My Reading Life

My life might seem to consist only of making quilts, but this is not the case, at all. I have had a lifelong love of reading and on more than one occasion I have mentioned that I was not sewing or quilting because I had a book to finish for book club.

“I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading! How much sooner one tires of any thing than of a book! -- When I have a house of my own, I shall be miserable if I have not an excellent library.” Jane Austen,  Pride and Prejudice 

Since 1999, I have been in a book club with some women who have become very dear to me. I will not be able to list all that we have read in those nearly 20 years, but I can say a little bit about some of my personal favorites.

The six books pictured above were all really great reads, even The Historian, which besides the enormous length of the book, revolved around vampires, a subject that doesn't enthrall me. The Pilcher book, Winter Solstice, was wonderfully comforting and such a gentle read, while the subjects in the others were edgier, more gripping and dramatic in one way or another. Our group likes to be varied in our selections, and in my opinion, we do read a pleasingly wide variety of genres and topics, both current and not-so-current.

We have read fiction and non-fiction, historical, classics, biographies, YA and best-sellers. A few turn out to be duds, but mostly I have been satisfied with our choices.  That 2nd book above, The Many Lives and Secret Sorrows of Josephine B, is about Napolean's wife and is written in diary form. I devoured it. It is the first of a 3-book series, and I read them all. O Pioneers is a classic that I read back in high school, and reading it again as an adult was pure enjoyment! I love Willa Cather's writing.

Seabiscuit was fantastic, as was Shipping News, The Girl in Hyacinth Blue, Year of Wonders, and The Glass Castle. I have only a faint memory of the Atkinson novel, and the Ruth Reichl book is something of a cookbook, if memory serves.

“Books are a uniquely portable magic.” 

Stephen King,On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft  

Three books not pictured here, I would like to mention. Categorized as being at the very top of our "Best Books" list are The Red Tent by Anita Diamant, The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd, and Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver. Wow, they were so excellent, and offered thoughtful and challenging discussion.

I don't own nearly all the books we have read; I do make use of our library when availability is not an issue. We in the reading group do share library copies as well as personal copies on occasion. And as I am typing here, I am thinking of dozens more that we liked - maybe I will try to share more titles in a later post.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

A One-Year Anniversary

Since I was about 15 years old, I have been a Diet Pepsi drinker. Never Coke products, and never any of the other Pespi products. I was a loyal and exclusive Diet Pepsi drinker. Of course, I cut back during the months I was pregnant with my three kids, and probably a couple of other times, too, but I always went back. At my worst, it would not be unusual for me to have 8 or 10 cans a day. Yeah, I was totally addicted. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, in-between, all evening, even before bedtime - it never mattered, anytime was a good time for another can of DP.

One year ago, on March 11, I decided I was not having another one. And I haven't.

Just like that.

I had been feeling a bit sick and somewhat bloated. The thought of pouring a carbonated beverage into my already queasy stomach was simply revolting. After about 3 days without having a single desire for a DP, I made a game of it - go another day; go another day; go another day. Before I knew it I had a week, then a month, then two, three and more. Eventually, I was just plain out of the habit. Instead of DP, I drank a lot more water, tea (no sugar), and those Crystal Lite packets mixed into bottled water. I did not miss the Diet Pepsi even once.

I think this achievement is definitely celebration worthy. (Cue "Celebration" by Kool & the Gang)

DH still drinks it, but has cut back considerably. Maybe three times in the last year upon hearing him crack open a can, I thought it just sounded so refreshing. A couple of times, I took a sip of his, and I was never interested in a second sip. I've lost my desire for it completely.

Can you imagine how much we are saving on our weekly grocery bill? I have never figured up what we were previously spending per week, but I don't think I am exaggerating when I "guess-timate" that we consumed 4 24-packs per week. Probably more. It was ridiculous how much of the stuff we drank. And the kids had all they wanted of it, too, as they were growing up. What a terrible example we were setting.

I'll have a water with my meal, thank you very much!*grin*

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Off to Arizona!

