Mail, mail, mail!

I’ve been promising to show some mail receipts for a few weeks, and the time keeps slipping by.  So here I am with a few goodies to show you. 

I am participating in a Bee organized by Victoria on her 15 Minutes Play blog.  The blocks incorporate "made" fabric.  April was my month and my blocks have been arriving one or two a week. 

Cathy’s block

Victoria’s block

Lauren’s block

Kathy’s block

Em’s block

Chris’ block

My block

I asked for the block to be made in any two contrasting colours – maker’s choice.  You can see that pink/red and blue/green have been popular choices so far. 

I’m still waiting for three blocks to arrive.  In the meantime I’ve been playing with layouts.  Any suggestions for a background colour?

What else have I received?  Alberta and I did a swap for 2 inch postage stamp blocks and along with 100 blocks – which I can’t show you because I added them into the pile before I remembered to take a photo – she sent this lovely mug caddy. It is cute, such a neat idea and her sewing is absolutely impeccable!  I have it loaded up with all my marking pens and pencils.

A couple of prizes from the St Patrick’s Day Blog Hop Giveaway arrived.  I received these three videos from Christine.

And this super cute pattern from Susan.

I showed you the three purple postcards I sent earlier.  Here are the fantastic ones I received from Karen, Wendy and Linda.

From Maggie, my February Inchy flowers.

And from Medora, my March Cathy’s Campfire blocks for the 6 inch block swap.  She sent me the scraps of leftover fabric and some embellishments too.  So sweet!

Lots of fabulous goodies!

Janet

This week, May 7th to 13th, I….

I didn’t get to participate in the Christmas Quilt A-long yesterday.  It was hosted by Sharon at Vrooman's Quilts this month and I hear that she had a great breakfast recipe and a tutorial for some cute ornaments, as well as the next instalment for the Christmas mystery quilt.

And what was I doing instead you ask?  DH and I attended DD # 1’s graduation.  She is now a licenced practical nurse.  Or she will be after she writes her licencing exam this week. 

All ready to go in her white robes; excited and happy.

And the accolades are delivered.

Shawn A-in-chut Atleo, National Chief of Canada’s Assembly of First Nations, was the keynote speaker.  He gave a very inspiring talk and his presence at the little college graduation is a huge honour.

Hats off to all the graduates!

On the drive home, we spotted a bear and DH pulled up beside it so I could get a picture…

Now this is closer to any bear than I would normally want to be.  Look at those claws.  He was chomping on that little patch of grass by his paw, and continued on eating for a moment, then abled up the hill.

Not much sewing this week.  I have a project on the go that I can’t show, but I made good progress on it.  And the tongues of the mukluks are ready…

I’m back to class on Wednesday to find out what the next step is.

Janet

Mukluks 101

A few people asked what mukluks are.  They are traditional – Indian and Eskimo – boots.  They are the best thing to wear in the bush in the cold.  Your feet stay warm and there’s no plastic to freeze hard like a rock.  There are many different styles and ways to make mukluks.  Traditionally they would have been made totally with hide from moose, deer, seal and probably any available animal.  Nowadays there is canvas, Melton, Stroud and other fabrics used in them, and they are decorated with rick rack, beads and other trim, instead of porcupine quills and fur.

The mukluks I’m making are for a friend of DD # 3.  One of the kids who calls me her second mother.  I’ve made mukluks before, but I’m not an expert and I always learn something new about the methods for sewing them.

These are my mukluks, a present from a friend who is one of the best traditional First Nation sewers I know.  Canvas tops, hide bottoms, rickrack and trim.  The liners are wool.

These are DH’s mukluks, made by me.  As taught by my friend.  I made four pairs of mukluks that winter, one for each of my DDs and one for DH. 

The recipient of the pair I am making right now asked if I could make them dark blue or brown.  I’m thinking about dyeing the canvas.  I know I’ll never find the heavy weight cloth that I could use in place of canvas. 

Janet

Spring Bear

This evening DH and I took a drive down to this place.

If you’ve been around my blog for a while you’ve seen this place in several different seasons.  It is a favourite place to go.  In the spring we go there to look for fishing lures.  Lots of people go there to fish in the summer and there is a steep drop off and lots of rocks; many people lose lures when they get caught in the rocks.  In the spring the water is low and the lures can be retrieved.  This is one of DH’s favourite spring outings and we go once or twice a week. 

