What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

 Regular readers followed the progress of this quilt. I began it during the stay-at-home weeks of April and May.  It named itself.   Assembling it was my One Monthly Goal for June.  Barb-the-quilter completed the quilting last week and I finished the binding today (Monday morning).  

It was too big and heavy to pin to the design wall so I set up the quilt stand outside. 

read more

Wildflowers at Camp Logan, Illinois Beach State Park.  

Left top: liatris (blazing star).  Left bottom: ?  Center top: storksbille. Center: lythrum (purple loosestrife) -- an aggressive invader though eradication efforts have reduced its spread. Center bottom:  SEDGE*  Right top: Joe Pye weed.  Right center: Two-flowered Cynthia (krigia bflora). Right bottom: either water hemlock (poisonous!) or cow parsnip.  

*thanks to those who identified this mystery

In the studio:   I'm up to 23 out of 30 spiderweb blocks.  I know, I know: I said this project didn't need to be hurried. But once I get going it's hard to stop. 

xx ...

read more

The sky was so clear today that the Chicago skyline was visible from Hosah Park.  That's 40 miles away.  You can click on the photo to enlarge it. Look at the horizon on the right and you can see the outlines of the skyscrapers.

Closer to the ground:  flag iris, coreopsis, daisies, spiderwort. I think the plant not in bloom (upper right) is a mullein. It is a huge specimen.

One Tuesday I drove on the Tollway (I-94) for the first time since February when I went to Glen Ellyn.    I met first with the incoming AAUW-IL president to ...

read more

Early June is a wonderful time for wildflowers!  The collage at the left has pictures from Lyons Woods Forest Preserve and Illinois Beach State Park.

Every year I look for wild flag iris.  The blue flags are native and the yellow flags are invasive. There are a lot more yellow.  (They differ from hybrid iris in that they grow at the edge of marshy area to keep their feet (rhizomes) wet.)

I also look for this patch of misplaced hybrid iris at the Camp Logan unit of Illinois Beach State Park.  It has really spread since I began observing it ...

read more

(SIP = Shelter in Place, obviously)

I fiddled and fussed with the arrangement of the house blocks so the light and dark frames alternated. I've sewn the bottom five rows together.

The letters turned out okay BUT I don't think I'm going to use them on the front of the quilt.

That's because if I use this as a bed quilt -- all 90 blocks with a border = approx. 82 x 90 -- I don't think I'd like Shelter in Place across the middle. 







Shelter in Place could go on the back along with other phrases that ...

read more

I am an inexpert gardener, but I love to cook with fresh vegetables, so every year I buy tomato plants, seedlings, and seeds.  Ever hopeful!

It was in the high 80's Sunday afternoon when I walked in Spring Bluff Forest Preserve.  I saw a crane, five egrets, and many red-winged blackbirds.  Most of the people I saw were on bicycles, heading farther east to the marina.




# # # # # # # #









My OMG for May is finished.  It's a tote bag for the outgoing chair of the Illinois P.E.O. Home Fund . P.E.O.'s colors are white and yellow and ...

read more

Here are the final blocks for Shelter in Place, my quarantine quilt.

For my Monday post I'll have a photo of all 91 houses on the design wall.

But first!  I *must* get to work on that tote bag. I will send it to one of the other committee members who will add gifts and treats. She will then send it to the outgoing committee chair. Hopefully it will arrive in time for our Zoom meeting on June 6.

Linking up with quilting friends at
Finshed or Not Friday
Can I Get a Whoop Whoop?






"She always sticks her ...

read more

read more

Tulips, 6 a.m.

Tulips, 11 a.m.

What a variety of weather we've had!  Two warm days (first lawn-mowing of the season) followed by near-record chill with a touch of frost Saturday morning.  The parking lot and trails at the Camp Logan unit of Illinois Beach State Park were still flooded from the April 29 rain (3.37") but Saturday afternoon we tried Hosah Park (the one patch of lakefront that belongs to Zion Park District).  But where's the beach? Somewhere near Indiana by now.  Last summer there was sand at the end of the boardwalk and ...

read more

State parks were opened May 1 -- but our favorite part of the lakefront was closed this weekend due to flooding. (3.37" of rain fell on Wednesday.) We went to the marina and I hiked from that end as far as I could before encountering a 2" deep puddle that went across the trail. 

(Photo on right is not the puddle. It's a stream flowing with the lake in the background.)

# # # # # # #


The 1/4" elastic I ordered from an eBay seller came Saturday. I wasn't careful when I shopped so I paid WAY too much -- $38 for 40 ...

read more

It's time to post One Monthly Goal achievements.  I completed my OMG: to begin the house-themed mug rugs for the  Illinois P.E.O. Home Fund .  The mug rugs will be given to each chapter who sponsored a Home Fund recipient this year -- about 20 in all.  One of the other two committee members will make a few.

The OMG Finish Link Up is here

I've made 37 blocks for Shelter in Place, my pandemic "souvenir" quilt.   My idea is to make one block for each day. Yesterday the Illinois governor extended the shelter-in-place order through May 31 ...

read more

We attended church via YouTube yesterday. They've been recording the service for a couple of weeks but this was the first time we've tuned in. We sang along with the hymns.

It was sunny and warm for my afternoon walk. I saw a radio-tagged Blanding's turtle. (Here is information about the recovery program.)

# # # # # # # # # #







I'm up to 49 Shelter in Place house blocks -- one per day of the stay-at-home order, so this takes me to May 2.

 I want to sew ahead so that I can clean off the cutting table.  The sew-ahead includes making HSTs for ...

read more