Midweek: the Beacon

Finished!  

The Beacon will be the prop when I give the stewardship campaign message this coming Sunday.  

This year's theme is  "A Beacon of God's Grace." I'll use the metaphor of the Fresnel lens.   

French physicist August Jean Fresnel was a pioneer in the field of optics.  In 1821 he produced his first apparatus, or lens, using the dioptric system.  He surrounded a central bulls-eye lens with a series of concentric prisms. The panel collected light [in those days, an oil lamp] that would otherwise escape to the sky or to the sea, concentrating it in to narrow horizontal beam. With the panels of prismatic lenses rotating around and above the light, one beam had the power of many. 

Our church’s core is God – that one intense central light.   The people of our church are like the prisms in the lenses, each collecting the light as the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.   We then reflect that light outward to the glory of God and the betterment of our community and our world. 

I had a box of 3.5" batik HSTs on hand which speeded up construction.   I used yellow thread and the serpentine stitch to quilt radiating lines.    36" square.  

The back is teal/aqua batik so I'll count it for RSC September.  

Linking up with Wednesday Wait Loss  Midweek Makers  RSC 2023

Thanks for the shout out, Jennifer!  

 

Weekly update: welcome autumn, three brown bears,, and reading

 

The first weekend of autumn was great for walks at two sections of Illinois Beach State Park and Lyons Woods Forest Preserve.   

I found a big patch of fringed gentians just one dune over from the beach.  

I use the Picture This app to identify plants.  All it says about mushrooms is, "Do Not Eat!"  

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The grand opening of the library's remodeled adult services section was Saturday afternoon.  The building opened in 2000.  I was the director from 2003-2014.  

Though some rearranging and refurbishing had been done over the years, this was a full-scale reworking. New carpet! New furniture!  Walls were bumped out to create additional group study rooms. Nonfiction and fiction swapped places.  It looks great!  

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We went to see A Haunting in Venice, Kenneth Branagh's new adaptation of Agatha Christie's Halloween Party.  (Wednesday afternoon:  there was only one other person in the theater.)    "Adaptation" is the key--we watched the BBC/David Suchet version on Friday.   There were only a few similarities between the two.  Stevens has the book but I haven't read it.

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In the studio:   I had a grand plan for a project that is drop-dead due October 1.  I started and lost heart.   Sometimes sewing something else entirely. can be a jump-start.   

The something else turned out to be three flimsies.   I started with 2" squares -- Mama Bear.  I continued with 2.5" squares -- Papa Bear.  What about 1.5" squares? Why not? -- Baby Bear. 

Papa = 36 x 48.  Mama = 36 x 45. Baby = 30 x 36.   I may add borders, esp. to Baby.

The photo shows the cutting dimensions for the three sizes.

And, ta-da!    I worked out something completely different for the drop-dead due-date project.  I hope to have a photo (maybe a finished object!) for the midweek blog post.

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London, 1905.  Mrs. King has been dismissed from service in the absurd mansion constructed by the parvenu mining mogul William DeVries.   DeVries died unexpectedly and his daughter is determined to break free from the smothered existence her father forced on her.  Miss DeVries will throw the grandest costume ball Mayfair has ever seen.   Mrs. King seeks revenge on all things DeVries.  She enlists her mentor, the doyenne of underworld enterprises Mrs. Bone in concocting an elaborate and thorough plot to gut the mansion and bring down the DeVries estate.    

The tale is complicated, rollicking, and grand fun!  

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

Midweek: a new flimsy + reading

 A few weeks ago another torn-from-a-magazine pattern came to the top of the stack.  It had been a while since I made a mostly black and white quilt.  Cutting the strips was the easy part. I didn't have enough of any one black/white and white/black print for the borders and made a point of buying those at the Wisconsin quilt show.    

The sewing wasn't difficult but I had to cut more strips and more strips.  I arranged and rearranged to get the print density balanced.  (And now that I look at it, more balancing might be in order but I'm not going to.) 

Blocks are 12" finished. Flimsy is 72 x 84 and used 7 yards by weight. 

Pattern is "Geese and Goslings" by Bev Getschel, published in McCall's Quilting. 

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Humans have feared, venerated, and exploited bears for millennia. Because they can walk on their hind legs they have a resemblance to humans which adds to the mythology.  Bears were eradicated from western Europe centuries ago.  

Science writer Gloria Dickie travels to the habitats of the eight ursine species around the world and learned about the ways that climate change and human encroachment  are affecting them.  The elusive spectacled bear of the cloud forests of the Andes is the model for Paddington.  The sun and moon bears of southeast Asia are cruelly "farmed" for the healing properties of their bile.  (She saw horrible practices.)   The  sloth bears of India are vicious and readily attack humans.  Of course we all know pandas, China's diplomatic pawns.  North American black bears are the most successful in their adaptation to humans.   Grizzlies are actually North American brown bears. Climate change is changing their range to farther north and east.  Polar bears, as we are well aware, are threatened by the loss of sea ice in the Arctic.   (Interesting fact:  polar bears evolved from grizzly bears and as their territories overlap they can, and do, interbreed.)  

Dickie's account is well-written and very informative.

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Purple false foxglove, Monday afternoon.

