What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

Left:  the bumblebee was intent on the liatris (blazing star) as I snapped several photos.  

A 2' long eastern fox snake was crossing the path.  It curled up when I stomped.  The snake is not venomous.  It warns predators off by shaking its tail to mimic a rattlesnake.  I saw the behavior as it swished the gravel on the path.  Then it slithered into the undergrowth.  

I found another fringed gentian ...

Clockwise:  Obedient plant, jack-in-the-pulpit, ironweed, hyssop, nightshade, yellow jewel weed. 

Coneflower, compass plant, brown knapweed. (Yes, the flower is purple, but  "The nvolucre below the flower head is brown” hence the name. Involucre = whorl or rosette of bracts surrounding an inflorescence, especially a capitulum, or at the base of an umbel. That explains it nicely.

Yellow jewel-weed, Mayapple fruit, hairy pagoda plant (aka woodmint).

Monards/bee balm, raspberries the birds missed (tasty!), Bouncing Bet/soapwort.

 I went to the ophthamologist Monday for a cataract evaluation.  Yes, the cataracts are advanced enough for surgery.  However, because I've worn contact lenses for so long (since 1966) my corneas are misshapen.  I have to wear only eyeglasses for six months, one month per decade of contacts.  That means surgery in January.   Eyeglasses-only will be a big challenge.  Not only do I dislike wearing them, but more importantly the progressive bi-focal glasses correct my vision differently from the contacts. It's especially hard to get a good angle for reading.  (As you know, for me reading is like ...

Japanese rose, yarrow, common ninebark.

Meadow buttercup/ranunculus, daisy fleabane, salsify (gone to seed).  

First black-eyed Susan/rudbeckia of the season (early!), Canadian anemone, bladder campion.

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I made 15 daisy mug rugs.  I sewed right sides together and then turned out, rather than adding a binding.  

I hope to finish them this evening.

This is a tend-to-the-details day ...

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We had two good excursions, to Grant Woods Forest Preserve on Saturday and Chain O' Lakes State Park on Sunday.  (Left photo:  Fox River is on the horizon at Chain O' Lakes.) 

Wildflower medley:  spiderwort, yarrow, sorrel.  Cinquefoil, bird's foot ...

Top: Yellow sweet clover, meadow rose, false Solomon's seal.  Middle: Virginia waterleaf (also Shawnee salad), ox-eye daisy, dame's rocket.   Bottom:  Meadow buttercup, false white indigo, common nipplewort (really).

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The schedule has been rearranged to accommodate some unexpected in-patient medical tests for my husband.  So far things are okay and I hope he'll be home tomorrow.

In the studio:  it's been a while since I made a waffle stamps quilt.  I began with 2" strips cut to 8" or ...

Pond-lily, shooting star, mayapple flower.   Wild flag iris, blue wild indigo, Virginia waterleaf.  longbract or false wild indigo, purple vetch, blue-eyed grass.

Sunday afternoon's walk was along the lakefront.  Puccoons grow in sandy soil.  Upper right:  narrowleaf puccoon.  Lower right: hoary puccoon.   Upper left: a cluster ...

When I was on the trail it was 80 degrees -- a lovely spring afternoon.   We got home and in minutes the temperature dropped to 60! 

Clockwise:  wild strawberries, blue-eyed grass, starry false lily of the valley, wild geranium (aka cranesbill), apple blossom.

A butterfly (at the vegetable ...

 As I reported in the previous post, Friday evening and all day Saturday were program-filled.  It's 218 miles to get to Peoria and 218 miles back home.  But there I was, wide-awake at 4 a.m. Saturday.   I tuned my iPad to the BBC and watched the Coronation.  I was captivated by all of it (though I admit I snoozed during the reporters' announcements of dignitaries as they entered Westminster Abbey and the long carriage rides).  

An advantage of such an event in our digital/social media age is that all the details are available online.  I learned about ...

Bumblebee on liatris (blazing star), New England aster, a big mushroom.

Riverbank grapes, hawthorn, bottle grass.

Monarch on butterfly weed, lobelia, gray dogwood. 

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The first Corningware I got was in the late 1970's, a Christmas gift. Back then it was new and pricey relative to my budget.  I have used the 10" casserole a lot!  The stains won't come out and the glass lid is very dishwasher-etched.  When I found the same size, same pattern, never-used for ...

Coneflower, compass plant, lobelia.

Sumac, wild cucumber, gray dogwood.

Common reed, elderberry "lace" (after the birds have eaten the berries), ragweed. 

 Our long-anticipated Alaska trip did not turn out as we planned. The outbound travel (O'Hare to Sitka by way of Seattle) was very disorienting for my husband.  Fortunately we could get flights home that evening/night, including a nonstop overnight flight from Anchorge to O'Hare.   I'm calmer now as I type this but you can well imagine that at the time I was *beyond* upset.   On the positive side, once we got home his mood stabilized.  

Cardinal flower / lobelia was a new one for me. It was growing alongside a stream in a shady patch.    

Teasel is invasive  This patch was right next to the path so I could easily get closeup photos.  The upper and lower right photos show it in bloom, with all the little tiny flowers.   

The lower landscape photo is the Des Plaines River at Sedge Meadow. The middle landscape photo is one of the ponds at McDonald Woods.  From the LCFPD website ...

Thunderstorms between midnight and 5 a.m. on Saturday brought very welcome rain.   The sun was out the rest of the weekend.

Pinnate prairie coneflower, jewel weed, rosin weed,  bluebell (campanula), spurge, joe pye weed.

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I do find time to sew, of course!

I used the picnic basket block (the guild July BOM) for the next batch of daisy mug rugs for an ongoing P.E.O. project.   All the baskets use the same daisy print.   (2 yards for all 16.)

We were shocked and saddened by the shooting in Highland Park on the Fourth of July.  Among the victims were the superintendent of one of our local school districts and her eight-year-old son.  (HP is 25 miles south of us.)    

Wildflowers are in abundance!  Our outings this week were to Van Patten Woods, Raven Glen, and Illinois Beach. 

Top: purple prairie clover, purple coneflower, butterfly weed, hoary puccoon, tall cinquefoil, salsify (gone to seed), lead plant, Deptford pink, flowering spurge.

I love Turk's Cap lilies.  The photo collage includes a view from directly above and from directly below.

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Upper left: a tangle of garter snakes (two here; a third slithered away (perhaps establishing dominance before mating?).   Downy pagoda plant (blephilia ciliata -- a new one). Cow parsnip.  Middle: common cinquefoil. Columbine/aquilegia (there are blue ones in our ...