Thursday, December 31, 2009

Millenium Yo-Yo Quilt Finish!

I did it! I finished my Millenium Yo-Yo quilt before the end of the first decade of the 21st century and I just made it-I finished it last night! It is made with at least one yo-yo of all the fabrics that I had in my closet on Dec. 31, 1999-all the quilting fabrics, that is. Not every yo-yo is unique however, I didn't have that many fabrics!
It came out quite a bit smaller than I expected...I started with a 4" circle, making 2" yo-yos but when I sewed them together, they got a bit smaller.

Recognize any fabrics? There's everything from batiks to big florals to reproductions (that double pink is one of my favorite fabrics ever-I have about a 4" x 6" piece left :( .


This is probably how I will display it...isn't that a dreamy, romantic look with the net curtains, vintage bedspread and yo-yo quilt at the foot of the bed? Ever since I saw the movie "Twister" and the yo-yo quilt at the foot of the Aunt's bed, I've wanted one and now I have one!
Happy New Year! Drive carefully tonight! See you all in 2010!



Sunday, December 27, 2009

Book Review: Exit Music by Ian Rankin

This is the last in the Inspector Rebus novels and the first that I have ever read. I know this is coming at this a bit backward but I’m not upset at all…I don’t think I really would like to read another.

I know these books are very popular…the book told me so: on the cover: Number One Bestseller and at the end of the book, well, 16 pages of Reading Group Notes including a bio of the author (he’s an OBE and his books have been translated in 30 languages), a list of discussion of points about all of the Rebus books and then a plot summary and discussion points on this specific book!.

So why am I bucking the trend…well, I’m not sure I am. Maybe if I had read the earlier books I would have enjoyed this more. It is very well written and it moves quickly (it was great reading it on the treadmill-the time just flew by). Maybe DI Rebus just needed to grow on me.

As it is, the 418 pages of complicated possibilities as to who murdered the poet and why, and other mayhem related to that murder (or not), was very interesting and then the whole was cleared up, rather prosaically too, in less than 30 pages-with nothing related to the previous complicated possibilities! (That’s a spoiler but what can I do!) That is what turned me off.

This is my twelfth and last book review for the 2009 Support Your Public Library Challenge. Happy New Year!

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

I'm a Craft Gossip give-away winner!!

I'm so lucky! I won a give-away from Craft Gossip Needlework! This book just arrived at my house...
here's the back cover-check out that window!
and here's a close-up of the small left side square...I can't believe this is machine stitched!
Something new has been added to my mental list of 2010 projects-trying free motion machine embroidery! I'm thinking totally out of the box for me-some small embroideries to frame!

Thank you Denise from Craft Gossip Needlework and thank you Patty from Pip Stitch for letting me know about the give-away!

Friday, December 18, 2009

Book Review: The Dante Club by Matthew Pearl

The Dante Club by Matthew Pearl

In this clever literary mystery, a wonderful first novel by Matthew Pearl, a Dante scholar and Harvard professor, 19th century Boston is brought to life. Soon after the end of the Civil War, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow translated Dante’s work into English with the help of some of his friends and fellow poets. They met regularly to discuss and review Longfellow’s translation and dubbed themselves the Dante Club. Mr. Pearl uses this as the jumping off point for his story of how someone is killing people based on the punishments from Dante’s Inferno.

Mr. Pearl has written a wonderful cast of characters, including of course, Mr. Longfellow and fellow poets, James Russell Lowell and Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes (the father not the Chief Justice!) taken from history but also Mr. Rey, as the first Black police officer in Boston, Mr. Bachi as an Italian immigrant and Mr. Camp as a Pinkerton detective-using them to discuss issues of race, immigration and corruption in the 19th century.

This beautifully written novel gets off to a ripping start with a scary “Caution to the Reader” preface by C. Lewis Watkins in wonderful mocumentary style!

I enjoyed this book very much and I’m looking forward to reading Mr. Pearl’s second novel, “The Poe Shadow”.

This is my 11th book review for the 2009 Support Your Local Library Challenge.

Thursday, December 17, 2009

Vintage Thursday Thingie: Hannukah

This brass Hannukah menorah or Chanukiah was my grandparents on my Dad's side. You can see that its been well used ...its a little wonky and leans a bit to right. Not sure of the date-this is a traditional style so its hard to date. This is an illustation from a children's book of Jewish holidays that was my mother's. It was published in 1928 and she received it as a gift in 1933 (by the inscription) from her father.
The illustrations are by the Jerusalem Bezalel artist: Ze'ev Raban. It is a wonderful book!

Wishing everyone a Happy Holiday and New Year! (in case I don't make it back before 2010-I seem to be more hit and miss than I used to be :)

For more vintage treasures, please go to Coloradolady...she holds the key to wonderful vintage goodies!

Monday, December 14, 2009

Yo-Yo quilt and Double Wedding Ring quilt updates

I've been working on the yo-yo quilt-mainly sewing "blocks" of 5 rows by 5 rows. It seems to make the whole thing seem more manageable! :) This pile contains 9 blocks. I've also been working on the DWR-I got it on the frame and I've started hand quilting! Yeah! I'm 1/4" outline quilting the ring wedges and I think it looks nice. (the top row looks like its quilted 1/2" inch because it is-I've left room for the binding :) and I'm very proud of myself that I remembered to do that!

I'm really happy with the way the design is looking too...wish it was a nicer day and I could get a better picture. I know I shouldn't complain but it has been raining for days!


Saturday, December 12, 2009

A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin

A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin

My son recommended this book and I have to say he picked a winner! If you like historical novels and books that are character driven, like I do, you will really like this book. But a word of warning, this is the first book in a series-four have been published so far-and I was so “smitten” that I j ust had to read the others. Now my public library did not have them all so I was reduced to “beg, borrow…and buy!”

This book takes place in an invented medieval world complete with Kings, Queens, knights, rival houses, heroes and villains. In Chapter 1, we meet the Stark family, northern nobles, and some of my favorite characters: the father, Eddard, mother Catlyn, boys: Robb, Jon Snow, Bran and baby Rickon and the girls, Sansa and Arya. Throughout the book, we follow their adventures and interactions with the King and House Lannister. Trust me, you will find yourself rooting for some and booing others!

The book is arranged in chapters narrating the story of each main character…I liked that a lot. While sometimes the chronology overlaps, it makes for fun reading and yes, sometimes I did peak ahead to read the continuation of that character’s story but usually I was very well behaved and was willing to drop that thread and pick up the next.

A word of praise: as complex as this story gets, there were no slip-ups- I never thought “but wait, earlier you wrote…” There was simply wonderful consistency through-out-all characters true to themselves (while growing and changing), all events remembered and built upon.

The Chicago Sun Times said it perfectly “…this novel is an absorbing combination of the mythic, the sweepingly historical, and the intensely personal.”

This is my tenth book review for the 2009 Support Your Local Library Challenge .

(And no, I won’t be reviewing the others as they’re not library books but just know that I finished all of them in about 10 days-I couldn’t put them down).