Fall in Alaska

My favorite two weeks of Alaska...Fall.

Photos never capture the radiance of the colors

Below are a pair of moose cows...they are a little tough to see...especially when you are driving.

My rock work area is getting covered in leaves. I won't even attempt to rake leaves or get the leaf blower out until the majority of the leaves have fallen.

Just for my historical perspective I want to make a note about the amount of rain we've received, "Summer of 2022."

In June we broke records for lack of precipitation and high temps. Awesome start to the summer.

Then a day or two after the 4th of July, our weather pattern completely changed.

In July - 18 days of rain.

In August - 27 days of rain

So far in September - 14 days out of 18 days...rain.

And when it rains...it is generally gray outside all day long.

Yesterday's sunny weather was glorious.

Thankfully, my garden has done well. But my big rock landscaping project has been disappointing. I have made decent progress but I sure hate to go through winter with a big pile of rock sitting where a lot of snow usually gets dumped by the fellow who plows our driveway.

I did finally get my quilting mojo back and loaded a top on the frame. I don't know why I had to pick one of the toughest prospects in my pile of quilt tops. I just finished quilting all the areas with cream thread. Now I need to go back and do lots of thread color changes for all the details. This quilt was a shop hop in Alaska many summers ago. Lots of  laser cut, fusible web appliques. Not fun to quilt on at all...but I am very thankful the tension goddess has been good to me so far. (I do have one small area I will need to fix/rip out and redo.)

I did get a top finished. Way back in May, I had a Material Girls retreat and we had a mystery block challenge. I finished my 20 star blocks at retreat. The second part of the challenge was to come up with a setting for the blocks. I am very thrilled with my solution. Our next retreat is October 20 -23.

My setting solution came from one of the oldest patterns in my stash, "Simple Gifts - #403". I bought this at a quilt shop in Colorado Springs when my son was there for a hockey tournament. He was probably 12 years old and is now 31. I remember the shop had a sample of the pattern made in the store. I think I must have looked at this pattern a thousand times over the past 19 years.

Evening stitching projects have been steady. 

The Bucilla ornament kit, "Partridge in a Pear Tree," is quite a challenge.

Number nine had a new technique for me...making curls for the Lady Dancing. Strands of floss were wet down and twisted around a straw to dry. The first attempt went well but the curls relaxed pretty quickly. So I rewet the floss and added hair spray...then twisted on small red coffee straws. Her curls still look great a couple of weeks later. 

And 10 Lords A-Leaping had sooo many details. Only two more ornaments in the set.

I finished the Timberline Santa series from Mill Hill.

Douglas Fir Santa, Scotch Pine Santa and Norway Spruce Santa

It's been a while since Logan and McKinley have been in a post. They were newly groomed in this shot. Hard to believe McKinley is seven years old and Logan is five. 

Lots of canning to pickle beets from my garden is underway. I always get a little anxious the latter half of September...winter is looming...so much to get done!!!

Thanks for stopping by and catching up on my world. 

Happy stitching.