Friday check in: a fine, a field trip, and a finish

Wednesday turned out to be an expensive day.  The first expense was to the electrician who came after lunch. He replaced the 8' fluorescent tubes in the laundry room with two 4' LED fixtures. It's bright enough to perform surgery in the laundry room now!  ($$ to pay him.)   

 Then I drove up to Joann's in Racine to buy batting.  I usually buy it by the bolt but I couldn't get the Joann's online system to take the five $25 gift cards I wanted to use.    I was nearly at the mall when I got nailed by a cop.  No, I did not know that the speed limit dropped from 55 to 35 just south of at intersection.  (And of course I was going over 55.)   $$ for that ticket. (To add insult to injury, the officer said, "Drive careful!"   I drive more grammatically than that!)

I was so irritated with myself that I went right to the batting, bypassing the fabric.   "Oh, that's a speed trap," the store clerk said as she measured 5 yards of batting for me.   At the cash register I swiped a gift card, and another, and another.  They did not go through.  Hmmm.  Did the online system take them and is that online order pending?  I will have to investigate.  $ for the batting.   

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Gusty winds but sunny

Thursday afternoon seven of us from AAUW enjoyed a tour of the Frances Willard House in Evanston.   She was an educator (dean of women at Northwestern) and social activist (longtime president of the WCTU and very active in the suffrage movement).  

 From the website:  Frances Willard was a social reformer who stood out against gender inequality and fought to give a voice to society’s disenfranchised.  Willard forged a prototype for community organization and social reform that transformed our cultural landscape. The basis of our modern social welfare policies can be found in the initiatives fomented by Willard. Her life’s work is an example of what can be done when one is devoted to a cause.  Her ability to work hard and to mobilize others to work hard is a model of personal determination and amazing leadership skills.  To this day, Frances Willard continues to be “re-discovered” as the prototype of the modern, forward-thinking woman.

Life-sized cutout -- Frances was small and mighty. 

Dictation machine, arts & crafts touches in her upstairs office.  

Fellow quilter Dorothy and I noted the quilt (no information about it).  

I paid close attention to the speedometer as I drove.   It was nice to chat with my passengers Dorothy and Betsy. I've known both for a long time but they didn't know one another. 

I can relate to this.  

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The finish!  

Hopscotch, front.

Hopscotch, back.  The blue fabric has been in the tub of backing-length for a long, long time. The HSTs in the insert strip are from this long-ago project.  

Linking up with other bloggers at  

Finished or Not Friday

P.S.  Quilters always take photos of floors! This oak parquet pattern was in Frances Willard's office.