A Row By Row Completed

The 2015 row from Northern Hearth Quilt Shop in Cadillac, MI had a fisherman in the foreground. I found a Dover publication silhouette of a girl under a tree and used it instead. I machine quilted it and bound it off as a stand-alone wall hanging or table topper.

Must. Get. Sewing. It has snowed, Thanksgiving is next week, and I had planned on making row quilts as presents. It will be a busy December.

The apple trees still had green leaves when the snow came yesterday.

Still Rowing...And Other Quilts

 

I am still working on the Row By Row projects. The one above is from The Quilt House in Indian River, MI. It uses a neat technique for the 'half circles': you sewed two circles right side together, quartered them, and turned them inside out. The quarter circles are placed on the squares and sewn along the seam allowance,

The row below was the 2014 one from Front Porch Quilts in Troy, MI. I enjoy embroidery and the cabin is super cute.

My friend Martha brought me a table topper kit from 2014--I forget which shop. It is an Irish Chain with fussy-cut appliquéd circles showing lighthouses.

 A nice summer quilt!

I hand quilted and finished the block from Hawaiian-Inspired Quilts by Judith Sandtrom which I reviewed here. 

When I was at Petals & Patches in Cadillac, MI I saw this cute quilt hanger and dragonfly quilt. At the next stop I found the amazing dragonfly and cattail fabric. I made my quilt longer than the original pattern so I could have more of that great fabric.

 Below on a lily pad note the dragonfly button I found at JoAnne Fabrics.

A quilt friend liked it so much I am ordering two more of the quilt holders--one for her and another for me to so I can make another quilt for a gift!

Up the St. Clair River

My completed row CCGS Samuel Risley- Sunrise

Yesterday we took another day trip, Row By Rowing up the St. Clair River. The St. Clair runs from Lake St. Clair to Lake Huron, dividing Michigan and Canada. (The Detroit River from Lake Erie turns into Lake St. Clair along the east side of Metro Detroit.)

First stop was Marine City, right on the shores of the St. Clair River. I recently watched on Netflix an episode of Under the Radar Michigan which featured Marine City. It was as charming in real life as on television. A wedding was taking place along the river near the lighthouse.

Marine City from the water. Our restaurant was the far left brick building.

Quilting Dreams was in an old house across from the lighthouse park. It has a wonderful selection of Reproduction fabrics--and Downtown Abbey for all you fans of the show. Their Row is a Snail's Trail in pale blues and white; the kit has all the pieces cut and ready for paper piecing.

We had lunch on the water at Anita's Restaurant, watching the ferry to Canada, and even spying a small freighter.

Next stop was East China's River Place Quilt & Sew. Their Row is the CCCS Samuel Risley-Sunrise. (This is the Sunrise Side of Michigan after all!) The kit included laser cut pieces for the appliqué. It is based on a photograph by Jenny Terhune of Marine City, taken in winter of 2014. The Risley is a Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker.

Risley block detail from River Place website

Next stop was was a shop that is fabled in Michigan--Port Huron's Sew Elegant! Port Huron is where Michiganders often cross into Canada on the Blue Water Bridge. (Which we have been over, but this trip we were UNDER it! Impressive view!)

I picked up their pattern for mama and baby ducklings on the water.

Swimming Lessons from from Sew Elegant's website

The shop has a huge amount of fabric and books galore, many older publications no longer available elsewhere.

It is likely our last Row By Row collecting trip. :( It ends September 8, and next week my husband undergoes cataract surgery. I wish I could have traveled further as there are beautiful rows still out there...

Three More Row By Row

I am getting the rows made. When they are all complete I will arrange them into wall hangings or quilts. Three more completed!

Top: Delphine's Quilt Shop in Gaylord, MI has 'pools' in a pieced block.

Bottom: A Little Quilt Shop in Waterford, MI uses pleated fabric for the waves. My version looks different from the store sample as I made it without the photo.

 The Quilt House in Indian River's pieced fish taught me a new technique.

