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!

February Always Flies By

Sid and Gwyn enjoying some long awaited snow

 It has been quite an eventful month for me.  I have been working away on several quilts for Kerry of Commaworkshop.  I also attended three quilt events/guilds which were all very fun.  I have been working on a quilt for my aunt for 2 years now.  It is all hand applique block-of-the-month and named Empress Ohashi.  It is the type of project that I enjoy doing on cold, snowy days when I don't want to move more than three feet from the wood stove. 

Gwyn helping arrange Empress Ohashi

I just finished all the applique and pieced together as a quilt top the other day.  As you can see in the photo, my master of balance was helping me arrangement.  It is too funny how she sits in chairs like humans or the cats.  Now, I have to quilt it. 
I am, of course, nervous about this last step.  It is such a gorgeous quilt top.  So, yesterday, I had a play day.  I loaded the machine with pretty tie-dyed fabric and just played.  I think I learn more on a play afternoon than I do in months.  It is truly important to take the time to play/practice. 
I also just started taking a Zentangle drawing course.  I think it will really improve my skills as an artist.  I have never been good on paper, just give me fabric or frosting!  So, I thought it was time to learn.  The Zentangles are great and the style really translates into quilting quite nicely.  It is fun, relaxing, and educationally skill-building all at the same time. 

Bogie under pile of blankets

It is dumping snow on us today (finally!).  So nice and pretty looking out.  Starting to wonder if we should move the car to the bottom of the driveway.  It's about time.  We were really overdue and fire season just stinks of fear and anxiety around here in drought years.  Thank you for the snow!
Well, I am going to try to clean my house up today. I've been ignoring it for the sake of work lately, but let's face it, I'd rather be quilting any day of the week versus cleaning.  Glad my hubby keeps on top of things and I just go for the deep clean every few weeks.
Keep Creating and Quilting!

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!

Good Morning Snow

I drove home on clear roads last night at 6 pm with it just starting to snow.  These are not small cars under the snow.  The smallest is a Jeep Cherokee and the other two are a Scout and a Blazer both with lift kits.  This photo was taken at 9 am this morning and we just took a measurement of 26".  It is still snowing like crazy and I expect another 2-3 feet by the end of this storm.  Yeah!!!! We finally got some the moisture we need.  I am of course going to enjoy being snowed in for a few days quilting and making bread and maybe a split pea soup.  I do however feel sorry for our friend who stayed the night last night.  He had lots of things planned for the day and now we are making him breakfast.  There are worse places to get snowed in than Mountainjoy! 

Winter Begins for Me

We have only had one snowstorm so far and even it was late. The weather has been beautiful and warm for the most part. We believe it all balances out, so this just means the third week of January is going to be colder and windier than ever. If anyone wants to whisk me away for that week, I'll gladly brave the rest of winter up here at over 9000'. Okay, winter has begun for me this week as my seasonal farm job ended. I am home now quilting full time! And cleaning too! I spent the last four days doing some Fall cleaning in the house. You should see the herd of dust yaks, gnus, and wildebeests I came up with. Wait, on second thought, it's best not to disclose such things.
I will be quilting and cooking today. Baking actually. I'm going to make bread and either apple pie or apple spice cake. There is also dinner to contend with, pizza or leftover steaks?
Sid will be busy today too. Sundays have become the Blacksmith Day. He has assembled his forge and set up in the driveway. Two friends also come by and they all have a great time making things and practicing their skills. They are planning on having me set up an Etsy.com store today in which they can sell their wares to buy more coal to keep this whole operation going. Work has been scarce for a few years for these guys. I am beyond words to express how they feel when they come over and make stuff. It's not just that we could all use a little food money. It's that they get to create something unique. The fact that they pounded it out of hot metal also seems to please them. It is quite an interesting thing that has sprung up in Mountainjoy's driveway. Many more people (male and female) would love to come over and do some smithing as well. They have all been invited and I'm sure this will become quite a regular thing. I just hope they all build a shop over the stuff before winter sets in! I'm sure that if you look for it soon, you will find Sid'sSmiths@Etsy.com. Give me a week or so though, getting these guys organized is not the easiest thing to do.