Weekly update: a luncheon, a finish, and progress

Heidi Stevens and Waukegan Area Branch members

Chicago Tribune columnist Heidi Stevens was the speaker at the AAUW Networking Luncheon on Saturday.  Her talk was an extension of her column, "Balancing Act":  Identify your core values and apply those to making the world a better place. She cited three examples:
*  the Jackson Chance Foundation that provides parking passes for parents with NICU babies at Prentice Hospital in Chicago
*  the Cook County judge who provides books to juvenile offenders . (She asked one teen if he ever read books. He had *one* book at his house which he had read over and over. Now she provides shelves of books for the taking.)
*  Marly Dias who launched  #1000BlackGirlBooks when she was 11. Now she's 15.

I was fortunate to be seated at Heidi's table.  Over lunch she talked about changes in newspaper publication, reporting, and editorial/opinion/balance.

This was the 35th networking luncheon. It's a nice opportunity to see AAUW friends from the north and northwest suburbs.

Oh, and the quilt?  That's our branch spring raffle quilt. (I realized at 8 a.m. Saturday that the luncheon would be an ideal time to sell tickets. I rushed to print tickets and a small poster, attach a hanging sleeve to the quilt (which is documented in this post), and grab the display stand. $70 sold!)

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From start to finish in a week: Hoytyville is quilted and bound.   I dipped into the 3.5" 9p box for the spacer row.  I sewed the top pieces together in a straight line. How did that curve occur?

Set 5 in front of sets 1-4

I finished the fifth set of 48 HeartStrings blocks in as many months. The new batch has a 2" center strip and 1.5" (rather than 2") side strips.  Narrower pieces take longer!  I'll send the blocks to one of the HS sew-ins for the group to assemble and quilt.

(This link will tell you more about HeartStrings.)

I got behind in the weekly Moda Blockheads . Last evening I made  #43, #44, #45. I'd like to get #46 and #47 finished before the final block -- #48 -- comes out this Wednesday.

Monday link ups:
Oh Scrap!
Main Crush Monday
Monday Making
Design Wall Monday
BOMS Away