Whoop Whoop Indeed!

Just before we left on vacation last week, a package arrived in the mail--my treat from  Sarah and the sponsors of the Hands2Help giveaway. It was a batch of sewing goodies from Clover. I just had to share this one. I immediately popped it into my take-along bag for vacation quilting. A Desk Needle Threader!

How did they know I needed this so much? I've had a really tough time threading needles in the last few years. I bought some of those little wire threaders--you know, the ones with the foil handle--but you have to be able to see the needle eye to use them, which is exactly my problem when trying to thread. I just sort of stab at the needle hoping the thread will go in, and I had to do that with the wire threader, too. Well, this little tool changed all of that! I can't tell you how much more quilting I got done because I wasn't spending all my time stabbing my thread in the general direction of the needle. So a big Whoop Whoop for Sarah and Clover! Thank you so much!

I did make some headway on my hand quilting project. It's been awhile since I shared this ongoing project because I usually only work on it when I'm away from home, but if you want to see more of it, you can click on the Hollyhocks label on the right sidebar or at the end of this post. Now that summer is here, I'll probably work on it more consistently because the lighting is perfect on our deck for hand quilting on summer evenings, and I do want to finish it.  

So that was my quilting for last week, but there is more to share. We vacationed in an adorable little apartment on the coast of Lake Michigan. In the closet were a few extra blankets in case we needed them. We didn't, but something caught my eye--a pretty floral patterned fabric with hand stitches. So of course, I had to snoop and pull it out for a closer look. 

Isn't that sweet? At first I thought it was pieced, but then I realized that those were neatly printed panels, with coordinated sashing and borders added. It was hand quilted with black and off-white threads "in the ditch" so that it truly looked pieced. The batting was thin, which made for a light, airy quilt. 

Isn't it adorable? After one last look, I folded it up and put it back in the closet for someone else to discover.

I later asked our host about the quilt. It was made by her mother, who had made a quilt for each of her (11) children. So sweet!

Our apartment also had a little pieced wall hanging of decorator fabrics and corduroy made by a friend of our hosts.There was just a little quilting on it around the border.

There was also a cute pillow and a crocheted afghan, so I guess you could say I felt quite at home there. 

But wait, there's more. One day, we visited a small town nearby, home of Ann Loveless, winner of Artprize in Grand Rapids in 2013 for her quilt of Sleeping Bear Dune Lakeshore (You can see my photos of that quilt, which hangs in the Visitor Center at Sleeping Bear, in this post). She and her husband Steve won Artprize again in 2015 with their multi-media project, Northern Awakenings. It's a 60 by 300 inch piece that morphs from photo to quilt across it's surface. It hangs in a restaurant near Steve's photo gallery. Very hard to photograph because of its size, but I gave it a try. It is breathtaking. This end is mostly photo:

This section is mostly quilt (tiny batik and landscape-y snippets of fabric):

 And a close-up:

And a shaky attempt at a panoramic photo. You just have to see this in person. 

The word to describe our vacation is BLISS. So I'll end with a few of my favorite photos of Pure Michigan:

The sweet doe that accompanied us every evening to watch the sunset.

Good night, Sun. Hello, Moon.

Oh, and a couple more because sewing related. This is the historical museum in the town we stayed in (it was not yet open for the season):

But here is what was in that second floor window (the cabinet is the same as mine, I think):

(And one more note--the stained glass insets in the window were made by our vacation host!)

Oh, and for the record, I saw three antique sewing machines in shops. One was not for sale but belonged to the family that owned a gift shop (I was able to date it for her). Two were Singer 99s. One had gorgeous decals. Both needed electrical work. I stayed strong and passed them up, but I hope someone else will give them the love they need.

So Whoop Whoop--for Sarah and H2H, for gadgets from Clover, for quilted discoveries, for lovely vacations, and always for Pure Michigan. I'm linking up today with Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict for Can I have a Whoop Whoop. Of course!

Ok, back to "regular" life.