Weekly update: treats, totes, and a scrappy flimsy

On Saturday the P.E.O.s in Lake County celebrated Founders' Day.  Because I am on the round table board and because I've given programs for other chapters I knew many of the women there -- but it was a pleasant surprise to see a woman who is a former member of my quilt guild. She's been a P.E.O. for a year and a half.  She now belongs to the other guild--and a member of my chapter is in that guild but the two don't know they share P.E.O. as well as quilting.

The program was "Notable Women in Lake County History," presented by historian Diana Dretzke. Among them: a 19th century temperance advocate, an innovative dairy farmer, the first Illinois woman to vote in a state election -- and many others.

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We were hosts for coffee hour/luncheon after church this morning. In honor of St. Patrick's Day I made a loaf of soda bread and set out the components for make-your-own-Reuben sandwiches (with the little square slices of rye bread that we used to call "cocktail" rye -- these packages called it "entertainment size").  For dessert I made Hamantaschen because Purim is this coming Wednesday.
I used poppyseed, apricot, and lemon curd filling -- more of the latter two because I thought (correctly) that the kids would think the poppyseeds were gross.

As I rolled, cut out, and filled the cookie dough Stevens read the Book of Esther aloud to refresh my memory of the story.    Hamantaschen  means "Haman's pockets" and the filling is said to be the money he gave to the king. (The Wikipedia explanation is here.)  In Biblical times clothing didn't have pockets the way we know them -- rather, pockets were pouches that hung from a belt or waist cord. Hence, the three-cornered Hamantaschen isn't an odd design.

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My friend Cindy commissioned a tote bag as a baby shower gift.  She plans to add picture books.  I looked up teddy bear clip art to find the design.  It was easy to trace onto fusible web.

The second tote bag will be donated to a GFWC-IL event.  I'll add books from the seemingly undiminished stack of advance reader copies that I got at the ALA conference in January.













This is the fifth red rails quilt I've made.*  There was a ziploc bag in the orphan blocks box with 42 four-unit blocks and 24 single units. I have 1.5" x 3.5" strips already cut and it didn't take long to make more units and blocks. There won't be a border and I'll trim the edges after I've quilted it.   (3-1/2 yds.)

* I have gone back to find photos of the other four and labeled each post "red rails" if you want to see them.




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