Hello!

I love to dye fabric, make thread pictures and quilt. I live in the Yukon on an acreage with my husband, 2 dogs and 34 fish. It's the 'good' life.

Sunday, August 19, 2012

Ah, Weddings..

It is not often that I attend a wedding. Neither my sister or I had children and our extended family is very small. Our friends tend to have independent children that either do not intend to marry, or get married in far flung locations. So when I get a chance to go to one, especially one that means so much to me, I am a happy person. Yesterday a young lady that I have known since she was 7 years old got married to her long time partner.

IMG_1921       IMG_1931 

They own a beautiful homestead with hundreds of acres of land here in the Yukon. Their property winds along the Yukon River and for some reason, it rains when the hay needs watering and is beautiful and sunny at all other times.

IMG_1929  IMG_1940

The weather today was perfect. The food was delicious—the couple raised 2 plump pigs for the feast and the meat was delicious. As the evening wore on, I think everyone took a picture of themselves with the pigs head in their hands..

IMG_1928IMG_1941

Even at this time of year, the sun shines until 10-10:30pm, which is unfortunate as the tent looked so romantic after the sun finally set, and of course by then I didn’t have the camera around as I danced the night away.

 IMG_1955                                                                            Bride and Groom (and 2 year old son)

It is for this couple that I made the quilt I spoke about last week. It was a real labour of love and now both of my ‘nieces’ have married and I am so very happy for them.

IMG_1902

My quilting days are not over yet… I have 4 stepdaughters who are in their 20’s and I a hoping they decide to marry so I can make them a wedding quilt as well. Fingers crossed! 

Scout Lake

Close to our house is a great little lake that is stocked with Kokanee salmon. It is a fairly popular lake because one can drive in with a truck, however the road is very rough.
A couple of days ago DH and I rode the ATV out to the lake because it is a nice trail ride from our place. We left after supper, so these pictures show how light it stays in the evening here in the north. I would say  all of these pictures were taken around around 8pm.
    1   IMG_1778

   IMG_1777
There was only one man out in a rubber boat and a family on the shore fishing when we arrived. The family had some of the most exuberant dogs I have ever seen. They made me laugh with their antics—jumping from the cliffs to the water and then a mad dash through the woods as they chased squirrels.
Look at how clear the water is! We are truly blessed with some of the clearest and cleanest water in the world, and I never take it for granted…
IMG_1776
We didn’t take the fishing rods, but sometime over the weekend we are going to go back and try to get some salmon. My dad and his friend are coming to visit in a few weeks and it would be great to have some smoked salmon for them..

Sunday, August 12, 2012

Doggie Quilt

Until last year, my buddy at work in the IT department was unmarried, childless, he loved to play role games and collect Star Wars memorabilia. His grasp of physics is phenomenal and his favorite work activity is statistics. He always reminded me of the 40 year old virgin, except he is so much cooler.. Anyway, last year he and his girlfriend moved in together and I know they are very happy together.

Recently they got their first fur'baby'--a hound dog. She is named Boomer (from Battlestar Galactica) and she is an absolute cutie. Since they will never have children, I decided to make Boomer her own quilt.

It is just strips of fabric done in a QAYG way. I added a few doggie bones and the backing is flannel. A simple grid pattern was the quilting. It is definitely not a pretty quilt, but I figured out how to do QAYG from this.


They say they are getting a house next year and then will get more more fur babies. I am ready!  :-)

Wedding Quilt

I love big quilts. I love to see patterns, curl up under one on a cold night, admire them at my friends house and to see them displayed in quilt stores. But I really, REALLY do not liking a big quilts. I make 2 sizes of quilts--baby quilts and big quilts. These big quilts measure no less than 110" long by 90" wide--and that is the smallest of the 'big' quilts I like to make.  Given that, you can image that I don't make very many quilts, and if I do, they are for special people. 

Two of my most favorite people are Nicole and Dee Dee. Nicole got married 2 summers ago and I made her this quilt which was an original pattern made with hand dyed fabric. 
With Ripley

Dee Dee is getting married next week and I am just finishing her quilt. I used a pattern from Urban Country Quilts called Market Fresh--its the one on the cover. I rarely use patterns because there is always something I don't like about the instructions, but I really liked this one. 

Here is my quilt on the design board as I was checking the layout. 

The quilt was too small at 73x92, so I decided to add 2" sashing to each block. This will make it large enough. Then I thought this quilt would be an opportunity to try the "quilt as you go" (QAYG) technique. I love to read The Quilting Edge blog, and this is where I first learned about  QAYG and I have wanted to try it ever since. I  also read about it on another favorite blog, Fibermania, where Melody shows her way of doing QAYG. Great posts, by the way..

Basically the idea is that you piece each block, then add the batting and backing and the you quilt the block. When you finish all of your blocks, you stitch them together with connector strips. I'll add a quick demo tomorrow. 

I am just about done and even though there were several 'operator errors', I will definitely do all of my quilts in a QAYG way if I can. I LOVE this method!!!  :-)





Monday, August 6, 2012

Holiday Fun Times

When FIL was visiting, we went fishing on Lake Laberge. It is a gorgeous lake about 20 minutes from my front door.

And FIL was the only one to catch a fish! 26" Lake Trout. 

Ray had not been fishing in 30+ years, so we were happy for him. It was a little fish, but it made a tasty supper.


It was soooo nice to see my FIL and hubby spending some great time together. We loved having him here..

My next posts will be about thread painting. I promise.









Where Are You?

I had a quick email today that asked "Where are you? Why are you not posting"? So I thought I would show you what I have been up to.

Father in law visited for a couple of weeks:


Ripley needed her walkies:


We got a new 2 seater ATV (a Polaris Rzr):


And decided to go fishing. Hubby got the only catch, a lake trout, and it was released to grow a little bit.

We went fishing at Alligator Lake--about 2 hours off the highway by ATV. Isn't it pretty?


It is very isolated and quite a big lake.

And I got a "little" bit  muddy. Just a little bit. 


Gratuitous shot of my Mookie.

And this was only Saturday!

Yesterday we did this--we tore down our whole chimney! It was awful and dirty and dusty and heavy, grunt work. I carried every one of those bricks outside--from the top floor, main floor and basement. 
And look at all the soot in the furnace room. Lucky me--I got to clean everything after. You should have seen my carpet!  :-(
  


I'm pooped! So that is what I have been up to...