A little bit of slow stitching...

Only a few stitches were added to my Autumn embroidery piece while we were on our trip to Michigan.  I chose this section with the oak leaves because we saw lots of oak trees here and acorns - my husband is fascinated by acorns!

We did see some hints of fall leaf color along the roadsides as we explored and at Tahquamenon State Park where we hiked to the falls.  

Other colorful sights included this beautiful monarch butterfly on a zinnia.  

Our last day was spent in Grand Rapids where we met up with some dear friends and visited their botanic gardens and hunted around for all the Chihuly glass pieces that are on exhibit there right now.  They are amazing!

Now that we are home from our trip, I expect my slow stitching to pick back up again and there's definitely plenty to do for today's Slow Sunday Stitching 

at Kathy's Quilts.

I Like Thursday #501

I may have a new favorite place - Michigan's Upper Peninsula!  It's beautiful up here, and so much to see and do.

We've seen Lake Michigan - and a beautiful sunset.

                       Charlevoix

And Petoskey

We drove over the Mackinac Bridge,  and stopped at the viewpoint on the other side.

Found another Thomas Dambo troll.  This is Benny, the Beardfisher!

There are a gazillion lighthouses and beaches to wander.

Lake Superior!

I got my feet wet in Lake Superior - 

I was checking out the beautiful rocks 

and this wave snuck up on me!

We went up to Whitefish Point and visited the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum where the memorial to the Edmund Fitzgerald is.  It sank just a few miles off the point.

We hiked to some waterfalls in Tahquemenon State Park.  Lots of green here!

Sault Ste Marie, Michigan is where the Soo Locks are located, and we went on a boat ride through the locks.  The locks are needed because Lake Superior is 21 feet higher than Lake Huron and they help the big iron ore freighters move between the lakes.   A ship moves into the lock, then gates are opened and closed to allow the water to rise or fall to the level that's needed for the ship to move forward.  It's a fascinating process and we had a blast experiencing it!

Here is a boat just like we were on, 

going through the lock.

It's been a great trip so far, especially exploring a part of the country we've never been to before!  We have a few days left to go a few more places.  I think we will go home tired, but satisfied!

Joining in with Not Afraid of Color for I Like Thursday.

Travel stitching!

I've just gotten started on the Autumn embroidery from Gail Pan's book, Changing Seasons.  She has included a bird in each one, and I love them!

But then I packed it into my project pouch with needle book, scissors, hoop, and floss - 

And stuck in my suitcase to go along on our trip this week.

Will I put any stitches into it while we're away?  I'll let you know next Sunday!

Linking up at Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching.

A pretty purple placemat...

My scrappy placemat for September -

I started out the month cutting out 4.5 inch squares from each purple I pulled out of my stash, and ended up with this group of 12.  I originally thought I'd just use them this way to keep it a simple and quick project.

But that was kind of boring.

So, instead, I decided to add a strip of cream Grunge and trim that to 4.5 inches.  And I liked that so much better.

Those squares turned into this!

The columbine print I purchased at the Estes Park quilt shop made the perfect binding.

I had enough of a lavender solid 

to use for the backing.

And here's the whole rainbow!

Sharing at SoScrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday.

And at Quilting is More Fun than Housework for Oh Scrap! 

I Like Thursday #500

Post #500 in this series - wow!  Thank you, LeeAnna, for hosting this enjoyable weekly group.   I usually think about and collect ideas for this post all week.  It has made me pay closer attention to the good things in my life.

Things like getting a new garage door opener!  👍  We've had to haul it up and down manually for two weeks.  (Poor us...:)  What a nice treat to just push a button once again!  It's sort of space age looking, lol!

I have enjoyed working on this sunflower design this week.  I really like the look of the center of the flower.  There's still a border to stitch all the way around, but that should go quickly.

A friend served me this flavored sparkling water the other day, and I really liked it.  So I bought some for our house, and have been enjoying a cold, fizzy drink in the afternoon.

I loved this book!  Such a good story.  It's historical fiction, set in 1920, about the first group of women to be admitted to Oxford University.  There are four main characters that you get to know as the book goes on - and lots of interesting things about their lives.

LeeAnna's question of the week is- what has been the highlight of your week?  And I have to say, the highlight is coming up and hasn't happened quite yet.  But here's a hint!  

Joining in with Not Afraid of Color for I Like Thursday.

Midweek Update

Over the weekend I continued on working on a little of this and a little of that - mostly with my purple scraps.  I got out the gameboard blocks to do a little assessment of where I am with those.  I had planned to make 30 of them and there are now 25.  Three of each color except purple (two there) and light neutrals (only one).  I've been thinking a 5 x 6 layout would make a nice smallish quilt for donation - just have to decide on the layout.

That lead to making the center 16 patch for another purple block!

While still looking at my purple scraps, I came up with a plan for this month's scrappy placemat, too.  Hoping to have a finish to share on Saturday!

And I've made a couple more blocks for Melva's Irish Chain sew-along.  I like cutting a little and sewing a little, so that's what's happening here.  I'm up to six blocks now, with a goal of nine total for a tabletopper.

There's some scrappy fun! 

Sharing at The Inquiring Quilter for Wednesday Wait Loss.

And at Alycia Quilts for Finished or Not Friday.

It's September!

When the calendar turned over to September on Tuesday, I got out my apple things for the little chest of drawers display.

I don’t have any apple themed bowl fillers, but I did fully finish the apple mini sampler that stitched last year.

Meanwhile, this sunflower is starting to bloom!

I also got the fourth seasonal design from Gail Pan's book, Changing Seasons, traced and ready to stitch.  I knew I wanted a variegated floss with browns and oranges for this one, so I stopped by my LQS on Friday afternoon to see what they had.  There were two choices, so I got one of each!  (I'll use both of them eventually!)  One has a little more orange in it, the other is a little more brown.

This is what I'll be working on for my Slow Sunday Stitching.

Linking up at Kathy's Quilts!