TOUR IT: Peruse the interiors of seven homes, seven gardens and one church Saturday [Sept. 8] as part of the 26th annual Logan Square Boulevards District House & Garden Walk. Homes on tour include single-family dwellings and apartments that were erected between 1890 and 1930.
Hours: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Cost: $12 in advance, $15 day of tour, $13 for seniors, $6 for gardens only at Logan Square Preservation, 3024 W. Logan Blvd. 773-252-4859. www.logansquarepreservation.org .
— Shaila Wunderlich
SHOP IT: Pick up a handmade piece of Americana for a good cause at the 23rd annual Quilt Auction Saturday [Sept. 8]. On the auction block are more than 90 quilts, wall hangings, crib quilts and throws handmade by Amish and Mennonite communities and churches across the Midwest. All proceeds go to the K-8 Chicago Mennonite Learning Center.
Free. Preview hours: 9 to 10 a.m. Auction hours: 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Redeemer Lutheran Church Center, 345 Kenilworth Rd., Elmhurst. 773-735-9304. www.chicagoquilts.com .
— S.W.
SHOP IT: Ten Thousand Villages in Evanston is staging its annual Oriental Rug Event, Friday [Sept. 7] through Sept. 15. More than 300 heirloom-quality, hand-knotted rugs will be available for sale in a variety of sizes and colors. Prices range from about $250 for a 2-by-4-foot area rug to $14,000 for a large room-size (10 by 12 feet or 10 by 14 feet) wool Persian rug with silk in it.
All rugs are handmade in Pakistan by artisans who are fairly paid and who do their craft on looms in homes in their own communities.
Shoppers also are invited to learn more about Oriental rugmaking at two in-store seminars, both starting at 7 p.m., on Friday [Sept. 7] and Sept. 12. The seminars offer a broad overview and demonstrations of Oriental rug-making, from setting up the warp to tying the fringes. The seminars are free, but the shop requests customers call in advance for reservations.
719 Main St., Evanston, 847-733-8258, www.tenthousandvillages.com.
— Karen Klages
READ IT: Plant pathology doesn’t usually make for light reading. But Tamson Yeh does her darnedest to make it painless.
Yeh’s “Can My Petunia Be Saved?” (Cool Springs Press, 224 pages, $19.99) is a blessedly lighthearted look at the conditions that affect plant health. Make no mistake; this horticulturist is serious about arming gardeners with good information that will help them stave off disease and damage and allow them to diagnose and treat the problems that do happen. Nevertheless, she sprinkles her information with a wit that makes a normally dry topic digestible.
More Top Picks Best Sourdough Starter Kits For Beginners
How can you mind reading about “Volutella,” for instance, when she introduces the topic by saying, “I swear I should have been named this”?
— Mary Beth Breckenridge, McClatchy/Tribune newspapers
TELL IT: We want to hear about remedies you’ve tried (whether successfully or not) to hush a chronic snorer. By Tuesday, write to: home& [email protected] and put “Snoring” in the subject field.
———-