finished or not friday

Friday check in: bingo board flimsy from With Strings Attached

At the July guild meeting we played quilter's bingo. We made bingo boards from fabric -- "yellow stripe," "green batik," "purple floral," etc. The boards were bordered in black or white. The charity chairman designed easy patterns and added fabric to create kits for donation quilts. I took two of the kits at the November meeting.

I trimmed the black-bordered bingo board blocks (say that three times fast) in one kit to 14" and added snowball corners (2" squares). I found a yard-plus of Kona black in my stash (2010 purchase per the note), more than enough for the borders ...

added by Nann 6 days, 5 hours ago. under charity quilts , finished or not friday , nlcqg

Friday check in: under the needle, and round robin revealed from With Strings Attached

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 ...

added by Nann 1 week, 6 days ago. under finished or not friday , homespun quilt , lake county forest preserves , round robin

Friday check in: stash report and OMG November from With Strings Attached

Rabbit, rabbit!

Welcome to November. As I write the sun is shining and it's about 20 degrees cooler than earlier in the week.

It was windy as I walked in Lyons Woods (Wednesday) and Capt. Daniel Wright Woods (Thursday)

Fall fungus.

Golden catalpa in a clearing in the woods.

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Stash report, October:

Fabric in: 86-1/2 yards, $186.50. average $2.15 per yard. Most of that was from Barb M's estate sale. Fabric out: a paltry 33-1/4 yards.

YTD fabric in: 1446-1/2 yards, $2959.50, average $2.04 per yard.

YTD fabric out: 778-2/4 ...

added by Nann 2 weeks, 6 days ago. under finished or not friday , omg 2024 , stash report

Friday check in: catching up, something unexpected + reading from With Strings Attached

It's been sunny and hot all week. We really need some rain! But it's been great for walks: three sections of Illinois Beach and one forest preserve.

Here's a closeup photo of fringed gentian. You can clearly see the fringes at the edges of the petals. The blue is such a heavenly color! I found several clumps at the middle unit of Illinois Beach State Park.

Left: blue wood aster. Top: apple, primrose. Center: New England aster, white heath aster. Bottom: purple lovegrass, hairy aster.

I saw something move in the grass. It was a frog.

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In ...

added by Nann 2 months, 1 week ago. under batik quilt , finished or not friday , illinois beach , reading , wildflowers

Friday check in: hemming up August with OMG from With Strings Attached

It was fiercely hot Monday and Tuesday but that did not keep us from checking two more trails off the Hike Lake County list! We went before lunch when it was marginally cooler.

No walk on Wednesday but yesterday we revisited Lyons Woods which is close to home (on the border between Beach Park and Waukegan). The HLC designated trail was the opposite direction from the way I usually walk so it was the same-but-different.

Bumblebee on goldenrod, Carolina horse nettle (also called Radical Weed or Tread Softly). Wild cucumber, giant hyssop.

I hope we can do the final trail ...

added by Nann 2 months, 3 weeks ago. under finished or not friday , lake county forest preserves , omg 2024

Friday check in: HLC 2024 list, a finish-and-a-half from With Strings Attached

The 2024 Hike Lake County Challenge list was released yesterday.

Each year Lake County Forest Preserves selects a dozen trails for the challenge. Participants have until December to walk (or run, skip, hop....) seven of them.

I took up HLC in 2020 as a pandemic exercise. Each year I've overachieved by doing all of the designated trails. Regular readers know I keep going all year.

A couple of these are new. Some are close to home, others are at the opposite corner of the county.

It rained off and on yesterday but the sun is out today. Tune in ...

added by Nann 3 months, 1 week ago. under finished or not friday , lake county forest preserves , mug rugs

Friday check in: a finish to start the month + stash report + OMG from With Strings Attached

Wildlife on yesterday's walk. That's a young garter snake--a fast slitherer!

We've been enjoying other fast and high-flying events on the Olympics this week. Paris is 7 hours ahead of Chicago so their evening events are late morning and afternoon here. (Simone and Suni! Katie! and events we're not as familiar with -- equestrian, fencing, BMX.)

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In the studio:

Sis-boom-dot is finished.

I used the serpentine stitch and purple thread to quilt it.

The back uses an Alexander Henry print from Barb M's estate sale and an insert of a Kaffe Fassett print.

