Keep your fingers crossed!

Team Galusha seems to be in the winning spirit right now and we NEED to keep it that way. As most people know Kerry won the Ford Hot Shots competition on Saturday morning. This seems to be the big story in the newspapers. We also had an amazing win against team Alberta in the first draw. I can't say that we silenced the hometown crowd as they seemed to be cheering for us and for good shots during the whole game which shows just what a knowledgable crowd is in Red Deer. The crowd also went crazy when they showed Kevin Koe (Kerry's brother) and his family (Carla, Ava and Lila) on the jumbo-tron. Not sure what people thought when the reigning Alberta men's champion was celebrating a win against the Alberta women!!!

We then came out really flat against PEI and suffered a loss. This was a combination of a few things going wrong and we had a good team meeting afterwards to correct these things and to continue building our awareness of what we need to be doing to win.

So Sunday afternoon now and I can report another win against Team Nova Scotia. We did a lot of things right and it felt really good on the ice. Megan is back and feeling great and we are definately trucking along full speed again! I think the final score was 10-5 and that made the fans happy. Lots of Northerners in the crowd, also family and ex-Northerners. The support we are receiving is amazing.

So one more game tonight against Newfoundland. We'll need a win in this one for all the transplanted Newfies in the NWT! Remember to check us out on Twitter @teamgalusha

We have a HOT SHOT!

What a great start for Team NWT/Yukon at the Scotties. Friday was incredibly busy and we survived AND thrived. First were team practices in the morning and we are happy to report that we LOVE the ice. Coach Fred told us if we love it so much we should make out with it! Bahahahah....

The official team meeting went great with Head Umpire Brenda R. She has been at many Scotties and I feel and secure knowing she is in charge! We also have Janie Hobart as an official (on ice/Game Umpire). Janie is the mayor of Fort Smith and a long tim curler and curling volunteer.

Next on the agenda was Hot Shots... I got us off to a bit of shake-y start (9 points... oops!), then Wendy lit it up with a big 20 points. 20 points can usually get you into the mext round so we were pumped about that. Sharon gave us a good showing also and then Kerry anchored our team as usual. AND... Kerry produced a whopping 26 points which is incredible in Hot Shots. If good little Kaitlyn lawes hadn;t produced a record breaking 28, Kerry would ahve for sure been the leader of the preliminary round. So Kerry moves onto the next round on Saturday (following the opening ceremonies) and will be fighting to win the Ford lease.

Then it was time for for the Opening banquet and we were dressed up in our bright blue dresses (see photo above). The banquet was amazing with acrobats, theatre groups and short and sweet speeches. Plus, we all got our diamond jewelery back and it looks great. Sharon and Wendy got their first diamonds in their necklaces, Kerry and Sharon continued to fill up their tennis bracelets and Shona completed her necklace with a fourth diamond. Fan Appreciation Night at the Heart Stop was packed and it was great to start to see out fans arriving in Red Deer.

So Hot Shots today, two games against Alberta and PEI and cramming meals and R&R between it all..... we LIVE for this!

The

Day 1 at the Scotties... or Pre- Day 1?!?!

Today is one of the most exciting days at the Scotties although it has not officially begun. Today is the day we get to see the arena for the first time. This is exciting as everything looks so new and fresh. It is hard to even find a speck of dirt on the carpets in the arena. We have 800am practice this morning which means we are also the first group of curlers on the ice. Then it is one activity after another for the rest of the day.

We got settled into our hotel and the rooms are great. Shona's mom brought us lots of dishes, toasters, etc that has made our group of rooms feel a bit more at home. This is helps us with breakfasts in the morning as we don't have to waste time waiting at restaurants. For a 6 person team we have 4 rooms but the roommate situation was planned out ahead of time and we know it works!

We also received our uniforms. Once again red and grey and made by Mondetta sports wear. Upside they are really nice... downside they fit a bit tighter than last year! Or rather they are made smaller; we have not grown!

It was great to see the other teams around the hotel and settling in too. You can tell that excited is in the air and we are lloking forward to getting 'on with the show'. Note that the photo above is from Hot Shots 2011.

We have arrived in Alberta!

We have arrived in Edmonton and the travel all went smoothly. It felt so good just to take one flight to the Scotties. Our last Scotties travel (getting home from Charlottetown, PEI) resulted in many missed flights and all team members in different cities (Edmonton, Calgary, Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver)! Thanks to Canadian North (Team Galusha sponsor) this year was much easier!

