How do you shop for books? As with everything else in my life my book selections revolve around lists. I have an Excel spreadsheet of all the books I've listened to (or actually read) and that list goes back to January 1995 and by next month it will have 1600 entries. I believe books > TV. I reference the list a lot to see if I liked a particular author or narrator. The second list is the hold list at my library on Libby and the third list is the Wish List on Audible. When new books come out I peruse the Audible list and put ones that I think I might like on my Wish List. Then I wait a few months to see how the reviews come in if it's a new author. Sometimes I leave them on the Wish List until my library gets the book in and I can put it on hold. It seems like a lot to manage but it actually makes my book selections more streamlined. Because I find it pretty stressful to finish a book and not have another ready to start in Libby or Audible. When that happens I'll sit at the computer for an hour or so putting books on hold in Libby or purchasing in Audible to make sure that I have 5 to 10 books stacked and ready to read.

I know, it seems weird but it's not much different than having multiple projects to work on. Imagine the panic if you woke one morning and didn't have even one project to work on that day. The horrors! That's how I feel about an empty book list. 

All of that to say that I spent a couple of laptop sessions this week to get some books lined up for the next few weeks and now I'm all calm and peaceful again.

​What have you been reading? I had a great month of books. I liked all of them. If I have to pick a least favorite it would be A Good Marriage simply because of the unlikable characters. The best has to be the new Robert Galbraith, Troubled Blood.

Long Range
By C.J. Box, Read by David Chandler

This is #20 in the Joe Pickett series. If they ever switch readers for this series I think I'd have to give them up. Chandler has become Pickett for me.

In this book, the wife of the the local judge is shot by sniper fire. It looks like the judge was the target but the shooter missed. Joe is brought in to help solve the crime. It becomes more urgent when Nate Romanowski becomes the main suspect.
Box is still keeping these books fresh and interesting.

Total Power
By Kyle Mills (Vince Flynn), Read By George Guidall

This is book 19 in the Mitch Rapp series. One of the things I love about Kyle Mills is that he has a real talent for telling stories that could actually happen. This one is about an attack on the US power grid. It's scary how realistic it is. I couldn't put it down.

Say Nothing
By Patrick Radden Keefe, Read By Matthew Blaney

I was a teenager in the 1970's and I remember heard about "The Troubles" in Northern Ireland at that time but it was certainly not anything that we studied in school or payed much attention to.

This book is the story of that time and the key players in the IRA. It's told specifically around the abduction and murder of Jean McConville in 1972. She was a mother of 10 and was accused of being an information for the British military.

It's a fascinating book if you enjoy history. I do think it might be better read in paper than in audio. I found the narrator a little flat.

A Good Marriage
By Kimberly McCreight, Read by a cast

Many years ago when I was still working an co-worker and I were talking about a relatively new neighborhood nearby and I probably said something abut it being a boring suburb. He then proceeded to enlighten me that this particular neighborhood had a very active swingers group. His wife knew someone who participated and apparently there was (as you would expect) some crime that happened. Probably assault by a jealous spouse who couldn't handle what seemed like "fun". The whole thing kind of grossed me out and I think about it every time I drive near that neighborhood.

Well, that's how this book starts out. The characters are parents of students at a private school in Brooklyn. One of the parents has an annual party while the kids are away at camp and it's a "sleepover party". One of the attendees is murdered at her own home on the evening of that party. The husband is a prime suspect.

Every singer character in this book has a stupidly complex life with hidden secrets so anyone could have killed this woman. The husband calls on an old law school flame to be his attorney and she has secrets too! 

If this is what big city private school parents are like then I'm happy to be a country hick. All of these people are awful and are probably raising some really messed up kids. The book moves along at a good pace but the actual detective work is pretty small. Most of the book is about uncovering the secrets. I wanted a shower after I finished it and I'm really happy for my seemingly boring life.

The Masterpiece
By Fiona Davis, Read By Cassandra Campbell

I'm not sure how I found Fiona Davis but if it was one of you, thank you. I really enjoyed this book and I see that she had lots of others available for me to read.

The book centers around Grand Central Station. In the 1920's there was an art school in the station and Clara Darden is one of the instructors. She's not taken seriously because she's an illustrator and sells her work for commercial use. The school closes at the beginning of the Depression and Clara virtually disappears from the art scene.

