WordPress

I've been playing with ones and zeros again. While in Portland I was desperate to go to Powells Bookstore, for both the experience and for a book on HTML. I found a book that I liked but I've only read 1 chapter. Why? Because I have discovered WordPress.

WP intimidated me when I first started blogging - so I went with simple and easy (and I like Google a lot) but WordPress has enticed me. I was frustrated at first, not understanding the differences between WP.com and WP.org and WPmu (Wordpress multiple user) so I did what I always do, went looking for a book. I like to read Amazon.com reviews on books and I found that the book WordPress for Dummies (I have never liked the "for dummies" titles just on basic principle - I'm not a dummy) but this book had much better reviews than all others, so I bought it. It lives up to it's reviews.

I've practiced blogging in WP, and importing my blogs from blogger to WP and I am coming to like it more and more. And now, at the end of the book, is a section about using WP as a web platform - hallelujah!! I hate my web software with a passion (Front Page and Web Expressions) and I can't wait to try WordPress for my website. I'll keep you posted :)

Seams Like Home Quilt Shop

My friends Kathy Harte and Judy Wedemeyer (quilt artists and soon-to-be bloggers :) came by Seams Like Home Quilt Shoppe to say hi to Sarah and I and Judy send us this photo. We had a great time there! The shoppe is h-u-g-e at 10,000 sf. and the classroom is the best I've ever seen. I wanted to move in.

Here are Sarah and I showing off quilts and answering questions and generally having a lot of fun chatting with quilters.

Saturday, June 21 in Anchorage, Alaska

Sarah and I will be at Seams Like Home Quilt Shoppe in the new location at the University Center Mall from noon to 3pm on Saturday. Please stop in and say "hi" and I'll be bringing the bits of my Fuzzy Funky Crazy Shortcut Quilt too - I have a few squares "quilted" and you can check them out.

Maret, the owner of Seams Like Home Quilt Shoppe, is a great gal and she used to be Sarah's teacher in elementary school - how cool is that? She told us that she found a photo of Sarah curled up inside the bookcase in her classroom, reading a book. I can't wait to see it.

I've been busy working on Tom's property and I'll post about it Sunday - with photos. I keep forgetting to take my camera when I head out there to work. Happy Solstice All!

Funky Fuzzy Shortcut Quilt

This baby is my favorite - by far! I wanted to couch down some yarn instead of quilting my squares, and I dug through my stash and found this chunky funky fuzzy yarn - -isn't it delicious?
I've been using a narrow zigzag stitch to couch it down and it's going slower than I thought it would but that's just because of the little fuzzy bubbles in the yarn and the fact that I get to sew for only a few hours a week. We are still doing maintenance and work on the boat and putting up fish for winter. If you are following along and want to make the quilt - - I'll post the whole story on our website when I get the quilt finished. I am using the sizing from the book for "Easy to Go Crazy" and the cutting design from "Think Pink". I am making a few adjustments as I go so be sure to check back for the final post about this quilt. :)

Quilting Bloggers

If you are a blogger (or are totally hooked on reading them - like I am!) check out Quilting Gallery and her list of Quilting Bloggers - it's awesome!

What an ambitious project - I wish Michele well - she's created quite a site :) If you are a quilting blogger, please consider submitting your blog to her list to help her reach her goal of 1,000 blogs.

Funky Shortcut Quilt

I thought of a name for my new quilt..."Funky Shortcut". I've wanted to try this harlequin type of cutting arrangement for a while, and I really, really love it with these fabrics!

Funky Fabric

It's time to make a quilt. I need a fabric "fix" :) I found these in my stash, from a project I never even started (how perfect is that! Now they are ready for this project!) That's my philosophy and I'm sticking to it. Doesn't that black and white check make you dizzy? I love it!

Commercial Fishing and the Cabana Family

This season has been a difficult one so far and every day I dread more bad news. Last night Tom called and said that they were coming in because the skiff (with it's brand new thousands of $$ outboard) had been swamped. In salt water. It was less than 36 hours old, and all the breakdowns that lead up to it's unexpected purchase...well I won't bore you with the depressing details.

In the middle of these miserable events, my heart was gladdened by the people who are our biggest competitors on the water - the Cabana family. Fishing is very competitive. I've been side by side with their boats, fighting for the fish, trying to out catch them and they try and beat us. That's the nature of this work. But the second that they saw Tom's skiff underwater they cut throttle, disconnected lines and came racing over to help. That is the Alaskan way and their family is one I admire.

Newborn Sea Lions

I have my tv station on a channel that broadcasts live from the Chiswell Islands, just south of Resurrection Bay in Seward, Alaska. I am watching the sea lion population as they climb out of the water, up onto huge rock outcroppings, to give birth. The rocks are covered with sea lions, the massive males and their harems of females and their pups, some just hours old. You can watch too, on streaming video.

The color is bad on the video, almost black & white on my screen. The sea lions are earthy brown and the pups are black. This is a photo of my tv :) I wanted to see what it would look like.

Bonus Pattern for Crazy Shortcut Quilters

The Crazy Shortcake Quilt Pattern instructions are now on our website! If you have the book or have made a quilt in a class with Sarah, you'll know exactly how to put it all together and the fabric requirements and cutting instructions (with a few reminders) are here for you!

Crazy Shortcut Quilt Book Publicity

Oh happy news! While at Quilt Market in Portland
Sarah and I did a demo in our publishers' booth (Krause Publications) for about an hour or so. When I had checked in earlier I had noticed that a quilt from our book (Sweet Sixteen Quilt) was on the cover of the new Krause Catalog. I was thrilled and walked around showing everyone! Hehehehe. Anyway, I must have made quite an impression on one of my favorite folks at Krause (Laura Miller in Marketing) because today I received another catalog in the mail from Laura. Here's what her note said

"M - thought you would really enjoy this catalog too. It's last summer's consumer quilt catalog....it's your quilt too."

She is just too sweet for words! The cover of the catalog (on the left) has Sarah's Moda quilt "Bright Idea" on it and the back cover of the catalog has our book and my ugly hands!

Mending the Seine

Here's Tom and crew David and James, mending the jitney seine on Sunday afternoon. We loaded the seine onto the jitney first thing this morning (no pics, I was too busy keeping the seine straight and free from snags) and then mended the net after that. (When we got to a bigger hole I dropped my part of the web and grabbed my camera for a few shots.) We use the powerblock on the big boat (the big boat is the F/V Dolly B) to lift the seine high enough to see holes, and then Tom mends as we go through the net. Then we put the seine back onto the jitney and checked her over for tomorrow's opener. The jitney is tied up to the big boat, just on the other side.

On the far side of the harbor is the cruise ship dock, with a ship in for the day. Seward usually only gets one cruise ship at a time, but there are rare days when there are two of them tied up, side by side, and they just dwarf the entire harbor.

This year I'll be working a desk job while the guys and boats are out fishing. I'm pretty sure I am going to miss being in on the action. It's very hard work, but it's wonderful to work outside, on the water. On the other hand, they are stuck on the boat while I have my sewing machine set up in the living room - happily sewing and quilting and watching PBS specials on TV.