Free Day in Bayfield, Wisconsin

There was nothing on today's agenda, which gave us a nice day to do whatever we felt like doing. Smitty felt like a morning nap on his catio...

Until his leash and harness were offered up. Other campers who were leaving had already left, and new folks had not come in yet. The campground was fairly quiet, and so it seemed like a good time for a walk to him too. Here, he's showing you his best side.

He spent a little time choosing his weed.

Eventually, he selected a few blades and had a sampling of some delicious Whiskerconsin grass. As some of you have noticed, he's a regular Grass Gourmet. He's hoping he might get his own show on the Food Network.

His walk was short. When he was safely back inside and treats of valor had been dispensed, we took off to see a few things we were curious about in town. Just up the hill from us was Hauser's Apfelhaus Cidery. They had all sorts of canned good in their store, and we were interested in sampling some of their hard ciders.

Their barn/gift shop was very inviting. See the quilt block on the right side?

Looking off in the other direction, we could see Lake Superior and at least one of the Apostle Islands.

The upstairs "observation deck" was also open. After spending some time in their gift shop, we headed upstairs. Oh. My. Gosh. Look at this collection of hats. I have no explanation for this other than to marvel at their numbers. On one side of the barn...

On the opposite side of the barn...

Straight ahead...

And turning around, there were still more. We were most interested in the view from this window.

There, we had another view of Lake Superior.

We sampled some of their ciders, and by the time we left, we'd relieved them of a four pack of their Apple Pie Cider.

Outside, they had some beautiful flower gardens. Of course, I took pictures...

The echinacea made me homesick momentarily. When we left mid-August, mine were blooming.

They had some pretty colors of hollyhocks too.

As we left, I caught this picture of the apples on their trees. This area grows a lot of apples, and their apple festival will be the first week of October. Again, I'm missing the apples back home. I'd probably be making applesauce right about now.

After that, we headed off to the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore Visitor Center. It's built from some of the same red granite we saw on our island tour.

This was an interesting sign...

Looking beyond the sign to the corner of their property was one of the community rain gardens.

Also, there was this map showing all the islands in the national park. We sailed past each one yesterday with the exception of tiny gull island on the right-side of the map below.

On yet another map, I was interested in this particular island. Our boat captain/narrator told us the island was named for its shape. However, better aerial photographs show it's not shaped anything like a cat. There are campgrounds on many of the islands, although two of them have been designated as "preserves" because of rare flowers and other critters that are protected.

There was an operating fresnel lens inside the visitor center. I was able to capture it just as the light flashed.

Here's another photo closer up so you can get a good look at it.

On our way back outside, I noticed this white board with the Ojibwemowin word of the week. I like this idea.

From there, we drove into Bayfield. It took us quite a while to find a place to park, and then we just walked around a little bit. I wanted to visit some of the gift shops. Along the way, I took pictures of every blooming thing. This next one is kind of a puzzler. I don't know if those big pods are flower buds or a fruit resulting from the bloom. They were fuzzy, and large...maybe about the size of a large jalapeno pepper.

People were tending the flowers as we walked along, and the gardens were beautiful.

Here's another one of these not-a-hibiscus flowers. This one looks like peppermint candy.

These petunias were such a dark purple, they were nearly black.

None of the things in the gift shops appealed to me much, but I did like this sign. There was a woofie version as well.

The only thing I couldn't resist was some fudge.

We got a half pound of this one...vanilla layers around caramel and pecans. Mmm, mmm, mmm. It tastes so good, it could possibly be deadly.

We had several hours to just sit outside yesterday afternoon. I'm glad we did because a thunder storm moved in last night. As I'm finishing this off this morning, our power has gone out all over the park. Oh well. Fortunately, I have enough battery power on my computer to finish off my post. While we were outside, I worked on my slow stitching. I filled my hoop and then moved to the next position.

Then there was just a little bit left to stitch to finish it off.

Finishing it off was my goal for September's

and so I'll link up there at the end of the month. 

Now, I have the next one ready to go, and I'll probably start on it today or tomorrow.

Okay, and so this is our last morning in Wisconsin. We're ready to hit the road and head toward Michigan. We've been paying day use fees in all the state parks we've visited. Michigan requires this "recreation passport," and I purchased ours before leaving home. Now it's firmly affixed to our windshield for the duration. We're visiting a lot of state parks in Michigan.

