reading

Friday check in: end of the garden, packing, some sewing + reading from With Strings Attached

The geraniums are having a late-season burst of energy. I moved them to the back patio to make room for a mum and pumpkin on the front stoop.

The tomatoes are over. The crop was nice this year, especially for the grape and cherry varieties.

The zinnias I planted are still blooming and there are a couple of hopeful (or foolish) buds.

My preoccupation is preparing for my long-awaited trip to Italy. I leave tomorrow! It will be my 51st Road Scholar program: Rome, Florence, Venice. Home October 23. Temperatures there will be mid-70's during the day and mid-50 ...

added by Nann 1 week ago. under finished or not friday , off the wall friday , reading

Midweek: dolls, a finish, WIP + reading from With Strings Attached

"Oh, You Beautiful Doll" was the program at yesterday's Zion Woman's Club meeting. Lorna began collecting and recreating antique dolls in the 1990's. She has traveled all over the country to doll competitions (she's won!), sold supplies, and taught classes. She makes the porcelain heads and bodies herself. She brought samples of heads as greenware (rather squishy), bisque (first firing), and porcelain (second firing). She makes all clothes including the shoes (leather sourced from old gloves). Most of the club members have known Lorna for many years but none of us knew the details about her ...

added by Nann 1 week, 2 days ago. under reading , rsc 2025 , wednesday wait loss , zwc

What are you reading? from Crazy Quilter on a Bike!

Oh, I love your comments, and I'm a bit behind in responding to them! Patience! And yes, I think using ChatGPT is a matter of experience, and I'm brand new to it. I need more information, Tammy - like, did he get it saved to a PDF, and if so, I would love a copy!

Not to tempt fate or anything, but I am having the most relaxing days and no dreams last night - at least none that I remembered. After I delivered my project (more on the project in a second), I had time to spend a leisurely ...

added by Elaine 1 week, 5 days ago. under exit game , flowers , lexi , mount kilimanjaro , murphy , reading , studio b , sunrise , supplements

Weekly update: a destash, almost a flimsy, RSC October + reading from With Strings Attached

Old School Forest Preserve

Chicagoland is officially in a drought but the cloudless skies ("100% of available sunshine") and warm temperatures are the kind of weather I'd like to bottle.

At Van Patten Woods on Friday: sulfur butterfly on New England aster, viceroy butterfly, yellow wooly bear caterpillar.

The viceroy is a monarch mimic. The visible difference is the black band across the lower wing. (Read about other differences in this article)

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A friend moved to assisted living earlier this year. There was an estate sale at her house this weekend. I bought a trundle bed and because I ...

added by Nann 2 weeks, 4 days ago. under design wall monday , monday musings , oh scrap! , reading , sew and tell , weekly update

Back home - AGAIN! from Crazy Quilter on a Bike!

OH MY GOSH --- If I read Torry's comment correctly, she has a couple of the Nancy Drews with a 1938 copyright!! What a treasure! While I'm not a fan of most old things, I love old books! What a find, Torry! Be sure to reread them -- they are fun!

The new audiobook that I listened to on the way home - well, I wish the drive was longer! I'm just getting into the storyline, and it's a puzzler! While there is murder, it's more of a puzzle-type mystery and involves antiques! It's called "The Antique ...

added by Elaine 3 weeks ago. under antiques , reading , svp events , travel

Weekly update: quilt show, a new trail, some quilting + reading from With Strings Attached

The Southport Quilt Guild holds its annual show at the Anderson Arts Center on the lakefront in Kenosha. The quilts are hung by the arts center staff and the show is up for a month. There's no admission fee.

View of the lake from a second-floor window. Podgaji "flags" guided visitors to the front door.

There were 75? or so quilts on display.

This was fun! Each visitor got a clipboard with a scavenger hunt sheet. ("How many points are in the star in quilt #70?" "Which quilt is named Daniel?" "What color is the center pinwheel on quilt ...

added by Nann 3 weeks, 4 days ago. under design wall monday , monday musings , mug rugs , oh scrap! , quilt show , reading , sew and tell , weekly update

Friday check in: wildflower goal, placemats, and reading from With Strings Attached

Two of my favorite wildflowers are in bloom now. They're hard to find but I remembered where I saw them last year. And there they were!

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!

