What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

On many days Stevens will declare right after lunch that he's ready to go out.   A good habit for both of us.  

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In the studio:  the I Spy ...

Fall foliage is on display here in northeasternmost Illinois. We enjoyed walks to Illinois Beach State Park, Van Patten Woods Forest Preserve, and Pine Dunes Forest Preserve.

It's not as breathtaking as northern New England but it is pretty darned beautiful!

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 I need a better name ...

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You are well aware of the saying "measure twice, cut once."  The corollary is "design twice, sew once."  

I was reminded of the corollary as I ripped out a half-dozen blocks and replaced them. I did fuss with the block arrangement before I sewed the rows and I did look to see if the adjacencies worked once the rows were sewn -- but when it came to sewing the rows together I saw too-much-of this or too-much-of-that.   Now I feel better!   Blocks are 6" finished so this is 60 x 72 ...

Clockwise:  Obedient plant, jack-in-the-pulpit, ironweed, hyssop, nightshade, yellow jewel weed. 

With the brisk northeast breeze I was glad I brought my windbreaker.

Bull thistle, cutleaf coneflower (also called green-headed coneflower), ironweed, scarlet lobelia.

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My quilting month was ...

I finished hike #9 for the annual Hike Lake County challenge.  Independence Grove  is more like a city park than a forest preserve. It is really crowded on the weekends (I know from previous visits) but this particular Monday afternoon it wasn’t very busy. The hiking “trail” is a blacktop bike path.

Mountain mint, evening primrose, joe pye week. American white waterlily, elderberry "lace," goldenrod. Dogwood.

"Something yellow" was my stated One Monthly Goal for August.  I'm counting this quilt and Borderlands ...

We recalled another hot August 23 -- our wedding in 1980 in Pittsburg, Kansas.  There was a drought as well as excessive heat.  This year we celebrated by going out for dinner.  

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We had two good excursions, to Grant Woods Forest Preserve on Saturday and Chain O' Lakes State Park on Sunday.  (Left photo:  Fox River is on the horizon at Chain O' Lakes.) 

Wildflower medley:  spiderwort, yarrow, sorrel.  Cinquefoil, bird's foot ...

Pond-lily, shooting star, mayapple flower.   Wild flag iris, blue wild indigo, Virginia waterleaf.  longbract or false wild indigo, purple vetch, blue-eyed grass.

Sunday afternoon's walk was along the lakefront.  Puccoons grow in sandy soil.  Upper right:  narrowleaf puccoon.  Lower right: hoary puccoon.   Upper left: a cluster ...

Friday, 6:30 a.m.:  I shoveled the driveway and front walk before I'd had any coffee!   We got about 3" from the storm.  (Milwaukee, 45 miles north, got 9".)

Saturday evening we enjoyed the Lake County Symphony Orchestra's performance of Mahler's Symphony No. 1.  

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Top right:  milkweed pod. Center: "winter berries" is my generic name; moss is about the only green this time of year. Bottom: ground cherries; Indian hemp, aka dogbane, pods.  Here's more about dogbane.

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Lower left: a beaver lodge. Lower right: a ladder.   The trails at both preserves were 2.25 miles.  The more I walk the easier it gets!

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In the studio: 

The blue bin, home to fat quarters and chunks ...

Four days of mild weather (as high as 58) and sunshine = four afternoon walks. We'll have another this afternoon.  

(Three forest preserves -- Rollins Savanna, Lyons Woods, Van Patten Woods -- and Hosah Park along the lakefront.)  

The path really rocked on Thanksgiving Day.  Once I started seeing the painted stones I kept seeing them -- 18. There were probably a few that I missed. 

We enjoyed our traditional favorites at our just-us dinner.    The pie is made from the Halloween pumpkins.  The cranberry relish is Mama Stamberg's from NPR.   It's an acquired taste that we acquired long ago. 

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In ...

I do not have a wooden hiking stick to which to nail it, nor do I have an RV to which to glue it, but I do have a bulletin board. <g>

And I'm still walking!

There cannot be too many golden autumn woods photos.

These were taken at McDonald Woods (Thursday) and Lyons Woods (Sunday).  

Such a beautiful time of year!

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On Friday Stevens and I took our friend Pat out to lunch.  The restaurant ...

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? 

This early fall weather is glorious -- lots of sunshine and blue, blue skies.  We went to Waukegan Savanna, Independence Grove and Old School, three of the designated sites for this year's Hike Lake County challenge.  

This is prairie dock, also known as Lucy Braun's prairie dock. Had the flower and the spent flowerhead not been on one plant I wouldn't have known they are the same.

Here  is more about the eponymous Lucy Braun.  

This pretty purple flower is brown knapweed, also called French hard-head (!).  I've only  seen it at Wadsworth Savanna.  Since it is invasive ...