Friday check in: the raffle that wasn't, placemats + reading

 

The rain forecast today will be most welcome. I planted tomatoes, beans, and lettuce earlier this week.  

It was great to have lunch with Pat yesterday.  She lives 60 miles from me and no longer drives.   We rediscovered an Indian restaurant we found by accident a couple of years ago--we'd both forgotten about it until I turned onto that road, then we both remembered. 

# # # # # The quilt guild's annual Raffle Mania was scheduled for Wednesday evening.  Members bring quilt-related stuff they no longer love and buy raffle tickets in hopes of winning someone else's stuff.  I bagged some fabric (43 yards by weight) and picked up Irene at 6:00.  We got to the senior center and found a locked door and about a dozen guild members in the parking lot.  It turned out there was a plumbing emergency and the building was closed.  We missed the email because we were en route.  What to do?   We opened our car trunks and invited one another to shop, with payment to the guild.  

 It turned out better than the raffle because we -- at least I -- got some really good deals!   I pawned off sold what I brought.  In turn I paid $58 and got 55 yards of batiks and 23 yards of other prints.  That's $1.38 per yard. 

If you've been following my monthly stash report you know that I have been very, very good about NOT acquiring fabric this year.   I relish this treat!

# # # # # #In the studio:   I have 9 out of the 10 placemats (June OMG) pieced.   The triangles were in ziploc bags in the Parts Department.  

# # # # # #

I listened to the audio edition.

Four women from different backgrounds, newly-arrived in suburbia, come together to read The Feminine Mystique.  The book changes their outlook but as importantly the friendships they develop become a strong support network.  

My mother was the generation of these women and I am the generation of their children.  I got all the 60's references:   from the social mix of people of different backgrounds moving to a planned suburb (Reston, VA); Tang and Sunbeam hair dryers, vodka stingers, dancing the monkey, girdles, Miltown tranquilizer.   But mostly, of course, the social inequity for women (couldn't get a checking account, pregnant women couldn't/shouldn't work).  

I remember that my mother was angry after reading Friedan's book.  Not because of women's liberation but because Friedan implied that the only women who felt that way were college-educated.  My mother's post-high school education was rigorous (secretarial/business) but not college, and she valued independence and economic self-reliance.   I realize how enlightened (practical?) my parents were because my dad supported her choice to go back to work (I was 10), and she thoroughly enjoyed her career in publishing.

A literary mystery with dual timelines -- 1530's and 2023.  Informative (Elizabeth Barton was a real person) and suspenseful!  

Linking up with Finished or Not Friday