Midweek: a finish for OMG August + wildflowers + reading

I finished hike #9 for the annual Hike Lake County challenge.  Independence Grove  is more like a city park than a forest preserve. It is really crowded on the weekends (I know from previous visits) but this particular Monday afternoon it wasn’t very busy. The hiking “trail” is a blacktop bike path.

 

Mountain mint, evening primrose, joe pye week. American white waterlily, elderberry "lace," goldenrod. Dogwood.

The blue/yellow/green quilt is quilted and bound.  I used one fabric for the back.  

"Something yellow" was my stated One Monthly Goal for August.  I'm counting this quilt and Borderlands that I made earlier in the month because both have yellow.

Borderlands 

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(I finished this yesterday and have to take it back to the library today.  You will LOVE it.)

During the cherry harvest  in 2020 Lara Kenison Nelson recounts to her three adult daughters the whole story (well, almost the whole story) of that long-ago summer at Tom Lake, Michigan. Lara played Emily in a summer stock production of Our Town.   She had an intense romance with fellow cast member Peter Duke who later became a famous leading man.  She opted for stability and contentment on the farm with her husband and children.  

"There is no explaining this simple truth about life: you will forget much of it. The painful things you were certain you'd never be able to let go? Now you're not entirely sure they happened, while the thrilling parts...scattered and became something else. Memories are then replaced by differentjoys and larger sorrows....until you are positive that this is all you've ever wanted in the world." (116) 

"I look at my girls, my brilliant young women. I want them to think I was better than I was and I want to tell them the truth in case the truth will be useful. Those two desires do not neatly coexist." (240)

Ann Patchett's new novel is exquisitely wrought and, yes, as we all come to realize:  "This is the thing about youth. You change your mind." (309)

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Linking up with OMG August Midweek Makers Wednesday Wait Loss  So Scrappy RSC

Weekly update: celebrations, a few bargains, and happy blocks

 We had a heat wave for precisely two days last week.  It got up to the high 90s with high humidity on Wednesday and Thursday.  Modern meteorology is truly remarkable and just as they predicted, the front came through Thursday evening and the temperature dropped 20 degrees.  

We recalled another hot August 23 -- our wedding in 1980 in Pittsburg, Kansas.  There was a drought as well as excessive heat.  This year we celebrated by going out for dinner.  

Thursday evening the Lake County Women's Coalition observed Women's Equality Day (passage of the 19th Amerndment) with a presentation by Heidi Stevens, whose syndicated column Balancing Act is in the Sunday Chicago Tribune. Stevens was a reporter and columnist with the Trib for 23 years. She now works for a research institute specializing in children's brain development and early learning. She is also on the faculty of the OpEd Project to help underrepresented experts get their ideas and opinions published.

[I'm in two pictures: AAUW and Zion Woman's Club.]

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I helped set up the church rummage sale and then worked two shifts on Friday.   As a worker my purchases were 50% off.  I didn't buy all the fabric but I did get 14 yards for $2.60.  

I bought several loaves of sourdough bread at the bake sale. It's delicious.  

The sale chairs (God bless them!) said the gross income is over $3300.

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If there are no photos did it really happen?  I assure you that I did hike the entire 2.4 mile trail at McDonald Woods on Saturday though I left my phone at home.  That was #7 for the Hike Lake County challenge.  I was sure to have the phone on Sunday for #8 at Grassy Lake Trail.

Goldenrod meadow, Canada goldenrod, tall goldenrod "bud," mountain mint, elderberry.  

All parts of pokeberry are very toxic but its colors are astounding! 

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Yes, I sewed this week!   I made 160 happy blocks for Cynthia's September block drive. The instructions are novelties and bright-but-not-floral.  I cut a stack of 4.5" squares from novelties and some 2.5" strips, sewed, then cut more strips and sewed some more.  160 blocks at 95.25 square inches = 10 yards.  

Linking up with Design Wall Monday Oh Scrap! Sew and Tell

 

P.S.  Praying mantis on the trail, Sunday. 

P.S. 2   We've still got it!  

It is tricky to take a selfie while kissing.  

Weekly update, part 2: a finish and a flimsy

 

NOTE:  see previous post for wildflowers and forest preserves.

I went to the ophtamologist yesterday (hence this delayed post).  My corneas are reshaping gradually, which is good. My next appt. is in October.  

Zippers is quilted and bound.  

The back is a cheater cloth print from the 2022 birthday stash bash.   

The blue/yellow/green combination of the backing fabric was still in my mind when I paged through one of Joan Ford's Scrap Therapy books.  One of her designs featured this arrangement of those colors and I used them, too.  However, I didn't have enough of any one green print for the whole quilt .   I used three.  From book to cutting table to design wall to flimsy in three evening sessions!  

