I think there are times when it is GREAT to be able to be alone and to de-stress by throwing myself into a project. As much as I love being out there and doing, doing, doing, sometimes I just have to go into AWAY FROM IT ALL mode to re-charge. I’ve enjoyed my time with the guild here, we had an awesome Spider Web workshop today ((pictures to come later!)) and a great dinner out at a Hungarian
Friday, 30 September 2011
Down to the Dining Room!
Posted on 03:50 by Unknown
Funny how the connection is in Alaska….. If there IS one, that is! :c) ((And that is said tongue in cheek, because most times I HAD a signal!)) I could get phone calls pretty readily, but something funny happens with long distance text-sending, ESPECIALLY if there is a photo attached.. The conversations go something like this ((Ring, Ring)) Me: HI! DH: Did you get my text of the dining room floor
Thursday, 29 September 2011
Oh, Rocky Top!
Posted on 13:34 by Unknown
Hello from just the other side of Knoxville, TN!I arrived in Oak Ridge just a bit ago, and when I checked into my hotel, the clerk at the desk said, “Oh, YOU are Bonnie Hunter! We had some crazy quilters check in a bit ago and they were looking for you!” Gosh, it’s nice to feel anticipated….friendly faces everywhere! We are going to have a great time, I can tell! This morning I woke to the most
Unbelievable Mail!
Posted on 04:09 by Unknown
When we pulled up from the airport on Monday evening, I found this box wedged into my mail box! I didn’t remember ordering anything, but I was eager to get inside the box and find out what was inside. I opened the box to find a note that said these items were something that was mistakenly “left out” of the “OTHER” box. OTHER BOX?! What other box?! There was no other box --- so far at least ---
Wednesday, 28 September 2011
Who is THIS?!
Posted on 14:00 by Unknown
I looked out my kitchen window this morning to find a stranger looking back at me! I have NO CLUE who this half-grown kitten belongs to, but we have seen him time to time in the trees of our front yard. But this was as close as he had ever got! The top deck at the BACK of the house! Not only that, when I ventured out onto the back deck to check HIM out…it seems that he had cornered Chloe behind
Bonnie’s Great Fishing Adventure!
Posted on 07:46 by Unknown
You simply can’t go to Cordova Alaska and NOT go fishing. That’s all that there is to it! The town depends on its fishing industry. It’s also one of the world’s largest aquaculture areas, where fish are hatched in hatcheries, and released when they are “old enough” to survive on their own and keep the sea full of fish. Believe me, I learned more about commercial fishing and the environment than
Tuesday, 27 September 2011
Evening Edition: Free Kindle Cookbook! ((Also Sony/Nook!))
Posted on 14:08 by Unknown
Fall is in the air! Well, except for Houston, where it still reached nearly 100 degrees yesterday when I was laid over, and there I was at the airport…dragging my parka from Alaska behind me! I NEEDED that jacket when I left Cordova --- and my luggage had been checked all the way through to home…so there was no way to tuck it back into my suitcase when I hit Anchorage. Not that there was ROOM
Pot Roast for the Picky Man!
Posted on 10:50 by Unknown
It’s true. I live with a Picky Man. And he will probably shoot me for this post, but I just have to let this out. It is NOT always easy to want to cook when the things you WANT to cook are the things that no one else but you yourself will eat. There. I said it. Meat is no problem. Spices are. Potatoes, carrots, green beans from a can, corn on the cob, or sometimes from a can and baked beans are
I’m Home from Cordova!
Posted on 06:22 by Unknown
Gosh, what a long travel day. I was so wiped out by the time we hit home last night that the evening simply went in this order: 1. Dinner. 2. Hot tub soak 3. Bed! I SLEPT 12 hours straight! And today I kind of feel like a zombie, but I think after a shower and some unpacking things will return to normal….. There are so many photos to edit down, and I’ve got a lot to do around here, so I’m going
Monday, 26 September 2011
Homemade Thin Mints!
Posted on 13:14 by Unknown
It’s a travel day! These trips to Alaska, as I’ve found have a tendency to mess with my time-zone clock! ((Don’t I sound like a pro, this is only my second trip to AK!)) As this is posting, I am somewhere between Anchorage and Houston -- I set this ahead to keep you busy! Please have some of these warm and waiting for me at home when I land in Greensboro ;c) THESE are beyond delicious!! And with
Good Eats!
