Alaska Row by Row 2016

                                       Tah-da-da-dah!!!!

It's done!  It's really finished.

I can actually say that I've completed a row by row and not just

driven (or flown) thousands of miles to collect patterns!

So far I've been a wonderful collector, but it was time for me

to put, some of this pile of patterns into action.

LOL!!

Tell me I'm not the only one with this problem. 

Please, pretty please!!

It might have come in handy a year ago, 

when this crazy addiction started!

As for this quilt...I couldn't get started on it soon enough.

Alaska is my favorite home away from home, and I know I'm biased...

but I do believe they have the best rows of all,  this year.

Topping it off with most of the shops using fabulous batiks in their kits.

Everything played so well together.

I'm not a kit collector, but there was something about these that 

made me grab em all, while I was up there.

This row is just stunning!

I couldn't figure out, just what this was until saw it finished.

What a gorgeous Eagles nest.

If you haven't been following...

Here's the rundown of rows and shops.

Top to bottom

Kenai Fabrics - Kenai 

Bearly Threaded Quilting - Cooper Landing

Seams Like Home - Anchorage

The Quilted Raven - Anchorage

Bearly Threaded Quilting too - Soldotna

Rushin' Tailor's Quilt Alaska - Skagway

The Quilted Raven - Anchorage

(last years row)

Ulmers Drug and Hardware - Homer

Left side 

Quilt Zone - Anchorage

Right side

Kenai Fabrics - Kenai

I rounded out my quilt by adding corners 

with the Eskimo girls from the Quilted Ravens row.

I've long admired Barbara Lavallee's Eskimo art.

With this quilt done, it was time to start focusing on

my Colorado rows.

Last week I took 2 day trips with the Flying Quilters girls, 

collecting...

This kit gets the award for the best packaging yet.

Not sure if it was the bird house basket or the 

license plate (that speaks to us Flying Quilters)

:-)

that we fell in love with first.

But their row is just too cute for words!

This week it's on the road again...

Yes, I'm certifiable!

What can I say?????

:-)

Oh, and while I'm thinking of being on the road...

don't forget 

The travels continue and from the comfort of your own home.

A month's worth of bloggers are sharing their rows with you.

It's all free, and you don't have to leave the house to collect them!

I can tell you, I've started on some of the rows, and they are

just out of this world!

;-)

Keep on Stitchin'

 

Row by Rowing Along...

...When the opportunity to take a little trip, to collect Row by Row patterns came along, I jumped at the chance.

Can you guess, where I went?

I never turn down and opportunity to take a trip to Alaska.

Call me biased, but I think they have the best rows this year!

I just had to have them all.

Or at least as many as I could collect while I was there.

Don't you just love that top row that I finished?

It's the row from Kenai Fabrics.

It's definitely my favorite and I made it up as soon as I got home.

We had the most fabulous weather all trip, but Homer

was a huge bonus.

There are few days that are this clear there.

The eagles were out enjoying the day too.

This mama, was sitting on her nest tending her little ones.

The Homer Spit is so much fun in the summer.

 

My youngest caught a 40lb king salmon on the Kenai River

 Hard to believe its almost 11pm isn't it?

I love this time of the year. 

The Cabbages love all that sunshine too.

This one is almost 2 foot in diameter.

 

Oh and yours truly even caught a Halibut!

It's hard to pick who is scarier in this photo, the deckhand or me!

LOL!!!!

 

Yes I even found a Moose and her calf!

The view from my friends deck. 

Can't blame anyone for not wanting to ever come home.

:-)

                            But all good trips must come to an end,
                            and these photos taken from the plane,
                              were the perfect way to top it all off.

What a great view of a glacier.

 

Till next time Alaska!

Keep on Stitchin'

Home

 My month of vacation is over and I am sad, but I have so much to share with you. In fact it is hard to decide where to start. My Alaska trip was wonderful as always and the fall colors were beautiful. There is nothing better than fall in Alaska.

This guy was in my son's yard and it was hunting season. He has no idea how lucky he was to still be alive and walking around. There were 3 moose that kept me entertained for a week watching them. On a side note, I just ordered a "Design Skin" for my Bernina of this photo. If you haven't seen these, you can now get very cool "skins" made for your Bernina machines to really customize them. For you Bernina owners check it out!

www.berninausa.com/designskins 

This is the beautiful Kenai Lake in Cooper Landing Alaska.

