What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

No change in the numbers.

How can that date be right? This month is flying by.

I continue to work on Traffic Jam blocks.

I finished one more after I took the picture, leaving three to go. I would love to finish the top this year, but I’m not sure it’s doable. I don’t sew much during the week.

Fabric In: 16.5 yards

Fabric out: 27.875 yards

Net Fabric Used: 11.375 yards

How did you do this week?

 Luncheons Tuesday (Zion Woman's Club) and Saturday (Lake County Women's Coalition), both at the same local restaurant.***  I was hostess for ZWC and brought my vintage Christmas tablecloths to decorate (we were in one of the restaurant's small rooms) but I was so busy presiding that I didn't get a good picture. (***Local as in four-tenths of a mile from my house!)  

On Friday we joined friends Bill and Debbie for dinner before going to the high school performing arts center  We all enjoyed the high school's holiday show by the ...

I have been working on my background filler project

October was another challenging month, with work the guilty party. Not much you can do about it when it involves other people.

I framed Peace on Earth last month and started nothing. It wasn’t on the October list, but I’m good with that. November will result in finishes, which means different projects on the Short List.

I began the Short List many years ago to create short-term goals and a way to focus. I change things up as my interests change.

Project 1 (Crochet): I finished the first sock and started the second. This project will likely finish ...

I started this baby quilt back in February with the plan of giving it to my best friend’s son & wife at their baby shower. I did finish the top, but didn’t have time to get it quilted. I sent it out to my long-armer, Rhonda, to quilt. I prepare special labels for my baby […]

I have been hard at work finishing the last charity quilt out of the pile that I had. With this particular quilt I was just not feeling it and decided to do a minimum of quilting-in-the-ditch on it just to get it done.

I was intent on trying to see the blue jay that flew across the path and nearly stepped on this little guy.  He slithered away fast. (Young garter snake.)  

Yesterday the AAUW Exploring Culture interest group enjoyed a tour of the Adlai E. Stevenson Historic Home in Mettawa.

I helped with set up and brought Stevens to the banquet.  It was great to see some long-time friends. 

The old guys: Nate, Phil, Stevens

Jack was a charter member of the club and an avid golfer. He came up with the idea of the golf outing that has become our signature fundraiser.  He passed away in 2003.  His widow and their four daughters and their families ...

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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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 ...

Some of this week's wildflowers and other flora:

Top: smooth false foxglove, chokecherry, sand cherry.  Middle: few-leaf sunflower, limestone calamine (teeny flowers!), white flat-topped goldenrod (new one to me). Bottom:  sky-blue aster, mountain mint (it does smell minty when it's crushed), whole leaf rosinweed.

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I ignored the sign and walked through the puddle on my heels. 

Clockwise from left:  coneflower + monarda, mullein, pinnate coneflower, nightshade, betony, primrose, swamp milkweekd. Center: American germander.

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Our friend Mary Lou invited me to harvest a second batch of rhubarb.   Our only freezer ...

Nodding thistle, thistle bud, raspberries, beardtongue, wild white indigo, purple angelica, coneflower.

One of many bumblebees enjoying foxglove, aka beardtongue.

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 The refrigerator is fixed!   The repairman came yesterday afternoon.  He plugged it in and it started cooling again.  That's similar to Karen N's comment on my post last Friday (=turn off three days, vacuum below and behind).  I was told to turn it off for 24 hours, which I did, but it didn't come back on.  By the time the repairman came it had been off three days.   Neighbor Mike came over to observe and now we both know!

Neighbor Mike worked on our refrigerator on Saturday. His diagnosis is that the relay that tells the condenser to cool needs to be replaced.  He has a call in to the repairman.  Meanwhile we are still 'camping' with two Igloo coolers holding produce and other food.  (I don't want to tromp into Mike and Jen's garage multiple times a day to use their backup fridge where I have more food stored.)

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I got reacquainted with the bin of bright prints when I made the butterfly quilt (see last week's update ...

 
"Destination Heartland History"  was the topic at the Clara Cummings Book Club luncheon on Thursday. Cynthia Clampitt enjoys discovering lesser-known sites and attractions as she travels.  She began the program explaining that the historical midwest covers a lot of territory -- Ohio to North Dakota, Michigan to Kansas.  She reminded us that Laura Ingalls Wilder (=pioneer) and Frank Lloyd Wright (=modern) were born in Wisconsin, four months and 150 miles apart.  Pioneer museums, the oldest still-operating restaurant/bar in a town/county, windmills and lighthouses -- so many interesting places.