Lynn and I have known one another since kindergarten. We reconnected last year on our high school class's 50th reunion FB group. She joined me on Tuesday for a hike at Illinois Beach State Park. It was a pleasant 3-mile catching-up.
Wednesday my husband and I went out to discover a new-to-us segment of the lakefront bike trail. It was so calm -- in great contrast to the upheaval in Washington, D.C. which we watched on the news, horrified.
(You can tell it's a different day by the color of my turtleneck. :) )
The sun was out on Saturday when we revisited
Middlefork Savanna in Lake Forest. That's teasel on the left. It is so photogenic but it is actually an aggressive invasive species. (It was used to raise the nap of woolen cloth. Read more
here.)
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In the studio: a corner of the MQG mini quilt. I will mail it to my swap partner tomorrow. Midweek I'll show the entire quilt and share the story of the design.
I'm fiddling with ways to arrange the HSTs I made for last year's Rainbow Scrap Challenge. This month's RSC is pink.
But, oh, those batiks! They were so happy to be let out of their wire baskets. (Remember, for two months I was devoted to the Civil War repro project.) I had a few four-patches on hand. I had a few framed four-patch blocks on hand. And now I have many more. They are 5.5" unfinished and as you can see I'm considering setting them as nine-patches.
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Nev March's debut novel, Murder in Old Bombay, is a mystery/romance set in 1890's Bombay -- the height of the British occupation. Capt. Jim Agnihotri, an Anglo-Indian army veteran, is hired to find out who murdered two Parsee (Zoroastrian) women. It is not a clear-cut case. Jim's life is in jeopardy as he untangles a web of blackmail and deceit. It's entertaining and just complex enough to keep the reader going.
The All-Together Quilt is a charming addition to my collection of quilt-related picture books. It is based on Piece-by-Piece, an intergenerational/intercultural quilt project in Norwalk, Connecticut. Rockwell describes the process of making a quilt (how to cut the pieces and how to assemble blocks) in a straightforward, non-cutesy way. The illustrations are of real people. It's a gem!
Here is the author's website.
Here is the Quilt Alliance's story of the Piece-by-Piece project.
Linking up with Scrap Happy Saturday, Oh Scrap! Monday Making, Design Wall Monday
P.S. In-person church services resumed today!
Lovely to have a nice walk and visit with a friend. I’m looking forward to seeing how the framed four patches turn out. Thanks for the suggestion for a good mystery. My reading list always gets longer, I’m always up for that. Reading Little Fires Everywhere now and liking it. Stay well. We hope to get our vaccinations soon.
ReplyDeleteIt is such a lovely thing - to get out and walk with a friend these days! You have wonderful places to do that, Nann. Your batik project is looking promising and so different from your Civil War quilt project. Your latest books sound interesting, too!
ReplyDeleteWhat a beautiful day for a hike! Love the flying geese HST blocks. Always a classic choice.
ReplyDeletegreat batik blocks! cannot go wrong with batiks for anything! lovely outdoor photos but looks cooooold!
ReplyDeleteSounds like you had a fun week - I like all those walks!!! I think that is a better way to spend the day, rather than the other unrest! So not to shamefully plug my own blog - but I just completed 28 weeks of half square blocks - maybe you could find some extra inspirations there? ( its the happy half square tab)
ReplyDeleteLovely post--you always have great variety to share.
ReplyDeleteI haven't been getting out of the house much and that, plus the horrible news, hasn't made my mood anything but sad/mad. Wish that burned calories too.
How lovely to reconnect with a school friend. It's so cold here I wish I had turtlenecks.
ReplyDeleteI've never seen teasel before but had heard of it. Didn't know it was invasive. We'll never get all the invaders eradicated, will we? Sort of like viruses. We move around too quickly these days.
You have such a clever layout for your batiks. Thanks for sharing process photos. And thanks for another book rec.
I'll have to see if the library has that children's quilt book. It sounds very interesting. Hum, you pulled out your pink HST. But are you going to do blocks this year or use it as a way to use up blocks from previous years? Just curious.
ReplyDeleteLove those framed 4-patch blocks set into a 9-patch. That's a beautiful use of those batiks.
ReplyDeleteYour book recommendations always intrigue me. Murder in Bombay is going on my "some day" reading list.
Good start on your pinks and the batik project is beautiful. I like walking too but, since my husband won't go, I take the dog! Hahaha!
ReplyDeleteLove your walking photos. I'm a wimp, it's too cold for me to brave a walk. The pink blocks look great and so do your batik framed 9 patches. Happy stitching this weekend.
ReplyDeleteThat looked like a great walk! A friend of mine got me hooked and we walk every morning!
ReplyDeleteLove the pinks you are working with!