I had hoped to visit more shops further away, but time is running out and my husband has cataract surgery next week.

Where did the summer go? These past few days in Southeast Michigan it has been overcast and cool, so cool I was tempted to turn on the heat last night! I am not ready to see summer end. When I was younger I didn't mind winter, but now I dread the long gloomy, snowbound days.

More "Row By Row" Rows...

from Heritage Quilt Shop, Gladwin, MI

from The Pincushion in Imlay City MI

The waterlily and fish Row by Rows are quickly made up with fusible applique. I don't usually work with fusible so the challenge is learning to keep my iron, scissors, and hand sticky-free.

from Quilted Nine Patch, Romeo, MI

I have enough rows made to create several wall hangings. I believe I will set them with pieced blocks not solid sashing.

Waiting are four more rows: Surrey Rd. Quilt Shop in Clare, Stitchin' at the Barn in Imlay City, Sew What in Wyandotte, Quilter's Gardne in Fenton. AND my brother picked up three more rows for me while he was Up North!

When they are all finished I will decide which are going to go together. But there is another month to collect them!

More Row By Row Blocks! And What is on My Reading Shelf

I have completed several more Row By Row blocks! They are quick projects, many using fusible appliqué, and some even have die cut pieces in the kits.

First is a sunset over the lake from Northern Hearth Quilting & Sewing Center in Cadillac; I replaced the original boy fishing on the shore with a lady under a tree looking at the sailboat.

I made two of my birthday gifts:

Creative Quilts in Brighton has this great LOVE Michigan with a map

 and a cute lighthouse from Sew What in Wyandotte.

Other updates:

• The kitchen is complete except for a few things which are ordered but have yet to come in. Our contractor is having a photographer take photos for her website! 
• I am going to the American Quilt Society show in Grand Rapids, MI next week! My friend and I are staying overnight...because who can see the whole show in an afternoon?
• I have another quilt book to review, so look forward to reading about projects inspired by Hawaiian quilts.

• I have reviewed 103 books through NetGalley since April 2014! I am like a crazy lady high on READING. I wonder how long I can last at this pace? LOL. 

Right now I am reading:

• The Pulitzer Prize winning novel All the Light You Can Not See by Anthony Doerr; my book club will dsicuss this at the end of the month.
• Pamela by Samuel Richardson, the 1741 book considered the first novel through NetGalley
• Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon, a young adult book about an eighteen year old girl in love for the first time: complication is that she can't ever touch him. She is a 'bubble' girl allergic to everything.

On my NetGalley shelf are

• White Eskimo: Knud Ramussen's Fearless Journey into the Heart of the Arctic  by Stephen R. Bown. 
• The Color of Water in July by Nora Carroll,because it is set in Northern Michigan.
• Radioactive! How Irene Curie and Lise Meitner Revolutionized Science by Winifred Conkling, written for children.
• The Heart Goes Last by Margaret Atwood. Because I have never read Atwood and it's about time I did!
• All of Us and Everything by Bridge Asher about complicated sisters during a hurricane along the Jersey shore.
• The Year of Shakespeare in 1601 by James Shapiro.

My Michigan Row By Row Progress

I have been working on the Row By Row kits I purchased while up Up North.

The rows below have an Up North theme. On top, from Elm Creek Ltd. in Farwell, is a sunset river scene with animals. The batik fabrics are beautiful. Below from Suzie's Stitching in Houghton Lake is a mama bear fishing and Bear's Paw blocks. The little shop offered reasonably priced fabrics and unique patterns I had not seen before.

In the photo below, the upper row is from Montague's Quilted Memories. The cities of Montague and Whitehall are on White Lake which feeds into Lake Michigan. White Lake is a natural marina and many sail boats are docked at there. I hand appliquéd the silhouettes. It comes with an embroidery pattern reading "from sea to shining sea'. Below it is a colorful Detroit waterfront scene from Front Porch Quilts in Troy. The kit comes with fusible pieces all cut out! Super easy and spectacular.

Four rows completed, and one in process and scheduled to be completed today.