Weekly update: bingo finish

 

It's been unusually warm this fall.  We haven't had a freeze yet, let alone a frost.  (I just looked up the definitions:   A frost is when ice crystals form on the outside of your plant. Frost can occur when the temperature is above 32F.....It’s a short event (usually happens right around dawn). A light frost happens when the ground is still warm enough to give off heat. A hard frost (also known as a killing frost) can occur when the ground temperature drops below 32F. A freeze, on the other hand, occurs when the temperature drops below 32F, causing water particles inside the plant to freeze. A freeze can happen without a frost, it usually lasts longer than a frost, and it is almost always more damaging.)

This is a bellflower (campanula) back in bloom. The flowers are on the lower end of the stem. The upper 2/3 of the stem were blossoms-gone-to-seed. (Photo taken at Van Patten Woods on Saturday.)

No leaves, just golden fruit (crabapples?) on this tree at Greenbelt on Sunday.

Apparently the warehouse where many growers' amaryllis bulbs were stored was too warm. I went to Lowe's, Home Depot, and Ace Hardware to buy bulb kits to give as Christmas gifts. They're all sprouted. Either I give them for Thanksgiving or I come up with something else.

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Exploring EQ 8 was the guild's monthly skill-building workshop on Saturday. I've had Electric Quilt since version 4 ($50 from a friend who had an unopened package) and bought each upgrade, but I had barely scratched the surface of its capabilities. I learned so much in two hours! Back home I solved a design conundrum in five minutes and a few clicks.

But that's for the next project.

I spent sewing time finishing the Bingo Board quilt. Ta-da!

I used purple thread and the serpentine stitch in horizonal rows. The back is from Barb M's estate sale. The multicolor binding uses the colors in the blocks.

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

P.S.  We saw Thelma at our church's monthly movie night.  (It's also streaming on Amazon Prime.)   Fun! Stevens enjoyed it, too.   Lead actor June Squibb is just 95 years old.    

Friday check in: bingo board flimsy

 

At the July guild meeting we played quilter's bingo.  We made bingo boards from fabric -- "yellow stripe," "green batik," "purple floral," etc.  The boards were bordered in black or white.  The charity chairman designed easy patterns and added fabric to create kits for donation quilts.   I took two of the kits at the November meeting.  

I trimmed the black-bordered bingo board blocks (say that three times fast)  in one kit to 14"  and added snowball corners (2" squares).   I found a yard-plus of Kona black in my stash (2010 purchase per the note), more than enough for the borders.

I have a completely different idea in mind for the remaining blocks.  It's still evolving. Come back on Monday! 

Linking up with Finished or Not Friday

Midweek: a finish

 It's been a quiet week so far.  Perhaps I'm simmering down after the disappointment of the election results, resigned to the announcements about the change in government and all the analyses of what happened.   

 S had dentist appointments Monday and Tuesday which went well (whew).  Last evening my P.E.O. chapter met by Zoom.  The program was given by a church choir director (a chapter sister is in that choir) who is also a middle school music teacher. She talked about requiems, the funeral masses set to music.   I had no idea there was so much to learn!   Mozart's Requiem is perhaps the most famous but other composers (Verdi, Brahms among them) wrote them, too.   One of the clips she showed was  this explanation of Dies Irae (day of wrath): four notes that you'll recognize! 

I've spent time in the studio and have a finish to show off.   Our guild holiday exchange is a gift box that is to include a seasonal runner that we've made and additional little presents. 

On Monday I wrote that had run out of background fabric for my version of Starstruck and I was contemplating another plan.  The first "other plan" was to set the blocks on point with a contrast fabric for the setting triangles -- but these blocks are 13" so on point the runner would be 20 x 60 -- pretty big!   I searched the Christmas stash again and found this stripe. It picks up all the colors in the blocks as well as the polka dots.  

There is NOTHING on the calendar today.  What kind of mischief can I make?  What can I catch up on?  

Looks as though the next project has leaped onto the table.

Linking up with Wednesday Wait Loss Midweek Makers

Weekly update: a finish and a start

 

Saturday afternoon I walked along this path.  It's part of a bike route that goes through Illinois Beach State Park and then connects with Zion parks and the forest preserves.  

When Zion City was begun in 1901 the prospective residents took the train up from Chicago.   A tower near the train station allowed them to climb up and spot their house lots.  These chunks of concrete are the remaining footings for the tower.  

