A Finished Quilt

I've kept busy since we got back from our trip to the UP of Michigan. We've been home almost two weeks - we've traveled to have lunch with Ray's brother and girlfriend, traveled to see a couple of baseball games (grandson playing), gone to a benefit for a local fellow, traveled to an academic bowl (grandson) and traveled to a 3rd grade concert (grandson). I guess we've traveled a lot and I also had a birthday and I've been able to do some quilting.

Log Cabin with Multi-Colors just needed a binding but, hey, it is a finish!

The colored fabric for the log cabin blocks is all from the same bolt except for the very center. That is a Grunge blue that matches the border.

This 59" square quilt will be donated.

I free-motion quilted this with a double loop motif. I used 40-wt Glide thread - #10877 Sterling Gray. It was a little darker than I wanted.

I'm slowly building my stash of Glide thread and this was the lightest gray I have. 

The back has the same colors as the front although I'm not sure it looks like it in the following photos.

I have more quilts that need binding - maybe I'll have more finishes soon!

Fall Trip to Wisconsin and Michigan Part 4

On Friday we woke up to snow - a heavy, wet, very pretty snow! These pictures were taken at our rental.

We headed southwest on a little quilt shop hop.

First stop was Sew Peaceful Quilting in Tomahawk, Wisconsin. This was a nice shop with helpful ladies. 

I found this fabric for winter table runners.

The snow continued.

We drove on to Marshfield, Wisconsin, to Quilt Kits & Beyond. I don't buy a lot of kits so I wasn't sure about this stop but she had lots of fabric too. 

I found fabric for two quilt backs.

The owner suggested Nutz Deep II for lunch. As usual, quilt shops do not let you down when suggesting places to eat! She raved about the burgers but said everything was good. Since it was Friday and there was a fish fry, we decided to have fish. We both chose the walleye and had a delicious meal!

The snow finally stopped just before our final shop,

Pammy's Patchwork Playhouse in Whitehall, Wisconsin. When we arrived, I thought this would be interesting - the building was very old and had been a bar. It's still a work in progress but a nice little shop. In the near future, it will probably be the only quilt shop to have a bar serving beer, pop, and wine! The owner was quite interesting and very nice.

We enjoyed our visit and I found fabric for a couple of Christmas table runners.

About 8 miles down the road, near Blair, Wisconsin, we went to an Amish bakery and then to our Airbnb rental near Arcadia, Wisconsin.

On Saturday we headed towards home because by the time we decided what we wanted to do for the weekend, we could not find a place to stay Saturday night - not a motel, resort, or rental. 

We began the gorgeous, sunny day with a visit to an apple orchard north of LaCrosse, WI. 

We drove to LaCrosse and visited Grandad's Bluff. The area was redone a while back and it is really nice. We enjoyed spending time on Grandad's when we went to LaCrosse State University (now known as University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse). 

view of UW-L campus

shelter on Grandad's

After stopping briefly on campus, we crossed the Mississippi River and stopped at an apple/produce stand in LaCrescent, Minnesota while heading south to Lansing, Iowa.

Lansing was really crowded but we did find a place to park and a place for a late lunch - Milty's Bar and Grill. After a walk around the Main Street, we headed across the bridge to Illinois and headed for home. We arrive a few hours later and got settled in.

And that is the rest of the story!

Fall Trip to Wisconsin and Michigan Part 3

Yesterday we met a Federal Game Warden at Lake of the Clouds - he was photographing the sunrise. He asked what we had seen and about our plans - we had just one full day left in the area. 

He suggested we drive to Copper Harbor and enjoy the fantastic scenery and fall colors even though rain was forecast. It did rain but mostly drizzled throughout the day. We had a wonderful time!    

Wikipedia says: 

The Keweenaw Peninsula ... is the northernmost part of Michigan's Upper Peninsula. It projects into Lake Superior and was the site of the first copper boom in the United States, leading to its moniker of "Copper Country." 

We headed north to Houghton.

In Houghton, we crossed the lift bridge but I couldn't get a photo. Going north towards Copper Harbor, we followed Highway 41 and came to the canopy of trees about 12 miles south of Copper Harbor. It was absolutely breathtaking! It lasted for over 10 miles.

It was cold, windy, and rainy in Copper Harbor. We luckily found a place to eat and visited two shops that were open. One had really good fudge, our only purchase besides lunch. We headed back to Ontonagon via Highway 26. Here are a couple photos.

We stopped at the Jampot. We'd heard about the monks of the UP that made jam. Trip Advisor says: "This bakery is run by a monastic community called the Holy Transfiguration Skete, a Byzantine Catholic Monastery, makers of their Poorrock Abbey Jams." Sadly, they were out of jams for the season.

Jampot

However, they did have a few baked goods and some came home with us.

A banana, walnut, blueberry giant muffin, 2 pound-cake large muffins, molasses cookies.
Those cookies are at least 3" in diameter. 

We split the muffin for breakfast - we should have had company.
There was enough for 4 people!

Just past the Jampot is Jacob Falls.  

We traveled on to Eagle River Falls.

Highway 26 joined with Highway 41 so we began backtracking on our morning route. We were too late to see the quilt shop in Houghton - they close early like many other places. We stopped to get photos of a couple things of interest to us. First the snowfall record - 390.4 inches in 1978-1979.

They even had a structure showing the height. Ray kindly posed beside it.

When we passed this shed in the morning, we both said we needed to get a photo on our way back.

When we got to Ontonagon, the rain and drizzle had totally stopped.  We stopped at the grocery store and then enjoyed beautiful, clear weather!

We had to make one last stop at Lake in the Clouds before heading "home". 

Thursday morning, it was time to head south. Our first stop was Agate Falls near Trout Creek, Michigan. It is a beautiful area and a very short walk to the falls. Although it was raining again, the cascades and falls were pretty - at least what we could see. The view is very obstructed by trees. 

We had a tailgating lunch once again and then left the falls and drove on. We saw this field.

Next stop was Bond Falls near Haight Township, Michigan.The walk to the falls was shorter and it was raining harder but the falls were gorgeous! 

A little falls near the edge of Bond Falls.

We stopped in Sayner, WI, at the Plum Lake Quilts. What a great shop! They specialize in wool but carry much more. They even had deer right outside the building. 

I enjoy working with wool but never know what to do with the small projects. Well, I discovered that I can do some wool work incorporated with cotton quilting. Yes!  I bought a quilt kit that I will hang and a smaller wallhanging kit. Both are winter themed.  

We stayed at an interesting Airbnb rental outside of Rhinelander, WI. The place was great. 

In the living area, there was a round door that was split vertically. It was only about 3.5 feet tall.

When the doors were open, you could see into what was a crawl space. It is now a fantastic child's dream world. I'm guessing the space is about 4 feet high.

There was a desk and chair equipped with paper and drawing instruments.

There was a chair, a beanbag and a bookshelf full of books,

a play kitchen with utensils,

and a large blackboard. There was plenty of room to play for little ones. Our children would have loved this as children.

The rest of our rental was really nice too.

Stay tuned - there is still one more post to come ...