Handwork and Landscaping Progress

No quilting recently except for buying a few quilt patterns and a patriotic batik fat quarter bundle.

We continue to have a cool and cloudy summer. I remember a summer like this and looked up what year that was, 2009. It was the result of a local volcano, Mt. Redoubt, that spewed some ash. 

In April, the Russian volcano, Sheveluch, had a large ash cloud and at the time I read an article that predicted it would mean a cooler summer for Alaska. Looks like that particular article was right. (major sigh…) My veggie garden looks so pathetic. Last summer I was eating broccoli from my garden by mid July. This year, the heads on the broccoli just appeared and are about an inch wide. I’m so disappointed.

Kale and lettuces are getting to the stage where we can start eating those veggies. My strawberry patch is working on making strawberries and my blueberry bushes were loaded with flowers so hoping for a good crop this fall.

My perennial beds look wonderful…happy dance.

I am trying to stay focused on my huge landscaping project I started last year. 

I’m terracing this mound that is my septic drain field. After consulting with the engineer who designed our septic system, I was given a thumbs up to add whatever I want. We haven’t had a lot of rain days so even though it is gloomy…it’s decent weather for moving rocks. I’m planning to remove all of the grass on the sides of the mounds. This area gets decent sunlight during a normal summer so it’s a great place to plant some honeyberry or Haskap berry bushes and more perennials.

Last year’s layer of tiers constructed on the mound gave me a place to plant these gorgeous Columbines. I bought these plants last fall on a close-out sale. 

Below the Columbines, I created this niche for ferns several years ago by transplanting fiddlehead ferns from our surrounding woods. This area is starting to fill in…so satisfying. 

Next to the ferns is the start of last year's bottom tier. I filled it with perennials subdivided from my backyard perennial beds: Day Lillies, Irises and Little Princess Spireas. The red and yellow Columbines were another set of close-out sales last summer. I expect the Irises will get moved at some point but for now it's a place to keep them while I create more flower beds.

Below is where my rock work on the backside of the mound ends. This area was covered in weeds and scraggly grass as it is mostly a shade area. Too steep to mow...now it's a fun rock wall. My three-year-old grand daughter loves climbing on all my rock work in the yard...a great little bonus.

In the mornings when I am working in my studio, instead of quilting, I’ve been prepping to make more blouses for myself. The drawer full of batik rayon fabrics was really bugging me so now that I have a pattern I really like, I have cut out nine tops. 

It’s not often my cutting table is clear so I moved everything onto other spaces in my studio and spent several mornings getting nine tops cut out.

And I cut out one batik cotton top.

Onto handwork projects. 

I finished two cross stitch pieces in the 12 Days of Christmas series.

Ten Lords a Leaping.

And 11 Pipers Pipping.

I also framed the laundry room-themed cross stitch pieces I finished earlier this year.

It was a nice little challenge to frame these pieces. The top piece is a frame from Walmart that was a pale wood tone. Trying to mix my own paint color to match the cross stitch was tricky…but I did it! The bottom trio frame didn’t need any changes…just a fabric covered piece to mount the cross stitch pieces onto.

My latest felt kit project I finished is a mantel series designed by Merry Stockings.

These pieces came together pretty quickly. No individual stuffing of the applique areas...just a layer of quilt batting for the entire piece.

Mostly an outline stitch which is my favorite.

Such a great concept to make free-standing pieces.

I started the second kit in the mantel series. This is the Fire Station.

I also started a Bucilla ornament kit. Just a little diversion when I want to stitch on a little project I can finish in a couple of nights.

The only quilt related project I’ve worked on is my Bear Batik panel design on EQ8. 

There were several versions until I reached this one. It finishes at 74-inches square.

There have been plenty of critter sightings...mostly moose but black and grizzly bears continue to visit us...just haven't captured a photo of them.  My dogs, Gordon Setters which are bird hunters, flushed out a tiny bird from some tall grass on a recent dog walk. They then pulled the bird's tiny nest out of the grass...with two tiny eggs which were destroyed in the whole event. I'm not a big person and this nest would easily fit in the palm of my hand. 

It's always so interesting to read about the different weather conditions other bloggers are having this summer. I think weather is my major topic of conversation. 

Hoping you are having at least some great days of summer weather that are not too hot or too stormy.

Plants, Plants and More Plants

I have all my annuals planted and the garden is planted.

I have three large planters at the front of the house. I haven’t come up with the perfect combination of plants for the two planters that get a good amount of sunlight. Usually around the 4th of July my annuals start to fill in and look great.

