What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

 

Christmas Day was sunny and mild. While the roast beef was in the oven* we went to Lyons Woods.  Someone has hung many ornaments on a pine tree along the trail.

*The roast was delicious. I deliberately bought a big one and we will enjoy the leftovers.  

I bought 20 Agatha Christie mysteries at a fundraising auction and gave them to Stevens for Christmas. These will keep him occupied for a while.

(These 20 are not a complete set. Apparently there are 83 in this edition,) 

 

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My December One Monthly Goal was to decide what I will make for the ...

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The boys are back!  My nutcracker collection began with a gift from my mother in 1980, the first year we were married.   She gave us two more.  I've gotten others at TJ Maxx/Marshalls, an antiques mall, and estate/garage sales.  The latest is #8, a $2 estate sale score last month.   (They are all German, mostly Erzgebirge.) 

Holiday events are underway.  The GFWC Tenth District luncheon was Tuesday and the Lake County Women's Coalition luncheon was Saturday. The quilt guild holiday party was Wednesday -- scaled down considerably from years past with a box supper. We continued our ...

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 My One Monthly Goal for November was to quilt three flimsies.  I exceeded that goal and quilted five. I've written about each one in previous posts.

Three have pieced backs.  That process can be a design challenge--choosing fabrics that contrast but somehow go with the front. I created two more flimsies.  Neither has a destination or a deadline so into the box they go.

The stash report:

Fabric IN, November: 75 yards, $76.00 -- $1.01 and a fraction per yard.

Fabric OUT, November:  73-7/8 yards.  (That includes a box I sent to a friend in Kansas who ...

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While we were away my Janome was in the shop for a long-overdue cleaning.   I took it in on Wednesday (10/6). We left on Friday.   Fortunately the Singer 301 was at hand.   I hadn't used it in a long time but it fired right up and I could sew those final two evenings.

Rather than begin something elaborate I turned to the box of 2.5" squares.  I made 11 sixteen-patches before the trip and the remainder when we returned.   They called for a simple setting.   This will be a nice donation quilt.

I picked up the Janome ...

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Rabbit, rabbit!  (Here is the explanation of the good-luck legend.) 

We get our Pfizer booster shots this morning --another good luck token.

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Here's a collage of Michaelmas daisies for Michaelmas Day, September 29. (It's also Archangels Day but the other archangels don't have fall wildflowers named after them.)  

According to Wikipedia the traditional meal features goose . We're not High Church so we had chicken.  Maybe next year I'll remember to bake a version of St. Michael's bannock.  

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I quilted the tilted slab blocks. The bias I mentioned in the previous post was not a ...

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 I was beginning to despair that I would not find suitable shoes for our granddaughter's October 23 wedding.  I didn't want black.  I didn't want too-strappy (partly October and partly that I have bad feet). I can't wear pointy toes or high heels.  The dress (see it here) is silver-blue, further limiting the color. Why, oh why didn't I start shopping two months ago?  Anything possible on online sites was not in my size.   No luck at two DSWs (but I found a pair of navy casual shoes which will be great for fall). No ...

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Rabbit, rabbit goes back to school.  

(Here is an explanation of this folklore.)

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Stash report, August: 

Fabric IN:  38-1/2 yards, $195

Fabric OUT: 45-7/8

YTD fabric IN:  271-5/8 yards,, $1046, average $3.85

YTD fabric OUT:  340 yards

NET:  68 yards USED (yay!)

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I finished piecing my version of Bonnie Hunter's Bitcoin.  It is trickier to line up the columns than it appears. 4-5/8 yards used. 

I need to trim the top.  I'm not 100% wild about this but I can imagine using the 1.5 x 2.5 column idea in alternate settings ...

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It's been too hot and too humid for energetic explorations.  I stayed closer to home today with a walk in the ravine at the end of our block.   

Jewel weed, lobelia, elderberries, and an aster. 

On the street on the other side of the ravine I saw a car come forward, back up, come forward, back up, and come forward again.  It was Glenn and Patty. She rolled down the passenger window and said, "Wild turkeys behind the red house!" and they drove on.    

This is as close as I could get -- I don't know the people who ...

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Rabbit, rabbit!  Yes, I remembered to say that first thing this morning. 

Our afternoon outings this week took us to two units of Illinois Beach State Park and to two forest preserves (Pine Dunes and Grant Woods).  The wildflowers are stunning.  I know they've always been there but I am really alert to them this year as I've taken 'destination' walks (rather than just in the neighborhood).  The Picture This app on my phone makes identification easy. 

