With Strings Attached

Design Wall Monday: Dallas

2012-01-23T07:03:00.001-06:00

My design wall is empty today because I'm at the ALA Midwinter Meeting in Dallas. It's been a good conference. I've had hours of meetings, heard good speakers, met authors, and gotten lots of books. I've seen many friends and acquaintances.

Here are the EPP hexagons I've pieced during the conference. There are more to come.

With the Old Craft Store staff

Just after I arrived on Thursday Carol and I took the DART train to Carrollton and went to the Old Craft Store. On Saturday my friend MJ and her friend Betsy came to the Convention Center to "do" the exhibits. They're not librarians and weren't sure what to expect -- they were gobsmacked by the vendors, the totebags, the giveaways, and THE BOOKS! I met them after my morning meeting (when they had taken their second trip to the car with their loot). We went out to lunch and they took me to Quilt Country in Lewisville where they both work. QC is a tremendous fabric shop! Yes, I indulged....but my purchases were from the sale table.

Betsy, MJ, Nann at Quilt Country

I'm sorry I didn't get a photo of the colorful mural outside Quilt Country.

Belo Mansion -- Oxford U. Press reception on Saturday.

ALA Uncommons: knitters on Saturday afternoon

Needlepoint cushion in the inglenook at the Belo Mansion

Go to Patchwork Times to see what other quiltmakers have on their design walls this Monday

Gifts!

2012-01-17T21:41:00.000-06:00

The quilting bee met last evening and had a belated gift exchange. The first photo shows the fun assortment from Joan: three fat quarters, a box of postage stamp squares, a bookmark, a needlebook, and (hidden) a little plastic box.

This nifty pin tray was made by Dawn . She even blogged about the project, but I had no clue that she was making them for us! I have a selection of little porcelain dishes of my own that could be similarly repurposed.

This is the back of the porcelain dish showing the magnet glued to it.

Today's mail bought this gift! I won it when one of my quilts got the most votes in the Quilting Gallery weekly contest. The Moda Candy Bar precuts are 2.5 x 4.5 rectangles and come with a project sheet. The prize was supplied by Jojo's Quilt Shoppe in Elk Grove, California.

Thank you, Michelle (QG) and Jill (Jojo's)!

DWM: Leftovers

2012-01-15T19:45:00.004-06:00

I quilted and bound Postage Stamp Chain this weekend, so I have one fewer flimsy in the box! I used salmon thread which blended well with the Pepto-Bismol pink. The chains have a sort of chain-vine and the trapezoids and the border have loopy flowers. Because I dislike marking I am trying to get good at no-mark free motion quilting. (Backing and binding used 2-3/4 yards.)

"Leftovers"

While casting about for something, anything, to sew (at the same time trying not to start anything new and avoiding selecting another flimsy to baste and quilt) I came across a project I started long ago (two years, perhaps). It uses units that didn't get put into other projects, experiments, and leftovers. I added a few rows--on the right you can see blue string blocks from Orca Bay and on the left red rails blocks from a quilt I made last summer. It's 48 x 63 and that's big enough. My estimate is that this has 3 yards of fabric--I am NOT going to measure the square inches in each piece!

Be sure to tune into Judy's Patchwork Times to see other design walls today.

Book review: Irish People, Irish Linen

2012-01-15T14:07:00.000-06:00

Author: Kathleen Curtis Wilson
Published by Ohio University Press, 2011

I made a note to get this book when I read the prepublication review in Library Journal . It came in two weeks ago and I have had a grand time reading it.
Flax and linen culture are found in many countries, but in the English-speaking world "linen" and "Ireland" are interwoven (pun intended). There are several reasons. Northern Ireland was an ideal place to raise flax and convert it to linen, a process that requires a lot of fresh water. The Irish adapted new technologies, going back to the 18th century home-work system and modernising to mills (for spinning) and factories (for weaving). They were astute marketers, finding uses for their products in grand and humble households, with transportation (ocean liners and train travel), and even in the air (shellacked linen was the 'skin' of early aircraft). And Irish emigration, which from the eighteenth through the nineteenth centuries spread Irish culture (and with it, linen) to the U.S., Canada, Australia, and South Africa.

Wilson describes all the steps in getting from flax to cloth, starting with the processes in pre-industrials times. It is a complex process. The outer bark is "retted" (rotted) to get at the inner fiber. The fiber is "scutched" (beaten to get all the bark off). Then the fibers are "hackled" or combed to untangle the fibers. Finally the fiber is spun into yarn and then thread. Woven linen must be bleached and beetled -- the first process makes it white and the second gives it a characteristic sheen.

Thousands of Irish home-workers made lace: Carrickmacross, Clones, drawn-thread, and cutwork. Wilson emphasizes that for most families the income from home-work put food on the table. She adds that we think of embroidery as a traditional craft, but in the 19th century these women worked "for the marketplace according to the dictates of fashion; they were not creating heirlooms [for their families]."

The book includes sidebars that explain textile terms that are still part of our vocabulary. We use the word "linen" not only for the fabric but also to describe household textiles ("linen closet" to store sheets and towels") and personal garments ("air your dirty linen") because underclothing was made out of linen whereas outer garments were made out of wool or silk.
"Knocking off work" originated in the 19th century when looms were connected by belts to the steam engine that powered them all. "If a weaver wanted to stop she reched up and knocked the belt off the pulley; her loom stopped but the others kept running." A "slop" was a one-size-fits-all men's shirt. The term eventually was applied to baggy pants and other loose-fitting clothing and "slops" was a shirt that was not custom-made. The term "sloppy" now refers to oversized and rumpled clothing and from there to unkempt habits.

I see the words "Irish linen" every day because we use souvenir linen towels as our dish towels. My vintage textile stash has many such towels. Now that I've read Kathleen Curtis Wilson's excellent book I will appreciate the history and heritage behind them.

Design Wall Monday: OB finished, leftovers, and another tote

2012-01-09T06:09:00.002-06:00

Here it is! My husband said, "Very nice. It's rather busy, isn't it?" I agree. I put a 1.5" black border on the outer edge to stabilize it. Thanks, Bonnie, for another wonderful mystery!

OB used 10-1/2 yards of fabric, partly because I some of the units I made weren't the right size so I needed to make more.

Here are some of those extra parts.....

Another tote bag transformation is underway. (You may recognize the block from last summer's BWGP .) The tote will be filled with advance reader copies and contributed to the Boys & Girls Club silent auction fundraiser.(The library gets ARCs from publishers. They can't be re-sold.) I'll be on the lookout for more totebags to transform when I go to the ALA Midwinter Meeting later this month.

P.S. I transformed a Rotary District 6440 briefcase last week. I'm keeping this one. :)

Visit other bloggers to see their Quiltville efforts. (Not Orca Bay any longer!) Not every quiltmaker has created Orca Bay....see what's on other Design Walls on Judy's blog.

Beach, January

2012-01-06T16:01:00.000-06:00

We've had record-setting mild weather thus far in 2012. DH and I went to the beach for our walk this afternoon. The lake was calm, just gently lapping the shore. There were a half dozen other people hiking, dog-walking, or biking when we were there.

Interesting red roots on this downed tree

Wood duck house on a pond (about 200 feet from the shore)

I always think these pebble pictures would look so good in fabric

Stream mouth at the shoreline

On our way out, taken from the car window. We were that close.

The Annual Reckoning, Orca Bay 7, and Final Piecing of 2011

2012-01-01T15:42:00.004-06:00

Since 1998 I've kept track of the fabric I've used and bought. My tally method is idiosyncratic. It works for me; it may not work for you. I count quilting and fashion fabric but not vintage textiles. Expenses are for fabric but not for batting, thread, magazines, books, patterns, or long-arm (professional) quilting.

The most significant accomplishment for 2011 is that I bought 31-5/8 yards of fabric and I used 307 yards. I am truly proud of myself for my restraint and I hope that I can maintain the new behavior in 2012.

Here's what I sewed this year:

* 4 skirts and 1 jacket

* 3 transformed totebags

* 5 gift bags and 60 Christmas ornaments

* 7 wallhangings

* finished 10 flimsies from previous years

* started and finished 11 quilts

* created 6 flimsies

I sold 3 quilts and 41 yards of fabric. I donated quilts to a number of events and agencies, made blocks for other people's projects, swapped blocks, and gave away strips and scraps.

I have more than 30 flimsies on hand. In 2012 I want to get at least half of them quilted and bound.

Bonnie has revealed the design for Orca Bay in its entirety. It's another stunner! I've made half of Step 7, the flying geese units. I haven't done the border units yet. More than a few of my wing units are wonky, and I don't know if I'll be able to use them or if I'll have to make some more.

I finished piecing this 29 x 33 wallhanging at 11:15 p.m. on December 31. I had a bunch of undersized half-square triangles from Orca Bay. I trimmed them to 1.5" and made 17 little (4.5") Cake Stand blocks. The black sashing finishes to just 1/2". The green print was the first one I pulled off the shelf. It's just the right color and there was one yard of it.

Check out other Orca Bay blogs and see what quiltmakers across the country have on their design walls on Monday.

DWM: Orca Bay 6 and Tomatoes

2011-12-25T21:52:00.001-06:00

Has it really been six weeks since we began our journey to Orca Bay? These Ohio Star blocks are pretty snappy as they are -- but I know that Bonnie will combine these with the red string triangles, the blue string squares, and the black/white 'orcas' in another memorable design. Here are other Orca Bay and Design Wall updates.

