1. Spent way too much time checking to see if my blog and e-mail and other websites were BACK from vacation.
2. Played Pathwords on Facebook.
3. Tried to quilt a finish quilting a quilt that I’m having trouble with (choosing a design, the fabric is super-busy and I don’t know what to do. Didn’t know what to do. I figured it out, but now I have to execute).
4. Cut out the pieces for two quilts and started piecing one of them. Almost finished piecing the one, actually. I squishy-heart-love checkerboards and churn dash blocks. Pictures later…
5. Spent way too much time checking to see if my blog and e-mail and other websites were BACK from vacation.
6. Ate way too many Hershey kisses while checking to see…
7. Did a radio interview. More about my 10 minutes of fame later…
8. Started reading my new books.
9. Spent way too much time checking to see if my blog and e-mail and other websites were BACK from vacation.
10. Tried to teach Joe how to crochet. He decided he preferred knitting. Maybe because he enjoyed reading Franklin Habit’s book so much:
11. Spent way too much time checking to see if my blog and e-mail and other websites were BACK from vacation.
Looking for the giveaway quilt? There’s still time to sign up and spread the word, scroll down or click here. I’m extending the deadline until Monday, since it was kinda hard for people to sign up when the site was down.
TTFN-
Suzanne
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Between multiple days off school (unplanned) and various other things going on, I sometimes lose track of what day it is. I do know that today was Martin Luther King Jr. Day, so I guess that means it was, in fact, Monday.
I had seen the idea in a number of places: spend the day in service, and as a quilter, I knew where my time would be spent. I wanted to work on something for the Quilt of Valor efforts of Alycia. I took a pass through my various in-process projects and realized that none would suit the purpose.
Naturally, that meant I needed to start something new.
I started with the brightly colored fabric you can see in the back, and pulled brights to go with it. I had decided to make a Strip Twist quilt, and had this great idea that if I was cutting for one lap size quilt, I might as well cut for two. Which meant going back to the drawing board for the background fabric, but the result is going to make for better quilts. I cut and actually sewed for quite awhile last night.
And then did as much sewing as I could today. I was hoping to get further, but the shop was busier than I was expecting it to be.
I discovered this evening that I can’t count. I was sure I had enough parts for all 24 blocks, but when I got it everything sewn together, I only had 23 blocks. I did some more cutting, sewed it all together and now have 24, enough for 2 quilts. I hope to get them set together and bordered and quilted yet this week.
Alycia needs all the quilts she can get to make her goal this spring. I hope that if you are a quilter, you’ll consider helping out, either with her goal of 400 (or more!) this spring, or through the Quilt of Valor foundation directly.
I mentioned earlier in the month that we had started doing a nightly reading about USAmerican History with the boys. I’m happy to say that we started week 3 tonight, and it’s going really well. We only missed one night, and one night I actually took the book with us when we went shopping, and we read it at McDonald’s. LOL
Quite a few of the readings have been about slavery or the horrible things early settlers inflicted on the Native Americans. And I’m not sure I ever really realized how much of our nation’s beginnings are owed to tobacco.
Now that we’ve gotten that habit started, I got to thinking I wanted to pick up something else that I have been meaning to try to do, and that’s learn more about how to read and think critically about books. I read a lot, but purely for pleasure and sometimes i read so fast, that I’m mostly just skimming.
So, I’m coming out, Internet, and telling y’all that I’m getting ready to read some weighty stuff:
I’ll let you know how it goes.
I would actually love to find a reading partner, so if anyone wants to read Don Quixote with me, and then try to work some other Serious Books, send me an e-mail!
In the meantime, though, I’m headed for bed.
TTFN-
Suzanne
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I’ve been tagged by a number of people to do the 7 random/weird things meme that makes it way around every so often. I have resisted doing it, because I’m not really sure what else to say that I don’t already talk about here. Some of my best brainstorming happens when I’m avoiding climbing out of bed, though, and this morning was no different, so let’s see how this turns out:
1. I have to have something to read when I’m eating breakfast.
2. I’ll even resort to re-reading something if I’m really desperate.
3. I read so quickly, and so many books, that I sometimes don’t remember if I’ve read a book or not. The other day I was at the library and found a book by an author (Katie Fforde) that I didn’t think I had read. Well, it turns out I had, but I couldn’t remember exactly what happened, so I went ahead and finished reading it just to refresh my memory. Luckily, it was worth the reread, although I won’t make it a habit of rereading her books.
