Sunday, November 27, 2022

Weekly update: the blue bins


 


Both Friday and Saturday were sunny and warm. We enjoyed outings to Ray Lake and Pine Dunes.   

Lower left: a beaver lodge. Lower right: a ladder.   The trails at both preserves were 2.25 miles.  The more I walk the easier it gets!




A front came through and today (Sunday) was overcast and much colder.  After church we stayed home.  We put out the Christmas decorations.   The boys are back! (The biggest one never went away....)   These are all German nutcrackers (and four smokers) acquired over many years.  


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In the studio: 


The blue bin, home to fat quarters and chunks, was overflowing.  It's been a long time since I made a mostly blue quilt.  Bonnie Hunter's "My Blue Heaven" popped into mind. I looked up the pattern and got to cutting. And sewing. And trimming. Repeat. Count. And repeat some more.

(Bonnie's directions call for making the flying geese out of strips. I'm making four-at-a-time (see the lower right in the photo of two 3" squares layered on a 5-1/2" square).  My method avoids cut-away corners that I either throw away or make into bonus triangles. I don't need any more bonus triangles!)

The date on the printout is 2007.  



It's generating its own pile of scraps. 


Linking up with  Design Wall Monday Stitching Stuff and Oh Scrap! 


P.S.  Bonnie was interviewed for the Save Our Stories project.  The Textile Talks recording is on YouTube here




Friday, November 25, 2022

Friday check in: so much to be thankful for + a finish + OMG

 

Four days of mild weather (as high as 58) and sunshine = four afternoon walks. We'll have another this afternoon.  

(Three forest preserves -- Rollins Savanna, Lyons Woods, Van Patten Woods -- and Hosah Park along the lakefront.)  







The path really rocked on Thanksgiving Day.  Once I started seeing the painted stones I kept seeing them -- 18. There were probably a few that I missed. 







We enjoyed our traditional favorites at our just-us dinner.    The pie is made from the Halloween pumpkins.  The cranberry relish is Mama Stamberg's from NPR.   It's an acquired taste that we acquired long ago. 


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In the studio:  the "unexpected development" I wrote about on Monday is finished.



The back isn't very imaginative.  The tan print (paisley) selvedge said 2006.     


I quilted curving lines that look somewhat like long, narrow leaves.  


My stated OMG for November was to make three flimsies. I said that finishing them was a bonus.  I've done all of that and more with four start-to-finish quilts (this one, the 16-patch, Ladder Stars, and Patchwork Fields) plus a finish (Batik Churn Dash).  

Linking up with Finished or Not Friday  (thank you, Alycia!) and OMG at Elm Street Quilts (thank you, Patty!)     


P.S.  I'm undecided about participating in the Chilhowie mystery.  Meanwhile, I've begun a new quilt . . .


Sunday, November 20, 2022

Weekly update: surprise revealed + unexpected development

 Brrr!  It's cold -- no walks this weekend.  I look forward to Wednesday-through-next-weekend when temps will reach 40.

The studio is in the basement where it's cozy in the winter and relatively cool in the summer (the effect of earth-sheltering).  I finished the  16-patch quilt that was under the needle on Friday.  I had in mind that either blue or green for the setting but I couldn't find a print that would go with both the light cream and the definite tan in the 16-patches. I did not want to make MORE 16-patches since the point of the project was to use up these blocks that came from leftover strips from Patchwork Fields (see last Monday's post).  

The coral 19th-c repro surfaced and it was just right.  



Here's the back.   It's approx. 45 x 54, a nice lap size.








Here's the unexpected development.    A couple of years ago I got a box of 6" strips at a guild meeting. They were a complete miscellany of prints and colors and I kept them in the box because I got them all at the same time. I realized it would be more logical to sort and store them by color. In so doing I emptied a box. Hooray!   I cut three different red/browns from that assortment as the cornerstones for my new design wall project-in-progress.   More to come!

(Blocks are 9" unfinished and I'm aiming for 42.)  





This was the inspiration photo. 

Linking up with Oh Scrap! and  Design Wall Monday

P.S.  I'll have a book review post this week for sure!   


Friday, November 18, 2022

Friday check in: a finish and a surprise

Ladder Stars is quilted and bound.  


On Monday I wrote that I used the last of a large floral chintz. Well, not quite the last -- there's some more of it here. (Now the truly-almost-the-last are a few scraps in the bin.) 


The surprise is under the needle.  These are the sixteen-patches made from scraps from Patchwork Fields (again, see Monday's post).


Linking up with other quilters on this blustery gray day.  Finished or Not Friday

(I haven't had a good long walk all week. I have to get out this weekend!)

Monday, November 14, 2022

Weekly update: a lot to report

I got my laptop back from Best Buy late Sunday afternoon. New hard drive, new MS Office, all the Windows updates.  Though I managed to get a fair amount done with the iPad, I'm happy to have the larger screen and keyboard of the laptop.

Not only was I up early Tuesday but I was also out to see the lunar eclipse.  I had to drive a ways to get to a place without street lights and trees.  It was worth it!   




We had a couple of  very warm (70-degree) days that were ideal for walking.  

(Unlike the man in the background, I didn't wade into the lake.) 

 
Photos from Green Belt and Illinois Beach.  Center photo is withered prickly pear. I don't know if it dies back completely or is evergreen. I'll need to check.

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I cooked down the Halloween pumpkins and got five quarts of mashed pulp.  I know that pie pumpkins are sweeter but this makes me feel thrifty and virtuous.  (And I add sugar and spices for pies and seasonings for soup, so I don't think we'd notice the difference.)

