A Perfect Gift

I promise that this will be the last Alaska post.
My vacation is over, I have been back at work for
almost two weeks now, my laundry is caught up
and it sure is hotter here in DC than in Alaska!

When the members of my bee go away, either on
vacation or to a quilt show, we bring each other
back a FQ, usually with a sewing theme. (there's
only 9 of us so you only need 2 yards, plus some
for yourself)

Well how perfect is this to bring my quilting sisters!
It is eskimos quilting by Barbara Lavalle!!! The fabric
on the left is the companion fabric. I couldn't tell you
about it sooner because we didn't have bee until last
night and I know some of them read my blog. When
I saw it there was absolutely no hesitation. I bought
three yards so that means I have a yard for me.
(The companion fabric is one yard too but I didn't
share that one.)

I will leave you with a final photo of breathtaking
mountains. Living in Maryland, we have lots of beautiful
scenery: the Chesapeake Bay, the Appalachians,
the ocean, rolling hills and fields, tall cities and
quaint towns, lakes and rivers. I have only flown over
the Rockies but I sure love these Alaskan mountains.
And did I tell you, some of them really are purple!
Our country sure is vast and beautiful.
Until next time...
Susie

Back to Reality

It's almost not worth going on vacation. Notice I said
almost. This vacation was definitely worth it but of
course not much of my work got done while I was gone.
Someone did do some of my work and she did it WRONG!
I stayed late on Friday trying to fix all her mistakes until
I realized that it would take me less time to just start
over. So I came in really early (6:30am) on Monday
morning and by 9:30 everything was resolved. Ahhhh
that felt good. OK back to quilting stuff. Thanks for
letting me rant!

My husband loves eagles, so I bought some eagle fabric
at Changing Threads in Skagway. The fabric on the right
in the bottom pic is of the Northern lights. I think I will
make some sort of I spy Alaska quilt for my hubby.
This shop is a few doors down from Rushin Tailors,
where I bought the Glacier kit. Here is a pic of the interior.
As I look at this photo, I hope I didn't mix them up. In
other words this might be Rushin Tailors. If I did, I
apologize. I think they are owned by the same person.

I will leave you with another breathtaking view of Alaska.
Until next time...
Susie

Ketchikan

Isn't this just what you would think an Alaskan town
would look like? This was our first stop and I hit the
quilt store (of course). I bought this at The Silver
Thimble:
It is Birchwood Lane by Holly Taylor for Moda. I know
I probably could have bought this anywhere, but since
I love cardinals and there were lots of coordinating
FQs... well gosh, do I really need an excuse!

The water in the Inside passage is so smooth, you
hardly feel like you are floating.

Until next time...
Susie

Alaska purchases

If this doesn't say, "I went to Alaska," I don't know what
does. I bought this kit in Scagway at Rushin Tailors and
this pic doesn't do it justice. The colors are brighter.
Mary at Maryquilts bought the same kit. We were in
Scagway on the same day and I probably missed her at
the quilt shop by a few hours.
I copied this photo from their web site. The pattern is
by Lisa Moore and the fabrics are by McKenna Ryan.
There are Swarovski crystals all over it too which really
makes it sparkle.
Here's me outside the shop. When we walked into that
bakery (just beyond the quilt shop) I said that this is
what heaven will smell like. We got the most delicious
cinnamon rolls.

More tomorrow.

Until next time...
Susie

I'm Back!

My reluctant vacation is over and I have to admit...
I had a wonderful time! Alaska is vast, beautiful,
spectacular, awesome and all those adjectives that
describe pure, pristine, uninhabited wilderness.
The photo above is at the Mendenhall glacier.
The cracks in the glacier are the most brilliant turquoise
blue and when the pieces fall off they are blue too.

The photo below is the Dawes glacier way off in the
distance (yes that is an iceberg in the middle that we
had to navigate around). Seals were lounging on that
iceberg too. We also saw whales and bears and eagles.
And to my delight I have to tell you that the mountains
really are purple!
Mary over at Maryquilts was on an Alaskan cruise this
week too and we both were in Scagway on the same day.
I saw her ship and waved but I don't think she saw me!

I did hit the quilt shops in Ketchikan and Scagway.
I'll show you what I bought tomorrow.

It's good to be home.

Until next time...
Susie

Reluctant vacation

Confession time!!!
We leave tomorrow for an Alaskan cruise with thirty of
our friends from our church. And I don't want to go. If
I didn't love my husband so much, (he really wants to go)
believe me I'd be at the beach with all my kids (which is
where we usually go the third week in July and where all
my cousins and extended family will be next week).

But I'm going and I have the patch from my doctor and
lots of prayers from my family and friends to send me off.

I will have fun...I will have fun...I will have fun...

I won't be posting again until next Sunday or Monday
but I am leaving you with a photo of my favorite quilt.
It is the Conway Album Quilt by Irma Gail Hatcher. I
saw it in person at the AQS Museum in Paducah and it
actually made me cry. No kidding. I sat staring at it for
30 minutes.

Until next time...
Susie

Kutztown quilts

Lots of pics here today.
I went to visit my sister-in-law in Easton PA this
weekend and she took me to the Kutztown Festival.
What fun! We missed the quilt auction but heard that
the top priced one went for $7600. I would have loved
to see that one. The first pic is just one side of the big
building with quilts, quilts, quilts, all for sale. They
had lots of experts available to open any that you were
interested in. Both my SIL and her sister are not
quilters so they were duly impressed that I knew the
names of most of the patterns. The rest of the pics are
just some that caught my eye. Enjoy.





It wasn't just a quilt show, for those who are not familiar.
It is in Pennsylvania Dutch country so you can imagine
the food...oh my...the food. We had ox for lunch and
apple dumplings and homemade pretzels and shoo fly pie
and home made kettle corn, made right there in big
caldrons. Lots of crafts and homemade jams, pickles,
herbs etc. I saw something I hadn't seen since I was a kid;
you take a lemon, cut the top off and stick in a peppermint
stick and suck on it like a straw. Yummmmmmmm.
We're definitely going back next year.

Until next time...
Susie

Add another to the pile...

...to be quilted.

This one would be number 4 in that pile!

It is the finished top from my John Flynn "Carnival"
class that my friend Cathy and I took at the Lancaster
Quilt Show in March. You can see the fabrics better here.
John gave us tips on piecing curves and he doesn't pin,
but those smaller curves...good grief...I ended up
pinning those. Now mind you, I am not scared of
curved piecing after recreating my
grandmother’s drunkards path, but this quilt was
trickier, mainly because you had to be aware of where
you are placing the darks/lights. I always enjoy a
challenge and this quilt fit that bill. And, I am proud
to say that it is all from my stash. Even the border is
6" strips from the darker blue batiks.

It looks sort of masculine and my oldest son saw it this
weekend and liked it, so it will go to him.

Until next time...
Susie