Deep Snow and Starving Wildlife

Happy St. Pat's Day

Yesterday a moose and yearling calf came by to eat the spruce branches. They must be really hungry to do this as they don't like them and always leave them alone. There is just so much snow it's causing the animals to starve.

 This pheasant was underneath our trees when we were working on them and didn't leave even with the dogs there I suspect he is too weak to fly. I later put some corn up there for him, even the rabbits are eating the corn now.

Bob and I were out caging up the trunks of some of the trees from the rabbits. Sorry for the finger in the photo but it was so cold I couldn't see straight. 

 Now here we have uncaged about three apple trees so the moose can just have them as the rabbits already ringed the bark.

I finished the Starlet Suit jacket which took a month and taught me a lot of details I didn't know. I have now cut this 60's pattern for my daughter. I am thrilled to move on to something else. 

Lots of Stuff

New stove took 2 months to arrive here, came up on a barge from Seattle. Had to find someone to haul it from the store and then install it. This happened today as the my painter and his son were able to install my stove and convert it to propane. It fit with a 1/4" to spare.

 That wall left without sheet rock will have pine boards on it like in the bedroom down here.

They also finished up the job of sheet rocking the other basement room, mud, tape, texturing and painting all finished in three days. The paint on 2 walls is Dapper Tan and the others are Swiss Coffee. The room only contains the dog kennels for now. In the summer he'll paint the floor for me as it has in-floor heat & I decided not to put flooring down like the bedroom had. There are some pretty paints for cement floors. 

My button hole backs that are put in through the facing. I used silk organza, none of this shows it's all on the inside of the facing. I'm now putting in the sleeve lining and going a little bit crazy over doing it. Oh my gosh will I be thrilled when I am done with this jacket it's giving me fits oh to move on I will be ecstatic.  

Happy Birthday Dallas visiting Kodiak on Spring break from  UAF turns 19 on March 15th. *Photo 6-25-11 with Bob in Florence. 

Iditarod Winner

Both Photo Credits LOREN HOLMES

DALLAS SEAVEY FIRST INTO NOME – YOUNGEST IDITAROD CHAMPION
Nome, Alaska - Tuesday, March 13, 2012 – IDITAROD XL Musher Dallas Seavey (Bib # 34) arrived in Nome, Alaska and crossed under the burled arch at 19:29 Alaska Time with 9 dogs on his team claiming his first Iditarod Championship. Thousands of fans lined the street to greet the youngest person to have ever won the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.

Seavey now holds the record for being the youngest person to have won the Iditarod. Seavey turned 25 years old while on the trail. The previous record was held by Rick Swenson since 1977, when he won his first Iditarod at the age of 26.
Seavey’ s team traveled up the Iditarod Trail in 9 days, 04 hours, 29 minutes, 26 seconds. The record is still held by John Baker the 2011 Champion at a time of 8 days, 18 hours, 46 minutes, 39 seconds .
Dallas Seavey comes from a family with a long line of Iditarod finishers, including his father, Mitch, who won in 2004. Dallas was a third generation Seavey to be running in the 2012 Iditarod along with his father Mitch Seavey and grandfather, Dan Seavey - both still making their way to Nome. 
You all probably are not that aware the Iditarod is going on up here but we've had it front page news since it started 9 days ago. I started to really want this young man to win and tonight he did!! 

Sewing Chat

 Woven cotton plaid and tatting. I bought the tatting on Etsy awhile back.  The two vintage patterns from my own daughter as a child. I'm planning on making a couple little dresses with white collars and tatted edges to perhaps sell. 

 These patterns were a gift from a blog reader. Helen sent me a LARGE box of wonderful vintage patterns she inherited from a relative and thought of me. I was thrilled and so thankful to have these patterns now in my care. I have them filed in with mine in number and maker order in my new drawers. Helen also included several vintage 1959 sewing books which I will actually refer too. Thank you Helen so much I can't wait to use a pattern! 

I was very happy with the way the collar came out. Gertie taught me how to grade the seams in the correct way. Grading if case you are not familiar is trimming. She also calls for that pick stitching by hand all along the edges. I am now to the next step of lining the jacket. 

Birthdays and Starlet Suit Jacket

 Pan's birthday today March 8th he is 3!

 The boys checking out my new counter stools. I have two of them for when friends come to craft they can roll along my long counter top. (mail order Amazon)

The Starlet Suit Jacket 

I have the under collar finished and the facing which I'm about to attach next. Gertie is teaching me so many new things on the video lessons I had no idea about all these years. For instance below is the 'pick stitch' used to keep the under collar from rolling upward. This is done too all down the front facing by hand. Also a different little trick with setting in the sleeve I've never heard of.

New sewing notions bought at Nancy's Notions on line of course. The new seam gauge and the Chaco markers which are such an improvement over the old tailor's chalk. Gertie clued me into the markers I love them as they can be refilled with chalk dust! Made in Japan which is a bonus and why I buy Clover!

Crystal clear views this week and lots of snow out there. Spring will not arrive until June. 

