Weekly update: treats, trash (twice), triangles, and OMG

Rotary was one of the community groups in Friday's Trail of Treats sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce. The trail led through the park to the Park District center for their annual Halloween party. 






 



On Saturday morning the Zion Woman's Club (with a few husbands to help) participated in a beach cleanup at  Illinois Beach State Park.  (I found a used condom and a Welcome Baby Girl balloon. There's a tale!)   I also got some beach glass for my collection.

At home

A tile floor from a long-gone building has been breaking up for years.  I get a few pieces of tile each time I go to the beach and put them under the spigot at the back of our house. Right now the old floor is exposed.


 Saturday ended with more trash. The band Vocal Trash in performance (part of the LCCCA season). They were wonderful -- dancing, singing, drumming.

The Heart Strings group had a post about a block drive for Hurricane Michael relief efforts. The post had this link with more information. I made 50 blocks.  (2 yards used, counting the fabric for the foundations.) 

I found a box of batik HSTs on a bottom shelf. The triangles were cutaway corners. Most had been sewn but a lot hadn't. A few had been trimmed but most had not.  They're now all sewn and all trimmed to 1.5"  They haven't told me how they want to be assembled.






And (finally) here is my report for the One Monthly Goal finish link up .  I stated that I would set the blocks that I made for the guild's Missouri Star sampler BOM, that I would catch up with the new guild BOM (wonky houses), and finish the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.   The first two are done.   I did not make a tenth Chinese Puzzle block out of this month's RSC color, sage green, but as I type this post I wonder: how about using sage in the setting?  Gotta ponder that for a while . . .

Monday link ups, in addition to OMG :
Design Wall Monday
Moving It Forward
Monday Making
 Oh Scrap!

Friday fling in the other direction!

The Stashbusters talk about the Friday fling, the idea being to get rid of stuff.  I had a Friday fling TO me rather than FROM me.

What treasures lie within?

An acquaintance is a professional crafter. She makes table runners, hot pads, placemats, etc. I saw her at an estate sale a couple of weeks ago. She said, "Oh, I've been meaning to call you! Can you use quilting fabric?" She explained that she had tried some projects that didn't sell and didn't want the remaining fabric. She didn't have to ask twice.  "I can make it disappear from your house," I assured her.

Yesterday I called her.  Morning would be great. Bring a tub to put it in.

All the fabric was bagged. The tub wasn't needed.   

For the guild

I weighed all of it:  87 pounds. That's 348 yards!  150 yards will go to my guild for charity projects.  (Kids' novelties: superheroes, Dora the Explorer, Frozen.)  198 yards will make a home in my stash.  (Lots of great basics: yellow, blue, orange.)

For me! 

This wipes out the YTD net decrease in my stash, but, oh, how I will enjoy it all.  (And it was FREE!)

 Linking up with  Whoop Whoop!

Weekly update: a fling, a finish, and a flimsy

 The fling.  I still have a lot of fashion fabric left over from the days that I sewed my own clothing.  I learned that there's a rug hooking group in the area (Loopy Ladies).   I emailed asking if they could use wool yardage. Yes! And yesterday I took a box of yardage to their meeting.  It was gratefully received.  I told them I could not stay -- keep me from temptation! I admire rug hooking but I am not going to take it up. There's enough opportunity and variety in quilt making to keep me plenty busy.

The fashion fabric has not been counted in my stash reports so I won't count it as "fabric used," but I am happy to say that I emptied a 66-gallon plastic tub.  One day later: the tub is still empty.

The finish.
 I pieced Nine by Nine patch earlier this year.  It came to the top of the pile of flimsies so I quilted it.  The white-background poppy print that I used for the back complemented the white of the quilt. (It wouldn't have worked for last week's Poppy Stars which doesn't have any white.)

 In retrospect I should have continued the insert band across the back.  Too late now!
Back and binding used 3 yards.



























The flimsy.  A few weeks ago I began piecing batik crumbs with no specific plan.  I used my largest square ruler -- 15" -- to trim those I'd make.  More blocks followed.

Here's the result. I chose the very bright  batik so the sashes and borders would  blend with the extremely busy blocks.
Of course I couldn't count yardage using the size of the pieces. Instead I weighed it -- 1 lb., 1 oz. That's 4-1/8 yards.

And, yes, there are still a lot of batik bits and pieces awaiting a future project.

Monday link ups:
Design Wall Monday
Monday Making
Oh Scrap!
Moving It Forward


P.S.  Rosebuds in late October. Foolhardy or optimistic?  (Actually, they indicate that the gardener is not diligent in keeping the bush pruned.)

