Midweek check in: flags flying and a finish

 

Flags are flying!  Wild flag iris, that is.  Purple/blue is native, yellow is invasive, and both are beautiful.   Flags like to have their feet wet so they grow in marshy areas. 

More wildflowers:  redroot (new to me), lupine, coreopsis, wild rose, Carolina puccoon, prairie groundsel, rock sandwort. 

That was Monday afternoon at Illinois Beach State Park. 

 No walk yesterday because I joined AAUW friends for our summer luncheon.  There's a silent auction/sale for our scholarship fund. I brought books and a couple of miscellaneous items.  I also brought the box of placemats that I've made in recent months.   Priced at $5 each, 3 for $10 -- sold 15!  

# # # # # #   In the studio:   Tropical Punch is finished!  (That was suggested by Google AI for "orange pink lime green quilt name.")   

I bought the backing at Salvation Army for $5.99.   Four WOF panels, probably homemade curtains (Richloom on the selvedge).  Rather than trying to match the zigzag stripes I sewed them in this orientation.  

Linking up with Wednesday Wait Loss

Thanks for the shout out, Jennifer.  

P.S.  I said that wild flags grow in moist/wet areas, but hybrid iris do not. This patch of the hybrid variety comes up every year at the state park on higher-and-drier ground.   

Weekly update: convention, stash report, OMG

 

The 123rd convention of the Illinois State Chapter of the P.E.O. Sisterhood was wonderful. 

 "Live Like Lulu--Be a P.E.O. Builder" was the theme for Fran's presidential term.  Fran is a historian with a specialty in women's organizations and Lulu Corkhill Williams was an influential early P.E.O. 

Fran, Lulu, and me 

 Lulu chartered Illinois chapters and the state chapter. The eponymous Lulu Corkhill Williams Friendship Fund provides emergency financial assistance to Illinois women and men.  My involvement at the state level began with a term on the Lulu Fund. 

 I introduced Fran to P.E.O. when she and her family moved to downstate Carbondale in 1991. So glad I did!) 

My table in the Projects Room. The mug rugs I made for chapters that contributed $500 and were matched with scholarship recipients were well-received.  

I used a sarong and two pieces of African wax resist batiks for the table covering. 

 Some of the other projects displays. 

P.E.O. has awarded over $462,000,000 to more than 129,000 women:   grants for continuing education; low-cost loans for continuing education; scholarships awarded to high school seniors; support for doctoral-level research; funding for international students in the U.S. (my committee). P.E.O. supports Cottey College, a 4-year liberal arts college in Nevada, MO.  

Illinois has the aforementioned Lulu Fund and the Home Fund to assist women over age 65 with housing-related expenses. 

The wall of chapters carried out the building theme.  I "built" our house out of fabric, of course. (Lower right.)

Linda and I hosted a pre-banquet party for the Lake County Round table.  

Long-time friends and new ones. Sue with her chapter's Trip Around the World mug rug.  Anne was the Illinois state librarian (I didn't know that she's a P.E.O.).  Sue was Lulu chair my first year on the committee (and I made the tote bag for her).  Sarah was my roommate.  

Sue is a double sister -- Alpha Gamma Delta and P.E.O.  We were connected by an Alpha Gam ten years ago. (Bonnie to Sue:  "Look for Nann." Bonnie to Nann: "You need to meet Sue!")  We were on the Home Fund committee together.  

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I got back home at 5 p.m. Sunday.  I unpacked and got some stuff put away, but treated myself to some sewing while I watched The Boroughs on Netflix. (Four episodes finished, four to come.)   

THE STASH REPORT:   May fabric IN, 18-3/8 yards, $86.25.   May fabric OUT:  42-5/8 yards.  YTD fabric IN 24-7/8 yards, $123.57, average $4.97/yard.  YTD fabric OUT:  301-7/8 yards.  Net DECREASE: 277 yards.   Yay, me!

OMG for June:  10 placemats and 2 quilt finishes.  

Meanwhile, I've got a long to-do list for this week. 

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

Friday check in: a note before leaving

State park, Wednesday:  bumblebee on clover, coreopsis, spiderwort.  ("Wort" means a plant with medicinal properties. I don't know what this one does for humans, or for spiders....)

Thursday:  the Clara Cummings Book Club members were tapping their toes and clapping as presenter Susan Benjamin told us about the life and career of Neil Diamond.  And with that entertaining program the CCBC season has concluded.  Next luncheon is in September and I have the speaker lined up.  

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In the studio:    RBW Stars #2 is a flimsy.   6 yards in all.

No sewing this weekend.  I'm headed for the P.E.O. state convention in Springfield.  

Just call me Elsbeth . . .

Linking up with Finished or Not Friday

Midweek: stars aligned

 I'll audition border fabric today.   

And tidy up this mess.