Posted on 04:51 by Unknown
As I try to break down these days into posts…I’m doing the best I can to keep things kind of “coherent” in little episodes as they happened in the order that they happened. Even though I write this to share, I am also writing this as my own memoir. I don’t want to leave anything out that I will want to remember later. And time passes so fast and things are so quickly forgotten. However, I will
Sunday, 25 September 2011
On the Dock of the Bay ---
Posted on 04:34 by Unknown
The Cordova Waterfront! Sara and I took some time to walk along the waterfront and take a look at the boats, and just look out across the water. It hadn’t started back raining yet and we were making good use of the time we had been given! In the harbor is a statue dedicated as a fisherman’s memorial, a quiet place dominated by artist Joan Bugbee Jackson's sculpture The Southeasterly (1985). The
Saturday, 24 September 2011
Lunch Time!
Posted on 04:04 by Unknown
After our hike, Sara drove me into town --- we were hungry by this time! I hadn’t been into “town” proper yet…..and I couldn’t wait to see what life was really like in Cordova. This was our lunch spot! Baja Taco! Let me see if I got the story right, and someone correct me if I’m wrong – Baja Taco started in this little reclaimed school bus and was operated out of the bus “during the season” which
Friday, 23 September 2011
Out The Road!
Posted on 04:43 by Unknown
I love spending time out doors and I was quite happy when Terri informed me that she had “activities” lined up for me every day of my time here! Yesterday, it was Sara’s turn to babysit me! She showed up around 10:30am and off we went in her trusty subaru along with her 13 month old daughter Amelia and her 4 year old St Bernard/Husky mix Coco! Coco is known as the anti-bear dog….and we were glad
Thursday, 22 September 2011
Cordova!
Posted on 09:44 by Unknown
Sometimes, the universe just intervenes and throws wonderful “coincidences” in your path. Look hard, you might miss them --- and as some say, there IS no such thing as a coincidence! I’ve often talked to people, friends, family, and even strangers who say things like “I know this happened for a reason.” And I am left to ponder on that. Being a rather “Free Thinking” person, I’d like to think that
Wednesday, 21 September 2011
That Sunroom ---
Posted on 05:19 by Unknown
Is DONE!((Well Mostly!)) And you will notice that the two most important things have already found their place. The desk and computer. And the green putting mat/carpet. LOL! Boy, has this been a LONG process! We started in MAY--((Yes, it’s really been that long..this is what happens when it’s a mostly do-it-yourself home renovation!)) While I was gone to Kansas, I’d get updates on how the floor
Tuesday, 20 September 2011
Which Airport?!
Posted on 05:54 by Unknown
I spend a lot of time in airports. And they are usually really interesting places! The picture you see to the left is of the infamous dinosaur skeleton at O’Hare. Usually I take a picture of it straight on, or looking up at its neck..but this time, I actually saw where the TAIL goes as I was walking through ---it extends into the security area! I’ve seen this guy so many times, I’ve almost
Monday, 19 September 2011
Cordova, Here I come!
Posted on 15:06 by Unknown
I’ve got 3 hours until I’m forcing myself to bed at 9pm. I am so stinking excited I can barely stand it. I fell in love with Alaska just over a month ago, and here I get to go again, to another corner, a place remote enough there are only two ways in. Either you fly – or you boat! I got the funniest email this morning from the gals in charge of my visit there…a list of questions: Dear Bonnie,
Scenes from Holton!
Posted on 06:13 by Unknown
What a busy week and weekend. I suppose it’s nothing new. This is the way we roll! I go go go go go and when night falls, I crash and sleep hard, and get up and do it all over again. Sure beats the alternative, doesn’t it?We had a great visit with DH's cousin and her hubby, we chatted for 5 hours about EVERYTHING. Boy, don't we sound like a bunch of old fogies reminscing?! Wait --- I guess we ARE
Sunday, 18 September 2011
Football Night!
Posted on 07:51 by Unknown
While I was in Kansas I was “informed” that there was an employee football party for DH’s work and we would be going to the Wake Forest vs Gardner Webb game on Saturday night! More than that – they went all out and rented us a box suite, and we had hotdogs and burgers catered, drinks, etc! I’ve been to Wake Forest basketball games, and the home team support is HUGE in this area. As we drove to
Saturday, 17 September 2011
Addicted To Scraps Tab!
Posted on 14:03 by Unknown
I don’t know why I didn’t think of this before. Could be too many irons in the fire, or not landing in one place long enough to have the obvious brick fall on my head…. Every week I get emails on where to find my columns in the Quiltmaker.com archives, and I go look it up for someone and send them a link back. TADA! How about we just add a tab to the top of the blog with the picture, so you can
Hello, Home!
Posted on 10:52 by Unknown
This is so crazy. It’s 55 degrees at home. It was 101 in Winfield, Kansas on Sunday afternoon, or was that Monday? But you know what? When I got home last night, I threw that second quilt on top of the bed, and still slept with the window cracked open a bit and it was BLISS! I love Autumn. I love the temp changes, the color changes…..the only thing I have a hard time with is the losing of the
Friday, 16 September 2011
Smith Mountain Morning Workshop!
