Lincoln and Darwin 200th Birthdays

February 12, 1809 Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin were born. Both men who made and changed history. A couple of week's ago the speaker at church discussed them and recommended a Newsweek article and the book Rebel Giants.
This quilt was made from the brown jelly roll strips that I won at the guild's drawing in November. I didn't know what to do with them until I saw this pattern and thought the brown strips resembled a log cabin and Lincoln would be in the center. Our quilt show theme this year is "Quilting Our Heritage - The Lincoln Legacy". There is a special category on Lincoln/Civil War/Illinois quilts, so that is where it will go.

On Wednesday, I hosted my women's book group meeting. The book we discussed was The Emancipator's Wife by Barbara Hambley. An historical novel about Mary Todd Lincoln which was rich with detail that revealed what life was like for women in that era, as well as her personal problems and sufferings.

Illinois Sampler

All twelve blocks from the DQG Evening Groups 2008 block of the month project are completed. Here are three of my favorite ones and all 12 on my design wall. I have been thinking about different settings, and have decided to do a garden maze setting as I saw in Elm Creek Quilts by Jennifer Chiaverini. That's what she did with her sampler quilt. Now to get it done and quilted for the QuiltFest March 27 and 28?

"Brigid's Fire"s
I made this wallhanging in a class with teacher Sharyn Craig in 2006, I finished it in February, so I named it for Brigid. It is an old pattern called Royal Cross. I hung it in my hall this week in honor of Brigid/Candlemas/Ground Hog's Day.

Dear Jane Block

K-5 "Passing Through"
This is the 28th block I've completed (not counting the 2 I did at 6 inches in the beginning, and one triangle.) I made a four patch and then appliqued the diamonds onto the light squares

A Winter Walk

T and I went for a walk to the pond, the trail is still snowpacked and icy in places, but the temperature was tolerable and at this point of seemingly unending cold weather we just have to get out into the sun and fresh air.
We spotted a song sparrow, my first sighting this year, although it is a pretty common bird. They'll be visiting our feeder too. We heard a quiet song,
sounding like a house finch maybe, but it was probably the song sparrow. The photo above was taken by Laura Erickson, I've heard her speak at MBS and follow her blog and podcasts.

mmmm Soup!

Curried Split Pea Soup
Our favorite soup for a cold winter day, thick and spicy.

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspooons ground ginger or 2 tablespoons fresh ginger, minced
3 teaspoons curry powder
2 teaspoons cumin
A generous pinch cinnamon
salt to taste
6 to 8 cups broth or water,
( I use half Imagine Organic No-Chicken broth and half water)
1 pound split peas
1 carrot

Saute onion, garlic and spices in oil first if desired. Put all ingredients into crockpot and cook for 3-4 hours on high, adding more liquid if needed.

Clear Cold Winter

The house blanketed with snow, crystals shining in the sunlight.


The crescent moon and Venus sparkling in the black sky. Well, the camera didn't get what I saw, really the moon and Venus were both there, very bright. If you look very closely at the pictures you can see a faint spot which is Venus in the lower right.