Baby Quilts and Birds

 We made a trek up to Fairbanks on Saturday to deliver all the Christmas gifts and goodies. We had planned to go on Tuesday the 21st, but they were forecasting a foot of snow at least, so we thought it better to go up early. With a 200 mile round trip it is better to be cautious. It was so wonderful to see  all the kids, grand-kids and great grand-kids that we could. We also picked up prescriptions and did our monthly shopping, so it was a very long day.

I thought I would share a couple of baby quilts from this year. The first one was for our youngest son and his wife and their second little girl, Ivy, born on August 13, 2021.

You can see the quilting a little in this photo.

I made her second one out of some of the scraps.

The second baby quilt was for our newest great-grandbaby Allen. He was born January 4, 2021. Dinosaurs were requested!

You can see the quilting better in this photo.

Lynne Tyler of the Patchery Menagerie Blog (HERE) put out a call for student birds. Making some of her birds has been on my quilt bucket list for a while, so it seemed like a good time to try it out. You can find her pattern in her  Etsy shop HERE . My birds are really basic, but some of the participants  made some really unique birds. You can see some  of them HERE   HERE & HERE. Everyone was naming their birds so I gave mine names too.

This is Flatfish Barney, named after two nicknames for Halibut here in Alaska, flatfish and barn door

.

Ms. Aurora Borealis

Pippi Longstocking

Eventually I would like to make a whole quilt using Lynne's bird pattern.

The winter storm they forecasted has hit, at least 8" of snow so far. A good time to stay home and quilt. After I shovel the roof! Rebecca

Cold Again

 No sewing to show today, I have spent the last few days getting packages ready to mail. I was able to mail them  today even though it was -40*, my husband took me in to the post office. We don't normally go out after it gets to -25*. Interesting facts, the school is still open and the buses running until it hits -55*, though the library and city hall and others are closed at -30*. We have both wood stoves burning and are nice and toasty.

All my boxes ready to go.

Temperature at the bank next door to the post office.

I just have some fudge left to do and then, when things warm up we will head to Fairbanks to deliver all the Christmas goodies and gifts to kids, grand-kids and great-grandkids.

Praying for everyone who has been affected by those horrific tornadoes.  The devastation and loss of live are so tragic. Rebecca

Let's Try This Again

 Hello! I am going to try blogging again. I had been hoping our internet would have improved by now. They keep promising they are going to upgrade, but they haven't, at least not in our area. Still just a bit faster than dial up. I have continued to be busy stitching.  We have a new granddaughter and a new great-grandson, whom of course I made quilts for. I will post those next time. Lots to catch up on! Winter came early, out first snowfall was September 20, we  received 3-4". The next day we got 7" more. The weather man kept saying it was going to warm up. We were hoping it would and the snow would melt, but it didn't.

It appears the Blogger program is different, I hope I can figure it out okay.

My latest project was three I Spy quilts for three of my great-grandchildren for Christmas. I just need to get them mailed off to Minnesota.

The two larger ones finished at 48 1/2" X 66" and the smaller one for the baby (1 1/2 year old) finished at 40" X 44".

I am also doing Barbara Brackman's new BOM Ladies' Aid Album. She provides a free block the last Wednesday of each month. You can read more about this BOM on her blog HERE.

And of course it is Christmas time so lots of baking going on!

These are White Fruitcakes. I adapted a recipe from Joy of Cooking. They are more like a pound cake with candied fruit and pecans added. It is not my favorite but my husband loves it. After this photo I soaked them in apple juice (no alcohol here) wrapped them in cloth and then foil and let them set for a while.

Butter Ball cookies, another favorite. I think these go by a lot of names, including Mexican Wedding cookies.

Cinnamon rolls, a family tradition. I make dozens of these to give out. 

I still have fudge and peanut butter fudge to make. I have some other things I would like to do, but not sure I will have time. One, is this lovely Gingerbread Biscotti I saw on Barbara"s Cat Patches blog HERE. I will need to order some crystallized ginger first

And of course we have had moose in the yard.

That is all for now, but hope to post again soon. Happy Quilting! Rebecca

Some Finishes

We have had a busy summer so far. Our fifth great-grand child Aubrey was born in June.

Aubrey Mae

This is the quilt I made for her.

A grandson got married.

I completed this quilt for a granddaughter in California. She is so sweet and sent me a photo of herself with her quilt.

I finished the second granddaughter quilt, though haven't had a chance to deliver it yet,

Two quilts are in the works for adult grandsons, and when those are completed I hope to get back to my applique projects, Mary Brown and Cassandra's Circle. I also hope to get borders on my Hospital Sketches.



We have had a Mama and Baby Moose visiting. I got a video of them the other day. You can see it here on YouTube.     https://youtu.be/HATbuBD7weM        I took it through the window so that I did not disturb them. Check it out I think you will enjoy it!

