Weekly update: fundraising, two flings, a flimsy, a finish, and flowers

 The weather was perfect on  Friday for the 23rd annual Jack McElmurry Golf Tournament at Shepherd's Crook golf course in Zion.  That's our Rotary Club's big fundraiser.  With a nearly-full complement of 140 golfers and many Rotarians pitching in how could it not be a success?  Oh, and I did mention the weather?  (77 and full sunshine).

  

Registration was at 11, tee time at noon, dinner and raffles at 5, and it was over at 7:30.   It will be a while until the final results are calculated but the proceeds will be in the neighborhood of $25,000.   We give $12,000 in scholarships to graduating high school seniors and support numerous other local projects, as well as contributing to Rotary International's global charitable activities.

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More fundraising, of a sort:   I gave my quilt history program for a P.E.O. chapter in the southwestern part of the county.   I knew one chapter sister (she's the one who asked me) but not the others, though it turned out that one is from my hometown and recognized me! (She was in my sister's h.s. class.)   I ask for mileage reimbursement and a donation one of our philanthropic projects.  So, fundraising for P.E.O.

The last time I gave the quilt trunk show was in January, 2020.  Fortunately all the quilts in the big plastic tubs (gasp!  don't tell the Quilt Police!) were just fine, no mustiness.  But once I got them out then I had to put them back.

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The two flings were IN, rather than out.   

I went to a church rummage sale a week ago Saturday when everything was 50% off.  I got 10 yards of quilting cotton for $3.36 and a nearly pristine Lee Wards applique quilt kit for $1.50.  It's probably from the late 1960's. Some of the appliques had been cut out and one sewn on but that was all.  (No, I will not finish it.  It has joined the other quilt kits in my vintage stash.)

Barb M. was a long-time member of my quilt guild who passed away about 5 years ago. Recently her family contacted one of the LQS about selling her stash.   The shop personnel knew a woman who might be interested -- the upshot was that that woman (Paula) and several of Paula's friends took ALL the stash and had a sale today with proceeds to benefit ovarian cancer research.  (More fundraising!)   

 I went after church this morning, by which time the sale had been on for a couple of hours.  The fabric was neatly arrayed on tables -- 2+ yard pieces ($5), 1 - 2 yds (3 for $5), FQ-1/2 (10 for $5), surprise bags (4 yards min., $10).  Several machines, many kits in various stages, books, patterns, flimsies, thread.   Paula said she and her friends did about 400 loads of laundry to wash (and iron) it all and they plan a second sale to sell everything that wouldn't fit in the 2-1/2-car garage.  

I spent $150 and got 84 yards (by weight). That's $1.79/yard.   I've sorted, refolded, and shelved it all.

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Two weeks ago I posted photos of two new starts. 

  One of them is a flimsy.  Pattern is Happy Endings by Lesley Chaisson.

The other is now finished.   The design idea is by Mary Etherington and Connie Tesene.  (They used 2-1/2" squares for 6" blocks.  I used 3" squares for 7-1/2" blocks.)   

  I pieced leftovers into the back.  6-7/8" yards for the entire quilt. 

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I was so intent on getting to all the forest preserves for Hike Lake County that we hadn't been to the lakefront for a month.

A huge construction project to address the severe erosion at the shoreline began this summer.   

Dump trucks loaded with huge rocks have driven through town for weeks.   Though the beach isn't technically open it's easy to walk around the barriers.

This photo shows the rock breakwater.  All the sand is new.

The wildflowers are glorious.  

Sawtooth sunflower, heath aster, sky-blue aster. New England aster, false foxglove, and four kinds of goldenrod.

 

Bottle gentian.    It grows in tiers (lower right shows two tiers but some of the plants I found had three.)     Bottle Gentian has bottle-like deep blue flowers that never actually open. The unusual blooms are pollinated exclusively by bumblebees, which have the size and strength needed to pry open the flowers and gain entry. Bottle Gentians are slow-growing but long-lived and require little care once established. Gentiana andrewsii tolerates cold weather and even frost, blooming late into the fall.  -- PrairieNursery.com

 

Fringed Gentian is a rare native wildflower that is found in NE Illinois, while in the rest of the state it is absent   While populations have declined from habitat destruction, Fringed Gentian is not yet listed as 'endangered' or 'threatened' within the state. Habitats include wet to moist sand prairies, sandy pannes near Lake Michigan, edges of sandy sloughs and sandy swales, fens, open wooded swamps, wooded ravines, roadside ditches, and open damp areas along sandy trails.  The flowers have an unearthly beauty that is positively stunning; Fringed Gentian ranks among the most attractive of all wildflowers within Illinois. -- IllinoisWildflowers.info  

Thanks for your patience with this long post! Linking up with Oh, Scrap!  Sew and Tell    Design Wall Monday