Weekly update: Easter, two finishes, and a six-part challenge

Easter Sunday was cool but the sunshine was abundant. 

 I went to church in the morning and had a nice long walk at Van Patten Woods in the afternoon.  

Sumac, fungus, mullein.  The place names Des Plaines and O'Plaine are corruptions of "eau pleine" meaning "full of water," which is how the early French explorers saw the river in flood. You can see why.

I had to work off some of the gustatory delights of the day.  I made a half-batch of pancakes, our customary holiday breakfast.  The pancake mix (Christmas 2024 gift) still had enough baking powder oomph to cook up nicely.   I'm a dinner traditionalist -- roast lamb, roasted new potatoes, asparagus, and cheesecake.  I'll have some leftovers this week and freeze the rest for later. 

(I was invited to celebrate the day with friends but decided not to.)  

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In the studio:   

I made Aunt Vina's Favorite in 2024.  Barb quilted it and brought it to me at last week's guild meeting.  I bound it last evening.

Villa Rosa Designs announced a Six Quilts in Six Weeks challenge.   Finish a UFO or start and finish something new and post photos to the VRD FB group each week . Any size, but all must be from Villa Rosa patterns.   I can do this!  

#1     I had one VRD flimsy in the box --  Sky Dancer from the April 2025 top-along.   I call my version Garden Path.   Now it's quilted and bound.  

 It will be just right for the raffle at the upcoming Zion Woman's Club Bunco party. 

The back is a Laura Ashley sheet.   Twin fitted and flat set, $1.00 at the church rummage sale.

That leaves five quilts to start and finish by early May.  I decided I'd make the five flimsies first, then quilt them all.  I perused patterns on the VRD website and splurged on a few that might be good for the challenge.   I'm going to use what's on hand (stash, of course, but also units from the parts department if possible). 

Yes, many VRD designs are easy to copy from the photos.  I'm respecting copyright and purchasing those I'm using in the challenge.   (Just $2.00 each, after all.)

Before I reshelved the remainder of the sheet (there was a lot left) I realized it would be just right for Turnkey, the April top-along pattern.   [Remember that the top-along patterns are all Villa Rosa.]

So here is VRD Challenge #2.   The common fabric in each block is that bed sheet.  (And there is still a lot left.)

The pattern has 24 blocks (10.5" finished).  I made an additional column. 

VRD Challenge #3.  

Rachelle (Rachelle Handmade) is a VRD designer who lives in Wisconsin.  Many of her patterns have Wisconsin place names.   Here's my version of Boscobel.  

The pattern uses 3.5" finished HSTs set 9 x 10.  I had a box of 4.5" unfinished homespun HSTs on hand. I added a row and a column (10 x 11).  This is a good wheelchair size.

I'm on a roll!   I have strips cut for the next VRD and hope to have a flimsy for Wednesday's post.

Linking up with  Design Wall Monday  Sew and Tell  Monday Musings

P.S.  I won a Hobbs wool batt from the SAHRR sponsors! 

Weekly update: a finish and a start

 

Saturday afternoon I walked along this path.  It's part of a bike route that goes through Illinois Beach State Park and then connects with Zion parks and the forest preserves.  

When Zion City was begun in 1901 the prospective residents took the train up from Chicago.   A tower near the train station allowed them to climb up and spot their house lots.  These chunks of concrete are the remaining footings for the tower.  

  

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In the studio:   the homespun half-logs quilt is finished! 

 The back uses an Alexander Henry print from Barb M's garage sale.  It's nostalgic for me.  

When I began quilting in the early 1990's I bought a fat quarter of this print.  I wasn't sure how to use it--it was a few years until I discovered the joy of scrappiness--but I eventually used it all.   

I made the fourth block for the guild BOM.  It's at the bottom with the other months above. 

I need to make a Christmas-themed table runner for an exchange at the guild holiday party next month.  The blocks are  Vicki's Starstruck -- tutorial here .

Uh-oh.  Vicki's design calls for using the  background fabric for sashing between the blocks and for the border.  All I have left are the scraps to the upper left of the blocks.   Yes, I found the fabric online but I'd so like to use what I have!   I'm contemplating a plan B.   Come back to find out what I decide.

