BOM Progress

I have challenged myself again to work on BOMs that have been sitting around the sewing studio for a while. 

First up is Block 3 of a series called Shivery Snowmen from Sue Garman. I will finish the face with beads and a polymer clay carrot button after it is quilted.

Here are the first three months together. 

Next up...a Moda U BOM that involved hand applique. This block just needs berries and flower centers added...17 circles.

Despite having finished nine blocks there are five more left plus patchwork blocks. Quite a diversion from my usual stuff.

But these BOMs do get finished...though it may take years instead of months!

This was a Moda U BOM from 2006-2007. The top was finished in 2007 but it had to wait for quilting. 

The backside is so pretty. I am so mad at myself for not remembering to take an outside photo today...it was so gorgeous. Maybe I'll get another chance tomorrow.

September 11, 2001

Ten years ago our home phone rang around 5:30 a.m. It was a high school friend of my husband's calling from Houston. He asked where my husband was, who is a commercial pilot. I told him, my husband was moose hunting in the wilds of Alaska. Our friend then told me to turn on the television because two commercial jets had flown into the twin towers in New York City. 

All too soon there was news of a third commercial jet crashing into the Pentagon. The pilot community is rather small. My husband is a retired military pilot with many former squadron mates flying for all of the major commercial airlines. There were also a handful of his former squadron mates working at the Pentagon. I worried about our friends. 

Then came the news that all air traffic had been grounded in the United States. I was surprised to learn even the small planes that ferry many of life's necessities to remote Alaskan villages were included in the grounding. Hunters expecting a plane to pick them up from their remote campsite would not be getting out for some days. The weather is usually the culprit for travel delays in Alaska so hunters carry extra provisions. My husband had gotten to his remote campsite by boat that year instead of an airplane. But like every hunting trip, I had only a window of time to expect my husband to be gone. He might not be home for four or five more days.

It was an incredibly beautiful day here on Sept. 11, 2001. A clear blue sky, moderate temperature and brilliant fall colors. I went for a long walk on trails along Eagle River with mountains pushing up on both sides of me. It was so peaceful.

As it turned out, my husband had started heading home on 9/11. When he reached his first stop to a remote village he was told about the terrorist attacks. He and his hunting partner almost didn't believe it. He called home that evening. He was still too remote for television but I rambled on about the day's events. It would take him another full day to get home.

None of our pilot friends were involved in that day's events other than being stranded like many around the world.

I do believe I will always remember 9/11. I am amazed how politicized the event has become. It makes me wonder what it was like when Pearl Harbor was bombed. Were there Americans who felt the Japanese were justified in bombing the United States...that the success of our country was somehow to blame for the actions of others to kill innocent people going to work or traveling?

We have learned since 9/11 how miraculous it was that more lives weren't lost. We have learned about the heroic actions of the "extra-ordinary" passengers on United Flight 93. I now have a sense of great pride when I think of all those who struggled that day with incredible events and made morale decisions to risk their lives to help others. I hope I would be able to react so instinctively in a crisis.

My thanks to those who made decisions that day and since that have led to 10 years of  fighting and stopping terrorism.

I remember.

The Sun is Shining!

Just for fun! Hope you enjoy it. I think this would be a video my pilot-husband could make....he's been to a lot of these places. It makes me smile just to think about him dancing! Where is the Grand Canyon?

Into the Raging Water - Too Much Information

I saw a video very much like this at the rafting outfitter's office minutes before we left on our 12 day trip. Lava Falls was THE rapid I was most worried about riding.

You'd think after surviving a flash flood I would be a little more confident but not so. 

It was late afternoon and cloudy with a few sprinkles when we arrived at Lava  Falls. We pulled over...a feat that always made me nervous. What if we didn't make the pullout and went down the rapid without being able to scout it? That never happened to us but I was always afraid it would because I am a worry wort. Yep...always thinking about what could go wrong. That's why seeing a video with a flipping raft caught in a "maytag" was too much information. I'd rather not know what scary obstacle I had to face.

We all went to the scouting site. Lots of discussion was had about who would walk the rapid. I had learned walking a rapid involved some pretty strenuous hiking and by this time in the trip everyone pretty much knew how I felt about strenuous hiking...not my favorite thing. Plus...this was a BIG rapid. It looked like some pretty mean water would have to be crossed by a raft to pick up a walker...what if the raft couldn't get to me through all the rough water? Even more scary...being stranded at Lava Falls.

So the best option to me was riding in the raft. Lovey and Huck were going to walk. That had been decided the night before by Survivor Man. Lovey had definitely had her share of water adventure in the flash flood. Everyone else decided to ride the rafts.

Zman - our confident raft captain for the trip through Lava.

Deep in prayer. We were in the second slot to enter the rapid of our four-raft group. All I could hear was my heart beating.

The video camera ran out of battery power so you see a very brief part of the trip. Did you notice how close we were to the left shore? That was just where we wanted to be...away from the BIG water.

All the rafts made it. We rendezvoused and toasted our success. 

I did get a little wet on my ride. 

