What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

I was intent on trying to see the blue jay that flew across the path and nearly stepped on this little guy.  He slithered away fast. (Young garter snake.)  

Yesterday the AAUW Exploring Culture interest group enjoyed a tour of the Adlai E. Stevenson Historic Home in Mettawa.

 The AAUW-Illinois convention was held at Elgin Community College on Friday evening and all day Saturday.  

Though the Illinois Division (as the state organizations were called) was organized in 1924, the Chicago, Inc., Branch was chartered in 1889 followed by Champaign-Urbana (1901), Springfield (1906), Rock Island-Moline (1909), Aurora (1919), Elgin (1920), Quincy (1923), and Monmouth (1924).   My branch, Waukegan, was chartered in 1928.  

The focus of the state convention is about learning and building skills to be better advocates for AAUW's mission of advancing gender equity.  Dr. Suzanne Chod, North Central College, talked about the how and why of ...

Sofia Abukar Faroli joined us by Zoom. She is a professor at Portland State University, researching African women in elected office. Thallyta Laryssa Cavoli is a PhD. candidate at the University of Illinois. She is from Brazil and her research area is poverty and inequitable access to resources. Hanin Elathram grew up in Benghazi, Libya. She received a BSME ...

Left:  the bumblebee was intent on the liatris (blazing star) as I snapped several photos.  

A 2' long eastern fox snake was crossing the path.  It curled up when I stomped.  The snake is not venomous.  It warns predators off by shaking its tail to mimic a rattlesnake.  I saw the behavior as it swished the gravel on the path.  Then it slithered into the undergrowth.  

I found another fringed gentian ...

AAUW CEO Gloria Blackwell provided an update on AAUW’s national efforts for equity for women and girls – economic security, safety and welfare.    AAUW-IL lobbyist Jenni Purdue provided an update about our state public policy efforts. 

Sharmili Majmudar, executive v.p. at Women Employed.  WE advocates for women’s economic power to close the wealth gap for gender and race.  Barriers to equity include salary history, forbidding employees to discuss their pay, limiting equal ...

Waukegan Area Branch members

 Saturday's AAUW meeting was the annual Fellows Luncheon.   The Waukegan and Deerfield branches invite women who have received AAUW fellowships to study in the U.S. (specifically, the Chicago area) to tell us about their research.

Matilda Adebove from Nigeria is studying educational psychology at Loyola.  She belongs to a religious community and told us that her International Fellowship freed up funds for seven other sisters to pursue educational opportunities.

Sign of spring:   Mr. and Mrs. Crane let me get very close to snap this picture at Illinois Beach State Park this week.

Yet the day before the cranes I saw fungus on a tree stump in an icy pond.  

Tuesday noon:  I was co-hostess for the Zion Woman's Club luncheon and used my vintage tablecloths on each table. In lieu of a white elephant gift exchange we each packaged "festive food."  (I gave a gift box of Penzey's spices and received four different kinds of treats from Trader Joe's.)    We collected hats and mittens for kids at Elmwood  School in Zion. 

It was so wonderful to be in-person for the AAUW-IL convention!  (The 2020 convention was cancelled. The 2021 convention was by Zoom.)   I picked up Karen and Erika for the drive to the Doubletree in Naperville, about 75 miles away.    

 

Waukegan Area Branch attendees were Karen, Jo-An, me, Jolanta, and Erika. 

Wednesday turned out to be an expensive day.  The first expense was to the electrician who came after lunch. He replaced the 8' fluorescent tubes in the laundry room with two 4' LED fixtures. It's bright enough to perform surgery in the laundry room now!  ($$ to pay him.)   

 Then I drove up to Joann's in Racine to buy batting.  I usually buy it by the bolt but I couldn't get the Joann's online system to take the five $25 gift cards I wanted to use.    I was nearly at the mall when I got nailed by ...

We enjoyed the Kiwanis pancake breakfast. I bought raffle tickets and won a $10 Amazon gift card, a $25 Hobby Lobby gift card, and an ice cream sundae basket (all the fixings -- just add ice cream).

On Tuesday the Zion Woman's Club had a holiday luncheon.  I didn't get a photo of my vintage Christmas tablecloths in use.  We had box lunches which made serving very easy.  A white elephant exchange meant each of us got something to take home.  We also collected food for the two local food pantries. That all went into ...

A brisk northeast wind brought whitecaps to the lake. It was chilly but clear.  There's a pair of bald eagles nesting in that part of the park. My quest this season is to see them one day.  

The tote bags I made for the school children in Nepal have been delivered.  Margaret, my friend who supports the school and asked if I could help out, sent this photo of the kids.  It was taken by the school's U.S. coordiantor. (The sign says, "Thank you dear Nann Hilyard.")

[For those who are interested in the school and the parent organization: Impact Schools ]







The counter tops were installed Friday.   I had no idea there were so many choices for faucets until I had to choose one.  (The first one I sort of liked was $1400.  The second ...