Weekly update: wildflowers, inspiration, and progress

 

AAUW-Deerfield Area and AAUW-Waukegan Area branches hosted their annual Fellows Luncheon yesterday. We heard from three outstanding women who have benefited from AAUW grants and fellowships THIS is what we do with the money we raise -- help women change the world!

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 at UNC-Charlotte and an MSME at Georgia Tech. She is a design engineer at Caterpillar in Peoria.

Waukegan Branch attendees posed in front of the spring raffle quilt. The drawing is at the conclusion of the state convention next Saturday.

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Wildflowers are in bloom! I took these photos at Old School Forest Preserve this afternoon.

Clockwise: bristly buttercup or swamp crowfoot, trillium, bloodroot, a woodland pond, wood anemone or thimbleweed.

Sunday dinner:  it seemed that half the town turned out for the Razzle Dazzles pasta dinner.  Our local baton troupe has won the world championship twice!

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My sewing machine was acting up so I took it to the shop last week.  Jim was able to get it to behave.  I only had to buy a new bobbin case ($35).  This interesting antique was on display.  

Here is more about the Moldacot Sewing Machine

In the studio:  

I finished 11 daisy mug rugs. My P.E.O. chapter sells yearbook covers to other chapters.  The covers are small 2-ring binders. A coupon for a mug rug is tucked into each shipment of 10 or more covers.  (I realize we could just put the mug rug in the box but this way they have to make an effort.) 

Since I'm between obligatory projects I pulled out the batik slabs.   I'm up to 55 blocks out of 72? 80? I'll stop when I run out of steam. 

It takes time to build a slab.  I piece a few, press and trim, then sew those units together. Repeat, repeat, repeat.  When I get a big slab I cut it into 7" strips. I'm using the Studio 180 V-block ruler which requires cut large/trim down and these are 6-1/2" unfinished blocks. 

Linking up with Oh Scrap!  Sew and Tell  Design Wall Monday

Midweek: eclipse, National Library Week + hollyhocks

 It was cloudless and 65 degrees on Monday -- perfect for viewing the eclipse.  We were in the 94% totality region.  I had to explain to Stevens why we were out in the back yard. He went back inside after a while. I stayed out for all of it.   I had only my iPhone and no special filter so my snapshots don't show much.

It did not get dark here but the quality of the sunlight changed, the temperature dropped slightly, and a breeze kicked up.     

Photo: holding iPhone up to the lens of the eclipse glasses.  

 

This chipmunk was motionless for a couple of minutes. 

This photo was at about halfway.  There's a thumbnail sliver to the right of the sun -- a planet?   apparently just a reflection from the camera lens.

  

Crescent-shaped shadows on the patio.   I wish I'd remembered to bring out the colander.

My sister and I remembered an eclipse when we were kids. I looked it up: July 20, 1963. Our dad made a viewer out of a cardboard box (no eclipse glasses then). He projected the crescent onto the inside wall of the garage —it was about 3” — and traced around it. That image was there forevermore. (Like a prehistoric cave drawing.)

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It's National Library Week! How are YOU celebrating the libraries and librarians in your life?

On Monday evening I went to the Millburn School District board meeting. The board is reconsidering participation in the statewide Rebecca Caudill Award , a program in which 4th-8th graders vote on books to be recognized. Last month ONE board member said that ONE book on LAST YEAR'S list was "too political" and wanted to discontinue it all.   He got three other board members to vote with him. [Apparently they did not read the book, nor did they discuss it.] Decision is pending.

The audience at the meeting were all opposed to that action and all in favor of continuing participation. Photo: with my friend and colleague Deb, librarian at ZBTHS and president of the school librarians assn. in Illinois. And of course I took photos of the paper quilts hung in the hallway!

Left: the book.

On Tuesday morning Zion Woman's Club brought donuts to the staff at Zion-Benton Public Library for Library Workers' Day. ZWC led the effort to establish the Zion Memorial Public Library in 1937.

Tuesday afternoon I moderated the monthly Reading Sisters (P.E.O.) Zoom book club. We talked about Early Morning Riser which I reviewed in this post.

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In the studio: the hollyhocks wall hanging is finished! I can check that off the to-do list and contemplate starting something new. Linking up with Wednesday Wait Loss Midweek Makers

Weekly update: out and about, eclipse day, goal progress + reading

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.  

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In the studio:  a quick start-and-finish:  a placemat for the guild charity project. 

My April OMG is a hollyhock wall hanging.  I chose a realistic design rather than a country folk art design. The pattern arrived mid-week.  

