What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

 

Our first forest preserve outings of the year -- Spring Bluff on Saturday and Van Patten Woods on Sunday.  

Enough people had walked along the trails to pack down the snow so I didn't flounder.

Left collage: red-wing blackbird nest, a gravity defying limb, horsetails.  

Right collage: gull tracks in the sand. 

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I've collected/accumulated household textiles for many years. In 2019 I sold nearly all of the aprons in a yard sale. In 2020 I cut up vintage tablecloths to make tote bags (see them here).   This year I'm assessing the dish towels.  I will keep those ...

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 Thursday evening:   the first Christmas Eve service I've attended with my sewing machine.  That was so we could watch the Lessons and Carols on our church's YouTube channel.   We fervently hope that this was a one-and-only and that next year we can worship in person.  We dimmed the lights and lit candles for  Silent Night.  

Christmas dinner: roast beef, acorn squash, braised parsnips. Pear/spinach salad.  Cranberry-pumpkin upside down cake.  The vintage tablecloth just covered the table. (The table is mid-19th century and not a standard size.)   And when was the last time you used a pickle fork ...

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 I took a long walk Tuesday afternoon down a new-to-me trail at the north end of Illinois Beach State Park.  I wanted to go farther but I could only go until I was half-tired to save the other half for the walk home.  

A front is coming through today (Wednesday) with temperatures dropping by 40 degrees.

It was overcast both Monday and Tuesday evenings.    We're not going to see the Great Conjunction (Jupiter and Saturn). 

(Spring Bluff forest preserve is across the road from the state park.) 

Left: abandoned red-winged blackbird nest. Right: muskrat den.

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(c) Kim Diehl

In ...

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The first day of winter!   The sun was behind the clouds at 7:13 a.m.   The sandy bluff where I usually take sunrise pictures, such as the one six months ago for the summer solstice, is closed to vehicles for the season.  Thus this photo overlooks the empty boat slips at North Point Marina. 

I took the photo on the right on my Sunday afternoon walk.  The ravine is at the end of our street. The creek flows to the park adjacent to the marina. 

In the studio:  

Grassy Creek, clue 4. 

I've made 17 out of the ...

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Not only better, but also bigger.  Note that I made a new block to replace the upper left checkerboard so it's more balanced, as well. 

I came across Kim Diehl's "All in a Row" pattern as I perused the stack of Civil War-themed quilting books and the file of printouts and magazine patterns.  I printed a picture of All in a Row back in 2014 (the printout is dated). Since then I've acquired two Martingale books that feature it.  I figured that was a sign that it's high time to make my own ...

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 The checkerboard and basket blocks are assembled.  60" x 72", 4-1/8 yds.  I'm contemplating adding a border because I'd like it wider.   

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 We still have a few forest preserves to visit!  On Thursday we went to Nippersink .  

The gravity-defying tree has another outstretched limb pointing straight ahead.

A front came through and it rained Friday afternoon and all day Saturday.  The weather forecast said waves would be high on the lake and I went to see for myself.  

In the upper photo: the seawall (on the left) used to be at the water's edge. The round thing in the middle is a concrete storm drain that used to be covered by sand and gravel and a good 10' from the water ...

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 Sunny skies, mild temperatures, and another forest preserve to explore.   On Wednesday afternoon we enjoyed Hastings Lake in Lindenhurst.   From 1998-2003 we lived in a subdivision at the south end of this lake. That was before the forest preserve was developed.   

The ducks and geese on the lake  were outshone by a pair of trumpeter swans. 

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 The parking lot was nearly full when we arrived at Ryerson Woods Conservation Area on Saturday afternoon.   It was another gorgeous day with abundant sunshine and mild temperatures.  

(Note: one more dandelion!)

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 Thanksgiving Day here in northeasternmost Illinois was sunny and mild.   We went over the river and through the woods at Sedge Meadow, a relatively new forest preserve that's about six miles from home.  The preserve and trail are relatively small but they connect to the extensive Des Plaines River Trail.  A decades-long project restored farmlands and gravel pits to floodplain and forest. (The name Des Plaines -- pronounced "dess plains" -- is a corruption of Eau Pleine meaning "full of water."  The river is shallow and when it floods it spreads far.  The reclamation/forest preserve mitigates flooding in more settled ...

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 My November One Monthly Goal was to make a set of placemats.  Done! I'm reposting the photo for this week's OMG Finish link up.  