Linking up with Wednesday Wait Loss

Weekly update: lettering and a shower, and more stars

It's a warm and sunny Memorial Day in northeasternmost Illinois.

  Stevens often recalled the Memorial Day weekends that he'd go with his father from their home in Summit, NJ, to the cemetery in Williamstown, NJ, and clean up around the family graves. 

Yesterday I drove to DeKalb for my nephew and his wife's baby shower.  My sister and her husband and my niece and her husband were there and we were so busy talking at our table (and playing baby shower games) that I didn't take photos of the three-tier cake or the cute "little sprout" cookies.   But I did get a picture of C, B, and me with the I Spy quilt!  

I also gave them Grandpa Blaine's [my sister's and my dad] sterling silver baby spoon from 1918. 

The shower was held in the visitor center, former carriage house, of the Ellwood House Museum.  Isaac Ellwood and two associates patented barbed wire.  The invention made them, especially Ellwood, enormously wealthy.  His granddaughter and her children bequeathed the mansion to the DeKalb Park District in 1964.  I went through the exhibits in the carriage house but didn't have time to take the house tour.   Next visit! 

The Ellwood granddaughters' playhouse.  I glimpsed a little quilt on a little bed through the window.  

In the studio:  

I used the Cricut in the library's makerspace to print letters for the P.E.O. convention display sign.  (My home printer has very limited enlargement capability.)   At home I traced the letters onto fusible web and and fused them down.  

IPS = International Peace Scholarship, awarded to women from other countries enrolled in graduate school at U.S. or Canadian universities.  $12,500 that can be renewed a second year.  

On the design wall:  21 out of 30 stars. (I see a mispiecing: top row, second from right.)  

I binged the final season of Outlander. I cried a little.  Oh, Jamie!  Oh, Claire!    Then I watched the last two episodes of this season of Elsbeth.  A distraction of silliness.  As I type this the theme songs of both shows are mixing themselves up in my head.    I think I'd better go out for a long walk today.

Linking up with Design Wall Monday Monday Musings   Sew and Tell

RSC, swaps, and a couple of books

 Why, yes, I can write a blog post on Saturday!

 

I'm making it easy on myself with RSC this year.  15" x 5" Chinese coins blocks in each monthly color.   The pattern that you can see in the photo is from an old issue of Quiltmaker.  

I used some orange batik to make a fabric box  to hold the mug rugs for next weekend's P.E.O. convention.   The box, or is it a bowl?, uses fusible Peltex to make it flexible but firm.  The exterior fabric is also batik.  

I used to have the Fast Fun Fabric Bowls/Boxes/etc. books but apparently I no longer do.  Fortunately I could recall how to make a humble bowl. Or box. Or container.   I still have several yards of fusible Peltex remaining from the bolt I bought oh-so-long ago. 

This was the second year I participated in Lori/Humble Quilt's doll quilt swap.   

I sent a little quilt to MM in late April.  It turned out I mis-addressed it.   That is, I sent it to her at her PO box number but to the wrong town!   Tracking showed that it arrived, but tracking only cares that the address is correct, not the recipient.  So someone in that other town has a nice little quilt and a few goodies.  UPDATE:   THE BOX WAS RETURNED MAY 30!  That means I have a miniquilt all ready for next year's swap.  Once MM and I corresponded and I found out about the error I got to work, made a replacement, and sent it.  Delivery was successful this time and now I can show it.

The design is from Temecula Quilts. The HSTs are 2" finished.  

Jan in Ripon, WI, sent me this hand-quilted mini. It's literally a charmer where the 2" blocks are all different.  

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 There are dozens of books on the shelves at home but I keep putting more on hold at the library.   Here are some that I've read in May. 

I've had the ARC since I heard the author speak at the ALA conference in 2019....now, in 2026, high time to read it.  I enjoyed the book and learning what happened next for the courageous women in the class of 1973.

An enjoyable mystery introducing a delightful sleuth.  Kausa Khan's daughter calls her in a panic -- Sana has been accused of murdering the landlord of the strip mall where she has a shop.  In the process of rescuing her daughter Kausa rescues herself from the lonely life she's been living.

The second in the series has just come out and I look forward to reading it. 

All that glitters is not gold.  In this case,  Natalie's "perfect" family life on a "perfect" farm--all filmed relentlessly every day for millions of followers on social media--leads to a breakdown, a coverup, and the eventual revelation of yet another Potemkin village.  None of the characters is at all appealing and that, I think, is the author's point.

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Linking up with So Scrappy RSC  Humble Quilts Swap QuiltingPatch

  

Friday check in: placemats and HSTs

 Where has the week gone?    

Zion Woman's Club board met Tuesday afternoon to allocate funds to local agencies.  ($300 to six, with $200 remaining for as-yet-unknown requests.  We are a small-budget operation!)   AAUW met by Zoom Tuesday evening for an excellent program by the director of Reform for Illinois, an organization working for transparency and fairness in state/local election funding.  

