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!

Quilted Wallhangings and Wildlife

 I have been long-arming so many quilts and having escapades and computer/social adventures, that I have neglected this blog site  sorely.  My apologies.
I will try to earn your love again by sharing all that I can. 

Macaw for Client

I have been growing in so many directions lately:  personally, creatively, and educationally.  I have been quilting for clients and sometimes finding the time to quilt from my creative streak.  The Macaw is a wonderful example of what long arm quilting can do to lend form to a piece.  It was a very abstract top when my client gave it to me.  I studied photos of Macaws (via Pinterest and Google) for several days.  I have been discovering that taking the extra planning time really does make a better quilt.  I have even taken to marking quilt tops!

Quilts for Paws Project:  Merlin

  The Quilts for Paws project is a slow success.  I have not had an outrageous demand, but I have managed to get Shadow his surgery.  He is the happiest he has ever been in life.  It is quite nice to see.  I will continue this project as I do believe it is a good cause.  I did not begin is it just to help my animal and I would still like to help other animals get the veterinary care they need.
  Spring has finally come the Rockies.  We have had lots of rain so everything is really green and gorgeous.  This particular moose has been roaming the neighborhood.  We named him Mickey because his antlers kind of look like Mickey Mouse ears in the this photo. 

Mickey the Moose

Some of my focus lately has been developing my other social media sites.  It has become quite a long list actually.  Let's see, www.mountainjoyquiltndye.Etsy.com and this blog were my first social sites.  Now, I have added:  www.mountainjoyquilts.com, www.facebook.com/mountainjoyquilts,
I am so addicted to my Pinterest for great inspirations and a place to share my work,
a not so active linked in profile,
and personal FB   --Whehh! It takes 2 cups of coffee in the mornings just to check them all for comments.  I love getting comments! 
I promise to write and share more often again!  Keep quilting and creating!

The Moose of Mountainjoy

We have had many visiting  friends lately.  They have enjoyed getting to see some of our more regular visitors.  The moose are very comfortable here and they love to eat my aspens.  This mother and child pair have been sleeping here quite often of late.  So has another rather large and beautiful boy.  I enjoy their company and see that the dogs leave them alone.  I just wish they would eat more thistle and less fireweed or aspen.  I had no fireweed this year to make mead from.  And that is a bummer, but I am not about to start fighting with moose and am very happy that they like it here.
I've had friends with us most of the week and more are coming up today.  I got 2 quilts done, but they are for Commaworkshop and are mostly white writing on white fabric - something a photo does not capture.  I have yet to create the memory quilts webpage, we'll see how much I can get done today.  Only one more week at my farm job though so winter is coming and my computer time of the year begins.   I did re-open my Etsy site though, yeah!!!!
Keep on quilting and creating!

Spring Wildlife

I am currently working on a Top Secret quilt project, therefore you must be content with an update about Mountainjoy today versus quilts.  The wildlife is returning!  This past week has brought us some very special visitors.  First of all, the hummingbirds are back.  I had a little ruby red-throat sit at my empty feeder the other day. I jumped up and got him some food.  I've heard several more hummingbirds in the air but have not been dive-bombed yet.
The moose were here all winter long.  It was only 2 days ago that we actually almost hit one with my car.  We headed out our driveway (which is a chute and only belongs to us).  Suddenly, there was a moose in front of us!  My husband was a bit surprised he didn't see it until I reminded we don't normally look for cross-traffic in our own driveway.  The moose viewing happened in the evening.  The next morning, we had more visitors.
It was 6 in the morning and I was looking at emails waiting for the coffee water to boil.  It scared the pants off of me when from right behind, the dog goes off barking like crazy.  I looked out the window and didn't see what all the fuss was about.  I wanted my coffee.  My husband stayed by the windows watching.  His patience was rewarded as he got to view a pack of black wolves traveling fast in a long strung-out single file line along the trail the moose followed the evening before.  How cool is that?  Such majestic creatures they are!
Yesterday morning, I saw a beautiful owl headed back to it's home to sleep the day away.  He must have had a long night to going home so late in the morning.
On the smaller creature scale, I have chipmunks and rabbits to spare!
I'm off to do top secret stuff (it's so much fun to say) and you all keep quilting and crafting!