Bad News for Bears

The Alaska Board of Game has approved a plan for state wildlife biologists to shoot black and grizzly bears from helicopters in the middle Kuskokwin River Region starting next spring in game management unit 19A. (There are 26 game units that make up the state) The goal is to increase the moose population for local hunters. All bears within a 540 square mile area will be removed. Unit 19A is about 250 miles southeast of Fairbanks. The dept estimates there are 135 to 160 black bears and 10-15 brown bears. They said the 2 year plan will have a minor effect on the overall black and brown bear populations in all of unit 19A.
The boards approval marks the second time in 2 months it has authorized Fish and Game personnel to shoot grizzly bears from helicopters. The first in Jan allowed the shooting of grizzlies on the North Slope to reduce predation on a rapidly declining musk ox population. The 7 member board is governor appointed and sets bag limits and seasons for game animals. In recent years the board has adopted an aggressive policy of expanding human consumption of moose and caribou by killing predators, first wolves and now more recently bears. An aerial wolf kill program has been in place in Unit 19A since 2004. Private pilots and gunners with state permits have reduced the wolf population by 60% each year since 2005 but moose number have not recovered. The game board also adopted a proposal Sunday to allow fly-in hunters to land and shoot black bears at bait stations in the Interior, as long as the hunter moves at least 300 feet from his aircraft before shooting. 

Buffalo Plaid and we Meet an Angel

Don't the boys pose pretty!!

Sunday morning before church I'm wearing the buffalo plaid flannel bolero top I made and the long late 1800's twill Western skirt I bought. It's 17 degrees. We ran out before church to take these shots.

Now I have a story to tell you about an angel.
 On the way to church the underside of my car hit on some ice after going into a hole. You see our roads here have lots of holes in the snow and ice. We had an all day blizzard on Sat. I pulled out on the main road and stalled right there for some unknown reason. I'm sure the number of cars that pass by are way less than where you drive. But it made me nervous to sit there in the lane, my gears had locked up. I could not get it out of park.( I put it in park as I must to restart the engine when it died.) I put on the flashers and Bob tried to get it out of park and nothing would work, the car started up fine but just was locked into park. A couple cars passed around me when a pickup stopped. He got out and then decided to pull in front and pull me off the road with the tow line I carry. He pulled back my seat being a very tall man and sat down in my car, putting his hands on the gears announced they worked perfectly nothing was wrong with my car. 
Angels do not look like we visualize, the ones I have met are ordinary people who are sent by God to help. So far this winter I have met four angels here in Homer Alaska.

The Cycle of Life

I was inside the house and took this with the zoom lens of two coyote that have been coming around our area. If you enlarge them you can see pretty well the two animals plus an eagle nest in that tree.

Photo and source about them here

We have an abundance of Snowshoe Hare here, hundreds and hundreds of them. My friend told me her dog gets 3 of them a day. So far they have killed our apple trees totally eating off the bark and around town the same damage. These things happen and when the cycle is high we have more predators around like those Goshawk, also owls and now the coyotes hunting. This is all good as I see it. Too bad about the trees but they didn't do anything for us anyway, not a single apple in 9 years I believe it's just too wet on our property for them.

One side finished on inside

Wed I worked all day on the right side of the Starlet jacket doing the hand tailoring on the inside upon the hair canvas and not going through with the stitches to the right side. Then I had to drape the fold line of the lapel over a roll, spritz it and steam to dry overnight to create the roll area. Women's suits do not have sharp lapels but soft folds. I don't think I've actually been aware of this. This lapel is eventually covered by a facing and the rest covered up by lining so a person has no idea what went on inside the suit.

Today after the gym I will start this all over on the left inside without having to do the bound button holes. 

Latest Project a long one

 I've started work on my Starlet Suit Jacket a class give by Gertie. I really needed a refresher on bound button holes as I don't think I've done them since HS it's so handy to have the video close by. This is the back side of them and the front has a small square of the fabric pinned on there. I'm about to sew and cut them now.

 This fabric I'm using is raw silk which is woven silk suiting. I've sewn on it quite a lot and it's very easy. I had it in my stash.

We're had so much snow here day after day. For the last two days it's been snowing but the snow is light and an entire shovel full weights next to nothing.

Lotion Bars

 3 oz Coconut oil, 3 oz Bee's Wax, 3 oz Cocoa Butter

 Melt in a pot and pour into molds, stick in the fridge until hardened that's it you've got yourself a body lotion bar of all pure ingredients. *Tip the cocoa butter I mail ordered on Amazon as I could not find enough of it here in town. The Bee's Wax came from Jo Ann's some years back for candle making. 

I have always made my own lotion for my face. My sister taught me a recipe she used as a nurse for patients it was cocoa butter and Castor oil, the Home Health therapeutic  type not the drinking type, melted together and set in the fridge to harden then removed.

 Now I have found a new recipe I am trying out today. I was reading this fun mystery called Lye in Wait a Home Crafting Mystery and she gave out a recipe for this lotion bar and I got the stuff together to make it today. Don't leave it near pets they will want to eat it as it smells like chocolate! 

Finished Coat Dress

I was relieved to finish up my coat dress and move on. The sun was going in and out and the wind blowing but Bob managed to snap a few shots of me in the latest get up.

I'm now working on this.

I just have the facings, hems, and button holes to do.

Then I'm starting on Gertie's Starlet jacket. I have that pattern all put together now 57 sheets! 

The supplies to make this should arrive soon.

Moose

A moose wandered around a Providence Alaska Medical Center parking garage Saturday and Sunday (Feb 18-19, 2012).