Back home in the snow

I’ve been away.  In Redmond and Seattle…

Victoria….

and Vancouver…..

Visited brother, s-i-l, nephew, DD # 3 and boyfriend and roommate, niece, b-i-l.  Ate American Thanksgiving dinner, but didn’t go to Black Friday sales at midnight.  Visited quaint towns La Conner and Bainbridge, Washington. Flew in two planes and rode the ferry four times.  Attended a Stuart McLean show in Victoria.  Ate tons of good food and shopped at lots of stores.  Bought a little bit of fabric.  Drove a car in Victoria and it wasn’t even too scary.

I didn’t do much sewing.  Just these hexie flowers for my November swap partner.

We got home late Friday night then I was up early on Saturday to go with friends to a quilt show.  Yes a quilt show here in the north.  In Skagway, Alaska.  There were about fifty quilts in the show.  Here are the ladies posing in front of the Christmas tree.

And a few of my favourite quilts…

Skagway is getting ready for Christmas.  Lots of pretty lights.

I see somewhere along the way my followers have crept up to 100.  I guess I’ll have to have a giveaway.  I’m deciding whether to like up with The Quilting Gallery’s Blog Hop Party.  Any opinions?

Are you occupying your sewing room this week?

Are you participating in Friday Night Sew In? 

So many fun things going on in Blogland…..

Janet

Sew Cal Gal's Christmas Quilt Show

Those who follow my blog have seen this recently.  It is a table runner I made for a swap on Flickr for an as yet unnamed partner, because I don't think it has been received yet.  I really like how it turned out and even DH commented on it, saying it had nice Christmasy colours.

It is made with some Figgy Pudding, some Kona Snow and an unnamed red.  I did free motion quilting in white and love how the back turned out.

Please go to this post to see more lovely Christmas quilts in Sew Cal Gal's Christmas Quilt Show.

Janet

Some wonderful things in the mail and late FNSI report

I am participating in scissor keeper swap organized by Cookies and Cream, but I am very delinquent and tardy in getting items made for my swap partner.  I was totally awestruck and humbled when I received a wonderful package from Kerry in the mail. 

A magazine, a lovely card, some embroidery thread, and look at the cutest scissor keep and pincushion…

Plus she sent a large package of vehicle fabric for my grandson’s quilt.  Some I already had, but there are some really fabulous new ones.

He is going to LOVE those cats on motorcycles! 

And then I got a totally unexpected package from Melody with a couple more fabrics, and a darling little scissor fob.

Helicopters and seaplanes!  I don’t have any of those.  With all the fabric goodness I’ve received from so many blog friends I’m going to have to add another row of vehicles to the quilt design! 

Here’s a close-up of the scissor fob.  So cute.

Thank-you both so much Kerry and Melody.

I didn’t get my FNSI post up on Saturday.  Raucous grandkids were visiting and it was just busy all day long.  I did accomplish a bit for the sew-in though.

This bag, which I made for DD # 1, whose birthday was last week.  It is the same pattern as a bag I made for the Goodie Swap, but I made a couple of changes: a long over the shoulder strap instead of a short wrist strap, and I put a little pocket inside.  Of course I made mistakes in both my design changes and had to undo my sewing twice to fix things…..

And a little ornament to include in the table runner swap which is going in the mail tomorrow.  I had enough of sewing for the evening so moved on to beads.

The temperature is down below –30.  Brr….. I must be off to bed.

Janet

Nosy Parker in the Neighbourhood

I’m linking up with Kat's Nosy Parker in the Neighbourhood project.  It is so interesting how different we are and yet how much the same….


Question 1) Tell us about your home:
Where do you live; (town, state, country that is - obviously not your street address!!)  & what is it like e.g. do you live by the beach or a lake or in the desert etc..., is it famous for anything in particular (e.g. industry), and maybe what is the climate like etc...

I live in a small town in a very large territory. Once on a BOAC flight from England I had a conversation with the flight attendant and she was amazed when I told her that the Yukon is about the size of the British Isles, and there are approximately 36,000 people in the whole territory. In my town there are around 450 people.


My town is about an hour from Whitehorse, the only city in the territory, where there are approximately 27,000 people. The Yukon’s economy is currently booming with mineral resources being the main interest. My town doesn’t really have an economy, although there is some tourism in the summer. My hubby likes to lament that the whole Yukon economy is built on government dollars. I drive the hour each way to work in the big city and have done so for eighteen years.

It is about a three hour flight to the big southern cities of Vancouver, Calgary or Edmonton.  The only other flights we have out of territory are to Frankfurt, Germany in the summer.

Approximately half the people who live in my town are aboriginal and the First Nation has a large presence in the town. 


I live within walking distance of huge lakes, a sandy beach, a desert, immense forests and majestic mountains. I love to walk and I know the area near my home well, having tromped around in the bushes far and wide over the years.


