What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

I've had great walks the past few days.   So many wildflowers!    Waterlilies, purple coneflower, Queen Anne's Lace.  Monarda, gray-headed or pinnate prairie coneflower, chicory.  Elderflower, mountain mint, broadleaf arrowhead.

Mulberries are ripe but hard to reach.   Black cap raspberries are easier to get to though the canes are scratchy.   

Two mulberries on the left, black caps on the right.  The cap I wore was a handy way to carry them. 

8/16/24

Last year I improvised a carrier out of a grape leaf.  He ate all the berries in the car.

In the studio:   Jasper, the top-along ...

My t-shirt says Free People Read Freely

It rained briefly on Friday morning but the sun came out before lunchtime.  It was a beautiful evening for the Fourth of July festivities at Shiloh Park in Zion.   There was a big crowd for the concert by a band called Mike & Joe (80's rock).  They played for two hours without a break.  

The fireworks  began at 9:30.   My phone camera captured a couple of them. 

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My quilting goal for the July is to keep up with a variety of projects.  I got ...

I caught the sunrise (5:17) at the marina this morning. I stuck my toes in the water at the north beach. 

On Friday I took advantage of an unscheduled day and went downtown. "Dressed in History" is on exhibit at the Chicago History Museum featuring items from their costume collection. The garments were donated by Chicagoans, some of whom wore them.   Quite a variety!

The white Dior gown in the center is so elegant! (Worn by a debutante in 1949.)  The donor of the 18th century court dress ...

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.

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Friday's walk at the state park:  lupine, daisy fleabane, coreopsis, blue flag iris (native), hybrid iris (I look for it every year), golden Alexander, Canadian anemone, yellow flag iris (non-native).

On Friday I went to a rummage sale.  As I looked at craft items I mentioned that I'm a quilter. The woman said she had some fabric leftovers in the house that she'd bring out.  I bought all of them -- contemporary prints -- for $10.  The woman's mother was managing the checkout and said, "I have some old fabric from my mother.  I can bring it tomorrow ...

 No quilts in today's post.   I'll have a report for that department on Wednesday.

I didn't attend last year. It was so good to return and be in the company of P.E.O. sisters from around the state. (504 of them, per the credentials report.)

Two days before the convention I got a call from the 
state organizer (board-level officer) saying that the chair of the International Peace Scholarship was ill and could not ...

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 ...

 

Two walks at Illinois Beach State Park this weekend were good for my body and my spirit.  

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In the studio:  two finishes!  

I signed up for the guild mystery ...

 I continue to thank you all for your kind words and condolences.  Quilting is very therapeutic during stressful times.  And the endorphin rush from bargain fabric acquisition is not to be discounted.   I have recent experience with both.   

Her gift included bags of flannel that I have given away.  I kept this yardage.  The blue, yellow, and pink pieces in ...

 Stevens died in hospice yesterday morning.

I'd been anticipating The Call.  At 4 a.m. there was a gurgling sound that seemed to come from his bathroom.  I snoozed a while longer, got up, and made coffee.  I was reading the newspaper when my phone rang at 6:45.  That was the hospice nurse with the news.  I went to the hospital right away and sat in the room with him.  The nurse came in to do paperwork and said she'd write the time of death as 6:40.  I asked if it might have been earlier and ...

 Stevens had laprascopic surgery on Friday afternoon. The results were good.  "I went from one end of the bowel to the other," said the surgeon when he called me, "and there's nothing there."  It's taken S all weekend to recover. He was half-awake when I visited Saturday morning and asleep this afternoon.  Thanks again to all of you for your concern and support.

The thirteen Lake County Round Table P.E.O. chapters held the annual Founder's Day luncheon on Saturday.  I'm round table president so I was the emcee.  This was the second year the ...

 Thank you all for your supportive comments regarding my husband.  The care home assessment was Friday.  His condition is beyond what assisted living/memory care can accommodate.  For now we are increasing in-home care (two caregivers have been recruited to help with the 6 p.m.-bedtime shift (V comes in the morning)).  We have a video visit with his doctor on Tuesday.  

This year's theme is, obviously, India.  

The corridor to the greenhouses featured this display. 

It is impossible to take a bad picture of an orchid.  

The peacock's tail was all orchids. 

Stevens ...

Still no walking, but we did get out Sunday afternoon for the Lake County Symphony Orchestra's winter concert at the College of Lake County.  First act:  Bernstein's Chichester Psalms. Second act:  Beethoven's Ninth Symphony.  Ode to Joy in the fourth movement was performed by a combined choir (Northern Illinois University and local chorales).   Wonderful music just fifteen miles from home and $30 per seat.  

It was a full house with open seating, but we had seats in the ADA accessible row.

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In the studio:  Closet Maid wire basket units hold a lot of fabric.  Unfortunately they are ...

The weather cooperated Saturday morning for the spaghetti dinner delivery.  All our "customers" (neighbors mostly) were appreciative.  We had two of the dinners ourselves -- tasty!  

Saturday afternoon I went to the last hours of an estate sale.  The advertised German nutcrackers were long gone by the time I got there but I got a nice office chair on wheels for $7.00.   The seat-lifter on the Steelcase chair I've had at my sewing machine ...

The cat's cradle blocks are assembled. 

 Justification for a ginormous stash: this floral print and the backing fabric (not shown), both just right.

None of these are the Old Town mystery, obviously.  That box is sitting on ...

Neighbors, relatives, church friends, Rotarians, AAUWs, P.E.O.s, Alpha Gams, FB friends, and QUILTERS! 

more balloons arrived a half hour later

Stevens was surprised at the stacks of cards in the mail each day.  Not only did he appreciate the many personal notes but I did, too.  I am most grateful to all of you!  

Daughter Julie and her boyfriend Josh drove from New Hampshire for the big weekend.  (They're certainly used to winter weather but the lake effect snow around Cleveland was new.) They arrived Thursday evening in time for dinner.  (They ...