What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

I chose the purple batik for the sashing almost without thinking.  I used nearly all of it (just 4-1/2" x 18" left over).  I auditioned a couple of batiks for the setting, my limitation being what I have in yardage (rather than FQs and scraps). The peach won out.  I made the float extra-large. I'm going to keep it that way and skip an outer border. 

5-3/4 yards used for the flimsy.    I still have 1-1/2" scrappy HSTs and a lot of 1-1/2" squares.

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An epistolary novel is one written as a series of letters ...

It's been a week of attending to a number of things.  On Monday my sister and I met halfway between our respective homes for a little retail therapy and lunch, and I was finally able to give her gift(s) for her mid-February birthday.  Tuesday I met with the trust attorney to get the ball rolling (belatedly) to retitle Stevens' car in my name (a different process when the vehicle is inherited).  Tuesday evening AAUW met in person with a really informative program about recycling.  (Among ...

The amaryllis will bloom while I'm away so I took it (and some produce) to Mike and Jen, the neighbors who will watch the house.  Not only do they have the house key but they also have the car keys because if the house is burning the cars need to get out of the garage. 

I was determined to finish The West Wing before the trip.  I watched four episodes Wednesday night (got through Matt Santos' election) which left me with five episodes for Thursday.   All that TV time meant sewing time. 

Here it is!   63" x 77".  6 yards.

..... and of course more scraps resulted.... 

The prompt for SAHRR Round 2 is "seeing double."  I'm contemplating how to interpret that for my wallhanging.  

Linking up with Wednesday Wait Loss

It's been sunny and hot all week. We really need some rain!  But it's been great for walks:  three sections of Illinois Beach and one forest preserve. 

Here's a closeup photo of fringed gentian.  You can clearly see the fringes at the edges of the petals.  The blue is such a heavenly color!  I found several clumps at the middle unit of Illinois Beach State Park.  

 Left: blue wood aster.  Top: apple, primrose.  Center: New England aster, white heath aster.   Bottom: purple lovegrass, hairy aster. 

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In ...

I planned to do the Hike Lake County trails systematically, starting with those farthest away and ending with those closer to home.   That didn't quite work out -- the most-farthest is yet to come -- but we did go to the next-to-farthest as well as two others sort-of-far.  Two on Friday:  Cuba Marsh and Heron Creek.  

Ripe blackberries at Heron Creek.  I left my cap in the car.  If I'd had it I would have harvested more than a handful. 

One on Sunday:   Fourth Lake/Millennium Trail.  This was something of a cop-out because it was mostly an asphalt path ...

The egret was quite close--guarding a nest, perhaps?  Upper: sand cherry  (a bush). Lower: crabapple (obviously a tree); mullein.

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At the guild meeting last week I signed up for the upcoming round robin.  It will begin next month so I have to figure out my starter block (an orphan ...

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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 ...