What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

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 Thank you, all who commented on my cataract surgery.  Post-op yesterday concluded all is well, with another bottle of eyedrops and a chart to remind me when to use which.  If I put my glasses on, with the trifocal lens on the left and nothing on the right, I see at two levels.  Today I'm not wearing eyeglasses at all.  My right eye is doing the seeing and my left eye is providing binocular balance (it's too nearsighted to see anything clearly).   

 Here is the cobblestones flimsy.  3-7/8" yards used.  The ...

 Today is momentous.  Most important?  I've been a big sister for 70 years today!  

Secondly:  cataract #1 w

I'm not supposed to drive for three days so we are relying on friends.  (Stevens no longer drives.)  I've done some cooking ahead. We will not starve. 

I wish I'd ...

I took advantage of the sunshine Monday and had a good long walk at Lyons Woods Forest Preserve.  It was great to get back on the trail.

Yellow:  willow.  Green:  Japanese roses.  Red:  dogwood.

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With a fifth Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday this seems to be a bonus week, doesn't it?  January seemed to pass quickly, though.  

January OMG:  wonky log cabin, made out of neckties, for the MQG Mini Swap.  I sent it off mid-month.

What do you think I said?

90 yards by weight.  Mostly FQs, many 1990s-era.  (I know because I once had many of them.)    I am going to pass a lot of this along.

 The fifth installment of Barb M's estate sale was Tuesday afternoon.  (See here, here, here, and here for the previous sales.)  A quick recap:  Barb passed away in 2018 and left a LOT of sewing stuff -- machines, thread, notions, patterns, kits, and FABRIC.  Barb's husband and family finally needed closure but couldn't deal with it all.  

Enter Paula who enlisted a group of her friends.  Since September they've had monthly sales, the first in Paula's garage and the others in a hotel meeting room.  It took until December to get everything out of the house ...

When the cold settles in I am grateful for central heat and a garage for the car.  

I had an ophthamologist appointment on Monday. Hooray! Cataract surgery is scheduled for February.

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Costume designer Edith Head visited the Clara Cummings Book Club luncheon on Thursday.  Martina Mathisen gave an interesting and informative portrayal. Head was awarded 8 Oscars over the span of her 60-year career, mostly with Paramount and later with Universal.   

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In the studio:   it's a finish!

Here is Spare Parts V.   72 x 80.  I estimate 8 yards used. 

  Last week I posted photos of the border/sashing I was considering. I searched further and found this gold batik. It's a Christmassy print (pinecones and sort-of poinsettias) that I got when we were on vacation in northern Minnesota ...

 I'm behind with working on non-quilting responsibilities but while I procrastinate on those I'm having great fun with the batik parts and orphans.  

The panel on the right is 68". That's the length I'm aiming for with the other three.  

The pile on the table has possibilities for the sashes/border. (Side borders only, I'm thinking.)

The brown strip on the wall was just a thought. Now that I see it in the photo I kind of like it.  But this is a constantly evolving design so the end result may be completely different.

Fall colors at Van Patten Woods on Friday afternoon.  Left: sumac. Right: white snakeroot or bone set (gone to seed).  Center:  hickory nuts.  Bottom: Virginia creeper, fungus on a log. 

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In the studio:  it's a finish!  

The pattern is Entwined by Evelyn Sloppy from her book Forty Fabulous Quick-Cut Quilts.

I used a batik and two hand-dyes (all gifts from a friend ...

Temperatures in the high 50's and abundant sunshine made this a brilliant fall weekend. 

On Saturday afternoon we went to Ryerson Woods.  The Ryersons were Chicago industrialists who built their weekend farm on 257 acres where they raised Arabian horses.   In 1966 they deeded the property to the Lake Co. Forest Preserve District.  There are several activity centers, including barns and open pastures with a demonstration farm,  Brushwood (the Ryersons' house) used as an event center, several cabins used for environmental education, and miles of trails in restored woodlands.  

How many sunlight-filtering-through-the-leaves photos are too many? 

I have dozens of quilt books that, I admit, have provided more inspiration than actual projects.  On Monday evening I took took Evelyn Sloppy's 40  Fabulous Quick-Cut Quilts off the shelf.   "Oh, I don't want to....oh, I can't..." became, "Of course I can!"

....and here's what's underway.  [Neutral batiks, of which I have many yards, and inky-dark purple batik.]

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Yesterday afternoon I took a quick walk in the ravine/nature trail at the end of our block.  Look who was in the yard at a house on the other side of the ravine.   

Linking ...

 The batik crumb geese quilt is finished. (Anyone have suggestions for a better name than "crumby geese"?)

You can just about see the orange binding.

Closeup of the zipper.

 I have new projects in the works! Come back on Friday to see them.

Bumblebee on wild indigo, baptisia alba. Also called false indigo.  (Pine Dunes Forest Preserve on Tuesday.)

The sunshine and moderate temperatures are great for walking.  This morning (Friday) we are finally getting some rain.   That's fine because I have a lot of office-work to catch up on.

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The batik crumb HSTs got lost in a straight setting.  

They stand out more as flying geese.

The flimsy used 5 yards.  I still have 2 yards+ of the turquoise batik. (The tag pinned to it said it was a 2014 purchase in the red tag section at Joann ...