Moose Calf Visit

Fresh tracks cutting across our yard the past two days indicate the Amur Maple was once again munched by moose.  Our little visitor this afternoon may or may not be the culprit, but at this point I'm losing heart about the perennials and feeling a bit more compassionate toward the moose dealing with our record snowfall.

Ice melt attracted him to our deck - mmmm salty!

To date, Anchorage snow accumulation registers 108.7" (before it started snowing today), which means we need 24.1" to match the current record set in 1954/55 of 132.8"!  I won't be surprised if we set a new record with more winter yet before us.

Young calf sprouting antler nubs. He's pretty healthy looking.

Maggie spotted the moose from the front window and came unglued so I relegated her to the laundry room long enough to snap the remainder of these photos.  Some are through the window but many are from my open front door.  This guy wasn't shy.

For the sake of photography, I broke the no feeding rule.

No excuse. I shouldn't feed the moose, and usually don't.  This guy was little and the snow was deep and.... I just caved.  :/  I hope he forgets where I live.

From my front door - no zoom lens.

Kurt didn't notice the moose until almost too late!

Hubby came in from work, pulled the truck into the garage, cleared the windshield on the Explorer in the driveway, went back in the garage, came back out looking at the moose tracks up the stairs and was thoroughly caught by surprise.  I knocked on the window for him to pay attention.  So glad I captured this shot.  The moose wasn't phased in the least.  He chewed his cud for another 30 minutes before leaving our yard.

Winter Drip

Some viewers may interpret this photo with dismay but I am ecstatic!  Look at that glorious sunshine!  Dripping icicles indicate melt, which indicates warmer temps.  Yep, we have had some lovely mid 30ºs even into the evenings. 

This clothes line visually suggests an entirely new meaning to the term "drip dry".

February, 'chinook winds' offer Anchorage a long awaited reprieve from January's biting cold. This temporary warmth instills renewed anticipation of  Spring within the next couple months. The key word to note here is 'temporary'. 

As per Wikipedia, a Chinook wind is described as follows:

"The reference to a wind or weather system, simply "a Chinook", originally meant a warming wind from the ocean into the interior regions of the Pacific Northwest (the Chinook people lived near the ocean, along the lower Columbia River). A strong Chinook can make snow one foot deep almost vanish in one day. The snow partly melts and partly evaporates in the dry wind. Chinook winds have been observed to raise winter temperature, often from below −20 °C (−4 °F) to as high as 10–20 °C (50–68 °F) for a few hours or days, then temperatures plummet to their base levels.

Our increased daylight, warmer temperatures and dripping icicles are determined to put a record breaking snowfall behind us.  I for one am soooooooo ready.

2012 Round Robin ~ Finished Tops

Mary with Cathy's

Jackie with Judy's

Lynnette with Mary's

Cathy for Irene's

Irene with Jackie's

Louise with Lynnette's

Judy with Louise's

This was the final reveal before returning the tops to their prospective owners today.  This year we started with a theme fabric and I'm not sure if beginning with a block was easier the previous two years or not?  As art quilts, each project changed significantly from beginning to end as we were challenged and inspired to 'do our thing'. 

Personally I love the freedom of a 'no rules' approach to art quilting, but I do find that basic elements of art prevail regardless.  I'm most noticeably cognizant of balance, contrast, color and shape with everything I create.  If any of those elements are lacking or predominant, my next creative step is usually focused on bringing the overall back in balance visually.  Although group projects create design challenges beyond our control, I believe that in itself is an excellent teaching tool to stretch our abilities and problem solve.  We may not like everything in the end but if group projects are looked upon as learning experiences that offer creative inspiration we might otherwise never encounter ~ Round Robins certainly provide all that and more.

I encourage the timid and venturous both to gather some committed sewing friends to form a Round Robin group and start playing!

Spiritual Care Quilts

Using up the last scraps of my blue Teddy Bear fabric, flannel plaid and solid red fabric, I was able to complete two more Providence Hospital ~ Spiritual Care quilts.  These two were both made with children in mind, particularly boys because of the guy like colors.   I make the quilts, God sees to the deliveries.

I use a chalk pencil for marking my precut stencil pattern, then free motion quilted. It's been a while since I've done this and it shows!  Oh well, the kids won't mind.

