Part Three: The Unicorn

The Wedding was Friday night and we got there on Thursday.  We had all day Friday to do what we wanted.  I think Bob maybe felt a little guilty about the Outing Club so, we did craft shopping.  I had done some research online to find brick and mortar shops.  Can't remember what FB site its on.  From where we were there was a shop in Grand Rapids but, couldn't find too much about it.  The next nearest was in Plainwell, outside of Kalamazoo called Stitching Bits and Bobs.  It was a very nice shop....lots of thread and things for finishing,  

They had an amazing amount of silks:  NPI, Au Ver a Soie d'alger,  overdyes and all the other cotton floss available. 

All kinds of doo dads:  needle minders, scissors, and other little stitchy tools.

It was here I found my Unicorn!!!

I have spent some other posts talking about looking for the tray to finish this piece.  

I figured "what the heck, I should look.  Chances they won't have it."

I first saw this pattern on the  Attic Newsletter and ordered the tray at the same time.  

I waited and waited for two months and called them again.  

I had to re-order it and the tray again.  

I eventually got the pattern but, not the tray.  

I was told that it took along time to get the tray....that was eight-nine months ago.  

I have given up. 

I ordered a pattern from them before market....GiGi R Mary Knowles 1824 sampler....haven't seen that one either.  

Giving up on the Attic but, I digress.....

I FOUND THE TRAY AT STITCHING BITS AND BOBS!!!! 

Haven't seen this Brenda Gervais design of Adam and Eve.  I love A and E designs.

Decided to jump in to the world of silks....may regret this but, converted it into silks.  

Got an overdyed silk with several of the colors I converted to do the border.  

So excited about this.  

Got the little shaker box, its about 3-4 inches long perfect to set a little design and was only $10!!

I had the Eliza Mitchell and brought some designs with me that I thought I might like to try in silk.  

I got the called for NPI silks, they were missing a two colors so I will order that from 123 Stitch.   

Picked up Dames of the Needle pom pom trim just to have in the stash for when I need it.  

Found these Brenda Gervais....I have a fall broom pattern and the broom.  I can interchange the pieces.  I thought the Sheltering Tree was awfully sweet and had to come home with me.  

I'm taking the Stitching Cruise next summer and thought I would pick up a little scissors and a star detailer.  I don't want to take the scissors Bob got me when were dating, they mean too much to me.  I also have a dololly and don't want to take that but, find it very handy.  The star detailer will fit the bill.  

In Charlotte, where we were staying for the Wedding, we stopped in a yarn shop called the Yarn Garden.  Very cool little, knitting store.  Lots of hand dyed yarn super gorgeous!

A cabinet of sock yarn, the self striping stuff. 

The floor was terrifically uneven and the ceiling was the original tin and beautiful!  Bob found a guy chair in the back.  The owners twin granddaughters were there and leaving for their tap dance recital.  They were so excited and cute!

Got this hand dyed sock yarn and matching mohair.  The owner was working on a chevron pattern out of this type yarn with a Ravelry pattern that looked amazing.  

We popped into a quilt store because I was looking for some wool for finishing projects.  

The brown is actually not a dark brown but, more like DMC 400.

The other piece is a pink houndstooth.  

I got the thimble because when I use the sewing method, I end up with an hole in my middle finger that really can't hurt.  I have tried a lot of thimbles and the stick on patches but, they just don't work for me.  I thought this might do the trick and was only a dollar.  

Had to take a picture of this as we were leaving the North Brance Outing Club.  There is an army base near by and this was just funny!

I hope this was worth the wait.  It was a great weekend. 

I have started on Black Bird Designs She Sights a Bird.  

I may finish it off as a stitching box I picked up at Hobby Lobby.

I have been toying with the idea of sending it to Judy because she was so sweet when to me at the lodge...being the only girl.  

It was a very busy weekend.  I put out another 24 bags of mulch on my flower beds.  Did 20 Memorial Day to help keep the weeds at bay.  Went like nuts yesterday because it was suppose to rain all day Sunday.  It didn't but, its done and now its suppose to get hot.  Its not fun doing that when its hot.  Helped Ed move more stuff to his new apartment.  I put up his shwer curtain. 

That sums it up and need to get some stitching time in before I go to bed. 
Hope you had a wonderful weekend and had some quality stitching time.

Keep on Stitching

Monica

Part 2: North Branch Outing Club

I am saving the final part for the best....THE STASH!!!!  The second installment is the Historic Bed and Breakfast on the Au Sable River in Michigan:  The North Branch Outing Club. It is in Lovell, not far from Grayling.  It was built at the turn of the Century.  I didn't get a lot of the history.  Here is a LINK TO THE NBOC WEBSITE.  Famous people have stayed there:  John D. Rockerfeller, Harvey Firestone, Henry and Edsel Ford.....Bob says Ernest Hemingway.  I have to say it was like staying in a museum.  The Club was closed to the public in 1960 and to family friends in 1970. The current owner Judy and her husband bought in 1996 when he decided to make a carrier change.  He is gone but, Judy was there and let me tell you that woman is the bomb!!!!

