Denali

 It was a bright and early start today. Up at 4:30am to get to the main lodge for 5:10ish. We had a bus tour into the National Park today. Wonderful tour guide. Amazing knowledge.  We have a helicopter ride in a few hours around Denali then the three of them are ziplining this evening. 

I'll be adding more stitching to this blanket. I might have picked up things at the quilt store and the fiber store. Well, Emily got yarn and patterns for two projects. I got a wooden embroidery ornament to make, some Alaska themed batik FQs and a small quilt kit.

My crew.

See, hubby does exist 😀

Caribou.  We also saw a moose and goats.

Alaska

 We made it safely to Alaska.  Little snafu with hotel but figured it out. Very long day of travel. Have not seen darkness (night) since we arrived. Headed to Denali today where wifi is not as good so posting now.

Photos loaded backwards. So yesterday we did a riverboat tour in the afternoon. A stop at a simulated vilage was interesting to learn how the people lived here before the first interaction with the outside world in the 1800s.

Caribou.... which are reindeer.  Did not realize that.

The morning we went to pan gold!

Emily got the most in her sack of soil of the four of us. $35. She had the gold put into a bracelet. I had my $15 put into a little necklace container. Little gold bits.

There was a train ride to the mining area.

Panning for gold.

After some sleep the first day we went to the university of Alaska fairbanks to see the museum.  They had a new planitarium so we saw the aurora show. Lots of info about the wildlife and people. A nice art gallery and a neat sound room. 

This is mt. Rainier taken from the airplane near Seattle. 

Summer Ravelry UFO challenge.

Posting this a little early as I will be travelling! 

Finishes from the last quarter. These two big guys got finished this quarter. The hexagons were a multi year project with the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. 

 

Another multi year RSC project was the birds in the air blocks. I did one of these in 2015 and it was gifted as a wedding present. These both stay with me!

The bear paw graduation quilt will be the push for this coming quarter. 

 The list of UFO's -

 1.) I know I have at least one more cut somewhere to fill that open spot for a 7x6 setting. *** found the parts in a baggie!  These are hand pieced.... and might need a little fixing along the way on some of those middle joins. From Inklingo lemoyne stars.  The blocks are 4.5 inches.

 

2.)  I think it's a 6.5 inch cut center of greys and 2.5 inch strips. Finishes 10 inches. 

3.) Midget Applique quilt from Sentimental Stitches. I need to add more flowers and leaves and the vines... and the last border. Hand pieced and hand appliqued. Started January 2015 as a car line project. One block a week.

4.) triangle pyramids. started June 2024. I need to find these!

5.) Midget block collection - I started these in Vermont in 2010! I have a light blue for sashing.

6.) Erin's Butterfly - I made the wings in 2021.  Need to add one more set of wings... thinking 9 is a nice number? These have been machine stitched onto the background. Need to add body and antenna to each. Also need to add 1 block in another color.

7.) Flying Snowballs - hand pieced shoo fly and flowering snowball blocks in blue, purple and green from 2025. Will plan to machine piece them together into a top about 84x84.

8.) Aidan Graduation requested quilt... for after college as he wants a queen size Bear Paw in civil war style green and blues. This is about halfway sewn into a top. 

9.) I forgot I had this. It is a cute birdhouse wall hanging but is foundation pieced, which I dislike. Maybe I can deal with it enough to get this done? Or rework it?

10,) This is a kit I purchased mid-90s - butterfly's. I think all the parts are there and I did start arranging them.

11.) Quilters Patch. A sew along that I completely did not meet my goals on in 2022. One block is done.

12.) Alternate BITA blocks from RSC 2025 collection

** I need to get a photo of these

13.) 16 patch blocks from 2.5 inch squares

** I need to get a photo of these.

14.) chicken blocks... these have not had much love this year.

15.) Bittersweet Briar - pattern in Kim Deihl's book and kit of fabric.

16) Brimfield Awakening EPP. I did start this and have the first fabric thread basted in purple!

