Up North and Back

This past week we took a trip 'Up North', which is an area in Michigan demarked by an invisible line but which is universally agreed (by Michiganders) to be where there is more wilderness than shopping malls. 

We traveled about four hours from Metro Detroit to Baldwin, in the middle of a state forest. We stayed overnight at the Red Moose Lodge on the Pere Marquette River, perhaps the only visitors not there for the Salmon fishing.

The Pere Marquette River in Baldwin, MI

We spent a few minutes sitting beside the river, from which a fish now and then jumped with a splash.

We dropped off the innards of my husband's Victrolia and Edison Disk Player with the only repairman in the state. I stopped at the Fabric Peddler quilt shop in Baldwin and picked up a panel and matching fabric. My sudden interest in panels is from reviewing Creating Art Quilts with Panels by Joyce Hughes. I can't wait to try her techniques out on these large flowers!

Next, we stopped in Farwell at the Elm Creek craft and garden shop. We bought a patio set of two chairs and a table that fold up. Perfect for our front yard garden! I found another panel I had to get.

At the Surry Road quilt shop in Clare, I bought some fabric for a special project.

We then headed to West Branch where my brother has a log cabin, complete with Indian, outside of town.

The trees were coming into full color when we arrived.

 Every day we headed into town to the West Branch library for the WIFI.

The cozy sitting area in the West Branch library

And of course, we shopped at their fantastic used bookstore. I found some goodies. I had Armor Towle's Rules of Civility on ebook but prefer to read 'real' books. Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann has been on my TBR list, and I have heard a lot about Elena Ferrante's My Brillant Friend, and I love Andrea Barrett's writing. The Val McDermid rewrite of Northanger Abbey just looked like fun. And the William Maxwell stories was on the FREE shelf!

I stopped at Aunt Effie's Craft Closet in downtown West Branch, where I found friendly service and terrific selections.

This wall was just the SALES fabrics! There are tables of fat quarters and precuts and walls of bolds of fabric. They offer machine quilting and classes. One group is working on the Bee-autiful quilt from MODA, which I made last year.

I saw the cutest fabric on sale. I snapped a pic and sent it to my Gamemaster son, who also loved it. So the next day I returned and bought fabric to make him a quilt.

 We also stopped at the wine store.

We had rainy days, and after our daily treks into town, we stayed in the cabin reading books. We ate out for lunch and then had soup for dinner.

At the Lumber Jack restaurant, we had the most delicious bread pudding after a pot roast. The decor is quite Up North, down to the vestibule greeter.

 We love the food at the China Inn.

We hit a few of the antique shops. In the Potato Barn Anqitue Store, I found sheet music for One Meat Ball, a song my mother used to sing! It came out when she was thirteen years old.
I did not know that it was sung by Josh White and was from Cafe Society.

The lyrics go like this:

A little man walked up and down

and found an eating place in town.

He looked the menu thru and thru

To see what fifteen cents could do.

One meat ball, one meat ball, 

He could afford by one mean ball.

He told a waiter near at hand

The simple dinner he had planned,

The folks were startled one and all

To hear that waiter loudly all,

One meat ball, one meat ball,

Hey! This here gent wants one met ball!

The little man felt ill at ease

And said, "Some bread, sir, if you please!"

The waiter's voice roared down the hall,

"You get no bread with one meat ball!

One meat ball, one meat ball,

You get no bread with one meat ball!

The little man felt very bad,

But one meat ball was all he had.

Now in his dreams he hears that call,

"You get no bread with one meat ball,

One meat ball, one meat ball,

You get no bread with one meat ball.

It was very quiet at the cabin, but one day deer ran through the yard. Every day the colors grew more intense.

We bought bread at the bakery in town, successfully avoiding the doughnuts and sticky buns and blueberry pie. Outside, we met the local vet.

South of town, coming off the expressway, one can see the water tower which is painted yellow with a Smiley face, the most popular tourist attraction seen on the road Up North.

The land is hilly with fields and farms and pockets of trees and open land.

While driving we listened to a book on tape, Siracusa by Delia Ephron.

When I got home I had two books waiting for me. One was Haruki Murakami's newest novel, Killing Commendatore-- a surprise package from A. A. Knopf! I must have won some giveaway.

 And Dover Publications sent me My First Book of Sewing, which I requested for review.

I read non-review books while away: Marlena by Julie Buntin while away (review to come!), Stephen Fried's book on restauranteer Fred Harvey, Appetite for America, and started Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann.

While away, NetGalley informed me that I was approved for In the Eye of the Hurricane by Nathaniel Philbrick! I have enjoyed all his books. Also on my NetGalley shelf are All the Lives I Never Lived by Anuradha Roy, The Perilous Adventures of the Cowboy King by Jerome Charyn, Big Bang by David Bowman, and Daughter of Molokai by Alan Brennert. I read Brennert's Honolulu years ago and have Molokai on my Kindle to read before the new book. From Edelweiss I have Learning to See by Elise Hooper.

Also, while away I got the good news that I had won a special Book Club win: A Skype visit with author Wiley Cash to discuss his novel The Last Ballad. My feet were hardly touching the ground for a whole day! WILEY CASH! You can read my reviews on The Last Ballad here, and A Land More Kind Than Home here.

Coming home we drove out of the clouds and into the sunshine! The trees had some color, but mostly we saw green. We stopped for lunch in my husband's hometown, driving by his childhood homes and school.

It was nice to be away for six days, but even nicer to be home again! I have some sewing to do!

Binding With a Flange from Caroline's Sewing Room

Caroline's Sewing Room in West Branch, MI demonstrated how to bind with a flange during the annual Quilt Walk the first weekend of October. The flange is incorporated into the binding process and gives the impression of a narrow border.

The instructions involve cutting two strips of fabric, 1 1/2" wide for the binding strip and 1 3/4" wide for the flange strip. (Use mitered seams to connect the strips to make the lengths needed for your project.) The binding strips are sewn together right sides together along the long sides.

The strips are then turned wrong sides together and pressed even at the open edge; the flange fabric will show 1/8" at the folded edge.

The binding is sewn to the back of the quilt with the flange fabric up, then folded to the front of the quilt. The binding is machine sewn with matching threads.

 Below: Back of the quilt with binding sewn on.

 Below: Front of the quilt with binding sewn on.

Below the binding is being sewn on. You can see the binding back matches the border/backing fabric of the project and the flange is in the contrasting lighter fabric.

The mitered corners will need to be hand sewn.

 

It makes a great effect. I am eager to try it out on some small quilt projects and think it would be great for art quilts.

2015 West Branch, MI Quilt Walk: More Quilts!

The West Branch Quilt Walk includes quilts made by the Rifle River Quilt Guild and other local quilters. It is always interesting to see how quilters put their own stamp on a shared pattern like this Mystery Quilt:

I loved the warm colors and plaids and stripes in this quilt.

 Several barn quilts were in the show.

This one noted a husband who grew up on a farm in Troy, MI...which is a mile away from where I live. All of us who grew up here in the mid-twentieth century recall when Troy was farmland and open. Today we see Somerset Mall, trendy chain restaurants, towering office buildings, and subdivisions!

A fascinating quilt-- with real miniature clothes pins!

 A pretty fabric in graduated colors was used for this applique quilt.

 Michigan is a great place for skiers, especially if you go to the UP.

I hope you enjoyed seeing the quilts!