What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

 Yesterday I received the mini-quilt from my MQG swap partner, Sara Hooten.     I am utterly gobsmacked.  Isn't it gorgeous?

A big picture of a small quilt

Detail of applique and quilting  Sara used this photo.  I took it at the entrance to the Zion-Benton Public Library in August, 2021.  Zion is Monarch and Zinnia City. This year Benton Township (Beach Park and Winthrop Harbor) will join as the Bee Cities.  (Our high school mascot is the Zee-Bee.)   Posting to Midweek Makers Wednesday Wait Loss

When the cold settles in I am grateful for central heat and a garage for the car.  

I had an ophthamologist appointment on Monday. Hooray! Cataract surgery is scheduled for February.

 The 25 B blocks for Indigo Way are finished.   

I put the A's and B's on the design wall.  I really like busy designs but my initial impression is that this is TOO busy.  

The pattern calls for 20 half blocks for the setting triangles.  I've made four. 

I've told myself firmly not to rush this -- let the blocks sit for a while.  An entire quilt of just A's and/or just B's would look pretty good.   

I surprised myself!  The blue and white blanket weave quilt is quilted and bound.  On Wednesday I wrote that I had to trim quite a bit to even up the sides.  I had to do more trimming when the quilting was finished.  

The large floral print on the back was a gift from our dear Magpie Celia's stash.  (Her daughter sent each of us a box.) 

5-3/8 yards for this project.

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The MQG mini quilt was my January OMG.  I wrote about it earlier.  My swap partner wrote to say she received it and she likes it.   She ...

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Though the swap instructions said 24 ...

Top right:  milkweed pod. Center: "winter berries" is my generic name; moss is about the only green this time of year. Bottom: ground cherries; Indian hemp, aka dogbane, pods.  Here's more about dogbane.

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Kathy and I took a shift at Feed My Starving Children on Tuesday as the Zion Woman's Club's "day of service."  FMSC packages a fortified rice mix that is shipped worldwide.  Though it would be easy to automate the entire process their model is to get people involved and motivated to donate by inviting them to pack the product.  

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One is the annual reporting for the GFWC (General Federation of Women's Clubs). That documentation not only qualifies our club for awards but also helps ...

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 ...

Wednesday my husband and I went out to discover a new-to-us segment of the lakefront bike trail.  It was so calm -- in great contrast to the upheaval in Washington, D.C. which we watched on the news, horrified.  

(You can tell it's a different day by the color of my turtleneck. :) )

Our first forest preserve outings of the year -- Spring Bluff on Saturday and Van Patten Woods on Sunday.  

Enough people had walked along the trails to pack down the snow so I didn't flounder.

Left collage: red-wing blackbird nest, a gravity defying limb, horsetails.  

Right collage: gull tracks in the sand.