Question 2) What are the houses like in your area. Apartment style, Joined, Semi-detached, Detached etc...

There is a huge variety of houses in my town:

all in a row homes built for First Nation people by the federal government,

off beat dwellings built by those who came to the north because they could be individuals here and build their houses to their liking,

new modern homes,
 
cabins from the gold rush era.

My house is a beautiful four bedroom home, built by my hubby. It is not modern or fancy, but functional and comfortable, with many individual design features that make it a pleasure to live in.  What category do you think it should be in?


That little gable at the top houses my sewing room

Question 3) What are some of your favourite places to visit or favourite things to do in & about your town/city. - Show us plenty of photos here if you can.


I occasionally like to hang out on the beach on a warm summer day.


Or just walk on the beach in the long summer nights.


I like to walk, ski, snowshoe in the bush but always have to think about bears in summer.


And I love to go out on the lakes.


This is what it looks like today at -22C … the front part of the lake is frozen but the back is still open water and there is copious amounts of ice fog in the air. 


That produces sun dogs. You can just barely see it in the picture below.



Question 4) How do most people travel around your town/city? E.g. subway, bus, bike, what are the most popular styles of car.

Almost everyone has a truck or a car.  Big trucks, that can plow through the snow, cars with four wheel drive, or cars that save on gas.  Those who don’t have a vehicle hitchhike. In summer some people ride quads; in winter snow machines. Many walk, a few ride bicycles. We have a train which used to be a functioning passenger and freight train, but is now just a tourist ride and runs only in summer. Kids travel to and from school on the school bus.




Question 5) Is there a type of food that would be quintessential to where you live? E.g. a famous local produce etc...

Moose meat, caribou meat, trout, grayling (a kind of fish), berries (cranberries, raspberries and blueberries), soapberry ice cream (a First Nation “treat”. These somewhat bitter berries are whipped and whipped with sugar until they sort of look like ice cream but taste like sugar with something bitter in it). Years ago I lived with an elderly first nation couple who ate things like stuffed fish guts (quite good), moose guts (not bad), singed porcupine (disgusting).

I hope you have enjoyed learning a little more about the place I live.  Go check out Kat's blog to see how others live.

Janet

Winter is here

DD # 2 called me last week to tell me that her “friend” in Newfoundland was wondering why I hadn’t posted on my blog.  She said that he talks about the scenery pictures but she thinks he likes the quilting pictures too. Here is a photo of the full(ish) moon in the morning for you Jamie.

We have had really mild weather this fall and along with that, little snow.  That changed over the last three or four days as it has been snowing steadily.  We now have our winter’s snow.  The weather is still fairly mild though, –15 is the coldest it has been. 
I have been working on my table runner for the Flickr Modern Christmas Table Runner swap.  Here it is, finished and ready to mail to a secret recipient.

I hung it on the door to photograph but I’m showing the picture sideways.  Here’s the back.

And to link up with Angie's applique parade, a block that is almost finished…. as are so many of my sewing projects…



Edited to add - The block above was the class project for a class called Baltimore Basics from Quilt University.  Nancy Chong was the instructor and presumably is the designer of the block.  Just to give due credit....  It was a great class, by the way, from an on-line quilt instruction site.


Janet

Goodie Swap

I have been meaning to show pictures of what I sent and received in the Goodie Swap for more than a week.  The days just seem to fly by and even “falling back” on Saturday night didn’t help me to have more time.  Maybe that’s because it was the weekend and we had to get out and enjoy the mild winter we’re having so far.  Here’s DH and friends enjoying the classic Canadian winter pastime…

I am a terrible skater, but I love the freedom of skating on the lake.  It often only lasts for a day or two before the snow gets too deep, but this year we’re hanging on and are up to a week of lake skating.

On to the Goodie Swap.  I received two lovely packages.  The first from Katy in Scotland. A colourful mug rug, a sweet Sherbet Pips bag and a couple of Scottish trinkets.  Look at those tiny bottles of Scotch!  And the cute Scottie dogs.  The original macaroon bar is tasty and VERY sweet. 

Look at the cute matching zipper pull….

My other package came from Linda in Ireland.  Look at all the goodies she sent me !

Another interesting and colourful mug rug, a very pretty bag which is meant for sewing supplies but looks like it would also work well for art supplies, a classic needle case, lovely little purse and a fat quarter.  Also a calendar with pictures from Ireland and two postcards.

Here is the back of the mug rug…great fabrics!

Here is what I sent….First to Kat in Scotland…..  I had to steal the mug rug pictures from her blog as I forgot to take photos before I mailed them….

And this mug rug and bag went to Helen in England….

There were a few little goodies in the parcels as well, but I can’t remember to take pictures of everything. 

Lovely swap. I’m not great at exuberance but…. Big thanks to Cindy for organizing it!  And super thanks to Linda and Katy for my fabulous gifts!

Janet