DH's Christmas Eve dining: the last two tomatoes from our vegetable garden. The vines were pulled out in October. These have been ever-so-slowly ripening in the refrigerator.

I made this bookshelf quilt for a coworker who is leaving the library at the end of this month. I've lost track of how many bookshelf quilts I've made. Thirty, perhaps?

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-24T09:30:00.000-06:00

Some say that ever 'gainst that season comes
Wherein our Saviour's birth is celebrated,
This bird of dawning singeth all night long;
And then, they say, no spirit dare stir abroad,
The nights are wholesome, then no planets strike,
No fairy takes, nor witch hath power to charm,
So hallow'd and so gracious is the time.

Hamlet: Act I, scene i

DWM: Orca Bay 5 and Postage Stamps

2011-12-18T23:17:00.005-06:00

Here's step 5....little orcas swimming in a circle.

A couple of months ago I bought a box of old quilt magazines at a thrift shop. This photo -- in the Spring, 1987, issue of Quilt caught my eye. Their pattern called for 2.5" squares resulting in an 18" block. I thought it would be great with 1.5" postage stamps and thus a 9" block.

I had enough of the pink fabric (a Jinny Beyer 'blender' from years ago) to make 26 blocks, of which 25 are shown. The 26th will most likely be pieced into the back.

Here is the block ~~deconstructed~~ preconstructed. I cut a template for the trapezoid. The triangles are cut from 2" squares. The postage stamps are 1.5" squares.

Take a look at other Orca Bay blocks and see what's on other design walls on Monday.

Taking notes

2011-12-18T13:23:00.003-06:00

"Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night."

Thanks to Nancy for finding this image and for reminiscing about Gregg shorthand on her blog this weekend.
My mother learned Gregg at Grace Martin's School in Pittsburgh. She used it professionally and personally, whether taking dictation or taking notes for a club or committee -- or whenever she wanted to make a list that we wouldn't be able to read!

When I was a senior in high school I took a one-semester version called "notehand." The one phrase I remember is "ch com," for "chamber of commerce." (And now, in 2011, I am on the Chamber of Commerce board.) I used notehand the first semester of college, but because I wasn't proficient it was easier for me to take 'regular' notes. I soon figured out that the professors used an outline, whether explicit or not, and it wasn't hard to follow along.

I had not read Nancy's posts until today. It's purely coincidental that among the things I bought at an estate sale in Zion yesterday were four steno notebooks. (Wide-lined Pitman rather than narrow-ruled Gregg.) They were just .25 each. Three are completely unused. The fourth has four pages filled with Gregg -- many repeated word-forms, so I assume the writer was just practicing.

I've found that estate sales and garage sales are great sources for home office supplies. In addition to the steno books I've acquired a stack of legal pads (it doesn't matter to me if five or ten sheets have been used; the remainder of the pad is still good), felt tip markers (out of a box of ten, three may be dried up but that leaves seven), Avery adhesive labels, and more. And I use them!

UFO no longer....but another flimsy has been created

2011-12-15T19:31:00.001-06:00

Do you remember this quilt? Probably not. I started to quilt it about the middle of 2008. I was not pleased with the way the quilting was going, so I put it aside. For two winters the semi-quilted, still-pin-basted UFO was rolled up to serve as a draft stopper for the fireplace (which we do not use). My DH asked me to bring out the draft stopper this year. I unrolled the poor UFO and realized I had quilted more of it than I thought (=too much to rip out). I filled some bobbins, put navy blue thread on the top, and got to work. As of last evening, ta da! A finished object, all quilted and bound. And, yes, sure, it will still work as a draft stopper. But nicer than it was before.

Another ta da! Here is The Geese Flew Around the Prairie Queen. I made the geese with the cut- away corners method (rather than the fast flying geese method) because I wanted a lot of variety in the geese. (The fast method results in four identical geese.) The green inner and outer borders stabilize the edges of the geese. The flimsy is 90 x 90 so I will have it professionally quilted.

As of 5:30 this evening I am on vacation for two weeks -- well, I have a meeting tomorrow and one on Monday -- and a report to write, an article to edit, two audiobooks to listen to and review. I've got an equal list of quilty things I want and need to get done. And DH and I plan a couple of days in the city, too.

Blog Hop Winners!

2011-12-15T19:00:00.000-06:00

Here are the names of everyone who left a comment as of last evening. (Three more people commented today, which is lovely but still past the specified time for the drawing.)

I chose the winners at random. They are GrannyAnne and Mrs. Pickles Congratulations, ladies! I will need your mailing addresses in order to mail the FQ bundles to you.

Thanks to everyone who participated in the Quilting Gallery blog hop!

DWM: Orca Bay 4

2011-12-11T21:49:00.006-06:00

Orca Bay, step 4: 128 string-pieced triangles. I have no idea how these will fit with the hourglasses, HSTs, and little blue string blocks. (The fabric is RED! In the photograph it looks orange, but I assure one and all that it is RED!)

At the Waukegan Area Branch AAUW holiday luncheon yesterday we drew the winning ticket for Christmas Cards, the 2011 holiday raffle quilt. The winner (Virginia C.) was delighted. The $295 proceeds will be divided among AAUW projects. (I need to get going on the AAUW spring 2012 quilt!)

Be sure to see what's on other design walls and check up on Orca Bay progress!

Blog Hop!

2011-12-09T08:51:00.003-06:00

You can win a fat quarter bundle! Leave a comment. On Wednesday, December 14, I will draw two names at random from those who've commented, and award those people a set of four fat quarters.

Thanks in advance!

THE DRAWING WAS DECEMBER 14. WINNERS HAVE BEEN ANNOUNCED AND NOTIFIED. If you're visiting after December 14, you are welcome to leave a comment but you're not going to win anything. :)

DWM: Gift Bags, Prairie Queen, and Orca Bay

2011-12-04T22:11:00.002-06:00

These gift bags are made from fabric stiffened with Pellon Craft Fuse. (Inside each is an amaryllis, ready to force into bloom.) The basket blocks are 5" square.

Orca Bay, Step 3:
350 2" (unfinished) HSTs.

I decided on scrappy neutrals to sash the Prairie Queen blocks. I was about to cut plain borders when I got the idea to try flying geese. These geese are 3 x 5.5 unfinished and I'll need about 121 of them.

Another postage stamp quilt is in the works!

.....and take a moment to see how other Orca Bay mysteries are coming along, as well as what's on many design walls walls as this week gets underway.

DWM: Ornaments, Orca Bay, and Prairie Queen

2011-11-27T21:52:00.004-06:00

I was thankful for time off this holiday weekend. We took a couple of long walks the days that the weather was clement, had a delicious turkey dinner (with lots of 'planned-over' turkey), and avoided shopping as much as possible. I got a lot of sewing done.

61 ornaments (for library staff and trustees). The holly leaves and berries are fused and free-motion-quilted.

Orca Bay Step 2. These 3.5" foundation-pieced string blocks were easy to make.

The Block Swappers had a quarterly swap for sets of units made up of 4-patches and HSTs in autumn colors. The unfinished size was 4.5". I cut ALL the units down to 3.5", added a center square, and made 74 9.5" Prairie Queen blocks. The design wall shows 49 of them. I've auditioned many different fabrics to use as sashing, but no decision yet. (There is so much going on in each block that they need to be separated by sashing.)

Take a look at other design walls and Orca Bay blocks today!

First and second quilts

2011-11-27T09:23:00.003-06:00

Bonnie invited photos of first quilt projects. Here are scans of mine, with the commentary from my quilt journal. (Said journal has been ~~sadly neglected~~ abandoned since I began recording my work with digital camera and, eventually, my blog.

I cross-stitched the first quilt the year I was in graduate school. It is still the largest item I have hand-quilted. (I used the quilt for many years and of course I still use the degree.)

I don't know if any of my cousins still has the second quilt. Their mother passed away a couple of years ago so the household contents have been dispersed. This is a design mish-mash: 30's prints (genuine!) and blue solid, with a solid blue bedsheet backing. I used pastel DMC floss to feather-stitch around all the blocks. This was hand-quilted, too. I used a pencil to mark a cross-hatched grid and hearts in the solid blocks.

Design Wall Monday: Orca Bay and more!

2011-11-20T21:16:00.004-06:00

Weekend recap: I sold three quilts at the library craft fair on Saturday! In turn I purchased a few Christmas gifts and indulged in a batch of delicious peanut brittle.

Back in the studio: here's Sophie Anne's quilt, all finished except the label. I had planned to put the words in the border but it was too much yellow. The starry 'stained glass' print reins in the brights without dulling them. The words work just fine on the back along with a little owl. (The nursery has an owl theme.)....and Sophie Anne isn't due until the end of this week!

"Jolly Jester" will be swapped at the P.E.O. Christmas ornament exchange. (I maintain that ornaments don't have to go on the tree.) This wallhanging is 18 x 24. The pattern is by Pat Sloan. It was featured in the December, 2006, issue of McCall's Quilting.

And, finally: my progress on Step 1 of Orca Bay, the 2011 Quiltville mystery. I'm using Bonnie's colors (black, neutral plus red and blue).

Check out other design walls at Patchwork Times and other Orca Bay progress at Quiltville's Mystery Monday.