Linking up with Oh Scrap! and  Design Wall Monday 

P.S. I have a big stack of library books checked out.  I hope I'll have some time to dig into a couple of them this week.

Friday check in: under the needle, and round robin revealed

 

After a couple of rainy days the sun has come out again so we've enjoyed afternoon outings to the forest preserves:  Indepdendence Grove on Thursday and Waukegan Savanna on Friday.  

At the guild meeting on Wednesday we heard from the founder and director of The Penny's Purpose, an agency that collects and distributes blankets, comforters, and quilts to anyone in the area. (Kids in crisis, nursing homes, homeless shelters....anyone.)    This will be a great way to donate locally.  

We also had the reveal for the 2024 round robin!  There was so much interest that there were two groups of six participants.  I wasn't able to get pictures of all of them.  Those in my group are: upper left, center left, center right, and lower left.  

And here is mine!  

2018 photo. There was a lot more of me then!

My starter block was a leftover from Bohemian Wheels.

I challenged the round robin group to cut the block up.  I asked them to make it rectangular and to go scrappy.   They did!   This will be a fine donation quilt.  

I'm back at the sewing machine. The homespun half-log cabin is under the needle now.  Hope to have a finished quilt for Monday's post.

Linking up with Finished or Not Friday  

P.S. Enjoying the sunshine at Independence Grove.  

Midweek: OMG for October

 

I crossed paths with a praying mantis at Illinois Beach State Park yesterday.   I tried to get a head-on photo but it moved too quickly.

We have one more warm day (80's!) and tomorrow it will be in the 60's, falling to the low 50's for trick or treating.

The squirrels decided to carve our pumpkin.  Ooooh noooo, Mr. Bill!  

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Last evening's P.E.O. Zoom meeting included a very interesting program.

The speaker was my friend-since-junior high Pam. She was an associate editor for Science  the journal of the American Assn. for the Advancement of Science, for 34 years.  She told us what is involved in accepting papers out of the  15,000 submissions a year.  Her subject area is neurobiology (she has a PhD.) and she traveled to many professional conferences around the world to stay abreast of the research.  Her job included arranging for peer review, sometimes a challenge in competitive niches.  Technology changed over the years from mailed submissions in manila envelopes to email (the extensive documentation overloaded the servers) to more efficient platforms.    

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In the studio:  it's time to recap the One Monthly Goal for October.  I said I'd spend the month piecing on Sweetness, my Singer 301, while Jolly Janome was in the shop for a tuneup. 

I made a scrappy half log cabin quilt 20 years ago or so.  I came across three of Sharyn Craig's HLC books and realized the block would be great in homespuns.  I'm using 2" strips so the blocks are 7.5" unfinished. 

Can you see what's in the backgroun of the photo on the left?  We picked up the Janome yesterday.  And I did NOT buy any fabric at the shop.  

I'll use Sweetness to get the HLC blocks to the flimsy stage.

Here's a collage of the four homespun flimsies I made this month. 

Linking up with OMG 2024 October  Wednesday Wait Loss Midweek Makers

Weekly update: more blue-sky days, another concert, and that homespun rescue

 I neglected to mention that we voted last week.  We got mail-in ballots and I dropped them in the box inside the early voting location at Zion City Hall.   There were about 30 people in line to vote in person.  I walked in, and out, with a woman I sort of recognized.  As we exited the building I said in a low voice, "May the best woman win!" to which she said, "You've got that right!"

Here is the backstory of our county's I Voted sticker.

We enjoyed walks at McDonald Woods,  Ray Lake, and Van Patten Woods.   

Upper left:  ground cherries in their husks.

Sunday evening we returned to the College of Lake County for a concert.   The Travelin' McCourys are a Grammy-winning bluegrass band.  Great music!  (And so much energy and strength in their hands.)   

The ADA-accessible row gave us convenient seats.  One of the ushers is a long-time acquaintance (from the late 90's) and he helped S get to the restroom (and out of it), for which I was grateful.  (It's a dilemma when there is no 'family' or unisex restroom.)

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In the studio:

Earlier this month I made some sawtooth stars.

