Whew! What a Nail-Biter

Hi Everyone,

What an exciting morning!  When we lived in Alaska (2003-2007) we became big Iditarod fans.  The race always begins the first weekend in March and it was just won a few minutes ago.  Last night, things looked a lot different.  Jeff King, who is an "older" Alaskan musher was in the lead.  He passed by Aily Zirkle (a woman) to get there.  I went to bed thinking it would be another Jeff King victory (he has won 4 times.)  Well, I hadn't counted on the weather on the Bering Sea coast!  It was horrible conditions, with 65+ mph winds creating a dangerous situation.  Jeff King was just a few miles short of Safety (the last checkpoint before the finish line in Nome) when he got caught in the storm.  He stayed hunkered down with his dogs for a while but decided it was too dangerous and so he scratched.  Aily made it safely to Safety where she decided to stay out of the storm.  The third place position was held by Dallas Seavey.  He just had his 27th birthday (I know this because he and my daughter were born on the same day) and has already won the race once.  You may know him as he has been a participant on both seasons of Ultimate Survivor Alaska on the National Geographic Channel.  The storm didn't slow him down at all and he blew (literally) right through Safety.  I guess Aily wanted to try to catch him, so she set out in pursuit.  Dallas crossed the finish line first, winning his second (at 27!) and just two minutes later, Aily finished.  I like them both, but I really wanted a woman to win, as it has been 24 years since a woman has won.  (The first woman to win was Libby Riddles in 1985 and then Susan Butcher won 4 times in 1986, 87, 88, and 90.)  Anyway, it has been a very exciting morning!

I suspect, though, that you came looking for quilting stuff, not Iditarod updates.  So without further delay, I'm sharing  some more pictures from the quilt show.

This quilt was a stunner.  I'm not sure why, but it was hung way in the back of the show.  But maybe I'm just biased.  This is a quilt that was made for a Marine's Retirement.  I think a wife made it for her husband, but I'm not 100% certain--I was too busy looking at the details.  The Marine Seal is appliqued in the middle, complete with real cording around the perimeter.   She then embroidered different Marine saying around it and began to quilt.

It is hard to see, but across the top and bottom she quilted in his name and rank.

It was quite the quilt, and full of inspiration!

I've seen photos of this quilt from Road to California.  It is called "Jingle Bells" and won Viewer's Choice at Midatlantic.

That exhausts my better photos of the quilts.  I'll be back next time to show my purchases.  Did I say that yesterday?  I guess I mean it this time!  I also have some other posts to write about things I've been making, etc.  

Have a great day!

JoAnne