not much sewing again

I promise there has been SOME sewing going on around here, but it's stuff I can't share.  Holidays and all that.

But also, there just hasn't been that much these past two weeks.  Work plus about 400 birthdays this month take up a lot of time.  (Okay, okay, not 400.  Truthfully six birthdays - five of them on the hubby's side - still a lot.  And we're not done.)

What I have gotten done that I can show are the pillowcases for the nieces on my side of the family.  Plus the one nephew-in-law.

All folded up, they don't look like much, but you can see the dinosaurs wearing Santa hats and Santa floating in a pool...

Anyways, they're made.  I always dread them, but once I get going, they whip up fast.  Particularly since I've been doing this for years and years and only have to consult the pattern to make sure I'm doing it right.

So that's it for what I can show.

I also finished only one book, and that was last week also!

This one had a lot of pages and it took a while.  You can see how it says "A novel of the Vanderbilts" on the front, but this book is 95% about Alva Vanderbilt - a woman who married into the family in the late 1800's.  Which I guess the title might give you a hint.

I know little of the family, other than they were wealthy around the turn of the century.  So I thought this book, though fiction, is based on the lives of real people, would be interesting to learn more about them.

Well.

It started on her life around 16 years old, in a family that had lost their wealth due to the Civil War and her desperate need to find a wealthy husband to rescue her family and herself.  A Vanderbilt seemed an excellent choice.  And while I understand that at the time love matches weren't as common and I understand that wealthy people like their children to marry other wealthy people that they approve of, it seemed like it could have gone wrong.

Of course it did.  If you read up on her life anywhere, you know it ended.  But she hung in there a long while.  Which, again, for this time period, is not surprising.  It's more surprising that she left him.

Anyways, it goes through their marriage and having children and raising children and she is not very interesting.  She sees poor people and walks by.  She realizes that women are treated poorly and ignores it.

Until her second husband dies.  A few pages later the book ends.

So I went looking.  (yay internet!)  Apparently the little bit at the end of the book where she is attending a rally about women's rights was the start of her activism.

I'm glad she did what she did.  A famous-for-being-rich person used their fame to help a cause.  Great.  I would have liked to know more about what she did IN THE BOOK.  I guess the author assumed we already knew that part, so she'd focus on the getting there?

I kept expecting things to get interesting.  It never really did.

Oh well.  They can't all be amazing, right?

I've started reading another book, but it is a SLOG.  I'd read another book by this author and it was also a slog.  I have no idea what prompted me to pick up a second one by him.  But I'm halfway through and invested enough that I want to see what happens.

So no new book for this week.  Hopefully I'll get through it for next week, but we'll see.  Holiday stuff, in addition to birthdays, is getting close enough that my last-minute finishing is needing to kick into a higher gear.  Maybe I'll have some sewing stuff to share?

And since you've made it this far, here's an old photo of Lily helping me do laundry.

Happy quilting!

Katie

a good week for quilting

It's been a good week for quilty sewing.  Or at least a few days - working 12-hour shifts does not really leave me much time (or energy) for fun stuff after work, but it does allow for one more day off work than I would normally get, so it all works out in the end.

This week the hubby was home sick most of the week.  That was okay while I was at work, but my two days off had the potential of being less productive with him home.  I did okay, though.  He was at the feeling better, but not quite well enough for work stage, so he mostly took care of himself and I only needed to feed him.

I left you with mostly parts for the Ho quilt...I think those parts took longer to cut than they did to sew!

The H blocks were quick, as I anticipated.

The O blocks took quite a bit longer - look close and you'll see four tiny lost corners (or maybe found corners in this case?) in the center of the letter.  Not to mention those lost on the outside.  Thankfully, the presents were already made and just had to be incorporated.

I mixed and matched the prints a little - different from the pattern, as mine was more scrappy - and got these together and felt pretty accomplished.

Next up: trees!

Since there were only six trees to make (another red block is hiding behind this one), these went a little faster.  But again, a lot of lost corners made things seem to take forever.  And for whatever reason, the pattern didn't have me construct these presents with the others, so though I had the bows made, I still had to do final construction.

That one green tree on the right is a little washed out, but I was running out of different greens with enough fabric for all the parts.  We'll just call it snow-covered.  (Speaking of running out of parts, please don't make too much of the tall red tree with a slightly different trunk print!)

Yesterday I headed into the sewing room with plans to get this top together and the borders on the baby quilt.  It was a lot of work, but since the hubby was still holding down the couch, I had all day!

Trying to keep the same prints from being too close to each other when there were repeats wasn't too hard, particularly since I didn't worry about distribution of presents.  (Again, I had enough of each fabric for just some, but I think it adds interest - how I wish I had that stripe for binding, though!)

A few hours later - long seams take longer, ugh - I had a top!

I like it!

