Midweek: another estate sale and a finished quilt

 

This past weekend there was an estate sale two blocks over.  I'd walked past the house many times,.  I popped in Friday morning (before leaving for the AAUW convention).  Wow.  The estate sale personnel said the people had lived there 50+ years but had not occupied the house recently.  1960's decor never updated.  The basement had boxes and boxes and boxes and boxes of fabric, nearly all polyester double knit.  I didn't have time to dig through everything but there was some cotton yardage and I grabbed it.  

Isn't this cool?  Cafe curtain yardage in two colorways.  About 7 yards.  36" wide. No manufacturer info on the selvage.   Note the hanging tabs and instructions printed on the fabric!   $5 total.

The turquoise piece is stained along the fold which did not come out when I washed it. Not suitable for curtains but a lot of usable fabric anyway.   Since it hasn't been used in 60 years I am in no rush.

I also got a stack of TAB/Scholastic books from the 60's for my friend Betsy who collects vintage YA books.  Perhaps you remember the Scholastic Book Club.  Your teacher provided a little catalog and a list for you to indicate your selections. The deliveries went to the classroom.  That was before kids' paperback books were sold in bookstores.   I read and re-read SO many TAB/Arrow Scholastic books!!

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In the studio:   Batik Diamonds is finished!  54 x 60.  6-1/2 including back and binding. 

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It was warm and sunny yesterday so we visited a forest preserve.  

Clockwise from left:  yellow marsh marigold (caltha palustris, also Crazy Beth and Brave Bassinets); wild geranium or cranesbill; spring beauty (claytonia virginica); trillium; mayapple (podophyllum); bristly buttercup (ranunculus); more spring beauty; center:  white trout lily (erithrodium albidum).  

There were happy rocks.

Linking up on this cloudy, chilly, and happy Wednesday with Wednesday Wait Loss  Midweek Makers

P. S. These are crayfish mounds.  I had never seen them before.     

Weekly update: convention and a trove of quilts

 The AAUW-Illinois convention was held at Elgin Community College on Friday evening and all day Saturday.  

Though the Illinois Division (as the state organizations were called) was organized in 1924, the Chicago, Inc., Branch was chartered in 1889 followed by Champaign-Urbana (1901), Springfield (1906), Rock Island-Moline (1909), Aurora (1919), Elgin (1920), Quincy (1923), and Monmouth (1924).   My branch, Waukegan, was chartered in 1928.  

The focus of the state convention is about learning and building skills to be better advocates for AAUW's mission of advancing gender equity.  Dr. Suzanne Chod, North Central College, talked about the how and why of political polarization and how to counter misinformation ("you think it's true but it's not") and disinformation ("you know it's not true but you say it anyway").   Meghan Kissell, head of the AAUW Public Policy Office, provided updates about the federal legislation AAUW is working on.  Jenni Perdue, AAUW-IL lobbyist, gave an update about Illinois legislation.  A professor (whose name I didn't write down) talked about the systemic barriers to eliminating poverty among women in the U.S., with a local branch chairman adding what they are doing to help women in poverty. 

The most interesting presentation was  The Dignity Index  It is "an eight-point scale that measures what we do when we disagree, from ONE -- which sees no dignity at all in the other side -- to EIGHT -- which sees the dignity in everyone."  We tried an exercise to determine where on the scale a series of statements fell.   It was very illuminating. I encourage you to look it up.

Left:  Waukegan Area Branch members Jeannie, me, Patricia, Jo-An.   

The spring raffle quilt raised $510 for the AAUW Greatest Needs Fund.   Since 2003 the quilts I've donated have raised over $7000 for AAUW.

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I spend Friday night at my sister's house. She lives about eight miles from Elgin Community College.  (And about 65 miles from where we live, so we don't get to visit in person very often.)   It was chilly and she pulled a quilt out of the linen closet to add to the blanket on the guest bed.  I saw a stack of quilts -- all of which I'd made for her and her family.  I took pictures. 

                                                   Northwoods Reflections, 1993.                                                              Fabric and pattern bought at a shop in South Burlington, Vermont, just after the New England Library Assn. conference in Burlington.  [We moved from Maine to North Dakota early in 1994.]    I was a newbie then and relied on the shop personnel to help with fabric selection.  I gave the pattern away years later but another one turned up in a destash gift last year and I've kept it.  (I wonder what it would look like in contemporary prints.)

Colin's Train.

Made in 1996 for my nephew's 4th birthday (see the CMD 4 embroidered on the locomotive.  Pattern from Quiltmaker.  (What I see now is the absence of couplings on the hopper cars, but I followed the instructions.)

Thousand Pyramids with 1000 +/- different prints for my niece's 10th birthday, 1997.