They did a lot of rennovating but, didn't need to refinish the woodwork.  Very Cool!

Front porch of the B&B.  The second floor is screened in.  

There is an Orvis Fly Shop attached just incase you forgot something.  So as you know my passion is stitching, Bob's is flyfishing for trout.  When we were dating I would follow him around and pay attention so I knew what to buy for Birthdays and Christmas.  I got him his best reel.

Between the fly shop and the B&B porch entrance is another entrance the wader room where you are to hang your wet waders and boots before going to the living room or upstairs to your room. 

There had been a lot of rain recently so the river was high and fast.  So many bugs and mice get washed in the trout weren't hungry.  Needless to say, fishing wasn't too good.  Bob did catch a small brook trout.   This is a world class trout stream, rehabed by Trout Unlimited and is catch and release only.  We were on the North Branch.  The middle branch and south branch were "blown out."  The guides weren't taking people out either.  Lots of disappointed fishermen.

It was a lovely location and very peaceful.  There is also a bird there that only nests in 3-4 year old Jack Pines called the Kirtland Warbler  Kirtland Warbler Link .  We didn't see any but, really had no idea what I was looking for.

A little guided tour...the library.  There was a stairway off this room that brought us to our room.  We were in the original family master bedroom...one of two rooms with an adjacent bath.  There was a clawfoot tub that was next to impossible for this short legger to traverse.  I made it and then fought with the shower curtain.  The other rooms have to share bathrooms. 

The Kitchen.  You could pretty much help yourself to snacks and use the fridge for adult beverages.  The breakfast was very good.

The dining room.  The floors were all the original maple and beautiful. 

The living room.  I found a spot with a decent light.  I brought my travel light and there was WIFI so I watched a bad movie on Netflix and stitched until dark when Bob came in from fishing. The light fixtures in the dining room and living room are original or early to the inn. 

A sitting room on the second floor with bedrooms around it. 

The screened in porch on the second floor. 

Our bedroom, very quaint and charming.  The bed was fine but the pillows were kind of hard. 

We had our own little screened porch off the bedroom. 

I had a great time talking to Judy the owner.  I was the only girl staying there.  I had my stitching of course.  I also brought my recent purchases in with me.  We had a great time with show and tell. We had tea and homemade cookies.  She quilts and beads and had to show me what she beads.  She must have talked to the lady who cooks breakfast and she brought a sample of one of quilted wallhanging trout out of Batik that was phenomenol.  I'm sorry I didn't take a picture of that.  



I was working on The Armchair Pinkeep from Heartstring Samplery.  I think I blogged about this after I took Aunt Helen to Joann Fabrics.  I finished and then totally finished it this morning.   I had problems with my sewing machines...they both need a good cleaning and tune up but, thats a whole nother story. 

 I stuffed the pincushion part but, put a small piece of cardboard under the batting so needles won't go through all the way.  I used the fabric that was sent on the front side and then some fabric I had on the back side.  The fabric that was sent with the kit was more orange than red and looked awful.  It needed to be changed. 

I went to my Aunt's today since she wanted me to see the table runner top she is making me before she starts to quilt it.  When she is done I will post it.  It is gorgeous!

When I got there, there was a snake which turned out to be two snakes...Pine snakes and I think it was snake porn.  I really don't like snakes but, it was fascinating!

Stayed tuned for Part three which will be the stash pictures.  

I got some GOOD stash!!

Have a great week.

Hooray its Friday!

Keep on Stitching

Monica

Monica and Bob’s Big Adventure Part 1: The Reason We Went

We took a few days off and went to a wedding in the lower peninsula.   The bride was the daughter of one of Bob’s best friend from college.  I have several blogs worth of pictures. I figured I better start with the reason why we travelled. It is a very long way from where we live to where the wedding was...8 hours with short stops.  It probably takes 12 hours to travel from Ironwood to Detroit.  Michigan is huge!

We left on Thursday since the wedding was on Friday.  We were invited to the rehearsal dinner at the hotel.  It was a Taco Bar and really good.  Taco Bars are the rage right now and my daughter assures me, it is even done for weddings.  I think this is all really good because as far as I'm concerned, weddings have been getting out of hand!

I knew this was ging to be a pretty casual wedding but, wasn't really sure what to wear.  I got a long sun dress...got to hide the varicose veins and I don't do pantyhose.    It was black with small white polka dots.  I had a black shrug to wear which was good because it started getting cool in the evening.  The ceremony was at 4:30 Friday afternoon.  