Today we drove down the road and a truck pulled in and followed us.  Turned out it was the game wardens, one from Yukon and one from B.C. ( this place is about five miles from the B.C. border – you’d have to look at a map to understand).  I guess it is spring bear hunt season; they had to check out these people who were turning down a side road. 

Well it must have been good luck because on our way home we saw our first bear of the season!   A little brown bear. 

And then close to home, five caribou on the road.  I’ll show you a pic, but I did not get a good one so the picture is just for proof… I always get so excited when I see animals that I take more bad pictures than good ones.

Janet

This week, April 30th to May 6th, I…

Finally got some sewing done!  I am mostly catching up on swaps right now.  I feel like – no, I AM -  behind in a few of them. 

Firstly, I made and sent the April Inchie hexies to Deb in Australia…

Next I added a border to the Mystery Round Robin block I had to work on for April .  I can’t show the whole block, but here’s a sneak peek at the fabrics I used…

Then I made this block for Beebee who is the May recipient in Victoria's New Bee swap over at 15 Minutes Play.  I think this is the first time I’ve ever made a 15 inch block!

I still have quite a few swap items to catch up on, so there will hopefully be more to show next week…

I am taking a mukluk making class here in my town.  The first class was on Wednesday evening.  Here are a couple of the ladies working on their mukluks.  I don’t have a photo of me working on mine…. Next week maybe.  The class is on Wednesday evenings, but there is sewing on Thursdays as well, so I may get these done quickly.

I also packaged and mailed three sets of 100 two inch charms and four sets of 50 two inch gift charms for Mary’s Postage Stamp Swap this week.  I think the mailing part of things takes longer than the sewing  

Although it has looked like this a good deal of the past week…

the crocuses are out!

I know I still owe you a post about all the goodies I’ve received in the mail lately…. It is coming soon…

Happy Spring!

Janet

This week, April 23rd to 29th, I….

Sewed absolutely nothing!  I am still quite tired out after the retreat last weekend and a few busy weeks at work. 

I travelled to Mayo for work this week.  A five hour drive from Whitehorse and one goes through two small towns in that five hours.  Like many towns in the Yukon, Mayo is situated on a river: the Stewart River.  Although the snow on the ground has left early this year, there is still ice on the rivers.

Mayo is known for its temperature extremes.  From http://www.taiga.net/yourYukon/col112.html:    Mayo set the record for the Yukon's extreme high on June 14, 1969, when the thermometer topped out at 36.1 degrees Celsius. The extreme low for that community, -62.2 degrees Celsius, was recorded in 1947.  With a difference of 98.3 degrees Celsius between the extreme high and low temperatures, Mayo holds the Canadian record for the greatest range of absolute temperatures.

I saw no animals on the trip, other than two wolves that I saw five minutes from my home when I was returning on Thursday evening.  I had a good look at them as we sized each other up for a few minutes but was so surprised to see them that I didn’t even think to pick up my camera.  I had a glimpse of two wolves running off the road back in February.  Other than that I’ve never seen wolves near the road in 35 years in the Yukon. 

Speaking of ice on the river, the ice on the Yukon River is a beautiful blue colour right now.  I did get pictures of that…. No touch ups here and it isn’t a reflection from the sky – the ice is really that colour.  I have no idea what causes this…Any scientists out there know?

The pussy willows are out, I’ve seen some crocus buds and there is a mating pair of eagles in the area.  Spring is definitely here…

I will be back later this week to show my quilt receipts from the mail as I promised…

Janet

TUSAL Report and some gifts from the retreat

I missed posting my TUSAL(totally useless sew-a-long) report on April 21st.  I only managed to get internet service for about half an hour one afternoon while at the retreat.  Not that I tried that often – too busy sewing  

For those who don’t know the TUSAL report is posted on the new moon each month.  It is a photo of all your scraps that you would normally have thrown away the previous month.  The last couple of months I have been putting all my scraps in the TUSAL jar, but this month I decided to go with just threads.  My jar is not nearly as full!

If you check out the window you can see that the snow is largely gone from my yard. 

At the retreat we played a few games for prizes, did a “Chinese auction” gift exchange and received a gift from the ladies from Haines.

