Weekly update: TV, totes, and a new start

 We have one TV. It's in the basement family room that is mostly my studio. There's a comfortable armchair where my husband sits. I sew.

Our new TV was delivered on Wednesday. It hadn't occurred to me that the maple washstand that served as the stand for the 12-year-old 19" TV would not be large enough.  My family's kitchen table from the 1950's was pressed into service. (It ceased being used as the kitchen table when we moved in 1962. It was in my dad's basement workshop until my sister and I cleaned out the house in 2002. It's been in my basement laundry room.)   I now need to find places to put the things that were on top of and under that table.

Here's the table in use.  (My mother in 1955, my sister in 1958.)  It's hard to imagine our family of four sitting around that little dinette table, even when my sister and I were small.

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I've made three tote bags from the purple and green BOM blocks that I showed last week. More precisely, I have made three tote bag outsides and three sets of handles.  I need to quilt the bag outsides, cut and attach linings, and put them all together.  Each of the three uses two blocks, which means I have six blocks to find uses for. I'm kind of stuck on designs at the moment -- and the bright lime/purple combination is losing its appeal because there is so much of it. I'll set all that aside for a few days.

I've begun the next project: a quilt for a colleague whose baby is due in November.  A recent review of quilt magazines led to tearing out patterns (and pitching the remainder).

This is from a back issue of McCall's. The pattern is by Gerri Robinson.

Here's the I Spy version so far. I'm going to make 36 blocks.  [Novelties are cut 4-1/2 x 6-1/2. Sashes are cut 2-1/2 x 6-1/2.  Thus the blocks are 6 x 8.]

Monday linkups:
Main Crush Monday
Monday Making
Oh Scrap!
Design Wall Monday

Weekly update: acquisitions

I took a box of stuff to Salvation Army this week and found these goodies to take home.

The Marimekko cotton print turned out to be 3-1/8 yards and 54" wide. Just $2!  It's home dec weight -- good for placemats or tote bags.








 I've had the same dogwood print tablecloth in red and in forest green.  I looked for more information and found out that the manufacturer is Weil and Durrse.

The linen tablecloth was never used.










I got the poinsettia tablecloth and these five handkerchiefs at an estate sale. I especially like the floral bouquet.














P.S. I wonder why dogwood was such a popular motif. I have these dogwood hankies in my collection.

How much is that quilt worth?

 Quilt care was the topic at the monthly meeting of the Northern Lake County Quilters' Guild on Wednesday evening.  Appraiser Sandy Schweitzer provided helpful information about keeping quilts in good shape. She showed one of her quilts that had hung in an office with fluorescent light. The fabric in the background and on the back were the same -- but the background was tan and the back was black.  Hanging a quilt, even on a hanging sleeve, can result in distortion after a long time.   She recommends giving quilts a rest from light and gravity.  If you stack unfolded quilts on a guest bed, rotate them so those on the bottom don't become permanently smashed.  It's okay to keep quilts in plastic tubs but each should be in a clean sack (like a cotton pillow case).

On Saturday the guild hosted a day of appraisals-by-appointment with Sandy. I signed up for five half-hour slots and took a box with seven quilts.  I wanted certified appraisals for four of them and took the others for her assessment/opinion.

This four-block Princess Feather is circa 1850. It's a summer spread, which means that it is not quilted. The seams are neatly finished and the stitching on the back hardly shows.

Some of the green fabric has faded to yellow. Some of the appliques need to be stitched down again.

 There are borders on three sides. The curves in the vine are symmetrical. The buds on the inside area all three-petal and the buds on the outside are all four-petal.

The appraised value is $250. (I paid $25 at a thrift shop.)

The unquilted flying geese strippy is in rough shape. The columns taper so one end is narrower than the other. There are some rips.  Most of the geese have nipped noses.  Sandy didn't appraise this but she told me it dates to the last quarter of the 19th century.


I took two HeartStrings quilts-- the "standard" 48 string-pieced blocks -- and asked about a fair value. When I donate a HS quilt to a community fundraiser I'm asked how much it's worth. Sandy said I can count the value of the materials but not my labor.   She pointed out that to achieve the scrappiness in HS quilts I could conceivably purchase 30 or 40 fat quarters.  Then there's the fabric for the foundations and backing, plus batting.  All bought new, about $250.  [Note this is an assessment, not a certified appraisal.]

In this photo Sandy is affixing her seal to the written appraisal for my bookshelf quilt.  In our three-year terms on the ALA Executive Board my colleague Janet and I made them to honor our fellow board members as their terms ended. (I pieced and quilted. Janet embellished.)   I've since made many bookshelf quilts for other library friends, but they don't have the embroidery and beading that Janet added.  The appraisal:  $650!