Last week I made some sixteen-patch blocks.

I reduced the sixteen-patches to eight-patches and made more of them.  I made more stars, too.  

I added some HSTs.   

And here's what happened!   

64 x 72

(Oops. The HST at the upper left is mis-oriented. An easy fix, fortunately.)

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

Midweek: design rescue in the works

 

Our AAUW branch met in person last evening. I was happy to go for several reasons -- to see friends, to sell tickets for the holiday raffle quilt, and most of all for the excellent program.  The Dignity Index is a way we can thoughtfully respond to people whose statements and ideas may not align with ours.              from the website: The Dignity Index scores distinct phrases along an eight-point scale from contempt to dignity.  Lower scores (1-4) reflect divisive language while higher scores (5-8) reflect language grounded in dignity.                                                  At our meeting the facilitators (AAUW members from the Batavia-Geneva-St. Charles Branch) provided sample statements for us to evaluate.  It takes practice!     I encourage you to go to the website to learn more. 

In previous years I'd start selling tickets for the holiday quilt at the AAUW-IL fall conference but it was online this year and I wasn't able to attend. (I know there are online auction/raffle platforms but I still can't wrap my head around the logistics.)   Last night's meeting was the last in-person meeting until the holiday party when the winning ticket will be drawn.  

I made the quilt in July.  

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In the studio:   

I've been taken with Wanda's recent sixteen-patch project . I tried the block with the homespuns that have turned out to be my genre-of-the-month.  I alternated the plaids with cream/tan 'regular' fabric.   Pretty blah!  I stared at them for a while and the lightbulb turned on.    Tune in again to see what I've figured out. 

Linking up with Midweek Makers and  Wednesday Wait Loss

Thanks for the shout out, Jennifer! 

Weekly update: sunny days, a concert, more homespun + reading

 Oh, such glorious fall weather!  

We revisited Illinois Beach State Park, Rollins Savanna, and the Des Plaines River Canoe Launch.

Left:  ground cherry (in husks).  Oak leaves, compass plant seed head, prickly pear with fruit, a determined chicory flower, aster, and ground cherries (sans husks).

A friend told me about this trail adjacent to the Rec Plex in Pleasant Prairie, just over the state line.  We checked it out this afternoon (Sunday). 

Saturday evening we went to the College of Lake County (our community college) to hear the Blind Boys of Alabama . They were great!   And with the senior discount our tickets were just $32.50 each. 

Note that I said "evening."  Now that I've had cataracts removed I can see to drive at night.  It makes such a difference! 

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This week I replaced broken things.  The coffeemaker was purchased in 2021 ($).  The Cuisinart food processor was purchased in 1991 ($$).  The molar (#19 per the tooth chart), grown approx. 1959 ($$$$).  [I'm kicking myself for pitching the work bowl from the burned-out Cuisinart because it would fit the new one.  I did save the blades, though.)

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In the studio:  

Here is the homespun project I referred to, now a flimsy.

I'm adapting it from a pattern in a quilt book from 1998.  The pattern uses 1-1/2" strips for 7-1/2" blocks but suggests using 2" strips for 11-1/2" blocks.  I'm doing the latter.   

Perhaps you had this book -- and perhaps you still do! 

(The quiltmaker is (was) Mary Radke of Yorkville, Illinois.  That's in Wanda's neck of the woods. I wonder if she knows her.)

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During her long life and illustrious career Marie Curie mentored many women scientists.  Sobel includes them in this interesting approach to biography.  I admit that I didn't completely understand all the scientific terminology, though Sobel explained it (fairly) clearly.

I'm a life member of AAUW which helped raise money so Mme Curie could  purchase a gram of radium .

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

P.S.   A woolly bear caterpillar on the trail.  Weather lore says the wider the black bands the more severe the winter will be.  

Midweek: estate sale encore and a flimsy + quilt history books

 Barb M's estate sale began in September, 2023.  Paula and her friends were off in July and this September but were back this month.  And there will be more!   They've raised nearly $25,000 for different charities.  

  Average price $2.20 per yard this time.  You can see why my homespun stash has not diminished.

