Greetings From Wisconsin

On Friday morning I headed north to pick up my son from Duluth. It was a such a beautiful day for a drive. It makes my heart soar to travel across this state. The scenery is diverse and the forests seem to go on forever. The trees were bright green when I left our home in Southwestern Wisconsin. As I traveled North the leaves became sparse. Here Spring is two weeks behind. This photo was taken about 20 miles from the Lake Superior shoreline. The land drops off sharply here. I wonder if it was once an ancient shoreline. The temperature here is 65 deg F. Near the lake it was 41 degrees. Saturday I traveled on a shop hop with the Piecemakers Guild hop through rural Southwestern Wisconsin.
One of our stops was an Amish store near Cashton where our host Laura treated us to a bed turning. Laura has been selling quilts from her shop for more than 20 years. All quilts are made locally by as many as 65 Amish women. Piecing is done by hand or with a treadle sewing machine. All quilt tops are hand quilted with beautiful and precise tiny stitches. You can also find handmade baskets, rugs and wooden bowls at this stop.

Down the road a piece....

Another one of our stops was at "Down A Country Road", a gift shop that sells local Amish wares.

Follow this link to their website where you can view a short video about their business and a look at Amish life.

A Little Progress and Some Set Backs

I made some progress on my Winter Solstice project last week. I'm pleased with the hand dyed fabric I chose for the background. It really highlights the stars and makes them shine.

I have been working on a new idea for marketing my hand dyed fabric. I came up with a catchy name, which made me think I should rename or open a new ETSY store of the same name. Has anyone done something similar? Any thoughts? I'm really undecided.

I had planned to have my newly dyed fabrics added to my store this weekend but I had a few commission requests that have changed my focus for a few days. I am glad for the change. I have long been putting off adding some crazy quilt purses to my store. I'm working on one in particular that may be hard to part with. Oh well, I have learned to let go because I can always make another.


We have had a lot of wildlife sightings near the house lately. A few weeks ago I started smelling a skunk like odor and figured the skunks were coming out of hibernation. I turns out we have a red fox living very near our home. Our dog Jack has found remnants of meals just outside my studio window. The musk of a fox smells very much like skunk but MUCH more pleasants. Take it from one who knows. Our Alaskan Malamute was one to chase skunks. Never, NEVER, let your dog in the house if it has been sprayed by a skunk. :)

The deer have been coming in mass to the orchard and this morning I discovered why. We have seen a pileated woodpecker feeding on the remaining apples from last years crop. The apples no longer stay in the tree as the woodpecker pecks. Instead they fall to the ground to feed the deer.

Winter is slowly coming to an end. The morning sun is finally reaching our home early in the day. In a few weeks the quiet of winter will be replaced by the song of red wing blackbirds as they nest in the fields and raise their young.

Homestead Cabin Retreat

I spent the weekend at the Homestead Cabin Retreat. Each time I have stayed there in the past I have taken projects with deadlines and put lots of pressure on myself to get them completed.

This time I decided to take a few works in progress. Friday night was spent by the fire under my king size bed quilt while I hand quilted and spent time with some of my favorite girlfriends. It was such a wonderful way to unwind and re-energize my spirits.
On Saturday I broke out my tumbling block quilt top which I started hand piecing while on vacation visiting my MIL in Florida three years ago. This project has been close to completion for two and a half years.

I will be adding stars to the top and bottom of the quilt top. I have not been able to figure out a good way to finish off the left and right sides of the quilt with out losing definition of the tumbling blocks. Does anyone have a suggestion?

We shared lots of ideas with each other. I taught a quick tutorial about ruching. Cindy and Susan took it further and made some beautiful ruched flowers to embellish Christmas gifts and pincushions. Another Cindy joined us and brought along her paper crafts made in a recent class.

Here is another habit (or did I mean hobby?) that I could get addicted to.

Snow came on Friday night. It was wonderful to sit by the fire and watch it falling against the backdrop of a rustic log cabin. I was one of the first to rise. These are the scenes that greeted me in the morning. A little bit of heaven in the middle of nowhere.

So Little Time to Write Lately

A few weeks ago I received this from Lynn andLinda:

Thank you Ladies! I've recently gotten to know them. They both have beautiful art quilts on their blogs and are both members of Around the World In 20 Quilts. I can't wait until December to see your "Stellar Progress" completed.

I have homework to do. I hope you don't mind if I wait to name some of my blogging friends in another week once my Christmas items are all assembled and the next craft show is over. I will be vending this coming Saturday at the Elroy Quilt Show and Christmas Craft Fair at the Royall High School in Elroy, WI. Stop by and say hello if you are in the area. I'll post some photos of my last few weeks of stained glass work in a few more days.

I leave you with a photo of part of my first quilt. It is a king size quilt. I read the advice "start small". I'm not so good at following advice. I wanted to make this quilt for our guest bedroom. I figured if I didn't like quilting at least this quilt would be finished. It took me a couple of months to piece the blocks and then I hand quilted it. The project took me 11 months. Most of the quilting was completed in the last two months. I quit smoking during that time. Whenever I felt like smoking I hand quilted instead. Now I'm addicted to hand quilting.

Lazy Weekend, Friends Reunite, and Quilting Again

We had a wonderful weekend. On Sunday we went to a picnic at a friend's farm which reunited us with good friends. It was a lovely settling at an old farm house.

Their youngest son Benny started this stacked stone wall when he was in sixth grade. The wall is made from the stone found in their fields each spring. The now completed wall wraps around the front and side of the house. Benny just left for his first year of college. Yes, that is a working cannon you see on the porch. Mike is a civil war buff and enjoys firing the cannon on special occasions. I have always been surprised that the old glass windows of the house are all still intact.

I decided to take a break from my fourth art quilt this weekend after two failed attempts at machine embroidery. I took a little time to work on a favorite project. I started this quilt in April of 2007. It has been pieced and basted since January of this year, but I have allowed very little time for projects of my own this year. I fell in love with this fabric line from Fun Quilts and the simplicity of the quilt pattern. This king sized quilt is going on my bed so I decided to hand quilt the top. I love the feeling of hand quilting on a finished top. I also love the relaxation and satisfaction that comes from hand work. I have one third of the quilting completed. I have vowed to get this quilt done before the first snow. Wish me luck as it snows early in Wisconsin.

Almost Amish

I named this quilt "Almost Amish". It was made for my son and gifted to him on his 17th birthday a few years ago. It was my second attempt at piecing a quilt top when I was a new quilter. There are lots of references of our family life together in this quilt. There is a reminder of the frog pond near our house where many days of exploration with friends took place. The pine and fern patterned batiks signify our walks in the woods with our dog Kodiak and the wonderful wooded places we have lived. The purple fabric is a reminder of many sunsets shared together. The blue fabric signifies the blue skies of our home in Wisconsin and family reunions at the lake. The green fabric is a reminder of the lush land that is home. The black is for the night skies and the incredible view of the milky way on dark nights. The quilt was quilted by Marcia Wachuta with a meandering leaf pattern. I had her quilt 3 hearts into the quilt to signify the three members of our family.