4. I do have a couple of authors that I reread, and will continue to reread for a very long time. Lois McMaster Bujold, most notably. I get something different from her writing every time I read. And there are some passages that I will reread several times in one go.
5. I also rewatch favorite movies and TV shows on DVD. I’ve been through Stargate SG-1 twice now, I’m on my third go at Battlestar Galactica, and there are various others that I’ve watched and rewatched. I can’t even count how many times I’ve rewatched The Lord of the Rings trilogy. I should probably go through and add links to those shows and stuff, but I’m just not in the mood. Sorry.
6. When I say “watch” I really mean “listen” and sort of watch. Because no, I don’t sit around and just watch TV all the time. I have a TV in my studio and a set of wireless headphones. I love my wireless headphones. I love them so much that they are falling apart — the plastic coating on the ear part is peeling off. They were a gift from my husband several years ago.
7. I think he likes that I use them because it gives him the opportunity to sneak up on me and scare the crap out of me when he starts talking and I don’t realize he is there.
My list is marked List number 1, because I’m going to try to make March the month of lists thanks to the theme at NaBloPoMo. You remember in November when I posted every day for a month? Well, they are sort of doing this all year long now, with themes each month. I thought it mght be fun to try this theme, so we’ll see how that goes. Or not.
If you haven’t been tagged, and want to do the random/weird thing tag, be my guest. Pretty much everyone I know has already been tagged….
Later gators -
Suzanne
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This could also be know as a Junk Drawer post:
1. Why is it when I say “more tomorrow” at the end of a post, I frequently never make it back to post the following day?
2. Harry Potter: I wasn’t going to do it, but I stayed up until the wee hours and finished it the other night. Yes, I read very fast, and yes, I will be rereading, much more slowly the 2nd time through. I just HAD to know how it ended, and I refuse to flip to the end to find out….It is a little sad to have it come to an end, but overall, I thought it was a satisfying way to wrap things up. I did think it was overly long in the middle…
3. Have any of you seen the TV show Age of Love? I watched 2 consecutive episodes last night. Well, listened to them in the background while I sewed. It’s like a train wreck: I didn’t want to watch, but I couldn’t pull myself away. The premise: a 30 year old bachelor and a bevy of women who want to win his heart. Half of the women are in their 20s and half are in their 40s — and everyone is waiting to find out if his needs will be met by someone younger or someone older. Personally, I find the whole idea of this sort of a reality show pretty ludicrous — especially when the women are making comments about not liking to date a man who is dating other women at the same time. Hello? Did you not know what you were getting into when you signed up for this? They all seem to be beautiful, successful women, and I find myself feeling sad for them that they have to stoop to something like this.
4. I wanted to again thank the quilters of the Great Lakes Professional Machine Quilter’s Association that spent time with me over the weekend in various parts of Wisconsin. We had a lot of fun, and I hope that they learned a lot. I expect to see pictures from them as they go home and start putting what they learned into practice. If you are a machine quilter and are interested in joining a group like GLPMQA, you might want to check out this page to see if there is already a group near you. This is not a comprehensive list, but a place to start. Just like regular quilt guilds, longarm guilds are a great way to learn more about quilting.
5. Welcome to those of you that have found me via the latest Quiltmaker Magazine! I hope you enjoy your stay and will consider commenting! It seems that lately my blog has been more about the distractions from quilting (or the Other Adventures referred to in the title…), but I think that things will be settling back down now for awhile, so maybe some more quilting and art content will be showing up. Maybe. First, I have to clean my office and studio….
6. Speaking of quilts and quilting: last night, after a busy day helping to set up a new quilting machine, I spent several hours sewing on the scrap quilt that I posted a picture of a few days ago. The blocks are all done, and several rows are sewn together. I have to go cut a bunch more sashing before I can finish, though…it doesn’t look any different than it did the other day, so no new pictures yet.
Somebody’s making a funny banging noise, so I’d better go investigate.
Hope you have a fabulous day filled with lots of things you love to do!
Suzanne
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I’m home from a great weekend of teaching in Wisconsin — and am deep into the newest Harry Potter. I have to get up early-ish, so I’m probably going to have to close the book up soon and finish reading tomorrow….
More tomorrow!
TTFN-
Suzanne
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Shortly after getting up this morning, I needed to go down to the basement for a minute. On the way I happened to get a flash fo something odd through the garage door window, and add to back up for another look.
