Typically my relaxation getaways, and recharging my spirit, involve quilting buddies and retreats… but this time it was our annual northern Minnesota lake trip, with two wonderful families, one of whom generously shares her family cabin with us one long weekend a year. 

We didn’t do much the three days we spent there, really… slept A LOT, swam a little, took a long walk with my sweetie every morning, ate home cooked meals that are way too good to be considered camping fare, took the paddle boat out for a long ride, road the ski boat and motor boat at least once a day; but mostly, relaxed and breathed deep.  On the last day we drove slightly north to Duluth to retrieve sweetie’s youngest, who spent her summer as an interpreter in Manitoba, and we paid a visit to my favorite quilt shop, Hannah Johnson Fabrics:

This was only my second visit, I first went there LAST August, but knew I needed to return… the shop is so colorful, full of inspiration, and potential projects:

I walked out with just a few yards of fabric and a new bag pattern, and thinking it’s probably a good thing (for my pocketbook, at least) that I live over six hours from the shop! 

The day before we left on our trip, I ran to Ames to pick my Janome Horizon up (finally had her cleaned!) and stopped in the antique mall across the street.  I bought a few vintage sewing patterns for practically nothing, a vintage embroidered luncheon set, and this gem:

It’s a plastic sewing box, c. 1950, (in my favorite color, no less!), that worked just perfect to hold my hand-piecing tools as I sewed on the drive North:

The pegs in front are meant to hold small spools of thread, but this time kept my thimble and scissors from sliding off my lap.   There is an intergrated pin cushion on the left, and a magnetic shelf on the right to hold my needles…ideal!  What a find for $4.00!  I made eleven more Candied Hexagon blocks on the trip, for a total of 67 completed hexagons (37 to go!)

A closer look…

 

Coming home is always hard, it’s not that I don’t “like” home, it’s the idea of returning to work and everyday life not-next-to-a-lake-in-the-woods.  However, finding a mailbox full of Bee blocks as lovely as these helped to soften the blow:

(notice Kato in the corner trying to decide which area of the new quilt to “settle in on”–he went for the yellow block)  Still waiting for my red, orange and green blocks… and looking forward to sewing this top together!