Friday check in: this, that, and a flimsy (almost)

 

Violets, Virginia bluebells (mertensia), trillium at Lyons Woods on Wednesday morning.

No walk on Thursday because the Clara Cummings Book Club met for lunch.  Pamela Toler told us about "the dragon from Chicago." That was the nickname given to Chicago-born Sigrid Schultz, who was the Chicago Tribune's Berlin bureau chief from 1925-1941 and a wire service war correspondent from 1941-1946.   She chronicled the rise of the Nazi party and developed an extensive network of contacts who provided insider and behind-the-scenes accounts of what was going on.  

Toler learned about Schultz when a cache of late 1890's photographs was found in a house on Chicago's north side.  They were of Schultz and her family, taken by her father who was a portrait photographer.  That led to research that resulted in a book and, fortunately for the CCBC members, this fascinating program. 

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In the studio:   I pulled out the novelties bin for the next project, an I Spy quilt.  

I've had a lot of these for a very, very long time. (One particular print was part of an I Spy that I made in 1998.  It's been in nearly every I Spy that I've made since.) 

Blocks assembled, waiting for borders.

(That 1998 fabric?  Fifth row, seventh column. Bright squirrels.)

The cut-away corner HSTs have been sewn, trimmed, and pressed.  They're 1-1/2" unfinished.

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The Christian Science Monitor's film critic gave The Choral a very positive review.  I got it on Amazon and watched it last evening as I sewed.  

 During World War I the choral society in an English mill town must regroup because so many of the young men are in the Army. The new choirmaster (Ralph Fiennes) changes the musical selection for their spring performance and recasts it to be a reflection of the war. There are subplots and twists, a lot of poignancy, and beautiful singing.

I enjoyed it!  

Linking up with Finished or Not Friday

 

Midweek: challenge met!

 

Jolie Afrique is finished and so is the Six Quilts challenge.    (The pattern is Jolie and the fabrics are African.) 

The Villa Rosa Designs Six Quilts in Six Weeks Challenge instructions:   finish six quilts from  VRD patterns between April 6 and May 20.  New starts, UFOs, and WIPs are eligible.  

I leaped right on the challenge by finishing a UFO, making the April top-along (a VRD spinoff), and making four more quilts from patterns I purchased.  

It feels so good to complete the challenge three weeks ahead of schedule!

Next project:  an I Spy quilt.  Baby shower is May 24.  

Here is the back -- also African fabric. 

Linking up with Wednesday Wait Loss

 Brag About Your Beauties

Weekly update: quilt exhibit + finishes + reading

 We escaped the tornadoes and the flooding that hit Illinois and Wisconsin last week but there was a lot of rain.  It's the third-wettest April on record.  My basement stayed dry (I had the landscapers add a bank of soil around the problem corner of the foundation) but apparently there's a roof leak.  It's always something . . . 

On Friday Leslie and I met at Concordia University in River Forest to see an exhibit of quilts by Modern Quilt Studio (=Weeks Ringle and Bill Kerr).  Leslie and I met at a P.E.O. convention and we immediately hit it off.  She lives in Oak Park, adjacent to River Forest (50 miles south of where I live).  She's not a quiltmaker but she has design experience. It was interesting to have a non-quilter's reaction to the gorgeous artwork!  

We posed with our favorites.

After that we had lunch at a restaurant in Oak Park.  

Traffic on I-94 and 294 was moderate and I made good time both down and back.

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I spent the weekend catching up on a number of things, not the least of which was four hours creating the PowerPoint version of my New Zealand trip.  I am giving two presentations on April 28 (afternoon: AAUW travel group in person; evening;  P.E.O. by Zoom).  I'll tweak the slides in a day or two.  I admit it was fun to revisit my photos and notes.

In the studio:  three finishes!

Villa Rosa Cherrydale pattern. (#5  for the Six Quilts/Six Weeks challenge.)

The batik Trip Around the World.  My OMG for April.  

It's red/taupe/charcoal though it looks kind of red/white/blue.  

I used sheets for backings on both and the serpentine stitch to quilt both.

Barb-the-quilter did a wonderful job on the red/green nine-patch.  I bound it last evening.  This will be the AAUW holiday raffle.   I'm definitely WAY ahead of schedule.