Four Patch X flimsy

2011-11-12T09:14:00.001-06:00

Finished! It's 72x80 and used 5-7/8 yards from my stash. The border is a Cranston print that I got from the estate purchase in 2007. It worked just fine for this very scrappy design.

Since November 1, 2010, I've bought 33 yards of fabric. I've used a lot more than that! Watch for the 2011 annual reckoning on December 31 or January 1.

Design Wall Monday: Four Patch X

2011-11-06T22:29:00.003-06:00

I put the baby quilt (see last week's post) aside for a bit. I ought to get going on Christmas items. I know what I'm going to make and I just have to get started. But, instead, I took handfuls of 1.5" squares, sewed them into twos and then fours and here is where I ended up.
This is "Four Patch X" from Bonnie Hunter's "Addicted to Scraps" feature in Quiltmaker magaine. Her pattern uses 2" squares but I am sure she would be the first to say it's okay to use any size! My blocks are 6.25" unfinished, and thus 5.75" finished. I think the light blue sashing will provide a visual relief from the bright yellow. It will also bring out the shoofly design made by the block corners and the cornerstones.

Be sure to check out what other quiltmakers have on their design walls today!

Design Wall Monday: preview 2 and L&E

2011-10-23T22:09:00.004-05:00

Progress from the previous post: the I Spy bear paw blocks and the letters are assembled, with a correction to the spelling of the name. (Glad to have that before proceeding!)

["Sophie/Sophia" means wisdom and "Anne/Ann" means grace.]

I've gone back to 1.5" "postage stamps" for leaders and enders. This is one of Bonnie Hunter's "Addicted to Scraps" blocks in Quiltmaker. She wrote that she planned assemble the blocks with cornerstones and sashing to create a Shoofly secondary design, so that's what I'm aiming for.

Be sure to check out other design walls today!

Sneak preview

2011-10-21T08:44:00.003-05:00

Quilt in progress! I woke up from a nap to realize that I had this quilt all laid out in my imagination. Would that all designing came upon me so clearly. The Bear Paw blocks have I Spy novelty 'paws.' This is my first try at Tonya's letters and those shown may be a rough draft. There's more to come.

Blustery day in northeasternmost Illinois

2011-10-19T14:44:00.002-05:00

Footage taken at North Point Marina. Quite a contrast from ten days ago!

Finished feels good

2011-10-16T18:30:00.003-05:00

Yesterday I started and finished quilting "Christmas Cards." I put the last stitch on the binding at precisely 10:00 p.m.

The Card Trick blocks came from an exchange. One of them was larger than the others (12" rather than 9"). Another came after I had set the sixteen. I didn't want to disassemble what I'd done, nor did I want to make three more blocks (to total 20). I pieced the large block into the back and I used the last block as the label. The quilt is 66 x 66. (More about this quilt design is in this post and preceding it.)

I used red thread. I outline-quilted the "cards" and meander-quilted the "logs."

This quilt will be raffled at our AAUW holiday luncheon.

Design Wall Monday: Rusty Bows flimsy

2011-10-09T20:37:00.002-05:00

I did get some sewing time in this weekend. When I left for Missouri I had the center and the bow-tie border blocks assembled. The sashed border design is one I saw in a quilt magazine years ago. I auditioned several solid colors before choosing turquoise.

It is 58 x 66 and used 5 yards of stash. Thanks goes to Bonnie Hunter for creating the bow-tie challenge!

If I make another bow-tie quilt (which is likely because the blocks are such fun) I'll try deliberate color placement -- figure 8's or S's, perhaps; or x's and o's.

Check out what's on other design walls today at Patchwork Times !

Beach, October

2011-10-09T20:27:00.001-05:00

The weather has been absolutely perfect this past week: sunny and warm every day. If we could only bottle it to bring out in January!

Not only did I go to the beach this afternoon, but I also went into the water. Here's the proof.

More sisterhood, and Mizzou revisited

2011-10-09T20:13:00.001-05:00

Sisters together! Alex, me, Mari-Anne

Johnston Hall, my dorm (fall semester, 1970). I knocked on the door of Room 111 and surprised the current occupant by saying, "I lived here 41 years ago. Could I take a picture?" What could she do but agree?! (It looks smaller than I remember.)

Stewart Hall (where the Library School shared space with Geography and Herpetology)

Leandra and I had lunch and a lovely visit

Leandra's garage is her studio

With one of her surface-design baskets

908 Curtis--the former AGD house

1313 University--summer apt. upstairs, 1973

The obligatory picture of Jesse Hall and the Columns

Jesse Hall's tile floor...there's a quilt design here!

Convention report, briefly

2011-10-09T19:47:00.001-05:00

The 70th P.E.O. International Convention was September 29-October 1. I spent this past Friday evening writing the report I will present to each of the seven chapters for whom I was a delegate, and I spent Sunday afternoon creating a photo collage to illustrate the report. 3600 people attended the event, of whom 1500 were voting delegates. This blog post had to wait!

The ceremonies were stately. The business proceedings went smoothly, helped by electronic voting that made tallying nearly instant. The workshops were interesting. (I chose women in leadership; decision-making; and a book review by Cottey College faculty.)

The Projects Night featured women who have been the recipients of P.E.O. grants and awards. Their outstanding accomplishments truly put a face on the value of our contributions. P.E.O. philanthropies provide millions of dollars to thousands of women.
* Educational Loan Fund -- to assist with educational expenses
* Program for Continuing Education -- for women whose education has been interrupted
* International Peace Scholarships -- for women from other countries pursuing advanced degrees in the U.S.
* Scholar Awards -- for U.S. and Canadian women pursing advance degrees

* STAR Awards -- first-year college scholarships for outstanding high school students
* Cottey College -- owned by P.E.O. since 1927, the college has gotten approval to offer three four-year-degree programs in addition to its two-year curriculum.

P.E.O. is also about friendship. These photos show me with Lorraine, Colorado P.E.O. president (whom I've known since kindergarten); with Fran, who was my roommate (a friend for 25 years); and with two Alpha Gam sisters whom I met when I visited their chapter at DePauw when I was a leadership consultant in 1974 (Nancy is Massachusetts P.E.O. president and Susan lives in Ohio).

Bishop Hill, Monmouth, and on to St. Louis (with quilts!)

2011-09-28T21:55:00.003-05:00

The Steeple Building

Colony Church

Bishop Hill was founded in 1846 when a charismatic Swedish pietist named Erik Jansson and 1100 followers journeyed from Sweden to western Illinois (walking the last 150 miles from Chicago). The colony flourished with 14,000 acres, a steam-powered flour mill, a furniture shop, a brick yard, a wagon maker, and a dairy. They cultivated broom corn and bought broom-making equipment from the Pleasant Hill Shakers.

Colony Hotel (back, showing light well)

In 1850 Jansson was murdered in a dispute over a Janssonist girl marrying an outsider. Administration of the colony was turned over to a board of trustees. In 1857 bad investments ruined the colony's finances. In 1861 most of the able-bodied men enlisted in the Union Army. Loss of funds and loss of manpower culminated in the dissolution of the colony in 1861.

The State of Illinois owns several of the historic properties and others have been privately restored. The town has 150 people and there are many "event weekends" held each year.

I first read about Bishop Hill in a New Yorker magazine article in the mid 1970's. I finally got to see it!

"American" sewing machine

************
Monmouth College, in the city of that name, is about 35 miles from Bishop Hill. Two women's fraternities were founded there: Pi Beta Phi in 1867 and Kappa Kappa Gamma in 1870. Kappa's Stewart House was closed today, but I took pictures of the exterior. Pi Phi's Holt House was open and the curator provided a thorough tour.

quilt made for Grace Coolidge

these are diamonds,
not squares

***********
I took IL-67 south from Monmouth and got to St. Louis just after 5:00. It's time to start thinking P.E.O.!

Reagan homestead (with quilts)

2011-09-27T20:53:00.002-05:00

I am taking the long route to St. Louis for this week's P.E.O. convention. I set out in good time this morning. The light rain did not cause traffic delays. That was helpful because when I got to Rockford -- about 80 miles from home -- and stopped for gas I discovered that one tire had picked up a nail and was going flat. Thank goodness for many things--helpful people at the gas station and AAA. The AAA guy arrived about 45 minutes later and changed the tire. Both he and the gas station attendant suggested a tire place a mile away. I had the flat fixed ($5) so I have an adequate spare, just in case.

My early afternoon destination was Stronghold Conference Center in Oregon, Illinois, site of the AAUW fall conference. I had several things to clarify about the facilities that we will use. All my questions were answered and I headed south from Oregon on IL-2 along the Rock River .

The docent said that there are numerous German tourists

At Dixon I turned at the sign that said "Boyhood Home of Ronald Reagan." I'm not a great fan of Ronald Reagan (particularly his economic policies) but since I was in the neighborhood I decided to stop.

Sunday School Quilt

Reagan and his family (parents and older brother) lived in five houses in Dixon. His fondest memories were for this one, where they lived when he was in his early teens. It is a Sears house, built in the 1890's, that the Reagans rented. It was later divided into apartments and fell into disrepair. It was restored during his presidency. The furnishings are 'of the period,' not the Reagans' own, with the exception of a quilt that Nell Reagan's Sunday school students made for her. There is a Seven Sisters quilt on the bed in the boys' bedroom.
Pres. and Mrs. Reagan and his brother made a return visit to Dixon in 1984. The President looked at the parlor fireplace, bent down, and lifted up a tile. It had been loose when he was a kid and he hid pennies there. After sixty years and many tenants the tile was in its place, still loose. The four pennies that he left behind that day are now framed with a photo of him lifting the tile. These four pennies are substitutes.