Linking up with Midweek Makers Wednesday Wait Loss

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

Weekly update, part 2: the Great Wisconsin Quilt Show

The 19th Great Wisconsin Quilt Show was September 7-9 in Madison.  This was the fifth time I've gone and the fourth time I've taken a one-day trip by bus, chartered by a local quilt shop.     Irene picked me up at 6:15 a.m. Friday to go to the Kenosha County administration complex to board the bus.  We left  promptly at 7 a.m. and arrived at the Alliant Center (south side of the city) in time for the show opening at 9:00.  

I did a turn around the quilt exhibits first.  (I took photos of the artists' statements so if you want to know more about a quilt I can look it up.)   

 Best in Show

My Viewer's Choice.   I cannot figure out how she set the blocks! 

This was fun, too!  Be sure to read the artist's statement.

I posed with my quilt!  

There were several special exhibits.

Seed Savers' Exchange -- guild challenge.

My Magpie friend Anna joined Irene and me at lunchtime.   One of the menu options is a chicken salad sandwich on cranberry-wild rice bread. The bread comes from Minneapolis but I found out that a Kwik Trip gas station/store just over the state line stocks it.  I'm going to check!

Karen and I met in the Stashbusters group 20+ years ago.  She coordinated the Block Swappers (a SB spin off) for many years.  She's very active with Wisconsin QOV.  

There was a QOV presentation to three veterans.  (Karen is on the left, reading the biographies.)  

After lunch it was time to shop! 

  I exercised great restraint and got fabric I needed for an upcoming project and some to restock (bright purples);.  Just 15 yards.

I bought two t-shirts.  I have undergrown many of the t-shirts I've worn for so long -- these two are *medium*! -- so I have thinned (pun intended?) my wardrobe.

This WAS a splurge.  

Let's see if I can follow the instructions and improve my FMQ.

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The bus pulled up at 4 p.m. and we were on the road.  There was a brief stop for dinner in Janesville (there's a Hy-Vee supermarket that has a food court) and we were back at the Kenosha County center at 7:00.   I was home at 7:27. 

It was a great day!

P.S.  The caregiver was here from noon-5 so Stevens wasn't alone all day.   

Weekly update, part 1: guild challenge reveal

 This was an eventful week -- Labor Day Monday (covered in my last post) followed by Zion Woman's Club at noon Tuesday, then P.E.O. that included the state officer's visit with an officer's workshop, dinner, and the chapter meeting.  (The state officer is my longtime friend Fran.  Everyone enjoyed meeting her and her advice to us was very helpful.)  

The quilt guild met Wednesday evening.  Time for the big challenge reveal!  I was challenge coordinator.  The prompt was Check It Out. Each participant got a fat quarter of the same red-checked fabric and had to use some or all of it recognizably on the front of the quilt.  Maximum perimeter 144" (36" square or any variation).   19 out of the 28 who signed up entered a finished quilt.  

Members voted for their first, second, and third favorites. 

 Marge's Sunbonnet Sue panel won first prize. 

Nancy's swirling lone star won second prize.

Cathy's vegetable garden won third prize.   

And here's mine.  

If it looks somewhat familiar that's because it's the second edition, revised, of this wall hanging

The first edition went for $400 at the ALA scholarship auction.  I'm going to enter the second edition in next year's auction.

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Next post:  Great Wisconsin Quilt Show report!

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

Weekly update: all the hikes, a concert, Labor Day, and two new starts + OMG September

 Hooray!  I've finished the 12 listed routes for Hike Lake County 2023 plus the 13th wild card/hiker's choice.   Saturday #12 Fort Sheridan.   We were there in July (this post) but the HLC trail went in another direction.   Sunday #13 we revisited Lyons Woods which is close to home on the border between Beach Park and Waukegan.  

Clockwise:  Obedient plant, jack-in-the-pulpit, ironweed, hyssop, nightshade, yellow jewel weed. 

Here's the log where I've kept track of each hike.  I'll get a metal shield that looks like the new HLC logo (shown in the photo).    Note that the challenge opened August 15 and goes through November 30 and that the requirement was to do 7.  I've overachieved and early-achieved on purpose!

Of course I'll keep up with walking.  It is a good way to for Stevens to get out of the house.

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We got out of the house Sunday evening for the Lake County Symphony Orchestra's season-opener.  In years past the concert has been outside but it was much more comfortable to be indoors.  

The program was long but the music was grand -- a medley of show tunes from Sound of Music to Star Wars to Carousel.

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Labor Day is a busy holiday for Zion.  We are skipping the parade this afternoon (too hot! and we don't have to ride on anyone's float (Rotary, library).   The Mayor's Prayer Breakfast held at the high school is a great time to see friends.  (Stevens opted not to attend.) 

 The top picture was funny -- at first it was four people, then others kept joining in.  The picture-takers juggled a dozen phones.

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I am not going to have much sewing time in the next couple of days -- Zion Woman's Club luncheon, P.E.O. state officer visit + dinner, AAUW book discussion, quilt guild potluck + the big challenge reveal.  (Reprieve Thursday and then the all-day trip to the Wisconsin quilt show Friday.)   

I don't know how much progress I'll make on these two  new starts.  

My OMG for September:   make a jumbo tote bag.  I've been using library conference tote bags to carry quilts and sewing supplies. 

Linking up with Design Wall Monday , Oh Scrap! and Elm Street Quilts OMG