Design Wall Monday

Oh man! It's Monday already!

How did that sneak up on me?

This week on my design "table" I am working on

"A Fish out of Water" pattern that I bought when I was in

Juneau Alaska. This little quilt will be for my Summertime

swap. I REALLY need to get this done SOON so I can ship it off.

I'll post more pictures as this quilt comes along.

I think it is really going to turn out nice.

Well, I hope it is anyway!

Okay folks, I've gone and done it again!

I've entered the All People Quilt Journal contest with my friend Carla.

Please go and have a look at this link:
http://my.allpeoplequilt.com/photos/quilts-and-more-quarterly-challenge/challenge-3/1123500004/?photoId=1122800006&firstPhoto=true

The contest does not really start until next week when they announce
the 10 finalists, but the finalists are chosen by the "ratings" at each
contestant gets during this coming week.
You can "RATE" our journals by moving your cursor over the "Rate This"
and clicking on the amount of stars you think our covers deserve. (5, hint, hint)
Oh! and you can leave a comment as well!

Thanks so much for your kind support and I'll let you know if we make the finals!

I am still working on finishing up this halloween wall hanging.

Here I am auditioning borders.........I'm pretty sure that

this is what they will end up being.

My good friend Katrina wanted "butt blocks"

for her birthday, so this is what I came up with.....

I used one of the ladies in Barbara Lavalle's

"A toast to Issiac Newton" pattern that I also got in Alaska.

My creative daughter wanted to make a block for Katrina

as well. She always comes up with far-fetched designs that I

just KNOW won't work, but she keeps pushing and pushing

until she makes it work. (or gets me to make it work lol!)

Oh, and last, but not least........we celebrated my daughter's

24th birthday last night. I made a nice dinner and then we

played marbles. Such happy times. This marble board was made

by my dad and is a replica of the one that my Great-Grandmother's son had made for her. I played many a game of marbles with my great-grandma. I couldn't help but think that she was looking down on us

last night and smiling!

Cruisin' right along.......

Don't Mike and I look great in our cruise shirts?

This picture was taken on the first day of the cruise.

We wore our shirts on the plane....

isn't my husband a brave man?

I was embroidering these

THE NIGHT BEFORE WE LEFT!

No sense planning ahead of time, right?

Phew!

These is so much to catch up on when

you have been away for 2 weeks!

My husband and I flew to Seattle and boarded a

Holland American cruise ship

bound for Alaska.

We visited Glacier Bay, Juneau, Sitka,

Ketichan and Victoria, Canada.

After the cruise we spent 6 days in Oregon.

In Alaska we saw alot of wonderous things...........glaciers calving, orca whales, humpback whales, A BROWN BEAR!, salmon swimming upstream in droves! and of course a quilt shop in every town!

The week we spent in Oregon

we also saw alot of wonderous things........

Beautiful green valleys, tall, tall pines, apsens, the mighty ocean, clouds that swallowed us up and of course..........some quilt shops along the way.

Let's face it..........I do have my priorities in order!

In Juneau I visited Changing Tides. http://www.alaskastitching.com/About%20Changing%20Tides.html

This wonderful shop features an Alaskian artist,

Barbara Lavelle,

who has created some fabulous patterns.

One of which I bought and am eager to start!

I also bought a pattern called "A Fish out of Water".

It features

salmon swimming upstream,

and one fish jumping out of the water.

Well, when I saw this pattern I decided that I was going to put my fish IN the water..........

whoever heard of a fish flying in the air?

WELL! In Sitka and Ketichan I witnessed with my own eyes that FISH

actually do jump completely out of the water!

So now my salmon will

definetely fly........another pattern I am anxious to start!

Well, I have lots more to write about..........the cruise,

our brown bear experience,

classes on the ship,

about a 1/2 dozen more quilt shops, but alas,

I really need to stop for today and get back to work!