I made a little crochet progress this week. The orange marker on this one is where I was last week. I got far enough to see what my pattern is going to look like and I'm happy with it. This is going to be a big blanket so it will take a while.
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I made more progress on the baby blanket. The red marker is where I was last week.

I alternate working on them and it looks like I had more time on baby blanket nights this week.

June was a month of variety for my book selections. I don't read sci-fi or fantasy but I still covered several genres. I did accidentally read something with a little magic, which annoyed me. Even that book was a good story, I just didn't like the genre. My absolutely favorite book of the month was The Women by Kristen Hannah. My favorite non-fiction was The Stranger in the Woods by Michael Finkel. It's an older book but worth searching for at used book stores. Chris liked it too.

What books do you have to recommend this month?
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A Love Song for Ricki Wilde
By Tia Williams, Read By Mela Lee and Preston Butler

I should have never read this book. It showed up on a couple of recommended lists so I picked it up without really looking into what it was about. It's really not my genre. First, it's a romance novel and second, it contains magic. That wasn't really clear in the description. It was billed as Historical Fiction, contemporary, African American and heartfelt.

Ricki Wilde is the youngest of 4 daughters in a powerful Atlanta family. She's the artistic free-spirit that doesn't fit into the family. She decides to move to NYC to open a flower shop. She meets a woman named Ms. Della who invites her to live and open her shop in the bottom floor of her brownstone. 

One late night she's walking in a local garden to clear her mind and she meets mysterious stranger who turns her life upside-down. It's basically a modern fairytale.

I actually liked the characters, especially Ms. Della and I liked the historical references to Harlem, especially the music scene. I think if you like books like Outlander you might like this one.​

The Nature Fix
By Florence Williams

This is a paperback book that I read a little on vacation and finished while sunbathing at home.

This was an interesting book that does exactly what the cover says. It explains why and how nature makes us healthier, smarter and happier.

Some of the current research into the impact of nature is really fascinating. There's even benefit from looking at nature on screens. 

​I looked back at my records and I tried listening to this book a couple of years ago and I didn't finish it. Now that's I've read the paper version I can see why this wouldn't translate to audio.

Code Red
By Kyle Mills for Vince Flynn, Read By Steven Weber

This is #22 in the Mitch Rapp series. In this one Mitch owes Damien Losa a favor. Unfortunately Losa is a powerful crime boss who is not to be trusted.

The Syrian government has developed a new, permanently addictable drug and plans to distribute it throughout Europe, in Losa's territory. He sends Rapp to investigate because Rapp is easily expendable.

It turns out that Syria didn't develop the drugs, Russia did.

​It's another fast paced Mitch Rapp novel and, apparently, the last that Kyle Mills will write. I think he did a great job of continuing the Mitch Rapp series after the death of Vince Flynn but I'm glad he's going back to his own books. I'm glad to hear that because I found Mills through his first books and I loved them.

Don Bentley is picking up the Mitch Rapp series next and book #23, Capture or Kill, will be out in September.

The Women
By Kristen Hannah, Read by Julia Whelan

This book is probably going to be on my top 10 for 2024. I read it in 2 days because I couldn't put it down. In brief, it's the telling of the lives of nurses in Vietnam and the trials of their levies after service. We need more books about the perspective of service people in the Vietnam War.

Francis (Frankie) McGrath comes from a family of war heroes. Her father has installed a "heroes wall" in their home. She's 20 years old and her brother has recently graduated from the Naval Academy and is deploying to Vietnam. When one of his friends tells her that "women can be heroes too" she decides to use er nursing degree to join the Army Nursing Corps and follows her brother to the war. She is not prepared for the devastation and chaos but, with her nursing friends, she becomes an amazing nurse.

After 2 years in country she is surprised to come home to an unwelcoming country and she had trouble getting support from the VA because "women didn't serve in Vietnam". Her adjustment back home is long and difficult.

I think this book will really speak to anyone who knew someone who served in Vietnam and it is a book that was long overdue. Kristen hannah did an amazing job of keeping the story in the period and not overlaying modern mores on the story. If you read it, you will cry.

The Stranger in the Woods
By Michael Finkel

I'm not sure how I hears about this book. Maybe a recommendation from one of you. Regardless, it was a good one! I picked up a hard copy from Thrift Books and read it on my daily vitamin D sessions outside.

This is the story of Christopher Knight. In 1986 he was 20 years old and had been working a couple of years out of high school. One day he left without telling anyone. He drove to Florida and then back to Maine, near Moosehead Lake. He was running out of gas and money so he ditched the car and set out on foot. He eventually arrived to a wooded area west of Albion on one of the thousands of lakes (ponds) in the state. He stayed there for 27 years.

