Spring in Seward, Alaska

Yes, this is spring in Alaska. See the pretty flowers; the sunshine? Me neither! LOL Someone please remind me why I live here?





If you look closely you can see Tan Bunny just to the right of the feeder that Tom built. It sits across the alley from his house, on Barb's property. She loves rabbits too, so she said it was okay to put the feeder there. Bunnies love her big trees :)

Snowboard Kiting

I had no idea.......... I was driving my granddaughter Audrey to Girdwood (from Seward) to meet up with my daughter Sarah and send the baby home (she'd been with me since Friday afternoon). As we drive through Portage, a desolate windy no-mans-land known for accidents because of the windblown icy highway, what do we see but SAILS! Sails! People (and by people I mean young male humans) were using sails to ski and snowboard!

I see it all, living in Alaska.

Here you can too because after I took baby Audrey to daughter Sarah, I headed home, pulled over in Portage and stood out in the godawful wind and cold to tape video on my little baby camera.

It's times like this that I love living here. Great weekend with Audrey and a fascinating surprise on the windy, snowy horizon.

Death Valley and Los Algodones, Mexico

Death Valley was awesome! It was a trip Tom and I have talked about and finally just said "let's just go!" Wow! He was a braver soul than I and he did a bit of hiking. I could barely move in the heat. In the photo with people, we are at the lowest point, about 283 ft below sea level. For a guy who spends a lot of time on the sea, Tom was quite amazed. You can't see it in the photo, but there is a green street sign about halfway up the hillside that says "Sea Level". We were quite impressed.










Here I am at TLC Dental in Los Algodones, Mexico, where I walked across the border and stayed for 2 nights in the attached B&B style home. It was secure, clean, and completely professional and I am thrilled to be healthy and whole again! The temperature in mid November was mid 80's and I was totally miserable from both the heat and air conditioning and the hurried nature of the trip. I'd love to go back and spend weeks when the temperatures drop to 70's or so :)

Freemont Street and BainBridge Island and Seattle

Freemont Street in Las Vegas


to Seattle and Bainbridge Island - -what a trip!

Tundra Swans and Cygnets

I love learning new things and that's one reason that I subscribe to the Alaska Science Forum Newsletter . Today's newsletter was about Tundra Swans and it included this photo by Ned Rozell, who often writes the newsletter and supplies the photos. I learn something new with every edition, and am never bored. Aren't these babies the cutest? Almost as cute as baby bunnies :)

Quilt Market Houston 2008

We're back!! It was one of the best times I've ever had at Quilt Market!
My daughter, Sarah Raffuse, made a great presentation at our Schoolhouse Session (late in the afternoon, so we offered chocolate at the door :) and our Take & Teach Class was SOLD OUT before Market even opened (wow!). Here are some pics from the Take & Teach, with some of the participants and their little quilt projects:












We had a great crowd at the book signing in the Krause booth and got to catch up news with some quilters who helped us out a LOT in Houston for the 2007 Quilt Market - -one of them had made five quilts (using our methods) since she got her book last year!!

Houston was warm and sunny (80 degrees didn't feel like a "fall" market to me!) and Market was a crowded and happy affair and it looked to me like there was a lot of commerce being conducted between the vendors and the buyers. I'll be posting about some of the patterns & vendors that caught my eye over on Quilt News.

Oh, and a double special bonus: I was able to meet up with my old pal Trish Stuart (I used to quilt for her and worked in her booth at several Quilt Markets) AND a quilt that she painted and I quilted was in the booth for Tsukineko Inks. That's Trish in pink on the left, our quilt under our arms and me in the blue on the right. Look at those huge smiles :)

Gone to Quilt Market

A few updates without pictures. It's been rainy and windy here, the snow is gone and now most of the leaves are off the trees. The bear has moved on and the bunnies are back. I managed to get all the kits cut for our Take & Teach class and quilted up 250 teeny tiny little quilties (4" x 4" squares) and sashed them using the technique in our book. These are our "promo" items that we give out at Schoolhouse and yes, it takes some work, but it's really, really worth it to see the looks on the faces of the quilters (shop owners & teachers) who receive them :)

Houston is a great town to visit and we always try and get around to the Museums, the Galleria and my personal favorite - Target (I'm a low budget girl!). I did buy some lipstick at a Galleria shop last year - that was exciting! LOL. This year we are going to stay downtown, something we've never done before, so I am looking forward to walking around in the area that the hotel is in.