My oldest perennial bed needed a little reworking. It is just amazing that almost every plant in this bed dies back to almost nothing in the winter and miraculously comes back to life in a matter of weeks.

Buds are forming and a couple of plants are starting to bloom.

The first to bloom, rockcress.

The big star of both my perennial beds are Blue Himalayan Poppies.

For the first time, I had several violas that wintered over from a bed in the front yard so I moved them to the back beds as I am going with a different color scheme in front this year. 

I have a strawberry bed in my garden that faired well over the winter. 

The rest of the garden beds are planted in seeds for carrots, beets and a variety of lettuces. I have plant starts for kale, broccoli, and cabbages in red and green.

I need to get netting placed on the two beds I have of blueberries. Lots of flowers blooming on the bushes.

I’ve started another landscaping project on one side of our property where I cleared a mess of alders.  The alders gave us some privacy between our lot and our neighbors but it was getting very scraggly and the alders were leaning badly into my yard. My neighbors consented to me removing them last year and now I and trying to bring in plants that will give privacy but not get out of control. I made up a simple log border to keep me from taking over my neighbor’s yard. They have left their backyard wild…I’m sure they think I am a little crazy but they don’t say it out loud.

There are so many huge ferns that grow wild here and I am keeping all of those that I can.  On the other side of our lot, more ferns and wild roses.

I have several metal tubs buried in rock work in the front of the house. This is were the violas from last year wintered over. This year I wanted to bring in some orange.

My tub wall faired very well from the winter too! Two years in a row without having to replace damaged plants. Moose are most often the culprits…they walk on the tubs instead of using the steps. 

Just a quick trip to parts of my yard. I’m feeling very anxious to get outside…so much to do in such a short season.

A quick answer to questions about the bears. First…why do we have so many? We live about half a mile from the north side Eagle River…the actual river, not the town. It is a source of salmon for the bears. They also consume wild blueberries that grow on the mountains just above the tree line. I heard a local park ranger refer to our area as a bear highway. 

Second…yes…bears do scare me and I would never hike on my own anywhere in the area. I feel relatively safe working in my yard and doing walks in the area as long as I am with my dogs. Just a few days ago I was working in the yard when all of the sudden both dogs went racing into the vacant lot next to us. They treed a small black bear. I was a little worried there might be a mamma bear but apparently this little bear was on its own. Probably last year’s cub pushed out by the mom very recently. Yes, I did have my gun near me…but not actually on my body…very hard to keep that gun or even bear spray right at hand. FYI, bear spray cans are pretty large, not like the little pepper spray bottles ladies carry in their purse. 

Last week, a gal hiking on her own with a dog on the south side of Eagle River, encountered a grizzly sow with a cub. She had bear spray and after spraying the sow twice…emptying her spray can…she raced in the opposite direction…away from her car and higher on the mountain. She was able to call on her cell phone and get help to get hike without running into the bear again.  She plans to hike with at least two cans of bear spray. She was very lucky. She was an experienced hiker and had her spray can in hand when she heard a noise she knew was a bear and started spraying as soon as she saw the sow. 

Sorry I went down the bear story lane. 

The animal most deadly in Alaska is the moose.

A couple of weeks ago there was a moose eating the vegetation along our street. My dogs were so well behaved for that encounter…just keeping an eye on it. The moose kept an eye on them and decide to eat somewhere else. 

Crazy Busy...Typical Start to Summer

 Barely time for sleep.

So much to do.

Memorial Day is the official start of the gardening season. We spent Memorial Day weekend in Indianapolis to watch the Indy 500. One of those rare opportunities to join friends on a quick trip...not easy to do quick weekend trips to the lower 48 from Alaska. But our friends had done all the planning...tickets for the race and parade plus renting a place for our stay and a vehicle for our travels.

We just had to take care of our travel and write a check for our share. My favorite kind of trips!

It was a great race...lots of drama but no one hurt. Loved every minute of it. The parade the day before the race was so much fun.  All the drivers in the race were part of the parade...didn't expect that.

My Big Wild Life continues! 

I got another one of those texts from my neighbor, “Huge sow and cub out front.” I raced to a window and this is what I saw.

I had a good ten minutes to watch the pair. This was 9:15 p.m., so a nice quiet time of the day. 

The cub started making it’s way up the street. Then mama bear started heading down my driveway

Below is a video I posted on Youtube of the visit.

Lots of gardening...no quilting except on the computer.

I've been playing with the custom quilt setting in EQ8.

