Friday check in: wildflower goal, placemats, and reading

Two of my favorite wildflowers are in bloom now.  They're hard to find but I remembered where I saw them last year.  And there they were!  

Fringed gentian -- you can see the fringes at the edges of the petals.  They like sunshine and moist (but not wet) soil.  The lake prairie at Illinois Beach State Park is just right.  

Some have a single stem and others have multiple stems.

Such a beautiful blue!

Bottle gentian is hard to find.  They like moist soil and partial shade.  The flowers never open!  Native bumblebees are the only pollinators strong enough to pry open the petals. 

I've only found bottle gentian along the path at Spring Bluff Forest Preserve.

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In the studio:   the block of the month placemats are finished!   The BOM reveal is not until the November guild meeting.  I will need to remember where I put them and not forget to take them. 

It was fun to find colorful, busy prints to frame the bright blocks.  

(The common fabric in each block has moons, stars, and sort-of-planets on black. It's left over from a BOM circa 2005 and I was determined to use it up. I was so afraid I'd run out but there are scraps and some big chunks for another project.)

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 63-year-old PJ Hartnett sets off on a cross-country road trip to find his high school girlfriend. Of course the story is delightfully more complicated than that.  Twenty years ago he won $1 million in the lottery which he has frittered away on a lot of beer and generous gifts to friends and family. Now he's down to $20,000.   Oh, and he can no longer drive (too much beer) and doesn't have a car. But his ex-wife's long-time partner has a car. And the ex-wife and partner are on a month-long trip to Alaska . . . But then PJ's estranged stepbrother's grandchildren end up being his wards.  And his daughter has lost her job so she has free time -- and she has a driver's license.     What could go wrong?   And everything ends up just right.

Linking up with Finished or Not Friday    Off the Wall Friday

Midweek: all the hikes + placemats

 

On Monday afternoon I completed the penultimate and the ultimate walks for Hike Lake County 2025.  This is the sixth year I've participated.   Of course I'll keep on walking the rest of the year. 

Upper left:  this channel is the Middle Fork of the North Branch of the Chicago River.  It flows into the Des Plaines which flows into the Illinois which flows into the Mississippi and then to the Gulf of Mexico. 

Monarch on ironweed.  Top:  Scarlet lobelia and asters; compass plant.  Center: Obedient plant; water smartweed or amphibious bistort (what a wonderful name!). Bottom: monarch on tall boneset, blue lobelia.

The complete list!  

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In the studio:  One of my September goals is to  "do something" with the guild BOM blocks.  Finished quilts will be shown at the November meeting and qualify for prizes.  

I have written before that I am not wild about samplers because the blocks often vary in density (size and number of patches).   That was the case with this BOM.  Instead of making an entire quilt, and because my ongoing project this year is making placemats, I am using all 12 sampler blocks for placemats.

 Last evening I made all the placemat "tops."  I'll be able to use fat quarters for the backs.

Linking up with Wednesday Wait Loss

P.S. I have been reading!  Book reviews soon. 

Weekly update: an exhibit, golf, and quilting progress

Way back in May Sue and I talked about meeting at the College of DuPage to see the Hokusai exhibit.  We made it on Thursday -- just in time since it closes  September 21.  

I took a one-semester Japanese history course in high school and it's remarkable what I remember (Ukiyo-e, the Floating World) despite all that I have forgotten. 

Like the Mona Lisa,  Hokusai's The Wave is a lot smaller in person than its reputation.

There were prints by Hokusai's contemporaries.  The exhibit comes from an Italian museum based on the collection of Edoardo Chiossone, an Italian printmaker and engraver who went to Japan in 1874 to provide technical advice.  (Among other accomplishments he designed Japanese banknotes.)  

Sue and I enjoyed lunch afterwards. It was so nice to see her again.

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Friday's weather was perfect for 25th Annual Jack McElmurry/Jake Zappa Memorial Golf Tournament.   We had a full complement of 144 golfers and everyone was in great spirits. 

(Jack was a charter member of the club and began the golf fundraiser in 2001. He passed away in 2003 and the event was named for him.  Jake was his grandson. He served as club president and golf chair but he died tragically (a freak accident) in April, 2024.)   

I'm a major sponsor  and this year there were two foursomes from the library (with their golfing friends).   They gave me a bouquet to thank me.  

Stevens was remembered, too.

The golf tournament proceeds fund $14,000 in scholarships to Zion-Benton Township High School students, awards to outstanding 8th grade graduates, and other local projects in addition to supporting Rotary International initiatives.  

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In the studio:   the wedge quilt is finished! 

It's 67 x 83.   8-1/2 yards in all.

The remaining wedges are becoming placemats for my long-term project. 

I have finished the September round robin. CB is making a blue-and-white quilt to donate during Child Abuse Prevention Month next April.  Because the design is a surprise I will only show the V blocks I added. 

