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October 12, 2025
Gift Quilt Reveal, Cross Stitch and Happy Thanksgiving! from The Cozy Quilter

Happy (Canadian) Thanksgiving!  Our daughter and Finn are here for the weekend and we had a turkey dinner with my husband's family today. I put out my pumpkin decorations this week.  I even raked some leaves--it really feels like fall now with cooler temperatures and the trees changing colour. 


I'm adding another tree to the Forest cross stitch picture.  It looks a bit odd now but will look better when it is all filled in. 


Finn came with us to the farmer's market this morning and I managed to get him to pose in front of the ...

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October 5, 2025
More Trees and Placemats from The Cozy Quilter

More stitches were added to my Fall Forest cross stitch project this week. I like the transparency effect where the trees overlap. This picture is coming along quickly--luckily, I bought two Autumn themed patterns at the same time so I have something else to work on when this is done. 


My goal is to make 12 placemats for Meals on Wheels and I now have 10 finished.  The last two are quilted and just need to have the binding sewn on.   These two placemats are the same, top and bottom.  I like to make them so they can be used ...

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September 28, 2025
Fall Cross Stitch from The Cozy Quilter

Hello!  We have been away and now we are back home.  We travelled from where we live in Southern Ontario around Lakes Huron and Superior to Manitoba and back with lots of interesting stops along the way.  I will share a few pictures from our trip later in this post.  I started a new Fall counted cross stitch project on our trip and spent many hours working on it in the car and while relaxing in the evenings at various places where we stayed. There was not much colour on the trees on the way to Manitoba but Fall was ...

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September 19, 2025
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 ...

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September 17, 2025
Midweek: all the hikes + placemats from With Strings Attached

 


On Monday afternoon I completed the penultimate and the ultimate walks for Hike Lake County 2025.  This is the sixth year I've participated.   Of course I'll keep on walking the rest of the year. 

Upper left:  this channel is the Middle Fork of the North Branch of the Chicago River.  It flows into the Des Plaines which flows into the Illinois which flows into the Mississippi and then to the Gulf of Mexico. 


Monarch on ironweed.  Top:  Scarlet lobelia and asters; compass plant.  Center: Obedient plant; water smartweed or amphibious bistort (what a wonderful name!). Bottom: monarch on ...

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August 31, 2025
Rug Hooking, Placemats and A Blast from the Past from The Cozy Quilter

I'm happy to report that my rug hooking is completely done!  Right now, it is pinned to my design wall but I will be hanging it on the wall in my sewing room soon.  Such a nice reminder of our trip to Newfoundland in 2023. 


I was cleaning out a box in my fabric storage area and found the bag I made in Grade 7 Home Ec class.  In those days, the girls went to Home Ec and the boys went to Shop Class. All the girls made this bag...the outside is denim which the teacher had made ...

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August 24, 2025
Placemats, HST's and the Hooking is Done! from The Cozy Quilter

I went to the guild sewing day this week and worked on my pitcher plant rug hooking project the whole time.  I managed to finish all of the hooking!  The first picture below was after I steamed it and the second picture was taken before steaming.  It really makes a difference, making it look much smoother afterwards!



I have started the wool edging but forget how to turn the corner and will have to consult with one of my hooking friends on how to do this.  The wool for the edging is a dark purple, even though it looks black ...

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August 20, 2025
Midweek: rummage pre-sale and placemats from With Strings Attached

 

Yesterday's forest preserve hike was close to home at Van Patten Woods.  79 degrees and partly cloudy made it comfortable. I've walked the same trail in 85 degrees with full sun.  

Tussock moth and monarch caterpillars both eat milkweed.  Their coloration is meant to deter predators; apparently milkweed-filled caterpillars don't taste very good.  (How do scientists figure that out?)


Husk cherries or ground cherries.  The ripe fruit is golden yellow and easy to spot in the fall when the husks have dried up.  The flower is about 1/2". 





On Monday afternoon I helped set up for ...

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July 2, 2025
Midweek: wildflowers, placemats, OMG from With Strings Attached

You can't hide from birthdays in the age of social media.  I'm grateful for all the greetings and good wishes.  

Erika treated me to brunch (crepes benedict, which provided supper as well), with a cinnamon roll from the restaurant and some P.E.O. daisies.  

I spent much of the afternoon in air conditioned comfort with a Zoom call and paperwork for Stevens' estate.  It is not at all like the BBC dramas where the lawyer brings everyone together and reveals the contents of the will.  In this case, there are IRS forms, new accounts to open, and ...

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June 24, 2025
Scraps, a Finish and FM Mavericks from Quilting & Learning

Hello and welcome

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May 29, 2025
Prepping for a machine embroidery workshop from Crazy Quilter on a Bike!

People always say they can't wait to go on vacation. Do you know that prepping for vacation or even a couple of days away is one of my most stressful things? There is so much stuff to prepare, so much planning. It's one of the reasons my life at home is so routine—same breakfast, same lunch. There's zero mental ability expended on those tasks!

