Alaska Iditarod 2008

Every year on the first weekend in March 80-100 men and women embark on a 1,1oo mile sled dog race from Wasilla, AK to Nome, AK. This is very exciting time for Alaskans and I thought I would let you all in on a little bit of the fun. And if you want a bit more interactive map and find out exactly where the mushers are click here. To find out a ton of interesting information about the 2008 Iditarod you can check out the official website.

For the next 8 or 9 days I will keep you updated on where the leaders are.

Let me introduce some to the top mushers to watch.

Martin Buser: 4 time champion. Holds race record of just under 9 days. Finished in the top 10 17 times including last year's 4th place finish.
Rohn Buser (Martin's 18 year old son) Rookie year. He won the Junior Iditarod last year.
Rick Swenson: Winningest musher with 5 championships over 3 decades. He has been in the top 10 24 out of 31 races that he has started.
Jeff King: Called Mr. Consistency. He is a 4 time champion who in the 18 years he has raced has only been out of the top 10 3 times. Finished 5th last year.
Lance Mackey : Last years winner who amazed everyone by being the first person ever to win the Iditarod after winning the Yukon Quest (another very long race) just weeks before. He is trying to do it again this year (He already won the Yukon Quest)
Mitch Seavey : 2004 Champion. 9th last year.
Paul Gebhardt: 2nd last year and 3rd in 2006

And now for the women. Back in the late 80's the slogan was, "Alaska. Where men are men and women win the Iditarod." For 4 years straight women were winning. Two amazing women, Libby Riddles and Susan Butcher, were the ones to beat. Here are the women in the race now.

DeeDee Jonrowe: We all love DeeDee. She has had 2 2nd place finishes, 4th in 2006 and 9 other top 10 finishes in the last 25 years. In 2003 she she started the Iditarod just 3 weeks after finishing chemotherapy for breast cancer. Go DeeDee!
Melissa Owens: At only 18 and a week or so she is the youngest woman musher. She won the 2005 Jr. Iditarod.
Sigrid Ekran: Last year's top rookie
Rachael Scdoris: She was born with congenital achromatopsia, a rare vision disorder. She is colorblind and her acuity is 20/200. Former Iditarod champ Joe Runyan will be her trail guide.
Zoya DeNure: Possibly the only international fashion model to race the Iditarod.

I took some pictures of the ceremonial start in Anchorage yesterday.

Ray Reddington Jr. is getting his dogs ready to go. These dogs are so excited to get going.

This is a great picture of the booties the dogs wear. They will go through tons of these throughout the race. They are essential for protecting the dogs paws.

These dogs had a lot of energy and took the corner rather quickly.

Now everyone has left Willow and are on their way to Yentna. They will reach this first checkpoint this evening.

Thanks so much for stopping by. Check back tomorrow for an Iditarod update.

Until next time...

Fabulous Foot Friday--Zipper Foot

This week I have been enchanted with my Narrow Zipper Foot. I have been putting in zippers with the one that came with my machine for quite a few years. I did not have too much trouble doing it. I did have to figure out some tricks to get by the zipper pull but once I did putting in a zipper wasn't too bad. Well, for me it just got even easier. Here is a picture of my two zipper feet. The one on the left is my narrow zipper foot and the one on the right is the one that came with my machine. Notice how different they look. It used to be difficult for me to maneuver the wide one past the pull and it could be a challenge to get right up next to the teeth. With my new narrow foot it is SO much easier. I couldn't believe the difference until I was putting in a fly zipper last week. It went slick as a whistle past the pull. My life has taken a new direction where zipper insertion is concerned.

Let me tell you where I first heard about this magical foot. I was in Puyallup, WA last year for the Sewing Expo. I went to a zipper seminar by Rosebud. She is an instructor for Islander Sewing Systems and was teaching her factory methods for putting in zippers. During the seminar she showed us how to put in a slot zipper and stressed the importance of having a narrow foot. I purchased her DVD Easy Zippers because I really liked how easy she made zippers look. The DVD also came with a universal narrow zipper foot. Well, I tried her foot and was not exactly pleased with it. I liked how I was able to maneuver the foot but I did not feel like it fit my machine correctly. So, finally after my uses ending up in total frustration I searched out a narrow foot that was made for my machine and that has made all the difference. I am a firm believer in this foot. Now, if you are still using the wide foot (most of you are probably already using this foot) then go check out a narrow one. I am sure that you won't be sorry.