Blue/yellow units are 5" unfinished. Inner sashing is 1.5" unfinished and blocks are 10.5" unfinished.  Outer sashing is 2"unfinished and border is 3" unfinished.

Mixed greens with blueberries and....bananas?

Turns out I'm not too late to link up with Design Wall Monday  and Oh Scrap!

Weekly update, part 1: #HikeLakeCounty underway

Hike Lake County is the Lake County Forest Preserve District's annual challenge.  (See all the details here.)  They choose 14 trails and in different preserves.   To complete the challenge you have to walk at least seven of them between August 15 and November 30.  Complete a log with the date and a brief comment ("nice wildflowers," "two ponds," "hills!"). send it in, and get a little metal shield in return.

The challenge has been going ion for 25 years but it took the pandemic to get us out to explore these beautiful forests and meadows so close to home.  I did all 14 of the designated walks in 2020, 2021, and 2022.    I have 2023 well underway with four hikes last week and one yesterday (Monday). 

Wildflowers:  Obedient plant, monarda with bumble bee, nodding onion,. Plain gentian, field thistle, pale Indian plantain.  Zigzab goldenrod, tall tickseed, Canadian milk vetch.  

Rattlesnake master flowers and foliage.  I've only seen this in meadows that are higher (relatively speaking for Illinois) and dryer (away from the lake).  The flowers are spiny-hard.  

Lucy Braun's dock or rosin weed (6-7' high), zigzag goldenrod, whole-leaf rosin weed, tansy, tall tickseed, stiff goldenrod, showy goldenrod.

Apples and crabapples at Grant Woods.    We tried the apples--not sweet and definitely not juicy.  

The forecast is for very hot weather the next few days so we'll stay home with the air conditioning. 

Next post:  quilting progress.  

 

Midweek: it's a flimsy

 

56 left-side zipper blocks assembled.  Blocks are 6 x 9 so this is 48 x 63.

Lynn, the designer, suggests refraining from pressing the seams one way or the other until the blocks are arranged.  I compromised with a light press so the blocks would stay on the design wall.  I sewed them into horizontal rows, then pressed alternate rows with seams to the 'east' and to the 'west.'  That way the  rows nested nicely.

The 20 right-side zipper blocks can just wait patiently.  

Linking up with  Midweek Makers Wednesday Wait Loss

P,S, I may move either the purple or the blue at the bottom right.

Weekly update: this way and that way + reading

 

I've gotten a slew of spam comments today.  I'll turn on comment moderation for a while.

Scarlet lobelia or cardinal flower.  I've only found it in one patch among all of the forest preserves.  It shines like a jewel in the sunlight that filters through the trees.

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Saturday was sunny with low humidity and a nice breeze. Perfect for Beach Park Fest where I helped staff the Rotary booth.  I remarked that among the four of us we know many people in the community but we recognized very few of the people who came past our display.  

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In the studio:   I began a batch of zipper blocks.   (Here's the link to Lynn's instructions.) 

I realized that some have the contrast squares starting in the upper left and some have them starting in the upper right.  The combination didn't look right.

I sorted them.  

See the difference?   So now I'm making more blocks and paying attention to this way (on the left) and that way (on the right).  The plan is to end up with two sets of 48 blocks for two quilts at 48 x 54. 

BTW, I've had to cut more 2" strips, despite having a bin of them, because each block requires two 2" x 9.5" strips and six squares = 31".  Many of the strips in the bin are shorter than 31".  It's not a hardship, just an observation.

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You've probably heard that a high proportion of U.S. adults cannot name the three branches of government.   Ben Sheehan gave a "Brief But Spectacular" segment on the PBS Newshour  (watch it here) on  the importance of understanding how our government works and "knowing your power,"    I promptly checked out his book. 

When was the last time you read the Constitution?   Sheehan's book is witty and informative -- a great refresher or introduction.   After the text of each article and amendment he has an interpretation of the often old-fashioned language and then his opinion (where the wit comes in).   I note that he wrote the book before the 2020 election.  Just a few months later he'd have had a lot more constitutional interpretation to comment on.

Linking up with Design Wall Monday Sew and Tell Oh Scrap!

More scarlet lobelia   

 

and a purple coneflower to keep me going on this rainy Monday.

Friday check in: music, flowers, and Borderlands

Last evening we enjoyed the season finale at the Zion Park District bandshell.  The Blooz Brothers covered great classic rock.   We set up our chairs next to our friend Kathy.     