  

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In the studio:   the homespun half-logs quilt is finished! 

 The back uses an Alexander Henry print from Barb M's garage sale.  It's nostalgic for me.  

When I began quilting in the early 1990's I bought a fat quarter of this print.  I wasn't sure how to use it--it was a few years until I discovered the joy of scrappiness--but I eventually used it all.   

I made the fourth block for the guild BOM.  It's at the bottom with the other months above. 

I need to make a Christmas-themed table runner for an exchange at the guild holiday party next month.  The blocks are  Vicki's Starstruck -- tutorial here .

Uh-oh.  Vicki's design calls for using the  background fabric for sashing between the blocks and for the border.  All I have left are the scraps to the upper left of the blocks.   Yes, I found the fabric online but I'd so like to use what I have!   I'm contemplating a plan B.   Come back to find out what I decide.

Linking up with Oh Scrap! and  Design Wall Monday 

P.S. I have a big stack of library books checked out.  I hope I'll have some time to dig into a couple of them this week.

Friday check in: under the needle, and round robin revealed

 

After a couple of rainy days the sun has come out again so we've enjoyed afternoon outings to the forest preserves:  Indepdendence Grove on Thursday and Waukegan Savanna on Friday.  

At the guild meeting on Wednesday we heard from the founder and director of The Penny's Purpose, an agency that collects and distributes blankets, comforters, and quilts to anyone in the area. (Kids in crisis, nursing homes, homeless shelters....anyone.)    This will be a great way to donate locally.  

We also had the reveal for the 2024 round robin!  There was so much interest that there were two groups of six participants.  I wasn't able to get pictures of all of them.  Those in my group are: upper left, center left, center right, and lower left.  

And here is mine!  

2018 photo. There was a lot more of me then!

My starter block was a leftover from Bohemian Wheels.

I challenged the round robin group to cut the block up.  I asked them to make it rectangular and to go scrappy.   They did!   This will be a fine donation quilt.  

I'm back at the sewing machine. The homespun half-log cabin is under the needle now.  Hope to have a finished quilt for Monday's post.

Linking up with Finished or Not Friday  

P.S. Enjoying the sunshine at Independence Grove.  

Midweek check in: devastating results

 I am totally bummed and extremely apprehensive after yesterday's election.    

Weekly update: quilt show

We went to the Chicago Botanic Garden Sunday morning to see  the  Fine Art of Fiber.  It's an annual collaboration of Illinois Quilters, Inc., North Suburban Needlearts Guild, and the Weaver's Guild of the North Shore.  

I have artists' statements for most of these if you'd like to know more.  

The theme for this year's Explorations in Fiber was "Inspiration."  Here are some of the selections. 

We went into one of the greenhouses.  Upper right:  cacao pods.

Outside:  roses are still in bloom. 

Work crews were setting up for Lightscape, the holiday light show that opens November 15.  

Even though there's nothing on my design wall, I'm linking up with  Design Wall Monday!

Weekly update: lots going on but not sewing!

The Zion Woman's Club held its annual ladies' night bunco party Friday evening.  64 women (some girls, too) came out to play.   Most of them were first-timers though there were some who come every year.  Great fun was had by all! 

The Moose Lodge gives us a great deal on the room--$100.  The other benefit is that their bar/restaurant are open so those who want an alcoholic drink can purchase at the bar and bring it upstairs.  

My friend Suzanne won the 50/50 cash raffle ($173 to her, $173 to the club).  My P.E.O. friend Evie won the quilt that I donated.  My Rotary friend Harriet got the runner-up prize for lowest bunco score.  

I counted all the money at home (the treasurer is out of town) -- gross income is $1853.  We will net about $1400.  Hooray!  

The Lake County Women's Coalition steering committee meeting met Saturday morning.  It was productive but long.  And I have homework to do. (I'm secretary and I volunteered to work on a bylaws amendment.)    When I got home from the meeting Stevens was ready to go out.  After I picked up a book at the library I spotted a sign for an estate sale and had to stop.   A group of related people (60-ish; siblings/in-laws/cousins) were running the show. The woman on basement duty explained that their great-grandparents were original Zion residents.  Their grandparents (he was mayor of Zion) and then their Aunt Janet had lived in the house for many years and passed away a couple of months ago.  

