More than a photo op

The library received a construction grant earlier this year. The money helped with the cost to replace the computer network servers that were shorted out in a freak flood last September. (The air conditioning unit over the server closet backed up and flooded. No computers or internet for two weeks and a bill for over $125,000 to repair/upgrade and relocate the a.c. unit. Insurance paid $58,000.  The grant paid $19,000.) 

We paid the bills last fall. We got the grant check in the spring and deposited it. Last month we (not me personally, but the interim director) got a call from the Illinois State Library saying that Secretary of State and State Librarian Jesse White would like to present a display check and would July 8 be all right?  The interim director asked if I could be there to receive the check since I'd applied for the grant.  Certainly. 

It turned out to be a bigger event than I anticipated.  The township supervisors, our state representative, and staff from the State Library and the Secretary's office were there. So was the district office director for our congressional representative. She had a pleasant surprise for me! 

(Board president George Andersson, Sec. White, Rep. Sheri Jesiel, and me.)

 

 

The Rotary Summer School kids had an unexpected civics lesson. (Me, Rotary president Shantal Taylor, Director of the State Library Anne Craig, Sec. White, Rep. Jesiel, Township Supervisors Cheri Neal and Jan Suthard.)

The box I shipped from the ALA conference (I had it sent to the library) arrived.  These new books and upcoming release will keep us occupied for a while.

 

DWM: bargains, winnings, strings, and shoo-flies

In mid-May I wrote this post  about the 1500 yards of fabric donated to our guild.  The donor's grandchildren were coming to live with her and she had to give up her sewing room and thus her stash.

The guild board agreed to sell the fabric to ourselves for $2/yd.  Here's a photo of the setup.

We made about $800.  $1160.  Irene and I took the leftover fabric home -- half to her house and half to mine.  A woman who couldn't attend last week came over this morning and bought 45 yards--another $90. [And: full confession: I bought MORE from what I hauled home....$120 to the guild.  For a total of $1373.  But all the rest of the temptation is out of my garage and in Irene's studio.]

 Here's what I got -- a mere 87 yards. But only $2/yd!  And this vintage purple ticking was part of it.

Other guild news:  I won the block-of-the-month!  Here are 8 blocks -- there will be 4 more coming in later. These Civil War Clay's Choice variations (12") may go nicely with the Block Swappers' recent CW 9-patch swap (6") 

Here are 89 out of 96 blue-centered string blocks for the Heartstrings July project. The standard HS quilt has 48 9" blocks, so 96 will make two quilts.  I dug into a shoebox of pieces and strips of white-on-white and cream-on-cream -- good to use 'em up!

Speaking of swaps -- and since this is Design Wall Monday -- here are the dots-and-dashes Shoo-fly blocks from two Blockswappers swaps. I'm not committed to these borders, but the more I look at them the more I like them.  The black-striped border has little stripes of bright-with-dots. 

I'm linking up with other quiltmakers at Judy's  Patchwork Times.

ALA, 2014

Las Vegas in June: "It's a dry heat," someone observed. "But so is cremation," was the response. I assure you that 105 is hot, regardless of the lack of humidity.  The American Library Association last met in Las Vegas in 1973.  Back then ALA had just over 30,000 members and 8,539 attended that conference.  Forty-one years later membership is about 56,000, and 18,500 attended the conference. (That's fewer than last year -- 26,362 in Chicago -- but more than 2012 -- 16,700 in Anaheim.)  This was the 31st annual conference that I have attended since 1984. (I missed 1991.)   Because I registered for the conference before I retired, my badge had the library's name. I made new business cards that identify me as "retired librarian, quiltmaker, community volunteer." It was odd not to look for programs that might have value at the library.  My schedule was fairly full with committee obligations and as it was I missed some speakers that I'd have liked to hear.



  I did get to two of four sessions about   Libraries Transforming Communities .  This initiative aligns with what I practiced as a librarian and continue to seek "with strings attached."


The Best of the Best is a panel book review by members of the University Press Books Committee. I've served on the committee for many years and have chaired it the past two.   Committee members are public and high school librarians.  Each fall university presses send us their new titles that they think may appeal to public and school libraries. We are each assigned certain Dewey decimal ranges.  At Annual some of us -- four this year -- give book talks about the books we consider outstanding.  (This year I talked about Becoming Tom Thumb, by Eric D. Lehman, and Shadow Master: The Extraordinary Life of Pauline Benton, by Grant Hayter-Menzies.)  There were 32 people in the audience, more than we've had in the past. And I want to read several of the books that my co-committee members reviewed.)


There was time for fun!  On Thursday evening my roommate, Carol from Indiana, and I went to the MGM Grand to see Ka by Cirque du Soleil .  Neither of us had seen a Cirque performance before and this was magnificent -- the acrobatics, the dancing, and the stage set.  We had great seats.