Another busy week ahead.  I haven't had a good walk (except on the golf course) and need to get back on the trail.

Linking up with  Design Wall Monday, Oh Scrap! Sew and Tell, Monday Musings     Thanks, Melva and Brenda, for including my post in your weekly roundup. 

Midweek: quilt show haul and under the needle

 

When you take your own car on vacation you tend to pack more -- "I'll just toss this in since there's plenty of room."  Same goes with driving to a big quilt show.   I needed a magnetic pincushion (to replace the one that was badly cracked (about 20 yrs old)) and I wanted a needle-threader (the kind that sits on the table).  I got those.  

I also got a new cutting mat, half price.  My table (by Tracy's) is big and the 40 x 72 mat isn't carried in stores.  

The bright LED light has an articulated neck so it can be positioned in many directions when mounted on a sewing machine.  It came from the same vendor where I bought an LED bulb for my Featherweight. (What a difference LED makes -- you could use it as a slide projector!)   

Another set of Kai scissors because they are great.  

The wooden sign is just fun! 

 I splurged and bought a sterling silver open thimble.  I have had a hard time using a thimble; turns out the ones I've had are too big for my finger.  Maybe I'll be able to do more handwork now.

And, yes there was fabric.   I sought bargains, of course.  

Kaffe/Free Spirit for $10/yd and some FQs to spark up the stash.

Top:   The Most Beautiful Fabric in the World -- I found some of the last of it!  I'm referring to the bundle of half-yard Lida Enche prints I got from a vendor from Vashon, WA.  Enche is an artist from the Seattle area. The vendor said that Enche designed three collections for In the Beginning (also Seattle) and that was it.  He added that this was their last bundle of the fabric. Lucky me!

Bottom:  The second Most Beautiful Fabric in the World is from Serious Whimsey.  The designer, P. Carter Carpin, sells only at shows and through Etsy. I was not alone in mobbing her booth.  

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This is what I worked on in the hotel lounge.  A rummage-sale bounty earlier this year included a ziploc bag full of Free Spirit (mostly Kaffe) prints cut into wedges.  From the pinked edges, I deduced that they were cut from a layer cake (10" squares).  I had no idea what she had had in mind  (why do all that cutting and then give them away?).  

At home I found a 2-yard piece of a Marcia Derse print that worked perfectly for the sashes. There was exactly enough to cut seven lengthwise 6" strips.

The wedge bands are 8" finished and the sashes are 5.5" finished. 

And now it's under the needle! 

Linking up with Wednesday Wait Loss

Weekly update: friends and inspiration at the Wisconsin Quilt Show

 Last week Wisconsin Quilt Show returned to the Alliant Energy Center in Madison for the 21st year.   It was begun by Nancy Zieman and Wisconsin PBS as the Wisconsin Quilt Expo, hence my blog label.   This was the seventh time I've attended and the first time I've stayed overnight.

 I picked up Carolyn at the Milwaukee airport Wednesday afternoon.  We drove from there to our hotel in Verona, a now-suburb adjacent to Madison.  

We set up the sewing machines in the hotel breakfast room / lounge.  That attracted other hotel guests and we had good conversations.  

Both the FW and 301 are my machines. Betty, the FW, had been sorely neglected.  Carolyn brought a replacement belt and I brought a screwdriver and a tube of oil.  Betty is much happier now.  [Even more so because I bought an LED bulb at the show. The vendor asked to keep the old (original!) bulb as a demo.]

Thursday:  show time!

  Anna and Betty arrived at the same time we did. (They stayed at Anna's family cabin north of Madison.) 

  

I took photos of nearly every quilt on display.  Here are collages of some of them. 

Neckties!  "Summer Days and Hot Tabasco Nights" by Lisa Odom.  

             

I voted for this for Viewer's Choice. 

I heard Jennifer Chiaverini's talk about her new book, The World's Fair Quilt.   I've known Jennifer since 1999 when her first book was published and my library hosted her first-ever library presentation. 

Lower left:  Karen is QOV coordinator for Wisconsin. We met on the Stashbusters group ages ago and catch up every year at the show.  

Debbie joined the four of us for dinner on Thursday.  

Back at the hotel Carolyn and I spent another evening sewing in the breakfast room. (We commandeered a hotel luggage cart to haul our gear.)

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Friday was our day to be tourists.   Anna and Betty met Carolyn and me at the House on the Rock.  It's a well-known tourist attraction that we locals (Anna, Betty, me) had never been to and of course totally new for Carolyn.  

What an experience!   

"For over 60 years, the House on the Rock has been a majestic work in progress. It began in 1945, when a man named Alex Jordan had a towering goal: to build a man-made retreat as awe-inspiring as the view from the rock upon which the house would eventually be built. From that spark of imagination, the House on the Rock has evolved to include displays and collections of the exotic, the unusual and the amazing."   The neighbors were intrigued by Jordan's work in progress so in 1959 he charged people 50c for a tour. He made $5000 that year and $34000 the next year.  