The back is from Barb M's estate sale.  

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Mari and her young son Levi flee from the oppression and abuse of a rural religious cult.  They return to her parents' home on Little Great Island off the Maine coast.  Her reentry to island life is difficult. Her parents love her and Levi but both sides are stubborn. How can she make a living as an organic farmer and conservationist? The island folk are conflicted, too, between the traditional lobstering (diminishing catches due to climate change) and generation-long summer residents with developers seeking to buy family homes and farms.

A lot happens in a short time (so that the novel doesn't get toooo long). That aside, the local color is terrific and it's a great story.

Linking up with Oh Scrap!  Design Wall Monday Sew and Tell  Monday Musings  . . . and a new-to-me link up Patchwork and Quilts

Friday check in: the corollary kicks in, but there's progress

 

The 24th annual Zion-Benton Senior Resource Expo was Wednesday at the Zion Park District Leisure Center.   This year Zion Woman's Club had a table along with area agencies including libraries (Zion-Benton (mine) and Waukegan), Lake County Forest Preserves, banks, home health care, and state and county officials. 

 

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In the studio:   

A house is the template for the chapter highlights display at the P.E.O. state convention.  Any medium is welcome (many chapters do scrapbooking-type collages). I use fabric, of course, and here's how it turned out.  The lettering is printed on adhesive label plastic (8-1/2 x 11 sheets)  that I put on after the quilting. I can peel off the labels after the convention.

(BTW, the smile on the sun is part of the fabric. I just fussy cut it.)

The bigger P.E.O.-related quilting project is April's OMG:  a Trip Around the World to use as the backdrop for my scholarship committee table.   I found many TATW designs and different TATW assembly suggestions.  What I kept going back to was this one from a Temecula Quilts book.  I liked the colorway.   Their pattern uses 1-1/2" squares.  I need a larger quilt and decided on 4-1/2" squares.  Remember that I made 37 TATW mug rugs in batiks for this display, so the backdrop quilt will be batik.  And using stash is a given. 

You know the saying, "Measure twice, cut once."  There is a corollary!  "Design twice, cut once."  And I violated that right off the bat.   I followed the Temecula colorway with three creams, three tans, taupe, red, charcoal, blue.  I cut 4-1/2" squares in all the colors, even if they weren't exactly the contrast I wanted. 

I didn't take a photo of the array on the design wall. Suffice it to say I wasn't thrilled.

Would I have to buy more fabric?   

I went back to the stash bins.  And look what happened! 

(And now I have 150+ 4-1/2" cream, tan, taupe, and blue batik squares to use in another project.)

The column on the right is the top row.  I began laying out the squares with the middle row and ran out of room at the top.  I wasn't going to risk messing up the sequence by moving everything down.  

I got all the rows pinned right away because I didn't want any of the patches to drift.  

At the end of last evening's sewing I had 12 rows sewn.

But now it's Friday morning.  I have to get going.  I'm having a quilty adventure today.  Come back on Monday to find out more!

Linking up with  Finished or Not Friday

Weekly update: exhibits and celebrations + two finishes + reading

I took a little excursion Friday afternoon.   Every year the Racine Art Museum hosts an exhibit of Peeps art.  Entries come from studio artists, kids, city/county departments, and every day people.  Such punny fun!  

Top: Peeping Beauty School of Cosmetology; Frida; No Mistakes, Just Happy Little Peeps (Bob Ross). Center: from the Racine city dept. of development; Arthur; "Peepal Conclave."   Bottom: Don Quixote; The Scream.

Of course I liked "They Read Banned Books."  

In the upstairs gallery at RAM:  paper cutting. Exquisite!

  The top left and center right are Polish (or Polish-style).  Upper right:  Japanese.  Lower left:  I think an American artist. Lower right: I forget.....What I kept thinking was how unforgiving paper cutting is. What if they goof?    I am a lot more comfortable with "it will quilt out." 

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Saturday:  a little cultural fusion:  a Rotarian (me) having Kiwanis pancakes at the Moose lodge.  I went by myself, but I saw many people I knew.   