In the 1970's Virginia Clay is newly divorced, still struggling with her identity after a mastectomy and, gratefully, finds employment in the information booth of GCS. Clara and Virginia's paths cross through Clara's art that Virginia finds in the abandoned art school. 

Nice character development and a perfect light, escapist read when you want a diversion from reality.

No One's Home
By D. M. Pulley, Read By Emily Sutton-Smith

When I'm stumped for a new book I like to go back through my Excel spreadsheet of books and look for authors that I loved and see if they have anything new. Pulley's The Dead Key is still one of my favorite books and I was excited to see a new offering.

Pulley is a master at moving back and forth in time intertwining stories. This book is set in a foreclosed mansion in Cleveland called Rawlingswood. It's in total disrepair when Margot and Myron Spielman decide that fixing up an old mansion won't be any stress on their already fragile marriage. Everyone in town thinks that the mansion is haunted and the Spielman family starts to believe it.

The story of the house is told through the three families who have lived challenging lives within the walls of the once grand mansion.

Monster
By Steve Jackson, Read by Kevin Pierce

If you are into true crime and you haven't read this book yet, put it on your list. It's the story of serial killer Thomas Luther.

I really wasn't sure about this book but I was hooked from the first chapter. It's a very methodical and detailed account of the life and crimes of Thomas Luther. The author must have done a lot of research and got a lot of people to share personal details and information because when you finish this book you know the detective, the victims, the victim's families, Luther's girlfriend, Luther's friends and everyone else remotely involved in this case. I know that sounds tedious but it isn't at all.

The book was originally written in the 90's but was updated in 2013. Jackson is an amazing storyteller and I can't wait to read another of his books.

Love and Other Consolation Prizes
By Jamie Ford, Read By Emily Woo Zeller

Jamie Ford tells wonderfully deep and poignant historical stories. His characters suffer immense hardships and they do it through actual historical places and events. He tells a great story.

In this one, 12 year old Ernest Young is a student at a charity boarding school and has the opportunity to attend the Seattle 1909 World's Fair. What he doesn't know is that he's going to be auctioned off with a raffle.

The winning ticket belongs to a madam at one of Seattle's most famous brothels where he will now live and work. There he befriends Maise (the madam's daughter) and Fahn (a maid). Learn about Seattle's history as their stories are told.

​The narration is fantastic. I couldn't put it down.

The River of Souls
By Robert McCammon, Read By Edoardo Ballerini

According to my Excel spreadsheet, I started reading the Matthew Corbett series in 2017 - 2018. I stopped because this book is less than 10 hours long. But as I was going through my latest round of bookshelf crisis I remembered the series and decided that I wanted to continue with it. This is the 5th book in the series and the only one less than 10 hours. After reading it, I realize that it's somewhat of a prequel to book 6 so it was very much worth the read.

These books are set at the turn of the 18th century and Matthew Corbett is a private investigator and has accepted a commission in Charles Town in Carolina colony. He is to escort a beautiful young woman to a fancy dress ball. Easy. Not so fast. Carolina in 1703 is rugged.

I'm so glad I read this one and I look forward to the next 2 in the series. Edoardo Ballerini is probably my favorite narrator at the moment. 

Troubled Blood
By Robert Galbraith, Read By Robert Glenister

I have been waiting for this book for weeks and was so excited when it became available at the library. This is the 5th book in the Cormoran Strike series. It's long, just as I like it, coming in at about 30 hours. The reason that I love long books is that there so much more character development and several subplots. 

Cormoran Strike is a private detective visiting family in Cornwall when he is asked to help solve the disappearance of Margot Bamborough in 1974. By this point Strike is almost a celebrity for the previous high visibility crimes that he has solved. His business partner is Robin Ellacott and both had some pretty deep relationship baggage that gets carried through the book. There are other investigations going on as well as things in their personal lives but the characters aren't stuck in cliché relationships with each other. They developthroughout the book. I couldn't put it down.

If you are a fan of Harry Potter and love mystery books than you will love this series. JK Rowling, as we all know, is an amazing writer and can create scenes that we feel we can inhabit. Robert Glenister is the perfect narrator because you completely forget that one person is reading all of the dialogue. The books in the series are intertwined, like with Harry Potter, so I highly recommend reading them in order. The first one is The Cockoo's Calling. With all of the books be prepared for some pretty gruesome scenes.

