Midweek: good-bye, Quiltmania + charity challenge but not OMG

Rabbit, rabbit!   Welcome, May.

Illinois Beach State Park yesterday:  strawberry, red-winged blackbird, the restored beach, lupine, starry false lily of the valley, puccoon.  

The erosion control project is nearly finished. They've moved the temporary construction h.q. building off the parking lot. (Details here)

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The quilt publishing world is no different from the general publishing world.  Magazines have been hard-hit with fewer advertising dollars. Production costs have gone up.  Still, it's sad when a magazine goes out of business -- most recently, Quiltmania.  

I started reading Quiltmania in recent years when I got a few back issues at a sale.  I promptly splurged and bought a subscription.  I tried the sister magazines Simply Moderne (great) and Simply Vintage (not my thing).  I splurged again on about 30 back issues when they had a sale.  I liked the photos, the mix of traditional/sort of Bohemian/eclectic designs.  And publisher Carol's quirky editorials were fun to read. I retain enough of my college-minor French to figure out the phrasing.  

In recent issues Carol has written about distribution problems.  That contributed to the abrupt closure of the business at the end of April.   You can download the final issue for free:   here .   Meg Cox shared the link of Alex Anderson's interview with Carol Veillon here .

Coincidentally I've been going through my Quiltmania issues and tearing out inspiring photos and articles along with patterns that I might conceivably make. 

 I have two Quiltmania books. My friend Steffi bought them in Holland and carried them back in her suitcase to give to me.  (They're heavy. And expensive. And I am grateful.) 

P.S.  Meg Cox's online newsletter Quilt Journalist Tells All  is by subscription.  here  And now that I won't be paying $150/yr for QMania and Simply Moderne I can easily afford it. 

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Wheelchair quilts are one of our guild's ongoing charity programs.  This spring and summer there's a challenge:  use a specific pattern and use ONLY fabric donated to the guild.  Last month they had a dozen bins full of fabric from which to chose.  Here's my first effort.   

The "pattern: is 12 square-in-square blocks, 10" finished, with a 3" border. 

It was hard for me to use ONLY the fabric I'd pulled from the guild bins, but I did.  (I have other Kaffe prints that would have worked so well.....) 

I didn't count this fabric as "in" so I'm not counting it as "out."  

The challenge goes through the summer and I anticipate making several more.

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I haven't figured out my OMG yet.  Come back on Friday!

Linking up with Wednesday Wait Loss  Midweek Makers    Thanks for the WWL shout out, Jennifer!