Weekly update: a snowy end to November

 

The boys are back! 

The nutcracker collection began with a gift from my mother shortly after we were married.  She gave us two or three more.   I've acquired the rest at TJ Maxx, estate/rummage/garage sales, and thrift shops.   They're all German.  

I made Good Cheer in 2013 from swap blocks.

The rest of the nutcrackers are providing a backup chorus for the Christmas tree.

Just as forecast, it began snowing at noon Saturday and continued all night long.  This was the view from the front door this morning.  9" accumulation.  

I shoveled the front stoop and walk.  My next door neighbor and the neighbor next to him got the driveway cleared at noon.  

I didn't go out at all!

Snow days = sew days, and I did. 

The Blue Shirt Bow Ties quilt is finished.  I had just the right medium blue in the backings stash (2004 on the selvedge but I got it some years later on clearance). 

I quilted it with rust-colored thread using the serpentine stitch. 

Another shirting project!  I cut all the fabric earlier in the week so it was ready to assemble Saturday.

  This is my version of Flutterby, the Running Doe top-along for October. All shirts except for the lime green solid.  (It was the November top-along (finished a couple of weeks ago) that began what turned out to be a month of thrifted shirts.   I have already pulled fabric for the December top-along -- not shirts!) 

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My stated goals for November were to finish 20 placemats, give away 100 yards of fabric, and sew faster. 

Placemats:  check.

Giveaway:  just 2 yards.

Sew faster:  I did pretty well with these finishes in addition to the bow ties.  (I've reported on each one as I've made them.)

Stash report for November:   Fabric OUT 89-3/8 yards.  Fabric IN:  48-1/2 yards, $49, average $1.00 per yard.

Stash report YTC:  Fabric OUT 837-3/8 yards.  Fabric IN: 1338-1/2 yards, $1217, average $1.09 per yard.  

Busy week ahead with two holiday luncheons, a holiday dinner, a concert, and more.  I have some gifts to order and holiday cards to address.   I'm beginning to mull over some quilt projects with 2026 deadlines.  I will not perish from inactivity.

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

P.S.  I wish the old guy were here to enjoy the nutcrackers.   (Photo November 2024.)

Friday check in: thankful for so many things

 I'm thankful for good and generous friends.  Thanksgiving dinner at Linda and Alan's was so enjoyable.  They are the kind of people who can--and do--open their home (and their hearts) and entertain without fuss.  The other guests were friends from their church, including three families originally from Nigeria, with kids ranging in age from 6 to college freshmen. (One of the freshmen (at Yale) received a coveted STAR scholarship from P.E.O., sponsored by Linda's and my chapter.)                         

We finished the puzzle just as Linda called us to dinner.  

As I wrote earlier, I contributed Mama Stamberg's cranberry relish.  I also made this casserole. I left some with the hosts and have some (a lot) to enjoy at home. 

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Never turn down a good sale--all this for $240.26

I am thankful for good customer service!  In mid-October Connecting Threads had their Essential Threads on sale.  I bought a lot.  Two weeks later I checked on the order status. It said UPS had delivered November 8, but I didn't receive it.   I filed a claim with CT by email but got only "we'll respond in 5 business days." This past Monday I called -- and they replaced the entire order at no charge!  Not only that, it arrived on Wednesday. 

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In the studio:    I took a break from thrifted shirts to make a mug rug for a friend's 80th birthday. The party is next week. 

But I couldn't leave the bow ties on the wall for long.  The border is another thrifted sheet (Ralph Lauren).  I basted it last evening and it's under the needle now.  I will treat myself to more sewing as a reward for bringing the Christmas decorations up from the basement closet.  

Linking up with Finished or Not Friday.  

I'm thankful to the wonderful quiltmakers I've met and gotten to know! 

Midweek: bows in rows + reading

 

Late November in the state park:  deep red Virginia creeper, new lichen, oak leaves, and the starry remains of asters.

In domestic news:  as I wrote Monday, I bought a turkey though I'm going to friends' for Thanksgiving.  I roasted the turkey yesterday.  I carved it with portions now in the freezer.  I made stock from the carcass.  

There wasn't much left when I went to Stiles, the produce/flower stand just over the border in Wisconsin. Susan will close up next Sunday.  She takes the holidays off and will get back to the greenhouse in January.   

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In the studio:  I finished the bowtie blocks and assembled them in rows (well, columns, but that doesn't rhyme).  

I have enough of the terracotta background for borders but I'm considering the options.  

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I've known about this book forever because it was a Crime Club selection and in the collections of the libraries where I worked. (Or was it because Stevens had a paperback copy? At one time he had several hundred paperback classic mysteries.)  

