random thoughts

The worst of the heat wave has gone, but I'm still not quilting...

I dreamed a quilt last night and remembered it long enough to get it down on paper.  Here's the base of it, as designed in QuiltPro3:

(I figured out to print, then scan it.  Otherwise, I still have no idea how to get it into Blogger!)

Inside those white centers would be black, wonky letter-ish blocks.  A plus-sign with arms that don't quite match in the center...a K that the arms aren't evenly spaced...  Those will be the challenge to figure out how to do.  And maybe it will never get done, but it was a very pretty wall-hanging in the dream!

A few of you asked about me writing a tutorial for the Quilter's Project Manager.  Fantastic idea, but here's the problem:

The envelopes come in boxes of 500.  I tried to find smaller boxes and maybe they're out there, but do you really want to buy this many envelopes?  (Yikes!)

My initial plan with the idea a few years back was to try to sell them at quilt shops.  But I don't really have connections with the owners (I'm a relatively shy quilt shopper and wait for you to talk to me...).  So that lead to maybe craft fairs, but you kinda have to have more than just one product, so that was out.  And now I'm wondering about maybe Etsy, but questioning myself if it's worth the effort to learn the ins and outs and set up a shop to sell just this one thing.  (And are there enough people out there interested?  And will they find my shop?  And, really, how much will someone pay for this?  And do people really want these anyways?)

In the meantime, I have about 450 envelopes in a box...

Any thoughts?

And last, I said I would give you my opinion of Revolutionary Road when I'd finished it.  It was a relatively easy read and it's been so hot, lounging on the couch in front of the fan, this was really about the only thing to do!

The book was just okay to me.  There were a few lines that really made me stop and think, but overall it seemed like it was trying to be more than it was.  A book about a suburban couple and their life didn't match up with the movie previews I'd seen and thought "That looks like a movie I'd rather read the book for."

So about halfway through I googled it to see if I was missing something.  See what other reviews had to say.   Wikipedia had this quote from Richard Yates, the author:

"I think I meant it more as an indictment of American life in the 1950s. Because during the Fifties there was a general lust for conformity all over this country, by no means only in the suburbs — a kind of blind, desperate clinging to safety and security at any price."

That helped put the book in context and make it a little more interesting to me, but I still can't say I loved the book.  I'm not sorry I spent the time reading it, but I feel like the movie previews led me to believe there was more to it.  (And from what I can gather, the movie followed the book pretty closely, but maybe I'm wrong.)  (And it wouldn't be the first time movie previews led me to believe the movie would be super fantastic and I was mislead!)

So I'm sorry if some of you have read it and loved it.  You're all welcome to your own opinion and if you were thinking about reading it, please do!  You might have a completely different opinion of it than I do.

And please don't hate me for using Wikipedia (I know some despise it and I know it has its down side, but here it was helpful). 

I love historical fiction and maybe that's my problem...this book was written about 1955 in about 1960, so though the years are history, when it was written, it really wasn't history.  Instead of collecting the fantastic things that happened that year and putting the characters into those happenings, this book is about the more mundane events of everyday life.

I know there are a lot of reviews out there praising the book.  Maybe I'm just too niave to see what they see...

I feel like I'm apologizing for not liking the book.  Maybe I should stop now?

The hubby is sleeping again.  Next week his hours go back to normal, and though that's not truly normal (who has ever heard of a 1am to 11am shift?), it's at least routine.  Maybe then I can get my quilting routine sorted out again?

Happy quilting!

Katie