Weekly update: catching up on this and that

Catching up with a longtime friend:   Leslye and I have known one another since junior high.   We reconnected a few years ago and have had the best intentions to get together -- we live about 25 miles apart.  Last week she emailed and wrote, "Let's do it!" and we did.   We had lunch at a restaurant here in Zion.  Such a delightful time and yes, we will do it again.  Soon.  

Catching up with walking.  Since the caregiver was with Stevens I took advantage of the time and the lovely day to take a quick walk at Spring Bluff Forest Preserve just east of home.  (The Taos shoes you see in the photo were perfectly comfortable for 1-1/2 miles on a fine-gravel path.)    

Photo:  pussy willows at Spring Bluff.

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Catching up    with the guild mystery.  24 dark blocks and 12 light blocks.  The designer warned that the next clue will be more complex.

Catching up on RSC yellow.  I'm up to 11 yellow and white/black Ohio Stars.  9 to go.

Catching up on placemats.  

These three are made with the leftover triangles of Transport, the topalong pattern for March. 

These twelve are made with the pinwheels that I made from the left over HSTs from Amelia, the topalong pattern for January.

(I made two placemats with leftovers from Lantern, the February topalaong pattern, right after I finished the top.) 

This week I will catch up (and finish!) two non-quilting presentations that I'm giving on March 27.   

This is the kitchen counter cutting station with green strips cut for a new project and a pile of scraps destined for the scrapbox (which is in the downstairs studio).

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

Midweek: mystery belatedly begun, placemats + reading

 

Almost-full moon at 5:30 this morning.  Didn't we just have a full moon? The days and nights fly by.

I thought I'd signed up for the guild's 2025 mystery quilt-along in January but it turned out that I hadn't.  I rectified the omission by paying the $10 fee at the meeting last week.  Five weeks' clues dropped into my email box. 

The pattern requires 3-1/2 yards of background (tone-on-tone recommended) and either a jelly roll or 40 2-1/2" strips.  I had a 4-yard piece in lavender (estate sale purchase $5) for the background.  I don't have any jelly rolls so I cut strips from my stash.  The colorway probably looks familiar from my recent Transport and Mosaic Sparkler flimsies--I hadn't gotten around to putting all of those away.

The first of the first 12 blocks is at the lower left.

Look what arrived on Monday.   QuiltDiva Julie sent four placemats for my project.  

Thank you!   

I'm making more placemats, too.  These are the cutaways from Transport and Amelia (the January top-along).  

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In 1936 Charlotte Cross was in Egypt on an archaeological dig. She discovered a trove linked to the only female pharoah, Hathorkare (=Hapshetsut).   Her expedition cut short by personal tragedy, she returned home to New York and her work as a curator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. 

She never abandoned her research on the queen.  In 1978 while assisting with mounting the King Tut exhibit she discovers that one of the pieces  is the necklace she found in Hathorkare's tomb all those years before.  She is determined to discover who has had it for four decades.   

Enter Annie Jenkins, a nineteen-year-old who inadvertently becomes Charlotte's assistant.  Together the two women unravel long-held secrets.

Davis has hit on a good formula:  take an iconic Manhattan building and use it as the setting for two interconnected stories, one long ago and another sort-of-nowadays.   Though there wasn't as much about the Met as an institution or structure, the tale is a good one.

Linking up with Wednesday Wait Loss  -- and thanks for the shout out, Jennifer. 

Weekly update: signs of spring, quilting accomplishments + reading

 

I set all the clocks ahead just after dinner Saturday. I've finally figured out how to do the clocks in both cars correctly the first try.  

Two beautiful days this weekend got us out for a walk at the state park and a nearby forest preserve.  

The dogwood is really red.   

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 This is my version of Transport, the Running Doe top-along pattern for March.  

A closeup of the gray-with-dots background.

I made eight 9-patch blocks in yellow for the March Rainbow Scrap Challenge.   I have a pattern that will use eight 9ps in each color.

I made four yellow Ohio Star blocks and have pieces cut for more. 