Sandy will do more research for the appraisals of the other two quilts I brought: 

Railroad Ties is the memory quilt I made in 2010 using my dad's neckties.
Appraised value: $1800.00.

Stars in Her Crown is the quilt I made in honor of Lulu Corkhill Williams and her service to P.E.O.
Appraised value: $2950.00.

OMG: October sampler blocks

Our guild block-of-the-month theme for 2016-17 was paper foundation piecing (pfp)from simple to complex.  Some of the blocks were well-suited for pfp. Others could have been made conventionally, but they'd require tricky cutting because the blocks finish at 7".  I chose purple and lime green because I have a lot of both in my stash and I like the combination.  I made all the blocks.

 At the November guild meeting participants can reveal how they've set their blocks (finished quilts are optional).  Prizes will be awarded. (I'm not sure of all the categories.)

I haven't made many sampler quilts. I like trying different blocks. I certainly enjoy combining different colors and fabric prints.  What bothers me about samplers is that the blocks often have different densities that are visually unbalanced. Some blocks have a few large units and others have many smaller units.

That imbalance is what confronted me with the pfp blocks. I have had them up and down on the design wall for weeks.

I thought about making a table runner. I'd slice the log cabin block to make the top and bottom triangles.  Note that the basket block is up but the pine tree block points off to the side.

I realized that as much as I like purple and green I could not imagine a quilt or a runner made out of these prints and these tones of purple and green.  I don't have to enter the November show-off-your sampler.  The imbalance (that spool block!) would exist even if I remade them all in a different colorway.  I decided to divide the blocks and thus conquer the setting dilemma. 




Finding settings for all of them is my October One Monthly Goal.  I have two solutions (four blocks) in progress.  This tote bag uses the design I created for the batik maple leaf bag shown in the previous post.  It's shown sideways. The wide green strip is the bottom of the bag.







Years ago I made a bunch of 6"(fin.) trip-around-the-world blocks.

I sliced four of them diagonally to make corners for two of the sampler blocks.  I'm fiddling with how to use others of them for tote bag sides.

That takes care of four sampler blocks. Eight to go!

I'm linking up with
Elm Street Quilts OMG
Design Wall Monday
Monday Making
Main Crush Monday

Weekly update: starts and finishes, September stash report

Rabbit, rabbit!  It's the first of the month.

I can boast of four small projects, started and finished this week.

This mug rug is a birthday gift for a friend who likes dragonflies. 

This mug rug will accompany some books and cookies as a get-well gift for another friend.  The 6" maple leaf block was in the orphan blocks box.

 I used two more orphan maple leaves for this tote bag.  (The other side is similar to this one. The leaf has slightly different colors.)  I fiddled with strips until I got to the size I wanted.

I'll fill the tote with advance reader copies (forthcoming books) and donate it to the silent auction/raffle at the Zion Woman's Club Bunco Night later in October.

I just joined Elm Street Quilts Bag It challenge. This is my first entry! 

Vino Row is a 12x40 runner for a wine-themed gift basket that my sorority alumnae club is donating to a fundraiser.  The pattern is by Carolyn Reardon and was published in McCall's Quilting, May/June 2017.  The gentle curves were easy to sew.

Stash report for September:
January-August fabric in:  250-5/8, $1005.14
September fabric in: 125-7/8, $149  (I went to two estate sales and a garage sale: avg. $1.18/yd)
YTD fabric in: 376-1/2, $1154.14, $3.07/yd

January-August fabric out: 384-3/4
September fabric out: 32-1/4
YTD fabric out: 417

YTD net: 40-1/2 out

I plan to stay away from estate sales in October (at least, those with fabric)!

Weekly linkups:  Oh Scrap!
Bag It
Design Wall Monday
Monday Making
Main Crush Monday

Heritage Waterways: Road Scholar in Ontario, part II

We checked out of the Kingston hotel on Friday morning and went to Picton. It's a small town on a peninsula that drops down into Lake Ontario.  I knew about it because one of my library coworkers grew up there and made frequent trips back. (She'd leave here at 3 a.m. to get there mid-afternoon. It's quite a haul.  Now they've retired to Colorado.) Picton is just the right distance from Ottawa / Kingston / Toronto to be a popular weekend destination.  We learned more about early 19th-century Canada at the historical museum housed in the old Anglican church and its vicarage. 

The  vicarage had quilts. Isn't this 1830 Prince of Wales Feather a beauty?  (The clamshell hearth rug is hooked.)

Lunch was at the Waupoos Estate Winery with a wine tasting and a delicious meal in their beautiful restaurant looking down to Lake Ontario.  [Waupoos means Little Rabbit. If you read William Kent Krueger's mysteries you'll recognize Wauboo as the name of daughter Jenny's adopted son.]   Grapevines and wineries have replaced acres of apple orchards. 

On to Toronto!  It's the largest city in Canada and the economic center.  (We were last there in 2003.)   