We patiently waited for Survivor Man to join us with  Lovey and Huck. I made the right decision. Hiking Lava was intense. The trail disappeared and Lovey was scaling boulders most of the way down. 

The rain held off but we had to trek five more miles down river before finding an available camp. Two commercial groups went through Lava Falls right before us so the closest camps were taken as we made our way down the river. I really hated that pattern we were in...behind other groups when looking for a campsite.

Warning - More Complaining Ahead 

It was my last turn to cook. We made camp at 7:45 p.m. Everyone was starving. Our camp was crowded with Tamarisk trees. I felt so claustrophobic and stressed! Peacekeeper came up with a great idea to grab left over cheeses and salami from lunch to cut up for a quick appetizer. Fabulous! It got everyone out of my way.

 On the menu - Grilled chicken, steak, baked potatoes, pasta salad and a baked cake of some kind for the dutch oven. A meal that would take hours to cook! The chicken breasts got cut up and sauteed on the cook top. The baked potatoes got cut in half...most were partially rotted so my plan to make them cook faster worked with trimming bad spots. Grizzly Mamma made the pasta salad. A lot of our vegetables were going bad at this point. Dessert got axed...Hiker Girl did offer to make the cake but I thought it was unfair to the clean up crew to drag their chores till 11 p.m. That had happened to me on July 4th when we had our first cake from the dutch oven. It just wasn't worth it. It was easily after 9 p.m by the time we ate dinner.

This was one of my least favorite camps. It was buggy with all the vegetation around us. It almost felt like a jungle. That night it rained. The tent was so stifling. I had a rash from the top of my neck down my back. At this point in the trip we all had some spots of "river rash." 

Just two more nights and three more days. We should have had a big celebration that night after finishing our final large rapid but we were all pretty tired...party poopers.

It's Official- A Finished UFO

I just finished sewing the binding on this lovely Moda U quilt called "Postcards," started in 2006-2007. This was one of the first quilts I tackled in batiks. Now it is rare that I work in anything other than batiks. Of course batiks are more expensive...isn't that how it always works!

  This was also the quilt that I learned to use EQ software. At the time it was EQ5. (EQ has been updated twice since then and is much easier in many ways. Importing fabric is far easier now.) It was great practice to figure out how to create the blocks in the program. They were all based on a nine patch grid. I highly recommend taking an existing pattern (you have purchased...keep in mind copyright issues) and trying to recreate it in EQ to learn your way around the program. 

The postcard covers are pretty cute. I wonder how many other ladies who were in the class ever finished their quilts? Sadly, instructors were changed halfway through the class and things fizzled out pretty quick. My top had been done for at least three years, just patiently waiting for me to quilt it. 

I would love to take a photo of this beauty outside to show it off but we are in a non-stop gloomy weather system that has persisted for six weeks now and there is no sign of a change anytime this week. I have a new quilt top ready to go on the frame so somehow between walking Jenny and cleaning (I hate cleaning when it's gloomy...I really hate rain...I'm ready for snow...snow is bright and happy.) I should get to it soon. What a great start to September. Maybe I'll even get two quilts done! I don't think I've had a finish since May.

Design Wall Monday

I spent Labor Day weekend reacquainting myself with my mid-arm quilter, Marta. Inevitably that meant spending time with my seam ripper. Tension issues are so frustrating! But I got it resolved. I know I lose skills when I take so much time off so the simple solution is to quilt on Marta more regularly.

And of course I made it harder on myself by picking a big quilting project...ruler work and lots of pepples.

The backside is so pretty! Time to get the binding on and then I will have a UFO Completion. I think  this was June's UFO...I'm a little behind but that doesn't bother me because this will make SIX UFO completions for the year. That makes me very happy.

Still working on my Disappearing Nine Patch. I love reader input. Kathy gave me a great idea...just take off the bottom two rows and add those blocks to the side. 

So more time with the seam ripper but now I am even closer to getting this top done.

And in keeping with my hope to be more consistent at working on Marta, the next top ready for quilting will be "Snail Takes a Detour." I just need to run a seam to join the two backing pieces.

I'm anxious to finish my Henrietta Whiskers quilt. Anne Sutton sent out the final block and setting instructions yesterday so it could be done for this fall...HaHa. Doubtful, but a nice thought.

Into the Raging Water - Miracle at Havasu

"That looks like a flash flood..."

I looked up to see a wave of brown water pushing through the canyon walls with the little heads of the swimmers flying toward the rafts. Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn were in the water, ten-year-old cousins. Ironman and Seinfeld, the brothers from Ghana, 15 and 14, who weren't confident swimmers, were in the water. Lovey, Peacekeeper, Hiker Girl and AK Santini were in the water.

Tom Sawyer's mom and Survivor Man  made for the front raft to grab the cousins. Due to his injuries from a kayaking accident, Survivor Man didn't have any feeling in his right foot. As he grabbed to pull Huck Finn into the raft he lost his balance and went into the water. The force of the water pushed him under the raft and out toward the main channel.

