On Smith Lake part 1

Bonnie Hunter's new mystery quilt is underway.   It's always so exciting to see what wonderful design she has for us to sew along together.   On Ringo Lake was inspired by the lake cabin in northern Minnesota that is her family gathering place.  Such wonderful memories are made "at the Lake."  We are blessed enough to have such a place in our family too.  So, of course, my version will carry the name of our Minnesota lake, "On Smith Lake."

Minnesotans are so funny about our over 10,000 lakes.  We talk about them all as if there's only one.  "Been to The Lake?"  "Yup."  And we nod like we know precisely which one it is.  It's not the exact lake that matters, it's the collective memories that are made at all the Minnesota lakes that we instinctively understand.

We were up to The Lake this past weekend and  before we left home I looked up the first clue to the mystery.  Here are the 9-patch blocks right along the lake shore.  Five packs of 10 blocks.  My turquoise fabrics lean more to medium-dark blue.   I hope that there will still be enough contrast.  As you can tell from the photo, it's a color you can often see in the waters of Smith Lake.

Can you tell that the lake is frozen now?  Not long after this photo was taken a flock of 16 beautiful white swans flew in and landed on the one spot on the lake that was still open water.  What a sight!

Linking up with the Monday link-up at Quiltville.