Last evening I finished piecing the sixth installment in the Civil War Reproduction Stash Reduction Project.  The pattern is Spice Pantry by Kim Diehl. This is spicy indeed compared to so many CW palettes of butternut, blue, and softened reds and greens.  (56 x 62, 4 yards).  

I can imagine this design as a Rainbow Scrap Challenge -- one row of each of the monthly colors. 

Linking up with OMG at Elm Street Quilts

and ...

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 We visited Prairie Wolf Forest Preserve Friday afternoon.   It's bordered by a shopping center and suburban office buildings -- a century ago that was farmland but a century before that it was a slough, which is what the forest preserve is now.  

When we left Prairie Wolf we saw a sign for the  Heller Nature Center We're glad we took a detour to check it out!  It's part of the Highland Park Park District.  (Not shown: the good-sized education building. I can imagine that in normal years there would be field trips and after-school activities.)  The cabin was ...

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64 degrees on Thursday!  We discovered Sun Lake Forest Preserve  
 As the website explains, the trail is distant from the lake because the shoreline is ecologically fragile.  (The lake is the center right image in the collage photo. That was as close as I could get. The upper left image is a trailside pond.) 

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I have so many ideas for the CWRSRP (Civil War Reproduction Stash Reduction Project). There are books by Jo Morton, Carol Hopkins, Julie Hendrickson, and Kim Diehl. There's a stack of patterns from magazines.  

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 It was still unseasonably warm on Monday when we went to Middlefork Savanna on the far west side of Lake Forest.  The property was formerly J. Ogden Armour's farm. (I have yet to find out the location of the other tallgrass savanna in North America.)   

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Four forest preserves in four days -- because the weather has been absolutely stunning (70-degree temps, lots of sunshine).  

Raven Glen was a gem.  It's made up of a former campground around a glacial lake plus a former dairy farm.  In 1962 and 1963 I went to summer camp on land that is now Rollins Savanna. I've known that for years but this was the first time we've been to the preserve. (I wasn't able to walk far enough to get to where the campgrounds were. I'll need to do more research.)  We discovered Lyons Woods ...

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I was among the many women who wore pearls yesterday to honor the life and legacy of Ruth Bader Ginsberg on Election Day.  I chose my mother-in-law's necklace and earrings because they're real (mine are imitation).  Screw-back earrings are tricky to put on!)  

(I stitched the little sampler with the Rubaiyat quote.  My sister added hyacinth bulbs and it was our birthday gift to our mother in 1991. [Initials N and V, plus our mother's initials MHB.])  

 I also wore "sock the vote" socks. (They're from Zkano.  Not only are they American-made, they are also a ...

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 This week we checked three forest preserves off the Hike Lake County List.  (One more wild card -- a forest preserve of our choice -- and we will complete this season.)   Cuba Marsh and Buffalo Creek are in the southwestern part of the county, diagonally opposite where we live.   Van Patten Woods is close to home. (We've been to VPW often.) 

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 * CWRSRP = Civil War Reproduction Stash Reduction Project

When I posted the photo of 50 red/white Ohio Stars earlier this week I warned you that I was thinking about settings.  

Here's the result!   The sashing is not a repro but it was the right tone.  Deb Tucker's Square Squared ruler made easy work of the cornerstones. (I tried the Square-in-a-Square ruler, and even went to a class for it, but it was awkward to use. I like Deb's ruler better.) 

I have 20 white-corner Ohio Stars ready for the next project. 

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 Regular readers saw this quilt in progress. I'm reposting it now for the One Monthly Goal link up.  The stars and the Yankee/Dutchman's Puzzle blocks were in the Parts Department/Orphans box and demanded to play together.  

You will see the initialism* CWRSRP often in the coming months.   It stands for Civil War Reproduction Stash Reduction Project.  I weighed the CW stash this month and, at four yards to a pound, I have 239 yards.  Here are the first blocks:  50 red/neutral Ohio Stars, 9-1/2" unfinished.  I'm already playing with different settings.  

* An initialism ...

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We added two forest preserves to our Hike Lake County list:  Greenbelt and Lake Carina .  There's a story trail at Greenbelt with pages/pictures from Waiting for Winter along the route.  More late-summer flowers still in bloom. 

In the photo: Sumac, Bouncing Bet (soapwort), ground cherry, dogwood berries, tansy, Queen Anne's lace, and a very persistent dandelion.  

It was overcast and foggy on Friday.  I stayed closer to home on my walk. I passed a man I knew. He was walking his dog. "How've you been, Miss Nann?" he asked. [That's how people address "their" librarian ...

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