What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

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 ...

Dogwood is reddening up.  Fungus looks like little flying saucers.

# # # # # 

The quilt guild meets by Zoom in January and February.  It was nice to be back in person this Wednesday evening.  One of the guild members, an art teacher (retired; with a ...

They filled a real VW beetle with orchids.  

Catch the 60's decor -- the RCA console TV, the wood panelling and orange shag carpet.

The CBG staff starts planning two years in advance.  All the sets are made in-house.  

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. 

An hour after I took this screenshot the temperature dropped another 2 degrees. 

The storm has been in the forecast all week and it's probably affecting where you are.   We're on the edge of the snow with just 1"-2" predicted for tomorrow.   

The retired library directors are meeting for lunch today but LS and I, who were going to ride together, have decided to stay in our respective homes.   I have enough to keep me busy.

# # # # # #

It's been too cold to walk and I miss stretching my legs.  (I could walk at the rec center but that's early morning and I prefer to walk in the afternoon.)

# # # # #  In the warm, cozy basement studio: 

 I have chosen the starter for the Stay At Home Round Robin.  

At the ALA Midwinter Meeting in 2018 I got two vendor tote bags with this Jane Austen quotation. I ...

 I managed to stay up until midnight on New Year's Eve.   I watched a new movie and an old one on Netflix.  New: Wake Up Dead Man, the third (and best, so far) in the Knives Out series.  Old:  How to Steal a Million with Audrey Hepburn and Peter O'Toole. A fun caper from 1966.  

As I watched I quilted and bound the golden bowties wall hanging.  (I left for Florida with it basted. I was afraid I'd make a mess of the quilting. But it turned out okay! I hand-sewed the binding to ...

At Thursday's Rotary breakfast we played games (two versions of "guess the carol") and had a gift exchange.  Chris got the pair of pillowcases that I made, along with a box of  candy (shhh...regift of one of the 'festive foods' from earlier in the month).  I got something I knew I wouldn't use ...

No meetings, too cold to walk + an audiobook I had to finish (see below) = a flimsy.

6-1/4 yards by weight. 

# # # # # #

The supermoon as seen from the back yard Thursday at 5 p.m.  

Tuesday:   Zion Woman's Club luncheon at a local restaurant.  We exchanged "festive food" -- a useful alternative to white elephants which are too often a way to get rid of one "dustable" and in turn take home someone else's dustable.   I brought some of my Christmas tablecloths to set the table. 

                       

We finished the puzzle just as Linda called us to dinner.  

I'm giving out bags of  caramel/cheese popcorn.  Our Rotary Club sold it as a fundraiser and I bought three cases of 24 4-ounce bags.  Rather than re-selling it (which other club members have done) I'm giving it away.  Whatever is left will be part of the snacks for the Zion Woman's Club Bunco night in two weeks.  (That is, if I can refrain from any more snacking.)

The geraniums are having a late-season burst of energy. I moved them to the back patio to make room for a mum and pumpkin on the front stoop.

The tomatoes are over.  The crop was nice this year, especially for the grape and cherry varieties. 

Judy Martin presented a trunk show at Wednesday's guild meeting.  I'm sure you've known about her as long as I have!  She came to quilting from years of garment sewing. Her first quilt was made from clothing scraps when she was in college in the late 1960's.  She has published eight pattern books.  

 Nearly all of the 24 of the quilts she showed are really big.   

 The designs look very complex but when she showed how the blocks fit together they didn't seem so intimidating.

Though I've owned many of her books I admit ...

The flowers are about 1/4".   

Is the hole in the tree a portal?  LOL!

# # # # #

No walk on Thursday.  Rotary breakfast at 7:15, then the first meeting of the Clara Cummings Book Club at lunchtime.  The speaker, Susan Benjamin, was ...

Fringed gentian -- you can see the fringes at the edges of the petals.  They like sunshine and moist (but not wet) soil.  The lake prairie at Illinois Beach State Park is just right.  

Some have a single stem and others have multiple stems.

Such a beautiful blue!

(They designate 14 trails.  Participants have to walk (run, bike, jog...) seven of them to get the little commemorative medallion.  I overachieve and do all 14.)

I picked as many black raspberries as I could reach and carried them in my cap. They were great with vanilla ice cream.

# # # # #

 Every year the Lake County Forest Preserves designates 14 trails for ...

 I had three routine medical procedures this week. Two sets of results are in, one to come. I am not worried.  

On the other hand, the Janome is in the shop.  The ...

On Wednesday the Zion Woman's Club (Kathy, Jeanne, and I) staffed the t-shirt sales table at Camp I Am Me.  The Illinois Fire Safety Alliance sponsors the week-long overnight camp for children and teens who have suffered burn injuries.  This is the 34th year and there are 52 campers from all over Illinois.  There's no charge to the campers (even transportation is provided).   YMCA Camp Duncan is a century-old campground that used to be way out in the country. 

There was a parade with fire trucks from departments all over the area, sirens wailing.  Brats and burgers for ...