 Last weekend I got a used copy (rebound in stout buckram, withdrawn from the Rockford PL) and I finally read it.  In short:  Adrian Messenger gives a list with 10 names to his friend at Scotland Yard.   Days later he perishes in an airline crash over the Atlantic.  The friend suspects foul play and engages Anthony Gethryn to investigate.  

It's so good.  Pleasantly dated but very well-written and suspenseful. 

Now I want to the see the movie but it isn't available to stream.  Alas, I no longer have a DVD player.

This is the original cover.  According to GoodReads it's the 12th of MacDonald's books featuring Gethryn.  I don't think I've read any of them.

Linking up with  Wednesday Wait Loss

Weekly update: a finish and a good book

 

The thrifted shirts quilt is finished. 

  I made the rounds of local thrift shops and scored two twin sheet sets (flat and fitted) and two flat sheets.  They're all cotton.   I can usually differentiate between microfiber and cotton with just a glance (something about the sheen?) though some 60/40 blends can be deceiving.    

I put one of them to use right away for the shirtings quilt.  It's the paisley.  I had to cut around some small stains.  I added the blue floral to make it wide enough.  

 

It is futile to think I'll use up all of those shirtings but as I cut strips I also cut a bunch of 3-1/2" squares.  I thought about sewing them in four-patches but, no, they want to be a little more decorative.   The background is another thrifted sheet, never used, that's been in the stash for several years.  

The bowties were easy sewing while I watched The Great Escaper with Michael Caine and Glenda Jackson.  A poignant story made more so knowing it was both actors' final roles.  

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Mystery fans, this is a good one!

Skulduggery and shenanigans in the elver business in Maine. Baby eels are harvested legally and illegally and then shipped or smuggled to Korea where they are allowed to grow. Then they become sushi.

The Viertels (father and son) have written an eco-mystery reminiscent of Carl Hiassen.

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A P.E.O. sister has invited me to join her and her family for Thanksgiving dinner.  I will take Mama Stamberg's cranberry relish.  (It was sad not to have the annual recitation of the recipe on NPR last Friday. Stamberg passed away in October.)   I'll also make another side.   I bought a turkey for myself because Jewel had them for .69/lb.  I'll be eating turkey for months.

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

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P.S. about eels:   when Stevens was a child the family spent a week in Watermill, Long Island, each summer.  One year he caught eels for pocket money.  His back-at-school report on "what I did on my summer vacation" was about eeling.  The teacher did not believe him.  I am still  [what's midway between sadness and outrage?] on behalf of that eight-year-old. 

Midweek: RSC finish and a start

  

I'm thoroughly caught up in The American Revolution, the new Ken Burns documentary.  Though all episodes are streaming now, I'm watching each evening on WTTW, the Chicago PBS station. 

The November issue of The Atlantic has an article by Burns about making the show.  He talks about the challenges of recreating events from two centuries ago. There are many written records but of course none of the photographs, film footage, or oral histories used in his films about the Civil War, WWII, and Vietnam.  He gives great credit to the many reenactors who participated.  

As I watch I sew.   And here's what happened.  

Rainbow 9-Patch is finished.  I used the serpentine stitch.   The quilting took one evening -- four hours. (News, Ken Burns, and a one-hour episode of an Acorn mystery.) 

I have overflowing tubs of backing fabrics but I found these bright prints on another shelf.  The top right and the bottom are different colorways of the same print. 

Total fabric used:  7-1/2 yards.

Another project leaped onto the cutting table and from there to the sewing machine and the design wall.  All shirtings.*   8-1/2" blocks.  

I have in mind making 72 blocks to finish at 64 x 72 (bigger if I add a border).

*Thrifted shirts. Stevens' shirts are still in the closet.  

There's a fireplace in the living room that we (I) don't use.  It's very drafty and quilts make a great draft-stopper.  Sometimes they decide they want to be rearranged, as I found out this morning.  

Linking up with Wednesday Wait Loss

Weekly update: local history, bunco, a finish, and the other RSC project

The Zion Woman's Club fall Bunco fundraiser was Friday night. As club president I had a lot invested in the outcome and I am delighted to report that it was a great success.  If I added correctly, the gross income was $1950.   One winner was very lucky indeed -- she won $215 in the 50/50 cash raffle, $225 in the gift card raffle, and the quilt I donated.  

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 I enjoyed two programs sponsored by the Waukegan History Museum in honor of Indigenous Peoples Month.  

Thursday evening was a showing of "The Negotiator."    Billy Caldwell,  

(c) Susan Kelsey 

aka Sauganash, was the son of a Mohawk mother and an Irish father. He worked for the trader John Kinzie at Fort Dearborn (Chicago), was an influential negotiator for the tribes for the 1829 Second Treaty of Prairie du Chien, and eventually was among the Indians removed to Council Bluffs, Iowa. The Sauganash neighborhood on Chicago's north side is named for him (as is Caldwell Avenue). Susan Kelsey wrote a book about Billy Caldwell and then produced a film: more information here . Fascinating Chicago and Native American history.

