vacation and more

Some of you may have noticed my absence last week.  We were on vacation.  I thought I might squeeze in a quick post right before we left, but it was not to be.  Too many last-minute details to take care of and then I was exhausted.  So this week you'll get extra, though there wasn't all THAT much.

We'll start with the quilty stuff because that's what this blog started to be and I want it to continue to be...you know, with books, too...

I've been working on the baby quilt for the friend at work's daughter, and I got all the truck parts made, but had to make the animals to go in the trucks.  That was a daunting task, as it was nine different blocks and if any of you are familiar with Lori Holt's patterns, a LOT of pieces.  I planned to pull from my stash, but I didn't want to take that all with me.

I think I may have cut some after the plumber was here?  Or maybe while waiting?  But eventually I had them all cut and put into bags by block.

As I was cutting pieces, I kept the fabrics out and put them into the bin with the other fabrics.  It's a good thing I did because of the nine blocks, not one was made without error.  Either I cut something wrong or I sewed something wrong.

But I dug right into this soon after we arrived because I just want it done.  In a couple of days, I had all the animals (and an extra set of hay bales) done!

the cat

the cow

the goat

the hay bales - in two sizes because I was so used to cutting six inch block pieces for the animals, I forgot that the hay bales were the original contents of the truck and needed to be cut for the 12 inch block.

the hen

the horse (with a modified blanket - I used a gingham print instead of piecing it with teensy squares)

the pig

the rooster

and the sheep, who got legs after I sewed him into the truck.

At this point, you lop off the bottom part of the block to make it the right height for the bed of the truck.  So the sheep got legs later because I didn't want loose threads from embroidering legs hanging out.  And some of the animals that had grass beneath their feet didn't get that at all.

The following day I made myself decide on a layout and start sewing.  Somehow my layout photo got deleted, so all I have is the finished product.

I hiked through the grass between our cabin and the water, dodging goose poop all the way, to get those two rocks.  The neighbors probably thought I was nuts.  (They probably confirmed it when the hubby locked us out a few nights later and I had to crawl through a window to get back inside.)

The cornerstones match the binding and the decision on what color to make it all was based on what I had enough of.

Now to get it quilted.

Oh, and I'll need a back.  Of course.

With this done, my list of time-consuming projects was also done.  I took quite a few smaller things and decided Bramble Blooms 2 needed to be next.

All it needed were the ovals sewn down in the flower centers.  Oh, and a stem removed that I forgot about until just now.

It took a few days because I'm lazy and decided to read instead of applique, but it was vacation, so I can do what I want.

Those same rocks came in handy, but then I returned them to the beach because I was done making quilt tops.

This top is done and I'm fairly happy with it.  It was an experiment and a challenge and it came out okay.  But mostly I'm just glad it's (mostly) done.  (Darn that stem!)

What else did I do?

Read.

A LOT.

The week before we left I finished two books and while I was gone I read four more.  So lots to share here!

Set in a previous century, the author manages to forge a friendship with Robert Browning and they go around figuring out some murders like amateur sleuths.  I don't read a lot of mystery novels, so maybe the investigators jumping to conclusions frequently is normal, but this seemed ridiculously frequent and based on little evidence.  Evidence that Mr. Browning seemed to like to remove from the scene of the crime.

The murders start adding up and they attempt to find links between them, but instead find some obscure references to works by Dante at all the crime scenes.

Then the narrator ends up in a time-racing effort to figure out a series of clues that have been left to help him find a stash of documents that will pin him as the killer - clues left by none other than Mr. Browning.

There are two final twists to the book, one that is somewhat predictable, but another that is waaaaay out there.  I won't spoil them unless you ask.

In general, there were a lot of things that I found hard to follow (perhaps literary references that I either didn't know or was too distracted by blaring television shows to focus enough on) and there was a lot of jumping to conclusions that I didn't care for.  Interesting at least, I guess.

This is one that someone on Instagram had shared and I was intrigued, so I actually ordered it and the random number generator gave it to me for my last hurrah before vacation.

I read it in one day.  It was 150 pages, but the layout made it many more pages than it actually could have been.

A middle-aged woman, having seen Amish quilts used as a backdrop in a clothing storefront in the 60's, goes (in the 1980's) to live with an Amish family for a while.  A number of events came together to eventually lead her to actually even try to do this, but she feels drawn to them and their way of life and so she makes it happen.

I had hoped to learn more about the Amish through this book - their life intrigues me too, but probably not enough to go live with them - but it is more about her own self-discovery and paring down of her life over her three stints living with them.

I did learn some about their lifestyle and the book in general made me think about mine, too.  I did enjoy reading it.

And then the vacation books!

I actually started this before we left...I think?