The sun came out when I got to Kewanee at the end of the day. I realized what I forgot to pack: the camera cable so I could download photos each day. I thought about having my husband overnight-mail it -- but there's a Radio Shack right around the corner from the motel! I now own a card reader, and as this blog shows, it worked just fine with today's photos.

Dead Dog Creek Ravine, end of September

2011-09-25T15:55:00.000-05:00

South entrance to the trail

This post ends what turned out to be a year-long project to document the seasonal changes in Dead Dog Creek Ravine. Serendipitously, last Thursday evening the Lake County Stormwater Management Commission had a public meeting to discuss the stream restoration that will begin this fall. I was able to attend.

From the SMC website:
The restoration project will stabilize and restore the stream channel and ravine slopes of the creek between Sheridan Road and Geddes Avenue.

The $832,850 USEPA grant is through its Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) program. The grant will fund a streambank/bluff water quality and sediment control bioengineering best management practices project on 2800 linear feet of the Dead Dog Creek in Winthrop Harbor; and create two (residential and business) demonstration sites for runoff reduction best management practices as recommended by the Kellogg Creek Watershed-Based Plan.

Dead Dog Creek is a ravine system that drains approximately 3 square miles of the larger Kellogg Creek watershed. From the ravine, the creek flows through the high quality coastal plain wetland complex of Spring Bluff Forest Preserve and Illinois State Beach Park into Lake Michigan at two outlet points. Approximately 41% of the land in the Dead Dog Creek subwatershed is developed and is generating stormwater runoff from impervious areas into the creek. The additional water flow from urbanization coupled with the locally high gradient stream channel in the ravine has resulted in increased erosion of the stream channel and banks, and sediment to the coastal plain and Lake Michigan. The conversion of land to urban uses has also caused urban runoff pollutants into the stream system. The project will reduce the sediment pollution created by the eroding stream, and will begin to address urban hydrology changes that are increasing the volume of runoff and pollution into the creek.

The west end of the trail

Last month I took a picture of a tagged tree. That was part of a census of all trees 6" and larger in the ravine. The species included 142 American elms, 130 cottonwoods, 86 sugar maples, 74 burr oaks, and 61 box elders. The restoration will remove only trees in the access path or work area. The canopy is fairly dense so some thinning will help the understory. The big concern is the erosion on the bluffs (whole slopes fall away) and in the streambed.

The restoration project will begin next winter. I predict I will be taking more photographs of this beautiful ravine!

Sign of autumn!

Design Wall Monday: Rusty Bows

2011-09-18T21:14:00.002-05:00

Back in July Bonnie Hunter ~~issued a challenge~~ suggested cheddar bow ties as a leaders-and-enders project. I didn't have any cheddar-orange solid in my stash. I didn't have many cheddar prints among my 19th century reproductions, and no yardage in that color. I did have quite a lot of rust-colored solid (acquired when I bought a quilter's estate in 2007).

Of course there are projects I ought to be working on--projects that have due dates. I could pull fabrics for one; cut for another; piece for a third; set a fourth; and baste, quilt, and bind many others. I didn't do any of those. I am NOT doing these as leaders-and-enders--I'm just full-steam-ahead chain piecing. In the process I've used a lot of squares from the RCTQ Baseball Swap and a fair amount of that rust solid. These bow ties are 3.5" unfinished and they are sooo cute!

I am not going to save the cutaway corners!

I've got more to go!

P&J follow up and Convention Tote

2011-09-15T22:11:00.002-05:00

Here is a close up of the quilting on Piece and Joy I used light lime green thread. The loopy flowers are poinsettias, sort of. I quilted a continuous line of Christmas tree outlines in the borders.

The Friends of the Library will begin selling raffle tickets for Piece and Joy at LibraryPalooza on September 24.

I made a tote bag for the P.E.O. International Convention which is just two weeks away.

I purchased the large-scale daisy print in Philadelphia in 2008. (I was there for ALA Midwinter.) The lining is yellow and there are two inside pockets made from another daisy print. I used Warm & Natural batting in the body of the tote as well as in the handles.

The free motion quilting features P.E.O. stars.

RRCB: finished

2011-09-10T07:38:00.003-05:00

Way back in January I posted my nearly-completed version of Roll Roll Cotton Boll, which was Bonnie Hunter's holiday-season mystery quilt. Pam S. quilted it and delivered it to me at our guild meeting this week. I bound it on Thursday evening.

It's 88 x 88. An all-cotton bedsheet -- $2 at Salvation Army -- was perfect for the back.

This quilt was made entirely from my stash!

Quilting myself into a corner

2011-09-03T09:06:00.002-05:00

....metaphorically, that is.
I made a bunch of 16-patches as leaders-and-enders (2" squares=6.5" blocks) and put them up on the design wall. I made a few bronze-and-turquoise square-in-square blocks as the alternates. Not very exciting. I pulled out a red-and-gold print. Alternating stars! Much better.

One of the perils of as-the-spirit-moves designing, especially in combination with use-what's-on-hand no-buy, is that if there's not enough fabric, that's it. I had plenty of the turquoise (BTW, the date on the selvage was 2001) and I had a lot of the bronze. I had just some of the red. And that's what "quilted me into a corner." I think this design would work better if the stars continued into the border, but I didn't have enough of that red, nor did I have anything in my stash that would coordinate to my liking. So I used the bronze twice in the border, which emphasizes that fabric.
The flimsy (unquilted top) is 72x84 and used 5-5/8 yards from my stash. I am still using 2" squares for leaders-and-enders so a full-star version of this design may be here sooner than later.

And, in other quilting news:

As I have posted before, I make bookshelf quilts for colleagues: retirement and MLS graduation.
This is Carole's Bookshelf, presented at her retirement party on August 31.

Dead Dog Creek Ravine, end of August

2011-08-28T18:21:00.002-05:00

There was a community clean-up day for the ravine trail. (We weren't able to participate.) A lot of fallen leaves were raked away and downed limbs were cut up. Many trees were tagged. I assume the tags indicate trees to keep, but I will have to verify that.

Most of the wildflowers have gone by, though I did see one sprig of phlox in a sunny spot. A heron lifted off from the creek but he was too quick for this photographer.

Trailville.com has a wiki page about this trail. It does not mention the creek, which I erroneously called Kellogg Creek until I looked it up. It is part of the
Kellogg Creek subwatershed of the Lake Michigan Watershed -- but it is Dead Dog Creek. How did it get that name? I will have to look that up.

Design Wall Monday: flimsies finished

2011-08-21T22:11:00.002-05:00

I have the two Christmas quilts to the flimsy stage.
"Piece and Joy" is 74 x 86.
"Christmas Cards" is 66 x 66.

I bought backing fabric for both (nine yards total). I didn't have the energy to make pieced backings from what Christmassy reds and greens I have in my stash.

How collections grow

2011-08-20T09:25:00.001-05:00

It started with Sir Francis Drake. My mother probably purchased this Toby jug when she worked at Marshall Field's before I was born. I'm sure it was expensive at the time. Years later she added Sairey Gamp and Auld Mac. Were they new purchases on a trip to England or an estate sale find? I don't know, but I inherited all three.

Mrs. Loan, the librarian, was one of the "Doultonville" characters introduced in 1983. Mother gave her to me one Christmas.

I got The Poacher (also Doulton) and this 18th century gentleman (Kelsbro Ware....no character name) in 2006 at an antiques mall's closing sale. (Asking price for the Poacher was $95 and for the gent was $39. I paid less!) The gent's hatbrim is shaped in such a way that he's probably a cream jug.

I went to an estate sale in nearby Beach Park on Thursday afternoon. I had $62 in my wallet....and I spent it all! Two hankies (.50 each) and these three Tobys: Mr. Pecksniff (by Beswick), Mr. Micawber (Lancaster & Sandland), and another Sairey Gamp.

It's interesting to compare the two Saireys. Mother's, on the left, looks to be the newer.

With eBay and other online sales it is easy to acquire a collection. It's more fun to rely on serendipity!

Three rails it is

2011-08-13T19:10:00.006-05:00

I appreciate everyone's advice for setting these blocks. (I am waiting for two more to come from this swap. I don't know which block will be pieced into the back if I stay with a 16-block layout.)

A pattern called "Simple Stars" in Time-Crunch Quilts by Nancy Martin inspired this setting. I looked it up and was reminded that she set the blocks so that one color was horizontal and the other vertical. It's more effective than alternating the color direction. Nancy's quilt is bordered with three strips on each side with the same color placement. I may copy that...or I may not.

Three rails or two?

2011-08-12T20:56:00.000-05:00

Is the white background of the Card Trick blocks overwhelmed by three rails? Should I just use two rails instead? Should I work in some more white (a skinny inner border)?

Opinions are welcome!

Design Wall Monday: Piece and Joy

2011-08-07T21:43:00.005-05:00

I couldn't make any decision about the blocks that were on the wall last Monday so I turned to another project. This will be the ZBPL holiday raffle quilt this year. There are four other sewists/quilters on the library staff and I invited them to contribute these split 9-patch blocks. (I need to give them a nudge to find out how many they've made.) The design I drafted in EQ7 calls for 120 6" blocks, 60 with green chains and 60 with red chains.

I know that three of the blocks are turned the wrong way.

