December was a stellar reading month and ended the year on a very positive note. As I end the month I'm in the middle of a long  book that is also wonderful. It will be my first review of the new year.

​As I look through the 6 books that I read this month, there are no duds! I really can't even pick a favorite.

I read 84 books in 2024. That's down from previous years due to my diversions in Youtube and Podcasts but I'm quite happy with 84. I decided to look over my list and identify my favorites.
The book that really stuck with me the most was The Women by Kristen Hannah. It is a perfect historical fiction book that tells the story of the women who served in Vietnam. 

In no particular order, these are the other books that I rated the highest for 2024:

The Wedding People by Allison Espatch
Hester by Laurie Lico Albanese
Vanished Arizona by Martha Summerhayes (paperback)
Listen For the Lie by Amy Tintera
A Most Agreeable Murder by Julia Seales
The Friar and the Cipher by Lawrence and Nancy Goldstone (hardback)
The Falcon Thief by Joshua Hammer
The Other Wes Moore by Wes Moore
Starter Villian by John Scalizi
West With Giraffes by  Lynda Rutledge
The Mysterious Case of Rudplf Diesel by Douglas Brunt
Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
The Authenticity Project by Clare Pooley
The Fellowship of Puzzlemakers by Samuel Burr

This is a list of books by my favorite mystery authors:
Spirit Crossing by William Kent Krueger (part of the Cork O'Connor Series)
Resurrection Walk by  Michael Connelly (Mickey Haller series)
Three-Inch Teeth by C.J. Box (Joe Pickett series)
The Price You Pay by Nick Petrie (Peter Ash series)
Last Words by Michael Koryta
A Place To Bury Strangers by Mark Dawson

What have you read lately that you would recommend and what was your favorite book of 2024?

The Wedding People
By Alison Espach, Read By Helen laser

TLDR: Clever and funny story about very human events.

Phoebe Stone's life has fallen apart. She is unable to get pregnant, her husband left her for a woman with a baby and she can't finish the book she'd been writing for years. She's ready to give up and travels to a resort hotel in Rhode Island to kill herself. Except that she's the only guest at the hotel who isn't there for a 6-day luxury wedding celebration. In the elevator she tells the bride the purpose of her trip and the bride is determined not to let this crazy woman ruin her wedding.

It deals with some very serious subjects but in a funny, sad, thoughtful and heartwarming way. It's not sappy at all. I loved that the ending was more of a beginning for many of the characters. I really enjoyed this one.

We Begin at the End
By Chris Whitaker, Read By George Newbern

TLDR: A really good story about finding family through tragedy. Told a little disjointed but worth it.

Duchess Radley is the protector for ner little brother. She has a very unstable life with a mother, Star, who can barely care for herself. 

Star grew up with Walk, now the sheriff and Vincent. Vincent is about to get out of jail after 30 years and there's going to be some trouble when he returns to town. It's a book about finding family. 

I read his book, All the Colors of the Dark, in August and enjoyed it too. I think his stories are really fresh but the telling can be a bit disjointed. I almost gave up on this one because I had trouble keeping track of the characters but I'm glad I stuck with it.

The God of the Woods
By Liz Moore, Read By Saskia Maarlevard

TLDR: Imagine your summer camp's horror stories were real. Good story with a few too many characters.

This book is on a LOT of "best of" lists for 2024. It is set in 1961 and 1975 at a camp in the Adirondacks in Upstate New York. Camp Emerson is owned by the very wealthy, and unlikable, Van Laar family. 

In 1961, the prodigal son, Bear, disappeared from camp and he's never been found. The investigation was run by the family and closed quickly. A person was identified as the culprit and sent to prison but the boy's body was never found. 

Fourteen years later, Barbara, Bear's sister asks to attend the summer camp. Every night she disappears from her cabin. Her cabin-mate thinks she is meeting up with a boy since everyone knows that she is seeing a town boy. The camp counselors don't know she's leaving every night. One night she doesn't return and the counselors find an empty bed in the morning. This time the investigation is run by local detectives.

There are layers and layers of mystery in this book. The plot and the ending are creative and interesting. My two complaints are that there are too many characters and the time changes (1961 to 1975 and back) aren't easily transitioned in the audio version. The first couple of hours brought me a lot of confusion but I'm glad I stuck with it. 

This Motherless Land
By Nikki May
Read By Weruche Opia and Florence Howard

TLDR: A wonderful and creative retelling of Jane Austen's Mansfield Park.

