Mackinac Island, Michigan

It has been a long time since I posted but I've been back 2 weeks from a trip I had planned for almost 2 years. I became intrigued with visiting after Bonnie Hunter(Quiltville) posted about being there during the Needlecraft Festival beginning of May 2014.
I was able to attend the Needlecraft Festival for a week this May. This small island is located in Lake Huron beside the Mackinaw Staits between Lake Michigan and Lake Huron and has outlawed automobiles since late 1800's. Modes of transportation are feet, bicycle or horse drawn carriages. How wonderful to sit in the rocking chairs on the verandah and listen to the horses clip-clopping by. 

Here are some pictures: it was cool and windy but sunny and gorgeous.

This was the airport at Pellston-2 flights daily from Detroit and nothing else. Was like a hunting lodge. Below is the luggage carousel.

Leaving Mackinaw City (and yes it is spelled differently than the island.

Arriving at Mackinac Island in the fog

Arriving at The Grand Hotel where we stayed- Amazing...right

Our room

The carriage that delivers you from the ferry to the hotel

This is Kevin and Hanson who pulled our carriage for a tour of the island

 My fabulous travel companion - my sister in law . Sitting on the red carpeted front steps. The day we arrived(day before season opening) they were finishing installing new carpet

Downtown building where every second store sells fudge :)

Leaving the Island on a very windy day - what a great trip this was

This is the beach behind our hotel in Mackinaw City where we stayed overnite before flying home. I bet this is packed in the summer

In the next few days I will try to share some pictures of some of the quilts and the awesome carpets in the hotel.

Allietare clue 5

This mystery is going to be wonderful I think, I can't wait to see the blocks and possibly a very interesting border.
Clue 5 was great and I have it completed although as prev mentioned I am only doing half of the units. Almost caught up with only 5 sets of clue 4 left to sew and they are all cut and layered ready to sew.


Here is my clue 5:

My Helper while working on clue 5

Here are all my clues to date:

I also wanted to share this puzzle I got for Christmas

It is called Maggie the Messmaker by the Charles Wysocki

We put it together Christmas Day and I love it.

 To view posts of other mysteries click this link Here to go to Quiltville's linky page for clue 5.

Allietare clue 4

A little slower going on this clue as there is Christmas things to get ready. I have over half of them cut, quite a few of those partially sewn and just one set completed. Bonnie has once again done a great job of keeping the mystery a mystery as I cannot guess where these pieces will go(not that I have tried very hard to figure it out). I am still liking my colors and there is such a variety of colors by everyone I think it will quite a show when we see the finished quilts.

Check out the clue 4 linky for many more pictures Here

Here is my completed set.
Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas.
Hopefully lots of time between Christmas and New Year's to get caught up.

Allietare Clue 3

As always December goes fast and here we are already done clue 3 of the mystery quilt.
The clues. are quite simple so far which is great, it may remind us all that a number of simple clues can make a fabulous quilt.
There seem to be quite a few variations of colors this time and I am really liking mine, already it is only 2 more days until clue 4:

Here is my Clue 3:

Four patches and assorted large rectangles

For more great pictures visit Clue 3 Linky Here

           This will take you to clue 3 linky on Quiltville.blogspot.com - home of Bonnie Hunter

                                              And here is all three clues so far-so much FUN

Bonnie Hunter's 2015 mystery quilt Allietare clue 2

I  am loving this mystery so far. Same as last year I am only making half of the blocks and it seems easy to keep up that way. Even had time on the weekend to finish some other projects needed for Christmas including a couple of cloth books for my grandson.
Here is clue 1 & 2 , I'm thinking I will need 12 sets not 10 but will wait and see.

I am posting to Bonnie's linky page. Please visit that post Here to see many other peoples links.

 These are a few of my Italy pictures which inspired my color changes:

 
 

Tuscany, Italy May 2015

This post is a bit late but life got in the way. I had a fabulous trip in May which was mostly with Crafttours and Bonnie Hunter.
Rather than go to New York to join the trip my sister and I made our own flight arrangements and met the group in Florence, Italy. Because we did not have to return to New York we stayed 3 extra days in Florence on our own.
 The following is a small sample of the over 900 pictures I took :).

                                             A little bit of Hexie-project we did with Bonnie


Montecatini Alto




Florence

Our last sunset in Florence.....Hope to come back someday

Mystery quilt 2015

I  knew it had been awhile since I posted but when I looked at the last date I couldn't believe it's almost a year, my last post was step 2 of Grand Illusion so first here it is to date:
Top finished but not quilted

I think I have a better picture but can't find it right now.......

It has been a very busy year - Micah is now 13 months old and running everywhere:



He loves to have his picture taken.


Work has been crazy with staff shortages but we are back to full staff and hopefully they all stay for awhile.
Hopefully lots of quilting time over the winter as we are staying close to home this winter. This includes Bonnie Hunters 2015 Mystery quilt which just started Friday. It is based on her trip to Italy last May which I was able to go on with my sister Faye; it was fabulous and I would love to go back. Pictures of Italy in another post.
It was a great group and Bonnie is so much fun, I would go on trip with her or Jim West of Craftours anytime. Would also like to attend a longer class with Bonnie some time.
Here is my first clue completed - I am making half of the units. Possibly a smaller quilt but can always make more pieces later.

Hopefully this is a new beginning in blog posts with a little more frequency.