stitch the companion,

 The Boys are Back in Town. Also from Just Another Button Company 

This was also stitched on the called for fabric, Weeks Dye Works Gunmetal linen, 30 count. 

Also stitched with the called for Weeks Dye Works floss. 

A fun duo.

For some reason the next two charts really drew me in.

Stitching on this linen was a real challenge for me.

Toil & Trouble, from La D Da. 

Stitched on the called for linen, Havana 35 count and NPI silk floss.

Something Wicked, from La D Da. Same linen and NPI silk floss. 

I finished both as standing pieces. 

The trim is from Purple Paper Mountain, Thick Eyelash Trim.

It totally makes the finish on these two pieces awesome.

Put on the Hat from Hands on Design, was a quick stitch.

 I didn't get this one fully finished but planning to do a drum finish.

And I started a rather large Halloween piece, 

Haunted Cuckoo Clock by Tiny Modernist. 

My grandson loves clocks...especially cuckoo clocks.

Almost halfway done but will put this away for now so I can tackle Christmas projects.

No critter photos...though the bears are still moving around the neighborhood.

We've only had a few dustings of snow followed by warm spells. 

I don't like mild winters...too dark with icy driving conditions.

Quilts Galore

I worked on so many quilts in late July, all of August and the first half of September. 

No time to blog...I didn't even read many blogs,

A big project needed to be finished by September 22nd and it is finished and washed...ready to be gifted to a friend of my husband.  

My husband has never requested I make a quilt for someone...

so when he made a request in July...

I  hopped right to it. 

Since retiring as a pilot from FedEx, my husband jumped into another intense flying job, working for a high-end fishing lodge in remote western Alaska. He flies a De Havilland Beaver on floats, getting guests to special fishing locations on remote rivers. He is gone all summer, late May through September 22nd. There are three other pilots who work at the lodge to fly the lodge's two other Beavers and one Cessna 206...all on floats.

That's my hubby above working at his summer gig. 

Warning...

I  am going to wander off into more "plane" talk.

My husband...for many years...wanted to fly a DeHavilland Beaver on floats.

 It is a coveted plane for traveling around remote Alaska locations. It is a tough plane to purchase...hard to find a good one since they were built in the 1950s and they cost about a million dollars...really! 

Small planes are the backbone of Alaska's transportation options. Flying is such a popular pursuit that there is a line of Alaska batik fabrics that have float planes and small planes.

I had some of this fabric in my stash I purchased last summer and was saving for a quilt for my husband. It got me started. I knew I needed a simple pattern so looked through one of my Fabric Cafe books and found a pattern I liked, "Roman Holiday," from the book, Quick as a Wink 3-Yard Quilts. 

I took that design and did a mockup in EQ8 to the size requested.

EQ8 Version

I ran outside one day when there was a brief sunny moment to take a photo of the finished quilt...no binding on it yet.

I used an edge to edge design form Christy Dillon called Ocean Waves.

After I got it bound and washed I took one last photo of it the quilt I am calling, Tikchik Narrows.

It is 91 x91-inches.

The next quilt finished recently was a simple baby quilt for my daughter-in-law's new nephew. 

 My granddaughters helped pick out the fabric so I wanted to get it done right away.

A simple panel with border fabrics. The line of fabric is called Big Kitties.

I forgot to take photos so I asked the new mom to get some for me.

I used another edge to edge design, this time from Totally Quilted called, "Salty."

I had a major boo boo...I didn't save the quilting design before starting to stitch and I manipulated it quite a bit. I stitched the first row and then bumped the computer screen which caused me to lose the design!!! So frustrating. It took me at least an hour to recreate the design to match the first line of quilting I had done.

I stumbled upon the cutest minky fabric to back the quilt at a local quilt shop. 

Next, I pulled a quilt top from my aging stack of tops and got it on the frame for quilting.

I made this quilt top in 2019 when I was attending the Breakfast Club monthly. We all started with the same pattern and all the variations were so fun to see. The pattern is, "Butterfly Patch," from Lella Boutique. I created my own scrappy background with batiks in my stash.

I also picked different block pattern to make up the butterfly body. 

I quilted with, Calypso Edge to Edge Curls by Christy Dillon.

And one more quilt finished! 

This one was the second-to-last quilt I did on my previous longarm that did not have a digital option...

so all custom quilting. 

The backing is a cuddle fabric which the grandkids love. I've started doing my bindings by machine...no  more hand stitching especially on quilts with cuddle backing.

I had a retreat the last week of July and the second week of September. Between the two retreats I finished a fun top made with fat quarters in a blue and white colorway...apparently my favorite colorway looking at my stash of finished tops.

 The Pattern is, "Playa Del Sol," designed my Nancy Rink.

 I bought it as a download on Connecting Threads. 

A second quilt top I finished at the first July retreat is this grouping of wildlife batik fabrics...I had a few fat quarters I never knew what to do with and finally saw this simple, FREE pattern...also on Connecting Threads. It is Windowpane Patchwork. I made mine larger by adding two rows. 

I am calling this one, "Walk on the Wild Side."

It will be a nice throw quilt at  60 x 76-inches

I just had to start another red, white and blue quilt in July. I worked on this at home. I have all the blocks made...it might be a while before I get the blocks all sewn together.

This is another Scott Flanagan pattern and these are batiks he designed for Banyan Fabrics, "Celebrating 250 Years." The pattern was in the Spring 2021 issue of Quilter's World. It is called, "Stretched Stars Sampler." I love the aqua color Scott added to the fabric line. 

I also touched up one final quilt top. I had it sitting on a shelf for years because I wanted to add at least one more row. It is another top from when I was going to Breakfast Club once a month. It is from 2011...yipes. It is the pattern, "Mint Chocolate," from the book, "Cozy Modern Quilts," by Kim Shaefer. 