 I will keep this post up for a week or so, then I will be deleting my blog. I will continue to quilt, it is what I do. Goodbye to all the dear friends I have made! Rebecca

On the Design Wall and a Finished Top - But No Mary Brown Blocks

Just a few thought to start off with. Alaska has been fortunate so far concerning the Covid-19 Pandemic. As of right now we have had a total of  345 cases and 9 deaths. (Our state's  population is about 730,000.) In our local area there was only one confirmed case and that was on Ft. Greely, the missile base 10 miles south of us.
Alaska is one of the states opening back up. I thought it interesting that most of the businesses they are opening are not places we go to. Barber shops, I have cut my husband's hair most of our married life. I do not go to the beauty shop or have my nails done. We certainly don't get tattoos. We rarely eat out. We do want to make a trip up to Fairbanks soon for groceries, but will wait and see if there is a spike in covid-19 cases first. We plan to play it safe.
On a different subject, the advertising agencies are doing great business, everyone is making new commercials and ads. I wonder about the make up companies? Who puts on makeup when you are wearing a mask? Not me.

So enough of that! On to the quilting.I did not get to my Mary Brown blocks this month. I hope to make them up next month.


I finished block three for the Cassandra's Circle sew along.

I finished this top for one of my grown granddaughters. It is a Missouri Star pattern called Totally Tulips. I had another quilt top started for her, but just didn't like how it was looking so started this one.

Totally Tulips 90" X 91"

I have fabric left over and a lot of HSTs too. Maybe enough for a lap or throw quilt.

On the design wall I have my Improv Log Cabin blocks. These are the ones I have the embroidery finished on, I have six more sewn together. The other project is a baby quilt for my new great-granddaughter coming in June. It is a Kim Diehl pattern from her book "Baby Bliss".

I have some of the applique done on the top panel. Those chevron rows were tedious. I am glad they are all done and sewn together.

A few masks of course.

A few new booties for our dogs.

We had to drive south for a few miles, our truck has this thing call 'exhaust regeneration' we have to do occasionally. Basically we have to drive about 5 miles while it does its thing.  We saw a small herd of caribou and one moose taking a nap.

Happy Quilting and Take Care! Rebecca

A Sew-a-Long I Couldn't Resist!

Quilters are the most generous people! There have been so many free patterns and new sew-a-longs coming out the last couple of weeks, freely given to help us out through these trying times. So far I have been able to resist them, saving some of the patterns for later. Today, Becky Goldsmith, of Piece O'Cake Designs  announced a sew-a-long I can't resist! She has a free pattern on her site, here is a LINK.  She will also be doing videos on You Tube. A link to the first one, HERE. Definitely a quilt for our time. Right now I am planning on yellows for the backgrounds.

And I got a few things in the mail.

A new Yazzii bag. This one measures 13" x 10 1/2" x 5" with lost of different pockets.

A few new quilting books.

Appliquick set, I will try using this on my next Mary Brown blocks.

Happy quilting! Stay safe! Rebecca

Did Someone Say Snow? Mary Brown Blocks and a New Project!

 I hope all of you are well and and dealing with the new circumstances we are facing the best you can. I know for some people the effects have been devastating, but I hope that all the dire predictions I hear on the news do not come true. We live in a small rural community, so for us personally, there has been not much of an impact on our lives from the Corona virus pandemic, except the volume of mail at the post office. I think people are trying to stock up by ordering online. We tend to stay home much of the time anyway,  especially during the winter. I am sure there are changes on the way though. I am so thankful for my quilting projects right now!


 Two blocks done on Mary Brown. Block #4 and Block #13.

 I also finished my Cassandra's Circle block for the month, Mulberry Wreath.

So this last week we had snow. It snowed continually for 4 or 5 days. I had to do some shoveling on the roof. We also called our snow plow guy, he usually charges us about $150 to $200 to plow our driveway. He wanted $500 this time!! Not really that much more snow than time last time he plowed. He finally dropped it to $300, but my DH just wouldn't pay it, he felt he was price gouging. So it is a little tricky driving out to town check the mail, but we are making it so far.

Snow and more snow.

We had wind after the snow so no snow in the tress.

My new project is one I have had in the back of my mind for about the last six months or so, suddenly I felt I really needed to get started on it. I had originally planned on using string blocks, but decided on improv log cabin blocks. I am using only neutral/low volume fabrics, for a peaceful/calming feel to the quilt. I am embroidering words on the blocks, randomly placed and using coordinating floss. My idea is that the words will not stand out, but be found like "little hidden gems" when looking at the the quilt. I hope that makes sense. I have three blocks done so far.

Some of the words I will include: love, hope, peace, joy, faith, mercy, grateful, gentleness, rest, trust, thankful, grace, light, rejoice, believe, cherish, and many more. I keep thinking of more and adding them to my list.

It was fun just cutting strip, no measuring.

There are so many sew alongs going right now, I have not joined any, but have been saving some of the patterns. I am considering Bonnie Hunters "Sew-in-Place Quilt Along - Unity". I will need to look at my fabrics. Here is a LINK to her blog. I think the first installment is today.


Now to start prepping my next two Mary Brown blocks. Happy quilting and stay safe out there! Rebecca