Weekly update: Q/B/L

Q/B/L = Quilted, Bound, and Labeled

I made the flimsy in January. The design is by Tammy Silvers.  The back is a duvet cover from Salvation Army with a strip of churn dash blocks from the swap that Barb hosted a couple of months ago.

This will be donated to the ALA silent auction.

Batik hexies have been my travel handwork for a while. The photo shows two "islands" of rosettes put together. I may incorporate these into a couple of tote bags that are on my to-do list.

Monday linkups:
Design Wall Monday
Oh, Scrap!
Moving It Forward

AAUW convention (quilt included)

The 94th annual convention of AAUW-Illinois was Friday and Saturday in the western suburb of Lisle, about 65 miles from home.  I picked up Erika mid-morning Friday, a good time to avoid rush hour traffic, and we arrived at the Hyatt in time for lunch with the Gender Equity Fund board. (GEF is an AAUW-IL affiliate.)   Once the GEF board had its meeting, neither Erika nor I had any obligations until the reception and dinner, so we went shopping. (I bought two jars of jam.)

Gloria Blackwell, AAUW's senior v.p. of fellowships and programs, gave the after-dinner speech.  The Association is revamping the strategic plan and bold changes are coming.

(Gloria is in the center with Waukegan Area Branch members Helen, Erika, me, and Jo-An.)

Saturday sessions were held at Benedictine University, also in Lisle.  In the morning:
*  being an informed and involved advocate for public policy issues -- in Illinois, the Equal Rights Amendment is at the top of the list
*  "What Title IX and the Legal History of Women's Sports Tell Us About the Regulation of Campus Sexual Misconduct Today" -- that's a very long title but, wow, what an information-packed presentation! Katharine Baker, professor at Chicago-Kent College of Law.  She reminded us that racial misconduct is not tolerated on campuses (if it happens, it's called out--by the administration, by the media) but sexual misconduct too often gets dismissed as "boys will be boys."
In the afternoon I went to two small-group sessions
* Pay Equity in Illinois  (AAUW is committed to ending the gender pay gap)
* How branches (=local AAUW chapters) can incorporate the AAUW mission in their programming

 This is the 15th year I've donated a quilt to raise funds for AAUW.  "Forest Paths" raised $460!  The winner won the quilt in 2010. (Coincidentally, that one was batik, too.)

The two tote bags I showed last week were in a silent auction for the Gender Equity Fund.  Each brought more than $50.

OMG results

My One Monthly Goal for April was to complete a list of four projects. (Nowhere does it say that ONE goal can't have several parts!)


(a)  Assemble the wedge wheel quilt, prepare the backing, and deliver it to Barb J. (the quilter)    DONE (delivered April 7)












(b)  Make a table runner for the Zion Woman's Club's donation to the GFWC-IL convention  
DONE
(c)  Make two tote bags for the AAUW Gender Equity Fund silent auction at the AAUW-IL convention 
DONE 

(d) Catch up with the Rainbow Scrap Challenge  DONE

I'm working on the list for May's OMG, but
meanwhile here's the link up to other OMG
accomplishments:  April OMG

Weekly update: the three bears

Projects this week were like the Three Bears.

Here's Mama Bear (medium):
 The wallhanging is quilted and bound. I have printed the label but haven't sewn it on yet.  I had a heck of a time getting the pinwheels to fit. I measured the center block several times and cut . . . too small! So I had to add coping strips. Then I had to trim the side strips a bit more.  It's 16 x 20.











Here's Papa Bear (large):   This is approx. 52 x 60.  It's the very last round of the guild round robin. My addition is the batik checkerboard outer border.  (The beginning center block has eight small paper-pieced elephants.) It will certainly be interesting to see how participants have added to each of our beginning blocks. The presentation will be at the guild meeting May 3.











Here's Baby Bear (small):  Actually, a litter of baby bears.  These four mug rugs (6 x 9) will be included in gift baskets for the outgoing AAUW officers. Installation is at the May 8 meeting. (AAUW colors are green and blue).

The inner stars are 3" finished. Those small pieces (1-1/4 for the corner squares) did not daunt me. I made many units on that scale for the Moda Blockheads project.
I promptly trimmed the cutaway triangles from the larger flying geese.

Here is Goldilocks: the second tote bag for the Gender Equity Fund silent auction fundraiser at next weekend's AAUW-IL convention. I have the front and back pieced and quilted.

I'm adding this post to the Monday link ups:
Oh, Scrap!
Design Wall Monday
Moving It Forward





P.S. Friday was National Pineapple Upside Down Cake Day.  We celebrated appropriately.

Weekly update: OMGs are nearly finished -- snow fooling!

The weekend weather was unseasonable: chilly and windy on Saturday, snow on Sunday.  C'mon, Mother Nature, it's mid-April!  The power went out just as our church service began.  No organ, no projector.  We used the bulletin for the responsive readings and sang a capella using the hymnal.  Power was out at home, too (a block from the church).  ComEd crews responded promptly and we were back in business at 12:15 p.m.  Considering that northeastern Wisconsin got record-breaking snowfall (23" in Green Bay), ours was a minor inconvenience.