Live with more books than you read

2011-08-06T08:34:00.000-05:00

Copied from
http://www.shelf-awareness.com/issue.html?issue=1525#m12959

Quotation of the Day

Good Advice: Live with More Books than You Read

"He should live with more books than he reads, with a penumbra of unread pages, of which he knows the general character and content, fluttering round him. This is the purpose of libraries.... It is also the purpose of good bookshops, both new and secondhand, of which there are still some, and would that there were more. A bookshop is not like a railway booking-office which one approaches knowing what one wants. One should enter it vaguely, almost in a dream, and allow what is there freely to attract and influence the eye.

"To walk the rounds of the bookshops, dipping in as curiosity dictates, should be an afternoon's entertainment. Feel no shyness or compunction in taking it. Bookshops exist to provide it; and the booksellers welcome it, knowing how it will end."

--Economist John Maynard Keynes, as quoted in a Canberra Times piece headlined "Bookshops about more than just purchasing

My short career as a race driver

2011-08-05T19:23:00.002-05:00

The Boys & Girls Club has a Golf Cart Race fundraiser. Businesses and organizations pay to enter and designate drivers. The "track" is a block on Shiloh Blvd. in Zion, adjacent to the weekly Farmers' Market. This year there were about 29 drivers who competed in heats of 3 or 4. There was a semi-final round and then a final. I represented Rotary, despite my disclaimer that I had never driven a golf cart before -- and I won!
Rotary won last year, as well, so our participation in 2012 is inevitable.

Coming down the stretch

Heat 7: Drivers for Rotary, Kiwanis, Zion Woman's Club

Design Wall Monday: Ohio Stars Plus

2011-07-31T21:13:00.001-05:00

Hmmmm.....
Just sayin'.
Last week's Ohio Star swap blocks combined with the Card Trick blocks from this year's Block Swappers' birthday exchange. If these were used together I'd definitely have to add sashing.

Dead Dog Creek Ravine, end of July

2011-07-31T15:22:00.003-05:00

This is month 10 of a year-long documentation project. At the end of July, on a hot and muggy Sunday afternoon, the ravine is lushly green. Damselflies flitted everywhere but were too quick for my camera.

The path to the ravine. (Compare it to the first post).

The creek.

Erosion is evident after July's torrential rain.

This tree fell across the path. Its roots are still connected; this is new growth.

It doesn't take the squirrels long to sample the black walnuts.

May apple

Jerusalem Artichokes (helianthus tuberosus)

Queen Anne's Lace has been in bloom all month. It still looks pretty

Design Wall Monday: Ohio Stars

2011-07-25T19:02:00.000-05:00

Twenty-four 9" Ohio Star blocks in Christmas colors, red-with-green and green-with-red, courtesy of Sew Many Swaps. How to set them? I'm thinking about it.

Book review: Bound by a Mighty Vow

2011-07-23T18:34:00.001-05:00

I'm interested in the history of American women's organizations and the nineteenth-century milieu from which many of them arose. (I belong to several of them -- see my blog sidebar.) When I read a prepublication review of Diana Turk's book Bound by a Mighty Vow I made sure to order a copy for myself. That was in 2004 -- and this afternoon, I read it (out on the patio, enjoying sunshine, cooler temperatures, and a pitcher of lemonade).

The subtitle of the book is "sisterhood and women's fraternities, 1870-1920." Turk uses Kappa Alpha Theta as the specific group in her study, but she acknowledges that Theta's early years were similar to other women's fraternities.

Women's fraternities were founded for solidarity. In 1870, when Theta was founded, 11,000 women were enrolled in college--and more than 50,000 men.   Women's very presence on campus was suspect. Were they competitors or colleagues of male students? They wanted to prove themselves the intellectual equals of the men. (In 1873 Dr. Edward Clarke published Sex in Education: or, A Fair Chance for the Girls in which he argued that higher education damaged women's reproductive systems. The book had seventeen printings. The forerunner of AAUW, the Association of Collegiate Alumnae, commissioned its first research in 1885 to refute Clarke.)

Academic achievement was the emphasis in the early years. Theta and other groups were very concerned that their chapters be chartered only at academically rigorous schools. By the turn of the 20th century the direction changed to family connections and 'sociability.' Anti-fraternity sentiment among university administrations led to a greater role for alumnae (and alumni, for the men's organizations). A model prescribing "the ideal" fraternity woman began, with national standards imposed on local chapters. The concept of fraternity education (what every member was expected to know) was introduced in the 'teens.

I had wondered about NPC women and their involvement in the suffrage movement. Turk answered my question:  women's fraternities by and large "adopted positions designed to attract the least amount of resistance or opposition from their membership" (p. 110) even though they supported the idea of independent, strong women.   Many NPC women were suffragists because of their own convictions, not their fraternity affiliation. (I suspect that that was the case for P.E.O. as well.)

I very much enjoyed this slice of women's history -- I'm sorry it took me so long to read it!

Red Rails

2011-07-23T13:14:00.000-05:00

This is the second "Red Rails" quilt I've made. It's a quick way to use up a lot of scraps. The units are made of 1.5 x 3.5 bricks. This measures 60 x 72. It will be donated, but I don't yet know to whom or when.

I busted 8-1/2 yards of stash!

I pieced leftover blocks into the back.

Weather report

2011-07-22T07:01:00.002-05:00

BWGP finished!

2011-07-19T06:54:00.002-05:00

Here 'tis: bordered, quilted, and bound. It's 59x68.

I did a freemotion loopy 'flower' in each star, zig-zag through the sashes and narrow borders, and my default 'triangle vine' in the border.

I bought four yards of fabric for the back and two 1/2-yard pieces of lime green, one of which I used for the inner border. That boosts my *total* fabric purchases since November 1 to a whole 25 yards!

I didn't need to insert the row of SIS blocks into the back but I like the effect.

BWGP, part 2

2011-07-11T21:16:00.002-05:00

I had great fun making stars from the square-in-square blocks (see my previous post).

Does anyone have advice about what to use for the border?
* Had I made all the cornerstones lime green then a purple border would be ideal, but I am not inclined to rip out and rework all the sashing!
*A white-on-white border would emphasize the modern/contemporary effect I want.
*A piano key or braid border would be way too busy.
*A black/white or white/black border will overpower the stars, I think.
* Purple is the recipient's favorite color. This pictured purple fabric is the one that I have in sufficient quantity for a border.

New quilt

2011-07-06T22:09:00.007-05:00

Color scheme: black, white, purple, green.
Due date: next month.
What to do?

Eureka!

I just happened to have 4.5" black and white square-in-square blocks on my design wall. They came from a Sew Many Swaps exchange.

Here is the result so far. These variable stars are 8.5". I'm not sure how many I'll make, or what the sashing will be like....I think this is enough inspiration for one evening!

Garden, early July

2011-07-06T22:02:00.000-05:00

Here's the vegetable garden (in contrast to five weeks ago):

And Shasta daisies in bloom:

Sunrise, July 4

2011-07-04T07:05:00.000-05:00

Sunrise on Lake Michigan, July 4. (I took a video but it didn't upload.)

North beach, just after sunrise. Note fallen tree from 6/30 storm.

Dead Dog Creek Ravine, early July

2011-07-03T18:48:00.002-05:00

I was going to take the monthly ravine photos this past Thursday (June 30) but at 8 p.m. a "supercell" or microburst storm hit. It lasted about 5 minutes and felled dozens of trees in our town. We lost only two branches from the maple tree in the back yard which did not harm anything. However, the electricity was out for 47 hours and 50 minutes! We have a gas water heater so we had hot water. A predicted heat wave (95+) did NOT come, and the temperature only got up to 82 inside the house. What I missed the most was having light in the evening.

The ravine did not suffer much in the storm. That makes sense, since its trees are sheltered. Now in mid-summer it is wonderfully green. There was no rain this past week so the creek is fairly low.

Totebag transformation

2011-06-05T20:03:00.002-05:00

I am a confirmed tote-bag carrier. Briefcases aren't configured for what I carry to work each day: my planner (a combination of Day-Timer monthly dividers and Uncalendar weekly pages), my lunch, two cans of diet cola, and at least one book. On the way home the lunch bag is empty but I often have three or four books. When I go to ALA or other conferences I take a small purse and I tote a tote. I return from said conferences with even more tote bags. Over the years I've come to appreciate tote bag design. The best ones have 4"-5" squared-off bottoms, are about 11" tall, and are made from heavy canvas or sturdy polyester. The best ones also have corporate logos that are small enough to cover up. That's because I like to transform them!
Here are the three stages of today's project, which will serve as my tote this summer.

I lined it, too--meaning that I pretty much made an entire tote bag with a heavy canvas base.

I like the color scheme of this tote but it is 14" high and only 2-1/2" at the base. Those dimensions don't work -- but I figured that out after I had handsewn the Ohio star block to the pocket.

This is the tote bag I used this past fall and winter. There is a similar batik maple leaf on the other side. (The diagonal placement just covers the publisher's logo on both side.)

This is the first tote I transformed (in 2008). It's the one I usually take to ALA because it easily holds my computer. It has an exterior zippered pocket, and two net side pockets. It looks blue in the photo, but it's actually purple.

Pinwheel Nine Patch

2011-06-01T06:46:00.002-05:00

Here is "Pinwheel Nine Patch." It's 74 x 86. I didn't quite have it finished for Design Wall Monday !
I'm still making pinwheels as leaders-and-enders but the box of 3" squares doesn't seem much emptier.