The Kaffe was ...

added by Nann 3 months, 3 weeks ago. under finished or not friday , omg 2024 , scrap quilts , stash report

Friday check in: sunrise, quilt book indulgence, and a surprise finish from With Strings Attached

The solstice was at 3:50 p.m. yesterday. I was at the lakefront this morning to see the sun rise at 5:16.

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Used book sales, destashes, and publishers' warehouse clearance have been the source for most of the many, many quilt books I've acquired. Just as with fabric--if I can't not buy them, then I need to get bargains.

This year I am really and truly paring down all that creative potential. I've gone through a stack, sorting them into "totally unlikely to make anything from this" and "review again just in case." Why is ...

added by Nann 5 months ago. under finished or not friday , round robin , wildflowers

Friday check in: almost a flimsy from With Strings Attached

We enjoyed three visits to different parts of Illinois Beach State Park this week. There are four entrances along the six-mile shore. It got very hot yesterday so no walk after the "seniors and caregivers" luncheon at church. (Stevens was willing to attend and I was the caregiver.) Hot again today -- the next door neighbor mowed their lawn at 8:30 a.m. to beat the heat.

One of many bumblebees enjoying foxglove, aka beardtongue.

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I made 100 two-step blocks for Cynthia's current block drive . I mailed them yesterday, along with fabric, some thread, and a flimsy. (100 blocks ...

added by Nann 5 months, 1 week ago. under finished or not friday , scrap quilts , wildflowers

Friday check in: wrapping up May with a finish + stash report from With Strings Attached

A cloudless sky yesterday and a quick walk at Spring Bluff, just east of home.

Lupine, wild rose, spiderwort, cup plant, Canadian anemone, dame's rocket, daisy fleabane.

Remember the prank call, "Is your refrigerator running?" Well, ours (new 2019) is not. I discovered that on Wednesday and promptly called the appliance store. ~~He put us on the schedule and the repairman is coming today.~~ The man called this morning. He said most likely it's frozen [I guess this is like an air conditioner that 'freezes up']. We're to leave the doors of both compartments open for 24 ...

added by Nann 5 months, 3 weeks ago. under finished or not friday , lake county forest preserves , off the wall friday , stash report , wildflowers

Friday check in: a letter to the editor, a luncheon, and a flimsy from With Strings Attached

The great cicada confluence is upon us.

Every 221 years the 13-year and 17-year locust broods emerge at the same time. The 13-year brood is southern and gets into central Illinois. The 17-year brood is midwestern and gets -- here. "Here" meaning towns about 10 miles south of where we live. We haven't seen or heard them in the neighborhood.

My cicada story was published in the Chicago Tribune on Wednesday.

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Marie Antoinette visited the Clara Cummings Book Club luncheon yesterday. She dispelled many of the legends/rumors that were prevalent during her reign and have continued for 200 years ...

added by Nann 6 months ago. under cicadas , clara cummings book club , finished or not friday

Friday check in: another finish and rummage sale score from With Strings Attached

I mentioned that Barb-the-quilter had time to do a second quilt for me. I applied the binding Wednesday evening.

I made the flimsy way back in 2020 when I had the notion that I could reduce the Civil War stash. (All posts for that project are labeled CWRSRP. It is a longterm goal. <g>)

Baptist Fan for the center and border, with circles in the inner border.

The back is nearly vintage. It was an 8-yard piece that I got at an estate sale about 15 years ago. I have 3-1/2 yards left.

North Prairie UMC ("the other Methodist ...

added by Nann 6 months, 1 week ago. under bandanas , cwrsrp , finished or not friday , rummage sale , vintage fabric

Friday check in: something completely different from With Strings Attached

On a clear day you can see Chicago, 40 miles away. (Wednesday afternoon, Illinois Beach State Park.)

Lupines have started to bloom.

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It rained off and on yesterday. When we got home from the Rotary breakfast meeting we stayed inside.

I've been feeling mildly guilty about the extent of my winnings at the guild Raffle Mania last week. That includes the big bag of metallic print yardage, shown in both photos.

To assuage that guilt I am determined to sew at least some of it.

I don't especially like metallic prints so I've never purposely sought them ...

added by Nann 6 months, 2 weeks ago. under finished or not friday

Friday check in: some out, more in from With Strings Attached

Setting up

Our guild hosts Raffle Mania every year. We bring quilt-related items we no longer need to own. We get free tickets based on our attendance for the year and can buy additional tickets. For me: I brought 100 yards of fabric (batiks, green, red, Christmas, and brown/tan in 2-gal. ziploc bags and the rest of the 30's repros). I got 12 free tickets and spent $20 for 35 more.

