Midweek: a flimsy, stash report, and first quarter roundup

It's a flimsy!  

I auditioned a couple of red/green prints for the border but nothing looked right (or I didn't have enough) so I used the background.  

6 yards in all.

Here's a closeup.   

Several people have commented on how small the 9ps are.   I cut 1-1/2" strips and the blocks are 3-1/2 (3" finished).   I don't think that is that small.  Maybe it's all the practice I had with the mini-9p swap I participated in for so many years.

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Stash report, March.  Fabric in:   ZERO   Fabric out:  91-1/4 yards. (That includes packages sent to quilting friends.)   YTD fabric in:  3/4 yard, $10.00.   Fabric out:  194-5/8 yards.  Hooray!  

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It turned out that I didn't set a One Monthly Goal for March, but now that the first quarter of 2026 has concluded I can review the year's goals that I wrote in my post on January 1.  How have I done?  

 #1     Use at least one "I can't cut this" fabric in a project every quarter.  

#2     Use at least one vintage fabric in a project every quarter.   Sort of.    I have used some long-in-the stash fabric in projects along the way.  

#1  Yes!   Lazy Goose, the January top-along, fits this goal on the front and the back.   The geese are part of a FQ bundle I bought in Key West in December.  Ordinarily I'd have let them sit around for a long, long time until the perfect project came along.  I cut into 'em right away!    #2  sort of   The back (left photo) is a print I bought in North Dakota 30 years ago.  I thought I'd make a dress but I never did, and at least for this fabric I never will. 

   #3  Use a different specialty ruler for a project  each quarter.  No.  But I have regularly used the Split Rects ruler to make half-rectangle units out of scraps.  I have a bag of them on hand and an idea of how to use them.  

#4   Make 20 placemats in January.   Yes!  And I've made 26 placemats for the spaghetti dinner project in 2027. 

#5 Make 37 mug rugs for the P.E.O. convention (end of May).  Yes!  

Since I took this picture I've quilted and bound all of them.

 

#6  Participate in RSC 2026 with an ongoing block and a monthly stand-alone project.   Sort of.  I've got the ongoing project but not the stand-along.  

I'll cut out pink for April in a day or so. 

#7  Participate in SAHRR 2026.   Yes!   You're tired of seeing this......

Now that I've summarized what I've accomplished I should set some new goals.   Very definitely for April:   make a quilt for the backdrop of the committee display at the P.E.O. state convention.  That's the committee and the convention for which I made the Trip Around the World mug rugs.  I have patterns and designs.  I need to pull fabrics and get it done!

Linking up with Wednesday Wait Loss (thanks for the shout-out, Jennifer!)  and  OMG April

 

Weekly update: nine patch progress

 Monday morning has rolled around too fast!  This needs to be a quick post.

Three luncheons in three days (Clara Cummings Book Club on Thursday, retired library directors on Friday, GFWC District 10 on Saturday) plus the 5th Sunday potluck after church on Sunday -- good company at all.  

Palm Sunday origami!  Did you (or do you still) make a cross from the palm frond?  

 

Every year at this time I look for skunk cabbage along the trail in the ravine at the end of the block.  The “horn” is the flower. It is so named because it has a high sulfur content. I pulled the pistil from one flower and smelled it. Yep, stinky.

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In the studio: I made 168 red and green mini 9-patches. My stash produced just the right print for the setting, and I had more than enough.

Here is the second half, all pinned and ready to chain sew.

I've been reading (print and audio) a lot -- reviews later this week.

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

Friday check in: art history made fun + a new start

 Monet Lives! was the program at the Clara Cummings Book Club luncheon yesterday.  Jim Parks put on a beret and became Claude Monet.  

 The audience participated by choosing a 4x4 reproduction of an Impressionist or other late 19th/early 20th c. painting (created by Jim: "it's a prop, not a souvenir").   As Claude walked around the room he gave highlights of the chosen miniatures.

 What a great way to brush (ha!) up on art history.

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In the studio:  I think I'm starting a Christmas quilt.....

Linking up with  Finished or Not Friday

Midweek: guild mystery and SAHRR parade

The guild's annual mystery quilt   began last month.  It's designed by a talented member and available by subscription ($10).   I signed up and saved each week's clue but I didn't get started until Sunday (week 7).  The project is at the assembly stage with two more clues to come.  

The background is cut from a wide back and the 'stars' are from a FQ bundle of Grunge.

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Today is the day for the SAHRR 2026 final link up.  Regular readers have seen this before.  I'm still tickled with the way it turned out!  

The starter is repurposed from a publisher's tote bag (2019 ALA conference).

The back and the hanging sleeve feature book-themed fabric.

This wall hanging will be donated to the scholarship auction at the 2026 ALA annual conference in Chicago at the end of June.

Linking up with   Kathleen McMusing   Wednesday Wait Loss

 

 

Weekly update: an evening out, walking again, and finishes

 

On Thursday evening the Waukegan Historical Society hosted "Extraordinary Ordinary Women" by local researcher Meg Goljenboom. Kathy rode with me and we met June and Joann there. (I knew many of the other attendees, too.)

