It doesn't get any better than this...

Aahhhhh...hand applique on a perfect west Michigan afternoon, listening to fantastic music on the last day of Session One of Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp.  Yep...I had to actually leave home to get some sewing done this summer!  I was just hanging out in the 'cheap seats,' stitching and enjoying the perfect place to applique until my daughter's Symphony Band was ready to play.  Then we moved up to good seats and enjoyed a fabulous concert with all the other adoring parents and grandparents.

Before leaving home, I had hastily prepped some of my Blackbird Design basket blocks and placed them in my "Magic Box" with needles, thread, scissors, beeswax and my thimble.  I had everything I needed for a good time.  It was Heaven!

 

To prep the blocks, I glue basted everything together using my light box and my Roxanne's Glue Baste.

First, I placed my placement guide on the light box, lined up a background square on top, then used my pattern weights to hold everything steady.  This is what it looked like before I turned the light box on.

Now the light box is on and the placement guide shows up nicely.

Next, I put tiny dots of Roxanne's Glue Baste on the background fabric where the basket handle will go.  Can you see the tiny dots?  Remember, "dot-dot-not-a lot!"

After placing the handle, I applied tiny dots of glue on the background around the edges where the basket went (and around the edges of the peep hole!).  Once pressed in place, I set this aside to dry and prepped another block.  I am careful not to put the glue dots right at the edge of the outline...I don't want to have to stitch through the dried glue when I come back and make my applique stitches.  I only glue to hold things in place temporarily so that I don't have to work with pins.

All ready for hand applique!  Once appliqued, I will soak the block in water to remove the glue, then press it dry with my iron on the WRONG SIDE (dry iron, no steam), working on a towel placed on my pressing surface.  Once dry and pressed, I trim the basket block to 5 1/2 inches square.

nce the glue dries, into the Magic Box it goes until I have about 10-15 minutes to stitch it (and a few of its friends...).

While on the west side of the state, I had the opportunity to visit a new quilt shop (new to me, anyway...).  The shop is called "Fabric Quilt Scissors" and it is located in a charming little town called New Era, just northeast of Whitehall, where my husband and I were staying while waiting to pick up our daughter from music camp (not far from Muskegon, MI).  It was not in my Quilters Travel Companion...I asked the Innkeeper where we were staying if she knew of any quilt shops in the area.  She had hosted a quilt retreat recently, and the quilters attending had nice things to say about this shop.  I programmed "New Era, MI" into my GPS, and off I went, looking for an adventure!

What I found was a charming shop!  New Era is about 2 blocks long, and this shop was right in the middle of town.  I noticed there was a nice bakery right across the street, but since I'm dieting, I steered clear of THAT little adventure...

The shop is bright, cheerful, and full of fabric and project temptation!  Owner Kathy Szczesny (pronounced "chez-ny") carries a nice variety of fabrics...batiks, modern, baby, kids, brights, florals, color blenders, northwoods, novelties, patriotic.  There were plenty of patterns, books and notions to temp me as well.

 

The back room hosts more fabric, samples and a classroom.

 

I loved the Amy Bradley bug sample...

I gave into temptation many times, but by FAR, my favorite fabric purchased was this glow-in-the-dark piece from the "SKELETOONS" collection by Mark Hordyszynski for Blank Fabrics.  Fun, fun, FUN!

I love the colorful sneakers!

So, if you find yourself near the coast of west Michigan, check out Fabric Quilt Scissors, located at 4708 1st Street, New Era, MI, 49446, (888) 861-4646 (http://www.fabricquiltscissors.net/).  When visiting new places, don't be afraid to ask the "locals" about quilt shops...there are lots of charming shops that aren't listed in the travel companions.

In stitches,
Teresa  :o)

Eat your heart out, Willie Nelson...

"On the road again...just can't wait to get on the road again...(sing it, Willie...).  It seems to be my summer to put thousands of miles on the car.  But I made a little detour about 10 days ago...

(ssshhh...don't tell Ola and Mary J where I stopped...)  I mean really, I was just passing through.  I left at 6:15 AM from Ann Arbor to take Riley to Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp on the OTHER side of the state.  From there, I headed south to Alabama for the second time in a month.  I decided to take a new route, south through Indiana to meet up with my normal path in Louisville, KY.

I just HAD to go through Shipshewana, in the heart of Indiana Amish country, to get to I-69 south...REALLY...

But I forgot that it was Wednesday, which is Flea Market Day...on Wednesdays the town is filled to bursting with locals and visitors.  Buggy AND car gridlock...

As I inched through the traffic in town, I soon realized that a stop in town at Lolly's was out of the question.  Parking was impossible.  I decided that a quick spin through Yoder's was the best that I could hope for.

I was overjoyed to discover that THEY ARE EXPANDING THE ENTIRE BUILDING !!!!  The picture above is the expanded center hall, and the one below shows the HUGE new expansion of the quilting part of the department store (the tools are still set up, as they are finishing the expansion across the hall from the department store.  I'm not sure if they are expanding the grocery store, the hardware store, or BOTH.

It is well-lit, spacious and so enticing!

They had only been in the new part for 2 weeks...just in time for the big show they had a couple of weeks ago. 

This is the expansion across the hall...still working on that...

They are still moving things around and putting out new fabric and displays.  I want to go back soon and see the finished product!

 

OK...enough of lurking in the hall...let's so SHOP!

Out of my way, sweetie...I just gotta get in there...

Wow...can you believe THIS is Yoder's??  I remember when the fabric was just a few displays between the straw hats and the suspenders!

 

Anne Sutton fabric is featured nicely...

 

Nice, wide rick-rack above a nice selection of 30's fabrics...

 

Part of the color wall...

Reproduction fabrics...

Thimbleberries and Kansas Troubles...

 

More color wall...

MORE Kansas Troubles (YOU could get in trouble here, Mary J...!)...

 

I kept being drawn back to the color wall...

 Halloween into fall into Christmas...oh my!

NICE, comfy area with leather chairs for browsing books and magazines...

Minnick and Simpson for Moda, etc...

What is WRONG with me?  I've been here 20 minutes and there is NOTHING in my basket??

More color wall...

 

Lovely samples were EVERYWHERE...

 

Notions, notions, notions...

And don't think that just because it is "Yoder's" that they aren't up-to-date with the newest items...just look at the GO! display...

 

Our favorite magazines from Australia and New Zealand...

 

And all the rest of my favorites...

 

Halloween...

Now...THAT is more like it...

 

Lot's of lovely 30's...

This huge cutting table accommodated 4 nice ladies cutting for customers...no waiting in line...even on a Wednesday...

 

For everyone loving wool and a more primitive look...

 

Lovely wool...

Then I drove like a maniac the rest of the day and well into the night, bumping into a deer at the Tennessee-Alabama border at 1:00 AM (thank God I was alert enough to slam on the brakes and slow down to only 10 MPH...we BOTH survived...and I didn't wet my pants...the deer might have, though...) and rolling into my northwest Alabama destination at 2:20 EST (one thousand miles later...).  I got home to Michigan late last night, and now we are off tomorrow morning for 2 days of entertainment at Riley's camp and to bring her home.

I wish I could say that the summer road trips were over...

Happy trails...wherever they lead you...

In stitches,
Teresa  :o)