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I also felt very thrifty in the studio.  I looked through a stack of torn-from-magazines patterns, chose one, and here's the result.  From start to quilted in five days!  

Pattern is Patchwork Fields by Donna Davis (Easy Quilts, Winter, 2011). 76 x 76.

It's nine blocks of four rectangular units (a partial seam connects them around the brown square). 



The large floral is the last of the chintz print I bought in **1980** to reupholster the sofa and an armchair. The chair is gone. The sofa has been re-reupholstered twice since then.   

The leftover strips became 25 6.5" 16-patches. Not sure what I'll do with them.











While I was in a mood to finish, rather than start, I quilted the batik churn dash flimsy that I made in June. 

The back uses two batiks connected with a "zipper" insert. I learned that concept from the late, great Mary Ellen Hopkins and I use it often.  It blends the two prints nicely.

I went to a craft fair on Saturday and bought a half-dozen cards (sympathy, to be precise). The woman said she began scrapbooking and paper-crafting in the 1990's and has more than 1,000 Stampin' Up sets. I thought about how much fabric I've accumulated and realized I cannot fault her.   The next booth was staffed by an acquaintance who makes fabric-y things (neckerchiefs for dogs, stuffed animals, etc.).  She also works for Balderdash, the local estate sale company, and she reminded me that a current Waukegan sale had embroidery supplies and fabric.

I went to the sale on Sunday (before the Best Buy appointment) during the final markdowns.  Two other friends (who didn't know one another) were there bargain-hunting. Both said they'd thought of me when they saw the fabric.  So, yes, I bought stuff.  35 yards for $30  -- .86 per yard.    

Some nice early 90's Cranston/VIP and Fabric Treasures.  The woman had cut out circular shapes out of many of the pieces -- maybe to make fabric wreaths (think 90's crafts, maybe ruffles for jar lids that had cross-stitched centers).   I've trimmed, ironed, refolded, and shelved most of it.

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And here's something new!  The block is called Broken Path in Lynn Roddy Brown's Patchwork Play.  (I'm still working on tans and browns and adding fall reds, greens, golds because too much brown is too much.)

Linking up (hooray!) with Oh Scrap!  (I am grateful that Cynthia keeps this link party open) and Design Wall Monday  

Sunday, November 6, 2022

Weekly update: a flimsy and a quilt show



 My laptop hard drive crashed. While it’s in the shop I am using my iPad. I’m not sure I’ll be able to cut-and-paste to either Oh Scrap or Design Wall Monday.  

Here’s the Ladder Stars flimsy.  62 x 72, 6 yards. 

The Fine Art of Fiber is the annual collaborative show put on by Illinois Quilters Inc., North Suburban Needlearts Guild, and Weaver’s Guild of the North Shore at the Chicago Botanic Garden.  I went Friday morning, the day it opened. There was quite a crowd.   Here are collages of some of the quilts on view.  



“My Fourth Floor Walk Up” got one of my viewer’s choice votes. My other vote was for “My BFMSA” (the orange/yellow quilt at the lower right of the third collage. BFMSA=Big Fat Mystery Sew Along.” 



Afterward I strolled around the rose garden — still heavily in bloom! They are installing the annual holiday light show.


The boutique had a host of beautiful fiber-related things — clothing and accessories and 
 gift items.  I stopped at a booth in the weaver’s section and told the woman that I’d bought a hat from her in 2013. I continue to wear it and get compliments on it. She said perhaps I’d like to update.  And I did!  This teal-tone knit hat will go nicely with my winter parka. 

Here’s the older hat. (Photo: Quebec, Dec. 2013).


Wish me luck with computing this week!



Friday, November 4, 2022

Friday check in: beautiful days, ladder stars, the stash report, OMG

 

Halloween sky: quarter moon
We had an extraordinary run of beautiful weather this week -- temperatures in the low 70's, abundant sunshine. 
 It was ideal for trick-or-treating on Monday (we had about 25 kids).



The AAUW Reflections on Reading book group met outside on Wednesday.  [Yes, I will write a Books of the Week post soon.]






Zinnias are still in bloom in the garden at the library.  (Will that bud at the lower right get to flower?)







And it was shirt-sleeves on my lakefront walks. (True, a flannel shirt. But still!)  

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In the studio:

Three rows yet to be sewn on
I'm setting the Ladder Stars blocks.  After a little searching here, a little searching there I found just-the-right fabrics for sashing, cornerstones, and border.  


Stash report for October:

Fabric IN: 62 yards, $72 (a gift of 38 yards and a good sale)

Fabric OUT: 28-3/8

YTD IN:1718-3/8 yards, $1131, avg. $1.53/yard

YTD OUT: 232-7/8    net gain 1485-7/8 (gulp....where am I putting it all?)

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With that, I declare my One Monthly Goal for November:   come up with a fast-easy-interesting stashbusting design and make three flimsies.   (Finishing these or anything is a bonus.)

.....Lots to do today....linking up with Finished or Not Friday and One Monthly Goal

P.S. The Corporate Community Spelling Bee returned in person last evening after two years by Zoom. Colleen, Steffi, and I spelled for the Zion Woman's Club.  We busted out in round 6 on rhinoceros, which we spelled ...ous.  But  relieved of the pressure, we spelled the other teams’ words just fine: Ptolemaic, wainscot, spinnaker, diphtheria. The winning word was nephritic. The runners-up lost on myrmecology which is the study of ants. (Our team would have missed that, too.)


My chief cheerleader always! ZWC ran the raffle table. The winner of the Christmas Asterisks quilt I donated. Participation was much lighter than pre-pandemic.