Though nowhere in any blurb about this book does it mention this, it is a collection of short stories, all based around Olive Kitteridge and her town and the people living in it.  Some stories she is the main character, others she just barely passes through.

The stories are just about ordinary, small-town kinds of things - getting older, children, neighbors - and some are a bit more extraordinary - getting held at gunpoint in a hospital!  The characters all feel real and though Olive seems to be a cranky woman, she is assertive and expects a lot out of people and I think actually cares about them.

Some of the stories I enjoyed more than others, but mostly I was frustrated about the short story setting, as each "chapter" is a whole other story and not a continuation of the last chapter.  I know that's how short stories go, but since these were all the same characters, it was a little harder to adjust.

Not bad, though.

This is another one that was recommended somewhere on the interwebs, but I've read another by this author and enjoyed it, so it made sense to order this one with my gift cards from the holidays.

But I'll say the thing that no blurb, or even anywhere in the book, i think, says.  It's about time travel.  Okay, okay, maybe I spoiled a little of the story, but it all makes a lot more sense when you figure that out.

June is a 30-something woman, unmarried and living with her grandmother as her grandmother slowly loses the battle to dementia.  All the women in her family have had this happen and she has decided she will end things and not have children.

But it's not madness.  It's time travel.  And the chaos that comes from it.  And she is not free from it, but still tries to stop it.

It was a good story and the characters were great.  The author is good for that.  I enjoyed it and it was a quick read.  Probably what one would consider a good vacation read!

So this is a weird one.  I'm pretty sure I picked it up because it said something about the main character's DNA containing all the DNA of all the people on earth.  I thought it was going to be a sciencey book.

Well.  Science fiction probably.

And creationism.

But not in a churchy, preachy way.

Lilly, a 15-year old girl, found in a "container" washed up on the shore of a foreign planet, is very damaged and the people who find her heal her.  While she is healing, she has visions or something and sees the creation of Adam and Eve and their downfall and leaving Eden.

Not in any linear fashion, though.

Eve guides her through a lot of the visions, telling her she is her daughter, which I guess makes sense in the DNA scheme of things.

And the people caring for her call her a Witness (so the hubby and I were trying to decide what religion this is promoting, but still aren't sure) - and they all have titles like Finder, Healer, Scholar and Collector.

Lilly isn't much of a churchgoer, though, having been sold as a sex slave before she wound up on this planet all broken and nearly dead.  But, of course, through these visions and the guidance of those around her, she accepts God and whatnot.

And then there's a big twist at the end where you go WHAT THE HECK???

Better than I anticipated when I found out it was fairly religious.  But thankfully it wasn't one that was trying to convert me, just teach me I guess.

And the last book I finished on vacation.

A black man is born to sharecroppers and becomes one himself until one day he can't take it any more and runs off to live as a homeless man in Fort Worth.  It sounds like bad to worse, but the way he tells it, being homeless is a lot easier.

Taking free meals at a mission, he meets up with a husband and wife team that serve meals every Tuesday.  The wife felt called to do it and the husband understands that this is something he needs to join.  (They both attend church regularly, but he is definitely not as committed as she is!)  It takes a while, but for some reason the husband wants to befriend this man and eventually wins him over.

Their lives intersect in odd ways and the homeless man, Denver, eventually becomes a part of the family, helping out with odd jobs on their ranch and at the mission and whatnot.

The story is true and interesting in a number of ways, but I also still don't much like the husband.  The wife seems great, but she is not one of the author, so...

It also had some religion in it, but more as a means to an end than any preachy sort of thing.

I'm most of the way through another book and might finish it tonight, but Mt. Washmore is still there (getting smaller by the hour), plus a number of other chores that need to be done after someone stayed with the cats all week (the cats and cat-sitter don't vacuum or clean toilets, which is fine, but now I have to!), but I'm getting there and took a break for blogging.

Speaking of cats...

I think Lily might have had a death wish.  I'd just kicked these off after a long, hot day at work.  How she didn't pass out from stinky feet fumes I'll never understand, but she and FInn both like to wrestle stinky shoes.

And when I was unpacking my sewing stuff (yep, it gets a whole suitcase to itself!), she wanted to make sure if I left again she got to go along.  She probably would have been fine with us up there, but it's quite a long ride to get where we were going, and that would have been the issue.  (Salem stopped by to check it out, too, but she didn't get it.  I think she liked staying with grandma.)

Not to worry, I'm home for a while again, with only time away to go to work.  So the familiar routine will resume again and she can relax.  And for the most part, the kitties are all happy to have us back.  Gabby is going to take more convincing, but she did eat her dinner after I put it under the bed for her, so at least there's that.

Happy quilting and reading...and I'd better go check on my garden in the morning when it's not 400 degrees outside!

Katie