What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

 The AAUW-Illinois convention was held at Elgin Community College on Friday evening and all day Saturday.  

Though the Illinois Division (as the state organizations were called) was organized in 1924, the Chicago, Inc., Branch was chartered in 1889 followed by Champaign-Urbana (1901), Springfield (1906), Rock Island-Moline (1909), Aurora (1919), Elgin (1920), Quincy (1923), and Monmouth (1924).   My branch, Waukegan, was chartered in 1928.  

The focus of the state convention is about learning and building skills to be better advocates for AAUW's mission of advancing gender equity.  Dr. Suzanne Chod, North Central College, talked about the how and why of ...

Sofia Abukar Faroli joined us by Zoom. She is a professor at Portland State University, researching African women in elected office. Thallyta Laryssa Cavoli is a PhD. candidate at the University of Illinois. She is from Brazil and her research area is poverty and inequitable access to resources. Hanin Elathram grew up in Benghazi, Libya. She received a BSME ...

Today is eclipse day.  Though I'm writing this post beforehand I hope to get some photos to add this afternoon.   

We two Rotarians had Kiwanis pancakes at the Moose lodge -- that's cultural diversity.   I bought $30 in raffle tickets and won three baskets.  (I've already donated one to another community group for their upcoming spaghetti dinner fundraiser.) 

 We enjoyed a concert Sunday afternoon.  Great covers of Sinatra and other classic vocals.  

My program had one of the winning stickers for a door prize, a dessert from a local bakery.  

In the studio:  a quick start-and-finish:  a placemat ...

The showers held off each afternoon so I could get good walks -- the state park, a forest preserve, and the nature trail at the end of our block.  

A beaver-chewed tree (one of many along that stretch), a beaver lodge, and horsetails.   

Easter was pleasant. Stevens was able to come to church with me!   I bought a 4-1/2 lb lamb roast. I rubbed it with a mixture of chopped garlic, rosemary, salt, pepper, and olive oil. It was wonderful and we ...

I'm honored to be among the bloggers participating in this year's VRD blog hop.  

I spoke to the driver of one of the trucks hauling rocks for the shoreline stabilization project. He said the quarry is in Waterloo, Wisconsin.  Rocks for inshore are trucked in. Rocks for the offshore reefs are trucked to the Port of Milwaukee and sent by barge, a trip that can take six hours.  Because the weather has been so mild they've been able to get weeks ahead of schedule.  

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 I've always wanted to try Bonnie Hunter's Scrappy Mountain Majesties.  I showed a photo of someone's version (found online) to Janice. She liked it.  Decision made!   I chose a cool blue/green ...

Sandra and I have known one another for many years. We were both public library administrators in the suburbs.  Her late husband was a pastor-turned-librarian and my husband is a librarian-turned-pastor.  We had mutual friends in Fargo, too.  We realized that it had been about ten years since we'd gotten together.  When she wrote in her holiday card that she moved back to Chicago last summer  I responded with the suggestion that we meet at the Museum of Contemporary Art. There's a special exhibit of works by Faith Ringgold that closes at the end of February.  That was ...

 I stayed on the trail. 

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What do you think I said?

90 yards by weight.  Mostly FQs, many 1990s-era.  (I know because I once had many of them.)    I am going to pass a lot of this along.

Ornaments are hung along the trail at Lyons Woods.  Once you see one you see another, and another.   (I will pay this wonder forward. I have a box of ornaments (rummage sale purchase) that I'll hang along another trail.)  

The Lake County Women's Coalition steering committee combined business and socializing with a luncheon meeting Saturday.  Plans for the Women's History Month luncheon in March are well underway.  

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I used Deb Tucker's V-block Trimmer to make the second units for Indigo Way.   More accurate than Tri-Recs though it takes a bit to figure out how to flip ...

Photo taken at the state park.  I stopped on the way home from church but I didn't take a walk!

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I've made many of the Quiltville mysteries.  I was greatly disappointed in two of them Grand Illusion and Rhododendron Trail) and skipped their immediate successors, Allietare and Chilhowie.  Those turned out to be designs I liked. 

I have a hoard of South African indigos but ...

Right:  the heron was intent on the frog it was eating so I could get a close-up photo.  

On a clear day you can see the Chicago skyline from Illinois Beach State Park.  

 I cropped and enlarged the photo and it may be a little blurry.   The dredger is for the shoreline restoration project. Look to the left of it to see the skyscrapers.

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I made a zipper insert for the back.  I learned the technique from Mary Ellen Hopkins and I use it often.  It's ...

On many days Stevens will declare right after lunch that he's ready to go out.   A good habit for both of us.  

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In the studio:  the I Spy ...

The Fine Art of Fiber is an annual collaboration among Illinois Quilters Inc., North Suburban Weavers Guild, and the North Suburban Needle Arts Guild. It is held the first weekend of November at the Chicago Botanic Garden. I went on Friday morning.

Bur first, the fine art of friendship! A quick FB exchange with Erica P., a fellow Quiltville fan, led to a meetup. As she and I were talking someone said my name. It was library colleague Elisa T. Later I saw Mary H., an Alpha Gam sister. And then Barb G. from AAUW.

Here are some of the ...

Illinois grows and processes more pie pumpkins than any other state.  The variety shown in the photo is the hybrid most used. It is a cross between the Tennessee field pumpkin and butternut squash.   The array of apples are those grown in a heritage orchard here in Winthrop Harbor.  (It's not open to the public ...