What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

Warm on Friday, warmer on Saturday.   Clockwise: blue-eyed grass, skunk cabbage in full leaf, golden Alexander, field horsetail, star of Bethlehem (a garden escapee, very aggressive).   

It was much cooler on Sunday and I took a nap instead of a walk. 

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Several months ago I made string X blocks into a flimsy and added a border.  I didn't like the border but it was the only fabric on hand that sort of worked and that I had in enough quantity.  I put the flimsy in the box and hoped I'd like the border better eventually.  It still didn ...

 I have had a stack of RWB blocks sitting next to my sewing machine for weeks.  I finally had a chance this week to turn them into a quilt top.

*** I just realized today is not Saturday! Oh Scrap!***

 Recently, we finished some quilts made from scraps and orphan blocks we received.

There are four raffles:  50/50 cash, a gift card tree ($195 value), a ...

 I am writing this post quite a bit ahead of time.  I am taking a quick trip to see my two sisters and an aunt/uncle I haven't seen in many years.  In fact, by the time you read this, I will probably be back.  I'm a bit torn - I am looking forward to seeing everyone, but I am sure going to miss my boi Arthur.  We haven't been apart in over two years!

I am wwaaayyy behind in sharing finishes so I thought I would do that in this post.

One year.  How I miss him!

I'm grateful to everyone for their love, support, and kind thoughts.

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The 101st  AAUW-Illinois convention was in Rockford this past Friday evening and Saturday.  (I didn't go last year because (see above).  The last time it was in Rockford was 2002 and I didn't go because my mother passed away.  Hmmm...)   Helen drove and we roomed together. (It was a test because in October we will travel together. We got along quite well.)  

 I did work on a few scrappy projects this week, but I forgot to take any photos.  Mostly, I was doing a bit of a clean-up and I just finished a bunch of partially sewn blocks and binding strips.  I guess we will have to settle for some photos of some quilt tops donated by local volunteers.

 We escaped the tornadoes and the flooding that hit Illinois and Wisconsin last week but there was a lot of rain.  It's the third-wettest April on record.  My basement stayed dry (I had the landscapers add a bank of soil around the problem corner of the foundation) but apparently there's a roof leak.  It's always something . . . 

Top: Peeping Beauty School of Cosmetology; Frida; No Mistakes, Just Happy Little Peeps (Bob Ross). Center: from the Racine city dept. of development; Arthur; "Peepal Conclave."   Bottom: Don Quixote; The Scream.

Of course I liked "They Read Banned Books."  

  The top left and center right are Polish (or Polish-style).  Upper right:  Japanese.  Lower left:  I think ...

 Oh My!  How time flies!  The last couple weeks have been a bit of a blur for me.  I can't believe in that whole time I didn't make one blog post.  Thanks to all who checked up on me.  And my apologies to those of you who kept checking for new posts but finding nothing.

We had our sew day event today (Saturday) and I just spent a couple hours putting everything away.  I am exhausted but I wanted to share about the day.

We had a team of folks that showed up to sew some blocks for ...

 I went to church in the morning and had a nice long walk at Van Patten Woods in the afternoon.  

Sumac, fungus, mullein.  The place names Des Plaines and O'Plaine are corruptions of "eau pleine" meaning "full of water," which is how the early French explorers saw the river in flood. You can see why.

I had to work off some of the gustatory delights of the day.  I made a half-batch of pancakes, our customary holiday breakfast.  The pancake mix (Christmas 2024 gift) still had enough baking powder oomph ...

 Monday morning has rolled around too fast!  This needs to be a quick post.

Three luncheons in three days (Clara Cummings Book Club on Thursday, retired library directors on Friday, GFWC District 10 on Saturday) plus the 5th Sunday potluck after church on Sunday -- good company at all.  

Palm Sunday origami!  Did you (or do you still) make a cross from the palm frond?  

Every year at this time I look for skunk cabbage along the trail in the ravine at the end of the block.  The “horn” is the flower. It is so named because it has a high ...

 I finally have a scrappy quilt to share with you all.  

I even did all the steps to completion on this one!

 Happy Sunday!

If you receive our newsletter, you know we have a lot of fundraising going on in April.  One of the events is a Sew Day - whose preparation has been keeping me busy!  One of the big benefits of these Sew Days is that they help us use up a lot of our scraps.  This spring, we will be making blocks for Veterans.

To ensure we have cut into strips all the RWB scraps we have acquired, I reorganized all the chunky scraps we have.  This took quite a bit of time!  But with any reorganizing endeavor, after it ...

 I had a meeting Friday morning (good to get out and be sociable) and the rest of the weekend I was at home with just a couple of errands.  We're on the southern edge of the huge storm with only 4" of snow.  We're under a blizzard warning because it's quite windy.  I cancelled an appointment this morning and plan to stay in today.   Sewing and reading and, just maybe, catching up on a few no-time-pressure tasks.

In the studio:  I made red "coin" panels for this year's RSC project.  The pattern (shown in the photo ...

Kim Sigafuss ...

I know you are probably tired of me saying it, but it was another busy week! But I am hoping by the end of March, I might get a breather until late summer. Fingers crossed!

I also made these floral blocks from ...