Clear skies and sunshine?

     Okay, so Jackie has been going on and on about all of the sunshine and clear skies that we have had for the last couple of weeks.  And sure, we had hurricane force winds in the valley on Friday and some places are still without power two days later, and today's forcast was for more sunshine and strong breezes.  Well, very little breeze, no sunshine, and SNOW!  It's only September 26 and while it may be Alaska, we typically don't get snow until the middle of October on average. 
     At least it only lasted for about an hour and while there was a smidgen of a white glaze on the grass, it all melted off rather quickly and just left us shaking our heads. 
     We have begun winterizing outside, well at least Bert has, by taking all the bonsai down from the railings and covering them with straw and several other sensitive plants, but we still have yet to trim back the Antique Rose and Clematis yet.  Maybe we need to get moving on things.
     In the meantime, here are four more completed blocks of the Baltimore quilt.  Only one to go, which is a bit slow since there are over 50 berries to sew on and their stems embroider.
     I've got a few other projects in various states of construction and I'll be home alone in October for about 10 days so I am lining up a few more projects.  Don't know how much progress I will make though since I have so many things on tap for work.
     Oh well, until then . . .

Birds, Berries and Crowns

     As is usual with the Labor Day weekend, there seems to be a lot of labor going on but this year it didn't seem to involve the manual type like working on the house or yard or anything like that.  

     Friday was a day off for the kids at school and we had another rip-rousing day of meetings. Little preparation from the leaders that be as usual but a whole list of extra stuff that we were/are expected to determine and create that day and in the days to come. It is going to be a very interesting year I am sure and we are only three weeks in. 

     Saturday was a day to catch up and get things done around the house on the inside.  Most exciting things like pay bills, clean the desk, do the laundry and the like. 

     Sunday we slept in later than planned and the day seemed very short.  Before we knew it the afternoon had zipped by and we were running around getting ready for Coronation.  Sadly, while it was good to see friends and a former student received a scholarship, this years event was not in our opinion up to the caliber of events in the past and our choice for Empress did not win in the balloting.  We ended up leaving early due to being tired, we had been at the event for four hours already and their was still one act to go.  I must be getting old since I can't stay out that late anymore. 

  We picked more raspberries this week so after a week with a raspberry pie I made a raspberry crumble for dessert for tonight's supper.  Really scrumptious.  The strawberries are long gone and it doesn't look our apples will do anything this year again. 

     Through the whole weekend though I have managed to insert some sewing here and there.  I had converted a photo into a stitching program for my embroidery machine but it just really didn't turn out.  It wasn't the most optimum photo to begin with so I am not totally disappointed, but I will have to work the program more to get better results in the future.  I've also continued to work on finishing up the nine blocks in the baltimore album quilt.  The designs are a bit more stylized but I really like Susan McKelvey's type of work and plan on making more of the patterns in her book.  I actually started these last summer while traveling and continued this summer while traveling.  I'm just about ready to stitch them all together into one.  Only small hand embroidery details left on the last five.  Hope you enjoy looking at these four.

     Well, off to other tasks at hand as the new work week beckons.

 

Salmon Quilt

     Well, I finally got both of my sewing machines back from the doctor, so it was about time that I accomplished something on the sewing front.  First I had to clean off my sewing desk which took the better part of a morning.  I sorted and tossed and organized along the way so that was why it took a bit longer. 

     I decided to stipple in all the inner parts of the fish and did an echo quilt pattern on all the area outside of the fish.  I am really please with how the effect came out.  The echo quilting on the Bali Batik fabric really has a lot of dimension to the look between the color of the fabric and the direction of the lines of the quilting.  A lot of movement.  This pattern was also a fusible applique technique but again, since I don't like that, and I really like to do needle-turn, that is how I chose to do it.  Of course it took a lot longer, but it is very relaxing to me and is something that I do when I pop a movie in.

Close-up of echo quilting

     The green in the picture above is more the color of the background.  I was trying to get a picture of the quilting so I took the flash off and it darkened things up quilt a bit. 

     Several people have asked what I meant in my previous posting as to my reference about doing a "cloud stipple".  Well, I did a stipple stitch, but with a more horizontal meander rather than an all-over meander.  It sort of gave a cloud effect where the sky is.  You never know unless you try and I am pleased with the results.

Cloud effect stipple stitch

     Enjoying one last day before school starts.  Looking through a few more sewing projects to see what I can work on this afternoon.  I was lazy today and slept in since it will be the last day for that luxury for quite awhile.  Sunny this morning but it is getting cloudy.  Could we be in for a 29th straight day of at least a trace of precipitation?  We set a new record at 28.

     There is one last bit to the saga of the bathroom remodel, but it is all done and I will tell that tale at a later date.

     Enjoy the last of summer.