(The Queens program is about community service and leadership.  Kaylynn is the granddaughter of Rotary friends Debbie and Bill. Bella and Laura (next to her) go to my church.)  

120 P.E.O. sisters from the thirteen chapters in the Lake County Round Table celebrated the 157th Founders' Day.   A three-chapter committee did all the work to bring about the lovely event.  All I had to do I'm LCRT president was preside.

Top: with my chapter sisters.  This year's theme, Live Like Lulu: Be a P.E.O. Builder, honors Lulu Corkhill Williams, She was among the first initiates into the new society (perhaps the first; records aren't clear) in the spring of 1869. She was influential in establishing P.E.O. in Illinois. 

A quilt was involved.    My chapter raffled my Courthouse Steps to benefit P.E.O. projects.  Jane T. was the winner.  ($335 raised. The decision to have the raffle was almost last-minute. We didn't get a permit, so sales were only at the event.)

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All of these goings-on were during the day.  I had evenings to sew!  

Villa Rosa Six Quilts Challenge, #3:  Boscobel.  Finished!  I added a border.  

Six Quilts Challenge #4:   Turnkey.  Finished!  

The pieced back and binding use the same print as the bars in the blocks.  (It's a Laura Ashley sheet, $1.00 rummage sale purchase. I used the sheet to back another Six Quilts quilt, too.  Just scraps left.) 

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Margaret Finch values routine and precision. Those qualities are helpful in her job as a research assistant to a renowned botanist at a west-coast university, but less helpful in her interactions with other people. When her boss is found dead in his office she suspects he has been poisoned. She's determined to discover the culprit. With the help of a journalist-turned-janitor she succeeds.

If you enjoyed Molly (The Maid) and Elizabeth (Lessons in Chemistry) you'll like this delightful mystery.

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

P.S.  An array of spring greens at the state park yesterday.

Friday check in: two more flimsies

Warm weather and sunshine for yesterday's walk.   

My jacket is Air Light from L.L. Bean. One of the women on the New Zealand trip had three of the pullover models and on her recommendation I got this one.  (This color was on sale. :)) It is just the right weight and warmth. 

Mr. and Mrs. Crane were taking a walk, too. 

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I'm all in for the Villa Rosa Designs Six Quilts in Six Weeks challenge!   

Flimsy #5 is Lollipop.  It was super-easy to piece.  I used homespuns with a Thimbleberries print for the background.    I'm not wild about this one but it will make a nice donation quilt.  The patches are 2-1/2" unfinished and 6-1/2" unfinished.   

42" x 50".  It's under the needle now. 

Flimsy #6 is Jolie.  I knew it would be just right to show off a fabric collection.  In this case, African wax prints that have been in the box far too long. **

The frame print is orange and black. I took a chance with the sashing/border.  I don't have any African mostly-black/subtle [of course I have lots of wild prints].   I chose a dark red/dark blue print and I like the way it turned out! 

A new project is on the near horizon.  I've been invited to the baby shower for my nephew and his wife.  It's in late May.  I Spy coming up!  But before that I have to (a) finish these Villa Rosa quilts and (b) make the Trip Around the World for the P.E.O. convention.  I can do it!

Linking up with  Finished or Not Friday

** How long in the box?  I just found this photo from January, 2020 -- ALA Midwinter in Philadelphia.  

Midweek: two flimsies!

I had a couple of errands Monday morning and took a quick walk at the state park on my way home.  (Yes, the lakefront is that close to home.  In the top photo in the collage my house is at the very left edge, just below the halfway point.)    The brisk northwest wind was chilly.  

That's a yucca on the lower right.  

Zion Woman's Club met at noon yesterday.  The speaker was the recycling coordinator from SWALCO (Solid Waste Agency of Lake County) -- I wrote about his presentation to AAUW last month. I asked him to do the same for ZWC.  It was one of the most interesting and useful programs we've had.   If you missed that post:  there are a lot of misconceptions about household recycling.   Don't put recyclables in plastic bags because they just tangle up in the sorting center machinery.  It's fine to just rinse food containers; they don't have to be sparkling clean because in ultra-high-temperature processing the food and any labeling just burns off.  Leave plastic and lids on containers because little pieces fall though the sorting screens.   Don't put shredded paper in recycling--best way is to take such papers to a shredding event.  