I won one prize in the fabric game; my friend Linda who I went with one three!  I got these three gorgeous fat quarters.  Gotta love those oranges!  The top one is Fiesta from Robert Kaufman.  The other two don’t have the name selvedge on. 

In the gift exchange I got some lotus flower tea light holders which were beautiful, but not my style at all….and apparently no-one else’s style because no-one stole them from me.  In the end I gave them to one lady who had admired them but chose to open a gift rather than take them.  She then graciously gave me the gift she had won, a little souvenir plate.  It is cute and I can give it away to someone who comes to visit – if I don’t hang it on my plate wall. 

The cosmetic holder was an extra that came with my gift – very nifty and I can use it to carry small items to sewing classes or retreats  

The ladies from Haines, Alaska are very sweet.  They often bring gifts for everyone and get up early to do their quilt fairy thing, so you come to your sewing table to a lovely surprise in the morning.  This year I got a neat looking book and a little needle keep with some funky pins.

I know it’s a far cry from those retreats where people come home with baskets full of things donated by all kinds of sponsors, but this is more personal and lots of fun! 

Still more to come sometime this week as I have to show all my mail!

Janet

This week, April 16th to 22nd, I ….

It was a busy work week to start, but that has disappeared in a blur, as I only worked Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, then took off Wednesday evening for a quilt retreat! I’m just back this evening and exhausted (quilting is hard work – tee hee), but I want to show all that I got done.  It was a very productive four days for me. I was delinquent in taking pictures this weekend so don’t have any of the quilt venue, quilters or all the beautiful quilts to show.  And there were some fantastic quilts being made!

Someone asked me where I go for a quilt retreat.  This one was in another small Yukon town, Haines Junction.  It is a town about the same size as the one I live in, but situated closer to the coastal mountains.

The highest mountain in Canada and second highest in North America, Mount Logan, 19,551 feet, is nearby, and the highest US mountain, Mount McKinley at 20,320 feet is also in this range of mountains.

There were thirty-four women at the retreat: three from Haines, Alaska, two from Mendenhall which is about an hour down the road, one from Faro,Yukon, two from my town and the rest from Whitehorse.  No quilters from Haines Junction attended, although a number of townspeople came by to see what we were doing.  We were in the town office and convention centre, a lovely bright space, with a gorgeous view.  There was also a mixed martial arts workshop, a poetry reading and story telling evening and a young writer’s workshop going on in the building this weekend.  Busy place! 

Our dinners were catered by The Backerei.  These are two men who had a very popular coffee house and lunch restaurant in Whitehorse.  When they left they had restaurants in three other locations and are now settling in Haines Junction.  The food they make is superb.

Here is the lowdown on all I accomplished.  The first morning I spent catching up on some blocks I had to send in the mail.  This block is for Michele, who is collecting blocks to make a raffle quilt in honour of her nephew Danny who was killed by a drunk driver in 2004.  Click on her name to link to her blog post if you would like to contribute.

Next I made my 6 1/2 inch block for the Modern Mystery Round Robin that Michele has organized. Our blocks travel to seven other participants who will each add a 1 1/2 to 2 inch border.   I am very late in getting my block in the mail.  Hopefully it gets where it is going soon. 

Third up, I made my blocks for Medora in the 6 1/2 inch block swap.  She asked for a star block or a nine patch, so I made on of each.  She also asked for pastels, which I don’t do that well.  I hope I have it right.

I spent some time working on my mystery Christmas blocks and got five more finished.  I was short a couple of pieces of fabric so couldn’t get the sixth finished.  I pieced four blocks together, but didn’t have the pattern with me and I don’t think I did it correctly.  Sigh… I predict some unsewing in my future.

I also made a little progress on Block 1 of Merry, Merry Snowmen.  This block isn’t finished yet though….

I  worked on this UFO table runner, finishing the stitching in the ditch quilting around the bias tape.  Big job!  This is one of the items I resolved back in January to get finished this year.  Next a little echo quilting and I think I’ll be able to bind this baby. 

I got another 200 two inch blocks joined …

And for the crowning touch …. TA DA…. the Sunshine and Shadows quilt is pieced!  All 195 blocks are together and it is ready for batting, backing and quilting!

This photo does not do it justice at all… I’ll have to get some better ones…

And I will have to be back later this week to display all the mail that I received on Friday.  After the lull there is a storm!

Janet

This week, April 10th to 15th, I….