Bottle gentian is hard to find. They like moist soil and partial shade. The flowers never open! Native bumblebees are the only pollinators strong enough to ...

added by Nann 4 weeks ago. under finished or not friday , off the wall friday , placemats , reading , wildflowers

Blue and White Shirts from Fret Not Yourself

A pessimist, they say, sees a glass as being half empty; an optimist sees the same glass as half full. But a giving person sees a glass of water and starts looking for someone who might be thirsty.

~G. Donald Gale

Quilting

I started my blue and white shirt quilt saga years ago before DH himself retired. Whenever he retired a shirt, I checked it over and kept it if it was in good shape. I soon realized they are almost all blue or white. All solids or very calm prints. Recently more came from my sons and a few ...

added by Ann 1 month, 1 week ago. under mai mochizuki , quilts from shirts , reading , scrap quilt

String Hatchet Top Finished... Perhaps from Fret Not Yourself

I wanted a perfect ending.

Now I've learned, the hard way,

that some poems don't rhyme,

and some stories don't have a clear beginning, middle, and end.

Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking a moment

and making the most of it, without knowing what's going to happen next.

~Gilda Radner

Quilting

This top has taken a long time... partly {or mostly} because I've been gone so frequently this summer. However, it's finally done... perhaps. I think I'd like a border of random green scraps and a second border of lights ...

added by Ann 1 month, 3 weeks ago. under hatchet , katarina bivald , reading , string piecing

FEVER! from Crazy Quilter on a Bike!

I am a bit of a dolt, but we all knew that! I struggled a little bit with fatigue yesterday, but there wasn't an opportunity to take a nap. That's OK. But by 7:00 PM, I knew something else was wrong. OH MY GOODNESS -- I have a fever! 38.5! That would be a result of the vaccinations I had the previous day! I don't know how long I had the fever, but it was when my body just said, "we're done," that it crossed my mind!

Having said that, I took some medication (although ...

added by Elaine 2 months, 3 weeks ago. under backyard , mini shoes , packing , protein bars , reading , shoes , vaccination

Midweek: flimsy, WITB comes out, and a good book from With Strings Attached

I walked along a shady trail at Van Patten Woods on Monday afternoon. I turned a corner and there was a whole patch of my favorite Turk's cap lilies.

Lots of black raspberries, too. I plucked a few and ate 'em on the spot.

No long walk yesterday, just a stroll around the neighborhood after dinner.

# # # # #

I assembled the guild challenge quilt and made a placemat out of some of the scraps. (Still a surprise so no photos.)

For many, many years I participated in the Baseball Swap where we swapped 6.5" fabric squares according to how many ...

added by Nann 3 months ago. under reading , wednesday wait loss , wildflowers

Friday check in: wildflowers, a little sewing, and a lot of reading from With Strings Attached

Turk's cap lilies are in bloom. I love their curled petals and freckled faces. (Photos from Volo Bog and Illinois Beach State Park.)

The garden yielded enough basil for a big batch of pesto. I freeze it in 1-T portions. [For each 2 cups of basil: 2 tsp garlic, 1/2 c grated Parmesan, 1/2 c walnuts (cheaper than pignoli), 1/2 c olive oil, salt.]

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 ...

added by Nann 3 months, 1 week ago. under finished or not friday , reading , top-along

A New String Quilt Idea from Fret Not Yourself

The first casualty of war is the truth.

~Aeschylus

Quilting

Since I've made so many Four-letter-word quilts, I'm down to pretty dull and dark colors in my scrap bag: black, brown, greens, with a few purples and reds. I've been wondering what to make with these when I was reminded of the Hatchet blocks. What if the blocks were made of strings and split between light and dark sides?

These first pieces were made last summer but I found them in the orphan box.

They look well on the pink and grey print background. Time to make ...

added by Ann 3 months, 2 weeks ago. under max wallace , reading , scrap quilt , scrap strips

The aftermath of a sewing retreat from Crazy Quilter on a Bike!

I am thrilled to say that it took me three trips to unload the car once I got home from the sewing retreat. One for all the loose stuff in the front seat - water bottle, glasses, etc. And two trips with bags and the sewing machine. Wow -- I love that and I didn't run out of stuff to do!

