'Round the Mulberry Bush ~~ a finish!

Several weeks ago while we were at Rory and Meggan's house, we noticed lots of mulberries in the tree in their front yard. Later, while we were in Iowa, we saw another mulberry tree covered in berries. 

They are a mess! Delicious, absolutely! But a mess--on the ground, on clothing, in the kitchen. Everywhere. The birds love them--and birds leave droppings. So, messy. 

Before leaving for vacation, I finished a small quilt top in blues with touches of orange and set it aside to quilt sometime this summer. Here's the link to the original post. (I wrote a quick tutorial about how I keep blocks in order in that post, should you need some ideas for keeping blocks organized.)

I loaded the quilt just before leaving for Beta Convention in New Orleans and even managed to maka few stitches. I had decided to quilt the white in straight lines and the blues in circular motifs. 

The entire quilt is made from scraps or stash fabrics.  When I sewed the top together, I also sewed the binding using a few strips of blue and the pieces of orange that were left. Pressed in half and laid aside, it made for a quick finish! 

My Beta cohort and I returned yesterday afternoon, so I was able to get about an hour of quilt in. Despite several interruptions, I managed to finish up the quilting and then came home from supper with some of the kids to attach the binding.

While I was working on this quilt, I kept thinking of the mulberries on those two trees and the tree in my parents' yard when I was a child. Of course, berry picking as children, we sang the nursery rhyme and that came to mind a few times. It was easy to name this sweet quilt, which happens to fit into the nursery rhyme series that I worked on a few years ago. 
Here are two verses from the song:


          Here we go 'round the mulberry bush,
          The mulberry bush,

          The mulberry bush,

          Here we go 'round the mulberry bush,

          So early in the morning.

          This is the way we wash the clothes,

          Wash the clothes,

          Wash the clothes,

          This is the way we wash the clothes,

          So early in the morning.

From there the song goes on about getting other chores done. Maybe I should consider a "This is the way we sew the quilt..." verse. 

	Quilt Stats
Name:	'Round the Mulberry Bush (Scrap Quilt)
Size:	42" square
Fabrics:	Scrap fabrics--blue, orange; Stash fabrics--Kona Off-white solid
Backing:	Pieced stash fabrics in neutrals/blue/indigo
Binding:	Scrap strips in blue and orange
Pattern:	scrap slabs in blue made into HST's
Quilting:	Custom Free Motion Quilting – straight lines in white areas and circular motifs in blues
Completed:	June 2016

Eventually I was ready for a photo shoot. I enlisted help from Jolie, one of the granddaughters. She's 13 and fun (or silly) and loves the camera. She is not afraid to be caught making ridiculous faces. 

So that was a bust! But we had fun and you get some idea of what the quilt looks like. 

Linking up with Kaja and Ann at AHIQ Amanda Jean at Crazy Mom Quilts TGIFF at Celtic Thistle Stitches Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Pin It Weekly #158

I've been pinning a few things this week, but very few since I've been in New Orleans for Beta Convention. I took a few pictures and hope to have those ready for you in a day or two. 

Here's what I've been pinning: a few random quilts and old buildings

And lots of banners and bunting...

You can find these and about 50 more pins like them on my NEW  "bunting, strings" Pinterest board. Have a great week of pinning.

Mackinac on a Budget

It's possible to see some of Mackinac Island and not spend a fortune. It's not possible to see ALL of Mackinac Island on our budget. First of all, you have to get to the island. No driving, of course, as there's no bridge. Ferry fees are a bit steep, but once there travel is varied, so long as there's no motor involved. We decided that our muscles were too sore to pedal our bikes around, so they stayed behind.

#marcottestakegreatlakes

Now that I know the number of steps that we had to climb up and down, it's probably best that we left the bikes. The only thing left to us were horses, horse and buggy, and our feet. We chose our feet since they weren't charging us anything: remember there's a budget involved.

#marcottestakegreatlakes

The ferry tickets come with a map of the island, which is absolutely necessary. I mapped out a few things that we wanted to see and decided on the order of priority. Since the map doesn't indicate hills and bluffs, we had to just get going. Please note: the short route is always long. Another note: there are no flat areas, so there are always steps. Tell your muscles that early. Try to be in shape.

#marcottestakegreatlakes

#marcottestakegreatlakes

Go for the architecture! The homes and buildings are unbelievably beautiful. Go in the spring for the blossoms. Go for the history. 

#marcottestakegreatlakes

Walk a mile. Climb 219 steps up. See a rock. Seriously it was all for a rock. A beautiful rock, yes, but Richard can't take it home, so there was that. Now that it's over and I'm still alive--there was some doubt for a little while--I'm glad that I pushed on. I'm also glad that the rest of the steps were going down.

#marcottestakegreatlakes

We shared a huge scoop of  delicious Mackinac Island fudge ice cream while we sat in the shade to cool off and listen to the live band before getting on the ferry to return to the camper. There was a parade later but we were exhausted and neither of us likes a large crowd unless we're watching from a distance. So an early ferry and the camper won the toss.

#marcottestakegreatlakes

#marcottestakegreatlakes

Sunday Quilt Inspiration: wildflowers

I was so enamored with the wildflowers while we were traveling in the central region of our great country, that I thought I'd keep up the momentum. I wasn't able to take all the pictures that I would have loved because my husband goes through moods of stopping for a picture to not even slowing down. Trust me the pictures that I took through the windshield at 70 mph are not so good.

I did manage a little walk to a beautiful natural area at one of the parks. But remember, I am terrified of poison ivy and such, so I would not actually walk into the grass. I found flowers and grasses along the edge to photograph. If you've ever had a really bad case of poison ivy/sumac/oak or the hives from allergy meds, you'd have done the same thing.

Anywhoo, here we are looking at wildflowers on Pinterest. 

I saw tons of this (Queen Anne's lace) and tried several
times to get a good picture. I had one all along!

And a few quilts with some gorgeous wildflowers...

ribbon embroidery--but I couldn't resist!

And for fun, a few quilts and mini-quilts that I've made over the years.

  These are two quilts using the same pattern, which I designed years ago. It's called "He Loves Me."

Coordinating minis  (They are square; I just can take pictures!)