Meg  talked about aviation industry executive Olive Ann Beech, cabaret singer Ada “Bricktop” Smith, candy maker Ora Snyder (who had more than 30 Mrs. Snyder’s Home Made Candy shops in Chicagoland), hotelier Maria Ramirez Kramer, and Mildred Johnson who founded an air express package delivery service in the 1920s.

The weather was cooperative on Friday and Saturday. I enjoyed walks at Lyons Woods Forest Preserve and the middle unit of Illinois Beach State Park. A front came through on Sunday with chilly, blustery winds so I stayed inside.

There were several Mourning Cloak butterflies along the trail. I learned that they are emerging from hibernation. Pussy willows are 'in bloom' now, too.

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In the studio: I got a lot of sewing accomplished! I frequently comment that quilts with no deadline and no destination come together without fuss. That was the case with the batik stars and cake stands.

I'm especially pleased with the back. I used a batik sarong that I got from a dear friend's estate as well as two other batiks.

I deliberately kept the stamped label visible.

I replenished the stock of daisy mug rugs for the ongoing P.E.O. project.

Genre switch!

I'm participating in the 19th century mini-quilt swap again this year. I pulled out a box of CW repro units/orphans/etc. I discovered the pieced stars/9-patches, all assembled. All I had to do was add borders and quilt it. Done!

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One book, two ways:

A while ago I found a copy of Mary Norton's 1957 middle-grade fantasy Bedknob and Broomstick at a library book sale. It finally came to the top of the stack.

It was fun to revisit the story 65 or so years after I first read it.

The movie came out when I was in college and I'd never seen it. Note that the title words are plural for the movie and singular for the book. The version I rented from Amazon included a 20-minute behind-the-scenes feature that was very interesting. A fine accompaniment for Friday evening sewing.

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

Midweek: star and cake stand flimsy + reading

 

I chose the purple batik for the sashing almost without thinking.  I used nearly all of it (just 4-1/2" x 18" left over).  I auditioned a couple of batiks for the setting, my limitation being what I have in yardage (rather than FQs and scraps). The peach won out.  I made the float extra-large. I'm going to keep it that way and skip an outer border. 

5-3/4 yards used for the flimsy.    I still have 1-1/2" scrappy HSTs and a lot of 1-1/2" squares.

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An epistolary novel is one written as a series of letters.   It's one of The Page Turner 2026 prompts.   AI helpfully provides a list of them, from Samuel Richardson's Pamela (1740) to The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (2008) to The Correspondent (2025).  I've read all of those so I chose something different.  

I first learned about Maine humorist John Gould when I lived in Texas (my first library job).  One of the library patrons requested his books via interlibrary loan and I read and enjoyed them. Then I married a man with deep roots in Maine, and we moved there, so John Gould was part of  the literary atmosphere.   I met him once--he, like Stevens, went to Bowdoin College.  He passed away in 2003 at the age of 95.   We acquired most of his books, some as reprints and many from used book dealers.   

The Parables of Peter Partout was published in 1964.  Our copy is a first edition.  The fictional Mr. Partout lived at Peppermint Corner in Lisbon Maine (a real place), and wrote equally fictional letters-to-the-editor with stories about his friends and neighbors that are definitely too good to be true. (Or are they?)   62 years after the compilation was published they are as funny as ever.  

Here's one of the shorter ones.  

Linking up at Wednesday Wait Loss

Weekly update: quiet weekend, RSC, batik blocks

 I had a meeting Friday morning (good to get out and be sociable) and the rest of the weekend I was at home with just a couple of errands.  We're on the southern edge of the huge storm with only 4" of snow.  We're under a blizzard warning because it's quite windy.  I cancelled an appointment this morning and plan to stay in today.   Sewing and reading and, just maybe, catching up on a few no-time-pressure tasks.

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In the studio:  I made red "coin" panels for this year's RSC project.  The pattern (shown in the photo) only calls for two panels in each color but I couldn't stop at two. 

I finished making batik star and basket blocks.   I had to make several batches of 1.5" HSTs that were definitely light-and-dark.  (Too many of the HSTs in the box were dark/dark.)   I have begun sewing the sashing.

The blocks are 4" finished so on point 6". The layout is 48 x 54 before sashing. 

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A powerful kid’s-eye view of the overthrow of British colonial authority in Rhodesia /Zimbabwe. Based on Alexandra “Bobo” Fuller’s memoir of the same title.

Stevens really liked all of Fuller’s books and I’m sorry he wasn't able to watch this. (I streamed it on Apple TV.) [Note the movie poster shown says “from the novel…” but the book is nonfiction. I looked it up to be sure!]

 

The movie makes more sense if you've read the books (particularly Don't Let's Go, the first one).  

Linking up with  Design Wall Monday  Oh Scrap!  Monday Musings  Sew and Tell  RSC 2026

Friday check in: playing with batiks + reading

 

I automatically think of Winnie the Pooh on a blustery morning like today.   

