Merry March

Wow...March was a busy month with lots of fun times.  First, my best friend who lives in Georgia, came to visit with her son's family that lives in Fairbanks. We had excellent weather the entire week she was in Anchorage...cold but sunshine everyday! 

In the mornings I spent a few hours sewing and keeping my dogs out of the way while my guests got their days started. Turned out to be a very productive time...I finished getting blocks made into rows and rows stitched together to get this little scrap quilt done, Sky Full of Stars Mini II. The finished size is 36-inches square.

The big event for Alaska in March is the Iditarod race. 

This year...after years of talking about it...hubby and I finally got up in our piper cub and flew over the racing dog teams as they started the race. It was a gorgeous day with lots of mountains on display. I hope in the future we can actually get down on the ground to watch the dogs...that would make for some good photo opportunities. We either need to get some skis on the plane so we can land on the frozen river or snow machine onto the river.

After my guests left...and my house was incredibly quiet...I attempted to get some quilting done. About an hour into my quilting session...the timing on my Notling Fun Quilter all of the sudden went wacky. It kept going out of timing within three spins of the hook...off by a quarter of an inch. Extremely odd. Several days spent talking with the Nolting repair expert in Iowa didn't resolve the issue. So my machine was boxed up and sent in for a little Nolting spa treatment. 

I've had my Nolting Fun Quilter for 16 years and this was my first major problem. I'm looking forward to getting my machine back with some new parts and ready to zip through lots of quilting.

There are so many non-quilting projects to tackle so...

I focused on finishing the series of cross stitch patterns for my laundry room. 

I didn't make any color changes to the pattern.

Stitching lettering goes pretty quick...counting is easier.

Irony is my favorite.

On my birthday, I flew to California to visit with one of my sons and his two daughters. I had a little travel drama...late flight into Seattle so I missed my connection and had to spend eight hours till the next Fresno flight. My luggage also got lost...I heard there was a security breach at the Seattle airport as well...though my suitcase did get to Fresno the next day and was delivered before noon.

Anyway...

I did some shopping in the Seattle airport and found the perfect gift for my 3-year-old granddaughter, Kate,  who LOVES  the movie Frozen.

Kate was even wearing her  "Elsa," princess gown when they came to pick me up.

We did a rainy day trip to the Fresno Zoo. Notice me in my rain jacket and Kate in another princess dress not wearing a jacket. She has thick Alaska blood...she's never cold. 

You can feed the giraffes lettuce...they have the biggest tongues!

Between two days of travel on airplanes, I managed to get most of the cross stitches done for a Jim Shore gnome ornament. Just needs backstitching and beads. 

I did a little birthday shopping for myself. I indulged in another set of wee ornaments with cute wooden buttons from the Australian designer, Lynette Anderson. There is a U.S. vendor of her products, Little Quilt Store, super quick shipping.

I did my own conversion to DMC colors.

I finished March with a three-day retreat with a private group at our local quilt shop, Twisted Sisters Quilty Pleasures. We take over the class room for three days, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

My primary project were bunny blocks.

Lots of clipped corners to make so it filled most of my time. I did get all the blocks done! This is a Pattern Basket design, Country Bunnies. 

Retreat also means a little shopping. I found a fun backing fabric...a parrot print which is a companion fabric for the kit I recently finished.

And with two granddaughters...I just had to buy these little fairy themed fabrics. I'll be looking for a few more colors of fairy frost to add to this project.

I  had a reader of my blog say "hi" at my retreat...so fun!

Zipping Through February

I almost missed posting in February…guess that means I was busy!

The month started great with a Material Girls retreat. I had five panel kits ready to go for retreat. I did not share this one on my last post. A quick panel pattern. 

I was not thrilled with the finished quilt top. 

I love the center panel but the fabrics in the kit were so pale...this is a gingerbread village...it just looks blah. 

So as soon as I got home and thought about it some more...I went online and checked out what the actual full fabric line included. I found a layer cake of the line on sale at the Fat Quarter Shop and some of the green holly berry fabric in yardage at another shop online, Lou Lou's Fabric Shop. 

I have already ripped apart the quilt top and have the new fabric cut and ready to sew around the gingerbread village panel. I think it will help to have my design wall at home to remake this quilt. 

The rest of my kits were great and I love the results

The lap version of, "Take Flight," using the panel and fabric line, "Soar," From Northcott. This pattern had some tricky cutting with a gradation fabric...nothing to spare. It all came together wonderfully.

The finish kits from Hoffman for their panels came together perfectly.

I forgot to add the final 2-inch border of the bluish gray batik to the eagle panel but it will get added when I also add a batik border fabric to both panels so they will work as gifts to my sons who are both a little over 6-feet tall. 

I also finished the piano key border for a layer cake pattern from the, "Perfect 10 Quilts," book, "French Vanilla Cake."

And I got about two-thirds of my last kit done, "Colorful."

Another great pattern that came together pretty quickly. 

Whew...that was one of the most productive retreats I have attended...and it was a lot of fun.

 I remember one night had a lot of belly laughing.