Construction on this top required a bit of fuss and play to keep it balanced looking. I couldn't have squeaked out any more from my scraps than I did.

Both of these quilts are approximately 24" squares, which is the desired size Providence Spiritual Care prefers for their patients.  Sadly, the need is an ongoing situation, but as long as I have the ability and resources, I will continue to produce more quilts for this heartfelt cause.

Vision Board 2012 - Simplify

Judy's 2012 Vision Board

Being the organized, goal oriented, creative soul that I am, I wonder why I've never assembled a personal Vision Board in my past?  This tool, as a powerful visual reminder for realigning high aspirations, is also a fun art project.  I enjoyed the entire collage process, mentally and creatively.

My strong desire to improve my life in 2012 required concentrated soul searching to decide what it is I needed and wanted to focus on.  Simplify is my chosen word for 2012.  Personal interpretation will vary, but for me, my surroundings needed to be decluttered and better organized, working simultaneously with a decluttered and a more ordered mind.

My vision board reflects my continuing goal toward improved health and fitness, as well as the internal mindset needed to live my best life in the process.

A few material items are geared toward long range goals - affirming my worthiness to have what I work for ~ like nice jewelry, vacations, home improvements and such, but they are more as rewards than gotta haves.  Mostly I desire a life of daily peace, good health, victory and joy as I live the best I can be for self and others.

Whether it was the magazines I used that limited me, or the abundance of words that spoke to my heart, I was surprised to view a board of mostly text.  For that reason, I will print out some of these close up photos to post the written inspirations for various areas of the house.  Funny thing is, if I never looked at this board again, I believe I reaped untold benefits just from creating it, for the thoughts and images were simultaneously stamped in my mind.

Donation Quilts

Our quilt guild will be sponsoring the annual Teddy Bear Tea on February 16th. Today was the last Thursday to turn them in.  I made three over the weekend and finished a fourth this morning before heading to guild. 

 A Teeny Beanie baby fish and crab have a storage pocket so they won't get lost.  My fat quarter of turtle fabric was just enough to create the undersea theme on the reverse side.

For those unaware, the Teddy Bear (and Wannabee's) Tea is a charitable outreach by Anchorage Log Cabin Quilt Guild members, to various child related social service organizations in Anchorage who are in crises of some sort or another.  The stuffed animal and quilt are given to a child in need as a means of tangible and intangible comfort as they weather the storms of life.

This year I focused on stash busting this blue teddy bear theme fabric I had hidden in my copious piles of fabric. I'm not even sure where it came from but it sure worked great with a pile of crazy pieced beige tone blocks on hand just waiting for a project.

A strip pieced top using up smaller scraps.

Simple but effective.

With a bit more abstract setting.  I recycled my Dad's torn flannel pajama shirt for the reverse side. Lightweight fusible stabilizer strengthened the flannel before piecing it into a backing.

The dimensions are elusive in these photos.  The animal quilts were approximately 20" give or take but the flannel backed quilt above was 26" square and made for Providence Hospital's Spiritual Care Center.  Throughout the year I will produce more quilts for PHSCC as time allows.  I enjoy using up fabric and batting scraps for these smaller projects and they enable me to play around with free motion stitching ideas where it's not a big thing if they aren't perfect. :)

In the past, I usually attached a separate binding but that is labor intensive.  Now I keep it simple, fast and fun with pillow style construction, sometimes rounded corners and quilting enough to stabilize the particular batting inside.  Practice for me, comfort for kids.  Win ~ Win.

Wool Works In Progress

Winter temperatures rekindle my dormant desire to play with yarns.  Handling wool fibers warm my hands and work stiff hand joints. My project below is presently in limbo so I thought I'd share some history in the meantime.

Machine felted wool crocheted rectangles made from needlepoint kit yarns.

My friend Ramona is a prolific, extremely accomplished hand quilter and knitter.  Years ago, her beautifully felted purses sparked my interest in wool felting. She graciously shared her felting process using a washing machine, which joyfully eliminates laborious hand felting and leads to near instant results.  Ramona gifted me with a bag full of wool yarns she scrounged from garage sale needlepoint kits, knowing I'd eventually do something with them.  This project has been evolving since then in stages.

I'm not a knitter.  Although I've attempted knitting a few times since childhood, I found crochet less frustrating, quicker and readily adaptable for the large flat items I usually make.  Imagine my delight discovering I could achieve relatively similar results with felted crochet instead of knitted wool.

