Yes, winter has arrived in Indiana and Michigan too. The first leg of my trip from Traverse City to Grand Rapids on Sunday was one I won't soon forget. There was a 30 mile section of black ice and I have never seen so many cars in ditches or tipped on their sides, emergency vehicles everywhere and I almost hit a man walking across the southbound lanes to help people in the median. It's been a long time since I nearly wet my pants from fear as people spun and slid in front of me but God has his hand on the wheel and I crawled along in the line of traffic as far as I could see in front and back of me at 25 mph while Clutch slept sprawled across my lap under his blanket oblivious to it all.

I planned to finish my Dear Jane top at the retreat with Brenda with me so this is all I needed to bring along to sew on.
That plan went out the window when Brenda needed to stay home this time. Not knowing what I wanted to work on and no real time to think about it I just started tossing things in the Jeep.

It seems I can trash a hotel room rather quickly. Where would my dear friend have laid down her head with all my stuff. I now have all of this to choose from and more.

Midget Block fabric and Polka Dot Garden possibilities.

1930s solids and pearl cotton for wool applique

Civil War repro scraps and in the toile box, hundreds of 1 1/2" nine patch blocks.

This suitcase is filled with several unstarted kits and unfinished projects. I'll show you those later.


I did stop at Yoder's yesterday. They are decked out for Christmas. I didn't spend much time shopping so more pictures from there later.

Late start today, woke up with a nasty headache. I think it's a combination of two days of nasty driving, worrying about Clutch who is have a difficult time being away from me and raging hormones I'd love to excise from my body.
I'm off to the Suds 'n Duds to do laundry. No washer at the cottage, not time to do it in Grand Rapids and I'm not spending fabric money on new underwear so I'm heading to the Laundromat. While I'm there I'll ponder the problem I've created with my friends Round Robin quilt. I thought I had it all figured out. I'm doing a applique scallop about the outside edge. No big deal except I used a strip fabric and now that I've mitered the corners (which I hate doing) I'm not sure what to do with the stripe. Here's a quick picture without giving away the whole quilt since it's supposed to be a surprise.


I guess it doesn't look to difficult this morning. I think I'll finish the miter on the gold fabric, miter the strip individually, and decide on a corner design to finish the applique. Any other suggestions?

FYI - the November Sally Post Floral Sampler block is uploaded, I'll upload the final Nancy Page Club Magic Vine block before I go to Suds 'n Duds and the pattern for the Trick or Treat Kids is in the online store if you missed the free series.