Spring 2012

 Spring is a beautiful time, here in Iowa. We celebrated Easter with an egg hunt in the back yard. Butterfly nets were used for gathering eggs. Meredith is wearing her pretty Easter dress.


 Gretta found the apple tree a good place to climb.  

 I visited Jesse in his preschool classroom.

Another Spring activity is soccer. Zach and Jace are good players for their teams and usually make at least one goal per game.

Alaska trip 2/12

Wilbur with his dog on the day he left for Alaska to see the Yukon Quest 2012.

Fairbanks, Alaska. 20 degrees below zero! Cold, but dressed for it. At the starting area for the race.

Away they go. Each team started with 14 dogs.  They run with voice commands only.

He stayed with dear friends in North Pole, a suburb of Fairbanks.

There were 22 teams that left Fairbanks for the 1000 mile long Yukon Quest. He saw the beginning on Saturday noon, February 4th.  The race was 11 days long and not all the teams finished. There are 8 check points between the beginning and the end at Whitehorse Yukon. He saw the beginning, then flew to Eagle, the 4th checkpoint, where there was a 4 hour mandatory stop.  We had been in Alaska two years ago and helped build flooded homes in Eagle. He enjoyed getting reacquainted with the local people.  He had wonderful hosts during his stay of a week.

 Below: one of the first 3 teams to come in to Eagle, notice the dog in the sled.

Above:The famous Yukon River, where Eagle is located.

Left: The check point building and staging area for the dogs and mushers. The mushers had flown in all food and hay/straw for their dogs, previous to the race so it would be available at race time.

Below: Typical lead dog, resting, while his master takes a break. 
Next Picture: Lance Mackey, with his dogs, four time winner of the Iditarod and also previous Yukon Quest winner. 

Wilbur got to run his own dog sled team.  What a highlight!

Above: one of the homes, Mennonite Disaster Service built, two summers ago.  It was so good to get back and meets the Turners again.

Back in Fairbanks: The trucks that mushers use to haul their dogs.

A common occurrence in "Fairbanks, mama moose and her calf stroll down the street. 

Special Memories: Flying over the mountains on the way to and from Eagle.  The dog sled teams coming into Eagle.  Both the dogs and the drivers have happy expressions.  They all love to run. The sunset was so beautiful and so were the Northern Lights but he could not capture them on a photo.  It was a DREAM come true for him.

Quilt Studio

I have had trouble with my Google password  and finally got that resolved so I could blog.

I will be posting again soon to share some Yukon Quest pictures that hubby took in February.

 I have been wanting to share some pictures of my quilt studio that is just about completed.  We are still working on the design wall, and we just covered the large L shaped counter with fabric. I bought ironing, quilted, insulated fabric yesterday to make a large ironing surface for the counter. I love working in this room, it is very restful for me and as I get things in their correct places it will be even more restful.

 I have sorted my fabric and now it is in clear tubs with labels.  Love it.

 I have several chairs for relaxing, hand sewing and visiting with friends and family.  The coffee pot is usually on, so come for a visit.

 I separated the flannel from regular cottons and store them in this shelving unit.

 My Nolting Long Arm machine.

 A view from one corner, I have several machines set up but use my Bernina QE the most.

 There is a lot of storage under the large L shaped counter. I have my sewing thread sorted in the blue lidded tubs by color.

 I keep my projects in process in these plastic boxes, so when I want to work on a project, the pattern, the fabric and everything I need is all together. 

 I made this quilt for friends in Eagle Alaska, which hubby took along as a house gift when he went to stay with them in February for the Yukon Quest.

 A close up of the Eagle quilt.

 The fabric for this quilt was purchased in Alaska,when we were there 3 years ago.  I made this up for two special friends in Fairbanks.  Hubby took this along as a house gift when he went Alaska.

This is not the best picture but I thought you might be interested in my quilt labels.  I print the details on fabric

Then I add a border that matches the quilt and then just attach by hand or machine.

Christmas Photos

We like to take a few "official" photos of each Christmas. I am sharing some pictures of Christmas 2011. I had our tree on the four season porch this year, because of having more room.  We opened our gifts out there and took our Christmas pictures there also.

Theresa and Kent and their family.

Mike, Liz and their family minus Alyssa and Fredrik.

Beth and Rod and their little girls.

Kristen, Randy and family.

We have a Christmas tradition, of having fondue on Christmas eve. We have the big table and the kids table.  Oh, what fun.  We have been serving fondue on Christmas eve for 47 years!  Wow, that makes us old.

The newest grandchild, celebrating Christmas.

The quilts were in constant use at Christmas, so I think they liked them. I made labels for them this week, to put a record on each one as to when it was made , to whom and from grandma Mary.

I just had to add a few pictures of Ellen, that were taken on Christmas day in Iowa.  It was warm enough to be outside without a coat. 

Ellen and her mother.