The Dollhouse
By Fiona Davis, Read By Tavia Gilbert

Earlier this month I read The Masterpiece by Fiona Davis and I enjoyed it. She seems to specialize in historical fiction set in New Your City landmarks. This one is centered on the Barbizon Hotel. Look it up on Wikipedia, it has a very interesting history and after 2006 there were still 14 women living there under rent control even though the hotel had converted to condos.

The core of the story is set in 1952 when the hotel was home to single women, mostly either aspiring models or business school students. One of those students is still living at the hotel and that is the basis for the story.

It's interesting but I didn't feel it was as good as The Masterpiece. The plot was kind of weak and the romance element was a little heavy handed for me. I think this was one of her earlier books so I might try one of her newer ones.

But first, a couple of photos from Thanksgiving. The day started off a little rainy and overcast but by the time the mashed potatoes were underway this is the view we were blessed with. It was a lovely day on the Rappahannock River. We always do Thanksgiving as a small group so, for once this year, there was no change for us. As usual we had too much food for too few people! Absolutely perfect.

It's possible that Ginger even got more treats than she was supposed to have. But don't tell anyone that. Sometimes I get in trouble. But she always seems so hungry and does pitiful to perfection.

My one goal of the trip was to get Dale and Chris to hold the quilt up for me to get a full front photo. I didn't have any place where I could do it here. It was a little breezy but we got it done and now Kim's Garden is officially finished! I will now wash it and make the label and get that done soon because I know that Kim is waiting for it.

​You can read all about the history and making of this quilt here.

We're almost packed and ready to go to a friend's house for a small Thanksgiving celebration. So I probably won't be posting again until Saturday. Yesterday I did a bit of baking to take with us. My baking is all gluten free and vegan (medically required, not philosophical) so they won't be particularly appealing for anyone but me. Every time we travel, whether overnight or for 3 weeks, I have to plan my own food.

But before baking I got in another session on the floor cloths.

I got 4 more designs added to the floor cloths. The one in the upper left is HUGE. It's about 16" wide I think. The one in the lower right is pretty small, about 7" across the widest side. I love how it's coming along.

I'm also working on some other postcard ideas. I'm not sure this one is going to work out but I'm going to leave it for a couple of days. I'll revisit them this weekend. I need to get these things wrapped up in the next week!

I wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving. We still have a lot to be thankful for.

I've added 4 new Reflections fabrics this week! I designed these fabrics primarily for landscape elements but they also make great borders or stripe elements for any quilt. This week I've added a yellow/pink sunset, some deep blue water, a deep purple night sky and some great bark for your next fiber tree.

​Because it's Thanksgiving I want to thank all of my great customers so
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The sale even includes these 4 new Reflections fabrics. The sale ends Sunday, November 29. 
​Happy shopping and have a very happy Thanksgiving!
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As with every weekend I started out with a pretty long list. The difference this weekend is that I actually finished most of it! The big project of the weekend is one that I can't share. Every year I volunteer to make a sample quilt (0r 2) for Paula Nadelstern for her new fabric line. Usually I work on this on September - October but covid changed the schedule this year. My goal was to start it this weekend and finish by December 10 but once I got into it I came up with a simple design that used the fabrics in an amazing way. I finished the top Saturday afternoon and got it quilted Sunday. All that's left is binding. I'll take it with me on my Thanksgiving trip and get the binding and sleeve stitched. I should be able tos hare the quilt sometime in December.

I'm able to focus on my projects so well because I'm listening to a great book. It's Robert Galbraith's latest installment of of the Cormoran Strike series. I've been waiting for the book for months and now that I have it I can't turn it off. So I sewed and quilted and drew Spirographs all weekend. Here's the stitching on the first Christmas card design.

In case you are wondering how I drafted the star, I used Electric Quilt. They have the star shape in the motif library and I was able to play around with it until I got it the size I needed. I love EQ. 

These 37 cards are all set aside and ready for backs and edges. I'll serge the edges so I'll wait until all the cards are done and finish them all off together.

I also quilted! I finished Mom's quilt and that's why I was able to get my Paula quilt done yesterday. Mom made this quilt for someone who works in her apartment complex. It's a really pretty quilt. 

I dyed a gold backing and quilted it with the Woven Wind pantograph using Superior Rainbows and Superior So Fine threads. The tension was perfect all the way through.

Mom is an expert at scrap quilt and this one is a winner.