Dead Dog Creek Ravine, May

2011-05-30T16:28:00.003-05:00

The path into the ravine

It's been five weeks since I took ravine photos. What a change from April !

Lots of water after Saturday's downpour

Ranunculus (buttercup)

Podophyllum peltatum (Mayapple)

At home! Geraniums on the front stoop

Vegetable garden, planted 5/30

Inspired by Bonnie

2011-05-26T06:24:00.001-05:00

I looked at the pinwheels (see Monday's post) and thought, "How would Bonnie set these?" Here's the work in progress. I want to make three more nine-patches. The sashing and the border will be scrappy (but probably not red).

Design Wall Monday

2011-05-23T05:55:00.001-05:00

These pinwheels are made from 3" squares, stacked in pairs, and stitched as leaders-and-enders. The HSTs are trimmed to 2.5" and sewn together (still leader-and-endering). The blocks are 4.5" (4" finished). This configuration is just a possibility. I may make more pinwheels. I may decide to set them completely differently. Stay tuned!

(There were not many pairs of blue 3" squares in the box...it's not that my stash lacks blues, mind you.)

3" squares have been one of my standard scrap sizes since 1999 when quiltmakers swapped packets of charm squares to make Y2K quilts (2000 different fabrics).

In the garden: May

2011-05-22T14:08:00.000-05:00

Dicentra (bleeding heart) have been a favorite of mine since childhood

Arisaema triphyllum (Jack-in-the-Pulpit): one last year, three this year!

I staked the peonies this year. Watch this space!

By the shores of Gitche Gumee*

2011-05-15T14:22:00.005-05:00

One of the dozens of shoreline photos that I took. I couldn't resist!

"Lake Superior: Culture, History, and Walks in a Spectacular Setting" was the title of last week's Road Scholar trip. We stayed at the historic Naniboujou Lodge outside Grand Marais in northeastern Minnesota.

The weather cooperated: cool, some cloudy days but also some sunshine. It was too early for mosquitoes and blackflies so we could hike through the woods comfortably. Our 27 fellow Road Scholars came from as far away as California, but most from the Twin Cities.

The great hall at Naniboujou

We began each day with Tai Chi Chih exercises (a variation of traditional Tai Chi). We hiked in the woods along the Brule River.

Karl in his "gentleman's" garb

We spent
Wednesday at Grand Portage. The video was taken at the High Falls, the highest waterfall in Minnesota. Grand Portage National Monument is a restored fur trading post. The portage was an 8.5 mile shortcut between Lake Superior and Fort Charlotte.

Over the course of three evenings Karl Koster told us about the fur trade -- the Hudson's Bay Company and the Northwest Company, the voyageurs who were "the long-distance truckers of the era," and the beavers whose pelts were sold as far away as China. Karl is a reenactor par excellence!

The traditional Road Scholar/Elderhostel group photo.

*Longfellow spelled it "gitche gumee" in "The Song of Hiawatha." "Gichigami" is Ojibwe for "Big Water," or Lake Superior.

The Royal Wedding

2011-04-29T08:11:00.001-05:00

I was up at 4:45, in time to watch the Queen's arrival at Westminster Abbey, and then Kate and her father, and then the entire ceremony. It was lovely!

All set!

2011-04-24T09:39:00.001-05:00

I appreciate all the comments about which fabric to use to sash the postage stamp strips. I chose red. It's not the brick red in the photo because I didn't have enough. This red is pinker, less brick-y. I cut the sashes 3". This will be have to be an example of "it will quilt out" because I didn't pay a lot of attention to the bias edges on the strips. (I should have used quarter-square rather than half-square triangles.)
It's 49 x 78. The 1.5" stamps sparkle, don't they?
(See this quilt for another example.)

And, "all set" in a second meaning -- a vintage tablecloth and daffodils from our garden for our Easter table.

Dead Dog Creek Ravine, April

2011-04-23T14:52:00.018-05:00

The Saturday before Easter: finally, the sun has come out and the temperatures are 'seasonal.' Here's the April installment of the woods along Kellogg Ravine.

Virginia bluebells (mertensia virginica)

Scilla--beautfiful, but non-native and aggressive

Trillium

Skunk cabbage in leaf (see last month's photo)

Bloodroot

This oak tree fell about 10:00 a.m. today, according to Lee, whose house is on the edge of the ravine. (He came out as I walked by.) He was drinking coffee on the porch and saw it happen! Fortunately it fell to the ravine side and not on the house.

There's an alligator in the woods!

Happy birthday in advance

2011-04-23T11:47:00.002-05:00

The Block Swappers are exchanging birthday blocks again this year. Each person specifies the block she wants: size, style, color. Ideally the blocks are mailed to arrive by the actual birthday. I've sent two already (one for March and one for early May). This week I thought I'd get a head start on the second May block. I finished it and took a look at the rest of the list.....and by yesterday afternoon I had finished them all, for birthdays from May through next February!

It was great fun to rootle through my stash to find fabrics per the instructions.

Design Wall Monday, again

2011-04-17T21:52:00.001-05:00

(I write this late Sunday evening. If the design wall does not look like this on Monday, then some gremlins have visited my studio overnight.)

Once I opened that box of 1.5" squares I kept on piecing. I've reached a stopping place! These strips are about 54" long and about 4.5" wide. The sashing will be 2" finished. I don't know if I'll add a border.

My question: what color should the sashing be? There are four possibilities shown in the photo.

Thanks for the advice!

Baskets (Birthday) and Jacket (Easter)

2011-04-17T14:39:00.001-05:00

Border, setting, and sashing close up

After I put the basket blocks on the design wall for last week's photo I figured I ought to do something with them. I had chosen the fabric for the sashing and the setting triangles. I changed my mind about the setting fabric when half the sashes were sewn on. I found a blue-green check that would work much better. I hadn't considered the dark red floral, but there it was on the shelf, and there was more than enough for the border. The flimsy is 80 x 64.

There were two basket blocks from the swap that didn't work with the design I had in mind. I will incorporate them on the back of the quilt.

Easter means many things to me -- including a new, springtime outfit! Here is this year's version: a jacket and coordinating skirt. I used the jacket from the Park Bench "Central Park" pattern (which I've had for years but hadn't ever made).

The jacket has three layers, with plain muslin as the interlining. I didn't have enough of the Asian key design to line the sleeves so I used a very contrast-y stripe. The closeup photo shows the meander quilting that holds the layers together.

I had all the fabric for the jacket on hand, but had to buy 1-1/4 yards of solid green (linen/rayon/poly blend) for the skirt.

meander quilting holds the layers together

Design Wall Monday

2011-04-11T18:23:00.000-05:00

Am I on a roll? This is the second Monday in a row that I've had something to post on Judy L's Design Wall Monday

tags on the blocks indicate the makers

The Block Swappers have a birthday block exchange. In 2010 I asked for "10" basket blocks." I made three more so the setting would work. I have a couple of fabrics in mind for the sashing and the setting triangles/border. I think this quilt will be contributed to the 2012 UMW Mother's Day raffle. (This year they're getting 30's Stars )

Loose Change

2011-04-05T06:38:00.001-05:00

I used the leftover strips from the Bears quilt to make "Loose Change." (The name is a play on the quilt design "Chinese coins.") This flimsy is 34 x 46.

HV-MY: together at last!

2011-04-02T19:14:00.003-05:00

We are the first merged chapter in Illinois!

Bears and Packers!

2011-04-02T08:33:00.003-05:00

May 20 update: the Bears quilt sold for $1100 and the Packers quilt sold for $350 at the golf outing!

"Let's capitalize on the Bears/Packers rivalry," said Gary, the chairman of our Rotary Club Golf Outing. We were talking about ways to maximize the proceeds from the auction at the banquet that concludes the event. "Nann, could you make a Bears and Packers quilt?" After more discussion--Mike B. said, "I wouldn't have any Packers stuff in my house!"--I said I'd make two quilts.

I have been on a strict no-buy diet since November. I knew I would have to acquire Bears and Packers prints. What to do? I swapped fabric with another quiltmaker and got two yards of Bears fabric. Alas, no one offered to trade for Packers fabric so I had to go to Joann's and, gasp, buy fabric. (On that trip I got 7-3/8 yards: Packers, plus a yard each of gold, green, orange, and blue.) Fortunately that one trip did not break my will and I went right back to no-buy. Whew.

Here are the results: quilted and bound. The golf outing is May 20 -- so I am 7 weeks ahead of the due date!

The Bears quilt is made from this pattern: Saddle Tramp It's 63 x 72.

The Packers quilt is my own design -- 12" Ohio stars. It's 64 x 76.

Bears block closeup. 9" stars.

Packers block closeup. 12" stars.

Dead Dog Creek Ravine, March

2011-03-27T14:30:00.001-05:00

From the path into the ravine

A sprinkle of snow (from the mid-week storm) on the north-facing slope

A glimmer of green!

Raccoon tracks in the streambed

Skunk cabbage!

Two daisies, one star

2011-03-27T08:58:00.000-05:00

These 13x15 wallhangings will be presented to the Illinois State Chapter officers who have helped P.E.O. Chapters HV and MY with the process of merging. Our formal merger ceremony is Saturday, April 2. (P.E.O.'s flower is the marguerite, or daisy, and the emblem is a gold star.)

