Snow. Yeap!

After few days of Spring we are back to the white decor that we are so used to in Alaska. I must say even after 12 years of living here I still like snow. Call me crazy, that would be ok since it is also a side effect of living in this part of the world. It is a mixed feeling as I do miss what is happening right now in the South of France but I do enjoy the sweet smell of fresh snow on a spring day. I believe that a little sunshine on the landscape with add to my well being but that would ask a bit too much. Anyway those few days were busy with the Alaska Fiber Festival. We had a nice Quilt Walk Downtown Anchorage. The galleries and few other stores were hosting Fiber Artists and Vintage Quilts, some as old as the Civil War. Virtu is carrying some of my quilts. They have done an exceptional job at hanging the show. The walls are chocolate color and it sets the pieces so well. Made me very proud to see them displayed that way. Anyway KC Lowe's wool artwearables are also on the spotlight as well as a gorgeous silk painted quilt by Wendy Wood-Smith and quilted by my friend Ruth Simpson. They also have as a regular Mary Hertert who has a solo show at Snow City Cafe this month with gorgeous installments representing "the" elements. Artique of course has "champion fiber artists" with Lucy Zerker's wool beauties, Nelda Warkentin and others that you can check looking online. Nancy Dobson and Deb Hardman are both at Sevigny Gallery. Their quilt colors are just perfect for the watercolors of Kathy Sevigny. How fun to be part of it all.
On the other hand the "Studio Project" is still going on with lots of frustration because I started painting cabinets and it is smelly and I will have to wait for the summer to do that outside. So now I have to hurry and finish before I take off for California, Arizona and Colorado. I will be gone 6 weeks starting this coming Tuesday. I am bringing some wool fabric to play with and hand dyed of course. Few books. Thinking of books I just finished "The Thirteenth Tale" by Diane Setterfield. It was a very good book. I had to warm up to it as the first few pages were quite hard for me to like the characters. Things do build up so well and the story is grabbing you. Compassion comes and surprises come to get you interested in going on til the end. I had to pace myself in order to make the pleasure last. I could have read it in two days. So I do recommend this great read. Now on to another style with a Fred Vargas Mystery book "Have Mercy on us all" So far so good. I wish I could have gotten a copy in French as the translation is a bit heavy on the English words. Not flowing as well as I would like. It is translated by David Bellos... he is British. That might explain the style a bit stiffer and the idioms a bit off from what I am used to. I will try to stock on original Fred Vargas in my next trip to France. In the meantime I will learn a lot in this reading. Something new to me came in the mail yesterday. Something that I have bought from Japan. A Gocco PG5 printing machine. I am pretty happy about that. I might be able to do my own printed cards from now on. I will take my instructions with me on my trip and see what it is all about. I have seen lots of artists use it on Etsy, the online shop that I visit often. There is also good pod casts showing how to do it. So it is going to be good. Oh I can also print on fabric with a special ink and pad which I got too. ahha.
This weekend is promising with the Fiber Art Show at the Conoco Phillips building and the Fashion show at the Alaska Berry Company Theater.
No pictures this time. Let see if anyone is still interested in reading instead of just looking at pictures....ahhahhaha. Thhhhat is it for now! Oh... Lance Mackey won the Iditarod 2008. He is such a nice guy. His two leads dogs just adore him. So great. He won $69 000 plus a brand new Dodge Truck. Ole!