  

Our library is having an art contest this spring with divisions for K-12 students and adults.  Any medium is acceptable.  Entries are due March 19.  Here's mine!   24" square. 

It's the necktie project I alluded to on Friday.  I made a similar version with blue ties for the MQG mini swap last year.  Because of that I  had a fair number of the strips already pieced.  

I used the serpentine stitch to quilt in the center of each round. The backing is regular quilting cotton.   

The winners will be announced April 23.  

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In early 2022 I read and reviewed Crooked Heart by Lissa Evans.   I learned that Evans had written a prequel, Old Baggage,  and a sequel, V for Victory.   I checked them both out and liked them just as much as Crooked Heart.  I recommend reading them in publication order (Crooked, Old, Vee) to fully appreciate the character development. 

 

Old Baggage tells the backstory of the indomitable Mattie, a passionate suffragist who is determined to make the world (1920's London) a better place for girls.  She creates a club called the Amazons to help girls become confident and self-reliant.  She is so convinced that she is right that her heartfelt efforts cloud her judgment.  She makes an ethical error that destroys the Amazons' reputation but, being Mattie, she comes out of that episode triumphant.

~~~~~~~

In the fall of 1944 everyone in London is heartily tired of the war, confident that the Allies will win but not knowing exactly when.   Noel and Vee, the heroes of Crooked Heart, live in his great-aunt Mattie's house.  They've taken in boarders to help pay the bills.   Noel is now a teenager. His eclectic education, begun by Mattie, continues under the tutelage of the boarders (a doctor and a journalist among them).    Meanwhile Vee continues her well-intended schemes.  Characters from the past come into the picture. 

Family secrets alluded to in Crooked Heart and developed in Old Baggage are revealed in V for Victory.  And, in the end, there is victory for Noel (oh, and for the world as well).  Wonderful!!

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

Friday check in: not the ideal way to bust stash + something new

 

It rained Tuesday night. When I went downstairs Wednesday morning to do laundry I found puddles on the basement floor.  The culprit was a detached downspout extender.  Did I forget to check it after the landscapers did the fall cleanup, or did it fall off sometime afterward?  In any event it took two wet-vac tubs full to get all the water.   The 1-1/2" and 2" strip bins under the cutting table got wet.  The bins themselves are made out of nylon or polyester and they dried fine.  I contemplated putting the strips in pillowcases and putting them in the dryer but then I'd have to iron them -- so I just pitched them, straight into the trash.   But I weighed them first--12 lbs so 48 yards in the "fabric out" column for the month.   That was the only loss and things are dried out now.  (And the downspout extender is reattached!)  

 Moda fabric designer Deb Strain was the guest speaker at the guild meeting on Wednesday.  It was really interesting to meet her and learn about the way she creates.  She began as an art teacher.  She created a line of greeting cards featuring whimsical dolls and rented a booth at Quilt Market to sell the cards.  Moda executives discovered her and -- 28 years later -- she's still designing for them.  

She was so lively it was hard to get a good photo -- there she is with one of her non-fabric lines.   The sketch in the lower right shows a panel in progress.  Its full-color version is at the upper left.   

Here is the entire panel in cloth. 

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I was able to steal a few moments to sew downstairs -- here's the new project underway.  It involves neckties.....

Linking up at Finished or Not Friday

 

Midweek: my day at the hop!

 

I'm delighted to be among the participants in this week's Dust Off a Quilt Book Blog Hop sponsored by Bea (BeaQuilter).

I have MANY quilt books.   In the 1990's when I began quilting seriously I was purposely very frugal and checked out quilting books from the library.  If I paid full price for a book (quilting or otherwise) I thought about it long and hard.  But, as a librarian, I could also buy books at the library discount (40%) and I did!   

Now the bookselling market is all over the place. I've shopped publishers' warehouse sales, library book sales, Alibris, and other used book sites.  I've gotten a lot of books from the guild giveaway table and at estate sales.   The common factor is "never pay list price." 