Results vary according to wool fiber choices and the amount of machine washing done.  Since I'm not an expert in this field by any stretch of the imagination, all my attempts have been strictly experimental and surprisingly satisfying.  The main 'recipe' for machine felting is using 80 to 100% wool fibers (not the type that won't shrink), hot soapy water just enough to cover the wool in the machine, and high machine agitation.  Repeat as necessary to get the shrinkage required.  Hand block and air dry on a flat surface.  It truly is as simple as it sounds.

Tentative layout for a possible rug, wall hanging or perhaps a couple of throw pillows.

The rectangles were crocheted by tying short yarns end to end, then each crocheted block was edged with the same orange wool yarn prior to felting.  The orange introduced a unifying element amidst the chaos of color.  After machine felting, I hand blocked each square, scissor trimmed the knots and loose ends that didn't fully recede in the felting process, and laid all the blocks on my plastic folding table to dry.  Final results will be posted hopefully before the trees start budding!

"Time and Tide Wait For No Man"

Most of my early felted pieces were made into small purses and hand sized pouches. The foundation of the mixed media art wall hanging shown above  resulted from a failed purse attempt. It pays to never give up. Honest!  (That's a SOLD sticker on the art tag).

A small zippered pouch with button and bead embellishments.  The shoulder bag is densely constructed of double strand crochet. I used recycled silk and wool together.  I love the texture.

 Noro yarn from Japan is so luxurious. The subtle blend of color transitions occur naturally when the yarn is stitched.  If my recollection is correct, I used two different skeins which gives the purse a reversible appearance.  This purse is lined and velcro closes at the top.  The handle is a kumihimo braid with a beaded strand added in for glitz and drama.

According to my research, these Striped Flint agates are only found in Poland and are supposedly pretty rare.  I wonder? There's 7 right here on this purse. Well, I'd never seen them before I bought this strand in a local bead shop.  They were too pretty to separate.

A rosette was squeaked out of the remaining purse lining fabric. Drape a few miscellaneous fibers left from the handle and voila! A versatile look, pretty enough to dress up or down with.

Here's more felted skeins of Noro yarn in the process of becoming something wonderful, someday.  The two clutches need embellishments.

Creases are visible from folding before drying them as purse shapes.  I pinned them open for viewers to read how one skein of Noro blends so beautifully.

That's it for the winter woolies.  Hope everyone in cold country is staying warm and cozy.  If not, it's time to play with wool!

Snow Records in Anchorage, Alaska

Major limb damage on our Amur Maple thanks to excessive, wet, heavy snowfall.  I'm wondering if I can shape this mess into a bonsai? ha.

Our record snowfall this winter is hitting the news big time.  Frankly, I wish we were not so notable in this regard.  Between the relentless snow and the weird temperature fluctuations, especially the subzero double digit readings, we hardy Alaskans are getting a bit weary of this record breaking phenom.

I read that the weather service counts our snow year from July to June. From July 1 through Tuesday, January 10th, Anchorage has received 81.3 inches of snow.  That's almost 7 ft. of snow mostly from late October.  As per Meteorologist Shaun Baines, Anchorage is experiencing the snowiest period since records have been kept.  Oh goodie!  Take a look at the National Weather Service snowfall records for Anchorage.

The following photos were taken from my yard in South Anchorage on the 11th.  Snow removal in neighborhoods has been challenging, our double lane roads are narrowing with every snowfall and just accessing the house is a challenge right after the big snow dumps.  Thank goodness for snow blowers, shovels and strong backs.

When my kids were little we used the accumulated snowfall in our culdesac for sledding down and building forts.  The mountain of snow has nearly doubled in height since the graders plowed last week to tighten up the circles.

It's been so bitterly cold, I've seen few kids out playing this winter, at least for any length of time.  Way too cold for dog walking Maggie. 

This little Nuthatch with an abnormally long beak whom I've dubbed "Beaker" is my resident regular at the feeder.  He'll camp for extended periods of time throughout the day on 'his' perch.

Typical overnight snowfall on the railing.

Maintaining Maggie's access to her dog pen creates regular workouts for me.

I am sooooo ready for Spring and sprouting greenery.  I'll bet Maggie and Beaker are in agreement.