I dropped tickets in the bags for the fabric that really appealed to me. I had tickets left so I dropped them into random bags. That unscientific ...

added by Nann 6 months, 3 weeks ago. under finished or not friday , raffle mania

Friday check in: estate sale, WIP, convention bound, + reading from With Strings Attached

Tuesday was month #8 of Barb M's estate sale. Not as much yardage this time -- stacks of books and many, many, many WIPs in ziploc bags.

Here's what I purchased. Average $1.62 per yard by weight.

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Slab block construction continues. I've pretty much decided to make 90 blocks for a 54 x 60 quilt. 10 to go.

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No sewing this evening. I'll be at the AAUW-IL state convention at Elgin Community College. My sister invited me to spend the night at her house (about 10 miles from the convention). Our housekeeper V will be here ...

added by Nann 7 months ago. under batik quilt , estate sale , finished or not friday , reading

Friday check in: some editing required, OMG success, and reading from With Strings Attached

The weather cooperated yesterday with sunshine and 45 degrees. We enjoyed a forest preserve walk at McDonald Woods (2 miles)

I've been working on the homespun quilt. There's a piece of green tape to mark the misplaced unit (fourth row, second column).

The fabric for the setting triangles was a serendipitous find on the shelf. I haven't decided whether or not there will be a border.

When I make scrappy quilts I try for "no two fabrics touching." It happened a lot with the second half of the quilt because I hastily put the blocks on the ...

added by Nann 7 months, 3 weeks ago. under finished or not friday , omg 2024 , reading

Friday check in: ruby cobblestones flimsy from With Strings Attached

Thank you, all who commented on my cataract surgery. Post-op yesterday concluded all is well, with another bottle of eyedrops and a chart to remind me when to use which. If I put my glasses on, with the trifocal lens on the left and nothing on the right, I see at two levels. Today I'm not wearing eyeglasses at all. My right eye is doing the seeing and my left eye is providing binocular balance (it's too nearsighted to see anything clearly).

Fortunately I can see to sew!

Here is the cobblestones flimsy. 3-7/8" yards used. The ...

added by Nann 9 months, 1 week ago. under batik quilt , finished or not friday

Friday check in: a month of ambitions from With Strings Attached

Today is the midpoint between the winter solstice and the spring equinox. The Celts called it Imbolc. German-Americans created Groundhog Day (in Germany they observed badgers rather than groundhogs). It is also Candlemas, which "celebrates three occasions according to Christian belief: the presentation of the child Jesus; Jesus’ first entry into the temple; and it celebrates the Virgin Mary’s purification."

Time and Date adds, "Snowdrops (galanthas nivalis) are known as Candlemas Bells because they often bloom early in the year, even before Candlemas. Some varieties bloom all winter (in the northern hemisphere). The superstitious used to believe that ...

added by Nann 9 months, 3 weeks ago. under can i get a whoop whoop , finished or not friday , omg 2024

Friday check in: estate sale part V, mug rugs, and the four-patches from With Strings Attached

The fifth installment of Barb M's estate sale was Tuesday afternoon. (See here, here, here, and here for the previous sales.) A quick recap: Barb passed away in 2018 and left a LOT of sewing stuff -- machines, thread, notions, patterns, kits, and FABRIC. Barb's husband and family finally needed closure but couldn't deal with it all.

Enter Paula who enlisted a group of her friends. Since September they've had monthly sales, the first in Paula's garage and the others in a hotel meeting room. It took until December to get everything out of the house ...

added by Nann 10 months ago. under batik quilt , can i get a whoop whoop , estate sale , finished or not friday

Friday check in: more celebrating, UFO out-and-in, and two flimsies from With Strings Attached

Tuesday: I was co-hostess for the Zion Woman's Club holiday luncheon. I brought out some of my vintage Christmas tablecloths.

There was lasagna left over for Stevens to enjoy the next day (and more in the freezer).

The gift card "tree" was actually a picture frame with $300 worth of gift cards. Judy and Dottie are holding it. Dottie's niece was the winner.

We chose "festive food" for the gift exchange. I got a gift certificate to a local bakery cleverly packaged in a holiday mug.

Wednesday: Northern Lake County Quilters Guild holiday dinner. The meal was catered ...

added by Nann 11 months, 2 weeks ago. under can i get a whoop whoop , finished or not friday , nlcqg , peacock party , zwc

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