Funke has a very happy life in Nigeria. Her mother is an art teacher and her father is a professor and she has a younger brother. Her mother is English and her father is Nigerian and they've made a very happy life together. But when her mother dies in an accident she is sent to England to live with her maternal Aunt. She's never been there and only knows it through her mother's stories.

In England she finds an unreceptive Aunt but a loving cousin, Liv. Liv takes on the role of protector for her little cousin and they grow into young adults as the best of friends. Then a second tragedy happens and their friendship is damaged forever. Funke moves back to Nigeria to try to rebuild her life but both women miss the connection that they had.

While it does deal with race a little, it's mostly about friendship, family and betrayal. The characters are rich and the narration is outstanding.

The Book on the Bookshelf
By Henry Petroski

TLDR: Nerdiest book ever about the storage and display of books.

I picked up this book at a thrift store and it's been my bedtime reading for a few weeks. If you are into books and libraries you will have a total geekfest reading this book.

It started with the development of the written word on papyrus and how rolls were stored. Once books were bound they were exceedingly valuable and chained to tables with iron chains. There are illustrations throughout the book that help to visualize what's being described.

The book also covers the design of libraries from the time of no artificial light  to today, when libraries struggle with too many books for the space available. It's a total geekfest that will likely bore most people but I thought it was a very interesting read.

City of Flickering Light
By Juliette Fay, Read By Lisa Flanagan

TLDR: A nice historical fiction about the silent film industry

This book was from the free Audible library and was a nice book to read during the holidays. It's set in 1921 during the birth of Hollywood when they started making the "flickers". Irene Van Beck, Millie Martin and Henry Weiss leave the seedy Burlesque industry to head to Hollywood to try to make it in the new silent film industry.

They are young people searching for fame, fortune, love and family. The characters are very likable and while it portrays the challenges and dark sides of Hollywood, it does it in a gentle way. It is based on some real people and seems to be very well researched in the portrayal of Hollywood of the time. I enjoyed it and got attached to the characters.

I went into my sewing room yesterday to make a post and got totally sidetracked and never got to the computer. In the end, it worked out because Mom and I were gone all day yesterday and I wouldn't have had anything to post today.  We went to Farmville, about an hour and a half away, to meet up with two cousins and some friends. It was a really nice day.

The one thing I accomplished a couple of days ago is getting Fabr Farm quilted and trimmed. It's ready for binding but that will have to wait until I get home from my trip. I'm thinking about a medium/dark green for the binding like one of the leaf greens. What do you think?
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The back is a gradient. It's a pattern that I used to have in the shop called Thrive and I really like it with the theme of the quilt. 

About my trip. I'm leaving Monday to ride with a friend from Richmond to Denver. She spends the winter in Colorado skiing and I'm just going along to keep her company for the trip. I don't stay to ski because, well, I have altitude sickness and absolutely no interest in skiing.
The trip is going to be a lot of fun with stops in

• Knoxville (Dollywood)
  
• Nashville (Old Crow Medicine Show for New Year's Eve)
  
• Mammoth Cave, Kentucky
  
• International Quilt Museum in Lincoln Nebraska
• Denver for the Chiefs/Broncos game.

I will not have my computer with me so I will not be blogging. I think I'll have 3 posts scheduled while I'm gone but I'll have a full report when I return. I have a crochet project to take along to work on in the van while we are on the road. 

I'll be busy packing this weekend so I won't have anything meaningful to post. I'll have book reviews on Tuesday, my December summary Wednesday and one last Christmas project Thursday.

Have a great New Year!

Merry Christmas!
​As I said before, we celebrated Christmas Saturday so yesterday I got busy with some quilting and sewing. On Monday I did another project but I can't share that one yet.
Yesterday I got Fab Farm loaded and started quilting. This will be a raffle quilt for a local organization and I'm doing a simple pantograph on it. The amount of money it will raise doesn't really warrant custom quilting given all the time that's already invested in it. Also, this quilt is about the animals, not the quilting.
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I also started piecing the blue veterans quilts and got 4 rows done yesterday.

Today we do have one social event in the afternoon but I expect to spend the rest of the day working on both of these projects. I also might start doing some packing for my trip next week.

I hope you are having a lovely day whether or not you celebrate Christmas.

Saturday was our Christmas and we had a great day with my brother's family. The boys seem to like their tie dye shirts and Ella said she loved her sweatshirt. Success! The rest of the day was devoted to relaxing and some football watching.
I've made some good progress on my blankets. This one will be donated for a dialysis or chemo patient. I'm on the last skein of yarn. It will finish about 50" long.
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This one will be a wheelchair blanket. There wasn't enough of the red yarn for a large quilt but there's plenty for a 27" x 36" wheelchair blanket. This is linen stitch and will be 20 rows of red alternating with 5 rows of black. It will end up with 5 red sections and 4 black sections if I've done my math properly.