It was a jelly roll project. I pulled some strips and fat quarters to come up with another row. I am calling my version, "Green Tea," which was the name of the Bali Pop I used.

 It measures 54 1/2 x 64 3/4-inches.

I do have a black bear photo...another one that visited my neighbor in July. 

The bears have mostly been down at the river...not too many sightings in the neighborhood.

Fall is here. 

Winter is predicted to be extremely mild...hmmm. 

That usually means more ice than snow. 

Not so good. 

Good for quilting I suppose.

Quilts in my Garden

We've had a record breaking July...cloudy weather...cool temperatures and rain....too much!

The sun finally arrived the last few days of July and the first few days of August. 

I knew the sunny days were limited so I tried to get photos of all my finished quilts and a few garden photos.

My absolute favorite quilt is a scrappy one I made from a mystery block challenge we did in my Material Girls retreat group in 2022. 

No fancy quilt name for it...yet.

 The star block was the mystery part...

after we made the stars we had to decide how to finish the block into a quilt. 

I have some beautiful deep purple delphiniums that look great with this quilt.

I did a scrappy binding. The quilt measures 70 x 89-inches.

I used a King Tut thread called Egyptian Princess which has variegated deep pinks and plums. 

The edge-to-edge quilting design is Flower Whirl by Christie Dillon. 

I love these delphiniums so much...

I can't have too many of these gorgeous purples. This year it was hard to find a nice selection of perennials in local nurseries...I wanted more delphiniums.

My next finish is also a quilt that reminds me of my garden. The pattern," Lotus," is from Jaybird Quilts using the Hex N More ruler. This is a pattern we did in the Breakfast Club in 2018! Yipes! 

I made this quilt from my stash with the intention of using is on my couch. Impossible to get the colors to come out accurately in a photo...it is more subtle in it's coloring. I named this quilt, "Flowers on the Couch." It measures 69 x 90-inches. 

I stitched the edge to edge design, Mountain Meadows by Christie Dillon with King Tut thread in the color, Splendid. I mostly quilt with batik fabrics and learned ball point needles are recommended. So far the ball point needles are working great. No tension issues. All of the quilts in this post have an 80/20, single layer of batting.

 I'm going to jump back to the first flower to bloom in my garden every year, my woodland phlox. This plant is so happy...it has outgrown its space! 

And of course...my absolute favorite flower is...Himalayan Blue Poppy.

 Also one of the first flowers to bloom every year.

While I was taking photos a dragonfly was buzzing around...

Back to quilts! 

Below are two quilts that were my first finished on my new Amara 20, 

 The larger one I call, "Dragonflies on the Mountain." 

The pattern is, "Himalayan Pink," by Madison Cottage Design, 

another Breakfast Club project...from 2016!!! 

The pattern uses the Creative Grids 60 degree triangle. 

The batiks were a line from Moda Fabrics by Holly Taylor I absolutely love.

 The scraps were large chunks that I made into a mini quilt I call, "More on the Mountain."

 In Alaska...when a house has many additions added throughout the years...

it is affectionately referred to as...a More-on House.

"More on the Mountain," is 38 x 58-inches,

 "Dragonflies on the Mountain," is 69 x 70-inches.

My latest quilting finish is, "Liberty Starlets."

 Such a fun fat quarter pattern by Modernly Morgan. 

I used 20 fat quarters from Robert Kaufman fabrics called, "Liberty."

The quilting design is an edge to edge called, "Stars Across the Universe," by Christie Dillon.

 I love how the quilting looks like waves in the strips of color...

one of those serendipitous outcomes in quilting...

awesome!!!

"Liberty Starlets," measures 65 x 72-inches.

Now a little extended garden talk.

 One day early in the gardening season,

 I was watering a hanging basket when this gorgeous butterfly joined me.

 I rarely see butterflies here...I googled it and looks like a Canadian Tiger Swallowtail.

My newest flowerbed which was finished last summer, 

 I call Septic Hill.

 Yes...this mound is part of my septic drainage system. 

I was aiming for a red, white and blue theme this summer in my flower tubs 

which turned into

more like red, white and purple.

 I like it!

And very exciting news...I am the mother of many blue poppy babies!!!

 They are two years old...having survived their first winter. 

I moved two, into an open area in one of my well established flower beds.

But I had 14 babies to give new homes. 

The Material Girls were happy to take them at our retreat last week. 

I have so many perennials outgrowing their spaces...irises, trollius, spirea, blue poppies!!! 

So I weed-wacked a sunny area and laid down black plastic to kill all the weeds...lots of weeds. 

Another big project...I just can't help myself! 

Time for some critter talk.

Bears...so many bears. 

Below, this sub adult loves my neighbor's house. He visits so often.

 I was working in my yard when my dogs let me know he was there...

and I managed to get a few photos of him...

I guess it could be a her. 

The bear tried to climb the wooden post supporting their deck...

that's when I called the neighbors. 

They were out bike riding and getting ready to walk up the mountain to their house.

 They called another neighbor and got a ride up to their house.

 They used an air horn to scare away the bear...

then they also set off their house alarm...

it was a stubborn bear that didn't want to leave.

This black bear is pretty small...for a bear...

but when is gets bigger...like next summer...

it may turn into a real problem bear. 

Stay tuned.

Extremely scary to me is this grizzly family. 

This photo was taken by another resident on our mountain...

just about 100 yards from my house...about a week ago.

Look carefully. Three cubs. 

This is their second summer.

 So far no extreme encounters in the hood.

I have not been walking my dogs except around my yard this summer.

I do not want to encounter a mama grizzly.

 I have absolutely no confidence in bear spray or a gun if she's mad for me. 

Please Read the Comments Section for an Update on the Grizzly Family.