Great for the soul!

 

I had a top that finally got quilted!  This was a Debbie Caffrey mystery my old quilting group, The Breakfast Club, made in January 2016. This pattern required 18 blocks. I use a fat quarter bundle from Moda, Los Cabos.

I had been saving this fun wide-back piece for a long time.

Not my most creative quilt job but it is done and I do love it. 

Another Easter-themed Bucilla felt project got finished. 

Nothing says Easter more than eggs...

chicks...

and bunnies.

These little ornaments will make adorable basket stuffers. 

I finished a Sandra Cozzolino cross stitch design that was not Christmas related.

My mottled blue fabric was a little to light for the white bunny so I tried back stitching with medium blue floss in the kit around the bunny's foot on the left and decided that would fix the problem so added the blue backstitching around the rest of the white bunny parts. 

I'm planning to mount this in the center of a little spring wreath...most of the ones I am finding at JoAnns and Michaels aren't quite right. 

I started another cross stitch project, "The Never Ending Cycle," by Hands on Design. It is part of a trio with a laundry theme. My laundry room deserves to be pretty...I spend enough time there! This stitched together pretty quickly minus the night I spent frogging a part I got wrong and then re-stitching it. 

I had a little impulse shopping online. Vinnie Von Fang was on my wish list at 123Stitch and it went on sale...so I had to get Betty Broomstick because one chart cannot travel alone. 

Below is a photo from the large picture windows of the B & B where our quilt retreats are held. We didn't get a view of the mountains and the Knick inlet until our last night at sunset. Lots of fresh snow fell over our four-day stay.

Lots of fun projects lined up for March. Hope I can manage to quilt another top. My goal is one a month...it always is but I rarely finish even six quilts a year. 

Blizzard in the forecast for tomorrow...but...I did see buds on all the tree tops during my afternoon dog walk. It made me feel so much better to see those buds as the wind whipped around me.

Part II - Cross Stitch and Bucilla Felt

I hope breaking my update into two posts works for readers. I always have my blog printed into a book annually so I don't want to post daily or weekly as it would get redundant when printing. 

But I do want to post a lot of photos of these projects so it will be a biggie post.

I finished two Bucilla kits this month.

The first was a recent purchase on eBay, "Snowman Door Draft," from 2005. It was a great deal and I thought it would be fun to make. 

Instead of helping with door drafts, he's going to help with window drafts.

I enjoy putting 3D kits together. This was a pretty simple kit with just a few pieces. Kind of nice to be working with such big pieces for a change.

He absolutely looks like a pleasant fellow. I always smile back at him.

My second finish is this adorable Easter kit, "Easter Egg Friends," from 2021. Readily available from Plaid Bucilla online or Merry Stockings. 

It took me a couple of nights to finish each of the eggs

I knew they would be displayed in a bowl type situation so I did not add a hanging cord to any of the ornaments. 

Not much to say about each egg...

they are all adorable. 

Cute feet.

Cute tails.

Baby Chick

More cute feet.

The Fox...sooo cute!

The second trio.

A cute baby duck.

 

Possibly my favorite.

No racoons in my part of Alaska.

As usual...all the little details on these kits make them so complete.

I finished up a couple of cross stitch projects I started in 2022.

I bought Stitchy Stars as a kit from the Fat Quarter shop. The kit came with the pattern and the Weeks Dye Works Floss called for in the pattern. I used the called for fabric, 25 count Lugana in Oatmeal. I had never stitched with Weeks Dye Works floss so this was a good opportunity to try it. 

It's nice floss but more expensive than good old DMC. I would only splurge for the floss if I was stitching a large area where the variegation in the thread would make a difference in the design.

I managed to finish the eighth chart in the 12 Days of Christmas series from Heartstrings.

I had a goal of finishing all twelve when I started it in March.

It's nice to have goals. I think it is realistic for me to get the last four charts done in 2023.

My most current new start with cross stitch is this pattern I found on eBay that also included the buttons. It's Sandra Cozzolino's design, Spring Garden. She designs the Mill Hill annual Santa series that I collect every year.

The blue background is a little washed out in both photos. When I saw this pattern I knew I had a great piece of blue fabric in my stash that would work. I switched to DMC's brighter white, B5200.

White floss is my least favorite to stitch as it seams to be the most finicky to lay nice. Onto the fun colors.

And yet another moose encounter. 

I saw this fellow on my way to the grocery store a few days ago. I live in the valley of Eagle River and the guy is just about 25 feet from the river. 

A new grandchild is due any day!!! Actual due date is the 23rd but we all know that's just a guess! 

Feels like there will be so much happening the next few weeks. I'm so glad we are almost done with January...it is the toughest month for me in the dark Alaska winter season. We usually go to Hawaii or somewhere warmer in January but the prices at the place we always stay on Kauai did a big jump...along with car rental rates. And grocery prices in Hawaii are even higher than Alaska. We've tried a lot of places in Hawaii over the past 30 years and had our favorite dialed in. I guess we were a little spoiled with our corner of paradise.