I'm also looking forward to meeting up with my old pal Trish Stuart. I used to quilt for her and our brainstorming sessions are something I miss. I spent a few Markets working with Trish in her booth and it was a blast! I bought a video camera (!!) because I've been saving my pennies... I hope to shoot some quilty footage while at Market. Stay tuned! (oh, I forgot, but yes...I did fold and put the laundry away!)

Snow for Martha

Compare this one to my photo of Mt. Marathon from the 4th of July! This is for Martha in Louisiana :) This next one is of the trees across the alley, just outside the garage door. My bunny friends hang out there, but right now there's a black bear living there (no kidding!). Bear has been getting into the garbage cans at night. Don't worry about bunny, she's tough and she's faster than this black bear. I saw her last night & she's fine. My portable quilting table is set up by a living room window that looks out over the alley and the trees next door. I'm going to try and get a pic of bear.

Crazy Shortcut Quilt Workshop at the Valdez Quilt Festival

Whooooowheeeeee!! I had the time of my life!! Sarah and I taught the most fun class I've ever been in and the quilters went home with just an hour or two of stitching left to have finished and quilted quilts!

And guess what I found in Valdez? Rabbits! :)

I taught my class on using a midarm quilting system on Thursday and Sunday and on Friday & Saturday we did our shortcuts quilt as-you-go method.

The drive home was just lovely. It's been years since we've driven to Valdez, a 425 mile trip for me from Seward, and we visited some familiar places and a few new ones too.
This is Tiekel River, at about mile marker 50 of the Richardson Highway. I have a few more photos on Flickr here and you are invited to take a look. There are photos of Worthington Glacier, the top of Thompson Pass (in the clouds, of course!) and a couple of the Wrangell-St. Elias mountains and last is one of Sarah touching the Alaska Pipeline at about mile marker 82 or so. We have the same photo from when she was about 9 or 10 years old :)

Next trip is to Houston, Texas, at the end of October and my thoughts are with the people of Texas as they struggle with the damage done by the hurricane.

Seward in August

Some photos I've take recently. Tom came home briefly, bringing the jitney in. This photo was taken about about nine or nine thirty at night.


Earlier that same day a cruise ship left port. Notice the fireweed? The story goes that when the fireweed is done blooming, two weeks later it will snow.




Today the silver salmon must be jumping right off this side of the bay because the fishing boats moved over here, at the end of our street. In the distance are the lights of a tender coming in from Prince William Sound with pink salmon for the cannery.

Valdez Quilt Festival Sept. 11-14, 2008

We are going to Valdez!! Sarah and I haven't been there for years and we are looking forward to seeing the town again, cruising through Thompson Pass, taking photos of Bridal Veil Falls and Horse Tail Falls, and maybe finding some salmonberries.

I used to drag Sarah (and sometimes her friends and cousins) all over the state as she was growing up. I love traveling in Alaska!

At the Festival we will be teaching the Crazy Shortcut Quilting in a two day marathon class (Sarah will stay up with the night owls and I'll get up with the early birds) and I'll also be teaching what I know about using a mid-arm quilting system to quilt for yourself and others. I am *SO* looking forward to the drive, it has always been one of my favorite trips. The mountains up at Eureka are just breathtaking, the St. Elias range is so impressive and so far, unless I've been in an airplane, I haven't found a view like the one from the top of Thompson Pass. You can almost see to Cordova!

Here's info about the Festival, we hope to see you there!

Adams Street, Seward, Alaska

Here are a few photos from today. We took our two vehicles out of the driveway to accommodate visitors to the festivities and at one point we had 4 vehicles in front of the house and 5 in the driveway.

The street, as usual for the Fourth of July, was packed. The men's race is the biggest draw and it starts at 3pm so the crescendo builds up until then. Look at the difference in photos from a few days ago in the post below.

If you click on the close up of the mountain you might just barely make out some of the runners on the right of the lower snow patch. The runners had to ascend through the clouds this year and although it might be harder to see, it's cool and refreshing in this grueling race.