It's been a week of attending to a number of things.  On Monday my sister and I met halfway between our respective homes for a little retail therapy and lunch, and I was finally able to give her gift(s) for her mid-February birthday.  Tuesday I met with the trust attorney to get the ball rolling (belatedly) to retitle Stevens' car in my name (a different process when the vehicle is inherited).  Tuesday evening AAUW met in person with a really informative program about recycling.  (Among the things we learned:  just dump paper into the bin, don't bundle it or put it in boxes or paper bags;  it's okay to rinse jars and other containers, you don't have to scrub them clean; keep lids on containers because small things (like a soda bottle cap) just fall through the sorting screens and are swept up and landfilled.)   

# # # # #  In the studio:  the mug rugs are all bound.   I put the binding trimmings in the batik scrap bin and that led to making some batik crumb blocks.   

I've been perusing both of Emily Bailey's crumb quilting books so these may be put to use in the near future.

Off and on (mostly off) I've made 4" star and 4" cake stand blocks to use up a box of 1-1/2" batik HSTs and squares. 

 I made a few more last evening and put them on the design wall. 

I'm fairly sure the blocks will be sashed partly due to all the seams that are pressed one way and the other way and partly as a way to differentiate between the stars and the cake stands.  Other than that I'm not sure where this design will end up.  It's just fun to play!

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Recent reading:

Thomas and his mum live in an English coastal town in the late 1950's.   He's following in his grandad's career as a shrimper, doing it in the traditional way with a horse and cart. It's a hard living that's threatened by new ways.  Even as he dreams of other things (he's an aspiring folk musician) he doesn't let himself hope too much. Then an American filmmaker comes to town with cash and a flashy offer.  Thomas gets caught up--momentarily.   

Brian Underwood writes with such precision, saying just enough and not a word more.  A story that sticks.

Buckeye is as good as everyone has said.   Two families are brought together by chance and by circumstance in a city in northwestern Ohio.  Ryan's observations of human nature are great.  "'The whole reason you build a bridge together is so the water can run under it, right? And not wash the two of you away? Sometimes one of you makes it a flood, and then the water recedes.'"(348)    "What is it about time that confounds us? We spend it. We save it. We while it away. We waste it. We kill it. We complain about not having enough of it, or about having too much of it on our hands. We regret what we done with it. We give it away. We want it back....Felix saw it so clearly: all we should ever want of time is more of it." (430)  "The wisdom that comes with age was needling, [Cal] found, because it brought the clarity of hindsight without the means to change anything." (446)     

I wonder what Buckeye would be like as a movie.

Ann recommended this in a recent blog post (Fret Not Yourself). Thank you!

 Roxie Laybourne was an ornithologist at the Smithsonian who pioneered forensic techniques to indentify birds, particularly those involved with airplane crashes and human crimes.  She was independent, determined, and opinionated, both in her scientific research and as she dealt with the male-dominated world of 1950's-70's science. Chris Sweeney's writing style is very engaging.

Linking up with Finished or Not Friday Brag About Your Beauties

Weekly update: celebrations, a binding resolution, and remembering

The Lake County Women's Coalition annual Women's History Month luncheon was on Saturday.  Each LCWC member organization nominates an honoree who exemplifies the year's theme.   

I'm on the LCWC steering committee as the rep for the Zion Woman's Club but I am also a member of AAUW.  AAUW's honoree was Nan Buckart (bio on left) who was director of education for the Lake County Forest Preserves.  ZWC's honoree was Wendy Driver (bio on right) whose many interests in community activism include gardening (seed-saving, monarchs, zinnias, and more).  

Top:  the ZWC contingent.

Kim Sigafuss gave an informative and entertaining presention about Native American women in Illinois.  She is Ojibwe and is a musician and writer.  

I donated Black Diamond Strings to the silent auction.  It raised a respectable $350!   (LCWC funds go to scholarships for women at the College of Lake County.) 

I bought a lot of raffle tickets but I didn't win anything this time. 

Sunday afternoon with P.E.O. sisters. Sharon showed us how to decorate cookies with royal icing.  

Left:  the four I made. 

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The "binding resolution" was to finish all the placemats-in-progress -- 26.  

I also began binding the Trip Around the World mug rugs -- 21 so far, 20 to go. 

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 March 9, 2025, was our last forest preserve outing.  The parking lots have remained unguarded ever since.  

"Smile for your fan club!" And he always did. 

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

Friday check in: placemats

 I skipped Reflections, the AAUW book club, on Wednesday because I hadn't read the book.   Instead I took a walk at the state park.  I hadn't been there since early January (too cold, or too busy, or traveling).  It was good to be back on the path. Now if I can get back in the habit.....

Dogwood is reddening up.  Fungus looks like little flying saucers.

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The quilt guild meets by Zoom in January and February.  It was nice to be back in person this Wednesday evening.  One of the guild members, an art teacher (retired; with a previous career in fashion textile design) talked about color theory.  Her explanation was easy to understand and most informative. 

In the studio:  

21 placemats finished!  I'm aiming for 130 for the February, 2027 Rotary spaghetti dinner project. 

More placemats are underway. 

Linking up with Finished or Not Friday  From Bolt to Beauty 

Have a good weekend, everyone!