Midweek: Poppy Stars, front and back

Here's the front.
I used a gold/orange print for the binding.

Here's the back.

I got to thinking: I know I won 40 sixteen-patch blocks. If I used 30 on the front and six on the back, what happened to the others?  I found them yesterday in the mailing envelope.  Four more orphans for the box!


Linking up at Midweek Makers today.

Weekly update: blossoms, books, bunco, blocks, and WIP

 The week flew by as quickly as cumulus clouds on a bright autumn day. 

Fringed gentian is in bloom at Illinois Beach State Park. Isn't that a beautiful shade of blue?   Along the same trail:  flame-red sumac.







 Natalie Rompella was the speaker at Tuesday's AAUW meeting. I didn't get a picture of her but I did snap a photo of two of her children's books. She's a former teacher turned nonfiction writer (with one upper-grade novel to her credit). As a librarian I've been the penultimate consumer of children's books. Natalie provided insights into the creative and business parts of the continuum.  (BTW, Famous Firsts is really interesting. I hadn't ever thought about who invented the trampoline, or cheerleading, or in-line skates.)

A good time was had by all Friday night at the Zion Woman's Club annual bunco fundraiser.  It included dinner, a silent auction, a bucket raffle, and a 50/50 drawing.  I contributed a quilt, a table runner, and a tote bag to the silent auction.  They did respectably (and the purchasers got good deals).   The treasurer's preliminary report is $1900 profit for the charities the club supports. 

I made three Halloween blocks for the October Block Lotto.  I had to search through the stash to find frightful seasonal prints for the centers.




These California Poppy blocks are some of the  winnings from the August Block Lotto. The final batch arrived from Australia this week.  A side-by-side setting did not thrill me.  Hmmm. What about alternate blocks? 

Here is the result!  It's 60 x 72. 


I used Deb Tucker's Wing Clipper ruler for the sawtooth stars.

It's under the needle now.  I'll post a photo of the pieced back in a day or two.

Here is the Monday link lineup:
Design Wall Monday
Monday Making
Oh Scrap!
Moving It Forward

Weekly update: the sampler is a flimsy

I talked about Toby jugs

The first week of every month is meeting-ful.  I hosted my P.E.O. chapter Monday evening. I was also my own co-hostess (since the person assigned was not able to attend) and the program presenter. The topic was "an item from my collection" and each member showed samples and told the story of something she collects.  (I'm the chapter recording secretary, too.)
   
 Zion Woman's Club meets the first Tuesday. I was the program coordinator.  Our club members contribute canned and boxed goods to the local food pantry using Green Bags.  This month we met at the church where the  pantry operates. The pantry manager gave the presentation.   This way we got to see where and how our donations go. (This pantry serves 250 people every week. They buy from Northern Illinois Food Bank and get "food recovery" baked goods and produce from local supermarkets. ZWC's food provides a variety of extras.) (I'm also the club secretary.) 

     Northern Lake County Quilters Guild met Wednesday evening.  Chris Lynn Kirsch  talked about her "journey to the dark side."  She began as a garment sewer and discovered quilting in the 1980's. Her presentation included family photos with those long-ago fashions and her art quilts.  (I am NOT the secretary. :))

     Coalition for Healthy Communities meets the first Friday morning. It was a routine meeting. I've been on the board for 15 years, 9 or 10 as secretary (it's been so long that I can't remember). My term ends in December and I am stepping down.

WAB is 90 years old this year

The northern fall conference of    AAUW-IL was on Saturday morning at the IIT campus in Wheaton. The speakers addressed AAUW's priority issues of equity in leadership and education.  Cheryl Maletich is the first woman operations v.p. for ComEd.  Cynthia Vasquez Barrios is dean of students and Title IX compliance officer at Joliet Junior College. Cindy explained how changes proposed by the  Dept. of Education will impact (negatively) reporting and dealing with campus violence against women (primarily sexual assault).  The Kavanugh confirmation hearings were on all of our minds.
      Photo:   The fall conference has become the launch day for our branch holiday raffle quilt.  I sold $85 in tickets for Cardinals in the Pines.

      Saturday evening was a date night.  We heard the Chicago Bassoon Quartet in concert.    They were great.

# # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # ##
Each of these meetings was interesting, thought-provoking, and valuable, but there wasn't a lot of sewing time.  I concentrated on my One Monthly Goal:  to complete the blocks from the 2017-18 guild BOM.  All featured Missouri Star patterns.  I chose to make them in homespun. I had two challenges:  balance (sampler blocks vary in density (which is why I don't make many sampler quilts)) and different sizes.  I fiddled around with a different homespun sash to border each block but homespun patches in the blocks blurred with the sashes. Yet cream-on-cream sashes with COC outer edges meant blurring the other way. The eureka! came when I used a skinny homespun border on one block and realized that would look good on all the blocks. I recently bought four yards of a subtle COC polka dot print that was just right to frame each block.   The sashes are a woven stripe and homespun cornerstones.  But what to use for the border?  My stash yielded a vintage (36"w) low-volume woven stripe that was just right.

