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September 13, 2024
Weekly update, part 2: wildflowers, challenge reveal, and neckties from With Strings Attached

Be sure to read the previous post about the Wisconsin Quilt Show.


I discovered bottle gentian last year at Spring Bluff Forest Preserve.  I have not seen it anywhere else.

The blossoms grow in tiers along the stem.

 






Bumblebees are the only pollinators strong enough to pry open the flowers.    A bumblebee happened along to do just that.  

In the left photo you can see its rear poking out of the flower.  






Fringed gentian are also in bloom now.  These are behind a dune at Illinois Beach State Park.   I'll have to go back to get a better close ...

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September 2, 2024
Weekly update: HLC complete, stash report, and reading from With Strings Attached

 


Rabbit, rabbit!   Welcome to September.   I caught this cottontail bounding across the path at Lyons Woods last week.







Hike Lake County 2024 is a wrap!  They allow a wild card, meaning a 2-mile hike at any forest preserve not on the list.  On Friday afternoon we went to Van Patten Woods which is close to home. To change things up I went in the opposite direction from usual.  

There were many monarchs and other butterflies flitting about.  One of them stayed still long enough for a photo.  

Saturday morning we went to Ryerson.  It's 27 miles away and I ...

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January 10, 2024
Midweek: too busy? another finish and OMG start from With Strings Attached

 


 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.   








Meanwhile,  here is the **fourth** finish for 2024.   I made the flimsy in December with leftovers from ...

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August 13, 2023
Tote Bag from Quilt in Progress

I had seen photos online of tote bags people had made from fabric, using men’s ties for the handles. I decided to go a little further and use one of my late husband’s shirts for the body of the bag.

Decide the approximate dimensions of the tote bag. I cut the shirt so that the front pocket was included, but in the end it became decorative only. I may adjust the tutorial in the future so that it would be a functional pocket. I now had two pieces of fabric of the same measurements.

Keeping the button placket ...

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November 23, 2020
Pandemic Porch Quilt Show Day 34 - 35: My Two Weirdest Quilts in Two Days from Gefilte Quilt

Day #34: Blooming Cactus
Choosing an eye-pleasing color palette did not come naturally to me, and here's the evidence. Let's breathe slowly as we approach this bed-size quilt, so as not to trigger sea-sickness. 
It's slightly less terrible when you get very close,  thanks to the blue oasis. 
Longtime quilters will recognize this pattern immediately, as a Blooming Nine Patch, from the bestselling 1996 quilt book 'Traditions with a Twist' by Blanche Young and Dalene Young Stone, still widely available (used) online - and sooooo worth it, just for this one pattern. 

Sure, I knew that the orange ...

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