\

I flew home to catch a "Quilt Shop Hop" bus trip thru Colorado, Nebraska, Kansas and Missouri. Now you want to talk about fun. We visited 12 shops in 3 days and covered over 1500 miles. The experience couldn't have been better. Take a bus of quilters, add shopping and you have a recipe for a great time. The days were long. We started at 5am most mornings, and it was as late as 10pm before we got to hotels, but WOW was it worth it. There was plenty of time on the bus to catch up on sleep and do some handwork projects. The meeting and sharing with 35 other quilters for 3 days was such a treat. The shops provided our meals and snacks along the way. I can't thank the shop owners enough for taking such good care of us all.

We got to visit

 Prairie Pines in Gering Nebraska
The Quilt Rack in North Platte Nebraska

Calico Cottage in Hastings Nebraska

Sew Country in Belleville Kansas

Sunflower Quilt Shop in Hiawatha Kansas

The Quilt Shoppe in Stewartsville Missouri

Sarah's Fabrics in Lawrence Kansas

Quilting Bee in Salina Kansas

Quilt Cottage in Hays Kansas

Rambling Rose in Cheyenne Wells Colorado

Holly's Quilt Cabin in Centennial Colorado

Inspirations in Fort Morgan Colorado

Each of them was very different and offered wonderful varieties of quilt projects. Seeing the different towns along the way was so much fun too. Some were like stepping back in history. We even found a Rexall Drug Store. I haven't seen one of them in years! Did you know that Hastings Nebraska is the birthplace of KoolAid???? I was sad that the shop didn't have a KoolAid quilt kit of some kind. My bus friends thought I was an idiot!!  :-) This is a twice a year tour and we can hardly wait for next springs! I understand that they offer these type of trips all over the country. You might want to check it out and see what is in your area. Or better yet, what a great way to see a new area!

 

The clock tower in this town was the only one between Chicago and Denver at one point in history.

 

Rambling Rose in Cheyenne Wells is a brand new shop that's outside wasn't

 quite finished yet. They are making it look like an old time western merchantile shop. I can hardly wait to go back to see it when it's done.

Last stop of my vacation month was Albuquerque, for a week with my best friend and the International Balloon Fiesta, but that is another post! I have kept you all way to long as it is! See you soon.

Home again

I was lucky enough to be able to get in a quick trip to Alaska again. Unfortunately it was a "QUICK" trip. The weather was beautiful for the most part. We did get a big rainstorm daily, but it lasted only 20-30 minutes, then the rest of the day was great. June 26 was summer soltice. The longest day of the year. While the daylight on the Kenai isn't quite as long as in Fairbanks, we did have long wonderful days. This photo, is a shot of the Russian Orthodox Church in Ninilchek, a Russian fishing village. Want to guess the time of day it was shot??? It was 10:30 PM. Yep, at night, can you believe that? :-) Even harder for me to believe was that we never got back to our rooms until almost midnight the entire time we were there. I wasn't tired then, but now that I am home, I am dragging anchor (tee hee). It is going to take me a couple of days to catch up here.


A friend of my son's just bought a boat and took us our Halibut fishing in Homer. Here we are headed out of port. What a treat that was for us all. The day was perfect and we found the best fishing spot in the world. Everyone caught their limits in just 45 minutes. It was exciting fishing for sure, as soon as the first pole was in the water we had a fish "on". I of course caught the babies. I know somewhere some mom is really mad at me, but the eating is going to be great. Mike (my son) was very happy with his catch, the largest of the day.


Even found some time to act like fools. My favorite past time. Here at the Pratt Museum, Ruth and I decided to play peeping toms. And look what we found peering back at us...Tyna!!! Notice the lack of Mike who was a little horrified at how his mother and her friends were behaving. It is always a good thing when you can embarrass your children for a change! :-)





Hope you have a good week, and get a chance to "peek" in on someone special yourselves!

And the Wildlife

What can I say, absolutely the best!!!

Mt Redoubt

Mt Redoubt is an active volcano, that was recently threatening to blow. All was well until Sunday when it rared up again. It was such a pretty day that we went down to watch it steaming. There was a 15,000 foot plume of ash and steam released that day. Since then they have determined that the ash was just from what had blown in the past and that nothing new was being released accept steam. If only it would just blow about the time I need to go home. I would be stuck up here then, and that would be a good thing to me! Can you tell, I really don't want to go home? :-) As of yesterday it there was very little steam coming out of it again. Oh darn!