Our 'Kitty' Arrives to our Mountain Home

You may recall early in May, my hubby and I went to Sedona, Arizona where he saw and promptly purchased a sculpted mountain lion by reknowned artist John Kessler. Well, this lion is big so he surely didn't come home in our SUV but was instead delivered to us. We are thrilled he arrived and seems happy in his new home. A few pics of the delivery follow:

First the meeting of the minds and cats at the base of our one lane mountain road. The sculpture is wrapped and secured in the back of the white pick up. An even bigger "Cat" (or rather Caterpiller) will be instrumental in getting the sculpture onto its permanent home pedestal.


A slow wind up the road and then to prepare to lift and relocate:


It would be a fair statement to say we were scared when the single strap under the belly of the mountain lion, raised him to the prepared pedestal. I was guaranteed it would lift 3000 pounds. It did just fine and we breathed a sigh of relief when the lion touched down.

Here,he is starting to emerge from his protective wrapping.
Caught in afternoon light and shadow, he rests beside his new owner, hubby Ray Hughes




This mountain lion is nothing short of spectacular and will retain the name given by the artist.. "Majestic Lion".
To see other works by John Kessler, visit www.vickerscollection.com. Our deepest thanks to both John Kessler for making his art available to us and to Philip Vickers of the VC Gallery of Fine Art, and ofcourse Jan, the Gallery Director.
An unexpected side note... The dogs that live and walk in the canyon aren't quite used to this lion looking down at them from a ready to pounce position. Ray and I are regularly awakened by repeated dogs barking warnings at our Majestic Lion.

Nope.. Not A Quilt

Sure looks like a quilt design, but instead these are but 2 of the many appx. 16"x 20" stained glass panels displayed along the seaside boardwalk in Ketchican, Alaska. I certainly can see a quilt in the making from these as inspiration.

and ofcourse Alaskan Salmon

Home From Alaska

What an incredible trip. A chance to imagine what life was like in early North America... when the human population was small and mother nature so very grand. We went to many places... I won't bore you with all, but here are a couple things I will surely remember.

One of many glaciers is this magnificent one titled Mendenhall Glacier named after a man who oddly enough never visited Alaska but was instead the managerial head of Survey team that did. Apparently brown-nosing was resident long ago. :-) One can't begin to tell from a photo how large these things are. The vertical drop off at the bottom of the flow appears small but is many stories high. This glacier has been receding for many years... even before cars, and industrial pollution existed. So what does that mean to global warming?



Meet two of the most common population in Alaska. No... I was not this close in the wild.... this is the work of really good taxidermist. Kind of sad tho.



Of the estimated 50,000 bald eagles flying across the U.S., about 25,000 are seen in Alaska. They really were everywhere we looked. Amazing.

You know you need a vacation WHEN:

I've been on a dead run getting many things done before the trip I leave for in 1 hour. Yesterday... finally I slowed down long enough to get a pedicure. Apparently, I wasn't quite slowed down enough for as I sat in the pedicure spa chair... I was fumbling around for the seat belt. Oh.. I must need a vacation.
Sweet Alaska.. here I come. I'll be back in a week! Ofcourse handwork travels with me.

Fun Quilt and Day with friends

I hosted lunch for my Wanabe Quilters friendship group yesterday. I finally finished the binding on the kind of fun quilt I've been mentioning. It's called "WANABE DINING" because we do it monthly and each hostess really works at making it a lovely luncheon day.

It looks pretty cool on the table too!


As you can see... it's bigger than my table.... but ofcourse, no eating on it anyway. Yet to be done... the addition of a 'signature fabric napkins.. the fabric came from each group member so I'll add those after I do a bit more quilting on the "Nordstrom box" placemats I used in the picture of my china and crystal place setting for each quilter friend.
Here's a few closeups of individual Wanabe members.. L-R Carol Culbert and Laurie Lyon



and 2 more L-R Carol Pankow, Nancy Mastroianni


2 more L-R Hilary Field, Carol Lundquist


2 more L-R Nancy Kastner, Phyllis Reddish


Our Matriarch Carol Brodie


and last at the bottom of the quilt... upside down me


Lastly.. Dessert of the day... Nummmmmmm!


UPDATE: Someone asked if they'd seen this quilt yet. They have and what fun it was. It's a great group of ladies!

Busy Week...New Family Member

I can hardly tell you what I've done this week, but I know I've been running. Thought I would post a note about our mountain hoe adoption... This majestic lion purchased in Sedona last month.... was transported and delivered yesterday to our home in Bear Canyon in Mt Baldy. He's breathtaking.

Lovely Palm Springs Weekend

I Love Lucy... don't you?? A much needed and relaxing weekend in Palm Springs. I took my friend Laurie... who I always call LUCY.... to the sculpture of Lucy Ricardo on Palm Canyon Drive. They finally met.



This is a marvelous likeness.

I've been binding a couple of quilts. Not much to watch being done... but I'll show them to you as soon as I get around 3 more sides of a gigantic quilt with fun images of all my Wanabe Quilters Friendship Group. It's colorful and kind of goofy.