Posted on 07:20 by Unknown
I’d like to thank the folks at Quilting on the Square of Holton Kansas for taking such good care of me while I was there! We had a wonderful workshop in a very nice rented space just down from the quilt shop..so if we ran out of anything, we could sneak away and go find what we needed! The ladies were just so wonderful….Some I had met before! Imagine my surprise when Linda and her friends from
Thursday, 15 September 2011
Rollin’ Across Kansas!
Posted on 07:00 by Unknown
Yesterday morning I packed up all my STUFF loaded up the luggage cart, and headed down to the lobby to meet Connie who was going to be driving me from Wichita to Holton! It’s about a 3 hour drive…..poor thing, that is 6 hours round trip for her, but she pulled it off like a trooper! It’s always an adventure when meeting new people, especially when you find yourself throwing your bags into the
Wednesday, 14 September 2011
Scrappy Trips in Rose Hill!
Posted on 07:45 by Unknown
What a vibrant bunch of quilters gathered yesterday in Wichita – It was our Tuesday "Scrappy Trips Around The World" workshop with the Country Rose Quilters of Rose Hill, Kansas! These gals provided quite the welcome….even a poster for me! I think the blush says it all. I loved the “Wizard of Oz” fabrics ((Yes, I got to keep them!)) and the little ruby slippers pin. You guys went ALL OUT to make
Tuesday, 13 September 2011
Early Morning Edition, And Free Kindle Book Too!
Posted on 05:44 by Unknown
I’m back in Wichita! Yesterday was SO busy with a 1pm lecture/trunkshow…dinner out with the guild ladies, and another lecture at 7pm. Show and tell was WONDERFUL, and it was a very very fun and fulfilling day! But alas, not a lot of pictures or other activities to share with anyone this morning…. A highlight for me was a visit from a dear friend, Elsie Campbell, who drove up for the festivities
Monday, 12 September 2011
It’s Bluegrass, Baby!
Posted on 14:48 by Unknown
And I’m so sad I’m not going to be here long enough to fully experience this….but I want to come back! Last night some Quilty friends arranged for me to get a pass into the fairgrounds to walk around and witness for myself the fun going on there. Musicians gather from all over the world to celebrate and share their love of Bluegrass music. Jam sessions are plenty! You can simply walk area to
A Little Bit of Winfield, Kansas!
Posted on 06:56 by Unknown
Hello Everyone! It’s a beautiful September morning in Winfield Kansas! I flew into Wichita on Saturday, and was promptly picked up by Carolyn and Diane…who happily fed me at Panera and off we went quilt shop hopping! I did just a bit of damage-- Just a few FQ’s and some aurifil thread I was in need of….I’m behaving myself! So far, that is! What was funny was the REASON we were shop hopping.
Sunday, 11 September 2011
A Day in St Maarten!
Posted on 07:41 by Unknown
Our last port of call! St Maarten has an interesting history and government arrangement..two governments, actually. There is the French side and the Dutch side! I’m not sure how they make that work, but evidently it DOES! This was our one BIG excursion day! Lori had arranged for us a snorkeling tour. We were off the ship early, finding our way to where we were to meet our Taxi driver by the
Saturday, 10 September 2011
A Touch of St Thomas ---
Posted on 04:46 by Unknown
I’m still going through cruise photos! Every port was a different adventure, how can I put it all into so few posts? There is something other-worldly about going to sleep at sea, and waking in a different port each morning. I’ve also wanted to travel by train that way…with a sleeping car, something I’ve never done, but we’ll save that for another adventure. As I awoke on this particular morning
Friday, 9 September 2011
Orphan Afternoon!
Posted on 14:39 by Unknown
Yes, there were a gazillion other things I could be doing….I still have two quilts for the next book to finish, I was cutting for them like crazy last night…..but today when I was typing up itineraries and stuff for this Kansas Trip that begins tomorrow, I thought of a handful of “Scrappy Trips” blocks that were in the orphan box….Poor lil things! All gifted to me at various times by quilters
Sail and Sew!
Posted on 07:05 by Unknown
29 Quilters with sewing machines humming and fabric flying..how fun is that?! I was definitely having a “pinch me” moment when Jim gave us a tour of where we would be…there was an official “SIGN” and everything! The room was large, and Sue of Citrussewandvac.com was here with beautiful Janome Horizon machines all set up for our use! After seeing how our luggage was handled, piled into huge crates
Thursday, 8 September 2011
Red Strings In the Sunset!