I also made the binding.  The hubby said I should use red.  Right.  With the inches I have left?  I tried for green, but needed six WOF strips and that wasn't doable either.  So I just used the grey.  It won't frame it in as some bindings do, but my sister-in-law isn't going to think about that.  Most of us quilters might not either.  It will be fine.

And with this done, it was on to the baby quilt.  This one, though it was long seams to get the borders on, was just the borders.

I wanted to use the solid pink for the cornerstones, to match those in the center of the quilt, but that was a no-go.  As with my reds in the Ho quilt, my pinks for this quilt were pretty depleted by the time I was done, but there was enough of a pink swirl (you can probably see it if you click on the photo to zoom in) and it contrasted enough with the border fabric that I was satisfied.

(I could also have done no cornerstones and it would have been fine, but I wanted them, so I made it work.)

I made the binding for this as well, using the same pink as the border.  Again, I don't think my pink stash had enough of anything else for a whole round of binding.

Salem was very helpful at the photo shoot stage (I finished both quilts and then went back for photos).  She also posed with the stack when they were on the ironing board...

You can't really see it here, but included in this stack are pieced backs for both quilts too!  I was on a roll yesterday and it feels good to have so many things checked off my list.  When I took on the Ho quilt, after having committed to the baby quilt, I was worried about getting everything done.  There are still a lot of things on my to-do list, but these were some of the biggest.  Of course, I still have to quilt them, but that's a problem for another day!

I've also been finding time to read.  I guess I AM settling into the new schedule?

I finished this one:

I enjoyed it, but reading it as an adult, I found myself wary of all the just-so coincidences that allowed things to happen the way they did.  I know that's the way fiction goes, and I find myself thinking this way in books written for adults also, so I guess I shouldn't criticize.

The story was interesting and moved along at a fast pace and I enjoyed it.

Then there is this one, picked up just to finish filling a bag at a used book sale:

I did read the blurb, as I vaguely remember that, but it was far better than I expected.

Though it does remind me a lot of the Big Bang Theory (a television show that is in constant reruns, as it ended a few years back), and it took me a bit to get into the book enough to stop comparing the two.

It's the story of a man who is surely on the spectrum for autism (though it never specifically says so) and his quest for a wife.  It leads him on sub-quests and he ends up in all sorts of situations that his very structured life before the project would have never let him get near.  Needless to say, he grows as a person and I was rooting for him the whole time.

I have learned that there are two more books that follow his story further, but since his "best friend" Gene annoyed the crap out of me most of the book, and continues into the next books (from the blurbs he is seems to be a fairly prominent character in both), I will not be looking to read them.  Yes, yes, yes, character flaws are part of the deal, but this guy...ugh!

Today I plan to get back into the sewing room and work on that ginormous list again - make the best of my time before I have to head back to work tomorrow.

Happy quilting!

Katie

proof of sewing!

It hasn't been a perfect week.  It hasn't been an awful week.  It's been kind of just a "meh" week, but I did sew!

Last week we had chicks with legs.  After blogging, I went up to the design floor and figured out a layout.

I had full intentions of continuing from here, but my stomach was unhappy and I ended up picking it all up and taking a 2-hour nap in the sewing room chair.  With Lily and Toby.  Time well spent, but not quilty productive.

I'm scheduled this weekend, which means my "weekend" happens Thursday and Friday.  Between chores and life those two days, I didn't get as much sewing in as I wanted, but I did get the chicks back on the floor, decided where the squares that would be lost corner triangles would go and sew the whole top together - without taking any photos!

I did have to purchase some pink for the border (the pattern has it wide and scrappy, I'm choosing narrow and one print), but managed to forget to wash it when doing laundry on Friday, so the border will wait until next week.  The hardest part is definitely done.

(Please pardon the sunshine there on the left - I'm not one to complain about fall sunshine, as winter will have little to none - enjoying what we have while it's here!)

With this waiting, it was time to start the Ho quilt.

I cut all the (boring, light grey) background pieces and then went to bed.  The next day, I started on the (funner, brighter) prints.

This was a little overwhelming, as the pattern has you cutting three different prints for Hs, three different prints for Os, two different reds for trees...and then about the same for greens.  (I might have said "cut all these parts for one H block" and "cut all these for one O block" and then "repeat for x H and x O blocks," but I suppose no pattern is perfect for everyone and this made sense to the designer...who probably wasn't trying to cobble together her (his?) scraps to make an entire letter at times!)

Looking much more productive here - you can kinda see greens peeking out from under some of the reds, too.  I promise, they're there.

And then I got to start sewing!

The pattern starts with the smallest pieces and works up - which makes sense, but it doesn't allow for much progress in the first few hours of sewing.

The presents (most of them, at least) have "bows" on top and those quarter square triangles - finishing at 1" - took a lot of drawing lines and sewing and cutting and pressing and repeating for not much to show.  And then the lost corners for the O insides again, lots of little bits and not much to show.

