What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

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.

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 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 ...

The restaurant has quite a history

I've had the backing fabric for a really long time. 

5-7/8 yards used in all. 

Linking up with Finished or Not Friday

I'm confined to quarters most of the day ...

Carol Wilhoit was the speaker at the guild meeting Wednesday.  Her program spoke right to my scrappy heart.   

She mentioned "our" Wanda as the inspiration for the way she selects a range of prints/colors for her quilts.

"Use the good fabric!  Don't be afraid to experiment!" she told us.  Good advice.

Speaking of range of color, here are the 20 orange Ohio Stars.   I'm doing straight sets for each group of blocks in this RSC series so assembly is easy. 

There's a community garage sale this weekend. (Many people sign up and they (who?) publish a ...

I had a good two-mile walk at Pine Dunes Forest Preserve.  At the end, when I saw the car in the parking lot, I had a startlingly clear vision of Stevens half-opening the car door and waving his cane to greet me, with a big smile on his face.  (I hope those clear visions will continue for a long time.)

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Sunrise today.

"Sky-blue pink," as Uncle Wiggly would say. 

Many, many years ago Clara Cummings was denied membership in the Excalibur Club, a very exclusive women's club in Waukegan.  Clara began her own club, now eponymous. Members used to read and ...

 On Tuesday I drove 430 miles to Paducah, Kentucky, for my first-ever AQS show.  My librarian friend Terri lives in Paducah and invited me to stay at her house in town.  

En route I got a call from the nursing home telling me that Stevens had very low blood pressure so they were sending him to the hospital.   

Stevens has been sitting in a wheelchair just across from the nurse's station so he can see and react to people going by.  He can hold a spoon or fork to feed himself and he can grasp a cup to drink.  

Stevens moved to a rehab facility yesterday afternoon. I went to visit.  "Hello, my love," he greeted me before nodding off again.  

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I miscounted the number of blocks I made for Gray Scale. (See the lower right corner.)  Fortunately it's easy to remedy.

Linking up with Finished or Not Friday  

 Stevens is still in the hospital. The GI tube has been removed and they're going to start real food today.  He'll stay through the weekend (if not longer).   I toured three care facilities yesterday and found one that I really like.  

Our guild's annual Raffle Mania was Wednesday evening.  Members bring no-longer-loved quilt, textile, and fiber-related stuff (like yarn).  Each person gets free raffle tickets based on meeting attendance through the year.  Additional tickets are available for purchase.  I got six free and spend $20 for 35 more.  

It rained Tuesday night. When I went downstairs Wednesday morning to do laundry I found puddles on the basement floor.  The culprit was a detached downspout extender.  Did I forget to check it after the landscapers did the fall cleanup, or did it fall off sometime afterward?  In any event it took two wet-vac tubs full to get all the water.   The 1-1/2" and 2" strip bins under the cutting table got wet.  The bins themselves are made out of nylon or polyester and they dried fine.  I contemplated putting the strips in pillowcases and putting them in the ...

I posted this photo on Monday. I intended to make wheelchair quilt (36 x 45).  I finished the quilting--just an easy swirl, no sweat.  When I trimmed the edges I trimmed one long side TOO much and it looked.....not right.   I could have bound it "not right" and given ...

"Smile for your fan club!"

Sunshine and temperatures in the upper 30's and lower 40's were conducive to walking this week.  It was good to stretch my legs!

This is pack ice, covered in sand.

I saw four of the ornaments I hung along one of the paths in mid-December.  This one had a few remnants of its red paint.

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I had a satisfying and productive month in the studio. 

The Stay at Home Round Robin (SAHRR) prompt this week was half-square triangles. I have a box of batik HSTs on hand so this was an easy step ...

 On the home front:   Thirty birthday cards arrived this week.  THANK YOU! 

The dishwasher repairman came late Monday.  He pried off the lower panel, plugged a gizmo into a gauge or something, and got a readout that said the dishwasher had run 1,586 cycles since installation.  That was interesting.  He then replaced a water intake valve.  Here's the important part. He said he guessed that I used the economy cycle (51 min.).  He was right. It turns out that's wrong and I should use the normal cycle. That pushes more water through the valve and keeps it ...