a little quilty sewing

Though I had high hopes for this week being more productive, I also didn't know until I worked at my new job on Monday if they'd add me in any extra shifts later in the week, so it was a limbo sort of week.

I didn't get any additional shifts (though after I made plans for Friday, a new coworker asked me to cover her shift that day - oops, sorry!), but I still didn't get as much done as I thought I could with all that time!

But let's start at the beginning, shall we?

Last week I left you with this small stack of carrier cover fabrics:

That floral on top was maybe four yards, which was a LOT, but it made a couple of large covers, which I haven't been able to make many of, since a lot of this donation were one yard cuts.

I finished the stack on Sunday and contacted my gal to set up a time to meet and turn these over.  I know there's always ongoing projects and needs, so I figured we'd chat about that, too.

I didn't come home with more fabric (!!!!) or the serger sewing machine that had been donated and she offered (maybe someday, but I left it with her in case someone more knowledgeable and more interested could use it), but instead with a request for more catnip toys!  They're finally getting back into the swing of things with adoption events that aren't just at local pet stores and these are great for "free for donation" donations - and they're nearly out!

My sister-in-law, via my mom (who is always game to let me raid her stash), found out I was looking for fabrics to expand my selection of fun prints and sent me home with this yesterday:

Lily is not intentionally in there for scale, but she is about 7 pounds of psychopath, so you can gauge the size of that pile.  It had been in a trash bag, ready to be thrown out, but she felt bad about doing that.  A lot of larger scale prints (she's making aprons for a craft fair) and a lot of batiks and tone-on-tone prints (not so interesting for cat toys - at least to the human eye), so not as much useable as I'd hoped, but it's all sorted by color, what I can use has been cut, and now I can move on to the boxes of fabric I borrowed from my mom.

There's gonna be a lot of cat toys in my future.

Freddie claimed the empty bag.  Wierdo.  (Loveable wierdo.)

There is also another project being researched, but we'll get to that later if it comes to anything.

Speaking of kitties - mine were in need of some new "treats of valor" that are rewarded after braving the vacuum.  I found these at the grocery store this week:

Note the flavor.  The kitties all liked them, so I guess humans are, in fact, tasty.

I sewed a little on the baby quilt, but it seems I couldn't catch a break for time this week to do much of anything other than chores and needed errands and whatnot.

The heart parts are now hearts.  I wanted to continue sewing, but it was time to go have lunch with my brothers and their wives and pick up fabric from my mom.  Maybe today?  (Though those two boxes of fabric are calling to me, too...I should have taken a photo, but they're fairly boring just being boxes.)

I read some this week, but I only finished one book.

This book was good, but I gave it only 3 stars.

Think DaVinci Code (or any Dan Brown book) but with Shakespeare.  So there was a lot of running around, flying to many different countries, driving at breakneck speeds through the Arizona desert, fighting off killers who might not be killers and questioning the guy you trust because he also might be the killer, which kept things interesting and moving fairly quickly.  But there was a lot of Shakespeare conspiracy (which apparently is a thing that I knew nothing about) and, for lack of a better word, trivia (that I also didn't know).

I read some Shakespeare in high school and was not particularly impressed.  Maybe it was the having to read who said everything at the beginning of each line that tripped me up - different "paragraph" structure.  Maybe it was that students were assigned parts and it was read out loud and some students are much better at that than others.  Maybe I had teachers who just didn't bring it to life.  Whatever the case, my lack of knowledge probably made this book less enjoyable because I was constantly trying to untangle the new revelation and how it fit into the rest of the story and that got old, fast.  I felt like I was skimming a good portion of the book when those scenes came along, so I gave it fewer stars than the action-packed drama may actually deserve.

If you like Shakespeare, this one is probably for you.

It's okay.  They can't all be enjoyable, even if they are good, right?  That's the beauty of having paid about 50 cents for this one. 

Time to head into the sewing room and see where the swirling mess up there leads me!

Happy quilting!

Katie

PS I officially start the new job tomorrow, so we'll see how things shake out with the new schedule!

back to no quilty sewing

Well that was a quick turnaround back to no quilty sewing...

