,I think I mentioned a few months ago that I finally found Overdrive and the capability to download audiobooks from my local library free. That's very enticing and I've used it for a half dozen books or more so far. My library doesn't have a huge audiobook selection although I think the adjacent county does and I can get a library card there and would have access to lots more books. The thing is that I'm not all that motivated because with Overdrive, you get what you pay for. The Overdrive app is incredibly clunky compared to the Audible app. It's a pain to search for books and the app has several behavioral quirks, like the need to "re-synch" every time I turn it on. 
I'm completely spoiled with Audible and now I know that a large chunk of the money that I spend on books is going to maintaining the technology that lets me enjoy them. Everything abut Audible is more robust and intuitive. On Overdrive I always have trouble even getting to the book to listen to it once it's downloaded. But the worst is what happened with the first book on my review this month: Grant. This book is 48 hours long! It's no surprise that I couldn't finish it in the 7-day loan period that I accidentally selected. On the expiration day I get no option to extend my loan, the book simply stops working. I had 10 hours left and the book was available  so there's no reason for the app to not have an extension option for books not on waiting lists. To finish the book I have to download the entire 48 hours again and then skip to chapter 36. That is annoying! 
​I'm continue to use Overdrive some but it's not going to put Audible out of business.

My favorite books this month are 3 books by two of my "old reliable" authors: William Kent Krueger and Carl Hiaasen. What good books have you read this month?

Grant by Ron Chernow
Narrated by Mark Branhall

One of my favorite books of all time is Ron Chernow's Alexander Hamilton. I also loved The House of Morgan and The Warburgs. His books are always thoroughly researched and exacting in the telling of the story. they are also always long. Grant takes the prize coming in at 48 hours. It is also being categorized as my least favorite Chernow book.

Ulysses Grant is a fascinating man and one of the most important figures in American history through his efforts to win the Civil War and the actions he took as President. We, as a nation, have a lot to be grateful to him for. That said, he simply isn't nearly as interesting a person as Hamilton. He was a very devoted family man, he might or might not have had a binge drinking issue, he was probably the most racial-equality minded person of his time  and he was too loyal to friends when selecting cabinet members and aids. Those are the main points that I took from a book that tells EVERY SINGLE DETAIL of the man's life. Studying every single battle of the war was really not necessary to get the measure of the man and I thought it was overkill. But then, I'm a casual history student. This is a scholarly book and if you are into that you will love this one.

As I mentioned above, Overdrive was brutal with the expiration date and deleted the book from my phone with 10 hours left. He was conquering the KKK (the original one, not the 1930's version) when the book got deleted from my device. I was so fatigued from listening to such minutiae that I decided not to download it again to finish. I would have finished it if I had purchased it on Audible but I'm not sad that I didn't.
​

Mercy Falls and Copper River
By William Kent Krueger, Narrated by David Chandler

After Grant I needed something more entertaining to read and selected the 5th book in the Cork O'Connor series, Mercy Falls. A Chicago businessman has been murdered in Tamarack County and Cork is investigating. Simple enough except the man is from a very wealthy family and the man's brother was once involved with Cork's wife. He does determine who committed the murder but by then his own life, and his family's, is in danger and the book ends with him escaping town. 

That's why I immediately started reading Copper River. (Plus it was in the middle of Mom's move and I didn't want to have to think about what book to read next.) Continuing with Cork O'Connor seemed the best approach and I'm glad I did. It's not totally necessary to read these 2 close together because Copper River is a completely different story. Cork is hiding out with his cousin in a tiny Michigan town. The cousin's son and a friend saw a dead body in the river that turns out to be a homeless teen. Cork exposes himself to help investigate......there's also a cougar.

I like the Cork O'Connor series a lot and will keep with it.

Strip Tease
By Carl Hiaasen, Narrated By George Wilson

Carl Hiaasen is such a clever writer. All of his books are absurdly hilarious and I love them. They are all set in Florida and all feature corrupt politicians in some way. This story starts with a nutty congressman and his infatuation with a topless dancer. When a customer on a bachelor weekend tries to engage with the stripper the congressman attacks him with a champagne bottle. That sets off a series of hilarious event and includes a custody battle between the stripper and her ex-husband, a wheelchair thief, raising wolves as pets, boa constrictors, competing strip bars and any number of other story lines. It's crude, but very funny if you are into this kind of book.

Heft
By Liz Moore, Narrated by Kirby Heyborne, Keith Szarabajka

Have you ever watched an episode of Hoarders? It starts out kind of fascinating but devolves into sadness and hopelessness pretty quickly. The people portrayed are pretty much too far gone. But at then end there seems to be a tiny strand of hope.