The ceremony was at the venue and was about 15-20 minutes from our hotel.  The weather was perfect.  It was a miracle. because Thursday it rained a lot and it was suppose to rain on Saturday.  Friday during the day, it was cloudy but, cleared by about 3:45.  

It was a rustic wedding at a farm.  There were farm animals:  goats, ducks, and pigs:  Mangalica-hungarian-woolly-pig.  Click on the link to see.  Beatrice the goat.  There was another goat.  The kids had fun feeding grass to the goats.  

                                                 

 The sky was a brilliant blue....just a beautiful day.  

Bob really fell in love with the restored 1955 truck.  The cooler was unique...not the usual red.  (I like the red ones.)

Got a picture of the Bride's niece as she came down the stairs.  She spent the entire reception skipping or running.  Such a cutie patootie!

The Bride's brother in law officiated and did a really wonderful job.  The groom and groom's men wore jeans, tennis, suspenders and royal blue sunglasses.  It was a really fun wedding...not at all stuffy or formal!

After the rehearsal dinner, I stayed and helped fold the napkins with the Mother of the Bride and the Matron of Honor.  Mother of the Groom and her friend filled the jars with Baby's Breath.  The brides maids wore short royal blue short dresses with grey Nikes with royal blue shoe laces.  Comfy!!

Dinner was the couple's favorite foods.  They have a Barbeque place they really liked so it was Barbeque Brisket, Pulled Pork, Turkey, Mashed Sweet Potatoes (really good), Mac 'n Cheese (that was really good too!) Corn Cake and a tossed Salad.

There was a small wedding cake but, better yet was an assortment of cupcakes:  large/small, regular/gluten free.  I had a Sea Salt Caramel cupcake that was absolutely amazing!!! ( 3 exclaimation marks)                           

Bob and I did a selfie but, probably shouldn't.  Bob really doesn't get it, that he needs to smile.  

 

Stay tuned for more Big Adventures:  Cross Stitch stores, yarn, and North Branch Outing Club....not necessarily in that order.  I will probably make you wait for the cross stitch stuff.   I found the unicorn!

Hope you had great weekend!

Keep on Stitching
Monica

A Girl Can Change Her Mind...A lot!

I think I have been talking about the stitch 9 challenge and moving on to other projects. 

Well....I keep changing my mind or other things pop into my head.

Last week, I took my 90 year old to Joann Fabric to get some fabric for quilts.  

She is astounding!

She quilts, bakes bread every week and in the fall, bakes as many apple pies as she has apples for.

Last year was a record, 89 apple pies.

She has never been good at figuring out how much fabric she needs.  

I downloaded an app and have to try it against a magazine pattern to make sure I understand how to use it before we go again.  

While we were out to lunch, we were talking about needlework.

When she hand quilts, she gets 10 needles threaded and sticks them in the arm of the chair.  

So then I thought, I have just the thing to make her.

I was a member of the Prim Stitching Group through Dyeing to Stitch.  

One of the projects we got would be perfect for her.  

I got it started that night.  

It jumped to the top of the stitching queue.  

The picture of the piece. 

A Thankful Life Armchair Pinkeep.  

And my progress in the last few days.  

Thought I would show the piece I stopped working on to work on the armchair pinkeep.  

The cats and the strawberry plant are over one.  

The hard part isn't seeing it to put the stitches but, taking stitches out if its wrong.  

Bob had to help yesterday at the Conservation District booth at the Farmer's Market.  

I went and brought him some water while I was running errands  

We then took a stroll. 

I know a women who breeds exotic chickens and she makes bags.  

I had to get one for her since I'm a sucker for bags.  

Not sure what I'm going to do with it just yet.

It is a large bag and I think the chickens are great.  

There are smaller pockets on the inside and a pocket on each side of the outside of the bag.

Really a cute bag!

It has been a busy weekend.  

Ed is moving into his first apartment.  

We went yesterday to look at it and then go shopping for some furniture.  

I promised each kid a new bed when they moved out since I sold their childhood beds when they weren't coming home.  

We moved a full size bed into Katy's room and turned it into a guest room.  

We went shopping for a bed and I convinced him to get a couch  

We found an inexpensive one.  

He has all the household things when he lived in an apartment in college.

He has been saving money living here so he could afford a couch.  

Then today, Bob and I went to Home Depot for mulch.  

We could only bring 20 bags in the back of his truck.  

Ed helped my with the lifting and I spread it out.  

I still need 20-25 more bags in my beds.  

I'm pooped tonight!

That about sums it up.  

I want to get some stitching in before I fall asleep.  

Hope you had a great weekend and have a wonderful week!

Keep on Stitching!

Monica