Appleton Dance

Lake Huron beach near camping cabins and campsites at Harrisville State Park, Michigan. Photo: Alisa Theil by guest blogger Sandy Hewitt Here is some information about Michigan camping and cabins. Michigan State Parks:  reservations link:  https://www. midnrreservations.com/ MichiganStateParks  or call  1-800-447-2757 . The online reservation system can be a bit frustrating, so call the 800 number if you have any trouble. Some parks have: Camper Cabins (have electricity, two bedrooms, and sleeps up to seven), Mini-cabins (have electricity, is one big room, and sleeps up to four), and/or Rustic Cabins (have no electricity, sleeps from four to eight depending on the site, and can be far away from the main park facilities - so there is usually a vault toilet close by). Cabins can be booked up to one year ahead of time, but they go fast depending on the park. There are also private homes for rent in these towns if the park cabins are booked up....

Trompe l'oeil buffalo-chex patchwork This buffalo-chex pattern in black, teal-blue, and gray is created by using a cross-weave printed fabric along with black and a coordinating color. I learned how to do this on Shay Henderson's Empty Bobbin Sewing School weblog post titled "Buffalo Check Quilt Pattern". (Note: this post is no longer at the original link, but the free pattern is available online. I love this, and think it's like magic to watch the fabrics transform into the buffalo-chex pattern. The secret is in using a "weave" printed fabric as the foundation of your design. The teal-blue "weave" print pictured below makes the "gray" blocks in the teal colored, buffalo-chex, patchwork I demonstrate here.   Moda Rustic Weave -- teal color, purchased from Missouri Star Quilt Co. This "Rustic Weave" fabric looks like it is course woven, but it is actually printed to look like a woven fabric of a teal color wit...

Jan Frank's adaptation of a bird motif in the Kantha style of India Jan Frank shares stitch expertise on GAAQG quilt day Ann Arbor stitcher and fiber artist Jan Frank offers a free embroidery mini-toot at each Greater Ann Arbor Quilters' Guild quilt-day meeting. She said, "I have been doing every kind of stitchery under the sun since I was five-years-old -- that's 70 years!" At last Saturday's GAAQG quilt-day Frank displayed her adaptation of motifs in the Indian Kantha style that prominently features chain-stitchery. Her favorite stitch guide is Marion Nichol's Encyclopedia of Embroidery Stitches Including Crewell , published by Dover and available in Kindle and paperback from Amazon. Frank may be contacted by email: janfrank at sbcglobal dot net. Pat Wagner's fabric box Fabric boxes GAAQG member Pat Wagner was also on hand at May quilt day demonstrating how to make a clever fabric box that she discovered online at: Laura Coia...

Quilted eye pillow by Linda Theil by Linda Theil I always thought eye pillows were only for Thirties-era starlets until I learned in yoga class how nice a weighted eye pillow feels when you are resting. For this eye pillow that I made, I used an old worn sheet that I love, but you can use any soft scrap you have available. Old flannel p.j.s would make nice eye-pillows. An eye pillow is also a warmhearted gift for travelers and visitors. You can download a printable PDF file for the "Eye-pillow pattern 2016"  by clicking on the link. Or you can draw your own pattern using the drawing shown here. Each block should be 1/4-inch. To make an eye pillow, you will need: 4 pieces of fabric 11-inches wide by 5.5-inches high 1 piece of cotton batting 10-inches wide by 4.5-inches high one elastic hairband, available in drug stores one cup buckwheat hulls or rice Cut one eye-pillow piece from cotton batting, do not add seam allowances to pattern piece. (Use sol...

Tulip block from Moda Bakeshop I love this little tulip block from Moda's Bake Shop . You need scraps of a tulip fabric, background fabric, and a leaf fabric -- plus any fabrics you want for borders. For the tulip and background, I used fabrics from the Strawberry Fields Revisited line by Fig Tree Co. for Moda. I used strips of the background fabric for the first border, as instructed in the Moda how-to. All seams are stitched with fabric right-sides-together with a 1/4-inch seam allowance and using a 1/4-inch presser foot with 1/4-inch seam guide. Composition of the pieces for the tulip. To construct the block, you will need: One scant 3" square of leaf fabric Three 2.5" squares of background fabric Two scant 3-inch squares of background fabric One 1.5" square of background fabric One 1.5 x 2.5" rectangle of background fabric One scant 3" square of tulip fabric One 2.5" square of tulip fabric One 1.5" square of tulip...