Can I get a little crafty with you?

I know this is supposed to be about TRAVEL and such, but a certain part of this Alaskan Adventure has involved hunting down local quilt shops (and while Lara was with us, yarn shops as well). Alaska’s Quilt shops are REALLY BIG on Alaska fabric. Lots and lots of moose, bears, puffins, Alaskan Indian motifs, sled dogs, wild flowers and more moose. And along with wonderful selections of Alaskan-themed fabrics, many of the shops are participating in the 2009 Great Alaska Shop Hop, which of course is just a marketing ploy to get quilters into their shops. Back home a Shop Hop usually ran for a day or a weekend, and you would try to get to as many shops as you could in the allocated time. Often each shop would offer a block kit which when made would work into a larger wall hanging or quilt (depending on how many blocks you were able to collect). The 2009 Great Alaska Shop Hop goes from May 1 through October 31st! (Gives you an idea of how much territory you’d have to cover to get to them all. Not to mention that some of them are inaccessible by road, and we brought neither a plane or boat!) Naomi and I have been doing our part to support the local quilt shop economy by picking up blocks where ever we can. I’m not sure if I’ll be putting them together into one quilt or just making individual wall hangings. Each block has a pieced square and then an appliqué of some Alaskan highlight – bears, fireweed, mountains, trees, glaciers, etc. Here is one I have finished so you can get an idea of what these blocks are all about –
Moose SH Block
My one other sewing project has been an assortment of Alaska themed pillowcases. Shhhhhh – these are gifts for my little granddaughters. Hope they aren’t checking!
Alaska Pillowcases
This one is for me –
Lupine Pillow Case
I really do love those lupine and fireweed!
Aside from all the fabric fun I’ve been having (especially while Gary has been busy doing plumbing things), I have also just completed my first knit hat. Daughter Lara is an exceptional knitter (and that’s not just her mother talkin’ here. Check out the picture of the three of us at the end of this post – she knit the sweater I’m wearing. Really, she’s amazing!). Anyway, even though I couldn’t figure out how to finish off a dishcloth that I had started a year ago, she thought I was ready to move on to making a hat. And then she left before I got to the hard part – trying to figure out what “ sl1, k2tog, psso” could possibly mean! Thanks to the internet, a little common sense and a forgiving pattern –
ta da – ze hat!
my first hat
And look – it even fits!
My first hat-1
Who know what I’ll be knitting next!
Thanks for hangin’ in through my little show and tell. Sometimes I just need to get that off my chest!
And as a thank-you for sticking with all the gobbley-gook about hopping shops, here are a couple of Moose Creek area photos that are a little more back on track –
These were taken around Upper Trail Lake-
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That’s it for today. We’ll be heading on to Soldotna tomorrow but I think we’re planning on stopping for a fish hatchery tour and a gold mine tour on the way. That’s one of the great things about Alaska – there’s always something “on the way”.

One thought on “Can I get a little crafty with you?”

  1. Nice job on the block, the hat, and I was admiring that sweater but had no idea Lara knit it. It’s lovely and you look great in it. Your pillow cases are fun too. I made some for a group that was donating them to young cancer patients who were in the hospital. They were quick, easy and fun! Yours are so special because of all that fun Alaska fabric.

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