Red Barn and a Coverlet in Northern Michigan

 

Red Barn in Northern Michigan, October 2023. [Waterlogued]

I took a short vacation last week to Traverse City, Michigan, spending time with my oldest friend.   We took a horse-drawn wagon ride through the woods in full autumn splendor.  There were some classic red barns along the way ...

 

Red Barn in Northern Michigan, October 2023. [Waterlogued]  

 

Here are the horses at Fantail Farm in  Benzonia, MI.

Janna is wearing the blue alpaca scarf I made for her a few years ago on the Triangle Loom.

Autumn was in full bloom while we were there!

We also did some beach combing in search of Petoskey stones, which Michigan is known for.  

These stones are millions of years old, made from coral.  We found a few, but will need to spend some time polishing them up to show their full beauty.

 

We also stopped at a historic lighthouse that had been run by a woman, Sarah Lane.  

There was a cabin on the property ...  I was delighted to see this coverlet on display! 

 

Back at my house, Janna got to do some weaving on The Mary Meigs Loom. 

 

Old Friends Together Again!   

We are old enough now to wear cool hats, too!

Sweet Little Pumpkin #1

 

At Quilt Camp this past weekend, I made this sweet little pumpkin, using a pattern and some leafy fabrics from my mom's stash, and some orange scraps from my own stash.   I can even tell you that some of the oranges came from this quilt and this one.  

I added an extra layer of batting underneath the applique to help it pop up out of the background.  Adding an echo stitch about 1/4 inch away from it also helps make it pop up.

 

Here is a detail shot of the leaves.

I took the time to secure the edges of the appliques with a satin stitch, just to get the practice, and prove I can still do it. ;-)

Detail of the vine and pumpkin slices.  The center bit is set up kind of like a crazy quilt block.

 

 

If you think it looks familiar, it is ...  My mom used this pattern and made her own version, which I previously posted here on Sweet Leaf Notebook.   The binding fabric was tucked in with the pattern.   If you look closely, you'll see it's the same on both mine and my mom's pumpkin. How's that for continuity?  ;-)

 

This is the pattern, in case you want to look it up yourself.

When October Goes ...

 

Lovely walk in my Dad's woods yesterday ... The last days of October.  There is still some fall color to be seen, though most of the leaves have already fallen for the season.

Autumn Splendor Confetti Quilting

 Autumn Splendor

“I'm so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers.” 

― L. M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables.

Here it is at a distance (figuratively speaking), which helps it all come together in the mind's eye.  I've been looking at it up close and personal for too long, so I appreciate the perspective.

This one has been many years in the hopper.  I started it at the October Quilt Camp back in 2011, with scraps from the Red Curry Quilt Top (also yet to be finished).

The view out the window that year was very similar to this.  I don't think I took a photo myself.   Did I?  However, I used an inspiration photo from Sue Bleweiss (Used by permission).  It was a young-ish tree in full color, and much shorter than the larger trees around it.  Or maybe it was just a splendid branch?

Chaos!

The basic technique is to drop bits and scraps on a background fabric, layer it over with tulle, pin it all together, then sew the heck out of it.  I used a layer of batting underneath as stabilizer.

Here it is from the back.  Lots of free motion stitching / embroidery to add texture, color, 

and stability.

I kept going back to add more stitching on the under story so that it would recede more.  Kind of neat how it all just blends together, like pointillism.  Remember the old tv sets that were millions of tiny dots of color?

Then the tree trunks seemed to get lost, so I added some trunk-y yarns to add texture and contrast to help them stand out more.

Today, I decided enough was enough.  Time to add some borders and call it almost done.  I still need to add the backing and binding. But much closer than before!

Sometimes, you just need to get some distance (time and space) from a project to start liking it again.  Sometimes, that's what it takes for a project to come together as a whole--after you've been caught in the details for so long.