The baby chick quilt is where I left it last week:

But the stack of cat carrier cover fabrics looks like this:

Just three more fabrics!  I was hoping to knock these out today, but then I realized the new job will have me working Mondays - my usual grocery shopping, bill paying and blogging day - so that moved to Sunday this week...taking a few hours of my time today.  And THEN we realized my nephew is playing his first football game of the season and his sister is cheering at the game, and since the weather is decent (cool, but not rainy) we're going to go support them.  (And get some stadium goodies for lunch - perhaps the best part!)

So maybe I'll make it through these, maybe not.  I'm not sure how much any of the pieces are and larger pieces, obviously, can take longer.

The bin of finished covers, however...

It's FULL!  I suppose I could organize them differently and squeeze more in, but this way they stay folded neatly instead of trying to fall over.  I should be able to squeeze in the remaining few I make and then I can turn them in.  I haven't chatted with my volunteer yet to see the next direction, but I suppose I can handle that when I hand these over.

This has been the majority of my free time this week, though I only worked two half-shifts at the new job.  I've learned a LOT already, but there is so much to learn and remember.  I know it will become second nature in no time, but when they sat me down with the big book of ALL the procedures, it was a little overwhelming.  But then I realized, if I sat down and wrote procedures for all the things I do around my house every day (details like which cleaner and scrubber to use on a sink and how to organize the canned foods in the cupboard), it would be a thick binder also, but filled with things that I'm so used to doing, I don't even think about them much.  So it will be fine.

I've been reading as well and last week I forgot to update you on the book I finished, so this week there will be two.

Last week I finished this:

I enjoyed this book a lot, but it took me a bit to convince myself I wasn't reading Downton Abbey!  It is set in the same time with a wealthy family and their servants.  There are a lot of similarities, but this book has something of a mystery that weaves throughout the story and keeps you wondering until the very end.  Eventually I got into the story enough that it felt less like the TV show but on paper.

It jumps back and forth in time, with the main character (who early on becomes a ladies maid) telling her story from back when she was in service while she lives in the present, but it wasn't too hard to figure out where in time I was reading.

4.5 stars

And the book I finished just two days ago:

This book had so much potential.  It's the story of a number of slaves in the mid 1800's and I picked it up because I'm always trying to learn and understand time periods I have not lived through and historical fiction is great for that.

First off, there were a TON of characters.  At the end of the book there is a list of many of them, but not nearly all of them.  With a few less pages than 400, new characters were still being introduced within 50 pages of the end.  Characters who had stories being told, not just bit parts.  It made it hard to keep track of who was who since there were so many.

Next, the time periods jumped around a LOT.  At one point 1987 was mentioned.  Yes, 100+ years later.  Characters deaths were outlined on page 30 and they didn't die until around page 300.  (Not an exact page count, but you get the idea.)  Some amount of reminiscing is allowed (and sometimes expected), but this was as if random ideas popped into the authors head and he just wrote them down and didn't bother to edit them later.

Finally, about the time you think you've got a handle on things, someone new enters the story (or a character you haven't heard from in a bit) and you're off into their story, going in a whole other direction.  Eventually you'll circle back, but it's never any sort of linear progress.

There also never seemed to be any overarching story going on, but I can see that (if this book is to be believed - apparently the author did little to no research on the time period) slavery was a lot more complicated than how history books (at least in my day) presented it and I have a broader perspective of what happened.

2 stars.  Saved from fewer because I feel like I learned a little some things about slavery that I didn't know before.

The next book is looking good, but we'll see how far along I get this week.  I'm still doing the two jobs thing and the new job is scheduling me by asking if I can show up the next day.  I'm officially on the schedule starting next week, so that will be nice.  For now, I'm in transition and that's just how things go.  I could tell them I'm busy.  I could have told them I couldn't start until the old job is done.  But anyone who knows me, knows better than that!  The sooner I get started, the sooner I'm trained and not relying on coworkers to tell me where the toilet cleaner lives or whatever.

And once I'm down to just one job and an official schedule, I can settle into the new routine.  Better sooner than later because that baby quilt isn't going to make itself!