4th of July Weekend in Seward, Alaska

Sarah and Audrey are coming to see me on Thursday, and Audrey will stay with me for a few days. Seward is known for it's 4th of July celebrations, the most famous of which is the Mt. Marathon Race. This internationally known race begins 2 blocks from our house, which is downtown. The race trail goes to the top of Mt. Marathon and down some snow slews and ends back at it's starting point. It's a rough trail race. If you look closely, you can see the trail to the peak in this photo.

Seward is a small town of about 3,500 people. No traffic lights. One main street. Several thousand people will be here for the 4th - even more if there is a cruise ship in port. Fourth Avenue is blocked off completely for about a mile, as is most of Adams Street - the street we live on (seen here). Usually we stock up on groceries in advance and just don't plan on leaving the house because it's almost impossible to do so with the traffic that converges on downtown.

Audrey and I will have a front row seat for the festivities - it should be a blast! Here's a list of the events - if you are coming here please note that the fireworks are on Thursday night not Friday night.

I have not had time to do any more sewing on the Funky Fuzzy Quilt, but I will post as soon as I am able to get back to the project :)

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.

Crazy Shortcake Quilt finds a Home

While at Spring Quilt Market Sarah and I bumped into Maret from Seams Like Home Quilt Shoppe in Anchorage several times! I love going all the way to Portland, Oregon to meet up with the Alaskans - lol!

We showed her the Shortcake Quilt and offered to let it go live in her newly relocated Shoppe and she took us up on it. I haven't seen it there yet, I stole this pic from Sarah's Blog :)

We will both be at Seams Like Home on June 21 for a book signing and hugging day. We end up seeing lots of quilters and giving and getting lots of hugs. How nice is that!

Spring Quilt Market in Portland, Oregon

I am in Portland now, a city I truely enjoy visiting. This is my third Quilt Market in Portland and I stay in a different part of the city every time, using public transportation to get around. Yesterday I went to Powells Bookstore, the largest used bookstore in the nation. I walked for hours through old downtown Portland and it was just fun. The flowers are blooming here and I even got a bit of sun sitting outside the convention center waiting for the admin booths to open.

Art Quilt Exhibition in Anchorage, Alaska

How lucky can I be to call both Kathy Harte and Judy Wedemeyer friends? These two talented ladies are letting the world see their quilted art works at Terra Bella Bakery & Cafe (on Dimond) in May, beginning with the First Friday Event on May 2, 2008.

Give yourself the treat of enjoying the cafe and the quilt art if you have a chance to be in Anchorage in May.

Almost Spring

I begin to believe that spring is almost here when the daffodils start coming up. We still have several feet of snow in the yard, but around the house it's melting out.

The poor things have to fight their way through the masses of snow we received this winter - but up they come!

I can hardly believe that they push up through the snow pack!




There were even some dandelion shoots and I picked a few for bunny. His first spring treat :) He just loves dandelions!

Alaska Fiber Festival

Sarah and I were invited to join the greatest group of gals for the opening night of the Alaska Fiber Festival in downtown Anchorage, Alaska. Here's Sarah Raffuse signing a book for Lee.

It was just so wonderful to see the artistic ladies who organize this awesome event and it was so nice that they remembered me, from the days when I attended meetings with the Anchorage Log Cabin Quilters Guild (and they remembered Sarah because I used to drag her along when she was just a kid). Gail Ramsey, Deb Hardman, Jane Odgers, Roxane Stoner, Mary Hertert are some of the artists and organizers of an event that is so well worth attending.

The Festival is presenting lectures and classes by Kenneth King and Jennie Rayment and the First Friday Gallery walk was just a HUGE success! The artwork will be up until the 16th of March and there will be a Merchant Mall at the Phillips Atrium downtown on the weekend of the 15 & 16th.

I only had time to visit one gallery, Virtu, on 4th Ave across from the Post Office Mall/Sunshine Plaza and what an outstanding display of art they had!! I was told that all of the galleries on the walk were just as exciting and I wish that I had been able to stay longer to visit them all.

(I put up the second photo because the colors are better, but the photo is a bit blurry. The first photo is sharp, but the colors are off.)

The Eagles have Landed

Here are some eagles looking for food. The little bird in the middle is a dwarfed by the eagles.

The dark eagles are immature eagles; they have not developed the white feathers around their head and feet. They have sort of speckled brown feathers. The larger black birds in the photo below are ravens.


Here are a few more pics taken later in the day and with a much better camera.