Today, I leave for a Spring Break adventure! I board a plane at some unbelievably early hour on a time-change weekend, and head to Phoenix. I will then rent a car and drive to my uncle and aunt's winter place south of Tucson where my mom has been visiting. She and I will stay there until Tuesday, then Mom and I will drive back up to Phoenix. I have booked us for 2 nights there, we will take in a Cleveland spring training game over in Goodyear, and on Thursday, again at an unbelievably early hour, we fly out to return to Ohio.

I am doing this without DH, and it will be my first trip to the Southwest. I packed a few Lake Effect hexies to stitch while away. I also have a book loaded on my phone, and plenty of apps to keep me occupied during travel time.

Phoenix

Goodyear Ball Park, spring training home of the Reds and the Indians.

Our 2-time Cy Young Award winner, Corey Kluber.

Sounds exciting, doesn't it? I have written up a few posts ahead of time, and they are scheduled for the next couple of days.

Happy Quilting, Friends! I will be waving to you all from the desert!

Prairie Vine Blocks Completed

On Monday when Sharon was here, I made 4 blocks for Prairie Vine, and on Wednesday, I made the remaining 3. Now all 16 blocks are finished and hanging on my design wall. They make me very happy in all their old-fashioned scrappiness.

I have my sashing print set aside as well as border fabric. The sashing will be about 3" wide, with cornerstones of 9-patch blocks. I will need 25, so I suppose that will be my next bit to work on. See the magazine cover below for a picture. My border and sashing fabrics are very similar to those in the photo.

On the border, a vine and a ga-zillion leaves need to be appliqued. I have taken the pattern to be copied onto card-stock paper.  Those now need to be cut out and leaf-prepping will have to begin. This could be a long, drawn-out process, but I am not minding a bit. The quilt is so pretty that it will be worth the time (and tedium?) of doing applique - a branch of quilting that intimidates me.

Wish me well in my endeavor! Are you challenging yourself this year?

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Cross-Body Phone Bag

I upgraded my phone this week. My little iPhone 5s was "just plumb wore out." She wouldn't hold a charge for much longer than an hour. It had become exceedingly inconvenient being plugged in all the time. I am now upgraded to a fancy-schmancy iPhone 8! Our kids don't even have phones this high-tech! Ha!!

Because I like to use two apps while walking - Fitbit and Map My Walk - I carry a cross-body bag to keep my hands free. I made it up from scraps laying around; I also used it for carrying chapstick and tissues when I didn't have pockets. Well, this new phone is so much larger than the old one; a new bag became necessary.So I made one.

One side has a deep pocket for sliding in a credit card, or cash, or a chapstick.

The other side has a pocket that is more shallow, again, convenient for cash or a credit card. On the inside where one side of the strap is attached, I made a loop to hook keys. That might prove useful.

This is actually my second attempt. I made a prototype that has a too-short strap for cross-body purposes. I am probably going to remake a strap for it. It was also a bit snug around the phone, but I think I can live with that.

Now here's a coincidence. I made my cross-body bags late afternoon on Wednesday. Later that evening, I received an email from Claudia who sent a picture of a bag she'd just made for her iPad - she completely made up the pattern. Just like I did! How cool is that? Cosmic forces at work, apparently! Here's Claudia's iPad bag - fancy, what with a zipper, hardware, nylon strap and a tassel! Whoo-hoo!

I sorta' have a thing for bags, so I might just make another one for my phone. I like creating something I use, and they go together super-fast.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Another Snow Shoo Reveal

You probably knew that Sharon and I were both working on Snow Shoo to start the year. We often undertake projects together as a way to keep ourselves motivated and focused. My Snow Shoo was revealed a few weeks ago, and on Monday when Sharon was here for our weekly sewing date, she brought her finished quilt top along.

It is gorgeous!!

I apologize for the sunshine glare, but this time of year in Ohio, we want all the sun we can get!

I took several shots, hoping I could edit out the glare, but I don't have the skill for such a task. So, just look at the pretty parts - this gorgeous quilt! Sharon's is so very different from mine, despite our using the exact same sized blocks. She used a crisp, solid white background and two blues - one for the Shoo Fly blocks and one for the Snowball blocks. It changes the look so tremendously.