This past week I also made myself several crochet toolkits. I've left the house twice recently with a crochet project and forgot to take the hook with me. I decided that the best solution is to put tools in every project bag. I found out a year or so ago that eyeglass cases are great for crochet tools so I went off to Amazon and ordered some eyeglass cases, folding scissors and tape measures. I now have at least 4 toolkits that I can put in project bags. I have 3 projects in the works now and each has one of these. I will not be hookless again.

This week I want to get the Fab Farm quilt quilted, get the blue veterans quilt sewn together and maybe start the Fab Farm baby quilt for my cousin's new grandson. We do have one party to attend Christmas Day and Mom and I will visit friends in Farmville Friday. Otherwise, I can devote my week to making and packing for the big cross-country adventure that starts next Monday.

​I hope you have a wonderful Christmas week no matter what you are doing or celebrating.

Today is Christmas for is and I'm ready! We celebrate at my brother's house and it's a real treat to be around his and Karen's grandkids for the holidays. I got all the gifts packed last night after a couple of last tasks.
This stack is for my brother. He likes the hand dyed t-shirts so I keep some around all the time and use the shirts for my leftover dyes. I've got 6 new long-sleeved shirts for him that I've been slowly dyeing for several months. I'll go and buy a pack of short sleeved ones next.
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This is actually the first gravity dye that I did and I really like it a lot. I think it's my favorite of the group.
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I then printed his logo on the back of all 6. The screen printing had mixed results as I was trying different inks and techniques. He just wears them mostly around the house so he won't mind the ones with not-quite-perfect prints.
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The last task was to print off some heat transfer vinyl names for the kids. They can decide this afternoon if they want their names on one or 2 of their shirts. Ella's are really pink and purple (not red and blue) to match her sweatshirt. She'll have extras if she wants to put them on something else.

I've got to make cookies this morning and then we should have a fun afternoon. Next week I get to start quilting the Fab Farm quilt and I get to make a baby version of Fab Farm for my cousin's new grandson due in May.

Yesterday was the second day of sewing with quilt club. I started another kit and got all the pieces for the blocks sewn together. Next month I'll be able to get this one sewn together.
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When I came home I started a little screen printing. This is a tea towel with my niece's monogram. I was just playing around with my Cricut, creating screens and testing out inks.
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The tea towels in all of these photos are folded in half, they aren't this small.
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I'm making these for the the center where our quilt club meets. They turned out nicer than I expected.

Today Mom and I are going to lunch with my cousin and then I need to get all the tshirts gift wrapped for delivery tomorrow. I still have to cut out the fusible names for the kid's shirts. We are having the family Christmas Saturday and then Chris and I will be own our on for Christmas. I think we are going for a hike Christmas day, weather permitting.
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Yesterday was sewing day and I finished sewing all the bow tie blocks. I came home and put them on the design wall. I think I'm happy with this but I'll study it for a couple of days to see what needs to be moved around.

​When I came home I got busy washing and drying the rest of the dyed items.

These tie dye shirts are for brothers, Sawyer and Lincoln. They are fans of the Washington Commanders and the Naval Academy (because they live in Annapolis). They will also get the orange gravity dyes that I posted yesterday. 
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These shirts are for their cousin, Eli. He's a fan of JMU and the Buffalo Bills. I did a gravity dye for him as well.
I love the gravity dyes but I'm not sure how little kids will feel about them. If they like 2 out of 3 shirts, I'll be happy.
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Their Mom's are sisters and both went to JMU so I made a set of bandanas for each of them. They can wear the to game or use them as I do, kitchen cleaning cloths. These are about 18" square and they come from Dharma Trading.
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I have a big stash of tea towels and I like keeping them on hand for gifts. People love them. I like to use my old dyes on these because the exact color doesn't matter. I always dye a pair so these are ready for gifting. I have 4 more sets that were dyed with the leftover dyes from the tie dye. Those are plain and I will screen print something on them later.

There are a few more things but I can't quite share them yet. But, all in all, I'm really happy with everything. I also dyed 5 veterans quilt backs and the big quilt back for the Fab Farm quilt. 

I ended up not posting yesterday because Mom and I ran a lot of errands Monday and I had nothing interesting to shows for my efforts. Unless you think new deodorant and toothpaste is interesting! 
But, today I have a few dyeing results! Most things are still soaking but I have some of the gravity dyes  done.