 I had all the fabric in my stash, including a never-used package of stabilizer (estate sale, probably).  

The tedious part was tracing all the shapes on fusible web. The instructions were very clear as to which shapes went on which of the 9 different fabrics, and then which shapes composed each flower and leaf.

 

And here's the flimsy. After fusing the appliques in place I free-motioned to sew them all down.   The finished size is 9 x 22.      

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In 1965 teen-aged Frances Adams has her fortune told at a country fair. That prediction dominates the rest of her life, affecting her friendships with Rose and Emily and the boys they're hanging out with.  Emily goes missing. The case goes cold.   Frances marries the wealthiest man in the village and spends the next decades trying to solve, or evade, or confront that long-ago fortune.                                                                                                                             Sixty-five years later Annie, Frances' great niece and an aspiring writer, receives notice that she will be an heir to Frances' estate. She travels from London to the village to meet with Frances and her attorney. When she arrives Frances is dead -- murdered.  According to the fortune?  Perhaps.  By whom?                                                                                                           By the terms of Frances' revised will Annie may inherit the estate -- if she solves the murder before anyone else.   Annie's up for the challenge. 

What a delightfully complicated mystery!

I have been fascinated by Martha Ballard's story since Laurel Thatcher Ulrich published her scholarly biography/explication A Midwife's Tale in 1990.  Ballard was a midwife in Hallowell, Maine, in the 1700's.   At the time I was a librarian in Maine and on the Maine Library Commission so I was familiar with its (re)discovery.                                                                                                                                                                At first I approached Lawhon's novel thinking it was biographical fiction--that is, a reworking of Ulrich's study with added narrative.   I soon switched my thinking and treated the novel as historical fiction-- that is, using Martha Ballard, her profession, her family, and her milieu as the basis for a story about the ways that men used their power (social, political, physical) to abuse women. The brutal rape of the pastor's wife showcases that abuse.  Details about everyday life add dimension:  Martha's medical expertise goes beyond midwifery to a sort of holistic care (treating a woman's migraines, for example).  There is dramatic tension in her own family with a threat to her husband's livelihood (a fraudulent attempt by those same men-in-power) and her young adult children's lives and loves.    

I would have given The Frozen River a higher rating but there were a number of errors/anachronisms. Once I found the first one I kept looking for others, and found them.  

The most egregious to me as a quilt maker was on p. 193:  “Every year I make an extra quilt, sewn in bits and pieces at night before the fire…every year I choose this same pattern. It is called Wedding Rings, soft loops intertwined and set against a pale background with a solid border.”   As you know, Double Wedding Ring is a 20th century pattern.  Moreover, 18th century quilts are well-documented. The author could easily have looked up images of period-correct quilts and described them.

 62 & 144 – Ephraim “does the math”   Grammarist.com says:  “'Do the math' is a relatively recent addition to the English language, with its usage traceable to the mid-20th century.”

 68 wedding ring (worn by a man)  https://academic.oup.com/jsh/article-abstract/36/4/837/920111?

“The American double wedding ring ceremony can be traced to the 1940’s and 1950’s when the jewelry industry invented the tradition of the groom’s wedding band and the marrying public adopted it with a vengeance.”

71 & elsewhere “trained medical professional” – would this term be used in 1789? 

115 bolt of soft blue cotton / 117 bolt of pale green silk

http://americancenturies.mass.edu/activities/dressup/notflash/1700_woman.html

“their clothing would usually be made of wool or linen”

Other references to New England apparel at that time indicate that silk was very expensive and was difficult to clean.  A silk dress would be for a very special occasion. How likely was that for Martha in that place and time? 

165 “read the Book of Common Prayer”  The Ballards were Congregational.  Why would they read the Anglican prayer book (especially in post-Revolutionary Maine) rather than the Bible?  

 297 "okay" https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-12503686  "On 23 March 1839, OK was introduced to the world on the second page of the Boston Morning Post, in the midst of a long paragraph, as "o.k. (all correct)".

337 “Cotton to comb” – did they import raw cotton from the southern states to central Maine? 

412/415 “ Live oak tree.”    Live oaks do not grow in Maine.  That’s easy to look up.

P.S. Speaking of editing and proofreading!   (This is the background fabric for the placemat.) 

Linking up with Design Wall Monday  Sew and Tell Oh Scrap!   

Weekly update: March summary and OMG April

  

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.   

 The skunk cabbage has leafed out.  The horn-shaped purple-green flower has a lot of sulfur, hence the name.  

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 have leftovers to enjoy.  (Accompaniments were new potatoes and asparagus, spinach/orange/blue cheese salad, and rhubarb upside-down cake.)  

