I fear this is starting to be less of a quilt blog than a book blog, but I promise, I'm going to get to quilting this week.
The next prompt for the Bramble Blooms quilt along came out last week - on Monday afternoon - so I've been pondering and surfing the interwebs for ideas. I have a few, but I need to get out my stash of fabrics to see what I have enough of and how things might work. That is on the agenda for today - I'm taking a day off of sewing carrier covers to work on this and a little bit of mending as well.
As a reminder, this is where the second Bramble Blooms quilt now stands:
It's 30" x 30" and I hope to get another at least lap-sized quilt out of this. My plan for this next round is to do 6" blocks, which would bring it to 42" x 42" - at least. And with only one prompt after that (which has been hinted at what it will contain), I'm fairly certain I can get this up to a good size.
Somehow, though, the carrier covers keep calling to me. Maybe because they take little effort to figure out what I'll be making? Yes, I have to measure a bit and decide how best to use each fabric (one large? two small? etc.), but in general, I know what I'll be doing. This quilt is a lot more open-ended.
The covers have filled the bin again:
Which means I have contacted my volunteer. (Yes, they're not packed in there, but the stack touches the top and that's as good a place as any to turn them in.) When she's in the area, we meet up, so the bin might get more full before she gets them.
No worries. I still have this:
The second half of the fabrics. If you're not seeing this in person, it may not look like much. But I counted the other day and there were over 50 different pieces of fabric in this stack. And I think most of them are at least a yard, some a lot more. I'll be sewing for a while yet on this stack, but it's all good. Keeps me out of trouble!
And finally, I finished two books this week. Let's review!
Though the blurb on the back makes this sound like a lot is going on, it really boils down to two stories that are running simultaneously that one expects to converge at some point. Story one is about a teenage girl whose mother gets knocked on the head and starts babbling incoherent nonsense. She and her brothers, all struggling to find their place in the world in a way bigger than most, are tasked with caring for her. To me the mother is more of a position to start from in all that the young girl must confront - many things that all women confront regularly, but even as a troubled teen, she has much to learn about the way the adult world treats women and how being an adult really works.
The second story is about a young-ish (30-something, I think) gay man who is a music leader at a Catholic church and also works at the local elementary school. He too is struggling to figure out his life, how to make a living, and how to fit into a world that isn't exactly friendly, particularly in a small town, to his lifestyle.
The stories do converge at the end, but not in the significant way you might expect after having read (and read and read and read). I felt like loose ends were tied up well enough, though, so that was nice. The characters were interesting and the story was easy to follow and I did enjoy it overall. I gave it 3.75 stars because I wanted more of a convergence than I got. Otherwise, good.
And book two:
This "novel," in my humble opinion, is more like a collection of short stories. The cast of characters between chapters is the same, and there is an overall progression of stories, but it is a disjointed, confusing collection of words. Conversations among characters are more often like multiple monologues happening but written in the format of a conversation. There is no plot to thicken, no problem to solve, no beginning-middle-end. Just stories. Sort of.
With that said, the characters were interesting (and I would like to have gotten to know them better) and I think the stories they were involved in had potential, but I really felt like I was just sitting in a crowded room with a bunch of people, picking up random bits of their day-to-day conversations. I gave it 2.5 stars because I did like some of the characters.
And that's my week! (I mean, there was cleaning and cooking and work and all that nonsense, but who wants to hear about that when they've got to do that themselves?!)
Happy quilting!
Katie
1 comment:
Bramble Blooms is such an interesting design. I’m really enjoying its progress. You are such a good soul to make those kitty carriers.
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