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.

F/V Melissa B

The Melissa B has been in the driveway for renovations. She gets a lot of looks from passers by! She was originally owned by Perry Buchanan and he taught his sons, Steve & Tom to fish on her. She's seen a lot of modifications over the years.

Eventually Steve bought a boat, the F/V Marathon, and Perry commissioned a new boat, the F/V Dolly B, and Tom bought the boat and renamed her to his daughters' name - Melissa. Tom fished the boat for many years, and taught his son Thomas and daughter Melissa to fish on her.

In 1998 Perry retired from fishing, Tom bought the Dolly B, and his son owns the Melissa B. Here they are working on her today.

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 :)

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.

Seine

The net is called the "seine" on a boat that is a seiner. Here is the jitney's seine, in the back of Tom's truck. After working on the skiff outboard all morning, launching the jitney, filling her tanks, standing up the mast and then dealing with my broken down car, he and I loaded the seine from the warehouse (where it is stored for the winter) to his truck. I am so tired that I can't believe that I can type, and I didn't do a quarter of the work he did! Tomorrow we will load the seine onto the jitney and mend it. I'll try and get a photo for you.

The pretty house in the background is a B & B on our street, and that's the bay that Tom will be fishing in come Monday morning at 6am. Please wish him luck for a good fishing season.

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!

Fabrics from Spring Quilt Market

I let Sarah do my fabric shopping for me and here's what she chose:
a beautiful collection of soft earthy colors called "Victoria" by Benartex
and a nice set of complementary fabrics by Andover (the lighter fabrics) and Quilt Gate (the darker maroon colored fabrics). It is absolute heaven to have a "fabric advisor" that I can trust! Now I just need to decide which quilts to make and who gets them....fun!

NQR stands for Not Quilting Related

I've been a busy gal since coming back from Portland Quilt Market! The boats still need work & maintenance and that is first priority in our lives. So, it's been the usual routine of scrubbing the fish hold, mending nets, launching skiffs and stocking the big boat with groceries and supplies.

The jitney is in the driveway (what a sight!) so that we can repair hydraulic lines, the ram for the power block and the hatch covers.

And then there is my pal Vanta's new bookstore! When I haven't been working on boats I've been at Vanta's store, helping with inventory and painting the interior and exterior of the business. She's going to call it Cover To Cover (isn't that cute?) and she hopes to be open for business in the next few weeks in downtown Seward, Alaska.

All this is in addition to my "day job" - the one that pays the travel bills and fabric expenses - lol! I hope your spring & early summer are just as much fun or more :)

Green

My favorite color is green. I found a green batting at Spring Quilt Market, it's green because it's made from recycled soda pop bottles! Sarah bought a case of it and I'm going to get a batt from her to use. Sarah spent a significant amount of time at Market looking for organics and other eco-friendly products. I recently welcomed my towns adoption of recycling plastic (should have been doing so 20 years ago like some states) with open arms full of plastics I've been washing and saving for a year (what a mess!)

Last night we watched the movie "Who Killed the Electric Car". What a shock. I drive a 13 yr old vehicle and Toms is 12 yrs old. I have over 200,000 miles on my car and I'm not buying another vehicle until I can buy an electric car. By all information available and confirmed, I should be able to buy it today. Check out the movie at Netflix or Amazon or the movie's own website or ev1.org or even Wiki.....please....watch this movie. I'd love to hear what you think of it.

We made the Catalog Cover!

I am back from Quilt Market in Portland and what an experience! Sarah and I had an awesome time at Market and even though she did all the hard work (and she did a spectacular job!) I am the one who is exhausted! How did that happen? LOL

I am a behind-the-scenes kind of person so I did all the prep work for the demo and then Sarah does all the talking at the demo and she really makes the quilters happy. She received lots and lots of compliments about her demos and when we were all done showing off, we walked the aisles of Market together. She was looking specifically for organics and eco-friendly products and I was looking for info for another blog that I write called "Quilt News". With only 2 exceptions, we were happily received by all. Sarah will be back tomorrow and will probably post about her finds on her blog. I'll post again with photos of fabrics and a few other tidbits from Market.

We started off on Saturday morning with a bang when we realized that our publisher, Krause Publications, has a photo our our very own quilt on the cover of their Spring 2008 catalog. Yayyyyyy!

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.

Fishing Season

It's that time of year again. I've been on the boat, which is dry docked right now, cleaning and making her ready for another fishing season.

Here's an older picture of me, when I worked on the boat as crew a couple of years ago. In the first photo I am surrounded by fish, hand pitching them for delivery. I am also very tired - lol! In this photo we have just caught the fish on the jitney and are transferring them to the big boat for icing and tendering.

We are incredibly careful with our fish because a good percentage will make it to your store as fresh Alaskan Red Salmon. That means frequent deliveries of heavily iced fish and "hand" handling, not pumped by machine. Here's a photo of Tom's seiner, the F/V Dolly B, at the dock for delivery. This is his photo, I was probably asleep in my bunk!

Crazy Shortcut Quilt

I just received an email that made a very sad day so much better! There was a tragic accident with some of my free roaming bunnies, and my heart has been heavy for days. Then I received this message and photo:

Marguerita,

I thought I'd share some pictures with you and Sarah on my first attempt at making one on the quilts in your book. I'm sure it won't be the last. I had a blast!

Julie

I am going to put her photo on our website, along with quilts from Sarah's recent class. Wasn't it so sweet of Julie to send us her photo? Thanks Julie!

Quilt Room Photo

I just love having a cutting table that I can stand at and walk around! Sarah gave me this table and I use it all the time. The other thing that I really like is the pegboard that hangs next to it. I have the table shoved into a corner (no wobbling) and my rulers, rotary cutters and scissors hang from it along with a comfortable mish mash of stuff . My mess, take a peek.

That cute quilt on the wall is, I believe, the first quilt Sarah ever made...isn't that sweet! She gave it to me!