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 Elspeth.  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.  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

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

Travelog: Victoria with Magpies and quilts

 The Magpies met in the late 1990's on the Usenet newsgroup Rec.Crafts.Textiles.Quilting. We spun off from RCTQ so we could chatter (like magpies) off-topic.  We've had in-person meetups large and small.  

Earlier this year Diane offered to host a Magpie meetup in Victoria, BC, in conjunction with the Victoria Quilters' Guild biennial show May 9-10.  Five of us took her up on the offer:  Stacey (MO), Phebe (WA), Janet (PA), Debs (also in Victoria), and me.  

Janet flew to O'Hare and we had the same flight from ORD to SEA.  We spent the night in Seattle (8 p.m. arrival so no sightseeing time) and took the FRS Clipper ferry from Seattle to Victoria on Thursday.   

The Huntingdon Hotel is conveniently located near the ferry dock and downtown Victoria.

Thursday afternoon:  we walked to the Emily Carr House and met Diane there.  The house was the Carr family home where Emily and her four sisters grew up.  She became a noted artist and writer whose work was inspired by the First Nations people of British Columbia.  

with Diane and Janet

The garden at the Carr house had quotations from her writings.   

After the Carr house we walked to the British Columbia Parliament building and took a tour.  A magnificent dome, stained glass, mosaic floors. 

We sat in the legislative gallery for a few minutes and watched an uneventful discussion of a budget item. No photos allowed.

Parliament is illuminated at night

The Empress Hotel is just across the bridge from Parliament.  We went in the lobby but we did not have the legendary tea. ($109 CDN per person w/o champagne, $151 with.)   

Debs joined Janet, Diane, and me for dinner. 

Emily with animal friends outside the Empress

Friday morning I woke up before Janet and had a long walk at Beacon Hill Park.

We had breakfast together at the hotel, then she went out for a walk and I did some exploring on my own. 

The Maritime Museum is in a two-room storefront across from the Empress.  They're raising funds for a standalone building on the waterfront. There's a lot packed into the two rooms!

I chatted with the man at the front desk and commented on the Rotary polo shirt he wore.  He said, "If you're interested in local Rotary, the district annual meeting is right next door in the conference center."

I went to the registration desk and explained that I was just in town to visit. They said I was welcome to browse the projects booths.  Such fun to learn about their district actitivies to address Rotary initiatives!  

The Miniature World Museum was around the block.  Kitschy but fun.  From WWII to the Civil War, the Old Woman in the Shoe, and King Arthur.

I ducked in to the central branch of the Victoria library. 

On my way back to the hotel I noted that the ferry had arrived -- and there were Stacey and Phebe.  I escorted them to the hotel.

Diane and her husband Ralph picked all of us up (S, P, J, me) and we went to the renowned Butchart Gardens.   Debs met us at the garden restaurant at lunchtine.  

Visiting Butchart Gardens was a bucket list check off for me!

The gardens  were developed by Jennie Butchart from a limestone quarry that supplied her husband’s cement plant. The gardens were begun in 1909 and completed in 1921. They now encompass 55 acres.  

At this time of year: spectacular rhododendrons, fancy tulips, English daisies, blue/pink/white forget-me-nots and so much more!

We had dinner at an Italian restaurant in downtown Victoria.

Saturday we went to the quilt show!  It was held at the Pearkes Recreation Center in Saanich.   The Victoria Quilters' Guild is large with several hundred members. The show is biennial.   

Janet, Phebe, Diane, Stacey, me, Debs

Local shows are great because there are stop-in-your-tracks beauties and also quilts that you could conceivably make.  Here are some that caught my eye.  I have artists' statements if you want to know more.  

 

 All Canadian themes.  You can't miss "Anne With an E."  Lower center is inside a grain elevator. 

 

 

The Raven got my viewer's choice vote.  

Jane Goodall and a chimpanzee are at the bottom. 

There were vendors at the show. I was aware of my little suitcase and my fabric diet so I treated myself to 8 FQs and two half-metres and that was it!

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After the show there was enough time to see local attraction Craigdarroch Castle.  It was commissioned by Scottish-born coal baron Robert Dunsmuir and his wife Joan and completed in 1891. The Dunsmuirs lived there for three generations. The house also served as WWI military hospital, a college, and the Victoria school department offices. Restoration as a historic house/museum began in 1995 and is ongoing.

Diane and Ralph hosted dinner for all of us at their house. 

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Sunday morning:   Janet and I (compatible early birds and dedicated walkers) went back to Beacon Hill Park. 

We saw seven peacocks and one peahen, a turtle, two deer, and many flowers.  We also got a view of the snow-capped Olympic mountains across the sound.

After breakfast with Stacey and Phebe (who were going to meet an online knitting friend) and checking out of the hotel, we headed to the Royal British Columbia Museum.   (Again, conveniently near the hotel).  

RBC has natural history, human history, and a lot more.  We saw it all!   

I was reminded of Te Papa, the museum in Wellington.

 

Preserving First Nations culture, including their languages.

There is a great Old Town permanent exhibit.  

Spirit bears or Kermode bears are black bears with white fur.  (Polar bears are grizzlies.)   Note the magpie (the avian one). 

We went back to the hotel, said a final goodbye to Stacey and Phebe (who took the ferry back to Seattle). Ralph and Diane took Janet and me to the airport, with dinner on the way.   

We flew from YYJ (Victoria) to Toronto, touching down at 6:30 a.m.   Customs was a breeze.  Our final flights were two gates apart:  Janet to PHL and me to ORD.   I was home at 10:30.

We packed a lot into a short trip:  quilts, history, exercise, and most of all friendship.  

 

This is a monkey-puzzle tree.  Arucaria arucana, native to Chile.  The leaves are all spiny, sharp and hard.  

Camas, or Indian hyacinth, was blooming profusely at Beacon Hill Park.   It was an important food source for native people.   The cooked tubers taste fig-like, according to the website.  

I'll share more photos in subsequent posts.

Meanwhile I'm linking up with Wednesday Wait Loss

Thanks for reading all the way to the end!