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In the studio:   the guild mystery, Big Bang, is a flimsy.  Karen, the designer, provided the pattern in three sizes (that is, three different sizes for all of the units and patches). I chose to make the medium size.  I used a wide back for the gray background and Grunge from a FQ bundle for the stars.  Not sure how I'll quilt it, but the show-and-tell isn't until the July guild meeting so I don't need to rush.

The Villa Rosa Six Quilts in Six Weeks challenge has given me a burst of creativity.  Here's flimsy #4.  The pattern is Cherrydale.  

The square patches are from the Grunge I used in Big Bang.  

I have flimsy #5 nearly finished.  One more after that and the quilting will begin. 

Linking up with Wednesday Wait Loss
 

Weekly update: Easter, two finishes, and a six-part challenge

Easter Sunday was cool but the sunshine was abundant. 

 I went to church in the morning and had a nice long walk at Van Patten Woods in the afternoon.  

Sumac, fungus, mullein.  The place names Des Plaines and O'Plaine are corruptions of "eau pleine" meaning "full of water," which is how the early French explorers saw the river in flood. You can see why.

I had to work off some of the gustatory delights of the day.  I made a half-batch of pancakes, our customary holiday breakfast.  The pancake mix (Christmas 2024 gift) still had enough baking powder oomph to cook up nicely.   I'm a dinner traditionalist -- roast lamb, roasted new potatoes, asparagus, and cheesecake.  I'll have some leftovers this week and freeze the rest for later. 

(I was invited to celebrate the day with friends but decided not to.)  

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In the studio:   

I made Aunt Vina's Favorite in 2024.  Barb quilted it and brought it to me at last week's guild meeting.  I bound it last evening.

Villa Rosa Designs announced a Six Quilts in Six Weeks challenge.   Finish a UFO or start and finish something new and post photos to the VRD FB group each week . Any size, but all must be from Villa Rosa patterns.   I can do this!  

#1     I had one VRD flimsy in the box --  Sky Dancer from the April 2025 top-along.   I call my version Garden Path.   Now it's quilted and bound.  

 It will be just right for the raffle at the upcoming Zion Woman's Club Bunco party. 

The back is a Laura Ashley sheet.   Twin fitted and flat set, $1.00 at the church rummage sale.

That leaves five quilts to start and finish by early May.  I decided I'd make the five flimsies first, then quilt them all.  I perused patterns on the VRD website and splurged on a few that might be good for the challenge.   I'm going to use what's on hand (stash, of course, but also units from the parts department if possible). 

Yes, many VRD designs are easy to copy from the photos.  I'm respecting copyright and purchasing those I'm using in the challenge.   (Just $2.00 each, after all.)

Before I reshelved the remainder of the sheet (there was a lot left) I realized it would be just right for Turnkey, the April top-along pattern.   [Remember that the top-along patterns are all Villa Rosa.]

So here is VRD Challenge #2.   The common fabric in each block is that bed sheet.  (And there is still a lot left.)

The pattern has 24 blocks (10.5" finished).  I made an additional column. 

VRD Challenge #3.  

Rachelle (Rachelle Handmade) is a VRD designer who lives in Wisconsin.  Many of her patterns have Wisconsin place names.   Here's my version of Boscobel.  

The pattern uses 3.5" finished HSTs set 9 x 10.  I had a box of 4.5" unfinished homespun HSTs on hand. I added a row and a column (10 x 11).  This is a good wheelchair size.

I'm on a roll!   I have strips cut for the next VRD and hope to have a flimsy for Wednesday's post.

Linking up with  Design Wall Monday  Sew and Tell  Monday Musings

P.S.  I won a Hobbs wool batt from the SAHRR sponsors! 

Friday check in: two programs and recent reading

These are two of the quilts from her trunk show

The speaker at Wednesday's guild meeting was very inspiring.   Here's how the guild newsletter described her:  Lina Owen is a passionate international business professional, quilting educator, and creative entrepreneur. She is the co-founder of Quilting with Latinas and owner of BlueBelle Designs Studio, where she teaches children and adults how to sew. Lina is also one of the authors of Learn to Quilt: A Bilingual Guide, the first bilingual quilting book of its kind. Her work celebrates resilience, creativity, and the power of storytelling through fabric and design.  She is orignally from Mexico and has lived in Milton, Wisconsin, for many years. 