David & grandkids in his vegetable garden

On Saturday evening I had dinner with family friends Beth and David. They knew Stevens and me when we were courting (Pittsburg, Kansas, 1980).  They moved to Texas and then to Florida and last year retired to Henderson, Nevada.  Their daughter Dana, son-in-law Matt, and grandchildren Lia and Max were there, too, as well as their SIL's business partners.  Matt is an academic librarian who created Pictoscope , an online discovery index to digitized pictures. (Pictoscope had a booth in the exhibit hall.) It was a lovely evening in the good company of long-time friends.

 I manage to work quilting into everything, of course.
The ALA Biblioquilters contributed ten quilts to this year's scholarship auction.  Bidding was up to $3430 at 10:30 Sunday morning. The auction closed that afternoon and I need to find out the final prices.

I donated "Crossed Stars," made from blocks I won at Block Lotto.

'nuff said!

A fritillary, some flowers, and forty FQs

We saw this pretty butterfly when we walked at Hosah Beach in Zion yesterday. It is technically a fritillary and its common name is Aphrodite. 

(I looked it up here:  "Fritillaries are a smaller group within the butterfly family Nymphalidae. All butterflies in this family have tiny front legs that lack claws (in most other butterfly families, the front legs have claws). This family includes many other common butterflies, including viceroys, checkerspots, and heliconians. Togther, all of the butterflies in this family are known as brush-footed butterflies.")

 

We also saw wildflowers:  spiderwort, hoary puccoon, and more daisies.

 I bought these 40 Moda fat quarters from an advertiser on the Quilters Flea Market group. What a great assortment of neutrals and tans at a bargain price.  Most of the prints were new to me.  These will be very useful.

 

And now with three posts in one day, I'd better log off and finish packing for the ALA Conference!   http://ala14.ala.org/

Birthday week

You can't hide from birthdays if you're on Facebook.  I had more than 150 birthday greetings on Monday, with a few the day before and a few the day after.  It was a pleasant day:  I wrote a book review, took a walk, pulled some weeds, and finished a quilt.  

The book review was one of two I will present at a panel program at the upcoming ALA conference.  (The program will be taped for BookTV and I will try to remember to share the link.  I'll be talking about Becoming Tom Thumb and Shadow Woman.)


The walk was along my usual  route in our neighborhood --about a mile and a half.

The weeds were mostly  convolvulus -- better known as bindweed.  It takes over the front flowerbed.  It reproduces by rhizome so under the surface there is one huge convolvulus plant. All I can do is pluck, and pluck, and pluck some more.

The quilt is my version of Bonnie Hunter's Tumalo Trail.  I posted a photo of the assembled center a couple of weeks ago.  The border is a cheerful, busy April Cornell print that works very well with the multi-fabric center.  I quilted abstract leaves in the center and straight lines in the border.  It's 72 x 72 and used 10 yards in all. (Those little patches have 20.5 square inches each!)

Little museums

   On Saturday, on our way home from our committee meeting in Bloomington, my friend Ann and I stopped at the Norsk Museum in Norway, Illinois.  Norway  was settled in 1834.  It is an unincorporated town in northeast LaSalle County, about 100 miles from where I live.  (Ann lives in a west-southwest suburb only about 30 miles away so this was in her neck of the woods.)

 The former Lutheran church, closed years ago, houses the museum.  (The Methodist church a block away is operational.)

I enjoy visiting small local museums with displays of items donated by townspeople (and descendants of townspeople). The emigrants' trunks were the most Norwegian things in the museum.  From the farm implements and household items it appeared that the townspeople were well-assimilated by the turn of the 20th century.

Yes, there were quilts. There was also a sewing machine. (I did not lift the lid to see what model).

One of my retirement gifts was a booklet with information about all the local museums and historical societies in Kane and DuPage Counties.  I'd like to visit all of them!  Summer road trip?

Quilt presented!

 I finished the second t-shirt quilt on Tuesday evening.  6 yards for the setting, backing, and binding. I used a motif from one of the shirts for the label.

I met Michael at the library this morning to give him the quilt. (Allen and Dustin helped hold it up, though Dustin stood behind the quilt.)  Michael was very pleased which meant I was relieved. He gave me a thank-you card with a nice surprise -- a Visa gift card! (The quilt was a raffle prize for which he had the winning ticket.)

I'm so glad to have the two t-shirt quilts completed!

DWM: Acquisitions

 

796.42 is the Dewey # for running

Where did the week go?  I need to look at my planner to remember! Woman's Club board meeting Monday evening, AAUW summer luncheon Tuesday, a long-overdue visit to the attorney to update my trust on Wednesday, Chamber of Commerce committee lunch and Rotary installation dinner on Thursday, *nothing* on Friday, the Reading Run on Saturday morning (I didn't run; I emceed the awards) and the Chicago Bowdoin Club's annual lobster boil on Saturday afternoon.   