Small brag: these were completed and labeled two weeks prior to the day they will be presented!

The pattern is adapted from one in a Better Homes & Gardens book published in the late 1990's. Theirs featured sunflowers.

The Magic of Charm

2011-03-26T07:41:00.001-05:00

Miss Francis's advice is as valid now as it was 50 years ago!

That Certain Something: The Magic of Charm
by Arlene Francis (Messner, 1960)
(excerpted in Peace and Plenty by Sarah Ban Breathnach, 2011)

1. Get up happy.
Every day by some quirk of nature happens to be a new one. If you wreck it at the start, you’ve already set yourself back and may never recover.

2. Get organized.
A great many of us try to plan too much for the day and as a result get completely frustrated when we do not finish what we start out to do. It is better to realistically complete a small number of things than to nibble away at a large number of uncompleted jobs.

3. Make sure you’re well-groomed.
No one can be serene and confident feeling scratchy and ill-clad. Your whole attack on the day is improved by the feeling of well-being that good grooming brings to you. It’s much more than a surface thing, much deeper than fashion. It’s not a question of lace on your bloomers or bows on your bonnets; it’s a question of being well tailored, well buffed, and well-turned.

4. Face the day without fear.
All of us have small nagging fears when we get ready to start the day. Most of them are groundless and the result of anxiety patterns we’ve let ourselves get into over the years. Whether your fears are justified or not, you owe it to yourself to take a deep breath and say to hell with them. As long as you are doing the best you can, you have nothing to fear.

5. Forget past recriminations.
Many of us have vague and ill-defined shadows from the past which rumble through our minds during the day. There are things we meant to do, the things we feel we ought to do. All that these emotional distractions can do for us is to set us back from the jobs at hand and spoil our present accomplishments.

6. Do one thing for someone else as a special surprise.
("Random acts of kindness" decades before that phrase became hackneyed!)

7. Become a Sunday specialist—in just one subject.
Too many of us fail to enjoy the broadening powers of a single, narrow interest in which we can become expert. It doesn’t matter whether it’s gardening, sewing, cooking, collecting Civil War books, buttons, or bottle tops. A hobby or interest requiring your disciplined concentration gets you out of yourself and into a world of activity that will add an extra dimension to your whole outlook.

8. Break down your work into small bits.
No matter how brilliant we are, it is impossible for us to accomplish more than one thing at a time.

9. Do one thing a day to make your home more pleasant.
Your home is the most important part of your life. Unless it is charming and creative, it remains nothing more than a shelter. A gracious atmosphere in your home makes you feel radiant and happy. A dull one pushes you into a depression. Plan to do one small thing a day so that your improvement never stops. A new lamp for the bedroom. A touch of paint on the bathroom cabinets. An experimental recipe for dinner. A few new flowers for your garden or table. The reward for doing this will snowball in direct proportion to the thought you put into it.

10. Wipe out a prejudice a day.
All of us have prejudices that are not only uncharming but often self- destructive. Make a conscious effort to get rid of them. They’ll never do you any good and they’ll surely drag you down.

11. Force yourself to do one thing you’ve embarrassed to do in the past.
We often have to press ourselves to overcome shyness and embarrassment. Perhaps you’ve been meaning to call on the new neighbor, but you felt just a little bit shy about it. Do it in spite of yourself. Things that seem hard to do often dissolve when you do them. Don’t let imaginary barriers fence you in.

12. Read something worthwhile for at least fifteen minutes each day.
Books are the best companions you can have. They are never obtrusive, they never bother you when you don’t want them to, and the good ones enrich each shining hour.

13. Think about someone you dislike—and wish him or her well even if it kills you.
Our own pettiness and hatreds detract from charm much more seriously than we’re inclined to think….To constantly slander those whom you dislike is to eat away at your own spirit.

14. Practice looking at a person directly in the eye and concentrating wholly on what his is saying.
Very few of us are good listeners.

15. Spend five minutes analyzing your guilts and fears and check them for reality.
Most are totally unjustified and are hangovers from the distant past.

16. Clean up one job that you’ve been putting off doing for a long time.
All of us have nagging little chores that we’ve allowed to pile up and are almost afraid to face. Don’t plan to do them all at once; instead, tackle one a day and you’ll be surprised how quickly the pile disappears.

17. Have faith in a power beyond yourself.
Change the things you can change and make the best of those you can’t.

18. Resolve to hold your temper completely for just one day.
You may find this so refreshing that you’ll want to extend it for another day, and another, and another.

19. Practice laughing at your own mistakes.
Try not to defend your mistakes to others. Admit them graciously and apologize for them if the situation demands it. Laugh at them if you can and you won’t have to be afraid of other laughing at you.

20. Practice forgetting yourself completely.
It’s the only way. It’s a must. Begin doing this now.

Dead Dog Creek Ravine, February

2011-02-27T14:06:00.001-06:00

Not much change since the end of January. Most of the snow from the February 2 blizzard has melted.

Postage Stamps (with design notes)

2011-02-27T08:41:00.004-06:00

In quilters' lingo, "postage stamp" is a term often used to describe quilts made from many small squares.

The box of 1.5" squares stayed out after I finished the Crabapples flimsy (see previous post). These are not exactly leaders-and-enders because this was the only project I was working on. I just cranked them out--sew a bunch of pairs (30 or so), press open. Sew the pairs together, press open. Sew the fours together, press open. Sew the eights together, press open. Repeat.

As to how I design: the 1.5" squares pretty much alternate light and dark, but not exclusively. I made a stack of 16-patches and put them up on the design wall. There weren't enough so I made some more until I had 72. I like on-point settings: the diagonal line has energy. Also, on-point settings take up more space than straight settings. (The rule of thumb is 1.5 x the block measurement, so these 4" blocks are 6" on-point.) For the setting squares and triangles I used a yellow print from my stash ("Van Gogh's Dream" by Northcott). It has flecks of pink, red, and brown that keep it from reading as a solid. I didn't have enough of it left for the border. I auditioned several fabrics for and this cinnamon-brown complement the flecked yellow. It was easy to keep sewing twos and fours of 1.5" squares for the checkerboard inner border.

The flimsy measures 58 x 65 and uses 1,460 "postage stamps."

How do you like these apples?

2011-02-17T15:11:00.001-06:00

I finished piecing "Crabapples" last evening. I was mildly surprised that the borders came out evenly! It's 70 x 70.

The power of a library card

2011-02-12T08:04:00.003-06:00

Lisa Scottoline writes terrific mystery novels. They are set in her hometown of Philadelphia and feature a group of women attorneys who, in the course of the stories, find out that they are tougher and more resourceful than they thought they were.

Lisa also writes essays that are her observations on her life and her family. The essays are published in the Philadelphia Inquirer.  Fortunately for those of us who are not regular readers of the PI, the essays have been compiled in two books.

I've just finished the second, My Nest Isn't Empty, It Just Has More Closet Space. Along with stories about her five dogs and two cats, and her 86-year-old mother, and with contributions by her 24-year-old daughter Francesca, Lisa writes about libraries.

She remembers her childhood visits to the library.  She recalls that she figured out what the "best" books were by looking at the checkout cards. Those that had been checked out the most must be the best to read.   What stuck with her -- and struck a chord with me -- was the library card itself:

It was the first piece of grown-up ID that I got, and it felt like a veritable ticket to adulthood.....It was small, stiff, and orange, and it bore my name in full.   Next to my name was a metal plate embossed with four numbers. I used to go home and press my finger against the numbers on the metal plate, which were freshly inked from my library trip.

Believe it or not, my numbers were 3937. How do I remember that, when I can't remember where I put my car keys? Simple.

Any memory lasts when it's linked with an emotion, and the library card meant the world to me. Its message was clear: I read, therefore I matter.

It gave me a identity as a reader. It told me that others valued what I valued....It's a powerful message, one that I got loud and clear. And it's a message that librarians and libraries give every day, without knowing it, to children and to adults everywhere around the world.

Thank you, Lisa!

Work in progress

2011-02-08T05:24:00.000-06:00

It feels so good to have a new quilt underway! This pattern is "Crabapples" from Bonnie's second book, "Adventures with Leaders and Enders."

The 1.5" squares box

Paper pieced trees

Seven out of 25!

Blizzard: the next day

2011-02-02T15:08:00.002-06:00

Shows the snowfall totals. About 21" here in the Harbor.

The driveway (from the open garage door), 8 a.m.

Roof drift!

Inside the garage (door is on the east side).

Our new mailbox!

Blizzard!

2011-02-01T17:45:00.000-06:00

I'm glad I am not trying to fly (or drive) into or out of northeastern Illinois today. The library closed at 5 p.m. Tomorrow is a snow day, which means a sew day for me!

BOB, v. 2011

2011-01-30T15:50:00.000-06:00

The Sew Many Swaps Yahoo Group has an annual "bag of blocks" swap. Each participant rounds up blocks that she hasn't gotten around to setting. She sends them to the coordinator who sends them to another participant. That person sets the blocks and returns them to the first person. I got L.S.'s blocks: 20 12" sampler blocks in bright-and-black. I used 18 of them to create this top, which measures 73 x 90. I didn't want to accentuate the black by using black setting fabric. The motifs in the border/sashing fabric are outlined in black.

Here is what K.E. created from the 9-patch hearts that I sent. It's about 61 x 72. These blocks came from a Block Swappers' exchange. I really like the border!