Mine is folded across the lower corner of Sharon's in the photo above. See how crisp Sharon's looks next to my more "antiqued" version? I have many, many blues - used as randomly as possible on both the Shoo Fly and Snowball blocks. I did the same with my creamy neutral background.  Below are some repeat pictures of my quilt.

Details on our quilts:

We made 6.5-inch blocks. To make the Shoo Fly blocks we used 2-7/8" squares of navy and background, drew a line on the diagonal, stitched on each side, cut in half for 2 HSTs. These come out to 2.5 inches.Take four HSTs, four 2.5-inch background squares, and one navy 2.5-inch square to form a 9-patch unit with the HSTs on the 4 corners and the navy in the center. Refer to the picture below for a visual.

For the Snowball blocks, we used a 6.5-inch background square and 4 2.5-inch navy squares. We stitched on the diagonal, cut away the excess and pressed out the navy corner. Below is a visual for that. Those 4 little HSTs on top are the cut-away corners which I sewed and have saved for a future project.

Repeat these two steps for as many blocks as you want for your quilt.

I will say that I might have done a better job had I run some test blocks prior to going with these sizes. I think the corner triangles of our Snowball blocks were slightly too large, which resulted in more blocks than not looking like the close-ups shown above. I think if we had cut 2-3/8" squares (instead of 2.5"), the meeting of the points would probably have been more accurate. Funny thing is, though, when I inspected the antique version that we copied, the exact same problem occurred. So maybe it's just the nature of things.

I have not been compelled to test blocks to see the results. If any of you readers feel so moved, perhaps you will let us know?

I am not going to add borders to my quilt, and while I don't think we talked about it, I suspect that Sharon won't either. We did talk about hand quilting them in a crosshatch pattern just like the antique original. It is just so pretty. I wish my picture were better quality!

And that's a wrap on our Snow Shoo quilts. I am glad I did it, and Sharon is, too. She is such a blue-and-white fanatic that she is already back to work on that Triple Irish chain in - you guessed it - blue and white! And it is going to be a beauty, for sure.

Hope you have a great Thursday!
Happy Quilting, Friends!

Let's Try To Catch Up

Hello Everyone! I have been way out of touch with you all lately, and I have plenty to catch up on! Don't worry, I won't try to cover everything in one long, text-laden post; instead, I will break things up into separate related tidbits.

Being sick for a big chunk of February seriously interfered with my sewing and quilting, therefore I just didn't have much to blog about for several weeks. Then, because I was in the midst of the most challenging assignment in my comp classes, I felt obligated to provide my students with adequate feedback on their drafts; anytime I was fit for clear thinking at the computer, I was reading and grading essays. Took about all the energy I had.

It's March here in Ohio! Very blustery day!

That is the big-picture take on my lack of writing and posting on the blog in recent weeks. Now, let's get into the news from Jayne's Quilting Room!

Sharon P. and I have tried to continue our Monday sewing dates. A few have had to be cancelled, but these past two weeks we have kept to our schedule - hooray!

The biggest news is that Sharon has finished her Snow Shoo quilt top! Because I want to provide lots of details, I think that will be the topic of tomorrow's post. Today, I will share what we worked on this week.

Early in the year, before we began Snow Shoo, Sharon started this Triple Irish Chain quilt in blue and white. Snow Shoo pushed this to the back burner, and she pulled it out Monday to continue construction. I shared a bit about this quilt here. Next time we sew together, she will be ready to tackle the alternate blocks.

I was busy constructing blocks for Prairie Vine. I had partial cuts prepared for several blocks, so I finished enough cutting for four blocks and tried some semblance of chain piecing.

I seem to gravitate toward scrappy quilts, and this conglomeration of fabrics and colors is quite attractive to me! Prairie Vine requires just 16 blocks, and when these 4 are finished I will have completed 13 - very much a home stretch on those. Then I will need 25 tiny 9-patch blocks to serve as cornerstones. And then...

Applique - leaves and vines. Oh my. Not my most skilled area. However, I intend to do it - teach this old dog some new tricks. Scroll back to the last post for a picture of the finished quilt.

Tomorrow, I will bring you Sharon's Snow Shoo along with cutting and construction details. Several people asked about those after seeing my finish a few weeks back. Come on back for the big reveal!

Happy Quilting, Friends!