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