Today is a fun day for the team as we go shopping for team banquet outfits. Yes, we all have to match for the opening banquet. You might think that this would be a huge challenge but we have gotten good at this. We know the stores to go to (think lots of options and plenty of sizes) and we just keep trying clothes until someone walks out with something we all think might work. I think 3 hours might be our record and if you have ever gone shopping with 1 or 2 women you know how amazing this is for 5 women! FYI... Fred just gets out his trusty NWT Curling Association blazer and a beaded/moosehide tie and he is ready to go.

If anyone are Twitter followers both Kerry and Wendy have Twitter accounts. We also watching other team's Tweets as everyone is starting to merge into Red Deer. Team dinner tonight and then off to Red Deer in the evening!

Again, thanks for all the support and keep it coming!

2012 Scotties... here we come!

Well, Team Galusha is now Team NWT/Yukon and we are off to the 2012 Scotties in Red Deer, Alberta. As Kerry's little girl Sydney would say, "We are going on the airplane today!". We have had a busy and successful curling season this year and we are very much hoping that this continues into Red Deer. There are many teams going to the Scotties that we have played this season already and we are hoping that we can have some good battles and close games with these teams.

The Yellowknife Curling Centre had a great send off party for us last night. The cake was super, yummy and Kerry did a great job thanking everyone who has helped us this year. We also received lots of send off presents from; Gail and Dan Daniels, Team Wendy Ondrak, Team Ann Gillis, Heather McCagg-Nystrom and Dawn 'Dawny Mo' Moses. Of course, Dawny gave us nail polish!!!

So now to get the show on the road. We head into Edmonton tonight and get the kids (Sydney and Kobe) settled. Then it is shopping tomorrow for our banquet outfits, a good team dinner altogether and then then to Red Deer in the early evening.

I am going to try to keep up with this Blog throughout the week... we'll see how dedicated I can stay! Plus, will try to post some behind the scenes photos also. We'll see how good I do this!

September always means fall time and a new set of Beginner Quilting courses in Inuvik. This year makes the 6th or 7th year I have done these. The first year we did a beginners course 22 people signed up! We didn't want to turn anyone away as it was the year we created the Guild. Over the year's we did start to limit the course size and have also experimented with different projects.

We have done wallhangings and table runners which I have proven to be good projects but I feel these are as much work as a larger project and does not give as much satisfaction in the finished project. After being inspired by a new quilter in our Guild who showed up later in the year and just jumped right in I decided this year to tackle a lap quilt project right from Day 1 for the new beginners.

I chose the Bento Box pattern and participants brought their own fat quarters for this. It is all worked out perfectly, although the original Bento Box pattern could use some updating and not waste so much fabric!!!! Participants were not scared of anything and except for the occational freak out that something was cut wrong. Everything turned out great.

We will do a follow up session so to teach layering, quilting and eventually binding. Here are some photos of our sweet success!

shona

Long Time No See...

Sew many things to comment on write about as I have not used this Blog for a very long time. I have decided to start it back up as I just received my copy of Canadian Quilter magazine and saw that it was posted in my Regional Representative biography! I continue to do tons of quilting in Inuvik, Yellowknife and elsewhere; along with continuing to curl as a competitive level. And I LOVE both!

As for quilting... let me start with a quick overview of some interesting projects that either me or the Inuvik Quilting Guild has been working on.

First, is our Inuvik Advent Calendar. Quilter Arlene Hansen adapted a pattern to make it unique to our community, even complete with our colourful rowhouses nicknamed "Smartie Box Houses". I managed to get it ready for December 1 but have decided to keep adding details to it each year.

Second, many babies arrived into my life in the past 2 years. Not mine of course, but those of friends and family. I am now an Auntie many times over and I take this job very seriously. Most proud of neice Sydney who can now talk to me on the phone and twin neices Kallelah Amour and Keauni Zen who will keep me busy as they get older!!! All I can saw is being an Auntie means more baby quilts and sewing projects!!!

Third, still doing lots of fabric dyeing and having as much fun with it as I did from the beginning. I was lucky enough to make it to Yellowknife in June 2010 to learn dyeing techniques from maven Carol Soderlund from New York.

Fourth, was a great trip to Calgary and Quilt Canada 2010 with Arlene Hansen and Carolyn Hunter. Lots of laughs and none stop quilting... a couple pictures from mine and Carolyn's time spent with Pamela Allen.

Enjoy and will continue to post updates more regularly and showing people a bit of quilting north of the Arctic Circle.

shona