Evening Boating Fun in Pure Michigan!

Boating on a warm September Evening in the UP, Michigan?

AWESOME!

When Tammy told me she had twisted Mary’s arm to take us out in her 1947 HackerCraft for a sunset cruise around the area, I was all for it.

There is nothing like the smell of lake water mixed with fuel and oil and exhaust and the revvvvvv of a motor pushing you forward at high speeds!

Okay, not THAT high speed, more like a very relaxed end to a perfect day.

The lake was quiet, “The Season” is over.  Boats are being stored away for the winter, and we only crossed wakes with a couple of boats who were out enjoying the evening bliss just like we were.

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Bonnie & the Blustery Buck Mountain Day

This morning I awoke to the sound of the wind howling and tossing the trees this way and that.

It’s as if the trees were doing their own frantic dance, gusty and chilly cold, that is cold North Carolina style ---because I KNOW it is nothing like the cold that Chicago is experiencing, but here we like to ease into colder months gently ---it’s like sticking your toe in the water and inching in one bit at a time.

I prefer not to take the cold plunge all at once!

Just to show you what was going on here – I stood on the front porch…yes, without a jacket because sometimes I am lazy that way ---

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Tassier’s Sugar Bush!

Class was over on Sunday afternoon at 4pm leaving us the whole evening free.

As you can tell from the sunshine, it had been another blissful autumn day in the UP --75+ degrees and sunny, amazing quality of light as evening crept ever closer.

When Tammy asked if I’d ever seen maple syrup in production I had to tell her no.  I hadn’t.  But I am always very interested in seeing how things are done.

Before I knew it, she had arranged not only for me to tour the Tassier’s Sugar Bush business, but invited me to a cook out!

This is PURE MICHIGAN, ya’ll!  You’ve never tasted anything so good as hotdogs roasted on sticks over a bon fire of maple wood and eaten them out doors. And to top it all off there was home made apple pie.  I just couldn’t say no!

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Rainy Cabin Days!

Things quickly turned rainy and dreary up on the mountain this morning ---

It was fairly warm (And very humid) when Sadie and I went for our hike, but within the next hour or so things had clouded over and gentle rain began to fall.

Not a furious and fierce storm ---there was no thunder or lightning.  Just close hanging clouds and drenching showers that made treadling outside on the porch impossible.

SO glad I did that yesterday ---

Today I was forced to move myself about 8 feet back from the porch rail where I love to sit, and treadled with the windows open listening to the peaceful music of the rain as it watered the earth down below.

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Hanging Around the Soo Locks!

Have you ever watched huge ships pass through narrow locks to get from one body of water to another?

It’s a fascinating feat of engineering!

Last Friday evening ((has it been a week already?!)) Lynn asked if I wanted to go down to the Soo Locks and see if any ships were passing through.

Of course! I am game for anything, especially if it is something I'd never seen before!

The evening was gorgeous – clear blue skies, sunny and warm, and Lynn and I mounted the viewing platform with quite a smattering of other lookers-on to watch.

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Back on Buck Mountain!

 This is the face of a happy girl who is ready to head up to the cabin and spend a few days playing in the mountains.

And taking naps.

Lots of naps!

I have quite a few nap cards to redeem myself…when WAS my last blissful uninterupted nap where I woke up on my own, not with an alarm clock?

I’m over due!

We headed out and were done with post office run and bank run by 10am ---leaving only a grocery run as we entered Wilkesboro by 11:30am…..

((Why is it that nothing makes me hungrier than the smell of rotisserie chickens in the deli department, especially at lunch time??

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Quiltmaker Nov/Dec 2014, GIVEAWAY TIME!

When I returned home from Michigan, there were some goodies in the mail!

Goodies of the favorite kind!

Quiltmaker is the ONLY magazine I get.  The skills I have learned from start to finish projects in Quiltmaker have contributed so much to the quilter I am today.  Each project does take you start to finish!

The only thing I really didn’t want to see?

The fact that it says DECEMBER and is in CHRISTMAS COLORS already.

I had the same sinking feeling walking through Sam’s club the other night ---ALL the Christmas stuff is out, and every year we go though this…it’s ONLY October!  But the closer we get to the end of the year, the faster it goes.  It starts with Labor Day and before we know it, it’s tax season!

However, this issue is packed with fun projects – I can give you a sneak preview here:

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Quilt-Cam 10/1/2014

This is me, this afternoon!  Celebrating a successful dentist check up and cleaning with no cavities and a crown that is still “Hanging on!”

This is all good stuff, and I was out of there in a flash ---and home again to get this binding on so I can take this project to Quilt Villa tomorrow for night-time hand stitching!

I wish I could show you the whole thing, but this project is slated for a future Quiltmaker Magazine issue and you’ll just have to wait until then to see it.  I know you are going to love it as much as I do!

It uses a ton of scraps, loads of strips, oodles of fun!

The machine of the day was my 1950s Wizard, made by Brother in Japan.  You can see I've got a straight stitch walking foot on the machine..

I also took time to attach a corner label, and a hanging sleeve.

See the sticky seam guide out in FRONT of the walking foot?  I want a 1/4" binding and the foot is wider than that, so this is in place to be my guide for the job:

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Stash Enhancing in The Soo!

My first stop when reaching Sault Ste Marie, MI was to The Quilted Moose of course!

The cutest little quilt shop in all of the UP!

Shop owner Chris had bent over backwards to make sure that everything was ready for my visit and I so appreciate her help in overseeing every little detail.

Emails had flown back and forth over the last several months and she was there to receive boxes of books, rounded up a quilt stand for my use, and even loaned me her featherweight for my time in The Soo!

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