Posted on 17:08 by Unknown
Who knew that a salt water gargle was the one thing that would get me feeling better? This morning I woke up and my throat hurt So bad…I couldn’t swallow. My friend said SALT WATER GARGLE and to tell you the truth it makes me queasy just to say those words, but I did it several times today and you know what? It cut the gunk, it stung a bit, but my throat feels on the mend now. Remind me this next
The Colors of Nassau
Posted on 05:55 by Unknown
I had too many pictures I wanted to post of Nassau yesterday which made the post too long and probably boring, so I saved some for today. We were traveling with our “Quilter’s Eyes” wide open, remember? After we finished walking the area of the Queen’s Staircase, we headed over to the fort. The pic to the left is Fort Fincastle, Nassau Bahamas, overlooking the town from Bennet's Hill. It was
Wednesday, 7 September 2011
Evening Edition…((And A Free Kindle Book!))
Posted on 15:18 by Unknown
This just in: Fatal Destiny by Marie Force is free today from the Amazon Kindle store, and has received a perfect 5 out of 5 stars based on 8 customer reviews. Here is the book’s description from the Amazon website: With the week of their wedding finally upon them, Washington, D.C., Police Lieutenant Sam Holland and her fiancé, Senator Nick Cappuano, are at odds. In the aftermath of a tragic loss
Just Another Day in Nassau!
Posted on 06:51 by Unknown
Our first port of call was Nassau, Bahamas. We were worried about this stop, wondering if we would be re-routed to another port because of Hurricane Irene. Irene hit Nassau pretty hard, and everywhere we went we saw clean up crews taking care of debris and aftermath. As hard as it was to see, I was really encouraged by the spirit of the people of Nassau! They were friendly, and welcoming and we
Tuesday, 6 September 2011
Evening Check-In!
Posted on 15:47 by Unknown
((And No Free Books this time! LOL!)) First things first. I’m not dying. I only feel like it! Thanks to several pushy people ((Thanks, dear friends!)) I listened to my body and called my doc and they got me in. I sat there being examined by the nurse, she took my temp…pretty much normal. She took my blood pressure, it was good, she asked all kinds of questions and then she left, and before I
Ship Shape!!
Posted on 05:33 by Unknown
I wish *I* were feeling ship shape, but I think in the midst of too much sun, too much shipboard a/c too much late night dancing, too much inhaled snorkel water, and up-the-nose "*sputter-sputter** water slide water, SOMETHING has settled into my chest! Today I have almost no voice! And I’m doing everything I can to get over it as quickly as possible. Cold-Eze. Airborne. Vit C. Lots of fluids.
Monday, 5 September 2011
Trip to Florida..recap part 1!
Posted on 14:00 by Unknown
How do I start to tell the story of this trip, except at the beginning? I can’t skip everything that happened on the way can I? I had gotten a call the night before I was leaving that Jeff was having trouble with his car, and I decided to go down to Columbia on Thursday morning instead of late Thursday afternoon so we could get his car in the shop and get it worked on while I was there. It also
Sunday, 4 September 2011
Cruise Zombies!
Posted on 14:52 by Unknown
I am SO fried! I guess that is to be expected…but it has been so long since I have had this bad of a sunburn I keep swearing to myself that I will be more protected NEXT time! But. Wouldn’t you think that applying heavy duty sunscreen 4 times in 6 hours would protect you enough? Not so when the sun is that hot, and the water that reflective, and the salt water just rinses off anything and
Saturday, 3 September 2011
Orphan Fairies, Too!
Posted on 03:12 by Unknown
A while back I acquired a stack of Orphan blocks from a quilter I can’t quite recall! I’m going to have to start keeping these baggied up with the contact person’s info attached so that I have a way to show them just WHERE their lovely donations ended up. I’m making a note for myself right now to do that…don’t you think that’s a good idea? I’ve gone round and round about the best way to keep
Friday, 2 September 2011
Quilt Fairies!
Posted on 04:46 by Unknown
Every once in a while a package will show up with no return address. SERIOUSLY! And sometimes there is a note inside, but no address, and sometimes there is a name but no email address so no way to contact the person…. But in these packages are WONDERFUL things, and I am excited to have them! Sometimes they even come from amazingly far away places, and I eagerly grab the envelope and have to
Thursday, 1 September 2011
Show & Tell Thursday!
Posted on 05:26 by Unknown
Yes, it’s that time again! It’s been a few weeks and I’ve got plenty in my inbox to share with you! Again, these posts this week are all being written ahead of time as we are on our Caribbean Quilting Cruise adventure with Sew Many Places! Hopefully Lori and I are relaxing with our toes in the sand, noses in books, cool drinks by our elbows and enjoying a bit of island adventures as well as
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