Saturday morning began with Toronto history in a presentation by a local historian.  The rest of the group went on a walking tour.  That was more than my husband could manage. Instead  we got tickets for the hop-on-hop-off bus . (We could have taken the subway but then we wouldn't have seen very much.)  We arrived at the Royal Ontario Museum in time for a free Collection Highlights tour.  We followed that with time in the First Nations and Early Canada galleries, then had lunch in the museum cafeteria.   

The rotunda is Venetian mosaic. Each tile is backed with gold foil and set at a different angle so it sparkles. The wording in the center medallion is from Job: "That all men may know His work." The rotunda was the main entrance until the 2007 opening of the modernist   Crystal building. (I didn't get a photograph of that. It's quite controversial.) 

The bus ticket included a 1-hour ferry ride around the Toronto harbour islands.  Heavy rains early in the summer flooded the islands.  The residents (who by statute must live there year-round, no summer/weekend houses) had to evacuate to the mainland.  It was great to be on the water on that hot, hot Saturday afternoon.    

 The  group dinner was just up the street from the ferry dock.  Instead of seating all of us at one or two long tables we were at tables of four.   Our Magpie friend Lynne joined us.  It was so nice to see her in person again. Great food and great conversation.   

Sunday: from Toronto to Niagara-on-the-Lake. We had a walking tour during which our knowledge of the significance of the War of 1812 was refreshed. In the afternoon we saw "Androcles and the Lion," one of the performances in this year's Shaw Festival  A Road Scholar bonus: a post-performance chat with two of the actors. 

Niagara-on-the-Lake is a charming town that with many restored homes. The main street has beautiful plantings -- more so now at the end of the season when the annuals are at their peak. 

Our next stop:  two nights in Niagara Falls, Ontario.  It was like Las Vegas of the north with a lot more water.  We learned that 20 million people visit the Falls annually -- 12m on the Canadian Side, 8m on the U.S. side.  That traffic is pretty much crammed into the  April-October season (peak is June to August).  There are three waterfalls:  American and Bridal Veil on the U.S. side of Goat Island and Horseshoe Falls on the Canadian side. Collectively they are called Niagara Falls.

First dinner:  the Keg Steakhouse at Fallsview.
What a background!

 

LED lighting under the rim of the falls changes color. 

Monday: a Niagara Park ranger provided history of tourism and hydropower at the Falls, then led us on a bus tour along the parkway. We took the Hornblower boat ride. (When Hornblower obtained the rights on the Canadian side a few years ago the Maid of the Mist moved to the U.S. side. The first Maid of the Mist sailed in 1834.)

After lunch: Steve rested at the hotel and I went back to explore.  (Our hotel on Fallsview Blvd. was just up the hill from Niagara Parkway that runs along the river/falls.) There's a beautiful public garden. Nikola Tesla's alternating current won out over Thomas Edison's direct current.

Our final dinner was at the Skylon, a 520-foot tower overlooking the falls. We ate at one of the restaurants. (The view was better than the food.) 

On Tuesday the coach bus took us across the border to the Buffalo airport.  We bid goodbye to our fellow Road Scholars. They flew back home.  We rented a car in order to tour Buffalo, a city neither of us had been to. We were able to check into our motel early (a room was ready at 11 a.m.!) We went to the Albright Knox art museum (and entered just before Mrs. Knox walked in; brief chat with her about Yale). The museum guards were the nicest we have ever encountered--knowledgeable about the collections. The 1905 St. Gaudens building and the 1962 wing will be augmented by a $180m addition in the works. Then around the corner (well, a drive over the expressway) to the Buffalo History Museum housed in a 1901 building, the only permanent structure from the 1901 exposition. They have a new building coming, too.

On Wednesday we went to the Martin House. It was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright for industrialist Darwin Martin and built between 1904-1906.  Mrs. Martin disliked it and the family lived in another house for many years. The house was abandoned (compare to Boldt Castle) and sold for $1 in lieu of back taxes to the nonprofit group that is still working on the restoration.  The horizontal planes of the Prairie Style are a sharp contrast to the three-story late-19th century houses in the residential neighborhood.  The Tree of Life window design is widely reproduced. Note the view from the pergola: one way to the entry and the other way to the Nike at the end of the conservatory. 

Rotary sponsors the acousti-guide. :) 

  

 Carolyn is a librarian friend who lives in Buffalo. She picked us up at our motel and took us to a suburban outlet of Anchor Bar, the restaurant that invented Buffalo wings. We had a side order of those along with weck.  That's kimmelweck--a soft roll topped with coarse salt and caraway--piled high with thinly-sliced roast beef. Delicious!  

Thursday: home!  Our flight left on time and we walked in our front door at noon.   It's good to be home, but, boy, did we have a great trip!