I spent an hour at the AT&T store on Wednesday resetting the Yahoo app so I can get email on my phone.  It turned out that I had an old, not-used Yahoo email address that the app kept defaulting to, rather than the att (dot) net email that I do use. "Is this a vote for gmail?" I asked the guy.  "Maybe," he said knowingly.  I've been able to go back and forth between my gmail and att emails but the thought of canceling to one completely is daunting.

Tech problem resolved, I took a walk at Sand Pond (part of the state park). Red-winged blackbirds chased this crane away from their nest. I suppose that after that the crane wasn't concerned about me and I got this close to snap a photo. 

Last evening (conveniently, 6-7:30 p.m.) the Waukegan Historical Society hosted The Bonds of War with Diana Dretske, historian at the county's Dunn Museum.   The museum archives has a photo of five local men who were in Co. C, 16th Illinois Volunteers.  One was identified (his descendants gave the photo to the museum). She decided to find out who the others were. 

All the men were born in the British Isles in the early 1840's and came to the Illinois as children.   They were recruited to the Union cause in 1861 and eventually fought at Chickamauga.  (The Union lost.)   Of these five soldiers, one was killed and the other four spent the rest of the war in different Confederate prison camps.  The four returned to Lake County, their farms, and their families.

This forensic research is fascinating!   I bought Diana's book and look forward to learning more.

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I'm preparing the display for the P.E.O. convention next week. If I could buckle down and concentrate it would be all finished.  Instead I'm letting myself get distracted by quilting.  

Seven placemats, quilted but not bound. I'll meet OMG for May.   The tulips are appliqued on blocks left over from the April top-along pattern, Turnkey.  I've had a box of 2-1/2" HSTs on hand for years and I used them often.  The pinwheel is another leftover. 

I thought I was finished with the red/white/black combo, but the red/white HSTs didn't want to go back in the box. Then they wanted some company so I made a whole lot more.   This star is one possibility.

Linking up with Finished or Not Friday OMG May

Weekly update: spontaneous scrap stars

 

Warm on Friday, warmer on Saturday.   Clockwise: blue-eyed grass, skunk cabbage in full leaf, golden Alexander, field horsetail, star of Bethlehem (a garden escapee, very aggressive).   

It was much cooler on Sunday and I took a nap instead of a walk. 

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Several months ago I made string X blocks into a flimsy and added a border.  I didn't like the border but it was the only fabric on hand that sort of worked and that I had in enough quantity.  I put the flimsy in the box and hoped I'd like the border better eventually.  It still didn't appeal and I couldn't find anything at Michael's or Hobby Lobby [all I buy at Hobby Lobby is fabric, and not much of that].   Fretting was getting me nowhere so  I went to Quilter's Heaven and found a great print and, gasp, paid full price.  The peace of mind was worth it.  

After 

Before 

(Quilter's Heaven is in Northbrook (my hometown). Owner Maureen O'Connor hosts The Opinionated Quilter on YouTube every Monday.) 

   

Way back in 2008 I took my Featherweight to the Magpies' meetup in Las Cruces, NM, and sewed many, many red/black/white flying geese and HSTs. 

They've been useful in a number of projects but now they're a growling presence in the Parts Department boxes.  

Similar-but-different wall hangings for the ALA auction in 2022 and 2023, and a lap quilt in 2023.  

This weekend I took them out yet again with the idea of using the parts in placemats.  

But some stars began to shine.

 And this is what they became!  

I used white/black nine patches made from the leftovers from the black/white/jade nine patch (photo in the May 6 post).  

The setting triangles are from the almost-last pieces of a print I bought a whole lot of about 20 years ago.  

The border was a bargain acquisition from a destash (about 4 yards remaining). 

The blocks are 6" finished.  2-7/8 yards for the flimsy. 

(All the red/black HSTs are used up. There are black/white and red/white HSTs remaining.) 

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

Friday check in: flimsies (and little finishes)

 

I enjoyed walks at McDonald Woods on Wednesday and the state park north unit on Thursday.  

Left: dame's rocket has become invasive.  Top:  balsam groundsel or balsam ragwort; fleabane.   Center:  shagbark hickory, chokecherry.  Bottom: strawberry, peppergrass. 

BoBevelynn, the top-along for May, is a flimsy.  The pattern has 24 blocks. I added a column. 

I used FQs from the Victoria show to add some variety for the bright colors.  

Blocks are 12" so 60"x 72".

I sewed all the cut-away triangles and trimmed them to 1-1/2".  (Eight per block times 30 blocks is a lot of HSTs.) 

Some of those HSTs are part of a placemat (lower right). The other three placemats came from the Parts Department.

I made three daisy mug rugs for the ongoing P.E.O. project.

No appointments on the calendar this weekend so I have no excuse not to get to work on the display for the P.E.O. convention, right? Right! 

Linking up with  Finished or Not Friday