Moose at Mountainjoy

We have had a very busy week. There was a lot of work to do and a weekend getaway planned. We ended up leaving for a loaned cabin late because there was a dog bite/rabies scare earlier in the week as well. Luckily for me, casual exposure to one bite does not require treatment! Sid, however, is still slightly worried I think. The dog that bit him should be done with quarantine soon, nothing will come of it, and this story will just go into the many chapters of our life.
So, as we were about to leave for the cabin at the lake, it was dusk coming into dark. The dog was in the car with the door open. I walked out with the bagful of groceries (steak) and heard something down in the meadow. At first, I thought it was a bear. What to do? Dog is in car with door open, I'm on porch with STEAKS in hand and door locked behind me. Sid is in inside somewhere. I try to quietly find keys to open door and put groceries in house before going to close car door on dog. Just as I reach keys, Sid opens the door and I quietly fill him in that there is a BEAR in the meadow. WE look and it is actually a big old moose. So we sighed a deep sigh of relief and went and jumped in the car.
They are back today and there are three of them. They have eaten their fill of giant prickly thistles and yellow aspen leaves. Right now, the bull is lying down to nap. One of the girls is lying down as well while the third keeps watch. It is such a wonderful sight and worth coming home early for. I hope friends coming by soon don't disturb them too much. What a special place I live in.
As for quilting, winter has begun. We got our first snow storm this weekend. I only have three days of work down at the farm left and then it is quilting time! I am so looking forward to it this year. I have lots of quilts to do but always have time for more. Don't forget folks, I can help you get quilts done for the holidays or any occasion. So, please don't hesitate to contact me if you like what I do. Thanks so much for reading and have great week.

Morning Moose

This moose has been wandering through our property in the early mornings eating my cute little aspen grove. It is one of the largest moose I have seen the area. It is standing behind our ax-throwing target which is 6' tall. When it was closer, you could see its legs connected to the massive body right about 6'. It was a beautifully quiet and foggy morning yesterday when we were graced with this visitor. Happy Memorial Day every one.

The Moose & the Maul

Our friends have become regular evening visitors here at Mountainjoy. These three moose have been traveling nibbling through our property each night now. The night these photos were taken, I was sitting by the fire trying to get warm. I looked up and out the window and there was the big moose. She was standing so still, for a moment my brain just accepted it as natural, "oh, there is the moose." Followed by "Oh my gosh, it's as big as the Scouts!!!" Okay, maybe not as wide, but the moose are taller.

As we watched and photographed them, my husband began to realize where our wood-splitting maul went. You see, his favorite maul went missing a few days earlier. He'd looked around in the newly fallen snow but did not find it on the ground. We watched as the moose licked everything he had recently touched. They licked the cars, nibbled on dead aspen leaves, and really spent a good deal of time by the wood splitting station licking our other maul. When we saw this. My husband claimed the moose had taken his maul as a chew toy. I didn't really believe at first, I figured he just left laying down. Truth be told though, the moose did take the maul. We figure it was the big mama one because she really liked the second maul. She didn't go very far with it at least. We found it down in the meadow and are happily chopping wood again. We are careful about putting them up at dusk now though when we expect our friends to visit.

It is wonderful to be seeing moose in person as they have been a part of my life for quite a while. I'll tell you now how they tie in with my quilting and cooking apsects of life. A few years ago, I traded a quilt with moose motifs on it for a cord of wood. We were pretty broke, but as usual, quilts kept us warm in more ways than one. My first introduction to moose was Chocolate Mousse of course. As a little girl, I learned a very simple way to make an unsophisticated chocolate mousse. You just mix up some chocolate pudding and whipped cream in even ratios, put in individual dishes, top with whipped cream, and eat. There are many much more sublime versions of mousse out there, but this is a great quick fix.

Visitors

This past week, Mountainjoy saw several unexpected visitors. Four of them were dear friends that appeared earlier than we thought. It was wonderful to get to be with our friends. When you live way off the beaten track, it takes friends a great deal of effort to find you. We are so happy when they do. The older I get, the more I realize how important it is to hold on to my friends.

Some new friends that came by were three huge moose! Some people don't realize or believe that we have moose here in Colorado, but we do. These three came through the yard the other day while I was dancing in my living room. Halfway through a spin, I came around to see a big moose butt bounding off right in front of the window. He was the small, young one. The two much larger ones were not far off. They might have been mom and dad moose. The largest did have a nice rack and I could not see the third all that clearly. I grabbed my camera and ran out into the blizzard to take some photos for proof. I know better than to get off my porch when filming moose, bears, mountain lions, etc. So please, forgive the fact that this is not a great picture, just proof that moose were in my yard.