The force of the water was pushing against the bodies of all swimmers, pulling them under the rafts. Those of us in the rafts who were trying to get people up out of the water were battling that force that was pulling them down. Tom Sawyer's mom earned her call sign that day. She managed to pull both Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn into the raft...that's some Mamma Grizzly strength.

Lovey went flying by the front raft and somehow managed to grab a rope that was hanging from the canyon wall that the previous set of rafters had used for anchoring their rafts. Then Ironman headed her way and she grabbed him. They both held onto the rope and clung to the side of the canyon wall as the water from the flash flood continued to flow. Debris, like tree branches and logs, started to flow with the current. Seinfeld was on the other side of the canyon wall with Zman trying to bring him onto the raft but Zman had to leave Seinfeld dangling to help Hiker Girl and AK Santini who were pulled under the rafts and popped up two rafts down the line. With AK Santini's help, Zman got Hiker Girl in the raft and then AK Santini. Then Zman went back to help Seinfeld into the raft.

 Brainiac had been trying to pull Peacekeeper into the raft but the force of the water pulling on Peacekeeper was about to drown him as his head was no longer above water. Brainiac had to let him go.

 Our Fearless Leader and I were trying to figure out how to help Survivor Man and Peacekeeper who had been pulled under the raft and were headed toward the main channel. Our Fearless Leader was throwing rescue lines, Survivor Man was able to grab one but Peacekeeper was too far out. He looked back at us with the saddest look I had ever seen. He couldn't see Hiker Girl or Seinfeld at this point and Ironman was hanging on a rope on the canyon wall. Peacekeeper's expression was so powerfully sorrowful...like he thought he had just lost his family.

Somehow...Peacekeeper managed to get on a rock the was upstream from the canyon just before the main flow of the Colorado River. He still couldn't see all of the rafts from his position so I yelled like crazy to tell him that Hiker Girl and Seinfeld were okay. I was so worried about him. I knew he was so frustrated he could do nothing but watch.

I was able to pull Survivor Man onto one of the rafts. I had a five second panic when I realized I didn't know where AK Santini was, but thankfully he was just a couple of rafts away from me...safe and sound.

Lovey was incredible. As she and Ironman hung from the rope with their bodies still halfway in the water, she said they were okay where they were for a while.

We had a few pressing problems.
Three people were not in any raft. One of the rafts looked like it was in danger of flipping due to the force of the water flowing around it...the raft positioned sideways at the canyon bottleneck was half submerged and full of mud and river debris. Zman was the only one left on that raft which was the Bailey family raft. I saw him looking for something as we all started to worry about him being in the raft. I thought Zman was trying to find his new Ipod before leaving the raft but in reality he was digging through his fishing vest looking for a knife to cut one end of the raft free so it would swing out of the current.

As soon as Zman touched the knife blade to the raft's rope it snapped. The raft swung toward Lovey and Ironman, hitting them against the canyon wall. They got a nice jolt from the raft hitting them but they were okay. Zman was able to pull Lovey and Ironman into the raft.

Now we just had to figure out how to get Peacekeeper. AK Santini was able to take one of the rafts and paddle over to the rock with Peacekeeper. I think we all said a collective thank you at that point. We were all alive and no one was noticeably hurt.

The brown water was still pouring from Havasu Canyon. All the families got in their own rafts and we made our way to the nearest campsite on the Colorado River. It was raining lightly but the sky was dark gray even though it was probably about 4:30 in the afternoon.

The Colorado River turned to a terracotta color that day and remained that color for the rest of our journey.

The first camp was about a mile downstream. It was wonderful! Our Fearless Leader was worried about staying on schedule and he voiced a concern that we should try and go a few more miles before making camp as we had only traveled seven miles that day. I wasn't planning on budging. Lovey had no intention of going any farther on the river that day either. I think everyone else was pretty reluctant to get on the water any more that day...why press our luck?

This camp was one of my favorites. It was long and narrow with a high rock wall that tilted outward so we had a natural rain cover.

It was AK Santini's team's turn to cook...pizza in the dutch oven. Not a bite left from the four he made.

 Ak Santini in the floppy hat. Our Fearless Leader in the ski cap. We lost several sun hats at Havasu Canyon. 

That night we gathered and each told their viewpoint of the Miracle at Havasu. 

Survivor Man telling about the Bailey's watching him walk right into a deep pool of water at Havasu Creek. Canyon Craziness!

Sadly, we saw evidence of others getting caught in flash floods in other canyons as we sat at our campsite. An oar floated past, followed by some dry bags (large rubber bags used to store all your personal items from getting wet). There were lots of floating pop cans and a water bottle. The next day we would learn that a group we had met previously on the river, had been hiking at Matkatamiba Canyon when then were hit by a 15-foot wall of water. They managed to scramble up the side of the canyon wall but when they finally got back to their rafts the water had ravaged them. Their biggest loss was their propane stove.

Here's some amazing video of our neighbor rafters in Matkatamiba Canyon during their flash flood experience.

Next up - Day Nine - Lava Falls. The biggest rapid we would tackle on our trip.