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Bumblebee on wild indigo, baptisia alba. Also called false indigo.  (Pine Dunes Forest Preserve on Tuesday.)

The sunshine and moderate temperatures are great for walking.  This morning (Friday) we are finally getting some rain.   That's fine because I have a lot of office-work to catch up on.

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In the studio:   

The batik crumb HSTs got lost in a straight setting.  

They stand out more as flying geese.

The flimsy used 5 yards.  I still have 2 yards+ of the turquoise batik. (The tag pinned to it said it was a 2014 purchase in the red tag section at Joann ...

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Batik Bars is quilted and bound!

    I got the swirly Asian print way back in 2000. I remember that because I stopped at a quilt shop the weekend I went to an out-of-state wedding. I thought it would be good for a jacket. Over the years I'd take it off the shelf and think about using it (though the idea of a jacket was long gone). I just couldn't cut it up  so I used it in its entirety.   (The other green print on the right came from the birthday bash stash. The one at the bottom was ...

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 Rabbit, rabbit!   Welcome, July!

The ALA Annual Conference was GREAT.  I will post the account this weekend.   Suffice it to say it was wonderful to see friends and colleagues in person again.  

I got home early Tuesday afternoon.  My husband did all right in my absence and I appreciate the neighbors who kept an eye out and friends who came to visit him.

The stash report for July:   some planned, some unplanned growth but all very satisfying.  

Fabric IN:  1272 yards, $595.  Average $2.13 per yard.  (That includes 1200 for $233 for my birthday stash bash, a garage sale ...

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 I was up very early Tuesday and took pictures of the sunrise on the lake for the summer solstice.    (5:15 a.m.) 

I have yet to find a really good not-wooded place to get a sunset photo. This was taken off a side road about 8:20 p.m. (Sunset officially 8:32.)

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In the studio: I finished the 22 mug rugs and mailed them to the woman who commissioned them. They will be favors at the Georgia state P.E.O. convention next spring. (I joked it's up to her to remember where she put them!)   2-3 ...

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 The Glenbrook North High School Class of 1970 had not-quite a reunion on Saturday evening.  Early in 2020 we began planning.    Committee members (of which I'm one) tracked down classmates to get phone numbers and email addresses.  We created a Facebook group and used an online class reunion site to try to reach everyone we could.   In July, 2020, we realized that the pandemic wasn't going to be over by October so we cancelled the event. We began 2021 with the hope we could pull off a "Fifty Plus One" reunion for October, 2021.   Evites went out and ...

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I realize I am jumping the gun with this, but I am so chuffed at my progress that I can't wait.  If you're reading this and you're in my quilt guild, don't look any further.  If you do, don't let on. 

"Birth Month" is the theme for our guild's 2021 challenge:  use the flower and the gem for your birth month.  Maximum size 20 x 21 for the year.    The reveal was scheduled for scheduled for August -- I knew I wouldn't make it because I was preoccupied by the wedding quilt.  But when ...

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 But first, a few wildflowers at Camp Logan/Illinois Beach (June 15).  The wild flag iris is still in bloom (but about over now). Also: hedge bindweed aka "bell bind"; flowering spurge; rudbeckia aka Blackeyed Susan; green bulrush; bird's-foot trefoil; spiderwort aka Bluejacket or Widow's Tears; oxeye daisy.

On Friday I picked up Erika and we drove to Nordstrom's at Woodfield Mall to have lunch with six other AAUW friends from the northern suburbs.  It was SO wonderful to see everyone in person!!   (We've met at Nordstrom's cafe a couple of times before. I don ...

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When we began exploring the forest preserves the walks seemed longer because I wasn't familiar with the trails.  The path around Lake Carina, a reclaimed gravel pit, is just a mile.  

Upper right: strawberries. Middle right: black mustard (an nasty invader). Lower left: puccoon. I haven't identified the other two. 

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Eleanor (Ellie) Levie was the quilt guild speaker Wednesday evening by Zoom (she lives in Philadelphia).  Her lively presentation  "American Quiltmaking 1970-2000" is a version of the book she wrote (see photo).  I have owned Great Little Quilts, her ...

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I made twenty batik crumb blocks. I planned to sash them shadowbox style and auditioned some fabrics.   In addition to this purple/turquoise combo I tried a white batik but that contrast was too stark.  [Of course I am using only what I have on hand.]
 

Then I found a lovely soft brown/tan Indian batik (part of this gift).  I was so sure it would be ideal that I cut all the sashing. 

I wanted low-volume but it was TOO low-volume and the colorful mix of the crumbs got lost.  

I tried a third time, and here's how ...