 She was into all things Ancient Egypt at the time. I recall that I cut  the triangles 4" which resulted in a HUGE quilt. So I recut ALL of them.  I was unaware of watercolor quilts so any resemblance to that technique is coincidental.   [Note how much fabric I accumulated between the Northwoods wall hanging and this totally scrappy quilt.]

Welcome Home.  A Terry Atkinson design made for the family in 1998 when they moved into their house (where my sister still lives).  

I thought this wall hanging had disappeared!  It was hanging on the back of the guest bedroom door.  Pattern by Nancy Breland in Quilters Newsletter, March, 2002.  I made it for our mother who was so ill that she didn't want to go out into her garden. (She died in April, 2002)

When my nephew was 11 or so (2003) he decided he wanted his bedroom to be brown. I happened to have a lot of brown charm squares.  I remember that I used all-the-same for the tan corners and was distressed when I ran short and had to use another tan. This is a lot more like my current style of scrappy quilt design. 

In 2011 my sister said, "You've made quilts for the kids. Could you make a quilt for me?"

This is the result:  The Geese Flew Around the Prairie Queen   My sister is a naturalist and environmental educator, a true prairie (and woodland) queen.

I gave this to my sister and brother-in-law when they got married in April, 2012. (Has it really been 12 years?!)  Pattern is by Bonnie Hunter. 

P.S.  I felt so thrifty when I made a coaster out of scraps from Northwoods Reflections. It's been on my nightstand for years. 

I plan to have a finished quilt and more estate sale fabric to show you on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, here are the linkups: Sew and Tell Design Wall Monday  Oh Scrap!     

Friday check in: estate sale, WIP, convention bound, + reading

 

Tuesday was month #8 of Barb M's estate sale.  Not as much yardage this time -- stacks of books and many, many, many WIPs in ziploc bags.  

Here's what I purchased.   Average $1.62 per yard by weight.

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Slab block construction continues. I've pretty much decided to make 90 blocks for a 54 x 60 quilt.   10 to go.

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No sewing this evening. I'll be at the AAUW-IL state convention at Elgin Community College.   My sister invited me to spend the night at her house (about 10 miles from the convention).   Our housekeeper V will be here this afternoon until after supper and all day tomorrow.

I'm turning over a box and a bag of files.  The black bag holds the stand for the raffle quilt.

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Our Rotary Club and many in our community are devastated by Jake's tragic death on Monday in a freak accident.  He was 34 and is survived by his wife and four children, his beloved grandmother, and a large extended family.  Jake's grandfather, Jack, started our annual Rotary golf outing and Jake stepped up as club president and outing chairman in Jack's honor. 

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The Girlfriend Book Club (AARP) had a FB live interview with Ariel Lawhon on Tuesday evening.  She talked about how she discovered Martha Ballard, the subject of The Frozen River, and the research she did. The moderator posed general questions.  My questions about some of the details in the book were not answered.  (Though I did get a FB message from a woman saying she is a quilter and she knows for sure that there are 18th century Double Wedding Ring quilts in a Vermont museum.   I am not going to press the point (pun?) any further.)

However, the undisputed part about The Frozen River is the rape and murder trial that Martha Ballard testified to.   By coincidence I had checked out The Sewing Girl's Tale  by John Wood Sweet  It is about the first documented rape trial in 1793 in New York (four years after The Frozen River).    

Lanah Sawyer was a 17-year-old seamstress who was enticed by Harry Bledsoe, a dissolute young 'gentleman,' and brutally raped.  Rather than hiding her shame, she pressed charges against Bledsoe.   Sweet meticulously documents everything:  the milieu of early Federal period Manhattan, her stepfather's profession as a pilot (guiding large ships into harbor),  the sexual underworld of the time and not the least the judicial system. (Alexander Hamilton was among the lawyers involved.)    The jury found Bledsoe not guilty for rape but guilty of seduction.   Lanah Sawyer married (1800 census) and then disappeared from the historical record.   

Our AAUW Reflections on Reading group will discuss Cultish in May.  Montell writes about the way that language is used by cults to cultivate insiderness.  Cults, she maintains, are not only religions (Scientology, Branch Davidian, etc.) but also many multi-level marketing companies.   I'm sure our discussion will be interesting.

"The June book is a long one," the Reflections chair reminded us, so I checked it out this month.......and I stayed up far too late three nights in row to read it!  

Demon Copperhead is as good as everyone has said.  It's a retelling of David Copperfield, set in Appalachian Virginia.  

Now it's time to read something lighter (and shorter).  I have a TBR (to-be-read) stack waiting for me.

Linking up with Finished or Not Friday     Have a good weekend, everyone!

Weekly update: wildflowers, inspiration, and progress

 

AAUW-Deerfield Area and AAUW-Waukegan Area branches hosted their annual Fellows Luncheon yesterday. We heard from three outstanding women who have benefited from AAUW grants and fellowships THIS is what we do with the money we raise -- help women change the world!

