Weekly update: just playing with blocks + reading

Wildflowers at Illinois Beach State Park: swam milkweed, spurge, liatris, evening primrose, mountain mint (it is minty!), nodding onion (it is onion-y), Queen Anne's Lace (oh, sure, it's lacy), lead plant.

This is a viceroy (Limenitis archippus), not a monarch (Danaus plexippus).  The tell is the black line near the edge of the wings. 

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On Saturday I treated myself to the matinee performance of The Odyssey, with a jumbo box of popcorn for lunch.  It was on the regular big-screen, not IMAX, but it was action-packed enough for me.   So much of the story was familiar because The Odyssey underpins so much of our cultural heritage and literature, though I haven't actually read it since high school.  (You, too, I'll bet.)

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In the studio:  

Four daisy mug rugs for an ongoing project.  I'm trying to use up bibs and bobs of bright/lime greens.

A wonky star tutorial turned up on my YouTube quilting feed.  You can see it here:  Twinkle Star   Merry Mabel Quilts is Dawn Ramirez who I know from the Stashbusters group.  

I don't think I've ever made wonky stars. Dawn's method is simple and effective.

This is the design wall at the end of Sunday evening sewing time. The blocks are 9", 6", and 4.5". I have no plan for these.  I may branch into other colors. 

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I've been reading a lot! 

Chloe Chaplin is a theatrical costumer who has a PhD. in design/textiles.  Her dissertation is the basis for Suitable, the history of men's suits -- specifically, how the black suit became the uniform for American men.  In the 18th century Americans (and the British and French) wore colors -- scarlet, yellow, green, blue.  That changed in the early 19th century because of fashion, textile technology, increasing mass production.  I learned a great deal.

A Guardian and a Thief won the Carnegie Medal for best adult fiction.  I heard the author (and got the book) at the ALA conference in June.     Set in Kolkata during a food crisis, it's the story of two people doing the best they can to save their families.  Very compelling -- I couldn't put it down.

Sigrid Schultz was Berlin bureau chief for the Chicago Tribune in the 1930's.  Her reporting kept Chicagoans informed about Hitler's rise.  She stayed in Berlin for the duration of the war and was a correspondent for the Trib.  

I bought the book after hearing Pam Toler's presentation last spring.  Toler learned about Schultz after an architectural salvage company found dozens of glass-plate negatives in the attic of a house on Chicago's north side. The photographs were taken by Schultz's father.  Investigation led to rediscovering Schultz's fascinating story.

Another book resulted from an old photograph.  Author/local historian Diana Dretske spoke at the Waukegan Historical Socieyt in May and I bought the book.   It's the story of the men in the photo, all members of Company C, 96th Illinois.  They were first-generation Scottish, Irish, and English who settled on farms in Newport Township, just west of where I live.  The thorough research details motivation to enlist, training, and deployment. Co. C saw action at Chickamauga and Lookout Mountain.  Of the five men in the photo, three made it home.  [And photos of the veterans showed them wearing black suits . . . which I'd learned about in Suitable.]

# # # # #   I'm packing for the Scotland trip!  When I brought the big suitcase out on Thursday I discovered that the side handle was nearly ripped out.  Fortunately I was able to get a replacement (Marshall's).   

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