Not that I am not trying.  Here's the nine/four patch flimsy. 

I have another homespun project underway -- photos to come.

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(Last week I mentioned that a local quilt shop sells gently-used quilt books for $2.00 with the proceeds going to charity.  Reading one of those led to rereading another.) 

Jonathan Holstein wrote Abstract Design in American Quilts: a Biography of an Exhibition in 1991 in conjunction with the 20th anniversary of the landmark Whitney Museum exhibit of 60 quilts from his collection.  That was the first time an art museum displayed quilts hung like paintings.  Critics were awed.   

Holstein was born in 1936, grew up in Syracuse, and went to Harvard. In the 1960's he discovered old quilts at antiques shops, farm houses, and other out-of-the-way places in New England, upstate New York, and Pennsylvania.  He and his partner Gail van der Hoof filled their Manhattan apartment with quilts. They were entranced by the way 19th and early 20th century quilt makers perceived and used colors and shapes.     

The Whitney exhibit opened July 2, 1971, and closed September 12.  From there it went to Paris and Japan. The Smithsonian Traveling Exhibition Service (SITES) used some of the Whitney quilts and others from the Holstein collection for a 21-city tour in 1973-74.   

My observation is that some of the quilts are terrific and some are ho-hum.  So many more quilts have been discovered, documented, and shown since then, many of them magnificent.  It is interesting to read quilt analysis from the art history/critic point of view rather than that of a quilt maker.  

My copy of The Pieced Quilt: An American Design Tradition is a reprint (Galahad Books) of the 1973 publication.   It is not a catalog of the Whitney exhibit but is a follow-up companion.  Holstein elaborates on American quilting development, again with the emphasis on design.  

 In 2003 Holstein donated his collection of quilts and documents to the International Quilt Museum.   The 400 quilts include the 62 from the Whitney exhibition.  Images are in the Quilt Index here.  (It was valued at $2.2 million, quite an increase considering that Holstein and van der Hoof set a budget of $36 per quilt on their buying trips.)   In 2021 IQM  remounted the exhibit for its fiftieth anniversary.   

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Linking up with  Midweek Makers  Wednesday Wait Loss

P. S.  Thanks for the shout out, Jennifer!  

Weekly update: homespuns + reading

 

Cranes at Sand Pond this afternoon.  My walk was shortened because this strange wet stuff fell from the sky.  Oh, that was rain!   There hasn't been any around here for six weeks.  (And an hour afterward the sun was out again.) 

In my post Friday I alluded to an adventure.  We drove 65 miles to Westmont and took our friend Pat out to lunch.  

Pat was my long-time ALA conference roommate. She lives in a retirement/assisted living community now, and no longer drives. Though we chat by phone often it's been nearly two years since we've visited in person. Now that I've had cataract surgery I can see much better so I'm a more confident driver. 

Friday evening the  Saddle Shoe Sisters sang golden oldies in a concert sponsored by our church.  It was a sing-along for many of us

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 In the studio:  

I'm still working with homespuns.  I found a stack of light-cornered 3.5" nine patches made from homespuns and 'regular' neutrals.  I sewed them with pairs of 3.5" homespuns. That led to making more nine patches and then more blocks and....as of Sunday evening here's the design wall.   An 8 x 9 block setting will be 48 x 54; 3" borders would bring it to 54 x 60.

(I've had the ARC on the shelf since 2018 and took it along on my trip last month. Didn't read it until I got home, though.) 
A hundred years ago aviation was still young but it had made tremenouds progress in just two decades.   Military and commercial flight was becoming more prevalent. But what captured the public's attention was daredevil barnstorming -- brave (foolhardy?) pilots in small aircraft performing at airstrips all across the country. Records were there to be broken -- prizes for the longest, fastest, highest flights. Women were among those pioneers. Amelia Earhart is the best-known but she was hardly alone. Along with Ruth Nichols, Ruth Elder, Louise Thaden, and others they pushed the male establishment to let them fly. Some crashed, some soared, and they contributed immeasurably to aviation.

Linking up with  Design Wall Monday and Oh Scrap!  

P.S.  Heirloom tomatoes from our favorite produce stand.  They're huge and delicious.