Sofia Abukar Faroli joined us by Zoom. She is a professor at Portland State University, researching African women in elected office. Thallyta Laryssa Cavoli is a PhD. candidate at the University of Illinois. She is from Brazil and her research area is poverty and inequitable access to resources. Hanin Elathram grew up in Benghazi, Libya. She received a BSME at UNC-Charlotte and an MSME at Georgia Tech. She is a design engineer at Caterpillar in Peoria.

Waukegan Branch attendees posed in front of the spring raffle quilt. The drawing is at the conclusion of the state convention next Saturday.

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Wildflowers are in bloom! I took these photos at Old School Forest Preserve this afternoon.

Clockwise: bristly buttercup or swamp crowfoot, trillium, bloodroot, a woodland pond, wood anemone or thimbleweed.

Sunday dinner:  it seemed that half the town turned out for the Razzle Dazzles pasta dinner.  Our local baton troupe has won the world championship twice!

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My sewing machine was acting up so I took it to the shop last week.  Jim was able to get it to behave.  I only had to buy a new bobbin case ($35).  This interesting antique was on display.  

Here is more about the Moldacot Sewing Machine

In the studio:  

I finished 11 daisy mug rugs. My P.E.O. chapter sells yearbook covers to other chapters.  The covers are small 2-ring binders. A coupon for a mug rug is tucked into each shipment of 10 or more covers.  (I realize we could just put the mug rug in the box but this way they have to make an effort.) 

Since I'm between obligatory projects I pulled out the batik slabs.   I'm up to 55 blocks out of 72? 80? I'll stop when I run out of steam. 

It takes time to build a slab.  I piece a few, press and trim, then sew those units together. Repeat, repeat, repeat.  When I get a big slab I cut it into 7" strips. I'm using the Studio 180 V-block ruler which requires cut large/trim down and these are 6-1/2" unfinished blocks. 

Linking up with Oh Scrap!  Sew and Tell  Design Wall Monday

Midweek: eclipse, National Library Week + hollyhocks

 It was cloudless and 65 degrees on Monday -- perfect for viewing the eclipse.  We were in the 94% totality region.  I had to explain to Stevens why we were out in the back yard. He went back inside after a while. I stayed out for all of it.   I had only my iPhone and no special filter so my snapshots don't show much.

It did not get dark here but the quality of the sunlight changed, the temperature dropped slightly, and a breeze kicked up.     

Photo: holding iPhone up to the lens of the eclipse glasses.  

 

This chipmunk was motionless for a couple of minutes. 

This photo was at about halfway.  There's a thumbnail sliver to the right of the sun -- a planet?   apparently just a reflection from the camera lens.

  

Crescent-shaped shadows on the patio.   I wish I'd remembered to bring out the colander.

My sister and I remembered an eclipse when we were kids. I looked it up: July 20, 1963. Our dad made a viewer out of a cardboard box (no eclipse glasses then). He projected the crescent onto the inside wall of the garage —it was about 3” — and traced around it. That image was there forevermore. (Like a prehistoric cave drawing.)

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It's National Library Week! How are YOU celebrating the libraries and librarians in your life?

On Monday evening I went to the Millburn School District board meeting. The board is reconsidering participation in the statewide Rebecca Caudill Award , a program in which 4th-8th graders vote on books to be recognized. Last month ONE board member said that ONE book on LAST YEAR'S list was "too political" and wanted to discontinue it all.   He got three other board members to vote with him. [Apparently they did not read the book, nor did they discuss it.] Decision is pending.

The audience at the meeting were all opposed to that action and all in favor of continuing participation. Photo: with my friend and colleague Deb, librarian at ZBTHS and president of the school librarians assn. in Illinois. And of course I took photos of the paper quilts hung in the hallway!

Left: the book.

On Tuesday morning Zion Woman's Club brought donuts to the staff at Zion-Benton Public Library for Library Workers' Day. ZWC led the effort to establish the Zion Memorial Public Library in 1937.

Tuesday afternoon I moderated the monthly Reading Sisters (P.E.O.) Zoom book club. We talked about Early Morning Riser which I reviewed in this post.

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In the studio: the hollyhocks wall hanging is finished! I can check that off the to-do list and contemplate starting something new. Linking up with Wednesday Wait Loss Midweek Makers

Weekly update: out and about, eclipse day, goal progress + reading

Today is eclipse day.  Though I'm writing this post beforehand I hope to get some photos to add this afternoon.   

We two Rotarians had Kiwanis pancakes at the Moose lodge -- that's cultural diversity.   I bought $30 in raffle tickets and won three baskets.  (I've already donated one to another community group for their upcoming spaghetti dinner fundraiser.) 