The flimsy is 62 x 80 and used 4-1/2 yards.

Monday link ups:  Monday Making
Moving It Forward
Oh, Scrap!
Design Wall Monday

A blue ribbon!

One of my quilts, Crystal Chain, won a blue ribbon in its category (bed-sized, machine-quilted) at last weekend's quilt show. 



Rose's Alaskan wildflowers applique won two ribbons. It is a beauty.






Rose's embroidered-and-quilted octopus (designed and made for her daughter and son-in-law) got a blue ribbon, too.







Madelyn's autumn quilt got a ribbon.

So did Sharon's Farmer's Wife sampler.














Irene's t-shirt quilt (made for her son-in-law using his archery t-shirts) earned a ribbon as well.  It is a huge quilt.  Irene says he loves it.

OMG, October edition

My One Monthly Goal for October is to catch up on Blocks of the Month.  Yes, that's plural.  (I often have multi-part OMGs.)

A.   The guild BOM for 2017-2018 has featured a different Missouri Star pattern each month.    Those who bring all the blocks set (quilting not required) to the November guild meeting will qualify for a grand prize.  I need to make the June,July and August blocks. (This photo shows two of one month's block.)  I have a setting in mind.

(I used homespuns and cream-on-cream. The green background is not part of the setting; rather, it's so that you can see the block better.)








B. The guild BOM for 2018-19 is paper-pieced wonky houses.  Here is my September block. For OMG I will make the October block.  (My theme:  Dot's House, using polka dots.)


C.  October is the last month for the 2018 Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  The color is dark and sage green.   You've seen my Chinese Puzzle blocks often.  This will be #10.



I'm joining  other OMGers at Elm Street Quilts

Weekly update, part 2: an accessory, two finishes, and the stash report

Antoinette's Quilt Shop of Plover, Wisconsin, was one of the quilt show vendors (see previous post). They make ironing board extenders in three sizes (and a 36" square mini-board).  I bought the small size -- just $50 and "free shipping to your car," as they joked.

It's made out of particle board covered with reflective stuff, batting, and heavy cotton duck.






I had a productive week in the studio with two finishes!

Here is my version of Rowan Baby, made from a pattern in  a 2005 Kaffe Fassett book.  There are no Kaffe prints in it so perhaps it should be called Decaf.

The pieced back uses 3.5" nine-patches from the Block Swappers.




I wrote a week ago that Boxed Four-Patch had come together easily.  The quilting was painless, too.  I put loopy flowers in each four-patch, serpentine in the green sashes, spiral in the red sashes, and almost-feathers in the border.    The pieced back used up nearly all of four different tan prints and more Block Swappers' four-patches.

I haven't quite decided on my OMG list for October, but meanwhile here's the Stash Report for September:
Fabric IN:  23-1/2, $125
Fabric OUT: 37-1/8

Year-to-date:
Fabric IN:  244-1/8, $875 ($3.58/yd)
Fabric OUT: 438-3/8
Net decrease:  194-1/4   Hooray!

Monday link ups:  Monday Making
Oh, Scrap!
Design Wall Monday
Moving It Forward 

Weekly update, part 1: Quilt Show

Lake County Impressiona XIV, the Northern Lake County Quilters Guild biennial show, was this weekend.  We had a new venue this year -- a former elementary school, now township offices -- which provided sufficient space for quilt exhibits and vendors.  I worked at the boutique on Saturday and the silent auction on Sunday.

At our guild meeting this coming Wednesday we'll
find out who won Viewer's Choice and Member's Choice.









Collage #1:  the Roman Stripe (bottom right) is made out of fine-wale corduroy, front and back.  The maker said the bits of corduroy pile made a terrible mess.

Collage #2
The blue/lime/purple sampler, top right, shows all the blocks made from Deb Tucker's Studio 180 rulers.  The same person made the exuberant paisley (100 x 100) in the center.  Middle right is a Judy Niemeyer pattern. Lower left is the Farmer's Wife. 

Collage #3:  the upper left and middle right are vintage quilts (middle-right is unquilted). The embroidered octopus is about 3' x 4'. 

Here are my entries.  I have blogged about all of them as I've made them. I sold Scraps for Edna (middle right)!