If you are interested in gravity dyeing I recommend checking out Facebook and Youtube. There are so many ways to gravity dye and lots of tutorials. That's where I learned about it.

I wanted to do a sweatshirt for Ella but wanted to practice first to see if it would work on something so bulky. I did this one on a sweatshirt for me and, all in all, it worked good. That diagonal dark line is where it was scrunched up and placed on the rail. The dye and ice was put on that scrunched area so that as the ice melted, the dye dripped out to the edges. On this one I learned that I needed to compensate for the hood. It caught a lot of dye sprinkles and not a lot of drips. I'm still really happy with it.
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This is the one I dyed for Ella and I'm really happy with it. I got the effect that I wanted. I hope she likes it. She's 11, so you never know! She will be sweet about it even if she doesn't like it. I will cut out her name in am iron-on vinyl so we can add that if she wants.
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There are 3 boys and I dyed 3 tshirts for each. I know for sure that they will like the other 2 so I felt that I could take a rish with these. These are gravity dyed with the pole put through one sleeve and out the other. Apparently Sawyer and Lincoln like oranges. I don't know if they will like these but I'm also going to cut their names so that we can iron them on if they want. I do like this effect and would do it again. I'm just not sure it will appeal to young boys.
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In the past few weeks I've stopped by a couple of Goodwill stores and picked up $2 frames. I spent part of yesterday afternoon getting them set up for some screen printing. They look a bit sloppy but they will work great.
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I did this one last week to screen some bandanas for the kid's mothers. They both went to JMU. I absolutely love the Cricut for screen printing.

Today is sewing with my quilt club but I'll get more things washed out this evening to share with you tomorrow.

This weekend was nothing but dyeing. I should have been doing some of this over the past few weeks but it seems I saved it all up for one marathon weekend. Work started with a couple of hours of prep work Saturday. Then I could get started dyeing. I had several bottles of "expired" dyes in the refrigerator so I used them first to dye 5 veterans quilt backs, some tea towels and 2 t-shirts. When A dye is expired in my terms, it just means that it's not full strength. It's still good enough for things that don't have to be an exact color. I used expired dyes on veterans quilt backs all the time. 
Once the bottles were empty I could get started on some other things on Sunday.
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On Saturday, I also set up 3 more ice dye shirts. I had several questions about this so I'll answer here. This particular version of ice dyeing is called gravity dyeing and I learned about it on Facebook and Youtube. You arrange the soda ash soaked item and put dye powder right on top of the item. Then put the ice on top of that. I top mine off with a little extra soda ash powder. Now, there are several variations on this and, if you are interested, look the technique up on social media. You'll find lots of different folding and dyeing techniques.  Using ice bricks is another idea that I found on social media and it works great. I try to keep various size of ice bricks in the chest freezer ready to go. 
This type of dyeing is the most unpredictable. Sometimes it's a complete dud but it's still worth it. Even an ugly t-shirt can still be worn.
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On Sunday I mixed up fresh dyes so I could get exact colors. I tie-dyed 6 shirts, 4 bandanas and 10 tea towels. 
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Then I dyed a large quilt back for the Fab Farm quilt. I need to get that quilted and bound soon so it can be donated in January.
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Finally, I started one last gravity dyed shirt. I can't wait to see how all these things look over the next few days. After all these things were dyed, I started the washout of the things I dyed Saturday. There's lots of washing and soaking happening the next 3 days.
All of the t-shirts will be gifted this Saturday so I hope they turn out OK!
Today I take Mom to an eye appointment and then will do grocery shopping for the friend that I took to the ER Friday and her Mom. They both live really close to Mom's apartment. Maybe I'll have time to get another pair of veteran's quilts loaded and basted.
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My plan for yesterday was to spend the day ice dyeing and tie dyeing. I have tshirts to make for some kids by Saturday. But while I was eating breakfast I got a call from a friend who needed to go to the ER. She wrenched her back several days ago and the pain had gotten worse. I was happy she called for help and was happy to take her. I was smart enough to take my crochet bag with me but not smart enough to take a crochet hook! But I had my phone for entertainment and a phone charger.
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I did eventually get to start dyeing a couple of experimental things. This photo is from last night before I added a second brick of ice. This is a sweatshirt so I'm not sure how it's going to turn out. It's a sweatshirt for me so it will be OK, regardless.
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This is a kid's tshirt and I'm doing a technique that I saw on Facebook.
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This is how I'm able to do ice dyeing in the winter! It's well over 80 degrees in the basement.

​I'll check on my friend this morning and then get back to dyeing.