Dead Dog Creek Ravine, January

2011-01-29T14:26:00.002-06:00

The pictures were taken at 2 p.m. when the sun was behind the clouds. After I climbed up the hill out of the ravine the sun came out again.

Hawthorn Mellody memories

2011-01-16T09:46:00.005-06:00

Friday afternoon as I was en route to the AAUW-IL board meeting in Bloomington I stopped at an antiques mall in Braidwood, at the southwest corner of Will County. Here's what I bought. This milk box would mean little to anyone not from Lake or northern Cook County. It brought back many memories for me.

Hawthorn Mellody Farm "This was a unique experience for families and school children who lived a city-dominated life. Hawthorn Mellody Farm became a destination for the “baby boom” families to come to have fun and get out of the city. Tours ended with the families enjoying a glass of milk or ice cream. It was Cuneo’s opportunity to influence the family’s purchase of the Hawthorn Mellody brand milk . Cuneo was a master promoter. In 1951 Cuneo added a children’s zoo to the farm and in 1955 added a Wild West town. There was also a small-scale train ride and wagon rides. There were tours of poultry, hog and horse barns. It was simple fun, but the 1950’s were a simple time, and the farm just fit right in. ....The depiction of a modern dairy was an accurate portrayal to the public. The dairy was a state of the art facility, that was copied by other leading dairies in the years to come ....The Hawthorn Mellody brand was well known and sold in stores until the early 1990’s."

We loved the zoo! There was a pair of bison named Penny and Nickel. I remember the false fronts of the Wild West town. And I remember the milking parlor. (However, our milk came from Sun Valley Dairy, not Hawthorn Mellody.)

Years and years later: the farm is now Westfield Hawthorn Shopping Mall. The Cuneo mansion is a museum and special-events venue.

Oh, yes--the milk box will be put to use to store bird seed.

RRCB up to date!

2011-01-02T22:19:00.000-06:00

Here 'tis: steps 1-7.

I should have "proof-read" the blocks before I sewed them. There are three strips of triangles placed the wrong way. I'm not sure if that will bother me sufficiently to go to the effort of ripping them out.

Final piecing for 2010, and the Annual Reckoning

2011-01-01T00:12:00.006-06:00

I opened the orphan blocks box last evening (that is, Thursday evening--by the time this post gets published it will be after midnight) and found 48 nine-patch blocks made from 2" squares of bright prints. I put them on the design wall and pondered how to set them. Eureka! The funky "save the planet" fabric was a thrift-shop purchase a couple of years ago. I had just enough for the setting squares and the border. A nice way to end the quilting year!

(Well, truth to tell, I'm working hard on Step 7 in Roll Roll Cotton Boll, the mystery quilt, but I'm not finished yet.)

And, now: the Annual Reckoning.

Every year since 1998 I've tracked how many yards of fabric I have used and acquired. Since 2004 I've tracked how much I've spent on fabric. My rules are my own: "used" means sewn into something or given away or sold. "Acquired" usually but not always includes gifts as well as purchases. I don't keep track of what I spend on notions, patterns, subscriptions, or books.

In 2010 I used 481 yards and acquired 743 yards--a ratio of 65%. I spent $1511, or $2.03/yd. That's more than last year. The 13-year average is 275 used; 629 bought; $1948 spent.

Highlights: I spent $140 at an estate sale and got 372 yards. I bought about $5 worth of tickets at the NLCQG raffle and got 60+ yards. I sold 121 yards and many patterns and books through ads in "Quilter's Flea Market" and "Fling-It-All."

**I finished 21 quilts.. Of them: 3 were professionally quilted, 2 were commissioned, and
1 was sold. I donated quilts to several community fundraisers.
**I created 4 flimsies (unquilted tops) -- just 4? That was a pleasant surprise!
**I made 9 draft stoppers, 67 Christmas ornaments, 73 Care Bags, 2 jackets, 1 skirt, and 2 pairs of pants.

It was a productive year! And I hope that 2011 will be as well.

Batiks are beautiful

2010-12-30T09:38:00.000-06:00

Last evening I finished "Friendship's Ribbons," a comfort quilt for a colleague. The batik "ribbon star" blocks were contributed by other librarians. It is 47 x 53.

Signature squares pieced into the quilt back

When I pulled out batik fabrics for the blocks that I made I found a stack of 6" 9-patch blocks. I put them up on the design wall and they became this 40 x 52 quilt, which is finished (including both horizontal and vertical hanging sleeves).

RCTQ Christmas memories

2010-12-29T10:27:00.001-06:00

Look what I found when I repacked the "Christmas gift wrap and package trims" box this morning.

I received these from an exchange by members of RCTQ (the Usenet newsgroup rec.crafts.textiles.quilting, now a Google group) in 1999. [Straw stars: Elke Painke; angel: Karen Hood; beaded snowflake: Judy Fearn; snowman: Donna Crompton; tree: Ally Fiddy; heart: Judy Christensen; holly: Stephanie Scales; Santa: Gen Henderson.] I have no recollection what I contributed!

Dead Dog Creek Ravine, December

2010-12-29T09:32:00.002-06:00

Here's the monthly ravine photo, taken about 2 p.m. on Tuesday. We had a light, gentle snowfall on Saturday night/Sunday morning (December 25/26) -- about 8". (By comparison: see this post.)

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-25T08:48:00.000-06:00

RRCB: a mystery indeed

2010-12-23T09:17:00.002-06:00

How will all of these units fit into one quilt? Bonnie Hunter is the only one who knows!
I have managed to keep up with the weekly clues for Bonnie's "Roll Roll Cotton Boll" mystery--the most recent of which involved *600* half-square triangles.

It started easily enough....

Matched pairs...pinwheels, perhaps?

60-string-pieced squares in "light neutrals"

Squares are simple!

600 half-square triangles! Not hard, but oh-so-fiddly.

Dead Dog Creek Ravine, November

2010-11-28T19:40:00.003-06:00

I posted last month that I'd like to document Dead Dog Creek Ravine each month of the year. Here are photos that I took this afternoon, just four weeks later.

Christmas Crafting

2010-11-28T09:54:00.001-06:00

The cottage-building boom (see this post) didn't end with the 84 blocks made for the library and AAUW raffle quilts. I made the "scrappy house" block in a smaller version (60 of them, to be precise) for Christmas ornaments for the library staff and trustees.

The ornaments are 5" square. They have batting but they're not quilted.

I made nine draft-stoppers for this year's crafted gifts. They measure 32" x 6", with a 3.5" base. The blocks are string-pieced, 6.5" unfinished. The draft-stoppers are weighted with cardboard tubes filled with kitty litter. (The tubes are from rolled gift wrap, $2.99 each at T.J. Maxx and Marshalls--a better buy than mailing tubes from the office-supply store ($4.95 each).) Stuffing them used up the remains of a once-ginormous bag of polyester fiberfill that I bought at BoSal foam in Scarborough, Maine, in the early 1990's, in the days when I made needlepoint pillows.

I used a different Christmas fabric for each one.

And I have some left over blocks to play with!

Daisies in November

2010-11-28T09:21:00.003-06:00

Some purchases are irresistible.
These Mikasa dessert plates were $2.00 at the Salvation Army store.

And the winning word....

2010-11-05T06:04:00.001-05:00

Last evening was the 5th Annual Community Spelling Bee to benefit CREW.

The trophy comes back to ZBPL.

There were 18 three-person teams to start. At the end it was ZBPL and Zion Park District. In the 10th round we got "malapropos." They got "energumenen." No one had heard of that one! (It means "possessed by a demon.")

And ZBPL won the prize for the best cheering squad!

The fans were the planners' idea.

Nervous? Not us!

Dead Dog Creek Ravine, end of October

2010-10-31T13:06:00.003-05:00

Dead Dog Creek Ravine is at the end of our block. It's beautiful at any time of year. Yesterday was the first time I'd remembered to take my camera. (New resolution: I will try to do so each month to record seasonal changes.)

Entry to the ravine from our street

The creek

Harvest

2010-10-30T14:35:00.003-05:00

As I mentioned earlier, this summer we had a vegetable garden. It was the first since we've been in this house (2003). Because I planted it late I just grabbed seed packets at the nursery so we had nice string beans and snow peas, TREMENDOUS cucumbers, and slow-growing carrots. The basil, sage, and mint (all from setting plants) were lush. There were four different kinds of tomatoes, planted WAY too close, but oh, so abundant! Delicious in salads and out-of-hand. The freezer is stocked with tomato sauce and many packets of pesto.

The first frost was a couple of days ago, so Stevens pulled out the tomato vines and dug up the carrots. I made a green tomato pie yesterday and there's a green tomato cake in the oven now.

A bounty of green tomatoes!

There were a few almost-red tomatoes left. The basil had been nipped by the cold.

Slow-growing but soooo sweet.

And next summer? We're going to enlarge the garden plot!

Another finish Nine Patch and Blue

2010-10-26T06:39:00.002-05:00

It's funny how a quilt with no destination and no deadline can come together quickly and without angst. That's the case with "Nine Patch and Blue," which I began a week ago (October 17) and finished last evening.

Most of the 272 mini 9-patches (3" finished) came from the occasional exchanges of the online Block Swappers. The fabric for the setting, border, and back came from my stash. The back is a vintage cheater pattern from the late 60's/early 70's-- 36" wide -- made by VIP, I think. I did simple straight-line quilting. The quilt is 88 x 88.