Heritage Waterways: Road Scholar in Ontario

This is part 1 of the travelog.

Our 36th Road Scholar trip was a tremendous success.  The group leader, Paul, was one of the best ever. He was knowledgeable and caring, aware of all of us without being intrusive.  The weather was extraordinary: unseasonably warm  (good thing we packed short-sleeved shirts; we never wore our fleece jackets) and sunny every single day.  The other people in the group were interesting and friendly.  

In 2014 we drove across Ontario to get to our Road Scholar program on Grand Manan Island. We detoured off the highway at Kingston and discovered the Thousand Islands. We didn't have time to explore but we knew we wanted to go back. We were delighted to find out that Road Scholar had a program specifically for that area.  Here is the official description of "Great Lakes and Heritage Waterways: 1000 Islands, Toronto, and Niagara Falls."   The title is misleading because we only went to one great lake (Ontario) and we spent two days in Ottawa which isn't mentioned in the program name.  

Sunday, September 10:  our flight left O'Hare at 6:45 a.m.  That meant we were up at 4:00 for the 4:30 limo.  Fortunately the hotel had a room ready for us when we checked in at 11:00 a.m.  We had lunch at Tim Hortons....when in Canada, eat the local fast food.

We had free time until Road Scholar check in at 4:00 and dinner at 6:00 so I took a walk.

Bilingual

I went to the main branch of the Ottawa Public Library which was busy that afternoon. You can send the librarian on vacation, but . . . 

Monday, September 11:  

House of Commons 

View from the top 

We began with a presentation about the Canadian system of government. (We observed that Canadians are more knowledgeable about U.S. government and politics than we are about theirs.)  After Confederation in 1867 Montreal, Kingston, and Toronto all wanted to be the capital of the new nation. The honor went to a little trading town called Bywater. It was not on Lake Ontario and thus safe from the U.S. It was renamed Ottawa for the Ottawa River. 

We took a coach bus to Parliament Hill and had a tour.  The Peace Tower is 98 meters high (321 feet) and has a huge carillon. 

The Memorial Chamber honors Canadians who have given their lives for their country.  The pages in the Book of Names are turned daily at 11 a.m. with great ceremony. 

We had a tour of the Canadian Museum of History, followed by lunch on the museum's riverside terrace. We had free time to see more of the museum.  

That night: the light show projected on Parliament (just a few blocks from our hotel) was terrific!   Even after dark it was warm enough to just sit on the grass (along with a thousand other people).

website photo, mot mine!

Rideau Hall is the official residence of the Governor General of Canada.  The Governor General is the Queen's representative to the nation.   We had a tour. What did I notice? The perfectly-mitered corners of the fabric-covered ceiling in the Tent Room.   (So-called because in the olden days sporting events (like indoor tennis) were held there. Now it's a banquet hall.)















Tuesday afternoon: free time. Stevens stayed at the hotel. I joined five others who walked across the bridge (from Ottawa to Gatineau, and thus from Ontario to Quebec) to see MosaiCanada 150, a fabulous topiary exhibit celebrating Canada's diversity and history.    WOW!  (And it all comes down at the end of October.)

Anne of Green Gables, Mother Earth, moose, bison, a lobsterman, a Mountie, hockey players, and more.

 We left Ottawa Wednesday morning (9/13).  We saw the Jones Fall Lock Station on the  Rideau Canal. The canal system allowed boats to more traverse between Lake Ontario and Montreal via Bytown, thus bypassing the St. Lawrence River, its rapids, and proximity to the U.S.  The locks were constructed in 1833 and still accommodate pleasure boats. We had lunch at the Hotel Kenney, in service since 1877.

We spent two nights in Kingston, founded on a trading settlement (1673) and renamed for George III in 1787.   It's the home of the Royal Military College (equivalent to West Point) and Queen's University.   A local historian provided commentary for a city tour by coach bus.  Thursday:  the bus took us east along the St. .Lawrence River to the town of Ganonoque.  We went to the excellent local museum to learn about the natural and human history of the Thousand Islands -- actually there are 1,864 of them.  We took a ferry to Boldt Castle on Heart Island.  It's on the U.S. side of the river so we went through customs both going and returning.  The castle was built in 1904 by hotelier George Boldt for his wife. She died shortly before the castle was completed. Heartbroken, he never returned. The castle fell into disrepair and was vandalized (it's easy to reach by boat from either the U.S. or Canada). The Thousand Island Bridge Authority bought it for $1 in 1977 and it's been under restoration ever since.  Tours are on-you-own which is so much better than specific times.  One of the guides told me that they get 4,000 visitors a day in peak season (July).  I estimated there were about 100 people when we were there.  

 Of course I had to take a photo of the hexagon tile floor!

This is the shortest international bridge in the world. The island on the left is in Canada and the island on the right is in the U.S.


End of Part 1!