Well, that's sort of the feeling reading this book. Arthur is a former professor but has been home bound for a decade and has ballooned to about 500 lbs. Charlene is a former student of Arthur's and over the past 20 years they have corresponded regularly but have not seen each other even though they live only 20 miles apart. Charlene is in about the same shape as Arthur but she has a son, Kel, who is a high school senior. 

This book is supposedly about the last letter that Charlene writes to Arthur that will set off a series of events but it's really not that clear. Heft is a heavy story, told in a lumbering manner that made me feel like I was carrying around a weight and I couldn't wait to end it. After the long slog I was disappointed in the ending. I felt it needed to be carried forward a little more. In fact, I uttered a bit of profanity at the end because I felt that I had slogged through the story for so long that I deserved to spend a little time in the recently cleaned house just to see if the hoarder was really cured.

This book has received a lot of outstanding reviews and some awards so you might try it for yourself but my next book needs to be a palate cleanser.

Caveat Emptor
By Ruth Downie, Narrated by Simon Vance

If you enjoy historical fiction this is a nice series. They are all set during the Roman Empire but each book is stand alone. You get a little background from previous books but Ruth Downie does a nice job of writing stand-alone stories.

In this one Ruso and his wife, Tulla, have moved to Britannia where he's been promised work. He expects it to be medical work but instead it's sleuthing work. He's tasked with finding a missing tax collector.

Interesting story and excellent narration. I always like books narrated by Simon Vance.

The Echo Man
By Richard Montanari, Narrated y Scott Brick

This is the 4th book in the Byrne and Balzano series. Jessica Balzano and Kevin Byrne are detectives in Philadelphia and they are investigating another serial killer. This time the victims are all placed and posed in the same was as a victim of a previous cold case.

Montanari's trademark is serial killers who are very meticulous, purposeful, deranged and very evil. The stories are complex and you have to play close attention to all characters. This one was particularly comnvoluted with the overlay of a music composition theme. It wrapped up quickly and I'm not sure if I was glad to have it end or annoyed that I felt cheated. It was a little of both, I think.

​Also, Scott Brick is the narrator. I used to love Scott Brick. He was one of my favorites but he's starting to grate on me. He narrates every character as if they are carrying a chip on their shoulder. There was a particular passage in this book where Byrne and Balzano were having a light-hearted conversation but Brick narrated the conversation with so much condescension and attitude that I think he made the conversation have a totally different meaning. I don't know if I'll read more of this series.

Deadly Straits
By R E McDermott, Narrated By Tom Haberkom

This is the 1st in the Tom Dugan series. I was excited to find a new "mystery and intrigue" series. This series is compared to Vince Flynn and Tom Clancy. The main character, Tom Dugan, is a part-time CIA operative and this time he's called to infiltrate his friend's shipping company to fin out who has caused 2 shipping disasters. It sounded like it had the making of a great new series.

Sadly, in my opinion, it's not near the quality of Vince Flynn. This book needs some serious editing. There are too many characters and too many stories within the story. For example, there's a side story line where the shipping company owner is being framed and threatened with his handicapped daughter's life. The story would have worked just fine without the absolutely absurd kidnapping and recovery tale of the daughter. In another example, the CIA calls a police officer in Panama directly to ask for assistance. In the real world that would never happen the way it's told but his way of telling it makes the story efficient to write. But it doesn't make it a good story. I won't be exploring this series any further.

The narrator is really good though and that's what got me through the book.

This week's inspiration is from Stephanie Wilds. She has become very well knows for her fabric portraits. This one is of her Mother and was made with the Pine Shades Pack. Stephanie teaches this technique and has a class schedule for October at John C. Campbell Folk School.

​If you have made anything with my hand dyed fabric I hope you will consider sharing it in the Customer Gallery. In appreciation you will receive a 20% shop coupon that's good for 3 months!

The last 2 blossoms on my applique border are done and the borders are now 90% done.

Here are all 4 borders ready to go on the quilt. Oh boy, I love the sight of this.

I just keep staring at them! But now I need to get on with adding them to the quilt.

Fortunately when I glue basted the borders I made a little chart so that I'd know which side each border goes on and which blossoms go in each corner. Next step is to get up the nerve to add these to the quilt!

I shared last week that I had cut out my second tunic. I made a few alterations to shorten it and widen it at the hip (darn it). I did this one color blocked with 2 "matching" prints. I love these Sew Batik rayons and I love that they are named in such a way that you can easily identify the coordinating fabrics. I washed and machine dried all of the fabrics so that I can treat the tops the same. I've washed the blue one and it didn't require any ironing at all. That makes these absolutely perfect summer tops! I worked on this in bits of time over the past week and, in total time, it went together really quickly.

