Sunday, May 16, 2021

Weekly update: wildflowers, a small indulgence, a flimsy, and reading

 
Don't miss the previous post about the Bisa Butler quilts at the Art Institute!


On a clear day you can see the Chicago skyline from Illinois Beach State Park. 




On the same hike I saw an egret and prickly pear cactus. (Yes, it does grow this far north.) 

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On Tuesday we drove to Elm Grove, just west of Milwaukee, so I could shop for fabric at Patched Works. 52 miles -- the farthest I've driven in months.  Milwaukee highways are a spaghetti bowl and I was glad I was driving mid-day rather than at rush hour.

I could have spent a lot of money and bought a lot of fabric but I exercised tremendous restraint. I got what I needed and a little bit extra. 




We enjoyed lunch at a restaurant across the street from the shop. 







I cut into the new fabric that evening.  It's the sashing for my version of Nine Patch Square Dance, the 2021 American Patchwork and Quilting Sew-Along.  I had just enough of the leafy green print for the border.   







This week I also quilted the scrappy black-and-gray flimsy.  It's lap-sized.


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Serenade for Nadia was an interesting love story. It was published in Turkey in 2010 and published in English in 2020.  Maya is an administrative assistant at the university of Istanbul.  She's juggling: her job, being a single mother to a teenager, dealing with her ex-husband, her sometimes boyfriend, her parents.   She is asked to chaperon  Maximilian Wagner, an 87-year-old professor from Boston who had taught at the university during World War II.  He is coming for a last visit to the place where his wife died in 1942. She was a passenger on a ship overloaded with Jewish refugees en route from Romania to Palestine. The Soviets sunk the ship. [That is a true story.]  Maya helps Prof. Wagner come to a resolution.  He in turn helps her come to terms with her situation.


Sunnyside Plaza is a book for upper-elementary kids to adults.  It's told by Sally Miyake, aka SalGal, who lives in a group home for developmentally disabled adults.  SalGal and her friends help the police figure out how two Sunnyside residents died mysteriously.  

Scott Simon signed the ARC (advance reader copy) at ALA Midwinter in January, 2020.  Seems like forever ago, doesn't it? ("Winthrop Harbor?" he said as he read my nametag. "I've been there."  [He grew up in Chicago.])

Linking up with Oh Scrap!    Monday Making    Design Wall Monday 

7 comments:

  1. Love you Nine Patch Square Dance! The colors are wonderful. What did you use for the centers?
    Sounds like you had a grand trip to AIC, Always a fun place to visit.

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  2. Patched Works is definitely worth the trip. I'm glad you found what you needed and showed restraint otherwise.

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  3. Yea for restraint. (Okay, I admit I might have been totally tempted to buy more than what I needed.) That is a great quilt. The new border looks super with it. And, a finished quilt too. You've been busy. We actually went out to lunch this week and ate in a restaurant. It felt great. We'd never been there but liked the food so we'll be back eventually.

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  4. The quilt is a beauty! I love that color you chose for the sashing. Wow!!

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  5. aaah the lure of the bolt....looks like a great day all around!

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  6. Always a good day when a drive ends at a quilt shop! Glad you got out and saw some sights. Your quilts look terrific.

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  7. The colors and layout of your Square Dance are great.
    I had no idea cactus grew that far north. But I was a great heron flying above the bayou on my walk today.

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