My favorite publisher is (was) That Patchwork Place / Martingale.  I got a dozen or so books from their warehouse sale way back in 1994 and I still have them. The one I've used the most is Judy Hopkins' Around the Block, the first of her three block compilations.  Those that I've perused the most are the Judy Hopkins/Nancy Martin collaborations. 

(These are all TPP and Martingale. Since I took this photo (1/2023 when Martingale announced it was closing) I've deacquisitioned a few.)

BUT the purpose of this blog hop is not to reminisce but to choose ONE book and make something from one of the designs/patterns.

I settled on Shortcuts to the Top by Donna Lynn Thomas, published in 1994.   

I don't have a photo of the first quilt I made from it--double four-patch.  I used her instructions to make a Birds in the Air quilt for my father in 2000.  (Somewhere I have a picture of Dad with the quilt but I can't find it right now.)     

Twenty-five years ago!

 I chose Mosaic Sparkler as my hop entry.

I've been quilting so long that I usually suss out a pattern by eyeballing it -- then I read the instructions to see if there's something I should pay attention to. 

 I could have chosen any colorway but I like this one and I have a lot of fabric in both colors.     In this case the instructions call for 3/8 yd. each of 12 teals, 8 FQs of violet, and 12 FQ of light prints.     I cut from yardage and the FQ-and-chunks bins.        

 The big technique in all That Patchwork Place books at that time was the "bias square" method of making triangles.  I tried it then and disliked it.  Fussy and wasteful.  My preferred method is to cut large and trim down and I've got that down pat.

 

But I thought for old time's sake I'd give the bias squares a try.

Nope. Still not for me. 

Back to cutting large and trimming down!    

Once all the HSTs were made and the quarter blocks assembled the 24 blocks went together easily.  

Linking up with  Wednesday Wait Lossand  BeaQuilter

Thanks for visiting during the blog hop!

Weekly update: an event-filled weekend, stash report, and OMG for March

 The Lake County Women's Coalition held the annual Women's History Month luncheon on Saturday.  Each year the member organizations are invited to nominate a woman who exemplifies the national WHM theme.  We recognize the winners of the scholarships we award through the College of Lake County.  (I'm LCWC secretary and the rep for the Zion Woman's Club.  AAUW-Waukegan is also part of LCWC.)  

ZWC's honoree Jeanne' is the media specialist for Beach Park Dist. 6.  (Her mom is my quilting friend Irene, and Irene and her other daughter joined us.) Jeanne' does a whole lot more, including coaching the nationally-ranked Destination Imagination Team.   AAUW's honoree Ann is a retired middle school science teacher who has led award-winning science fair teams.

Eleanor Roosevelt was the guest speaker. She spoke to us from her home at Val-Kill as she was debating whether to accept Pres. Truman's appointment to the United Nations.  As she pondered we learned a lot about her life experiences from a shy orphan to a confident leader and humanitarian.  (Portrayer Leslie Goddard researches each character thoroughly.) 

And my friend Steffi was the high bidder for the quilt that I donated.  

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Sunday afternoon the AAUW Exploring Culture group enjoyed a matinee performance of "for colored girls who have considered suicide when the rainbow is enuf" by Ntozake Shange at the College of Lake County.   The play dramatizes twenty-three of Shange's poems.  Very powerful! 

Our caregiver V looked after Stevens while I was away.  All went well.

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In the studio:   one more placemat finished and another ready to baste.

The SAHRR with its out-of-shape borders remains on the design wall.

Stash report:  

February fabric IN:  76 yards, no cost (a destash gift).  February fabric OUT: 82-1/2 (that includes 2-1/8 lbs of trimmings and a box sent to another quilter).                    YTD fabric IN:  164-3/4 yards.  Total cost $58.00. That's .35 (thirty-five cents) per yard.                                 YTD fabric OUT:  188 yards.   Net: 23 yards used!

My multi-part OMG for March includes

*   Transport, the Running Doe top-along                         * correcting the borders for the SAHRR       * getting the Dust Off a Book project to the flimsy stage.   

The blog hop begins tomorrow!  I'll be featured on Wednesday.  

