More Quilts

One of the enjoyable aspects of the quilt show at the fair is hearing a name I know. This year I was surprised and delighted to see a couple of entries by the Department of Geological Survey, one for a baby quilt for one of the employees, and the other as a retirement gift for a volcanologist I knew. Chris Nye used to work at the Geophysical Institute when I was there. Volcanoes are pretty important to Alaskans. Not only do we have a lot of them (exactly how many depends on how recently one has erupted to be considered active) but they are extremely important to air travel. You don’t want to suck volcanic ash into a jet engine! Since the Aleutians, which are highly volcanic, are on the Great Circle route across the Pacific, keeping tabs on Alaskan volcanoes is extremely important business.

To add to the enjoyment of recognition, another quilt was made by Sheila Dailey, who planted most of my garden for the last couple of years, for another old friend, Shirley Weiss.

A baby quilt, each block made by a different person, but all followed the rule of bright colors.

Retirement quild for Chris Nye. Most of the blocks have something to do with volcanoes, though a couple such as his portrait are more personal.

Not as fancy as the other two, but made with love for an old friend.

Peonies From Heaven

“Peonies from Heaven” is the Fair theme this year, with special awards given those entries that follow the theme. I thought you might like top see the theme quilts and one wall hanging. I regret to say it was raining so hard Tuesday, when I took these photos, that the horse show was cancelled.

(In case you don’t know, peonies bloom in Alaska when the flowers are hard to come by almost anywhere else in the world, so peonies grown in Alaska are entering the global cut flower trade.)

The one on the left used peony fabric. The smaller one on the right used the theme colors.

This one had peony fabric, but not in the fair colors.

And the wall hanging, about 16″ square.

P.S: My apologies for leaving out two of the fair-themed entries. I went back again today, and got photos.

The quilt on the right has fair theme and colors

And this one got a theme ribbon for fair colors.

Weather Update 8/5/14

We had another .34” of rain before midnight, and I heard thunder several times. That puts us at 1.38” for the month, so we’re still pushing the seasonal record. I’ll try for a few more quilt photos today, though the current weather is drizzle and fog.

North Pole Weather 8/4/12

The sun will rise this morning at 5:01, and set tonight at 10:53. We now have almost 3 hours of nautical twilight.

It has remained rainy. We didn’t quite set a new record for July, though we only missed it by .18“. We beat the June and July combined record by over 2”, and the greatest 48 hour total for July though, so you could say we’ve had a damp summer. August? 1.04” so far, so we’re definitely still in the running for the wettest summer of all time.

It used to be a truism that it always rained during the Tanana Valley State Fair, which started last Friday. Yesterday was warm and sunny, but the rest of the week looks questionable. I’m keeping my poncho in the car. I did get to the quilt show Saturday, in spite of the rain. I might show some more photos later.

Double Wedding Ring Quilt

The double wedding ring is a classic pattern of the early 20th Century. My parents had a double wedding ring quilt on their bed, though it was coming unstitched by the time I inherited it. Sadly, it was one of the things I lost in the fire. This one is a slight variant on the usual pattern, in shades of gray.

Double wedding ring with checkerboard alternation of centers.

Flower and Diamond Medallion Quilts

These aren’t quite traditional medallion quilts, but they’re close.

Flower garlands are the theme in this quilt, but each block uses a different pattern, and the center differs from any of the surrounding blocks.

This could be described as a single diamond medallion. Note the combination of curved and straight lines.

Alaskan Quilts

These two quilts have very Alaskan patterns.

Fairbanks is known as the Golden Heart City.

This one represents the aurora borealis, though the real aurora doesn’t have this many colors.

Geometric quilts

I thought I’d show you a couple of Fair quilts with geometric, almost monotone patterns today. This one’s diamonds in browns and beiges, with just a touch of light blue.

And this one’s diagonal stripes, in grays, taupes and green.

More Quilts from the Fair

Here are a couple more quilts from the Tanana Valley State Fair. Alaskans need warmth! (Though not right now; it was 80 again yesterday.)

Tanana Valley State Fair Quilt Show

One of the things I always attend at the Fair is the Quilt show. Without further ado, here are some of my favorites from this year’s entries.

The quilts are fastened to horizontal bars which can be swung out from the wall.

This was my pick for viewer’s choice.

This quilt won the Grand Championship.

This one really caught my eye.

I love the subtlety of this one.

This one embodied the fair them, “The Age of Asparagus.” Well, I think there’s some asparagus mixed in with all the other vegetables.

There are 25 different red fabrics used in this one.

And would you believe this is a flat, two-dimensional quilt?

This year I’m including thumbnails of a few more quilts. Just click on the thumbnails to see larger versions. The last two are the Junior Grand Champion (how many skulls can you find?) and the Grand Champion wall hanging.