Player pianos, automatons, music boxes, a HUGE carousel, dolls, dragons, sea monsters, scrimshaw, circus dioramas, and all sorts of contraptions.

The Infinity Room stretches far over the rock. 

Visitors can only go halfway.  

It is a long way down. 

The place is so huge -- "allow three hours," they said and it took us four -- that toward the end we were overwhelmed.

I did not know that the House on the Rock was on my bucket list.  Now it's crossed off.

What fun to experience it with good friends.

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Despite our fatigue -- HOTR requires a LOT of walking -- Carolyn and I sewed again that evening. 

Back to the quilt show on Saturday. 

I went to TaMara Howard's lecture on African fabric on Saturday.  She sews, teaches, and inspires in Pittsburgh.  She explained the difference between African batiks and African/Dutch wax resist prints.  (Hand-produced vs. machine-produced. Both are beautiful and as good for quilts as for garments.)

Carolyn participated in a sit-and-sew charity session while I did some more shopping.

We left Madison at noon and drove back to my house.  It was nice to relax at home Saturday evening. We both slept very well.   On Sunday morning  wewent to Illinois Beach State Park so she could see where I am when I post photos of my walks.   Then up to MKE to say goodbye.

Such fun, all around!   

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P.S.   My  quilts and me.  This is the fourth time I've had quilts in the show.

Yes, I bought fabric.  I will write about that later this week.  

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

Midweek: it's a flimsy

 We've had glorious weather with lots of sunshine and low humidity.  Ideal for hiking.  Three more forest preserves checked off the Hike Lake County list:   Fort Hill Trail and Singing Hills Farm on Saturday and Buffalo Creek on Monday. 

Cormorants on a rock in the Buffalo Creek reservoir.  

Singing Hills was a dairy farm.

Purple coneflower, ironweed, velvetleaf. Vervain, Maximilian's sunflower, goldenrod.  More goldenrod, stiff goldenrod, false sunflower. 

Zion Woman's Club started the club year yesterday with a potluck luncheon and a program about chair yoga.  September is National Library Card Sign Up Month and we showed off our library cards.  (ZWC was instrumental in starting the Zion Memorial Library, now Zion-Benton PL, in 1937.)  

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The light blue/light green Ohio Stars are a flimsy.  

I added eight light blue nine-patches for for my other RSC project.

 

I will pick up Carolyn at MKE at noon. We're headed to Madison for the Wisconsin Quilt Expo and some sightseeing in south central Wisconsin.

Photo:  in case we have time and energy to sew. 

Linking up with  Wednesday Wait Loss

Weekly update: quilt shops, the stash report, Christmas braid flimsy, and OMG

 I brought souvenirs back from New England--two t-shirts, a tea towel, refrigerator magnets -- and fabric!  I went to four quilt shops and a thrift shop.  

A Quilter's Garden is in Montpelier, VT. 

Sew Far North is in Littleton, NH. 

The Golden Gese [taken from the owner's surname] is in Concord, NH.   

The late Victoria Carroll-Parkhill, whose blog was Park Hill Farm, patronized this shop. When we were in New Hampshire in 2018 I met her there.  

I had a wonderful six-degrees-of-separation experience at Haphazard Quilting in Canaan, NH. 

I mentioned to Deb, the shop owner, that I was from suburban Chicago. "I used to live in Lindenhurst," she said.  It turned out that that was when I lived in Lindenhurst, too.  She was a crafter more than a quilter back then and she did not belong to the guild, but we did know a number of people in common.  When her husband retired from Great Lakes Naval Training Center they moved to Canaan.

The card catalog holds FQs.  The selection of M&S Australian prints is extensive.

The thrift shop was between Canaan and Enfield (the Shaker Museum).  Some good yardage at bargain prices.  

Left: thrift shop -- $1.24 per yard.

Quilt shop purchases.  A lot more than $1.24 per yard. <grin>

That leads to the August stash report.  The short version:  a lot more came in than went out.  

IN, August:  246-1/2 yards for $175.00. Average $1.40 per yard. (I got a nice destash as well as that thrift shop.)   OUT, August:  95-1/4 yards. (I shared with friends.)

YTD IN: 1034 yards, $460, average $2.24 per yard.  YTD OUT:  732 yards.

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I put some of the new fabric to use right away. I got the green check at Golden Gese.  It's brighter than it looks.  This will be the AAUW holiday raffle quilt. 

My goals for September are to make this month's RSC projects (light blue and light green) and figure out what I'll do with the guild BOM blocks.  

I've started the RSC Ohio Stars.  9-1/2" unfinished. There will be 20 in all.

Linking up with Oh Scrap! Sew and Tell  Design Wall Monday    Monday Musings  Stories from the Sewing Room