We want to get an early start today because we're hoping to catch one of the ferries at the Copper Harbor Lighthouse. We have about 200 miles to drive, and then we'll unhitch quickly and head for the lighthouse. We have just one night there. If necessary, we could try again tomorrow morning, but we'll still have around a 175-mile drive to our next destination in Munising, Michigan. This is the one place where I wish I'd given us an extra night. When I planned the trip, I didn't know we'd have to take a boat to see the lighthouse. Oh well. The best laid plans...

So off we go. I'm hoping we'll have internet where we're headed. If so, I'll see you on the other side. If not...I'll see you when I see you.

December Progress Report and Goal Setting

It's always good to start fresh on the first day of the month. That old incomplete list falls by the wayside, and a whole new wave of optimism (cough) sets in. November's list proved to have a few projects I simply wasn't ready to tackle yet, and so I actually made more progress on October's list. Here's what was on November's list:

1. Quilt and bind the Vintage Miniature Sewing Machines quilt. No progress.

Here's a case in point. I have a plan for quilting this that will require me to do some practicing. Also, I'm still considering if the plan I have is what I will really end up doing. Sometimes I have a few motifs in mind, but sewing them and fitting them around the designs of the quilt isn't necessarily nailed down. Besides, I just spent some time counting up the number of quilts I have quilted so far this year. Including doll quilts for the Doll Quilt Swap, I've quilted 19 quilts in 2013. When it came time to start on this one, I just didn't want to. I'm putting it off for a few months to give me more time to think about it.

2. Add the final two rows to the Salt Water Taffy quilt (pictured above) and sew all the blocks together. Complete!

3. Finish the September and October blocks for the Hello Moon QAL.  Complete!

4. Catch up with the September, October, and November blocks for my Rainbow Scrap ladies. Complete!

5. I do want to at least start the NewFO I had in mind for October, this Corn Flowers table runner. "Starting" is complete! In progress.

6. I want to get started on the NewFO I chose for November, this Good Morning quilt which appeared in McCall's magazine last year. Starting is complete! All the blocks are made now.

Here's what I had on my October list:

1. Make the next door for the Doors of Ireland quilt. Complete!

2. Make the next block for the Folk Art Cats quilt. Complete!

3. Finish the first "Wind in the Whiskers" quilt block. Making good progress. Here's where I left off yesterday:

4. Piece together section D of the Gardener's Journal quilt. Complete!

So I didn't get the number one thing on my November list complete, but I'd still say it was a very productive month, and I'm proud of myself.

For December, I'm making up for not finishing the Vintage Miniature Sewing Machines by putting two quilt finishes on my list.

1. My first priority is to tie and bind the Salt Water Taffy quilt (pictured above). With this one being made of flannel, I'm thinking it needs to be ready for winter. Besides, I can get the quilt sandwich made and then just tie a row each day. If I do that, I should be able to finish it in about two weeks.  That will be my goal when I link up for A Lovely Year of Finishes.

2. Also, I'd like to quilt and bind the Heart of the Home table runner so that I'll have it for Valentine's Day in 2014.

I know just what I want to do for this one, so it should be easy and quick.

Also on my list for December:

3. Complete the last block for my "We Are the World" Rainbow Scrap Challenge quilt (pictured above). This month's new color is...uh-oh, there is no new color. Shoot. I really want to finish this, so I'm picking my own color for the month: turquoise. When the last block is made, I'm going to sew the whole thing together. Yes!

4. Make the next blocks for the Debbie Mumm "Mumm's the Word" sampler. The next blocks will be the fish blocks you can see kind of in the middle of the quilt.

5.  Make five more blocks for the Hobo Quilt:

I started this quilt way back in May. Here are the blocks I have so far:

6. Make the sky blocks for the Quiltmaker's Garden quilt. This is another one I started way back in May. 

So far, I have completed the sort of pinwheel-looking flower blocks. Here are a few of them:

These blocks are paper-pieced, and since I am not fond of paper-piecing, this tends to get put off.

7.  Make one more vertical row for the "For the Birds" quilt I started some time ago. It's the cover quilt for this book:

So far, I've completed one vertical row.

8. I'm hoping the last blocks for the Hello Moon quilt will be posted. I'd like to finish those up.

And I think that's a pretty ambitious list. If I can get the first two items checked off, I'll be feeling pretty good about my progress in 2013.

So with that all enumerated and spelled out, it's time to get busy. On Thursday, I'll link up to:

What's on your list for the month?