What’s that I see???
Yippee!!!! It’s my NEW SOCKS!!!!
Thanks Mom!!!!
She started these awhile back, but ran out of yarn as she was nearing the toe of the 2nd sock. I had asked her to make them longer than the first pair (i.e. further up on my leg, the foot part did not need to be any more huge than it already was…). Apparently my gargantuan feet needed more sock yarn than she had initially calculate. So far she’s been very polite about not making fun of how big my feet are.
I had gotten an e-mail from her last week that she’d been to the yarn store and picked up something that she’d be using to finish the one, and to expect a surprise in my garage some morning. She drops things off on her way to work occasionally. Apparently she got to scare the bejeebers out of Mark this morning when she stopped by.
Can you even tell that one sock’s toe is different yarn? I didn’t really even notice at first, and quite frankly, I don’t even care! They are sooooo soft….
I’ll probably be wearing shoes and socks tomorrow (as opposed to flip-flops…) and when I do, I’ll be sure to make sure everyone notices my stripy socks.
Mom had some socks for my Grandma with her the other day (very pretty pink) and asked Will if he’d like a pair like that.
“Oh no!” he said. “Well, maybe if they were camouflage colored socks.”
TTFN-
Suzanne
p.s. And yes, some camouflage colored sock yarn is now on order…..
p.p.s. I was so excited to get a notice from Amazon.com that I’d be receiving my copy of the new Harry Potter on Saturday (the release date). And then I remember I’m going to be out of town all weekend!!! Ack! I’ll have to wait until Monday to read it! Ack! LOL…
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I don’t know where I saw this one: it’s been months since I copied the list and started this post. As I’ve mentioned before, I’m on vacation, but thought I’d store up some stuff to have appear while I’m gone.
Some of these I’ve never heard of. I didn’t bother with the italicizing part, I just marked the ones I’ve read (and finished).
Look at the list of books below:
* Bold the ones you’ve read
* Italicize the ones you want to read
* Leave blank the ones that you aren’t interested in.
* If you are reading this, tag, you’re it!
1. The DaVinci Code (Dan Brown)
2. Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen)
3. To Kill A Mockingbird (Harper Lee)
4. Gone With The Wind (Margaret Mitchell)
5. The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (Tolkien)
6. The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (Tolkien)
7. The Lord of the Rings: Two Towers (Tolkien)
8. Anne of Green Gables (L.M. Montgomery)
9.Outlander (Diana Gabaldon)
10. A Fine Balance(Rohinton Mistry)
11. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire* (Rowling)
12. Angels and Demons (Dan Brown)
13. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Rowling)
14. A Prayer for Owen Meany (John Irving)
15. Memoirs of a Geisha (Arthur Golden)
16. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (Rowling)
17. Fall on Your Knees (Ann-Marie MacDonald)
18. The Stand (Stephen King)
19. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Rowling)
20. Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte)
21. The Hobbit (Tolkien)
22. The Catcher in the Rye (J.D. Salinger)
23. Little Women (Louisa May Alcott)
24. The Lovely Bones (Alice Sebold)
25. Life of Pi (Yann Martel)
26. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams)
27. Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte)
28. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (C. S. Lewis)
29. East of Eden (John Steinbeck)
30. Tuesdays with Morrie (Mitch Albom)
31. Dune (Frank Herbert)
32. The Notebook (Nicholas Sparks)
33. Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand)
34. 1984 (Orwell)
35. The Mists of Avalon (Marion Zimmer Bradley)
36. The Pillars of the Earth (Ken Follett)
37. The Power of One (Bryce Courtenay)
38. I Know This Much is True (Wally Lamb)
39. The Red Tent (Anita Diamant)
40. The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho)
41. The Clan of the Cave Bear (Jean M. Auel)
42. The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini)
43. Confessions of a Shopaholic (Sophie Kinsella)
44. The Five People You Meet In Heaven (Mitch Albom)
45. The Bible
46. Anna Karenina (Tolstoy)
47. The Count of Monte Cristo (Alexandre Dumas)
48. Angela’s Ashes (Frank McCourt)
49. The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck)
50. She’s Come Undone (Wally Lamb)
51. The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver)
52. A Tale of Two Cities (Dickens)*
53. Ender’s Game* (Orson Scott Card)
54. Great Expectations (Dickens)*
55. The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald)