I didn't get a photo of my friend Ruth Ann and the quilt she brought to show and tell.  It was a red and white double nine-patch that she and a group had made for a community fundraiser in the early 2000's.  Shortly after that raffle/auction she had a family tragedy and she sort of forgot about the quilt.  Earlier this year that very quilt came up on a FB Marketplace post from Arizona!  A friend identified it from the lable and emailed her.  When Ruth Ann contacted the seller and told her the story the seller sent it to her at no charge.    Labels are important! **

**Though I don't label every quilt I make. There are some that I don't necessarily want traced back to me. I don't want to be badgered or stalked.

Last evening (Thursday) I enjoyed a program at the Waukegan History Center.  

Robert Douglas arrived in Waukegan in 1847, from England by way of Nova Scotia.  In 1848 he went to the California Gold Rush and returned to Waukegan with $5000 that he used to establish a tree nursery (later expanded to nurseries in Missouri and Kansas). 

The business went for three generations. His granddaughter Georgia Douglas Clarke (1871-1952) was a founder of the Waukegan Garden Club and was renowned for her peony and iris gardens.  She also championed the preservation of the dunesland that became Illinois Beach State Park.  (That's familiar to you because of all my walks there.) 

I so enjoy local history!   

Just as the program ended the tornado sirens began blaring.   A friend (who was at the program) let me stop at her house on the north side of Waukegan until the all-clear came through and I could drive safely home.

# # # # #   I read a lot in March!   Catching up on reviews: 

  Jess Walter's latest novel is set in Spokane, familiar territory (that's where he lives).    Retired newspaper reporter Rhys Kinnick has been estranged from his daughter Bethany for years.  He's living almost off the grid on the farm he inherited from his grandparents.  Rhys's ex-wife/Bethany's mother  recently died from cancer.  Bethany is married to Shane.  They and their two children (13 and 6)  live in a Christian compound, Shane with more enthusiasm than Bethany.  Bethany decides to go to a rock festival to see her old boyfriend (her daughter's father) and delivers the two children to Rhys's doorstep.  Granddad and grandchildren view one another uneasily at first but the bond gets stronger.  While Bethany is still at the festival Shane comes to reclaim his children.  Rhys enlists longtime friends to help get them back.

There's suspense and some violence but the reader is confident that things will work out for the best. And they do.  

I listened to the audio edition.  Edoardo Ballerini is a great narrator.  

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A classic that I had never read.   It was published in 1954.  

A strict, rule-abiding teacher is beloved by her community.  When she is hospitalized her former students rally to support her.   It's a dated, very white-bread setting in a bygone small-town America, but a charming story.

(Wow, used copies are $50 and higher on various online sites!   The movie version was made in 1955.)  

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This was the AAUW Reflections on Reading selection for April 1.   The subject was very interesting -- how Big Tobacco deceived the public (and in the story, women) about the devastating effects of tobacco on health, not only from smoking but also for the workers in the fields.  The story also touched on postwar labor relations, especially for working women.  

What bothered me were some of the details.  A minor one:  reference to a new "fire engine red" Singer sewing machine. Singer didn't make machines in that color.   More importantly:  the social stratification that surely prevailed in Bright Leaf (a disguised Winston-Salem).  Would protagonist/narrator Maddie, age 16, and her dressmaker Aunt Etta have mingled at the garden parties and galas with the Tobacco Wives and their husbands?   Also, Maddie is a dressmaker-in-training and has to take over when Aunt Etta is hospitalized. Could she really have made or altered that many party dresses in just a few weeks with only a part time helper?

^ ^ ^ ^ ^  I discovered the cozy gardening mysteries by Ann Ripley when I picked up #4 from the hotel lobby bookshelf in New Zealand.  I've been bingeing them-- #1-#3 were available as audiobooks, so I listened to those.  I've subsequently read #5.   Louise Eldridge is the host of a PBS gardening show and just happens to solve a few murders on the side.  

(The one with the title cut off is Harvest of Murder.)