Couldn't leave town...

...without a trip to my favorite quilt shop! I'm trying (honest!) not to buy anything new, but these actually went with something I have in my stash and well, I have some little girls who begged for quilts before they went back home.

The pink-on-pink is flannel, and will make for a mighty cozy backing, I think. Throw some pink polka dots into the mix, and I think it'll be perfect for this one...

...or this one...

...or this one...

...or maybe this one...

...this one...

...or this one. It's going to be hard to decide!

How far off is Christmas?

Vacation wind-down...

It's almost time to leave my northern Michigan getaway.

Moonrise over the lake

The boat cover has been de-pooped (I don't know what those gulls are eating, but it ain't pretty), and the only things left on the dock are pine cones, blown down by last night's storm.

The house echoes with the giggles and screams of six little girls, and the vaccuum keeps gagging on funky-shaped rubber bands, Barbie stickers and pony tail holders. The refrigerator has been emptied of gallons of ice cream and mozzarella sticks, chicken tenders and macaroni salad. Squashed blueberries stain the deck, and chubby chipmunks huddle on the fenceposts, eyeing dropped potato chips, kernels of corn and sandwich crusts.

All in all, it was a typical noisy, very busy ten days, with side trips to Mackinac and boat trips and several trips into town to the grocery store. Not very relaxing, but that's what I leave these last couple days for, hanging out here after the crowd has departed to drink in the last days of summer, breathe the pine-laden air, and contemplate the long drive back to Chicago.

Big sigh.

I'm already looking forward to next year.

Livin' the island life...

Mackinac Island, that is.

No cars, just bikes, or these guys to take you around town.

See you when I get back!

Back up north

A morning visitor

When inspiration hits...

...you just gotta roll with the punches!

I had a list of about twelve things I had to do today before I packed everything up and headed to Michigan for the week, but woke up to a hard, steady rain that had been falling all night -- hardly beach weather. It wasn't showing any signs of stopping (and hasn't, yet -- I think this is leftovers of Hannah, maybe, or a precursor of Ike cruising up the Mississippi into the midwest, but it's been raining all frigging day), and Archie wasn't feeling all that great after yesterday's trip to the vet for his booster shot, so the list went out the window. Salvation Army can live without all my old dress-nice-for-work clothes for another week; Bed, Bath & Beyond isn't running out of picture frames any time soon; and the beach house (a wonderful escape when the weather's nice but a little depressing when it's pouring out) certainly isn't going anywhere. Hoping for improved driving conditions tomorrow may be just wishful thinking, but that's what I'm banking on.

So instead of packing, I made a big cup of coffee and confronted a stack of fabric that had absolutely nothing to do with anything I've been working on (go figure), grabbed the rotary cutter, and came up with this:


I really like the look of Denyse Schmidt quilts, and I'd been wanting to do a Hop, Skip & A Jump-like project since I bought her book a while back, and, well, today was apparently the day. I didn't have the patience to actually cut out all her template pieces and instead chose to cut random-width strips of the colored fabric and sew them to random-width strips of Kona Snow and get crooked from there. More of a "Hop, Skip & A Little Shuffle."

Love, love LOVE yellow and pink together!

I can go pack now.

Saying goodbye to summer...

Labor Day sunset at North Beach (South Haven, MI)

Hard to believe that another summer's come and gone, but the season departed from the beaches of western Michigan with a weekend of truly incredible weather: not a cloud in the sky, mid-eighties, with a light breeze...everything would have been perfect had the air conditioning not quit here at the beach house yesterday afternoon, which made today pretty miserable -- inside, anyway. Let's just say the cat wasn't very happy; I, on the other hand, was enjoying my book (Eat, Pray, Love -- perfect long weekend reading) on the deck, basking in bad-for-me sunlight (rationalized by a recently discovered Vitamin D deficiency) and thoroughly enjoying the feel of something other than a desk chair under my behind.

And -- drum roll, please -- I dropped the 60th Anniversary quilt top off with the longarm lady this morning, and my elation is indescribable! The dark cloud of guilt that hovered over every project I worked on over the past year that wasn't this quilt (and if you read my earlier posts, there were several of those) has finally lifted, and my creative license has been renewed.

Anybody have any idea how long creative licenses are good for?

Quilter's booty

Well, one of the few goals I had this vacation week -- besides overeating and lazing to the point of utter sloth -- was to get to my favorite quilt shop. And despite repaving traffic woes in this northern haven that turned the quick four-miles into town into 50 minutes each way, fellow quilter Jody and I braved the possibility of idling forever (which was, after all, the theme of the entire vacation) on a two-lane highway narrowed down to one to get our fabric fix. Turns out the traffic was clear by Friday and we had plenty of time and energy left for shopping.


As expected, The Icehouse's fabric selection was fantastic. I restrained myself to a point and carried just the "Safari" jelly roll around with me for about a half an hour while I browsed. Luscious flannels, gorgeous florals, too many jelly rolls (and charm packs and layer cakes) to count and a striking wall of blues could have been my downfall, but I was being good...until I found the "Malibu Monkeys" fat quarters. Then realized I'd walked right by the yardage. So I went back to find it.

I'm such a sucker for that silly sock monkey fabric, and a sucker for my Monkey Girl, who absolutely loves my quilts. She's been living in Bermuda with her parents for five years (having moved from just down the block), and even though I see her fairly often for them being so far away, it's always hard to part after our week together up north. Every quilt, I tell her, is a big hug from Auntie Kate, so when she misses me, she can just wrap herself in it. And as long as she needs hugs (or until I get an "Oh. Another quilt?" reaction), I'll be making her quilts for Christmas.

My Monkey Girl, another year older

And the charm packs? Turns out we'd just missed their annual sidewalk sale the weekend before, and there was a half-price table near the register. Don't know what I'll do with them, but I know from experience that one charm pack is never enough, and two for the price of one? Come on -- who can pass that up?

And just so you can see my life isn't All Quilting, All the Time (though I'm really itching to get back home to my machine), I show you my approach shot from 140 yards out on the second hole of my favorite golf course. I can never do this -- my approach always ends up an $8 cab ride away from the hole and I end up three-putting. So I had to document it. Birdie!

Hangin' in the north woods...

I am here...on the Left-Hand-As-Michigan map

There's something fundamentally wrong about having broadband in the middle of nowhere, but incredibly convenient at the same time.

Just hangin' on the dock, riding in the boat, eating too much and sleeping like a bear with nights in the high 40's. And very sorry to see the week come to an end.

V-A-C-A-T-I-O-N!

After a brief stop in Ann Arbor for my nephew Christopher's 6th birthday party, this is where I get to spend most of next week:

(Yes, that's a real rainbow. Lake Margarethe, post-rain, August 2007)

For the 25th summer in a row, I'm off to the north woods of Michigan for a week of golf, giant breakfasts, tubing and laying on the dock doing nothing whatsoever.

And for the 7th year in a row, I plan to bite off more than I can chew, creatively speaking, at The Icehouse Quilt Shop, a cute little surprise along the railroad tracks in Grayling, a 1920's lumber center and now "Canoe Capital of the World," for its miles of navigable waters along the Au Sable River.

This shop has a great feel to it, and some wonderfully helpful employees and clientele to guide your choices or just talk shop with. Wonderful selection of brights, and fantastic samples covering the walls to get your creative juices flowing...if you're in the neighborhood, it's definitely worth a stop.

Did I mention there's a gift shop?