What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

 Yesterday Pat and I went out to lunch to celebrate her birthday.  I looked up "quilt shops nearby" and discovered Quilters Quest in Downers Grove.  We ate at a Panera Bread in the same shopping center, then went to the shop.   

Wow!

A huge array of fabric -- Free Spirit, Ruby Star, all the Modas, a wall of batiks, and even some CW and 30's reproductions.  

The black garment bags on the dry-cleaner carousel hold quilts waiting to be quilted or to be picked up. 

Pat is ...

Friday's weather--high 60's, partly cloudy-- was great for the 26th annual Rotary Golf Outing.  I was at the course from 10 a.m. to nearly 8 p.m. I helped at registration and then at the 18th hole where a golf pro from Charity Golf had a long drive contest.  I know very little about golf but Lexie, the pro, was very patient.  The event will raise over $25,000 for our high school scholarships and other community initiatives.   

Carine and I intended to get our picture taken with Lexie on the 18th hole but we caught ...

Two lakefront excursions this week. 

 Fort Sheridan is an unusual forest preserve in that it has a lot of human history as well as natural history. When the fort was decommissioned the land was divided as a natural area but also a town. The officers' quarters and even the stables are now very upscale housing.  This year's trail followed a ravine and part of the parade ground.   

Farther north along the lakefront:  the Southport Quilters is the Kenosha guild. Their annual show is an exhibit at the Anderson Arts Center.  The staff at AAC hang the quilts in the ...

Hello There,

Monday:   Prickly pear cactus are in bloom at Illinois Beach State Park. Each petal is tipped with a sharp spine.  They like the sandy soil of the dunes.

Tuesday:   I put the camera on selfie to take this from-below photo of a Turk's-cap lily.  (In another section of the state park with 'regular,' not sandy, soil.)  I love the turned-back petals and the freckled faces.

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In the studio:   

Design adapted ...

Beardtongue foxglove, wild flag iris, oxeye daisy, feverfew, Japanese rose.  

I used up two ziploc bags of triangles. The hourglasses (top right and lower left) were made from 4-1/2" triangles cut diagonally and repieced. 

Some fabric in the "used" column but more fabric in the "acquired" column.   

The rain forecast today will be most welcome. I planted tomatoes, beans, and lettuce earlier this week.  

 Where has the week gone?    

Zion Woman's Club board met Tuesday afternoon to allocate funds to local agencies.  ($300 to six, with $200 remaining for as-yet-unknown requests.  We are a small-budget operation!)   AAUW met by Zoom Tuesday evening for an excellent program by the director of Reform for Illinois, an organization working for transparency and fairness in state/local election funding.  

I spent an hour at the AT&T store on Wednesday resetting the Yahoo app so I can get email on my phone.  It turned out that I had an old, not-used Yahoo email address that the app ...

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

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

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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 ...

Choosing layouts and coordinating fabrics was a great design exercise.

Each is approximately 13 x 20.

I spent Monday visiting my sister.  After tending to some financial business we went to the Salvation Army.   I did NOT buy this sewing machine--$360 was far over-priced!  I got two books and my sister got a book and a small table.  

Monday evening the Magpies met by Zoom.  (Washington state, Missouri, Texas (2),  Illinois (2), Virginia, British Columbia (2), and Western Australia (where it was 10 a.m.))   "We need to do this again soon," everyone agreed.  And we will. 

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In the studio:  14 placemats finished with #15 under the needle.  Five to go for this month's ...

5-7/8 yards used in all. 

They all use units from the orphan blocks box.

(The fine points of terminology: a patch is a shape cut from fabric. A unit is composed of one or more patches sewn together. A block is composed of units sew together.) 

# # # # #  I have a fear of running ...