 We enjoyed a concert Sunday afternoon.  Great covers of Sinatra and other classic vocals.  

My program had one of the winning stickers for a door prize, a dessert from a local bakery.  

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In the studio:  a quick start-and-finish:  a placemat for the guild charity project. 

My April OMG is a hollyhock wall hanging.  I chose a realistic design rather than a country folk art design. The pattern arrived mid-week.  

 I had all the fabric in my stash, including a never-used package of stabilizer (estate sale, probably).  

The tedious part was tracing all the shapes on fusible web. The instructions were very clear as to which shapes went on which of the 9 different fabrics, and then which shapes composed each flower and leaf.

 

And here's the flimsy. After fusing the appliques in place I free-motioned to sew them all down.   The finished size is 9 x 22.      

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In 1965 teen-aged Frances Adams has her fortune told at a country fair. That prediction dominates the rest of her life, affecting her friendships with Rose and Emily and the boys they're hanging out with.  Emily goes missing. The case goes cold.   Frances marries the wealthiest man in the village and spends the next decades trying to solve, or evade, or confront that long-ago fortune.                                                                                                                             Sixty-five years later Annie, Frances' great niece and an aspiring writer, receives notice that she will be an heir to Frances' estate. She travels from London to the village to meet with Frances and her attorney. When she arrives Frances is dead -- murdered.  According to the fortune?  Perhaps.  By whom?                                                                                                           By the terms of Frances' revised will Annie may inherit the estate -- if she solves the murder before anyone else.   Annie's up for the challenge. 

What a delightfully complicated mystery!

I have been fascinated by Martha Ballard's story since Laurel Thatcher Ulrich published her scholarly biography/explication A Midwife's Tale in 1990.  Ballard was a midwife in Hallowell, Maine, in the 1700's.   At the time I was a librarian in Maine and on the Maine Library Commission so I was familiar with its (re)discovery.                                                                                                                                                                At first I approached Lawhon's novel thinking it was biographical fiction--that is, a reworking of Ulrich's study with added narrative.   I soon switched my thinking and treated the novel as historical fiction-- that is, using Martha Ballard, her profession, her family, and her milieu as the basis for a story about the ways that men used their power (social, political, physical) to abuse women. The brutal rape of the pastor's wife showcases that abuse.  Details about everyday life add dimension:  Martha's medical expertise goes beyond midwifery to a sort of holistic care (treating a woman's migraines, for example).  There is dramatic tension in her own family with a threat to her husband's livelihood (a fraudulent attempt by those same men-in-power) and her young adult children's lives and loves.    

I would have given The Frozen River a higher rating but there were a number of errors/anachronisms. Once I found the first one I kept looking for others, and found them.  

The most egregious to me as a quilt maker was on p. 193:  “Every year I make an extra quilt, sewn in bits and pieces at night before the fire…every year I choose this same pattern. It is called Wedding Rings, soft loops intertwined and set against a pale background with a solid border.”   As you know, Double Wedding Ring is a 20th century pattern.  Moreover, 18th century quilts are well-documented. The author could easily have looked up images of period-correct quilts and described them.

 62 & 144 – Ephraim “does the math”   Grammarist.com says:  “'Do the math' is a relatively recent addition to the English language, with its usage traceable to the mid-20th century.”

 68 wedding ring (worn by a man)  https://academic.oup.com/jsh/article-abstract/36/4/837/920111?

“The American double wedding ring ceremony can be traced to the 1940’s and 1950’s when the jewelry industry invented the tradition of the groom’s wedding band and the marrying public adopted it with a vengeance.”

71 & elsewhere “trained medical professional” – would this term be used in 1789? 

115 bolt of soft blue cotton / 117 bolt of pale green silk

http://americancenturies.mass.edu/activities/dressup/notflash/1700_woman.html

“their clothing would usually be made of wool or linen”

Other references to New England apparel at that time indicate that silk was very expensive and was difficult to clean.  A silk dress would be for a very special occasion. How likely was that for Martha in that place and time? 

165 “read the Book of Common Prayer”  The Ballards were Congregational.  Why would they read the Anglican prayer book (especially in post-Revolutionary Maine) rather than the Bible?  

 297 "okay" https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-12503686  "On 23 March 1839, OK was introduced to the world on the second page of the Boston Morning Post, in the midst of a long paragraph, as "o.k. (all correct)".

337 “Cotton to comb” – did they import raw cotton from the southern states to central Maine? 

412/415 “ Live oak tree.”    Live oaks do not grow in Maine.  That’s easy to look up.

P.S. Speaking of editing and proofreading!   (This is the background fabric for the placemat.) 

Linking up with Design Wall Monday  Sew and Tell Oh Scrap!