It was 90 degrees  on Monday when I walked 2+ miles on the Dunes Trail at Illinois Beach.  I wanted to ...

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 It's the last day to report progress on the One Monthly Goal for July.   My stated goal was to get started on the wedding quilt.  In a way I have achieved that because I did get started, but now I'm determined to get the top completed.  I might be there had I not made design changes along the way.

I made half the units for 40 border blocks using all-the-same fabrics.   Before I added the large triangles I got to thinking.  

Design change:  since the blocks themselves are scrappy (each of the four birds-in-the-air blocks has a different ...

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I ended up with 30 Positivity blocks. (Thank you, Bonnie in VA, for the neutral FQs that provided enough background for seven blocks.)  The flimsy used 3-3/8 yards that will go in the July report. 

My July OMG is the same as June:  decide the design for the ...

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I woke up at 4:00 this morning, muttered "Rabbit, rabbit," and woke up again at 6:00.  Here is why.  (I first learned about RR in a Trixie Belden book I read when I was 11.  Only in more recent years have I said it each month. Maybe I need good luck more these days?)

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The stash report for May:

Fabric IN:  19-1/2 yards, $57                                Fabric OUT: 34-3/4                                              Fabric IN YTD: 99-5/8, $158.50 (average $1.59/yd) Fabric OUT YTD: 217-3/8                                                                                                                           Net  reduction:  117-3/4

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The Rainbow Scrap Challenge color for June is purple ...

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See the previous post for this week's wildflower photos!

I finished the pomegranate mug rug for my friend who will become Bat Mitvah on May 31. ("Jewish tradition teaches that the pomegranate is a symbol of righteousness because it is said to have 613 seeds, which corresponds with the 613 mitzvot, or commandments, of the Torah. For this reason and others, it is customary to eat pomegranates on Rosh Hashanah. Moreover, the pomegranate represents fruitfulness, knowledge, learning and wisdom." Source:  Chabad.org) 

It arrived on Saturday, just in time.

  She sent a picture showing it in action. 

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Barb of ...

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 It's impossible to forget the birthdays of significant people in our lives. Today is no exception.  This would be my dad's 103rd birthday(5/5/1918).  I found this photo recently. It's dated 1920.  

We gave him a tie for his birthday in 1959.  

He was a terrific hunt-and-peck typist.  He wrote numerous articles and several books.  

Judging from both Dad's appearance and from the kitchen wallpaper this photo was taken in the mid 1990's.  It was Christmas time (I can see the caroler figurines on the side table in the background). They eventually got ...

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egret at Sedge Meadow Savanna

 The downside to the sunny days we've enjoyed is that there has been NO rain. Everything is green because it's springtime, but we are edging toward drought.  On Monday the tree guys took down a Colorado blue spruce in the back yard that looked sick last year and looked sicker this year.  The landscaper said the condition was needle cast and explained that Colorado spruces are planted here because they grow fast. After a certain point (35 years?) they fail to thrive in the heavy clay soil.  Removing the tree left a sunny ...

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We revisited Greenbelt and Ray Lake Forest Preserves on Wednesday and Thursday afternoons. It was sunny but cool with very little wind.  The tree swallows are establishing their nests in the nesting boxes.  The flowers are trout lilies and [a yellow flower I have to i.d.](Click on the "waffle stamps" label to ...

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Happy Easter!

It's been a busy week! 

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 My One Monthly Goal for February was to put labels on finished quilts.  One evening I went to work and got them done.  

I print multiple labels on printer-fabric sheets. Some include my name and others are just Hilyard Studio. I write the name, date, and occasion when those are relevant. When a quilt doesn't have a destination I don't include that information. (If I donate a quilt that I made in 2017 to an event in 2021 I don't want it to appear that I dusted off an old project, even if that's pretty much ...

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The 2021 ALA Midwinter Meeting was held virtually from January 22-26.  FLOTUS Dr. Jill Biden was the closing speaker on the 25th.  She was so vibrant!   The remarkable young poet Amanda Gorman appeared in a clip just prior to Dr. Biden's talk. 

 

Just a year ago I'd heard of Zoom but I'd only attended one meeting.  It does it much easier to convene groups of people who live both nearby and far away.  A perfect example:  on Saturday morning AAUW-Michigan convened a regional meeting with participants from 18 states. There was lots of good information and idea-sharing ...

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