Sunny Day at Greenfield Village

After spending the morning cutting up clothes for the memorial quilt, I had SUCH an urge to get out & walk yesterday so I took a trip to Greenfield Village. So invigorated (and hot) after my walk I took in the museum, too!

Who Threw Away A Perfectly Good Cat?

Started that new memory quilt today. It's a dream as it's all cotton Oxfords in a wide array of colors. The only problem was my assistant...

Ginger had to get into the act!

Look at these colors! Mixed in with her crisp white Oxfords, this quilt is screaming Churn Dash, don't you think? Maybe those elongated ones?

I'm only a quarter of the way through the bag. The happy part is that I'm catching up on my podcasts, too....as long as Oscar stops lounging across my iPad!

Happy stitching!
Elisa

Greetings from Detroit, MI - Octoberfest!

Barn Quilts in Traverse City!

Up in Traverse City with my sister, Lorna, this weekend, we had a wonderful surprise.  Driving up the Old Mission Peninsula, we saw many barns with large quilt blocks painted on the side.  Many of the barns were on the properties of the celebrated wineries that dot the island.  We even saw some painted on the side of private homes. Unfortunately, we couldn’t stop to grab pictures as the road is quite busy and curvy with no pull-offs.  If you get a chance to go to Traverse City, it’s a must stop!

I did find some wonderful pictures here: http://www.freshlemonsquilts.com/?p=1266

My sister and I were up enjoying the early change of colors in Northern Michigan, geocaching, photographing, and eating.  All the joys of life!  Although Traverse City has quite a few really nice quilt shops, we didn’t stop as we only had about 24 hours total to enjoy TC (and my sister isn’t a quilter).

I thought I’d enjoy some pictures of our trip.

1 - Lorna and Elisa

2 - Old Mission Lighthouse

3- Rock Art on the Sand Bar

4- View from Sand jutty back towards lighthouse

5- Traverse Bay

6- Pure Michigan baby!

7- also the 45th Parallel

8- Lorna at the Old Mission General Store

9- Can you spot the geocache?

10- View from our motel

11- View from our motel

12- Cherry Republic, Glen Arbor

13- Beautiful Rain

Hope you enjoyed the pictures!

Elisa

Another Day in Paradise

Good morning and Happy September!  Can you believe the month is halfway over?  I’m still a little shocked!

I realized it’s been awhile since I posted so I thought I’d drop a quick post.  I realized, with the 31 Days of Geocaching last month, that this blog has been taken over by caching.  Now, however, as the temperature is dipping, I’m feeling the urge to quilt again!

I have a new project.  A friend lost his mother this summer and wants a memorial quilt.  I love doing these because it’s so amazing to sense the individuality of the departed one and the love exuded by those that were left behind.  Sometimes these are really, really hard.  I remember breaking down once when I was cutting up the clothese of a former quilter – she still had a needle stuck to her shirt pocket (just like I normally do). 

This one should be a real treat, though.  When I walked into her room, I was struck with inspiration immediately!  This lady loved her cotton Oxford shirts.  SO MANY COLORS!  Mixed in with her clean, crisp white Oxford shirts, I’m seeing Churn Dash.  Maybe a nice elongated churn dash.  No border.  I can’t wait!  That’s my goal this weekend.  I will be cutting up Oxford shirts and prepping them for some chain piecing this Fall. 

I will also continue to work on my Sister’s butterflies.  Now that life has slowed down a little, I’m determined to continue at least my 15-minutes a day on them.  I’m not sure if it’ll be ready in time for Christmas, but it will be a nice project to work through the holidays.

OK, time to go.  Hope to hear from some of you.

Elisa

I Miss My Bookstore

Can You Believe We Missed It?

Yep, that's a Geocache, and we missed it the first time! Out with the family, Geocaching, on this Labor Day. Great day to soak up some sun!