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I've had Patchwork with Pizzazz for more than a decade. (Author Lisa Bergene is Norwegian.  The original title is Kreative Lappe Ideer Vesker og Bager.)  I pulled  the book off the shelf a couple of days ago and one of the designs began to jump up and down and holler, "Try me!"  I couldn't resist.  

The blocks use split rectangle units. I have probably made them sometime along the way but I know I haven't used them as a significant component of an entire quilt.  I remember being put off by the fussy tedium of the bias ...

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 I was going to make simple slab borders for the elephant-block placemats. 

Then I thought I'd use a skinny strip and scrappy neutral borders.  That required piecing more scrappy neutrals. 

I didn't like the "fenced-in" effect.

 

If I took the fence out the elephants would be swimming in a pool of neutrals.

What to do, what to do?  

I happened to have some scrappy-batik slabs on hand.  I cut them into three-inch strips. 

I have quilted the elephants and the neutral backgrounds on all four.  I hope to finish quilting the borders today. 

(And now I have 16 ...

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 As far as we are aware, we are not one speck Irish.  (We may be surprised when we receive the results of the Ancestry DNA tests. We spat in the vials and mailed them in about a month ago.)   I baked a loaf of soda bread this morning and have corned beef in the crock pot for tonight's supper.

 That's cultural appreciation, not cultural appropriation.  I have never been to a St. Patrick's Day parade nor gone downtown to see the Chicago River dyed green.

 

A colleague posted her mother's soda bread recipe on Facebook last ...

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I am not buying fabric during Lent.  But thread is not fabric!  Someone on an online group recommended  Wawak.   A few clicks later I had an online shopping cart filled with Aurifil thread.  ** $7.95 ** per 1440-yard spool.  That's the everyday price!  The order came within a week.  I am sold!

The batik variable stars are now a flimsy. I made 36 blocks and used 32 of them. It may not look like it, but there is a color arrangement -- warm backgrounds in the center and cooler backgrounds around the perimeter.   (The four blocks I did not use were ...

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March began with a flurry of activities.  On Wednesday we got our first Covid vaccine shots at CTCA, the hospital in Zion. It was quick and we had no side effects. The second shot is scheduled for March 31.  

On Saturday evening we went to the first indoor concert in exactly a year. (The last time was March 7, 2020.)  Only 50 people were in attendance with ample social distancing. The Lake County Symphony Orchestra featured a percussionist (marimba and vibraphone) and a brass quintet.   

Spring is in the air with lots of sunshine and mild temperatures. . It was great ...

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The framed four-patch batik project is now a flimsy.  In retrospect the borders (made from 2.5" squares) are a little heavy. I'm not sure whether I'll change them (smaller squares? piano keys?)...no rush.

Grassy Creek is three-quarters of a flimsy. All the blocks and the sashing are assembled.  To come:  a different sashing around the perimeter, an inner border, and an outer border. 

I fussed around with color placement--specifically ...

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It's time to reveal the results of the Mini Swap hosted by the Modern Quilt Guild -- at least, of my part in it.  Kathy C. was my swap partner.  Here's the 24" mini quilt that she sent me.   Gray and coral are two of my current favorite colors and I love batiks.  

 

I used batiks for "Toward the Morning," the mini I sent to Kathy. 

This was the first time I've made a flange binding. 

The triangles-in-formation design is from a stenciled frieze at Crab Tree Farm which I toured in July, 2019 .   

The colorway was inspired ...

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Sparkle Jane completed this beautiful quilt using batik scraps (thanks to Jennifer to held the giveaway).

She, too, enjoys quilts with a lot of different fabrics because of the interest and texture it creates.

And she made matching pillows using the cutoffs.

It is based on a pattern by Kim Brackett from one of her Scrap Basket books.

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Another finish!  I made the flimsy in July.  

I rarely use batiks for quilt backs but I did this time.It's the last day to post September OMG accomplishments.  My OMG was to finish two flimsies. I did that times two-and-a-half (including the quilt shown above).  Here are the other four.And with that, the stash report.

September  fabric IN:  99 yards, $177.   (That includes a guild giveaway and three estate sales.)  September fabric OUT:  71-1/4.  (That includes a donation to the Joyful Quilter for her charity project.)

YTD fabric IN:  792-1/4 yards, $949 (average $1.20 ...

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I was up early Sunday morning and caught the sunrise over Lake Michigan at 5:52 a.m.  That's 38 minutes later than the solstice on June 22.










On the way home I stopped at Spring Bluff Forest Preserve and took photos of some of the wildflowers.

Left:  mullein, blue vervain, and prairie coneflower. Top right: primrose. Middle right: tall coreopsis ("tall" is part of the name).
Bottom left: a pretty array. Center: bergamot aka monarda aka bee balm. Right:  Queen Anne's lace.

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In the studio:   after I finished Triangle Endeavour (see the previous post) I began working ...

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