Here's the pattern. I made this one color blocked like the red/black one but the short version like view B without the pockets. The next one will be a longer version to wear with leggings and I'll do it black and red just like view D. Another change I made was to draft a neck facing. The pattern calls for a bias strip for the neck but I felt it was a little too bulky. A 1: facing worked out perfectly and was actually easier.

It still cracks me up to sew 5/8" seams. They seem so HUGE! I remember when I started quilting and was told to use 1/4" seam allowances and I was sure that every quilt I made would fall apart.

Of course even a simple garment can't be sewn without some sort of snafu. Don't we all love picking  out black stitching on black fabric! 
​Now if the weather would just warm up enough to wear my new tops.

If I could make myself focus on one project at a time this one would be done already. But that's not my nature. My fabric business keeps me really busy (and I like that) but I try to set aside an an hour every day to do something and I let my mood decide what that that thing is. The marbles quilting requires me to be "on". I can do mosaic a bit tired and I can applique in front of the TV but the marbles have to be done when I'm able to focus. That's why they are a bit slow coming along but I am just fine with that.

Someone asked last week if I plan these out. I wish! 
I think we all know by now that I'm not good at planning my quilting. So with these I do keep track of what I've done but I don't really plan them. Maybe that's one reason they are taking so long to do! 

​Here are the latest 6.

I know this isn't a photo of the mosaic wall but it will explain why the mosaic wall is going to pick up in progress.  I have decided to vend at the AQS show in Virginia Beach this year! I had so much fun vending at Birds of Feather that I've decided to try a big show and this one is so close to home that it's the perfect opportunity. That means that I have a TON of extra fabric to dye this summer so I'll be dyeing 2 days each week and that started last week. I have a inventory schedule and started last week with the Black Shades Packs and a few other fabrics.

What does this have to do with mosaic? After dyeing I'm already in my messy clothes and they are already messed up so that's when I usually work on the wall. Now I"m going to have 2 opportunities do do that each week.

This week I finished 5 more beads: the blue/brown one at the bottom and the 4 on the end. 

There's so much left to do but I'll feel like I've made some real progress when the top third is done and I don't need the step stool anymore.

I will be very luck if I don't end up with a broken rib before I'm done. I keep backing into the end of this pole on my longarm!

Patricia Caldwell is back this week with another of her beautiful art quilts. Zen Gardenis made with pieces from the Mystic Jade Shades Pack along with other batik fabrics. Follow Patricia on her Facebook page to see more of her work.

​If you have made anything with my hand dyed fabric I hope you will consider sharing it in the Customer Gallery. In appreciation you will receive a 20% shop coupon that's good for 3 months!

There are only 2 blossoms left on this border! Of course now I'm starting to dread the part where I have to sew these onto the quilt.

In other news of random projects, I've cut into the new rayon batik stash for a new tunic. This one will be sort of 2-toned or color blocked. I might even get it sewn together this weekend.

Time for a few more marbles! 
The thing about this quilt is that it's turning into a wonderful "class" for me. By making myself do something different in each of the 100+ circles I'm having to explore some things that I might not otherwise. Like this heart template that I've had in my collection "forever" and possibly have never used. It turns out that it's a pretty good ruler!

Here's a peek at how they are looking on the quilt. I'm in love!

In 2015, Paula Nadelstern asked me to make a quilt for her new book and Pleiades was the result. I like this quilt a lot but I've been wanting to make a larger one with a smaller block size.

I even have a layout that's sort of a swirl effect and cut out a few blocks last year to get started and then haven't touched it since. I've decided that I need to work at it a bit as my "at home" sewing machine project. That's not to be confused with all of my recent "travel" sewing machine projects, longarm quilting projects, mosaic projects, applique project, glass projects and my new garment-making projects. What's one more project?

The block size for the new version is 2" x 4" and I love cutting a bunch of holes in my fabrics.

And I have lots of fabric to choose from! This is my collection of symmetry fabrics and most are Paula Nadelstern's. These are pretty much the only commercial fabrics in my stash.

My cutting station is right here in the floor in front of the fabric cabinet. It's easy to pull things out and put them away between sessions.

I even have this tiny diagram taped to one of the cabinet doors to remind me the direction I want my pinwheels to spin.

So with each fabric I'm looking for a curved line that will give me a spinning effect.

Here's how I cut that fabric.

Some are more successful than others. That one on the left will likely be a reject in the quilt. I don't like the weave effect . I'm happy with the others.

One of these fabrics will be the background and I will need about 55 pinwheels for the design I'm doing. The finished quilt is planned to be about 60" square. I work on it in small bits of time and will share my progress again in a couple of weeks