Weekly update: OMG finished, more estate sale bargains + reading

 Cue Miss Rumphius!  The lupines are in bloom at Illinois Beach State Park.  I took the snapshots on Friday.  

Our favorite plant/produce shop is open for the season.  Susan always comes out to say hi to Stevens.  One of her customers made a stack of "hug blankets" to give away to other customers who might need a hug so she presented this one to him.

I got geraniums for the front stoop and FIVE healthy rhubarb plants that Susan started from seed.  I'll plant them tomorrow. 

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I got notice of a quilter's estate sale in Antioch, 15 miles west of us.  I didn't know the person whose fabric it was but I did know the person who was conducting the sale.  Hours 10-2 Saturday and Sunday.  My neighbor Renee said she could join me on Sunday so we went after church.   There was quite a lot left when we got there and everything was 50% off.  That is, 50% off already low prices.   All the fabric was bagged, some pretty randomly and some sort  of coordinated.  The bags were marked $10, $8, $6 so $5/$4/$3 on Sunday.
                  Here it is sorted and folded.   118 yards by weight, $35.  That's thirty cents per yard.  

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I have a finish!   This is my One Monthly Goal for May.  It's the quilt from the 2019 round robin hosted by the guild.  I made the center star, paper-pieced, and added the green and V-block borders to make it rectangular.  60 x 70.  

The batiks on the back came from Barb M's estate sale. 

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I read two good historical novels this week.  

In 1918 New York librarian Jessie "Kit" Carson signed up to work with Le Comite Americain Pour Les Regions Devastees, or CARD.  The agency was begun by Anne Morgan, daughter of financier J. P. Morgan, and her partner Dr. Anne Murray Dike to provide relief to the people of northeastern France whose villages and farms were the battlegrounds of World War I.  In addition to the CARDs' healthcare, food and shelter, Jessie brought books.  She started storytimes for children and created open-stack lending libraries. After the war she and her fellow CARDs began bookmobile services, repurposing ambulances. 

In 1987 aspiring writer Wendy Peterson finds the CARDs newsletters in the archives of NYPL.  Intrigued, she extends her inquiries to the Morgan Library and the Alliance Francaise. That leads to the revelation of the CARD story and a new friendship.  

 By focusing on Jessie rather than on Miss Morgan and Dr. Murray Dike, Skeslien Charles makes the story all the more interesting.   The afterword provides additional information about these real people and their tremendous accomplishments.    

Hazel Ripley and Maxine Mead were in a USO troupe on tour in Italy when WWII ended.  They wanted to stay in the theater after the war so they moved to Manhattan -- specifically, to the Hotel Chelsea.  That historic residential hotel was home to actors, entertainers, musicians, and artists, some who stayed for decades. 

Hazel honed her playwrighting skills and her wartime romantic drama  was picked up by a Broadway producer.  Maxine tried out for the stage but eventually moved to Hollywood.   In the meantime the great Red Scare of the 1950's affected everyone in the film, television, and theater.  Both Hazel and Maxine were questioned by Sen. Joseph McCarthy and the HUAC.  Hazel stood up to the committee. Maxine harbored deeper secrets.

Fiona Davis sheds light on a troubled time in U. S. history as well as showcasing another landmark New York building.

Linking up with Oh Scrap!  Melva Loves Scraps  Design Wall Monday

P.S.  Speaking of Illinois Beach State Park, look what is depicted on this piece of fabric from today's sale!  [Look at the bottom.]