Happy quilting!

Katie

quilty sewing!!!!!

I bet you thought I'd NEVER get back to quilty sewing, didn't you?

There's a lot going on, but a new job starting this week has pushed me into a higher gear to get some things taken care of.

Yep, a new job.

I'd been debating going back to full time again.  Everything is getting more expensive and paychecks aren't reflecting that change and I had been debating with myself if I wanted to give up my free time to make the budget easier.

And then, when I was packing Finn into the car after his dental recheck, one of the gals who works up front at the vet followed me out and told me about an opportunity there.  I applied and got the job!  Turns out taking your pets to the same doc for 24 years can pay off!  This job starts before my two weeks at the old one is done, so I'll be working two jobs for a short while.

Toby is demonstrating how tired he thinks I will be from all the changes.

This change, and finally some time actually at home (it's been a couple of crazy weeks), has kicked my sewing into high gear.  I've made quite a few carrier covers and a few hammocks in an attempt to finish up the ginormous donation of fabrics made earlier this year.  I'm down to 16 fabrics left in the pile, but some of them are larger than others, so it will be more than 16 items made from them.

There seemed to be a light at the end of that tunnel and I was planning to turn over a big stack of goodies and let my volunteer coordinator know about the job and how it would change things and then she sent me a text...  I'd made a huge bin of little catnip toys that they were using at adoption events, but they'd been focusing on getting a (for them to use, not public) clinic up and running and adoptions were taking place through a local pet store, so the toys (intended as a free-for-donation item) were languishing in storage.  This weekend they participated in a local festival and went through a ton of them.  So could I make more?

That upped my notification to the group that my time would be lessened (I'm not quitting!), but also made me want to sew even FASTER!  The little catnip toys take almost as long as the covers and hammocks once you figure in the time required to tell your six cats "NOOOO!!!" 100 times per item! (Filling things with catnip always make construction take longer.)  But I'll raid my stash and start a new batch soon.  I have a huge (and I mean huge) bag of stuffing in my closet that was donated and I'll be glad to use some of that.  (But you know it will still take up the same amount of room because that is the nature of stuffing!)

I thought to start on the Halloween quilt, but found out last week that the hubby's cousin's daughter (who got this quilt for her first child) is pregnant again, due in December.  This time it's a girl.

So you know I had to make her a quilt, right?  (She sent a thank you for the first one - had she not, a second quilt likely wouldn't be happening.)  Off to all my saved quilt ideas (it used to be Pinterest, but now that you can save posts in Instagram and I sometimes just take screenshots, it's gotten more complicated) and see what I come up with.

How about this Baby Chick Quilt from Lori Holt/Bee In My Bonnet?  (You'll have to scroll down a bit - I can't find a good link.)

To the stash!

I pulled yellows and pinks from my stash and started cutting!  And sewing!  This is after just a few hours of sewing, but if you've made any of Lori's patterns, you know there are a lot of parts and a lost of lost corner triangles.

Salem was supervising.  She likes to play fetch with milk rings, but when I get too focused on sewing, or the game gets old, she finds something else to do.  She mostly stole my chair, so this was her form of protest I think.

After a little more sewing, I had chicks with big butts!

This is pretty exciting to have something that looks like something so quickly.  20 6" blocks seem like they might take forever, but I had a good stretch of sewing on Saturday (I also made covers and hammocks and catnip mats - first) and this is exciting!

Back at it on Sunday...

...first I had to find a new box for Finn.  He was trying to lay in the box with all my parts and that wasn't helpful at all.  He loves boxes, so all I had to do was put a paper in this one and make it seem like I needed the box and he was all in.  He slept there most the day.

I sewed and sewed (again, after my first assignment of covers and hammocks and catnip mats) and left off here last night:

The chicks have normal butts now (it probably wasn't obvious there was a problem until you see the finished product) and the hearts that sit next to their feet are partway made - all those red bits.

Today I've gotten most of my at-home chores done now, so I should be able to sew a bunch more.  The hubby is off work today (holiday for us), but he seems settled in to watch garbage TV, so I should be able to do what I want for a while.