Island Batik put out a batik panel with bears a couple of years ago...I've had this idea floating in my head since I bought the panels. Still a work in progress. I didn't center my big star so I need to move everything over to the right before I go any further. The background will eventually all be black.

I don't know why I am all of the sudden obsessed with panels. I love the digitally printed ones because the colors are so vibrant. The eagle panel above is due to be released by Northcott in November. I downloaded the fabric line into EQ and just had to start playing with it. My design has 50 stars.  It finishes at 55 x 73-inches.

Okay...just a quick post to say I'm here...just overwhelmed with gardening and critter sightings...yes there were many more...black bears and moose!

 

Lots of yard photos in the next post...and probably more critter photos. 

An Episode of My Big Wild Life in Alaska

 May is one of my favorite months…nonstop action.

 The last of the snow is melting, plants wake up and start turning green…

and the bears wake up.

I got a text from my neighbor at 10 p.m., “Bear in your yard.” I looked out the window and sure enough…walking right by my garden is this big dude.

The next window had a screen in it…but he was making a nice tour of my front yard and the picture looks pretty clear.

At this point I ran for my air horn as my neighbor has chickens and her electric fence was not up yet.

 She got it up the next day.

So happy to see him leaving my yard and headed away from our street.

This bear continues to visit our neighborhood regularly. 

I think he’s the biggest black bear I have seen here.

That night, I made sure my bear gun was in the holster I wear while walking the dogs or working in the yard. I've had plenty of bear encounters but thankfully, no aggressive charges. I've had a momma black bear stand her ground while I drug my dogs away from her treed cubs. 

So...the start of bear visiting season is not all fun...

but May is also the start of gardening!!!

I have two wonderful nurseries where I purchase the bulk of my veggies and flowers.

The plants need to be hardened off for a couple of weeks before they get planted into the ground. I have the perfect corner on my deck to do this process which only gets late afternoon and evening sun plus it is protected from the wind, which pretty consistently blows in the afternoons. 

The plants not only need to be protected from the cool temperatures but also the extreme hours of sunlight. They get sunburned if they aren’t eased into our long summer days.

With 18 hours of sunlight, I find myself still outside at 9:30 p.m. The photo taken below was one of those times I looked at my watch and thought…wow…it’s almost my bedtime.

The other part of my life in Alaska involves travel in little planes. Anchorage is pilot base for several airlines, Fed Ex, UPS, Atlas Air and Alaska Airlines plus there is also an Air Force base. And because of the vastness of the state…tons of private pilots with little planes. I am not a pilot but I am surrounded by them. The majority of our acquaintances are pilots. 

My husband has an airplane hangar where he stores two little airplanes, a Piper Super Cub which seats two, and a Cessna 185 which seats six. Since the weather was mild,  Hubby asked me out on a lunch date to Talkeetna, a 20-30 minute ride depending on the direction of the wind.

We took the 185, landing at the Talkeetna airport which is about a quarter-mile walk from the town.

The first shop on the right walking into town is The Patchwork Moose, one of my favorite quilt shops. 

It’s one of those shops that has so much eye candy…I feel a little overwhelmed. 

If I owned a quilt shop…I would want it to look just like this!

I wandered and wandered…so much to look at.

A cute niche for showing off some Alaskan-themed quilts.

Check out this Gardening Gnome with his wheel barrow of batik fabrics.

And his quilted coat!!! I want one!

I had such a hard time deciding what I would purchase when I spotted a kit on a little table. I had never seen this fabric or the pattern and it screamed, “ALASKA.”

Kit purchase made, I was ready to wander through the rest of Talkeetna. There are several gift shops and restaurants in this tiny town. My favorite lunch spot is, “Mountain High Pizza Pie.” 

It is celebrating its 20th year in business this summer and I think that’s how long I have been eating there on trips to Talkeetna. We used to have a boat and would spend a night or two in town as this is a major boat launching site for king salmon fishing.

You can order pizza by the slice, with your custom toppings. You can also order half-sandwiches. 

Hubby got a slice of pizza with anchovies and jalapeños. I got half of a focaccia grilled sandwich with veggies. A pretty generous sized pizza slice and half sandwich. 

I was back home with time left in the day to get some work done in the yard. It was about 8:30 p.m. when I called it a day and headed inside.

One last little look at happenings in May.

 It’s calving season for moose. 

Hubby saw this cow with her calf yesterday morning. 

This calf was just hours old.

After a long, cold and dark winter...my heart fills up with many of the reasons we love living here.