Before I forget, let me also tell you that I love the Easy Zipper DVD. I put in my first fly zipper and it turned out beautiful the FIRST time. She does a great job explaining in a very detailed way how to put in many different kinds of zippers.

Thank you so much for stopping by. Have a great day!!

Until next time...

Ready To Wear Contest at Pattern Review

I finally decided to enter the RTW Contest over at Pattern Review. It ends on Friday evening. I am really late but I wanted to do it anyway just so I would finish this project. I am going to recreate this jumper by Oiliy for my daughter. My version will be using lime green baby cord that I purchased specifically with this project in mind (this purchase was made before my fabric fast which tells you how long I have been procrastinating ). The contrast will be a lavender and lime plaid that I bought about 6 years ago. I used it for an adorable outfit for my daughter when she was a toddler but I still had quite a bit left.

I picked this because it will challenge me but not be too challenging. I did not find a pattern that was close to this style so have to alter another pattern quite a bit. This will definitely be the challenge for me. I have not really done this before. Once the pattern is made they the construction will be easier.

Stay tuned for some pattern alterations.

Thanks so much for stopping by. Have a great day!

Until next time.

Adjustable Waisband Tutorial

I recently made a skirt for my daughter who is very thin. She pretty much must always have an adjustable waistband in her skirts and pants. I decided to try to make her an adjustable waistband for this skirt since so that it would last a little longer. It was so easy I couldn't believe it. Here is how I did it but some steps can be done in a different order.

1. Attach interfaced waistband to skirt. The picture on top shows the inside of the skirt.
Press seam allowance toward waistband. The picture on the bottom shows the outside with the waistband pressed up.


























2. Decide where you would like the the elastic waistband to end. I wanted mine to end at the side seam so I placed the buttonhole at this point. Place buttonhole on the top section of the waistband. This will fold down to the inside. When placing the buttonhole make sure that you allow for folding up the inside raw edge. (If you know where you want buttonhole this step can be done before attaching to waistband.)



















3. Sew button next to buttonhole and cut open buttonhole. It is much easier to do this before you stitch waistband down (ask me how I know).

4. Fold up raw edge and topstitch waistband. Stitch on the right side making sure that you catch the waistband on the inside.



















5. Cut elastic. It should be long enough to button on each side with out stretching plus 1" on each side to turn under. Insert elastic and button. (The front of the skirt is to the right)













Here is the finished waistband:
My daughter can pull the elastic out and button it so that the back gathers up making the skirt smaller. Because I stopped the elastic at the side seams the front of the skirt lays flat.













I hope this makes sense. If you have any questions please ask. Thank you so much for stopping by. Have a great day!

Until next time...

Fur Rondy Fun-Canstruction

Well we had some fun yesterday out and about enjoying Fur Rondy events. First, we went to an event that we got to go to different booths and learn about countries around the world. It was great for my kids to see all the different cultures. The had passports that they got stamped at all the different countries. We get to see dancers from different countries and that was really neat.

Next, we went and saw Canstruction which is different structures made out of canned food. This was a fun event that benefits the local Food Bank. I took a couple of pictures.














Can you figure out what these are? The one on the left is a snowmobile and the one on the right is a bear with salmon and birch trees behind him.

We ended our evening with fireworks. We have a very humble display but we still enjoyed it.

Thank you for stopping by. Have a great day!

Until next time...

Fabulous Foot Friday Finally on Sunday

This episode brings to you a very basic foot: The 1/4 Inch Foot or Piecing Foot.


This is a very basic foot and I use it all the time. It is not just for piecing. I use it anytime I need a quarter inch seam. I really like all the markings as guides. Even though my basic foot can do the same thin as this foot I am really glad that I have this one for a little better accuracy and I do not have to adjust my needle position.

Knitting Update: I am finished with the back of my sweater and am heading on the to the front.