I woke up in a swivet on Sunday realizing that I had two audio reviews due to Library Journal two weeks ago, a column for the Zion-Benton News due on Tuesday, and two book reviews for a program at the ALA Annual Conference at the end of June.  I am pleased to report that the LJ reviews and the ZBNews column are in and the ALA reviews are underway.

T-shirt quilt #1 is finished -- quilted and bound. T-shirt quilt #2 is set, basted, and half-quilted.  Hooray!

This was a week of fabric acquisition rather than use. 

On my way back from the attorney's office I stopped at Hancock Fabrics. I bought these Indonesian batiks on clearance (50% off).








When I got home I found that the Whatchagot Box arrived. Joan in Indiana sent this wonderful assortment of fabric and patterns. Thank you!









Batting is 40% off at Joann's.  I decided to buy an entire bolt of Warm & Natural (40 yards) -- three $25 gift cards and the sale would save a lot.  After the clerk rang up the purchase she gave me a 30% off coupon because I'd spent more than  $50. I got to thinking: batting would be on sale after the promo. If I returned the batting and spent $50 on something else then I'd have sale price + gift cards + 30% off --- another $90 savings on that batting.  The clerk processed the return and put my name on the bolt (so no one else would buy it).  I bought some thread and these 50%-off-Red Tag bargains [that's $2.50/yd] to total $50.00.

 I went back to Joann's on Sunday to get the batting.  Now I am well-supplied.
[List price with tax: $632.57.  After the sale and the 30% coupon, plus tax: $265.56. I saved $367.01.]



 

I'm linking up with other quiltmakers at Judy's  Patchwork Times

DWM: all set (almost)

 I have been muttering about the two t-shirt quilts I *have* to make.  They are on behalf of the ZB Run Squad which coordinates six 5k run/walk events.  Each run benefits a community agency, two of which I'm involved with (the library and the Coalition for Healthy Communities). The library's assistant director is on the Run Squad steering committee. Last year she said that they were brainstorming ways to encourage people to participate in all six races.  I suggested a raffle for a t-shirt quilt and the committe took me up on the idea.  People bought tickets at each run in 2013 and the winner was announced at the final run of the year. 

Heretofore I have made one t-shirt quilt.  It took me months. (Here is the finished product.)  Because of that experience I approached the Run Squad quilt with trepidation.  Then I had double trepidation because the steering committee asked if I'd make a second quilt as a surprise for one of the members who devotes a lot of time to the committee. 

I've had the t-shirts for months. The 2014 run season is in full swing. This week I got going.
I abandoned all thought of fancy sashing. Lime green is indeed a neutral, as the folks at Quilt Country say.  The flimsy on the left is for the committee member (a woman).   It's half-basted as I write this post. I'm using a bright print sheet [$3 at Salvation Army] for the back.  The flimsy on the right is for the raffle winner (a man).  He had more t-shirts so his quilt will be larger. I ran out of sashing fabric and I don't have any other lime greens that will suit. (Trust me, I searched--I have lots of FQs but I want WOF strips). This particular lime is at Hobby Lobby and I will go there today. 


See what other quiltmakers have on their design walls at Judy's Patchwork Times.

DWM: stash report for May, and work in progress

Fabric acquired in May: 96-7/8 yards.  Of that, I only paid $49.68 for 27-1/4 yards.  (2 yds at the craft show in Perth; 6-1/4 from Salvation Army; 19 yards ($5) at an estate sale.)
The remaining 69-5/8 yards were free!  52 yards were retirement gifts; 3/4 yard was a jelly roll that I won; 1-1/2 yards were gifts from the Magpies; 15-1/8 were from the woman who gave her stash to the guild.

I used only 7-1/4.  But then I was out of the country for two weeks!

 Quilt fabric is indeed expensive in Australia -- as much as $24/metre!   Much of the fabric at the vendors' booths at the Perth show was American. I bypassed all of that and bought 8 FQs of Australian prints.  I think they'll make a nice tote bag.

Here are all the souvenirs I brought back from Australia. I think I exercised remarkable restraint.






This is on my design wall.  It's Bonnie Hunter's Tumalo Trail. I made all the nine-patches as leader-and-enders in early spring.  With those ready to go, it was easy to make HSTs from pairs of 4" squares (trimmed to 3.5").  Bonnie's pattern has a piano key border. I don't think I'm going to do that.

My priority this week is to work on the two t-shirt quilts for the ZB Run Squad.  Check back for my progress! 

See what other quiltmakers are up to at Judy's Patchwork Times.


Patchwork Times.