What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

I crossed paths with a praying mantis at Illinois Beach State Park yesterday.   I tried to get a head-on photo but it moved too quickly.

The squirrels decided to carve our pumpkin.  Ooooh noooo, Mr. Bill!  

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Last evening's P.E.O. Zoom meeting included a very interesting program.

The speaker was my friend-since-junior high Pam. She was an associate editor for Science  the journal of the American Assn. for the Advancement of ...

Here is the backstory of our county's I Voted sticker.

We revisited Illinois Beach State Park, Rollins Savanna, and the Des Plaines River Canoe Launch.

Left:  ground cherry (in husks).  Oak leaves, compass plant seed head, prickly pear with fruit, a determined chicory flower, aster, and ground cherries (sans husks).

A friend told me about this trail adjacent to the Rec Plex in Pleasant Prairie, just over the state line.  We checked it out this afternoon (Sunday). 

  Average price $2.20 per yard this time.  You can see why my homespun stash has not diminished.

I have another homespun project underway -- photos to come.

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Cranes at Sand Pond this afternoon.  My walk was shortened because this strange wet stuff fell from the sky.  Oh, that was rain!   There hasn't been any around here for six weeks.  (And an hour afterward the sun was out again.) 

In my post Friday I alluded to an adventure.  We drove 65 miles to Westmont and took our friend Pat out to lunch.  

Pat was my long-time ALA conference roommate. She lives in a retirement/assisted living community now, and no longer drives. Though we chat by phone often it's been nearly two years since we've ...

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Here's the source.  

Swans at Hastings Lake on Saturday.

Herons at Nippersink on Sunday.

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Natalie Doan of Missouri Star was the guest speaker at the guild meeting Wednesday.  I didn't get any good pictures!   It was fun to hear her side of the family business.  

We got the pattern for block ...

The showers held off each afternoon so I could get good walks -- the state park, a forest preserve, and the nature trail at the end of our block.  

A beaver-chewed tree (one of many along that stretch), a beaver lodge, and horsetails.   

Easter was pleasant. Stevens was able to come to church with me!   I bought a 4-1/2 lb lamb roast. I rubbed it with a mixture of chopped garlic, rosemary, salt, pepper, and olive oil. It was wonderful and we ...

After 1" of welcome rain yesterday all the flowers will perk up.  (More rain to the south -- 2.6" at O'Hare and nearly 9" in Berwyn/Cicero.)   

The downpours delayed some of the NASCAR races in the Loop.  (We aren't car racing fans so it didn't bother us.)

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Quilting goals for July:

1)  Guild challenge (due in September ...

Just one little quilt finished this week. This is the Barbed Wire quilt; a pattern from one of my all-time favorite books, Scrap-Basket Surprises by Kim Brackett. It is made entirely from homespuns, another category of fabric I am trying to eliminate from my stash. It is slow-going though because I’ve used homespuns for about 30 years and have collected a lot of them.

This book is such a classic but unfortunately is out of print since Martingale/That Patchwork Place went out of business. It is available at a very reasonable price from several used booksellers though. I ...

 A finish -- how appropriate for Finished or Not Friday -- and colorful for  Peacock Party

I made the flimsy last summer, inspired by a photo of a similar quilt on a FB group.  Blocks are 5" finished.  The quilt is 71 x 81.  

The back is all-the-same this time, no orphans or miscellaneous pieces, so no photo.

I used the walking foot and the serpentine stitch to quilt parallel lines through the blocks. 

P.S.  I have no shortage of homespuns.  Confession:  I've recently bought a few more yards in brighter colors.   

A blue-eyed bunny for the September Rabbit Rabbit good luck charm.  (I do remember to say it first thing on the first of the month.)

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Stash report:

August fabric in: 99 yards, $15 (I got some great gifts)

August fabric out:  26-1/4

YTD fabric in: 1520-5/8, $8.70.  That's $1.86/yard.  (Imagine if I'd paid today's going price (say, $13/yd) -- $19,760!)   Remember, I've gotten several destashes in 2022.

YTF fabric out: 146.   

It's nice to begin the month with a finish.  Here is It's Not Ohio Star. 

The back ...

Coneflower, compass plant, lobelia.

Sumac, wild cucumber, gray dogwood.

Common reed, elderberry "lace" (after the birds have eaten the berries), ragweed. 

 After the four-patch homespuns (see Wednesday's post) I still had a box of 4.5" homespun squares. I also had a heap of homespun scraps.  I found several yards of cream muslin.   I used the homespun and the muslin to make a bunch of 3.5" hourglass units. 

 Sure, I could put them in a box to stew for a while. Maybe a long, long while.  Instead I recalled a magazine pattern from years ago called "It's Not Ohio Star!"  

Happy 42nd anniversary to us! (8/23/80).

My big non-quilting project this week is to compose the 2022-23 Zion Woman's Club yearbook.  It's done! (MS Word's "booklet" format makes it so much easier to set up.) The draft has been sent to the club board members for their okay.  Because August has five weeks (that is, a fifth M,T,W next week) I feel that I've been given a gift of more time.  The first club meeting is September 6.

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In the studio:  it's a finish!   

I used the walking foot and the ...

On point? Hmm.

Controlled selection?  But I'd need at least 2 yards if I used just one fabric for the squares.

I asked a half-dozen other quilters who thought the inspiration photo was the best.  Thank you all!  I got to cutting and then to piecing.  

As of 9:15 Thursday evening I had five columns with a stack of wrenches and squares to go. 

And "go" is ...

Cardinal flower / lobelia was a new one for me. It was growing alongside a stream in a shady patch.    

Teasel is invasive  This patch was right next to the path so I could easily get closeup photos.  The upper and lower right photos show it in bloom, with all the little tiny flowers.   

The lower landscape photo is the Des Plaines River at Sedge Meadow. The middle landscape photo is one of the ponds at McDonald Woods.  From the LCFPD website ...

Thunderstorms between midnight and 5 a.m. on Saturday brought very welcome rain.   The sun was out the rest of the weekend.

Pinnate prairie coneflower, jewel weed, rosin weed,  bluebell (campanula), spurge, joe pye weed.

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I do find time to sew, of course!

I used the picnic basket block (the guild July BOM) for the next batch of daisy mug rugs for an ongoing P.E.O. project.   All the baskets use the same daisy print.   (2 yards for all 16.)