I am part of a swap and we are making 6" friendship stars from batiks. I have some odds and ends batiks from other projects so I have a little of them. Anyway, here are the first 12, three of each. When you only make a couple of small blocks at a time, the project goes so quickly. And I am including variety so I don't get bored.

Some friends and I are getting together today to sew all day! In a large community center, free of charge, lots of tables, and good lighting. We will work on a project, I'll show you that later, and I will take some batik to make some more stars, as I get bored easily working on only one thing.


Now that I have had time to look over the new Cotton Spice magazine, I have to recommend it. It is very personal, like getting a big newsletter, as opposed to a big glossy magazine. The photos are lovely and the article about color made me want to go out and buy new fabric in colors I normally don't use. I noticed that the print was large and the directions simple and easy, but the patterns were not simple and boring. And of course, who is not following Abby's story?

Nothing quilty going on today. So here is a photo of a paper pieced nativity scene from 1999. The colors are brighter but I think they get washed out on the green rug. I hand quilted this, as you can see, it says, O COME LET US ADORE HIM across the bottom. (I should have written it out first, it is kind of squished on the one end). And there are angles in the sky with trumpets, blue on blue, so you have to look close to see them in person, even. My mom collects nativities, so this resides at her house. It is small, maybe 12 x 12. I would love to do another paper pieced nativity. I have seen quite a few and been very impressed with them all.

Instead of quilting today, my family and I went to Worthington Glacier and hiked around up to the glacier, and hopped on the rocks, waded the streams (VERY COLD), threw rocks, looked around, and generally had a good time. Then we went to Valdez for dinner and then went down to the docks. The fishing charters were coming in and there were some 120 pound halibuts!

I didn't get to play with holly hocks as a child as I grew up here in Alaska and didn't know anything about them until I moved to Iowa to go to college. But they are so beautiful, I just love them. I would love to have more hollyhock patterns, fabric, anything. But I have never seen any.

This is my one attempt at a watercolor quilt. Since I love hollyhocks, this is really a favorite. Do you see the dragon fly in the top half? That is a beaded applique my mom found and gave to me as a gift. This is about 20 by 30 and hangs in my living room.

Here is a new wallhanging. It is 50x50. I designed it to focus on the fabric in the middle, and all the colors come from that fabric. It is all batiks, and I have to admit, I don't care for working with them. It seems the fabric is too stiff and has too many threads. However, they sure are beautiful.

I am plugging away at a BOM that I don't really want to finish. It is As Time Goes By from Keepsake Quilting. I am working on the border so at least it is almost done. The colors are very dusty and kind of muted. I have enjoyed making the blocks, but I would do it in different colors if I had picked it out myself. Something bright and cheery.

Has anyone bought the new Thimbleberries line called Sonora Sky? It looks to be beautiful but I have only seen pictures. I would like opinions about the clarity of the colors before I buy it. Thimbleberries usually has such dark colors but this line has yellows in it that really grabbed my attention.

I bought Quilters Home last week, the new magazine put out by Mark Lipinski. I LOVED it. I don't think I have ever laughed while reading a quilting magazine before. The articles were wonderful, and little blurbs about fabric, podcasting, books, recipes, and such made for a great read. I read some negative comments about it on a group list, that it was hard to read, color on color printing. However, I did not have that problem. I would recommend it to all quilters for an entertaining afternoon. The patterns are inspired by Vera Wang, and didn't really call to me, but are certainly beautiful. www.quiltershomemag.com Free pattern available.

Also today, I received the premier issue of Cotton Spice, another new quilt magazine. It is not as polished as other magazines, but has a homey feel to it, and a companion web site. I liked the patterns in this, variations of equilateral triangles, they are very inspirational. I haven't gotten to read all the way thru it yet, but I am sure I will enjoy it. I really like the web site. www.cottonspice.com . Free pattern available in the webzine.

Nothing new to report around here. So here is an old picture. This was done by the easy stain glass window method where you cut out the applique pieces and fuse them to the black, and sew around the edges. It resides at my mom's house. If I were to do it again, I would change the color of the butterfly to something other than blue. It is about 13 x 18 I guess, just a small piece.

There is nothing really exciting going on around here. Especially nothing quilty.

I couldn't sleep last night, so I went outside at 2 a.m. and took this picture. Just to show that it wasn't dark. It was light enough to read outside.

I am helping out with our church's vacation bible school this year. Boy, it does wear a person out. No wonder I only have two kids.

I started this quilt at 11 a.m yesterday and finished the top at 9 p.m. this evening. During that time I also slept, read a crime novel, ate, worked four hours, read lots of blogs, and participated in a marching band with my kids. :) This was a mystery from a local quilt shop, although I changed the pattern. The half square triangles were supposed to be in a flying geese formation but I put them in pinwheels instead. I added the two fabrics for the borders from my stash. Also I changed out one of the fabrics, there was a dark yellow but I replaced it with the dark blue. This top is about 60 x 75. You know, I haven't made any stars for awhile and I am feeling kind of out of place with my quilting. My DH says "These last few quilts just don't look like the quilts you do".

My DH and I celebrated twelve years of marriage on 06-06-06. We went out to eat at the nicest restaurant around here and it was great! Much better than expected, cheaper than expected, and great service. I had a steak and potato, and some kind of greens, Bill had shrimp and scallops with garlic mashed potatoes and shredded carrots and asparagus. We had crab cakes for an appetizer, with iced tea for me and a dark beer for him. The view of the mountains was magnificant, and the weather was beautiful. It was a great celebration.

More Alaska Photos

My DH had a day off and suggested we go to Kennecott. This is an old copper mine that was operating in the 1920's and had the largest supply of copper ore ever found. It closed in 1938 but because of it's remoteness, most of the machinery and stuff is still around. To get there, we traveled 60 miles on pavement and 60 miles on a small one lane gravel road. There is a small town there called McCarthy, and the people get there mostly by flying. But it was a beautiful day and the road was in good shape.

And this is what I found in a gift shop...

Hello Blogger Friends!

It has been beautiful weather here in Alaska this last week. It has been about 70 degrees, a small breeze, few bugs. I took the kids and the dog into the woods for a walk today and we all had a great time. The dog likes to run free without a leash and the kids love to explore the flora and fauna. We found some lady slipper flowers where we hadn't seen them before.

I finished this quilt top this weekend. It is about 44 by 50. It is a spider web design, the blocks are about 11 inches finished. I didn't follow a pattern, I just started sewing the same size strips together, cut them with a triangle template, and added corners. That is why they are a weird size. I added the orange border for punch and the green goes so well with the outer border (a small purple floral with green leaves, and it matches a small bit of green in one of the pinks. I think I will donate this quilt to a fundraiser at my kids' school this fall.