I don't have a new customer gallery quilt to share today so I'll catch you up on the floor cloths. I actually got to do lots of things yesterday. Mom's quilt is half quilted and the tree postcards have half the stitching done but I didn't get photos of either of those. I got 2 sessions on the floor cloths in yesterday and it was warm enough in the afternoon to leave the door open for more fresh air. Here's where they stand at the moment. 

As a reminder, these are canvas pieces primed with gesso and then painted with satin finish house paint. When I finish the spirograph designs I'll fold under and glue a hem and then they will get a couple of coats of polyurethane. They will hold up on the kitchen floor for years.

I started with some small designs. I'll add big designs "behind" these for a layered effect.

These 2 medium sized designs show how I do the layering. It requires drawing slowly and carefully. Fortunately mistakes can be erased with the tan paint and there have been more than a few slips to cover up.

Below are all 3 floor mats and how they look today. There's still lots of drawing left to do but I do love them so far.

Yesterday was a really good day. I ran errands in the morning and found almost everything I needed between Walmart and Wegmans. The only think I need to order is printer ink. There seems to have been a run on printer ink lately because it's been out of stock for weeks. I also noticed that there's another toilet paper run. My friend in California told me about it there so I looked down those aisles today. How much more toilet paper do people really need? Isn't everyone stocked for a year now? 
​Crazy.

Back at home I now have 36 postcards ready for stitching! These will be done in no time and then I'll need to think about the next design. I quite like how these are turning out and I think the simple stitching that I have planned will look really nice.

I also spent a couple of hours on the floor cloths. I'm sorry that these photos are a bit chopped off. I uploaded them from my phone and I might have selected the unedited images so the blog software cropped them for me. I'm writing this late at night on Thursday and don't have the human or cell battery to reload them. You will see loads more photos to come but here's a peek at what I did yesterday.

This the second of the 6 foot rugs and you can see that I'm starting to layer the designs. It takes more time but it's so worth it, don't you think? I've got lots more space to cover. I'm working no more than and hour and a half at a time and I do wear a respirator but some of the fumes still sneak through. I'll be back out there this afternoon to finish the inside of that big circle and to add more elements to all three rugs. It's so zen and relaxing to work on these. You have to concentrate so you have to purge everything else from your thoughts. 

Yesterday was dyeing day and after 40 yards of fabric dyed I didn't have time or energy for much else. But I did have time to think about a different postcard design and I got a little start on it.

I do some sort of tree design every year so I decided to table the design I was working on Tuesday and move forward with a tree design. It took some editing but I now have a plan. I have 34 or 36 postcard bases ready and I've started cutting out trees. Next I need to add fusible to the gold metallic fabric and cut out my star template. I'm determined to make fast cards this year. I don't have time for a lot of details, there are too many other projects to do!

​I've got errands to run today but I hope this afternoon that I can get these substantially done and get some quilting done on Mom's quilt too. All I have to do is stay off the internet!

I had to take a break from the floor cloths. Between the VOCs from the Sharpies and all the mold outside from the biblical rains, my asthma/allergies went a little crazy. So I'm working on some other things.

I got Mom's quilt loaded on the quilting frame and started quilting. This is a huge quilt and she made it for someone who works in her apartment building. It's a really pretty quilt. This is the second quilt that she has made with this pattern. The person who's receiving this had seen and loved the first one.

Quilting is going to be fast because I'm using a simple pantograph.

It's also time to start the Christmas postcards! I'm going to try to get one set done by this weekend so that I can then spend the weekend working on a new Paula Nadelstern sample quilt. These threads always inspire me! I use these in the bobbin or couch then with a narrow zigzag.

In my first prototype I used the threads in the bobbin and stitched from the back. I did a couple of versions of this prototype and I didn't like either one. I'm going back to the drawing board for this one.

But that one did give me an idea for the 3 December birthday cards that I need. I can't show the designs because 2 of the recipients read my blog. But I'm excited to have at least one thing done ahead of time!

This week I'm excited to introduce a brand new gradient design that I'm calling On the Horizon. I love the effect of the blended colors in the middle of the fabric, on the horizon. It's a blend of my new Midnight color and Sunset, my favorite gold. As with all of the gradients, it's sold by the half yard. Multiple quantities come as one continuous piece.
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The fabric of the week this week is the Midnight Shades Pack because it coordinates with the new gradient. Midnight is my new favorite blue and I seem to be using it in everything that I make lately. This Shades Pack of 5 fat quarters is 20% off through Sunday. If you want larger cuts just order multiple quantities and I'll custom dye it for you.
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