Hello all

Here is my latest quilting accomplishment.  I bought the fabric just less than a year ago as a summer project to take along on travels and the like.  Had it done by the end of the year but didn't machine quilt the panels until about the last two months on and off.  Finished it up a couple of weeks ago but just got pictures taken.  Tried something a little different on the sky.  Not really a stipple but what I'm calling a cloud stipple.  I'm fairly pleased with the outcome.  The original pattern of Alaska Wildflowers called for iron on applique.  Well, I just don't abide by that technique so I did it all by needle turn.  I embellished it a bit with some embroidery on the leaves and flowers and some beads in the middle of a few flowers.  Hard to see in the picture though.

Trying to machine quilt a salmon wall hanging but the bobbin winder on my embroidery machine broke in the bobbin winding position and the threads on the presser foot screw on my other machine are stripped so a presser foot doesn't stay on anymore.  Both are off to the doctor.

Life has been very busy lately.  Grades were due the first week of March and then we were off to Sedona for Spring break.  Other than the snow we had a good time.  Not much hiking though.  Then I got through organizing state conference and getting back to a routine in school.  Then the very next week I started working on a program for a conference that is occurring this week.  I promised last year as a return favor.  It was 24 pages so it took a good deal of time.  Now I'm getting all the yearbooks ready for distribution this week and finalzing grades next week for Seniors, a five day weekend in Sitka, followed by graduation, followed by finals and then school is over for the year.  Summer is going to be a bit busy as well.

Give me another week or two and I will have a final picture of the bathroom shower.  I got the tiling all done last weekend so hopefully this weekend I will be able to grout.  Wait a few days to seal and then caulk and install the shower door and it will be all done.  The shower has taken since Christmas to get finished, but as you can see from the synopsis above, I've been a bit preoccupied.

Until later . . .

So, after several fits and starts, endless planning, many changed decisions and a few bumps along the way, the spare bathroom remodel is nearly complete. We only have the shower to tile, which I will start prepping for this weekend, but we have a functioning bathroom again and we can once more move around the family room. The saga was this:


Start in April
Tore tile off wall in shower
Drywall moldy
Tear off drywall, studs rotten in spots
Surgically remove sections of studs, replace parts, add companion studs
Build wall at end of shower to get rid of "shelf" in shower
Add studs to cement wall to secure heating unit
All on hold in June for being ill, trip outside, company
Restart in September
Remove tub
Fix too large hole in cement floor
Neighbor replaces shower plumbing
Place shower pan
Durock shower walls and drywall walls
Replace lower half of drywall due to long ago, not us, water damage
Remove washer/dryer to remove wallpaper, fix holes in wall
Faucets bad on W/D water supply
Shut off water and replace
Bottom drywall also needs to be replaced
Replace W/D to do laundry
Go to get last load from dryer, step into 1 inch of water
Vanity water supply has broken
Wet vac, pull up carpet in bedroom closet
Turn up heat, turn on two fans, three plus days to dry
Next day, replace all 30 year old water shut-offs and supply hoses
Tear out vanity and toilet
Remove Washer and Dryer
Drywall here needs to be replaced
Mud and sand, mud and sand, mud and sand drywall
Prime drywall, texture drywall, prime drywall, paint drywall
Install upper cabinets
Tear up vinyl flooring
Glue/Wax and backing remain
Scrap floor with razor blade thingy for week and a half
Map out tile on graph paper
Mark floor and chalk line
Laying out tile to check
Back into vanity water supply, goose myself
Stand up and belt catches water supply
Water turns on, hits light, breaker pops, in dark in basement at night
Turn off water, turn on breaker
Water dripping from light, ceiling, cabinets, all over floor and me
All dried out, no repainting necessary
Spend twelve hours tiling floor
Two days later spend 3 hours grouting floor
Three days later clean up grouting and treat
Caulk all around
Install toilet
Install vanity
Install faucets, then top on vanity
Drain pipes don’t match, trip to Lowe’s, again, pipes now fit
Return W/D to room again
Install accessories
Christmas Break is over
Shower to complete
Saga will continue I am sure

Notice the drawer in the bottom of the vanity. Nice feature we thought since cabinets above washer/dryer are for that stuff, and cabinets on end wall are only 7 inches deep.

Anyways, that is what it is. We are pleased and have done nearly all the work ourselves.

Later

Moonset/Sunset

This is the view from my classroom. The mountains in the background are part of the extended Alaska range. Every morning, especially in the winter, I usually have some fairly beautiful scenes from the glow of the sun on the snow on the mountains. Sometimes reds, sometimes pinks, this particular morning in early December with all the fog it was more blue.

Moonrise over the parking lot at school.

This picture is beyond the parking lot and zoomed in.

This is the sunrise in about 2:oo in the afternoon after the moonset the same morning.