What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

I can hardly believe this, but I started this blog 10 years ago today.  Here's a link back to my very first post.  

I started my blog because my friends and relatives had told me that they really looked forward to receiving my Christmas letter and seeing photos of the things that I had made during the year.  And also because I wanted to keep a personal record of what I had made.  

Some pears I finished last week

I've made 689 blog posts since 16 December 2013 - that's at least one a week, every week for ...

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 ...

Moss on fungus at Lyons Woods on Wednesday. 

Queen Anne's lace is still lacy at Sun Lake on Thursday.

After all that walking (the Sun Lake trail is 2.5 miles) I allowed myself generous portions for Thanksgiving dinner.  

Yes, I was away again last weekend at Stitching in Tekapo, and I'm away again right now in Auckland for my annual work conference. 

Tekapo is just beautiful.  If you've ever driven from Christchurch to Queenstown you would have gone through Tekapo.  It's just a small town, but it looked so pretty with the snow on the mountains and the blue/green water of the lake. We may be going in to spring in the North Island, but it was still winter in the South Island. 

Here's a few photos  of Tekapo.  I'll blog about ...

With the brisk northeast breeze I was glad I brought my windbreaker.

Bull thistle, cutleaf coneflower (also called green-headed coneflower), ironweed, scarlet lobelia.

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My quilting month was ...

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What about sashing?   Nothing in the Aussie fabric box worked (mostly F8ths and FQs in that collection)  My stash yielded a Stonehenge print that was just right.  Alas, I was a few sashes short.  I found another tone-on-tone yellow-gold that blends nicely and I'm going to go with it.

Yellow is the RSC color for August so there's a goal achieved.

My entry for the guild challenge is quilted, bound, and labeled.   

This is all I will show you because it's a surprise. The reveal is at the September 6 guild meeting. 

At the PieFest in 2008 I made a lot of red/black/white flying geese.  They are 3" x 5-1/2" unfinished.   I used five in this project.  

 I'm getting accustomed to wearing eyeglasses rather than contact lenses but I still don't like it!  I had an appointment with the retina specialist yesterday and will have an in-office procedure next week to repair a small hole.  (Unexpected exchange between the doctor and the  assistant:  "What's the best Nirvana song to start with?")  DH had a neuropsychiatric evaluation Wednesday; results to come. I was relieved that he was perfectly willing to go through the two-hour testing. 

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It's been hazy because of the smoke from the Canadian wild fires, but we haven't had any adverse reactions to the air quality.   We do enjoy our afternoon outings.

Here is a wildflower you don't expect to see in northern Illinois.  Prickly pear cactus grows at Illinois Beach State Park.  Each flower petal is tipped with a spine.

Wood lilies are also in bloom at IBSP.   (Both photos taken yesterday.)

I didn't post to the One Monthly Goal link up at the beginning of June but I did have goals in mind and I achieved them ...

Top: Yellow sweet clover, meadow rose, false Solomon's seal.  Middle: Virginia waterleaf (also Shawnee salad), ox-eye daisy, dame's rocket.   Bottom:  Meadow buttercup, false white indigo, common nipplewort (really).

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The schedule has been rearranged to accommodate some unexpected in-patient medical tests for my husband.  So far things are okay and I hope he'll be home tomorrow.

In the studio:  it's been a while since I made a waffle stamps quilt.  I began with 2" strips cut to 8" or ...

 Car update:  the right control arm had failed.  I had never heard of that part and looked it up.  The control arms are one of the core components of a suspension system and serve as the direct connection points between the front wheel assemblies and the vehicle's frame. The control arms allow a driver to steer a car while also guiding the wheels up and down with the road surface. Although they are simplistic in appearance, control arms have a vital role in a vehicle's overall stability and drivability.    $943.95.  

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Washing and ironing all of it took some time. Then I finished the wall hanging.  Quilted, bound, labeled.     

The second character in Lynn's program was one of the   Radium Girls who painted watch faces and clock dials at the Radium Dial factory ...

 I used a random number generator to pick the giveaway winner:  KAWeed  (Though her post came as "anonymous" she included her email, per the giveaway qualifications.)   

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 I tried on-point.  I cut setting triangles and ...

 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.   

I finished the daisy wall hanging.  I adapted a design from a pattern in the National Quilting Assn. magazine.  20" x 20".

It will be presented to the outgoing president of the P.E.O. Lake County  Round Table in appreciation for her six years in office.  The P.E.O. flower is the marguerite, or daisy, and there were seven founders.

I've made crumb-pieced backgrounds for several projects and I like the effect.

This is one of my OMGs for February.

Linking up with  Alycia's Finished or Not Friday  and Wendy's Peacock Party  and Sarah's ...

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 ...