My little friend

Well Henrietta, the pheasant must have come on hard times or something--she is not around this fall and now we are into winter. Here is a little guy who comes though. He is a nut hatch. He grabs a seed and goes to the tree trunk and head down cracks the sunflower seed open. He sat on that limb for a long time--I watched him and then went to the other side of house for my camera and thought for sure he would be gone before I got back but he waited. Then he grabbed his seed and flew under the limbs.

Thanksgiving

I finally got the table runner done just in time for Thanksgiving. I bought the fabric over a year ago. Life is good. Larry and I cooked a great dinner. He did the turkey on the barbecue grill and it tastes yummy--he also did the bread. I did the rest. We miss the kids and grandkids too but that is how life goes!

BRRRR Cold and not November yet

It was 5 degrees on the plus side this morning. COLD We have no snow on the ground. We have had some snow fall but it has been warm enough to melt it or rain would follow. We have had two nights of high winds--gusting to about 30 mph.

We are renovating the only bathroom we have in this small house. Took out the pink bathtub--yes we had a pink bathtub! Larry installed a shower stall in its place. He removed a wall last night to move it over about 4" but it will only be half way up and will have open shelves above that. We had taken out the honking big hot water tank in the summer as we have replaced it with a tankless on demand hot water system. Larry is also installing new flooring. I have been painting and replacing things on the walls. My laundry appliances are in this large bathroom too. I put all the laundry stuff now in the closet that housed that old hot water tank. It's all shaping up but it is taking FOREVER! Anyone who knows me knows patience is not one of my strong suits.

Quilting and sewing? Oh yes, working on so many quilts, wall hangings and table runners. Just recently completed two rainbow quilts that Sasha had put together for Reily and Tatelyn. The photos I took of them came out fuzzy so I am not posting them here. I am also doing some Christmas gift sewing. Every day I can spend sewing is a good day. Winter is great--more time for sewing!

Baby quilt/baby due any day

I made this quilt for Larry's sister's granddaughter's new baby Kaydence Mackenzi. It came out pretty special and I love the kitty cats! This one went in the mail today!

Last hurrah

Since we have not been camping this summer, we decided to take a couple of days off and go do that--you would think we worked or something! We had tons of stuff to do around the house but nothing that could not wait. We will be putting the MH in storage as soon as we can now as we doubt there will be any more camping this year. We only just went down to Homer Spit and camped right on the beach as we wanted to walk on the beach and gather coal for the outside fire pit. It was fun watching people walking their dogs, children playing, and someone using a parasail to ride the surf. It was so windy the next day we decided it was too cool for us on the beach and decided to pack up and hit the rd. We stopped at Anchor Point Beach on our way back and ate lunch there and watched the surf. So this the results of of our overnight get-away.

This was the only sailboat I saw that day but we saw lots of fishing boats but too far away to get anything decent.



This wind surfer was fun to watch--he of course had a wet suit on. Larry was watching him from a distance but he did come closer and I got a better shot.





Larry snapped two good photos of the sunset that evening.





This is the Anchor River and I wanted photos of the river running by those big rocks. The river is running a little high since we have had so much rain recently.



The leaves are starting to fall. This was taken at the state campground down on the Anchor River.

Typical Alaskan

Another project completed and ready to be shown at the Keani Peninsula State Fair coming up Aug. 15. I like to vary my projects.

exploding mums

This quilt was made from a pattern called "Reflections". It is done sort of like a stack 'n whack with the four identical layers. However the layers are manipulated so you get a gradual repeat. I used fusible grid also which was a new technique for me. I plan to show this quilt in the Kenai Peninsula State Fair this month.

Valdez

I went over to Valdez for a couple of days. I just flew over as it is ten hours to drive it although just a hop over the mountains. Daughter Paula was visiting from Iowa so I got to see her as well as daughter Carla, who now lives in Valdez. Had one gorgeous day so we went out on the boat fishing for an afternoon. Here are a couple of photos from that trip.





I

AWARD

Well, I won something! Thank you Suzy! I will try to figure out 5 to send the award and spread the glory!

flowers

This photo was taken in my favorite spot for perennials in my yard. The iris are in full bloom. One or two lupine in the back drop. I love daisies! The lighter lavender flower is wild geranium. My rhubarb has gone to seed. The roses are just now starting to bloom. Larry's old snow plow truck in the background sorry--because of all the bulldozer work being done in the yard, he moved it over there out of the way (almost into my flower garden).


This photo is of the lupines that border our rds and are in our fields everywhere now in Alaska. Beautiful. This was taken on the rd to the beach and boat launch as my friend Cheri and I walked it. This is part of the scenery we experience every day on our walks (2.5-3 mi).

Boat launch

This is how boats are launched at the Anchor Point Beach. It is 15 miles to Homer to a "normal" boat launch in the harbor and another 20 miles north to another boat launch like this one in Deep Creek. It is so much fun to watch the boats get launched and retrieved--all sizes as long as they are not too deep in the water. There is a natural sand bar that runs out in the area. We have a slip or slot at the harbor on Homer Spit so we use the launch there for our boat. When the boats are retrieved it can be difficult because of waves and wind drift. Sometimes they jam right in on their trailer. There is a young man who hooks the trailer up and the tractor driver pulls them out. The "hooker" has a "cold" job.

More beach photos

These crows were up near the boat launch and we got quite close to them and they would have been been better behaved to stay put if we had not had some tag alongs. Two young dogs tagged along with us on our walk--we think they belonged to some campers. We knew the crows were not fussing about the fact we were there since the boat launch was right there and lots of people around continuously but the dogs worried them a lot. We were concerned about the dogs following us all the way back to where I was parked but we ditched them at another camping area. I like how the roots and stumps make a nice back drop for the crows.

Beach days and birds

A friend and I have been walking the beach. I remembered the camera yesterday. I will post more in later posts of more pics as this is just a start. the eagles and sea gulls have been feasting on fish carcasses and some look almost too full to fly.




We walked very close to a young eagle. Don't ask me how but I got this one about to take flight. Just in our walk there had be 30 eagles in various stages of growth. They were on the bluff too and flying overhead. It's difficult to walk and get photos too and some too far away for my little digital to get a decent photo.

Quilting on the Kenai --Show 6-27-08

Latest quilt completion

I finally completed the "disappearing 9 patch". I wanted to make it larger than what was declared in the class I took from a friend so had to use a couple of other lighter fabrics in the blocks but I put them in the corners and scattered a couple more throughout. I quilted it myself on my Grace with the Elna. Not my very best work but I am happy enough with it. I did not have to pay someone to quilt it at least. It is a large quilt and fits on a king size bed. The backing is a hoot and something I picked up at a quilt store for $4 a yd. This is a fun project but I had to drag it out. I just finished the binding tack down on 6-18. I placed it on our bed but need to take the leftover fabrics and try to concoct a bed skirt with them to match. How long can I drag that out--a few more months probably but there are other priorities calling.

Grandchildren on the beach

Our son and family spent a week here in Anchor Point the first week in June. They stayed at the cabin. They went clam digging and had lots of fun here on the peninsula. We took the kids just to walk on the beach one day too. They found shells, rocks, and star fish.
Reily on the beach at Homer Spit.
Tatelyn at Homer Spit

Caden under Mom's hoodie.