I'm not sure how I'm going to cope with planning for this upcoming vacation. I've left it to DH, which I know I shouldn't do! After Quilt Canada ...

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May 26, 2025
Friday check in: placemats and a new start from With Strings Attached

 


Sunrise today.

"Sky-blue pink," as Uncle Wiggly would say. 


Yesterday:  the Clara Cummings Book Club ended the year with a visit from American Impressionist Lilla Cabot Perry portrayed by Lynn Rymarz.   Perry was a Boston Brahmin married to a Boston Brahmin who was a diplomat.  In France they lived adjacent to Claude Monet.  Monet didn't take pupils but he was a consultant and mentor to her.  

Many, many years ago Clara Cummings was denied membership in the Excalibur Club, a very exclusive women's club in Waukegan.  Clara began her own club, now eponymous. Members used to read and ...

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April 16, 2025
Midweek: hiking boots and placemats from With Strings Attached

 When I visited Stevens at lunchtime yesterday he was dressed in sweatpants and a t-shirt and seated in a wheelchair across from the nurses' station!  That's progress. I meet with the entire care team today.

At the Zion Woman's Club board meeting yesterday afternoon the treasurer reported that last Friday's Bunco night netted $1400. Hooray!    Our charities account is fully funded to meet our obligations this year.  We allocated $1800 of that to nine local agencies (two food pantries, the library, the historical society, and others).  We previously allocated funds to GFWC-IL state projects.  We will present ...

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April 15, 2025
I CAN get on top of this! from Crazy Quilter on a Bike!

Well, this message has hit very close to home! 

I'm listening to an audiobook by Oliver Burkeman called "Meditations for Mortals." Oh boy -- it's about trying to do everything in life and not always succeeding. It talks about our busyness, which is me! 

It also mentions how we feel we must read everything that comes into our house—that's me. We must listen to audiobooks/podcasts at double speed (NOT me) and millions of UFOs (OK—that's me). He wasn't talking about quilting but unfinished projects—like painting the living room, fixing the bathroom door ...

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April 7, 2025
Weekly update: adjusting, and progress on goals + reading from With Strings Attached

 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 ...

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March 24, 2025
RSC Week 12 - More Yellow Blocks and a few Finishes from Grandma's Red Needle

I thought I was done with yellow for this month's RSC (Rainbow Scrap Challenge). 
Nope! 
Those of you who have followed my blog for some time, know I'm cutting scraps into squares in sizes from 1.5" to 5". 
I'm trying my best to use those squares, but it looks like some sizes are less used, like 3.5". 


This box containing 3.5" squares were overflowing and it was hard getting the cover on. 
Something had to be done! 
I got the idea to make 9-patches in RSC colors! I started with yellow.


I got 3 ...

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March 20, 2025
Weekly update: catching up on this and that from With Strings Attached


Catching up with a longtime friend:   Leslye and I have known one another since junior high.   We reconnected a few years ago and have had the best intentions to get together -- we live about 25 miles apart.  Last week she emailed and wrote, "Let's do it!" and we did.   We had lunch at a restaurant here in Zion.  Such a delightful time and yes, we will do it again.  Soon.  





Catching up with walking.  Since the caregiver was with Stevens I took advantage of the time and the lovely day to take a quick walk at Spring Bluff Forest ...

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March 15, 2025
Midweek: mystery belatedly begun, placemats + reading from With Strings Attached

 



Almost-full moon at 5:30 this morning.  Didn't we just have a full moon? The days and nights fly by.






I thought I'd signed up for the guild's 2025 mystery quilt-along in January but it turned out that I hadn't.  I rectified the omission by paying the $10 fee at the meeting last week.  Five weeks' clues dropped into my email box. 

The pattern requires 3-1/2 yards of background (tone-on-tone recommended) and either a jelly roll or 40 2-1/2" strips.  I had a 4-yard piece in lavender (estate sale purchase $5) for the background ...

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February 24, 2025
Weekly update: orchids, placemats + reading from With Strings Attached

 


Our Friday adventure was an outing to the annual orchid show at Chicago Botanic Garden.  

This year's theme is, obviously, India.  







The tickets are timed-entry which helps with crowd control at this very popular show.   I checked out a parking pass at the library which saved us $10.00.  




 


Regenstein Hall was draped with fabric that evoked saris.   (I was last here in November for the Fine Art of Fiber quilt show.) 




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 ...

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February 14, 2025
Friday check in: it's a flimsy!! and more progress from With Strings Attached




A librarian's Valentine!  


We didn't get much snow from Wednesday's storm (about 3") but now it's very, very cold. I went to Rotary yesterday morning (S stayed in) and didn't go out the rest of the day.    More snow coming this weekend.  

# # # # #

Old Town is a flimsy!  

I added a white border to stabilize the edge.  8 yards by weight.  I have an April appointment with Barb-the-quilter.  



I made two placemats out of the leftovers from Lantern, the top-along for February. (See last Friday's post.)  They await binding. 






Twenty Ohio Stars in this month ...

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