He lived in a tent, never lit a fire and broke into nearby cottages for food, fuel, clothing and reading material. He took only what he needed and was dubbed the North Pond Hermit. People knew he existed but no one had seen him. 

The author became interested in him after the new of his capture and was eventually able to make contact and build some sort of relationship with him. This is the story of why he left and how he lived. It's really fascinating.

The Fellowship of Puzzlemakers
By Samuel Burr, Read By Penelope Keith and Russell Tovey

Clayton Stumper is a young man with an old soul. As a baby he was abandoned on the steps of The Fellowship of Puzzlemakers where he was raised by an eclectic group of puzzle and game makers. They make crossword puzzles, word puzzles, jigsaw puzzles, mazes and any other type of puzzle you can think of. 

Pippa Allsbrook was a master crossword maker and the mother in Clayton's life. When she dies, she leaves him a puzzle trail to help him find his birth mother and also to help him find himself. 

I'd call this a charming story. It's set in modern times with flashbacks to the past 20 years around the time of Clayton's birth and the founding of the Fellowship. It's a nice easy and entertaining read.

Miss Benson's Beetle
By Rachel Joyce. Read By Juliet Stevenson

It's 1950 in post-war London and Margery Benson lives drudgery life with a teaching job she hates. She's had enough and she impulsively quits her job and place to go halfway around the world to search for a rare beetle, the golden beetle of New Caledonia, that may not exist at all.

She advertises for an assistant and has to settle on the 1950's version of Elle Woods but more of a prostitute than lawyer. Enid Pretty shows up wearing a pink suit and pompom sandals.  It turns out that Enid is incredible resourceful and they make a great team. Their friendship and resourcefulness gets them through some trying and dangerous times on their trip. 

This was a great read. It's a good mix of serious story and humor. I really enjoyed it.

The Vacancy in Room 10
By Seraphina Nova Glass, Read By Brittany Pressley and Stacey Glemboski

Anna Hartley's husband has an artist retreat studio in a dilapidated hotel-turned-apartment complex. He calls her one day in a panic saying that he's murdered someone.  Something she knows he's incapable of. Later his body is found on the banks of the Rio Grande and everyone assumes it's suicide.

Anna decides to move into his hotel room while their house is being prepared for selling. She thinks it will allow her to get closer to Henry and understand what he was going through. She starts to learn that there's more going on at The Sycamore's than she thought.

The motel/apartment manager, Cass, seems to have her own secrets. She used to live in luxury and wear designer dresses until her partner traded her in for someone younger. She's always had maintenance and building skills so she was able to secure a job at The Sycamores as the handyman and manager. 

It's a unique mystery concept and there are good characters but these 2 women make some of the dumbest girl-like decisions. They annoyed me and I eventually sped up the narration speed so I could get to the end. It's definitely chick-lit focused on "girl-power" so if you like that type of book, you will love this. I just felt that they made some really stupid decisions.  It had nothing but rave reviews on Audible.

My Planet
By Mary Roach

A friend gave me a couple of Mary Roach books last year. Mary Roach is a science writer  and humor essayist. All of her books, as far as I know, are collections of essays. This one is a collection of observations about everyday life. These were from her Reader's Digest column. It's quite witty and entertaining.

Essays usually aren't what I like to read but these books are great for when I'm sitting in the sun. I can time myself with a certain number of essays on each side. It's also great for passing time in waiting rooms. I don't think I'd enjoy this in audio format.

Yesterday was mostly about doing some of my business shut-down admin tasks but I did get one of the single veterans quilts loaded and quilted. This one was made by Gwendolyn and I like it a lot. I lvoe the turquoise with the brown.
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In this close up photo you can see that it has a camping theme. I used the square spiral pantograph. The next quilt will use the same pantograph and thread to make things more efficient. Then I'll switch to another pantograph for the last 3 quilts.

I'm glad tomorrow is audiobook day because I won't have anything else to post. Today I go to a foot doctor and then I'm going to do a little furniture shopping. 

Yesterday I got out my batting scraps and interfacing strips and started making some free batting. I do not buy the pre-cut strips of fusible tape. Instead I wait for Joann to put Pellon interfacing on sale and I buy a bolt of 15 yards. The one I buy is kind of a kint type. When I get it home I slid out the cardboard but leave the interfacing folded. Then I can cut it into 1.5" strips that are each 15 yards long. 
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I was happy to get 5 single battings to gos with the pieced backs that I put together the day before. I consider that 5 free quilts!
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Mom and I went to visit my brother Monday and we picked up two of these plant stands that he made for her. When she moved into her apartment she didn't have room for a cedar chest in her new apartment. It wasn't a heirloom. She picked it up at an auction years ago and thinks that it was probably some kid's shop project. My brother took it and made 2 of these plant stands for her that she can use on her patio.