Saturday morning archaeologist Dan Melone talked about pre-European inhabitants of northeastern Illinois. I learned a lot, not the least of which is that there are burial mounds in our county. I asked how to recognize one and he gave the dimensions -- a low mound, about 7 x 10 feet. In other words, they're not all giant formations. But he didn't provide specific locations for privacy's sake.

Sunday afternoon I went to the open house at my home town historical society. It was in honor of Northbrook's 124th anniversary. Though the first non-native settlers came in the 1830's (land in this part of Illinois was $1.25/acre), the town was not incorporated until 1901.

The building was a tavern moved from its original location at a busy highway intersection to the village park. (I was home that day and watched it.) The upstairs is decorated like a late 19th century house.

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I spent time in the studio, too!

Weave is not only finished, it's out of the house. I donated it and another quilt to Cory's Project for their big fundraising event next month.

There will be two swaps at the guild holiday party.  Each year there's an ornament swap and this year there's a tote bag swap. I made a pot holder ("an ornament for your kitchen").

The tote bag can be any size, any style. Small gifts (sewing or non-sewing) can be included. The lime/gray/black panel was in the orphans box so half the work was already done.

All year I've made 9-patch blocks in the RSC color of the month. I clipped a photo from a magazine and used it as my inspiration. The design uses 12 sets of 8 blocks. RSC had 10 colors plus neutral. I chose gray for the neutral and coral for the twelfth color.

I auditioned several fabrics for the setting squares and triangles, and finally decided on a light taupe print.

Getting all the blocks in the correct order was tricky.

It's basted and I'm contemplating how to quilt it.

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

P.S. I walked at Illinois Beach on Saturday. 70 degrees meant shirtsleeves in mid-November! Granted, it's a flannel shirt, but still . . . the temperature dropped to the high 40's on Sunday.

Midweek: snow + starts and near-finishes

 

We had a classic lake-effect snowstorm Sunday night into Monday morning.  13" fell in our town on the lake shore but there was only a dusting at the west end of the county and further south. 

The back yard at 5:30 a.m.  Monday.  See the shed?  That's where the snow shovels were.   I put on my boots and retrieved them.

 

It warmed up and here's the same scene this morning.   The temps will reach 60 by Friday so all the snow will be gone.

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I used up a lot of spare parts for the placemat project. Then I opened a drawer and found these.  Seeds for a new batch? 

Rather than putting them back in the drawer I put them in the box with other spare parts.  (How long will that little drawer be empty?)

But meanwhile:   String X, a Bonnie Hunter pattern, is one of the ALA Biblioquilters group projects for 2026.  I made a dozen blocks and sent them off.  I liked the design so much that I pieced more strips and used up a small box of them.

I'll keep going until I've used up all of the blue, but first I have to cut a bunch of 5" strips.   

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I used thrifted shirts for Weave, the November pattern in the Running Doe top-along.  It took longer to select  the fabric than it did to sew.   The strips are 5-3/4" wide.  It's under the needle now.  

Linking up with Wednesday Wait Loss

Weekly update, part 2: quilt show

 

 

The Fine Art of Fiber is an annual collaboration of Illinois Quilters, Inc., North Suburban Needlearts Guild, and the Weaver's Guild of the North Shore.  It's held at the Chicago Botanic Garden the first Thursday through Saturday of November.  

A couple of years ago I saw my librarian friend Elisa at the show. This time I emailed her and we arranged to meet up.  She's not a quilter but she appreciates quilting and she likes to shop at the boutique.  We had lunch in the Garden cafe, too. 

We posed with an elaborately-quilted jacket made by Sue Daurio.   

Here is Sue with her AI-assisted self-portrait. (She told AI to create a picture with two cockapoos, a white-haired woman, and quilts.)   She quilted the honeybee made by Kim Berry-Rogers. 

Here are a few of the other quilts in the show. 

Their guild challenge was based on the game of Clue.  

The Explorations in Fiber theme was "wrapped," and included a fabric leaf 'gown,' an apron, a jacket, and more. The black-and-white is "metamorphosis." The maker's partner is a transwoman and the black part is made out of one of the business suits she once wore.  The jacket at the lower left is a photo collage about the maker's mother who chose to raise her five children as a single mother with few resources.  

Outside the exhibit hall roses were still in bloom.  (Lower right are strawflowers.)  

.....and of course I thought about my companion at the show last November....He enjoyed the day out.