But I DID sew.  And I DID make progress.  And it feels GOOD!

I think maybe I'm starting to settle into the new schedule.  Working every other weekend, and not knowing which of the feed-the-dogs shifts I'll have until Saturday morning, is throwing some wrenches into things, but it's better than it was.

I've also been squeezing in reading, but that also seems to be going slower.  This week I finished this book:

Knowing that this author wrote "A Wrinkle In Time" which is wildly popular for the younger readers, I thought this could be a good bet.  But I discovered that it's non-fiction, written from her journals in the early 70's.  That could make things go horribly wrong.

It did not.

When she wrote this, she was just a few years older than myself, so her perspective on life seemed closer to mine than I anticipated.  Particularly since it was written before I was born.  It struck me many times over how the things she wrote about have relevance today, just as they did then.  I'm not sure she intended it that way, but this book is not only one I really enjoyed, but one of the select few that will make it onto my bookshelf and not back into the donation bin.  (I can't keep them all, so the best of the best are all that get a forever home with me.)

I know I usually say more about books, but this one I'm just struggling to find the right words for.  I'm not sure someone younger or older than me by a stretch would feel the same about it.  I'm not sure someone my age would feel the same about it.  It was just the right book at the right time for me.

And now I'm reading "A Wrinkle In Time" - I thought again, but it is not familiar - because I wanted to experience the book as an adult, particularly after having read this one where she does discuss a little about her writing of the book.  I'll, of course, report on that next week when I'm through.

Time to go get some sewing done before the dogs at work need dinner!

Happy quilting!

Katie

the chicks have legs!

The chicks for the baby quilt finally ALL have legs!

I laid these out first thing this morning to spritz the blue lines out from behind the legs.  The cats promptly ran through them.  They're fairly straight again, but since they need to be pressed anyways, I'm not too worried.

My plan is that these are first on the list today - assuming they are dry and the blue is gone.

(If they're not dry, I will make more cat toy labels and work on that mountain - also on the list, but I want to get this moved forward, too.)

Other than making a list of all the projects I have going and a checklist for each (I have so much, it's overwhelming, and somehow making the list made it easier - bonus, I get to check things off!) and gathering fabrics for the Ho quilt and hanging the quilts my evil fur-kids pulled off the wall, I haven't spent much time in my sewing room this week.

Speaking of the Ho quilt.  I went through my stash and found reds and greens for the letters.  I'm still struggling with the "grey" listed in the pattern for trees.  I did find a holly print that might work.  I'll worry about that later.  And I promise photos of fabrics soon.

Other happenings - FOMO (fear of missing out) finally got the better of me, and with making more money being full-time, I could afford the Cat Lady Box subscription.  Though I didn't take a photo of the first (black cat theme!) box, I did get a photo of Freddie, one of my resident black cats, acting like a derp while playing with a wand toy that came in the box...

The box can come with cat toys or not.  You know I chose the toys, right?  I mean, even before seeing this, you knew.  The little stuffed cat at his feet is also a toy, but I let him choose which toy and he loves string toys, so he chose that one.  (It's got a little paw with feathers on the end, but he went for the string first...I found the feathers laying around the room later.)

And then there's the books.

I finished on Monday, this:

In short, this is an epic adventure of Chinese mythic creature Monkey.  It contains his origin story, a long life-changing journey, and finally his becoming a Buddha.  It is considered a classic, and I do like to sprinkle classics into my reading, but this...well...apparently epic classics are not my thing.  (Don't hurt me, but I read the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings trilogy and felt the same about them.)  Basically, you spend 300 pages getting there, 5 getting home and maybe 1 reaping the rewards.

I did, however, learn some about Chinese culture and beliefs, so I'll consider it a win there.  And the story itself wasn't bad, just long.

Next up, I stayed up late last night to finish this one for you!

Set in 1845, this is the story of a widowed "old" woman (she eventually reveals she is in her early 30's) who finds herself at the scene of a murder and, through a convoluted turn of events, decides to solve it.  And, spoiler alert, does.  Or at least seems to - the book leaves us with the policeman and coroner heading off to make sure her conclusions are correct.

Though the book wasn't bad, it just didn't...I don't know.  Her relationship with her servants seems off, her constant referral to herself as old (and I'm picturing someone in their 60's or older until she told me otherwise), and a side story about her need to remarry just...I don't know.  I felt like the characters had no past or future, they just were.  There was no why she was widowed, no why her housekeeper was cranky, no why the guy she maybe would marry was so awful.

And then, without any parsing of details to let us in on things, BAM, we had a murderer.

It wasn't bad.  It wasn't good.  Not an author I'll seek out again.

Here's to hoping the new book is better...

Time to go sew some chicks together!

Happy quilting!

Katie