This piece still has the key attached. He said he used almost every piece of wood. He did a beautiful job. This is the brother that I screen printed the shirts for. He was wearing one when we visited.

Two more veterans quilts are quilted! I'm not positive, but I think these were made by Margaret.
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I quilted these with the stars and ribbons pantograph and red thread. I have really gotten my money's worth out of this panto. I decided I was a little bored with it so I treated myself to two new pantographs this weekend. I'm looking forward to having something a little different to  quilt when they arrive.
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The next two are loaded and I've started the quilting. They will be done by the end of the week.

Here's a little side project I've worked on the past couple of days. 
We buy the veterans backing fabric by the bolt. I cut it in 2 yard lengths and each of those pieces is enough for 2 quilts. The bolt is 15 yards so there's always a yard left over. I can cut those pieces in half and stitch them back together in a different orientation and get a backing big enough for 1 quilt. I had a stack of "ends" and got them all fixed up to make 6 single quilt backs. Now I'm going to go through that stack of batting strips (left over from quilting other veterans quilts) and piece them together to make batting for the singles. It will be like getting 6 free quilts quilted. I'm going to try to use these for the next few quilts.

I had a really productive weekend because it was hot enough outside to motivate me to stay inside. I spent a lot of time cleaning out my business supplies. I have a lot of empty plastic containers! I convinced a friend to take a few containers and hangers home but I still have a lot that I will need to disperse elsewhere. We've decided to turn the office/store room back into a bedroom so we're starting to move furniture around and make plans. I think this is going to set off a big chain reaction of change in the house. It's time!

​I did get in some sewing and finished 2 veterans tops. This one doesn't quite have the contrast I was going for but  I think it might be better than I envisioned.

This one actually fits more with my personality. I love browns and I love this quilt. 

I also got the red, white and blue quilts quilted but I need to trim and photo them today. That's probably about all I'll get done because I'll be out with my Mom most of the day running errands and visiting my cousin and brother.

In other news, I ordered my Cricut machine yesterday!

This week I had a little crochet detour. I worked the voting precinct Tuesday. I expected it to be slow and I was right. I took my crochet bag and finished the rust/blue hat and did more rows on the blue hat. That one is folded in double so it's reasonable close to being done.

The cool thing was that the other woman working is also a crocheter! We both worked the poll books and got to sit and crochet together all day. She does really cute amigarumi that she sells somewhere locally.
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I got a few more rows added to the baby quilt.
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I also added a few more rows to the big blanket. You can start to see the pattern repeat now. There will be a wide navy stripe, small blue stripe, medium white, small blue and then navy again.

I'll probably get in a little more crochet time in today now that my time is more free. Plus it's supposed to be really hot all week so that means inside time for sure.

I got a great night of sleep Wednesday so by yesterday morning I was fully recovered from my day at the polls. I headed back to the Montpelier Center for another day of sewing and I finished all of these blocks. I am very excited about this quilt. It's another veterans quilt and I'll probably get the blocks all sewn together this weekend. It's even possible that it could get quilted next week.

In other news, everything from the shop is totally sold out! I'm completely flabbergasted and grateful. 

Now, it's just on to making lots of things and blogging. 

Our first day sewing in our new location went great. It's a really nice room in a facility with a nice kitchen and very clean bathrooms. This old building was "home" but we've gotten a nice upgrade. I was really tired today so I only stayed a couple of hour and I spent most of my time yakking. I started this quilt and only got 2 of 20 blocks finished. Hopefully, I'll get more done today.
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As usual, I had a miscut in the kit. I was short piece for one block. Fortunately I had a scrap of this fabric at home.
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I spent the rest of the day being grateful for you. The final sale has been successful beyond my imagination. 
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This is where the gradients used to be stored. I'm flabbergasted! 
There are still some good options left and I've cleaned up the shop so you can see everything on one page. If you check it out, don't forget the coupon code THEEND.

Our quilt club has moved to a new location that's actually right next door to the place where the club has met for 35 years. The new place is an old school building. That building was constructed at a time when the cafeterias were built as a separate building. The old cafeteria is owned by the County and that's where we have been meeting. Fun fact: my college roommate's Mom was the last principle of that school! 

Today we have our first sewing days. Yesterday I worked the voting precinct and it was a really long day. Normally, I'd do nothing today but I don't want to miss our first day. I may only stay a couple of hours, but I'm going.
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This is the kit I'm taking today. I have 2 quilts in here, one is patriotic. The other is animal print batiks. The batiks are left over from Karen's quilt. The pattern is this one. I've made it several times because it's simply a churn dash block and comes together quickly.
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