17.) Bonnie Hunter Mystery - On Ringo Lake - maybe step #2?

18) Bonnie Hunter Mystery - Grassy Creek (2020) Think I am on step #4.

19.) 30's log cabin tulip quilt.

Quilt Tops: 

 20) Ella Maria Deacon Blocks. Hand pieced, machine stitched together into a top. Patterns from Sentimental Stitches.

 I need to measure and see if it is happy with it's size or not. All my quilts seem to have a mind of their own!

21) Vermont Quilt Festival Booth Hop from either 2008 or 2009.  it is 71x71.

22.) Y2K Joann's BOM - quilt top

23.) 1857 Quilt Along Top - This one is in the hoop for hand quilting as of December 2024. ** Might unpin this one so it doesn't rust and do something smaller first with the big BITA on the frame...

24.) Spring Hexagons - not sure if this wants to be bigger or not.... 

25.) Triple Irish Chain - green. 80x80 I think. I did find both fabrics extra with it... Might need a green or cream border first or both... Made in the early 2000's. circular feathers in open spaces.

26.) String of Beads is a top. I do want to add green circles to the meeting points of the green peels I think as well. The yellow ones really helped the colored parts of the peel flowers. I need a new photo of this one as I did get it to a top on 10/5/25. I promise!

Home in Florida

 I arrived home around 8:30 last evening and was happy to have a nice sleep in my own bed! I leave in a few days for another couple of weeks, but we have a house sitter in to watch and take care of the animals while we are on vacation.

I was surprised to learn that The Rock of Ages visitor center in Graniteville Vermont closed last year! I'm not sure how I missed that. Granite is the industry there and I grew up with blasts in the quarry around noon and 4:30 PM so the workers had stone to retrieve for monuments, tombstones, etc. The extra granite is called grout and there are plenty of grout piles around where I grew up. We actually have a granite basement in my parents house! They do find some nice uses for it, like along the walking patch here to help deter mud slides with the rain/snowfall.  The Vermont Granite Museum in Barre Vermont is a nice spot that tells of the history of granite in the state. It also has some hands on exhibits and one is the table my Mom used when she helped 'rub letters' for a local artist who designed monuments and tombstones for cemeteries. I brought the kids a few years ago and showed them the things their Grammy used when she worked part time when I was a teenager at Mr. Dandurands house with his wife. Gerald was quite the artist. 

I snapped a couple of photo's before we took off. The welcoming 'Green Mountain Boys' air force hanger at the Burlington Airport.

The green mountains. 

I managed to add 2 rows of crochet into the blanket I started on Sunday. Then more people were added  onto the plane at a stop in NC, and I put it away and played games on my phone. I did watch someone doing cross stitch a few rows ahead of me. Nice to see some crafts being worked on a plane. I think I'll be doing that on Saturday with some of the 12 hours of travel I have ahead of me to get to Alaska!

June 15.

 

This photo was from January when the kids and I were up in Vermont. 

Today is my parents 63rd wedding anniversary 💕!

I am on vermont with them and fly home tomorrow.  Dad has opted to be home at this point and made comfortable. He is 89.  My brother is up here and I'm transferring care to him. He will do a great job the next week.   

Not much time for stitching. I did start a crochet project. Just red heart variegated yarn. Maybe 130 or 150 chains then I'm doing a simple griddle stitch. 

I'm taxi service today to bring mom to her doctor visit. Maid and chef service too. Shhh. Don't tell hubby as cleaning is not done at home much by me! I see some cross stitch in my future this afternoon. 

Good news

 Some positive news.

Visited Dad tonight, he looked good. Tv was  on. Smiled.  joked a little. Some fluid retention finally moving out of his body. 

Think the med fix is figured out so pressure at night should stop. 

The biopsy results, slow moving, so good there too.

The Greg sent me this photo. From my tomato plant.

Emily sent me this photo.

Zucchini! 

I extend my stay to Saturday.  Hopefully dad is released in the next day or two. 

A little walk this morning on the trail. 

One of the bridges on the trail with the babbling brook. So soothing.