What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

Mid-morning I was halfway finished composing today's post when the power went out.  The culprit was a downed wire.   Those rechargeable lanterns I got a couple of months ago had lost their charge, I found out.  Rather than stew in the semi-gloom I drove 30 miles to Half Day Forest Preserve and completed another Hike Lake County walk.   On the way home ComEd sent the message that the power was back on.  Whew!  (And now I will find a place to keep those lanterns plugged in.) 

Back to where I was . . .

 It rained all weekend.  No forest preserve walks ...

By pleasant coincidence both Anna and I arrived at the same time Thursday morning. We met at the entrance--we didn't even have to text.  She stays at her brother's cabin.  I had a motel reservation.

I was able to get tickets for two lectures. 

New fridge collage

The trip to Scotland was wonderful!   I got home Friday evening.  I've recovered from jet lag and I'm gradually coming up to speed with regular life.   The travelog is in process (basically a compilation of the daily Facebook posts and photos).  I'll post it in a day or two.

Instead of working on those the past two evenings I made purple coin units for the September RSC.    The pattern calls for 12 blocks with two coin units each.    I ...

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On Saturday I treated myself to the matinee performance of The Odyssey, with a jumbo box of popcorn for lunch.  It was on the regular big-screen, not IMAX, but it was action-packed enough for me.   So much of the story was familiar because The ...

It rained all day Saturday--nice and gentle, no wind.  I puttered around indoors.

 Stash report for July:  fabric IN 41.75 yards, $70, average $1.67 per yard.  Fabric OUT 71-5/8 yards.    Year to date:   fabric IN 233-3/4 yards, $307, average $1.31 per yard. Fabric OUT 451-5/8 yards.   That's a net decrease of 218 yards -- hooray!

Hopscotch Butterscotch is a flimsy.  I think the border piano keys should have more ...

Wildflowers at Illinois Beach State Park on Saturday:  monarda, elderflower, lead plant; sawtooth sunflower, mounain mint, swamp milkweed; Queen Anne's lace, spurge, purple prairie clover.

60 x 72.  If I'd taken more time the color balance would be a little better but I mostly wanted to avoid two-same-fabrics-touching.  

108"w ...

Wildflowers at Pine Dunes (Saturday) and Ethel's Woods (Sunday).  Top: monarda (bee balm), purple coneflower, pickerel weed. Center: compass plant, Queen Anne's lace, false sunflower.  Bottom: butterfly weed, Culver's root, swamp milkweed.

Welcome summer! 

I was up really early on Sunday and caught the solstice sunrise over Lake Michigan.  

In the afternoon I took a nap, rather than a walk, to compensate for the early morning. 

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I did get a 2-mile walk on Saturday.

 Water lily, nodding thistle, blackberries, St. John's wort, elderberry, self-heal, white avens, coneflower.  

Beardtongue foxglove, wild flag iris, oxeye daisy, feverfew, Japanese rose.  

I used up two ziploc bags of triangles. The hourglasses (top right and lower left) were made from 4-1/2" triangles cut diagonally and repieced. 

Some fabric in the "used" column but more fabric in the "acquired" column.   

 "Live Like Lulu--Be a P.E.O. Builder" was the theme for Fran's presidential term.  Fran is a historian with a specialty in women's organizations and Lulu Corkhill Williams was an influential early P.E.O. 

Fran, Lulu, and me

 I introduced Fran to ...

  Stevens often recalled the Memorial Day weekends that he'd go with his father from their home in Summit, NJ, to the cemetery in Williamstown, NJ, and clean up around the family graves. 

Warm on Friday, warmer on Saturday.   Clockwise: blue-eyed grass, skunk cabbage in full leaf, golden Alexander, field horsetail, star of Bethlehem (a garden escapee, very aggressive).   

It was much cooler on Sunday and I took a nap instead of a walk. 

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Several months ago I made string X blocks into a flimsy and added a border.  I didn't like the border but it was the only fabric on hand that sort of worked and that I had in enough quantity.  I put the flimsy in the box and hoped I'd like the border better eventually.  It still didn ...

There are four raffles:  50/50 cash, a gift card tree ($195 value), a ...

One year.  How I miss him!

I'm grateful to everyone for their love, support, and kind thoughts.

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The 101st  AAUW-Illinois convention was in Rockford this past Friday evening and Saturday.  (I didn't go last year because (see above).  The last time it was in Rockford was 2002 and I didn't go because my mother passed away.  Hmmm...)   Helen drove and we roomed together. (It was a test because in October we will travel together. We got along quite well.)  

 We escaped the tornadoes and the flooding that hit Illinois and Wisconsin last week but there was a lot of rain.  It's the third-wettest April on record.  My basement stayed dry (I had the landscapers add a bank of soil around the problem corner of the foundation) but apparently there's a roof leak.  It's always something . . . 

Top: Peeping Beauty School of Cosmetology; Frida; No Mistakes, Just Happy Little Peeps (Bob Ross). Center: from the Racine city dept. of development; Arthur; "Peepal Conclave."   Bottom: Don Quixote; The Scream.

Of course I liked "They Read Banned Books."  

  The top left and center right are Polish (or Polish-style).  Upper right:  Japanese.  Lower left:  I think ...

 I went to church in the morning and had a nice long walk at Van Patten Woods in the afternoon.  

Sumac, fungus, mullein.  The place names Des Plaines and O'Plaine are corruptions of "eau pleine" meaning "full of water," which is how the early French explorers saw the river in flood. You can see why.

I had to work off some of the gustatory delights of the day.  I made a half-batch of pancakes, our customary holiday breakfast.  The pancake mix (Christmas 2024 gift) still had enough baking powder oomph ...

 Monday morning has rolled around too fast!  This needs to be a quick post.

Three luncheons in three days (Clara Cummings Book Club on Thursday, retired library directors on Friday, GFWC District 10 on Saturday) plus the 5th Sunday potluck after church on Sunday -- good company at all.  

Palm Sunday origami!  Did you (or do you still) make a cross from the palm frond?  

Every year at this time I look for skunk cabbage along the trail in the ravine at the end of the block.  The “horn” is the flower. It is so named because it has a high ...

 I had a meeting Friday morning (good to get out and be sociable) and the rest of the weekend I was at home with just a couple of errands.  We're on the southern edge of the huge storm with only 4" of snow.  We're under a blizzard warning because it's quite windy.  I cancelled an appointment this morning and plan to stay in today.   Sewing and reading and, just maybe, catching up on a few no-time-pressure tasks.

In the studio:  I made red "coin" panels for this year's RSC project.  The pattern (shown in the photo ...