It has been a busy week.  I had to work late two days this week, and consequently stayed in Whitehorse.  And I worked on Friday, which I normally have off.  I’m trying to get everything caught up because I am taking this coming Thursday and Friday off to go to a quilt retreat.  YAY!

Aside from the blocks I made on Saturday during Christmas Quilt-a-long and the BINGO card I made this evening for May for Me BINGO, I had one major sewing accomplishment this week….

I finished the last fifteen blocks for DD # 2’s quilt and got them up on my design wall so I have the layout.  Double YAY!

This is a queen size quilt and there are 195 of those babies!  I’ll be taking this with me to the quilt retreat and hope to have a pieced top to show by this time next week! 

The Name Game swap miniquilt that I made for Wendy has arrived in Queensland, so I now show what I made.  Wendy’s blog name is Sugar Lane Quilts.  I was going to make something sweet, and then I read Wendy’s blog where she talks about how much they love living in Queensland, where they grow sugarcane and have lovely beaches.  So I went with that theme. I was super pleased with how this turned out.

DGS and DGD stayed over last night.  We had a busy time: walking the dog, bike riding, jumping on the trampoline, cooking and eating, playing Candyland, reading books, having a sauna, playing in the sandbox and just plain old playing. 

DGD has a doll; her name is Brianne.  Brianne has to do everything we do.  She is quite active.   Brianne came for a bike ride with us today…

Of course she had to ride on the back of my bike.  Brianne has lovely clothes and she has a raincoat and boots coming in the mail.  I would like to make a pack so that DGD can carry Brianne on her back when she wants.  Kind of like a baby backpack.  If anyone knows of a pattern for one for a doll please let me know.

Brianne was sitting at the table this morning eating pancakes (!) and I noticed that DGD had made her a personalized place-mat out of felt pens on paper.  I took this as flattery.  I make DGD and place-mat last week and this week she makes one for her doll  

I’ve got lots of preparation to do to get ready to go to the retreat, and lots of work to finish before Thursday.  I think I should go to sleep now.

Janet

May for Me BINGO

I got my card for May for Me BINGO made this evening.  Well it doesn’t have a backing or binding, but otherwise it is all done  

It looks pretty cute now that it's all together.  And here is my word list.

EDITED WORD LIST

BLUE – FAIRY, OWLS, PLANE, HEARTS, BLUEBIRDS

YELLOW – FROG, BALLS, BUTTERFLY, BANANAS, APPLES

RED – STARS, BOAT, MUSIC, CANDY

GREEN – CAMPER, ANTS, LAMB, BASEBALL, GLOVES

PURPLE – BERRIES, HAT, PANSIES, FISH, BUTTONS

I’m linking up to the BINGO party here.  Come along and play too!

Janet

Christmas Quilt-a-long

Once again my Christmas Quilt-a-long was catch-as-catch-can.  A friend who has been gone since October came over to visit this morning after just arriving back in the Yukon.  When he left around 1 p.m. I got a little bit of sewing in, until my grandkids arrived around 3 p.m. to spend the night.  It is after 10 p.m. and DH is reading them a story prior to bed.  We’ve walked the dog, made homemade pizza for supper, had a sauna and then a bath, played Candyland and now they are finally tired and I’m finally able to show the sewing I got done today.

Four more blocks for my red and white Christmas mystery quilt.  I thought I had four blocks done, but when I went to get them to hang them all on the wall together, I found I had only made two last month.  Here are the six completed ones together.  I have six more to make.

Isn’t this a pretty design! 

I plan to take this project to the quilt retreat next week, so maybe I’ll be able to jump ahead and get six blocks done and next month I can start on Quilt Sue's mystery quilt.  Sue is the ultimate hostess of Christmas Quilt-a-long and she has designed a mystery Christmas quilt for us this year.  This month was instalment # 3.  You can pick up instalment # 1 from Hazel at Hazel's Quilts, who was our hostess in February and instalment # 2 from Joanna at Needles, Thread, Happiness.  She was our hostess in February.

Instalment # 3 can be found here at Lesley’s blog The Cuddle Quilter.  Lesley was our hostess with the mostest for April and she even has a giveaway!  And you can check out all the Christmas Quilt-a-long quilters by following the Linkys on her blog.  Some of them might has some sneak peeks of Quilt Sue’s mystery quilt in the making.

Janet