Alaskan Quilt Shop

Given I'm so drawn to beautiful quilts created by others, I always make sure I find the quilt shops when I'm in a new place. So on my travels last year to Ketchikan, Alaska, here's what I found. I loved the outdoor-themed fabrics in these wonderful nooks!



And here's a friendly lady I met in an Anchorage shop. Quilting is a huge pastime up there. Not surprising with all those dark, cold, and I must say, cozy, winter months up north. I'd be stitching hard too if I lived there!

Round the World Ready for Quilting

I have added borders to this now and am ready to quilt it. My plan is to add it to my new frame and tie it off with wool - just a simple finish. With the double border I've added, I believe this will make a nice queen-size quilt.

Annual Visit to Jo-Ann's Fabrics in Palm Springs

This is my Christmas candy store & toy store all rolled into one! Mom gave me a gift certificate to Jo-Ann's this year, so I took a nice long look at fabrics and purchased a pile of them. What a delight! Now I'm itchin' for some stitchin'.....



Here was my cart shortly before I decided to stop piling in the bolts. Decisions, decisions. It's probably a good thing I had only so much suitcase space.

Around the World Takes Shape

I have now completed two sections of this project......

My Next Project

Today I cut up a number of colored strips for my next quilting project: a "Round the World" quilt in blues and burgandies.

I was also excited to purchase the big quilting frame pictured below yesterday! It's big enough to hold a king-size quilt while I tie it off or hand-quilt it. I hope to see my Round the World quilt on this frame soon!

Newest Rag Quilt - Before & After Washing

Yesterday I completed this rag quilt for Lang's daughter, Liann - it's her sweet 16th next week. This is the finished product, after I washed it, dried it in the dryer (checking for lint every few minutes!), and then ran over it with a lint roller to get off the extra bits of fuzz.

The bottom two pictures are the quilt after I'd clipped all the edges but before I tossed it in the wash. I think it looks pretty good already, but I love how the wash really fluffs up the clipped parts!

I'll be telling Liann that this is meant to be a snuggly TV-watching blanket. There's nothing better than getting under one of these in a cool basement!

Walla Walla Quilting Bee

While I was in Walla Walla, Washington last week, I helped my mother-inlaw Alice tie a charity quilt with her friends. I liked seeing how they used their quilting frames to get this done.