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In the studio:  the homespun nine-patches are a flimsy.  The units are 4.5" finished. 

Stash report for March:

Fabric in:  88 yards, $170, $1.93 per yard average.  (The only shopping I did was at the ongoing estate sale.)

Fabric out:  70 yards.

YTD in: 504-1/2 yards, $845, $1.67 per yard average.  

YTD out:  241-3/4

I'm making 12" churn dash blocks in red, white, and blue for Cynthia's current Compassion Quilts block drive.  I'm putting some of Barb M's estate sale fabric to good use!  My plan is to make 60 blocks.

But that's not my OMG for April -- I have a project with a deadline.  It's a hollyhock-themed wall hanging for the outgoing president of the Zion Woman's Club.  Hollyhocks are the club flower and Judy is an avid gardener.  First thing to do is decide on a pattern and order it!  

Linking up with Oh Scrap  Sew and Tell  Design Wall Monday OMG April

Friday check in: some editing required, OMG success, and reading

 

The weather cooperated yesterday with sunshine and 45 degrees.  We enjoyed a forest preserve walk at McDonald Woods (2 miles)   

I've been working on the homespun quilt.  There's a piece of green tape to mark the misplaced unit (fourth row, second column).  

The fabric for the setting triangles was a serendipitous find on the shelf.   I haven't decided whether or not there will be a border.  

When I make scrappy quilts I try for "no two fabrics touching."  It happened a lot with the second half of the quilt because I hastily put the blocks on the design wall without checking and re-checking.  "Editing" sounds better than ripping, doesn't it? 

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My One Monthly Goal(s) for March:

(a) Quilt and bind the Villa Rosa blog hop samples.  DONE

(b)  Tidy up in the studio and dust/vacuum.  Partially done.   I consolidated the contents of a couple of boxes.  I mailed a box of fabric and notions to my friend who upcycles textiles to make totes and pouches. (Here's her FB page)  I sent a box to the winner of my blog hop drawing. 

(c)  Start something new just for fun.  See above -- despite the irritation of editing, I enjoy working with homespuns.

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In a small Indiana town on a summer day in the early 1980's this happened, and that happened, and then that happened.  Fourteen people, fourteen stories:  Candy forgets the paprika for the deviled eggs she'll serve at the card party.   Turner helps a long-time buddy before he plants the zinnias.  Teenagers Della, her boyfriend Sugar, and their friend Greg each come closer to finding their places in the world.  Toby picks up his Ronald Reagan placard and greets all passers-by.  Meanwhile Gladys loses herself in the cornfields.  After the card party Myrtle goes to visit her former schoolteacher in the nursing home.  The sheriff recalls his kindness to a young troublemaker.  Cubby takes in two strangers from out of town.  Irma is remembered by many.  And at the periphery, but never far away, are Zorrie and Noah, the central characters of previous stories.  

"There's life a lurk behind us," Myrtle remembers her grandfather saying to explain why a gift wasn't acknowledged. (156)   "The more you learned about a person the more you wanted to learn," Cubby realizes. (176)

Laird Hunt's beautiful prose reminds us that no one is an island.  Like Wendell Berry's Port William Fellowship, there are infinite connections among the townspeople in their past and present, and surely in their future.

My reviews of Hunt's earlier novels:  Zorrie and Neverhome.

The great hurricane of 1938 walloped the northeastern seaboard just as young Woodrow Wilson Nickel arrived from the Dust Bowl-ravaged Texas panhandle and just as a ship with two young giraffes docked at the port of New York.   The giraffes were bound for the San Diego Zoo.   Woody found himself in the unexpected position of serving as the driver of the customized truck to take them, and the zoo keeper, across the country.   Along they way they were accompanied by an intrepid young woman photojournalist.   Near-misses, last-second escapes, would-be giraffenappers, swindlers and genuinely good people, and enough adventure to last a lifetime.

And now Woody is 105 years old, living in a VA nursing home, and remembering -- writing down -- all the events of that memorable season.  Author Rutledge adapted a true story for this heartwarming and memorable book. (This is the April selection for our AAUW Reflections on Reading group.)   

 The Boston Post Road was the first interstate (inter-colony) road in America, connecting Boston and New York first for the post--meaning mail and newspapers--and then for transportation and commerce.   The Post Road meant the development of towns in interior Massachusetts and Connecticut and along the Long Island Sound.  Indian trails led to rocky, muddy horse paths.  The route was critical during the Revolution.   In the early 19th century railroads paralleled the Post Road, important for new industries and to transport supplies and troops in the Civil War.   The bicycling craze of the late 19th century brought road improvements, just in time for the advent of the automobile.  Cars meant more and better pavement, suburban sprawl, and major changes to cities.  Jaffe's thoroughly researched history is engagingly written.