March 3  Karrin’s Crazy World   Textile Ranger  

 March 4   Alyciaquilts  KathleenMcMusing

March 5  MooseStashQuilting  WithStringsAttached   citymouse quilter

 March 6  NettieSews   Beaquilter

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

Friday check in: best in show but some editing required

 The annual GFWC-IL Tenth District Art Show was Wednesday.   They have used the same categories for years ranging from painting (subcategories by medium) to floral arranging to holiday decor, sculpture, paper crafts, photography, knitting/crochet -- and "wall hanging" and "embroidery, quilting, tatting."  Categories are subject to interpretation.  This year sculpture included a fused-glass panel (beautiful)  and a fabric/quilted covered flower pot (artificial flowers.  Well, I didn't make the rules.  I just followed them -- and I won!   Full confession:  I entered the only wall hanging and there two quilts and a quilted tote bag (no tatting).  But I got Best in Show. 

Nancy Z is a GFWC friend and P.E.O. sister who won the knitting/crochet category.  

Our housekeeper/caregiver looked after S (and cleaned the house) while I was gone.  

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SAHRR Round 6 called for kites or a block beginning with K.  I don't have the Studio 180 Corner Beam ruler but I do have the 30-Something ruler. However, 30-Something makes 3" or 4" units.  Sure, I could have drafted a template or paper pieced.  But I didn't want to.  

K is for kaleidoscope.  I bought the large and small Kaleido-rulers from Marti Michell's retirement clearance sale last summer.  Time to try them out.   I was mightily impressed!  Easy to use and accurate results.  

I sewed and sewed until I had 56 4" blocks.  I made rows and attached them.  They fit!  Remember that I'm sewing upstairs in the living room these days, away from the studio (basement) design wall and cutting table so I can't easily spread my work out to measure.  Afterwards, when I pinned the flimsy to the design wall -- oops.  It bows.   I have some calculating and adjusting to do.

I think I'll add a skinny green border to stabilize the outer edges (once I've corrected the bowing).

Linking up with Finished or Not Friday  Brag About Your Beauties  OMG February

Midweek: a walk and round 6

"Hello, fan club!" 

 

Tuesday afternoon the temperature reached 51 degrees, about 40 degrees higher than a week ago.  We paid a visit to the state park.  It felt good to stretch my legs.

 Yuccas stay green.   The fungus reminded me of hand- and foot-holds on a climbing wall.  There's still a little snow. 

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SAHRR round 6 in progress.  Come back on Friday to see the flimsy.  

Linking up with Wednesday Wait Loss

Weekly update: orchids, placemats + reading

 

Our Friday adventure was an outing to the annual orchid show at Chicago Botanic Garden.  

This year's theme is, obviously, India.  

The tickets are timed-entry which helps with crowd control at this very popular show.   I checked out a parking pass at the library which saved us $10.00.  




 

Regenstein Hall was draped with fabric that evoked saris.   (I was last here in November for the Fine Art of Fiber quilt show.) 

The corridor to the greenhouses featured this display. 

It is impossible to take a bad picture of an orchid.  

The peacock's tail was all orchids. 

Stevens enjoyed it, too.

An orchid-bedecked rickshaw (tuk-tuk). 

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In the studio:    I showed a photo of leftover batik half-rectangles.  I put darks and lights togther and sewed and sewed -- more than 60!   The units are a snap to make using the Split Rects ruler from Studio 180.

Most were 3 x 6 though some were smaller.   Three placemats with more in the works.

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Tommye McClure Scanlin is a tapestry weaver (and professor emerita) who has woven her journals for more than a decade.  Her book features journal, diary, and calendar projects created by more than two dozen fiber artists. They describe their particular medium and their inspiration. 

There is a temperature quilt by a quiltmaker who lives near me (though I don't know her).    Of course I was reminded of the journaling Julies:  Julie in GA  Julie and Julie 

My blog is the closest I've come to keeping a journal. It helps to have specific interests to chronicle (quilts, reading, travel, and so on).  I admire all the fiber artists who document their lives and their reactions to the world in their work.   

Linking up with Design Wall Monday  Oh Scrap Sew and Tell