Friday check in: goals in June and the stash report

It's been hazy because of the smoke from the Canadian wild fires, but we haven't had any adverse reactions to the air quality.   We do enjoy our afternoon outings.

Here is a wildflower you don't expect to see in northern Illinois.  Prickly pear cactus grows at Illinois Beach State Park.  Each flower petal is tipped with a spine.

Wood lilies are also in bloom at IBSP.   (Both photos taken yesterday.)

I didn't post to the One Monthly Goal link up at the beginning of June but I did have goals in mind and I achieved them.

Starting with the second goal, finished this morning.: here is Horizon, the quilt begun in the April guild workshop with Lynn Dykstra

 The blocks are 4.5 x 9 finished. 

The back features a whimsical radish print (estate sale purchase) and a watermelon print (1991 on the selvedge, another thrift acquisition). 

The first goal was finishing the Christmas bow ties quilt.  more about that here 

I don't plan to buy any fabric today nor do I anticipate finishing anything so it's time for the June stash report.

Fabric OUT:  324-3/8 yards!  That includes 200 given away at the guild raffle mania and 50+ send to quilting friends.

Fabric IN:  150 yards, $156.00, avg. $1.04/yard.  110 yards from raffle mania and the wonderful African fabrics from Ellie's estate.

Year to date fabric OUT: 674-1/2 yards

Year to date fabric IN:  481-1/2 yards, $996, avg. $2.07/yard.

Net reduction; 193 yards!

Linking up with Peacock Party OMG at Elm Street Quilts  Finished or Not Friday 

#alaac2023 in Chicago, part 3: the quilts

The ALA Biblioquilters began when Connie and I met on a street corner at the 1998 ALA Conference in Washington, D.C. We'd met virtually on the PubLib discussion group but we hadn't met in person.  The very first ALABQ meetup was at the 1999 annual conference in New Orleans.  In 2000 we began making group quilts for the Exhibits Round Table Silent Auction. Correction:  we made one group quilt.  I coordinated it -- "a block representing your state" in red/yellow/blue/cream.  That quilt sold for $240. 

Since then we've made dozens of quilts and raised a lot of money for the Christopher Hoy Scholarship Fund. (He was the long-time ALA exhibits manager.)  

This year's total:  $7385 -- the most ever!

From 2013 to 2023 (no quilts in 20 or 21) the auction total is $35,428. 

Book Nerd, $350

Mother Goose, $475

Fierce Ladies $110

Freadom #1 $200

Freadom #2 $150

Nancy Drew, $700

Patchwork Field (one of mine)  $450

Entwined (one of mine) $400

Sensational Scraps (one of mine) $480

Curves Around the Cabin (one of mine) $550

Librarians Threaten Ignorance (one of mine) $400

Library Cats by the OCLC quilters $775

Book Nook  $525

Little Darlings  $300

Gray and Silver $425

On the Spot $160

Modern Vibe $160

Homespun Sampler (one of mine) $575

and no photo of Pumpkin Spice, $200

#alaac2023 in Chicago, part 2

 I took advantage of free time + being downtown.

Thursday afternoon:    Van Gogh and the Avant-Garde: the Modern Landscape is this summer's big show at the Art Institute.  I'd heard of Van Gogh and Seurat, of course, but I was not familiar with their contemporaries Signac, Bernard, and Angrand.

From the website:  

Between 1882 and 1890, five artists—Vincent van Gogh, along with Georges Seurat, Paul Signac,   Emile Bernard, and Charles Angrand—flocked to villages on the fringes of Paris. Unlike the earlier Impressionists, who in the previous decade had spent significant time in suburban locations further from the city, this next generation of ambitious artists preferred the northwestern suburbs around Asnières. This area along the Seine River had long been a popular spot for recreation and relaxation but was becoming increasingly populated with coal, gas, and manufacturing facilities in the last decades of the 19th century. And while its industrial development was an unappealing aspect to many, these artists found in the changing physical and social landscape a fresh and rich source of creativity.

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On Sunday morning I took a cab south of downtown -- from 2300 south (McCormick) to 7000 south (about 7 miles) to Bryn Mawr Community Church.  That's the church my parents belonged to when they lived in the city and where I was baptized in December, 1952, when I was six months old. (We moved to the northern suburbs a year after that so I do not recall this church at all.)  

I introduced myself and was warmly welcomed.   There were about 40 people in worship, including some kids (nice to see!).  It was Congregational then, United Church of Christ now.  They operate a food pantry and a counseling center among other ministries.

The church is beautiful.  Built in 1915, it needs constant maintenance.   They don't build 'em like this any more!                         I am SO happy that I did this.  

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Monday morning I went to the Museum of Science and Industry to see Pompeii: The Exhibition 

The emphasis was on everyday life in the city in 79 AD.  Several of the artifacts were "first time out of Italy."  There was a simulation (LOUD! with "smoke") of the volcanic blast.  

I also revisited some MSI favorites.  The Fairy Castle is still enchanting.  