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Linking up with  Finished or Not Friday  OMG March Link Up 

P.S.  Spring haircut. Who is more deserving of the halo? 

Weekly update: miscellaneous projects in the works, and some good books

 

Spring came in like a lion.  This is the view out the front door on Friday morning.  

Fortunately there was no wind behind the snow and it stopped by noon.  

The Zion Woman's Club had a small but enthusiastic turnout for our first spring Bunco party.   

Marilyn had the high score, Evie had the low score, and I had the most buncos. (A bunco is 21 points, achieved by rolling three of a kind of the pip in play. A baby bunco is 5 points, achieved by rolling three of a kind of a pip not in play. (E.g. 3 3's when 5 is in play.))

The raffles were a gift card basket ($200 in store gift cards), a wine/cheese/chocolate basket, 50/50 cash, and Sparkling Triangles, which I made.  

Proceeds go to  a high school scholarship, a week-long art camp for a high school student, and contributions to local agencies. 

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On Wednesday I wrote that I looked forward to Diane Harris's improv curves Zoom workshop.  I wasn't able to sit in on the entire 6-hour program but I got the concept.  Here's what I accomplished.  More to come. 

I caught up on some blog reading and was intrigued by Lynne Tyler's slab-pieced triangles . I bought the tutorial from her Etsy shop and found a use for a stack of batik crumb/slab blocks I made a while ago.* The blocks are 6.5" unfinished.  More to come with these, too. 

* The blocks in the stack were 12.5".  I sewed and re-sewed them so that I had 7" panels from which I cut the triangle shapes.  I used Deb Tucker's V block ruler. (Lynne uses Tri-Recs.)

Another new start.  These are homespun plaids with "regular" neutrals. Units are 5.5" to finish at 5".   As of Sunday night I had 75 HSTs and 39 nine-patches. 

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The ALA Retired Members Round Table Fifth Sunday Book Club met yesterday, the fourth Sunday, because next week is Easter.   Because we are librarians we are conditioned (perhaps hard-wired) to read extensively and recommend a lot ("there's a book for that!" as the saying goes), so this book club uses prompts rather than specific books.  The prompt this time was a Western -- however we chose to define it.  Several people recommended mystery writers including C. J. Box, Tony and Anne Hillerman, J. A. Jance, and Craig Johnson, all of whom I've enjoyed.  I talked about Smoky the Cow Horse (Newbery Medal, 1927), The Whistling Season by Ivan Doig, and Bold Spirit by Linda Lawrence Hunt. 

(I'll have some recent reading to report on later this week.) 

Linking up with Design Wall Monday  Oh Scrap!

P.S.  No walks this past week -- crummy weather and meetings. I missed the exercise!  

Midweek: a finish, estate sale surprise, and a speaker

122 comments and counting!  The response to the Villa Rosa Blog Hop has been great.  Today is the last day for the guest bloggers.  I hope you've visited all of them. 

I finished quilting the second version of Twinkle.  

The FQ bundle I used for the HSTs (the stars) had 11 prints.  Nine made the blocks in the quilt. Rather than making more stars I pieced the other two sets into pinwheels.  The backing fabrics are two 1990's Hoffman prints from Barb M's estate.

And yesterday was Month **SEVEN** of that estate sale.  (If you've missed the ongoing story, start with this post and work back to September.)  The first six sales raised more than $12,000 for different charities. This month the proceeds will go to the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's disease research.   

When I walked into the room yesterday Paula greeted me with, "Nann, look what we found!"  

Barb won the guild Block of the Month blocks in July, 2000.  

Yes, those are my initials.  I do not remember making this block at all.   

I did not buy the set, but I did not leave empty-handed.   I piled  my purchases on the ironing board in my studio.  I paid $1.89 per yard.  

Paula said they have an 8 x 10 storage unit filled with fabric they haven't washed yet. She said there will be at least two more sales. 

The  Village Quilters are hosting Diane Harris,  Stash Bandit by Zoom this week.   I met Diane when she was an editor at Quiltmaker and I was selected to participate in a quilt-along.   Last evening she gave a trunk show with great ideas for designing scrappy quilts.  Today I'll attend her workshop (by Zoom) on improv curves.   Now I need to get this posted so I can log in on time!

Linking up with Midweek Makers and Wednesday Wait Loss -- with thanks to both Susan and Jennifer for featuring me this week!