In the morning, we stopped in at a local quilt shop as they were having a sale, and a few things went into my bag. Suitable for backings at that price! I should take pictures to share. However, I have ...

added by Elaine 3 months, 3 weeks ago. under lexi , murphy , reading , retreat packing , unpacking

Blue Melon Patch Quilt Gifted from Fret Not Yourself

What makes a movement Fascist is not ideology but the willingness to do whatever is necessary - including the use of force and trampling on the rights of others - to achieve victory and command obedience.

~Madeleine Albright

Quilting

Quilted, washed, dried, and gifted. Melon Patch looks very traditional. The corner octagons give the overall quilt a bit of curve. I considered a pieced border but know this quilt will be tucked in on the sides so chose an easier plan.

Diagonal lines with a walking foot make the quilting in the center. I started with SID along the Melon Patches then ...

added by Ann 3 months, 4 weeks ago. under denise kiernan , melon patch , octagon , reading , snowball block

Weekly update: wildflowers, blocks and scraps + reading from With Strings Attached

I joined the nationwide protest marches in spirit only. I fulfilled a prior commitment to staff the Rotary booth at the Zion Juneteenth celebration at Illinois Beach State Park.

After my shift was over I walked along the trail at the south end of the park.

Lupine, Ohio Spiderwort, puccoon, sulfur cinquefoil, prickly pear, a hillside (actually a duneside) of lupine.

# # # # #

In the studio: I made 24 blocks for Cynthia's current block drive. 3 yards used. And now I have an idea for next year's RSC.

I saw a photo of a quilt with this design on a ...

added by Nann 4 months ago. under design wall monday , monday musings , oh scrap! , reading , sew and tell , weekly update

Blue Melon Patch Top Complete from Fret Not Yourself

A pessimist, they say, sees a glass as being half empty; an optimist sees the same glass as half full. But a giving person sees a glass of water and starts looking for someone who might be thirsty.

~G. Donald Gale

Quilting

Because I knew this quilt would be counter-paned and have a light outside border, I cut all those pieces first. They are the largest; the others can be cut from the remains. I rarely use one fabric for all the background. Although I calculated what was needed several times, I still got it wrong. That entailed a second ...

added by Ann 4 months, 2 weeks ago. under hiro arikawa , melon patch , octagon , reading , snowball block

Weekly update: wildflowers, a finish, and other doings + reading from With Strings Attached

Finally some sunshine! It will get into the high 60's today, Memorial Day.

I enjoyed a walk at Lyons Woods on Friday afternoon. Clockwise from upper left: red trillium, golden ragwort, bristly buttercup, white trillium, forget-me-not, mayapple, jack-in-the-pulpit.

On Saturday I went to the spring tea (actually a luncheon) given by Grandparents and Kin Raising Children, an agency founded and run by our Rotary friend Harriet. It was very nice (and good for me to get rather dressed up and out). Due to privacy concerns only the event photographer could take photos of the attendees, and I didn't ...

added by Nann 4 months, 3 weeks ago. under design wall monday , monday musings , oh scrap! , reading , sew and tell , weekly update

A Blue Twin from Fret Not Yourself

We all get to be young but only the lucky get to be old.

Quilting

My eldest grandson requested a new twin quilt in blue and cream with more lights than darks. Ok; counterpane blocks. But the blocks can’t be too large because the quilting will be something simple like curves or parallel lines.

I’ve been mindlessly making four-patches of scraps… so while a four- or nine-patch sounds good, it needs to be changed up. What about a nine-patch of snowballs? They could be fairly small. Six-inch blocks sound good but two-inch snowballs do not. Two-and-a-half inch snowballs ...

added by Ann 5 months ago. under charles king , melon patch , octagon , reading , snowball block

Midweek: photos finished, quilted and bound, skirting the issue + reading from With Strings Attached

It was foggy all day yesterday. I went out after supper and snapped this photo of the sun breaking through the clouds.

My friend Renee and I spent the afternoon working on the picture collages for Saturday's funeral. We'll finish the job today.

The background for each is a piece of homespun plaid, an homage to the plaid shirts Stevens wore.

You've seen all the stages of this year's Stay at Home Round Robin. Barb-the-quilter did a beautiful job quilting it. I put on the binding Monday evening.

UPDATE: I won one of the SAHRR sponsor ...

added by Nann 5 months ago. under reading , sahrr 2025 , wednesday wait loss

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