My stated April OMG was to complete a list of four projects.  I've shown the wedding wedge wheel quilt (now at the longarmer) and the GFWC-IL convention door prize.

OMG part 3:
This week I caught up on Chinese Puzzle blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge -- green for March and yellow for April.  Each block is 12.5" (unf).









OMG part 4:  This tote bag is a donation to  Gender Equity Fund fundraiser at the AAUW-IL convention later this month.

The panel is cut from a tote bag I got at the ALA Midwinter meeting.

I plan to make a second tote bag for GEF . . . but meanwhile a new project is in the works. This will be a small wall hanging for the outgoing president of the Zion Woman's Club.  The 2018-20 officers will be installed on May 1.

Monday link ups:
Design Wall Monday (happy birthday to Judy!)
Moving It Forward
Monday Making
Oh Scrap!

Saturday: P.E.O. Founders Day

On Saturday I joined 130 P.E.O. sisters from Lake County chapters for the annual Founders Day luncheon.   I have met many members of other chapters because I've given programs and through my involvement on the round table board.   P.E.O. was founded in 1869 so sesquicentennial preparations are in full swing. 

This year's theme, "Raise Your Voices P.E.O.," was reflected in the invitations (my chapter's job) that used real 45's and the centerpieces that used a melted/shaped LP for the vase and a 45 for the logo.

The program was "P.E.O. Fashion Through the Decades." What a hoot!

In the 1870's they wore gingham CHECK aprons.





  In the 1890's they wore BALLOON sleeves and SWEETHEART necklines.







In the 20's they wore flapper dresses and TEDDIEs. 

In the 70's they wore BELL bottoms (she jingled!), SHELL tops, and SHADES.

The RBQS* comes to town

* RBQS = Really Big Quilt Show -- that is, the International Quilt Festival -- is at Rosemont this week.  ("Rosemont" is Chicago-speak for the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in the village of Rosemont, Illinois.  Here is more than you thought you needed to know about the eponymous Mr. Stephens.)

I've been to the RBQS, hmmm, eight times.  I remember the inaugural show in 2003.  The exhibits were squeezed into the upper-level exhibit halls and I heard that the convention center people didn't believe that a quilt show would draw 20,000 people. Subsequent shows have been in the larger first-level hall.  For a few years there was no Chicago show and for a couple of years I had ALA obligations that weekend.  When I dreamed of retirement I thought I would gorge on quilt shows for a year and go to all of them. That hasn't happened.  Paducah and Houston are on my bucket list.

This year's show began Thursday and ends Saturday.  Friday was the day Irene and I could go. We met my online friend Ellie and my Magpie friend Anna at lunchtime. 



But before that were quilt exhibits and after that was shopping!

Only two exhibits had "no photography" this year. (In the past there have been too many no-photo areas.)   I didn't get all the quiltmakers' names (sorry).

These quilts were in an exhibit called HERstory. The women honored are artist Emily Carr (a long-time favorite of mine), Julia Shepherd who successfully fought for women's suffrage in New Zealand in 1893, the Abbott sisters of Grand Island, Nebraska, who were pioneering social workers at Hull-House, and Rosa Parks.









There seemed to be less fabric at the vendors at this show.  I wonder if the closure of Free Spirit (Kaffe Fassett, Tula Pink, etc.) made the difference?  Those designers are moving to other companies but that's still in transition.  I bought 23-7/8 yards and spent $159.  That's discipline!

Midweek: Field trip

Yesterday we added to our Frank Lloyd Wright list with a field trip to Penwern on Delavan Lake in Walworth County, Wisconsin.   The tour was sponsored by the lifelong learning division of the College of Lake County.  We met at the Southlake Campus where Mark Hertzberg, the tour guide, told us about the history of the estate and FLW's other commissions at Delavan.  Mark is a FLW expert whose book about Penwern will be published next year.  It was his connection that got us entry because Penwern is privately-owned and not open to the public.

 Fred B. Jones (1858-1933) was president of Adams & Westlake, manufacturers of railroad lanterns.  In 1900 he and four business associates purchased property at Delavan Lake and commissioned Frank Lloyd Wright to design their lakeside "cottages."   Penwern is a Welsh word meaning (most likely) "at the head of the field," or "at the head of the alder tree," perhaps a place-name from Wright's family. (Though wouldn't the client name the house?)  Jones, a lifelong bachelor, entertained frequently at Penwern.

There have been four owners since Jones' time. The current owners, John and Susan Major , bought the estate in 1994 and have been restoring it ever since. 

There are four buildings on the property: the gate house, the stable, the main house, and the boathouse. We were able to go inside the gatehouse (where the caretakers live) and the main house.

Entrance lantern 

Cistern adjacent to gatehouse

Gatehouse

Stable

Down the drive to the main house 

Entry is at the left of the arch. FLW liked "tunnel" entries.

Porch, looking NW over the lake 

Looking back from the lake side 

Billiard room windows--commercial panes, not custom, per FLW 

Arch over the open porch 

Boathouse  

It's pleasant to dream about summertime parties of long ago!

 [You can read Mark Hertzberg's story about Penwern here .]