I know I'll still have days off and I managed to quilt a lot back when I worked full-time, but this is just a change and a job that is quite different from anything I've done before (usually I'm in the lab getting samples from the animals, now I'll be helping care for them!), so my mind is whirling with worries and possibilities.

The Halloween quilt is on hold for now.  I do want to make it, but I've got a few too many things going on right now and I need to make room (in my brain at least!) before I start anything else.

So that's been my week.  Exciting news AND quilting!  Try not to faint.

Happy quilting,

Katie

almost

I almost sewed some quilty stuff this week...

The AQS show was nearby this week, so I went with my mom.  Some friends who live close invited me on a road trip with them to see it, but I ended up going with my mom instead.  I don't do a lot with her (she's as busy as I am), so it was a good chance to spend some quality time together.

I bought one kit...

My sister-in-law had scoped out this Halloween fabric previously (she loves the holiday) and when I saw the peachy pink and lavendar, I couldn't help but fall in love, too.  We both bought the same kit and it will make the Calabash quilt.

(Maybe I'll make something different, but we'll see...the pattern is pretty simple, but sometimes that is best, despite my apparent love of complex tiny pieces.)

I debated opening and pressing the fabrics when I got home, but I was tired.  And then I worked the next day.  And then we had a bonfire and weenie roast for family the next day.  And then the hubby had a fantasy football draft that I had to help with the next day.  And now it's today and I have a headache, so I think a nap is in order.

Since my last post, other than Monday (when I did sew a little), I've worked both days.  So I haven't had much time to myself.  Some weeks are just like that.

I did squeeze in some catnip mats...

They don't look like much and don't have catnip inside yet, but they're pretty fabric at least!

I have been reading in the down time...first up was a finish that I was nearly through last Monday:

When selecting books from the vast array of used titles on table after table after table at sales, I read the blurb on the back to see if it sounds interesting.  This one alludes to being historical fiction, 500 years ago in Paris, king and queen and witch hunting.

Well.

Turns out it's a romance.  I mean, maybe the cover should have clued me in?  And some books categorized as romance aren't all that romantic or steamy.  This one?  It's got some steamy parts.  Not as a courtesan, as one might expect from the title, though.  It's between the two main characters who are stubborn and foolish.

Turns out it also has a lot more witch stuff than I expected.  That definitely helped balance the rash decisions and romance part and was something I enjoyed learning (if I can trust this author that things are somewhat accurately represented).

Big perk is that there are a number of animals involved and not one dies or is misused.  I hate when books do that.  If it's fiction, you don't HAVE to kill the animal.  More often than not you don't even have to include the animal, so please don't go killing it just for the sake of drama.  (I know they're not real, but I actually THREW AWAY a book because too many animals had unnecessarily died early on.  I quit reading and apologized to the trees that had sacrificed their lives for this as I threw it in the trash.)

Anyways, this is part of a series (book 2), but I didn't feel like I was missing anything.  The characters were well developed and loose ends tied up enough at the end to feel like an actual end to the book.  (I do have book 3, but until its number gets chosen, it won't be read - it wasn't that compelling of a story to keep reading.)

3.25 stars because of all the foolish nonsense the characters go through instead of just solving the problem.

And then there was this:

Ugh.

Apparently there are about four more previous books from this author with Frank as the main character.  So maybe I'm missing something, but I did not like this book at all.

The blurb says it's four short stories set in the aftermath of hurricane Sandy.  So I'm expecting survivor stories.  Or tragedies.  Something along the lines of more-recent-historical-fiction.  But really, the hurricane plays little role in three of the stories and is just the "bad guy" in the fourth.

There were a lot of name-dropping-type comments in the book that I didn't even have a clue to understand.  It made me feel dumb.  And annoyed.

2 stars.  I will not be seeking out any more books by this author.  "Frank" seems like a jerk, and there are enough of those in real life, so I don't really feel a strong urge to seek out fictional ones.

Sorry it wasn't much of an interesting week.  I'm truly hoping this week will be better, but with the headache today and work the next two days, who knows where I'll be a week from now?

Happy quilting anyways!

Katie