Thank you so much for stopping by. Have a great day!

Until next time...

Fabulous Foot Friday Postponed

Sorry for the delay but Fabulous Foot Friday will have to be postponed until later today or tomorrow. Yesterday evening (when I usually am able to post) my husband took me out for dinner. We don't get to do this often so we had a lot of fun. Today I have a few fun things planned for the family. Every year in February we have a winter festival called the Fur Rendezvous (Ron-dee-voo). Tons of events are planned from balls to dog sled races to pancake feeds. It takes place all over Anchorage. We are going to do some of the fun things. We missed the parade, and the dog races but there is still plenty left. Maybe I will take some pictures.

So, until later today (hopefully)...

Fabulous Foot Friday! Piping Foot and Tutorial

On to a new style of presser foot today. Introducing.....


The PIPING Foot!!

This is another one of my favorite feet. I do not think that I could live with out it. It is fantastic for making your own piping or attaching ready made piping. It looks like any other foot from the top. It is the underside that makes it magic. As you can see from the picture there is a large groove that the piping fits into perfectly. This groove guides the corded side and stitches exactly alongside without any difficulty. I thought I would show you exactly how it works.


Make your Own Piping Tutorial:

Step one:

Cut out strips. You will need the width of your seam allowance times 2 plus 1/4 inch (this does depend on the width of your cording). If you will be placing the piping on a curved seam such as collars, waist, or wrist it is very important that the strips are cut on the bias. The stretch of the bias is necessary to lay flat on curved area. If you need longer length just sew two or more strips together using a small seam allowance (1/4 inch or so).


Step Two:

Fold strip around cording wrong sides together so that the cut edges meet together. If you need to iron a fold before inserting in order to know exactly where to place cord you may do that. Cording needs to be snuggly placed in the fold. You want your piping to be as tight as possible.


Step Three:

Place the cord under the presser foot so that the cord is right in the groove. Adjust your needle position so that you stitching line will be right next to but not through the cord. Stitch the entire length of piping.


Step Four:

Remove from machine and you have perfect piping ready to apply to any project.





Thank you so much for stopping by.

Have a great day!!

Until next time...

Keep Warm My Little Valentines!

It has been fairly cold up here lately. Well, we have actually had a heat wave the last day or so. Today it was up to 30 degrees. But it has been quite cold and the downstairs where we sleep is quite cold. It is always about 10 degrees colder than upstairs. While this is great during the summer it can be a little chilly during the winter. My daughter wears multiple layers to bed as well as having a sheet, quilt, 2 light down comforters and often another blanket on her bed. She still will say sometimes that she was cold. So when I saw these rice pillows on Wise Craft I knew that I had to make one for her for Valentine's day. And of course I had to make them for my sons too because they would inevitably want one since she got one. Here are my children with their new rice pillows to keep them warm during the rest of this winter.

Other crafting updates:

I finished a knit shirt that I like that I just need to take a picture and then I will post.
I am on the last cuff of the cardigan sweater that I am knitting. As soon as I finish I will go buy some of the gray yarn. I am really looking forward to that. I LOVE this yarn.
I am working on a little girls outfit. I am trying a couple of new techniques on the skirt that I will share with you later.

Thank you so much for stopping by. Have a GREAT day!

Until next time...

Fabulous Foot Friday!! (It is still Friday in Alaska.)

For one last week I am continuing on my top/edgestitching theme. Can you tell that I need a lot of help in this area? Anyway, today I am going to show you the Edge Joining Foot.
As you can see from the picture this one is a little different because it has the guide right in the middle. I LOVE this foot for stitching in the ditch. It really helps get your stitch right along the seam. Holding the fabric on each side of the seam helps open it up to get the stitches right down in there. You can see the seam with stitching in the ditch on the right in the next picture. The other use for this foot is for snugly joining two edges of fabric together. This is especially nice for lace or trim insertion. I used a zigzag stitch. You can see how it is directly over the middle of the two pieces. The seam is surprisingly strong when pulled on.











Totally unrelated to sewing but I just had to include this picture of my little superhero.




















Thank you so much for visting! Have a great day!

Until next time...