Weekly update: goal met, onto the next + reading

The last batch of placemats!  The units and blocks are from the orphan box/parts department.   Some are recent (the three at the lower right); some are middle-aged (the green/blue hourglasses are from Indigo Way (which itself is blocks-in-a-box); some are elderly (the hard-to-see scrappy trips that are the background for the two feathers in the upper right).  

Choosing layouts and coordinating fabrics was a great design exercise.

Each is approximately 13 x 20.

All 121 in the bin.   Each placemat averages 3/8 yard, so 45 yards.  (With thanks to QuiltDiva Julie who sent a set of four.)

These will be distributed when our Rotary Club delivers spaghetti dinners to shut-ins and community helpers in February.  

The next mass-production goal is to make 38 mug rugs or small mats.  They'll be given to Illinois P.E.O. chapters who are Partners in Peace at the state convention at the end of May.  

PIP chapters are those who contribute $500 in a year to the P.E.O. International Peace Scholarship.  IPS provides grants to women from other countries who are enrolled in U.S. or Canadian universities for graduate degrees.  Since  1949 IPS has provided over $52 million to 7,214 women.   I am the 2025-28 IPS Chair for Illinois. 

This is a prototype.  1-1/2" strips = 1-1/2" squares = 9 x 9".  Trip Around the World goes along with the idea of international students.   

I'm planning to make a larger quilt -- probably TATW -- as the backdrop for the IPS convention booth.  Though P.E.O. doesn't allow raffles at convention (I already asked, and I don't make the rules!), the quilt can be offered for sale.  (Scroll down in  this post to see the quilt I made for the committee I served on in 2022.)  

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I read a dud and listened to a good one this week.   

The premise of History Lessons (murder on a university campus; plucky new faculty member Daphne solves the case) was better than the execution (too many stretched metaphors and descriptions, plus rom-com which is a genre I don't care for).

At the Edge of the Orchard is set in mid-19th century Ohio and Gold Rush California.  The Goodenoughs migrate from Connecticut to northwest Ohio to carve a farm out of the forest and most importantly establish an apple orchard.  John Chapman (aka Johnny Appleseed) sells them seeds and seedlings.  The dysfunctional family splits  apart and young Robert heads west. He eventually reaches California and he finds fulfilling work with William Lobb, another real person, who collected seeds and seedlings from trees and 'exotic' plants to ship to collectors in England.  The dramatic tension is enough to keep the reader's interest and the story ends with a twist and hope.   

 I've enjoyed Tracy Chevalier's well-researched books.  The multi-voiced audio narration was just right. 

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