56. The Stone Angel (Margaret Laurence)
57. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets* (Rowling)
58. The Thorn Birds (Colleen McCullough)
59. The Handmaid’s Tale (Margaret Atwood)
60. The Time Traveller’s Wife (Audrew Niffenegger)
61. Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoyevsky)
62. The Fountainhead (Ayn Rand)
63. War and Peace (Tolstoy)
64. Interview With The Vampire (Anne Rice)
65. Fifth Business (Robertson Davis)
66. One Hundred Years Of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)
67. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (Ann Brashares)
68. Catch-22 (Joseph Heller)
69. Les Miserables (Hugo)
70. The Little Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupery)
71. Bridget Jones’ Diary (Fielding)
72. Love in the Time of Cholera (Marquez)
73. Shogun (James Clavell)
74. The English Patient (Michael Ondaatje)
75. The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett)*
76. The Summer Tree (Guy Gavriel Kay)
77. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Betty Smith)
78. The World According to Garp (John Irving)
79. The Diviners (Margaret Laurence)
80. Charlotte’s Web (E.B. White)
81. Not Wanted On The Voyage (Timothy Findley)
82. Of Mice And Men (Steinbeck)
83. Rebecca (Daphne DuMaurier)
84. Wizard’s First Rule (Terry Goodkind)
85. Emma (Jane Austen)
86. Watership Down(Richard Adams)
87. Brave New World (Aldous Huxley)
88. The Stone Diaries (Carol Shields)
89. Blindness (Jose Saramago)
90. Kane and Abel (Jeffrey Archer)
91. In The Skin Of A Lion (Ondaatje)
92. Lord of the Flies (Golding)
93. The Good Earth (Pearl S. Buck)
94. The Secret Life of Bees (Sue Monk Kidd)
95. The Bourne Identity (Robert Ludlum)
96. The Outsiders (S.E. Hinton)
97. White Oleander (Janet Fitch)
98. A Woman of Substance (Barbara Taylor Bradford)
99. The Celestine Prophecy (James Redfield)
100. Ulysses (James Joyce)
One of these days I’ll have to go back and see if I can fill in the gaps for some of these books that are classics. But there are some that I’m sure I’ll just not bother with…..LOL!
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Nothing much to see here, just been doing some hand applique, but am now going to be occupied by my part of my birthday present from my sister. Thanks to an Amazon.com gift cert, the newest book by my absolute favoritest author in the whole world landed on my doorstep today.
The Sharing Knife Volume Two: Legacy by Lois McMaster Bujold
I hoping for a really awesome mail call today, too, so after the mailman is here, I may drag my nose out of the book and post some more later…..
Suzanne
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Well, I did manage to get rid of the machine quilting books that were on my Quilt Book Garage Sale list, and 2 of the quilt piecing books were claimed. I got tired of looking at the pile of books, so I took them all to the library yesterday.
When I dropped them off, my sister-in-law happened to be there working and asked if I was making room for new books. LOL. In truth, the answer is more like: making room for what I already have.
I did manage to pick up a new book last night: Plush-o-rama: Curious Creatures for Immature Adults
Yeah, like I need more projects to make.
I finished the first stuffed Jawa, and need to make the 2nd. I’ll snap some pictures in a bit. I just remembered that I’m supposed to run down to the library to look at a Tupperware catalog to see if there is anything I can’t live without.
TTFN-
Suzanne
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I’m trying to clean out my studio. I’ve put together a list of books that I’d like to get rid of. You can click on the tab at the top of the page that says Quilt Book Garage Sale to see what I’ve got. There are a few machine quilting books, mostly it’s quilt piecing books, though. I don’t suspect anybody else will want them either, but I thought I’d try to get something out of them before I take them to the library to their used book sale.
I have not had a very productive day. Feel like I’m going in circles. Feeling a little blech again. Plus, I spent the morning baby-sitting my washing machine while trying to get laundry done. We have a Kenmore He4t (a front loader like the Whirlpool Duet). We used to love it. Now we hate it. We rarely get through a full cycle without some sort of error code. It’s out of warranty (of course), and even if we get it fixed (~$300 for the extended warranty), we are worried that it will only work for a few more years and then have the same problem….
I’m trying to avoid making my blog a place of ranting and negativity, so I think I’ll quit for the night and see if tomorrow is a brighter day.
TTFN-
Suzanne
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