Moments at Mountainjoy

 It has been a busy month.  The weather has been unusually wet and raining causing the rivers to flow and the flowers to grow.  The moose have been visiting on their annual tour.  The two picture here are bull moose, one we nicknamed Mickey because his growing rack looked just like Mickey Mouse ears one day.  Therefore, "Mickey the Moose" he became. 

 

We have had tragedy in the community.  Too many recent deaths, but truly saddest was the loss of young Sophia Dubose.  She was taken by the raging river in Boulder Canyon one day.  The community had a benefit for her family and the tree quilt was my contribution to the silent auction.  I found out later that friends of mine who were very dear to Sophia as well purchased this quilt. It all makes me very happy when my quilts go to great people.

Speaking of happy, I was delighted with the way the Mariner's Compass came out.  I put a lot of planning into the quilt designs and it really paid off.  If this quilt gets to grace the walls somewhere in the Supreme Court as planned, I will definitely let you all know.

I have been doing a lot of spinning lately.  It is hobby I pick up on annually, but the bug really got me this year.  It's all I want to do.  I make deals with myself - so much quilting then so much spinning.  I am also quite pleased with my new position as Fiber Director at Mountain Flower Goat Dairy.  Along with all my other day jobs, I get to turn kids on to fiber at a 3 day camp this summer!

Wedding Memory Quilts

I got married to my tie-dyeing husband 5 years ago.  As mentioned in earlier blogs, the whole wedding was tie-dyed including my dress and the Huppah.  It only took me these 5 years to finish because I'm always doing projects for others.  This is the first time my mom gets see this quilt finished.  She painstakingly pieced this dahlia quilt for me of the fabrics we had people sign with their well-wishes.  Along with the usual love & joy, some of the wishes were fabulously funny such as "If this quilt is a rockin', don't come a knockin'."
This quilt was no different than any of my other learning experiences with quilting even though I didn't piece it.  I have done signature quilts before and one was a great family tree that used fusible applique.  During that quilt, I learned it was better to attach fusible to the back of fabric before people signed it (the fabric doesn't wiggle and you don't have to use sandpaper).  So, I talked my mom into doing this for our quilt.  She didn't know that she was going to choose a Dahlia pattern.  For anyone who is thinking of doing this---Never, Ever fuse the back of fabric if you are going to make a Dahlia!  Mom did a great job and it actually quilted and lays pretty flat for all the stiff bulk that went into the seams.  This quilt will soon be hanging over our bed and the finished Huppah quilt will be on our bed.  Our room will look so nice if I ever get around to arranging it!  Photos to come in the future (near or far).
I was visiting the Quilters Blogging site this morning and found it was updated.  Michelle is doing some amazing work trying to keep all of us quilters connected and informed.  She has put out an invitation for more quilt bloggers to join the directory.  If you are not aware of this site and directory yet, you should really go check it out.  I'm setting up a link so you can get there quickly and start reading about quilters and their experiences world-wide.

Here is the finished quilt I teased you all with in last week's blog.  I was given about 50 ties to make this quilt with.   I was told that I could do whatever I wanted as long as it was masculine and large enough to fit on a bed top.  I settled on the Windmill patter which is a variation of the pinwheel.  Do you see the signed Cal Ripkin Jr tie in the lower corner hiding behind the aloe plant?  I choose to showcase several of the ties with character or importance.
In order to get it large enough for a bed spread, I went to my silk stash.  This is a bag of silk fabrics I inherited when I was a teenager from a rather famous Taos,NM artist.  So, 20 years later, some gorgeous brown silks from the bag made their way into this quilt as sashing.  The windmills were actually kind of static so I arranged the sashing in step-ladder style to move the eye across the quilt.  
Once it was all quilted with free motion pinwheels and ribbon-cable sashing, it looked better than I had envisioned.  This is pretty rare for me.  I love this quilt!  Now comes the time I hope the client loves what I did too.
It's another windy day here in the mountains.  The boys are out blacksmithing anyway.  They haven't built a shop yet so last time I looked, they had hooked up a steel plate in the vice on several logs to create a wind block for the forge.  Hmmmm, those boys.  I suppose I should make them stew for lunch if I want to be really nice.  At the moment, I should be doing my sales taxes for the year.  I might just enjoy a day off in between quilt projects though.  COOKING AND CLEANING, HERE I COME!
HAVE A QUILTERIFIC AND CRAFTASTIC WEEK!

All Tied Up

Roxy's Quilt

I was recently hired at my favorite local mountain establishment as a barista (coffee maker). As usual, within due time I found myself not only a barista but a waitress, line chef, pastrychef, and early morning bartender. It is fun and I have been creating breakfast menus and doing anything else to get used to this new job. Funniest thing about it all is they hired my husband as well. Long ago, he and I met at a coffee shop we worked at. And, we actually had our wedding reception at the Stage Stop where we now serve coffee again together. I love life's little circles.
The quilt to above is one that I finished for my husband's mother. It incorporates my late father-in-laws wonderful tie collection. My husband dyed the backing and I quilted it all together with lots of love. Now Roxy can have all of us snuggle with her at once regardless of distances apart. That is one of the best things about quilts. They completely embody the love of the maker and this love is seen and felt by others. That is just way too cool don't you think?