I remember first seeing the "pickled babies" on a school field trip and announcing to my mother that now I knew how babies were made.   (The entire exhibit goes from conception to full term.)  Note the explanation about the fetuses.  

The math exhibit had some patchwork patterns.  I managed to negotiate the Mirror Maze without banging into any of the mirrors.  

Next post:  the quilts!  

#alaac23 in Chicago, part 1

 

The American Library Association held its 147th Annual Conference at McCormick Place in Chicago from June 22-27.  I was among the 15,842 attendees.  That's more than last year (Washington, DC: 13,900) but not back to pre-pandemic (Chicago, 2017: 22,702).  

Badge ribbons 2023

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I attended the Freedom to Read Foundation board meeting on Thursday as liaison for the Retired Members Round Table.  FTRF and the Office of Intellectual Freedom have been busy dealing confronting threats to intellectual freedom -- book bans in school and public libraries, and curriculum, inquiry, and tenure in colleges and universities.

I went home Thursday night and then back downtown on Friday for three nights.  (I stayed at the Palmer House, one of my favorite hotels, with RMRT friend Naomi.)  

Friday afternoon:  Treasure Our Treasures reception for corporate donors and Legacy Society members at the Chicago Cultural Center, the former Chicago Public Library.  

Yes, there were people, but I took pictures of the magnificent domes (right center:  largest Tiffany dome in the world) and mosaics.

The opening general session featured Judy Blume.  Definitely a fan favorite for the 4000 in the audience!   She and her husband own a bookstore in Key West.  The interviewer asked what she'd say if she had a meeting with Ron DeSantis.  "Could I have weapons?" she joked. More seriously:  "I'd ask, 'What are you afraid of?'" 

As the local person on the RMRT board I planned three events. 

RMRT members enjoyed dinner at Petterino's in the theater district.  I reserved three tables of six which made conversation much easier than one huge long table.  

The walls of the restaurant are lined with caricatures of celebrities who have dined there.

Saturday morning:  RMRT 'field trip' to the Newberry Library .   It is a private research library, free and open to the public since 1897.  I've known about it for years but I'd never been there, so when I was asked to plan the outing that was my chance.

The Newberry has special collections in genealogy, maps, postcards, and regional history.  

Saturday afternoon:  RMRT business meeting and book club.  The book prompt was "a book about your home state." Oregon, New York, Illinois, California, Alabama -- lots of interesting recommendations.  

Reception for the Downs Intellectual Freedom Award, given to student journalists and faculty at New College in Florida.

The Andrew Carnegie Medals are given for excellence in fiction and nonfiction. The reception was at the American Writers Museum.  It is really interesting.  

The Word Waterfall spills along the wall.

AWM's special exhibit this summer, Dark Testament, includes quilts by Dorothy Irene Burge.  (Website here)

The medal recipients spoke and signed their winning books.  (I'm halfway through Otsuka's The Swimmers now.)

Sunday morning:  I had an adventure.  (See the next post for details.)

Sunday afternoon:  RMRT President's Program.   Andrea Frederici Ross talked about Edith, the "rogue" Rockefeller McCormick. 

 Edith and her husband Harold were among the group who brought opera to Chicago. She used her money to establish Brookfield Zoo, promote Carl Jung and Jungian psychology, develop real estate, collect art and antiques, and amass a huge library of rare books. There was a lot of misery along the way and she died at age 59

Monday morning:  I sat in on ALA Council III for a while.  (I was on Council for 13 years:  as Maine chapter councilor, councilor-at-large, and Executive Board.) 

I had another adventure (next post!), then back to McCormick for a last round at the exhibits, and then the Gala Author Tea.  

Novelist Lindsay Hunter said, "The library is about my kids discovering themselves by searching for themselves in books on the shelves.”

I caught the 4:32 train and was home at 6 p.m.   (So grateful to caregiver V.  S was glad to see me.) 

 Vendors had less swag than in previous years -- but these new books (mostly ARCs (advance reader copies)) will keep me pleasantly busy all summer.

Next post: museums and other adventures in the city.

 

Midweek: solstice sunrise, wildflower closeups, and mug rugs

 

Mist on the meadow as I drove to the lakefront.

Solstice sunrise over Lake Michigan, 5:15 a.m. today.

Wildflower closeups on the trail (just west of the shoreline, but taken on Monday).

Japanese rose, yarrow, common ninebark.

Meadow buttercup/ranunculus, daisy fleabane, salsify (gone to seed).  

First black-eyed Susan/rudbeckia of the season (early!), Canadian anemone, bladder campion.

Clockwise:  foxglove, cinquefoil, golden Alexander, flag iris, spiderwort.

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I made 15 daisy mug rugs.  I sewed right sides together and then turned out, rather than adding a binding.  

I hope to finish them this evening.

This is a tend-to-the-details day. The ALA Annual Conference is in Chicago this weekend.  I'll be downtown all day tomorrow for a meeting, then home for the night, and back downtown from Friday through Monday.  (The caregiver will be here each afternoon, Thursday-Monday.)

Linking up with   Wednesday Wait Loss