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!

Weaving the Vines on The Mountain Cucumber Coverlet Video

 

Weaving the Cucumber Vines (aka Worms) on The Mountain Cucumber Coverlet Video [17 min.]

 

I wanted to do a little video of weaving the "worms" (aka cucumber vines) section of the Mountain Cucumber Coverlet, so you could see the pattern emerge in the cloth with every shot of the shuttle.  Every weaving project has it's own requirements and it can be a useful to have a recording like this.

This particular pattern is overshot, meaning every shot of the blue wool pattern weft is followed by a shot of cream cotton in plain weave to hold it all together.  I use the beads to tell me what foot pedals (treadles) to push for the blue pattern threads.  The white tabby always follows the pattern thread and in the pedal farthest to that respective side, so I don't need beads for that -- In case you may be wondering why I move the beads only every other shot.

I am beating each shot twice.  Once with an open shed, and again with a closed shed.  As I said -- every project has different requirements, and that is what this one calls for.

The video also gives an idea of how I use the treadle beads, even if you can't see my feet moving underneath.   Each bead tells me what treadle to push for each shot in the sequence.  Once I through that shot, I push the bead to the left and move onto the next one in sequence -- although this project had so many treadle changes, I did not bother to list the tabby shots -- Those are givens.  They always follow behind the pattern shot, so I know which treadle to push.   For me, the treadle beads were a game-changer as far as keeping track of treadle changes.  I rarely make a mistake on that now!  

Eureka! It's Working: Weaving the Red and Black Circle Scarf on the Loom

• This video explains how to "program" the beads.

New Video Demonstrating the Bead System for Tracking Pattern Treadles on the Floor Loom

 

Some might think this is a boring video of someone weaving, but there's a place for things like this -- the regular sounds can act like white noise and be quite comforting -- as it is when I'm in the groove weaving.  If you don't have the patience for it, feel free to skip ahead and see the pattern that emerges at the end of the sequence.

Enjoy!

 

For the record, we had to make a gibbet for my iphone to take the video from overhead.  This is it! Nothing fancy, but servicable.

Missives from Quilt Camp October 2023

 

Nordic Star Table Runner from The Crafty Quilter [Free Pattern]

I think the fabric is all from my mom's stash.
 

Another year of Laura's Quilt Camp at Lake Lucerne in Neshkoro, WI.  We've been going there for 15 years now! 

 

My first project was to finish the 6 additional blocks for the Cathedral Windows Quilt.  Now I can start putting the blocks together for a wall hanging. 

 

This looked familiar to several ladies there ...  I found the blocks in my mom's sewing room.  It was a block-of-the-month project from The Cutting Edge Quilt Shop in Antigo, WI. It must have been a class to help her get familiar with one of her new sewing machines.  

I thought she might have even used the embroidery machine to do the quilting around the flowers?  But no -- it looks like she got to use multiple stitches and feet in the making of these blocks.  

She also quilted all the backgrounds BEFORE she did the applique flowers.  Each block had a Warm n Natural backing that also doubled as stabilizer.

All I had to do was lay the blocks out, add the sashing and borders.  I'll need to finish it some day ...

 

 

And finally, the mindless sewing of the weekend was to make hourglass blocks.  These will be alternate blocks for the scrappy crumb blocks.  I love how they will create a secondary pattern in this quilt when it's all done ...  These blocks are all 5-inch squares.  So that means I started with 6-inch squares to make the hour glass blocks. 

Of course it was lovely to see the ladies again, too, even though it was a smaller group this year.

My table mate was Laura Ramseier, as usual.  This year, our table was over by the lake and the windows.  There was so much more light in that spot, that I never needed to pull out my Ott light!  What a revelation!

My cabin mate was Pat Saft.  We got along very well, as expected.  Although she did NOT tell any ghost stories this year. ;-)  I love going to Guild Meetings and talking with these older ladies who still are of sound mind and body into their 80s.  

Sheila, Laura, Michele

And Sheila at the next table over.  

And Shirley a few tables down the line ...

And the Charmers at the other end of the hall.

 

Here's the whole group this year.  About 20 ladies. 

The food was good this year, too -- more befitting for the average age of the Quilters present, rather than meals better suited for much younger campers with speedy metabolisms.   And there was a lot of food!  But the snack tables were blessedly sparse this year.

Several people brought their Singer Featherweights.  If I had known, I might have brought mine along as well.  All the projects I worked on were straight stitching anyway, so it would have been fine.  Singers do straight stitching very well!

Bonus:  I came home with an antique quilt frame.  The lumberjack was there this weekend cutting fallen trees out of the woods at Lake Lucerne.  At lunch he asked if anyone would be interested in an old quilt frame.  "It's free, and comes with a stand," he said.   He offered this same set last year, too, but no one took him up on it.  He said it would wind up on the burn pile this year if no one claimed it.  So I finally said yes -- all the while wondering how I would get it into my car.  The rails are 105 inches long.  It fit ...  but now what do I do with it?  I guess -- The next time I want to tie a quilt, I can take it to an Open Sew Day and set it up in the middle.  Someone there will know how to set it up.   I don't really have the space to do it at home -- unless I fold up the big loom for a while?

Still can't picture what a Quilt Frame is?  Here's a selection of photos from Flicker showing other frames in use.   This post explains how to use an old quilt frame.  There's a tag on it, but more than half of it has been scratched away, or I would try to look up this particular brand.  I hope all the pieces are there.

I remember when I was a kid, my mom had the quilt rails (no legs) and the women of the family would set them up on dining room chairs, and then set about tying quilts the old-fashioned way.  I have no idea whatever became of those rails, though ...

 

Although there was a little fall color on the drive out there and back, not a lot of fall color out there yet.  The trees across the lake were mostly still green.

This is the view out our closest windows this year.