No, there wasn't any fabric, but there were textiles!  I made a stack.  I said that I only had a $20 bill (I spent cash at Bunco).  He said that was fine with him.  

Upper left:  never-used pillowcases.  Upper right: never-used napkins.  Center:  a big embroidered tablecloth. I think it's a tablecloth -- from India?  Also never used.  Lower right:  a nice group of vintage screen-print tablecloths that appear to be unstained.  Lower left: three never used linen placemat sets, still in gift boxes.

And speaking of gift boxes:  these three from area stores.   I shared the Fields of Zion photo with a local FB group and sparked a lot of memories.   A Waukegan friend remembers going to Jack's.  I recall that my Brownie uniform came from Garnett's in Highland Park.

A closeup of the packaging of a pair of pillowcases.  Note the guarantee and the notice to "sales personnel ONLY." 

 

 Saturday evening was the Lake County Symphony Orchestra's annual gala.  We sat with our friends Marilyn and Mike.   The dinner was delicious and the music was wonderful. 

I donated Blue Windows to the silent auction. I didn't follow the bidding. 


Sunday was taken up by the Fine Art of Fiber quilt show -- that's enough for its own post.    

I'll skip to Sunday afternoon.   The Lake County Community Concert Association presented Ludy and His Lady.  They cover Vegas favorites like Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Elvis.   Unfortunately the acoustics in the venue--a church sanctuary--were mushy.  (And we were tired!) 

So, as I write this Sunday evening, we are upstairs watching TV (Elspeth which is delightful!). Still no sewing.  We will sleep well tonight.

Next post:  the Fine Art of Fiber show. 
 

Friday check in: stash report and OMG November

 

 Rabbit, rabbit! 

Welcome to November. As I write the sun is shining and it's about 20 degrees cooler than earlier in the week.   

It was windy as I walked in  Lyons Woods (Wednesday) and  Capt. Daniel Wright Woods (Thursday)  

Fall fungus.    

Golden catalpa in a clearing in the woods.  

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Stash report, October:

Fabric in:  86-1/2 yards, $186.50. average $2.15 per yard. Most of that was from Barb M's estate sale.   Fabric out:  a paltry 33-1/4 yards.  

YTD fabric in: 1446-1/2 yards, $2959.50, average $2.04 per yard.

YTD fabric out:  778-2/4 yards.

The half-log cabin blocks are finished but they won't count as "fabric used" until I assemble them. 

One Monthly Goal for November:   (1) quilt two flimsies, (2) sew blocks, maybe flimsies, using a different genre from homespun, (3) pull fabric for Old Town, the 2024 Quiltville mystery.  (Coral and turquoise and red and neutral -- love the colorway.)

Linking up with OMG 2024  Finished or Not Friday  

 

Midweek: OMG for October

 

I crossed paths with a praying mantis at Illinois Beach State Park yesterday.   I tried to get a head-on photo but it moved too quickly.

We have one more warm day (80's!) and tomorrow it will be in the 60's, falling to the low 50's for trick or treating.

The squirrels decided to carve our pumpkin.  Ooooh noooo, Mr. Bill!  

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Last evening's P.E.O. Zoom meeting included a very interesting program.

The speaker was my friend-since-junior high Pam. She was an associate editor for Science  the journal of the American Assn. for the Advancement of Science, for 34 years.  She told us what is involved in accepting papers out of the  15,000 submissions a year.  Her subject area is neurobiology (she has a PhD.) and she traveled to many professional conferences around the world to stay abreast of the research.  Her job included arranging for peer review, sometimes a challenge in competitive niches.  Technology changed over the years from mailed submissions in manila envelopes to email (the extensive documentation overloaded the servers) to more efficient platforms.    

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In the studio:  it's time to recap the One Monthly Goal for October.  I said I'd spend the month piecing on Sweetness, my Singer 301, while Jolly Janome was in the shop for a tuneup. 

I made a scrappy half log cabin quilt 20 years ago or so.  I came across three of Sharyn Craig's HLC books and realized the block would be great in homespuns.  I'm using 2" strips so the blocks are 7.5" unfinished. 

Can you see what's in the backgroun of the photo on the left?  We picked up the Janome yesterday.  And I did NOT buy any fabric at the shop.  

I'll use Sweetness to get the HLC blocks to the flimsy stage.

Here's a collage of the four homespun flimsies I made this month. 

Linking up with OMG 2024 October  Wednesday Wait Loss Midweek Makers