This week's wildflowers, clockwise from left:  nodding onion, blazing star/gayfeather (liatris),  veronicastrum (with bumblebee), widow's frill/starry campion, rough blazing star/button snakeroot, woodland sunflower.

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In the studio:  Borderlands is finished.  The name comes from the variety of fabric:  Australian prints for the blocks and setting triangles, Stonehenge for the sashes, an African print for the border.  (I had enough scrap to remove the big white flowers. See Monday's photo.) 
 

The back has  African prints and an African batik on the left and a Balinese batik sarong (from this estate sale).  

Lots to do in the next ten days.  Gotta get cracking!

Linking up with Finished or Not Friday  Can I Get a Whoop Whoop?  Peacock Party  -- with thanks to hosts Alycia, Sarah, and :Wendy.  

 

Weekly update: Barbie, flowers, and a flimsy

 We saw the Barbie movie yesterday.  I reserved easier-to-get-to seats (see last week's post).  Stevens didn't get all of the references but he seemed to enjoy it.  I thought it was funny, thought-provoking, and delightfully over-the-top.   

When I was a child it was a big deal to have ONE Barbie.  Mine was blonde and my sister's was brunette.  We each had a few outfits -- Marcie M. who lived next door to us had ALL the outfits in the catalog, even the $5 ones!  

We had this knitting kit.  Efforts to make the garment were unsuccessful.    

We played the Barbie board game a lot.  The potential prom dates were Ken, Tom, Bob, and Poindexter.  

In the early 1990's my mother found my Barbie and sent her to me.   I gave her to a neighbor who was a Barbie collector.  

I was something of a contrarian.  I preferred my Tammy doll to Barbie.  More realistic, I thought at the time.  But dolls paled in comparison to other interests -- primarily reading anything in print.  

P.S. I never created a Weird Barbie (loved that character in the movie!)  but when I was 4 or so I used a crayon to draw a necklace on my Revlon doll.   In retrospect it was like a bad tattoo.

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A friend recalled putting Queen Anne's lace in colored water and seeing the flowers absorb the tint.  (Technically, capillary action.) I had to go to the back of the top shelf of the cupboard to get the food coloring (can't recall when I last used them).  The change began in just a few minutes.  

Blackberries along the trail on my Saturday walk.  I picked three of the ripe ones (one for me, two for Stevens) -- very tart. 

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In the studio:    I didn't have enough of any one Australian print for a border.  I could have pieced little blocks or sewn piano keys but I searched the stash and found an African wax resist print with the same tones of gold and dark red.  (The big white flowers look blotchy in the photo and I will tolerate them.)  

64 x 80, 5 yards. 

The greige goods (unfinished fabric) for the African prints have a different hand from the Australian prints. 

I'm auditioning backings now.

Linking up with Design Wall Monday  Sew and Tell  Oh Scrap!

Friday check in: does it count as something yellow?

 

Set together the blocks were dense and dark.

What about sashing?   Nothing in the Aussie fabric box worked (mostly F8ths and FQs in that collection)  My stash yielded a Stonehenge print that was just right.  Alas, I was a few sashes short.  I found another tone-on-tone yellow-gold that blends nicely and I'm going to go with it.

Yellow is the RSC color for August so there's a goal achieved.

Here's how I left the design wall when I came upstairs last evening.  The red edge triangles are an Aussie print, one of the few I had in yardage. 

More yellow at Illinois Beach State Park earlier this week:  

Whole leaf rosinweed, black-eyed Susan.

Yellow false foxglove, early goldenrod

Linking up with  Can I Get a Whoop Whoop  Finished or Not Friday  Peacock Party

Midweek: show entry + OMG August

Monday's mail brought good news.  45 RPM has been accepted for the Great Wisconsin Quilt Show .  I'm going to the show on September 8 with a bus group organized by an LQS.  

This post tells more about the quilt design.

I don't have any must-quilt projects right now so I took the Janome, my primary machine,  to the shop for an overdue cleaning.  I regularly remove lint from the bobbin area and the feed dogs but I have a suspicion that there's gobs of lint down below  I set up Sweetness, the Singer 301, and she's humming away.

Another torn-from-a-magazine pattern inspired me to cut into the Australian aboriginal prints I've acquired. 

The pattern has 6" finished blocks.  Mine will be 8".  I don't know if I'll add sashing or make a border like the pattern.  Right now I'm just having fun selecting contrasting prints for each block. 

As for the August OMG:    I'll go easy on myself with "something yellow" for this month's RSC color.

Linking up with Midweek Makers  Wednesday Wait Loss OMG at Elm Street Quilts