A Winner

John Baker won the Iditarod yesterday morning...he broke the previous record and now has the fastest time, 8 days, 18 hours, 46 minutes and 39 seconds to travel 1150 miles. The race is far from over as there are still 11 mushers on the trail. My musher, Heather Siirtola, is second from the last in the standings. She has taken some longer breaks than expected but she is still trekking along. Her support staff expect her to finish sometime on Sunday. I planned on having at least 2 weeks to finish my quilt but had the weather been more of a factor the race could have gone as long as 17 days. I think I will make it despite some major obstacles...mostly on the part of my poor planning. 

I ran out of border fabric by a third of a yard...12 inches!

Thankfully, a quilt store in downtown Anchorage, The Quilted Raven, carries the line of dogsled batiks in several colorways. I had visited the store about 2 weeks ago and noted they had two bolts each of the two focus batiks.  Plus yesterday I ran around gathering batting. Why didn't I realize my fabric shortage yesterday? Just too much going on...my husband left for Japan yesterday morning and I had 2 long distance phone calls that were very welcome but ate up my sewing time. 

So the new fabric is in the wash right now and probably ready for the dryer. I have two dogs who are very worried right now that their daily walk has been forgotten.

Jenny and Forrest

Jenny especially looks anxious...no potty break since 7 am!(She's very stubborn about holding out for the walk!) Don't worry pups...Mom is getting right on it...lets go get the  leashes.