In A Bookish, Quilty Mood

Shortly after writing the previous post , I decided not to join my daughter and her family on their holiday. It was the best choice, albeit not easy, yet I felt peaceful afterwards, and was glad to have made the decision without further stewing about it. Today I am REALLY GLAD I'm not going because my knee is VERY ACHY. A visit to the orthopedist is in the works, and I'm ready to acquiesce to whatever will fix the issue, which is probably a further tear in the meniscus. The last two days haven't been bad, but I took ibuprofen three hours ago, with no relief. Such is the way of aging, just have to accept the less stellar moments as they emerge. I snapped this a couple of days ago during a break in the rain. To my delight, the nasturtium has bloomed (pictured above), although once again it's raining, which will be the case tomorrow. Which is great for keeping me inside reading through Brave the Skies one more time, a probable release date of next Monday on my calendar. I...

The title says it all. Yes I have shingles, but it's a very mild case and I'm on an anti viral. My knee is achy unless I take ibuprofen. Mandolin blocks are designed, and I left out the fabrics, (pictured above) also used for the Myrtle quilt, which needs four blocks arranged, which I'll sort later today. But not everything makes it onto this blog; in a week I'm supposed to join my eldest daughter's family on holiday. Flight is involved, travel out of our home state. Suddenly my participation is in doubt, especially for how wonky my knee feels this morning. Shingles isn't the issue, or it's not at this moment, lol. More is how feasible is loads of walking when one's meniscus is dodgy. How difficult is life when delightful plans are thrown askew by ailments (and I won't mention an abysmal government); it's not a crisis of MASSIVE proportions, yet I am stymied by what to do, or more rightly I am (not so) patiently waiting until Monday to make a dec...

How can I NOT finish this quilt? Mandolin musings.... So a couple days ago, probably right after I wrote the previous entry, I considered using six-point diamond papers from my Mandolin pattern for Alexandria, which is in desperate need of diamonds. I've been pondering the Mandolin EPP quilt-in-progress, as well as the Myrtle design, Lavender, Ice Cream Soda, ummm... Lots of English paper piecing WIPs, and sometimes I rob Peter to pay Paul, so to speak, to keep them all supplied as I don't have exact kits for each. The Mandolin quilt, blocks pictured above, is my second version of this pattern, and the first one I actually use the proper kit to construct, lol. Why not steal some diamonds for Alexandria, then get to work on that, I blithely considered. Until I found I had finished eight Mandolin blocks! I thought I had maybe five, six tops. But eight, out of the dozen I had planned, wow! Slight guilt crept over me as I examined them, all made from autumnal Art Gallery fabrics, ...

For MANY reasons I have been especially thrilled for lengthening days and warmer temps, although gobs of rain have stymied a bit of spring's arrival, or the sense of its presence. The last two days have been GLORIOUS, and today will also be lovely. Tomorrow a little less bright, but certainly warm, then rain returns. This has been one of the wettest March's I can recall. One question is will April remain soggy, or will it dry up as though winter never occurred, as the last two April's have been. Won't know that answer for over a month, but it will be fascinating to discover. In the meantime, I have books to peruse, currently focused on The Hawk Book Two, which I began reading aloud today. Brave the Skies is the title; I'm still getting used to each installment having a title, lol. I'm also becoming accustomed not only to the joys and healing properties of spring, but of an idea my husband introduced a few weeks back that has been growing on me. We're consi...

The last Lucy Boston block DONE! The inner honeycombs are from the Maine fabric store, some not bad fussy cutting if I do say so myself, hehehe. Sometimes things you don't think you're going to finish get completed. Quilts, books, um.... Well, for me quilts and books are what I enjoy most as pastimes, and washing dishes and doing laundry are in a constant cycle of gathering, then getting sorted, so books and quilts it is. Okay, rainy weather too. We have had HEAPS and GOBS of rain this month, which is already on the twenty-third day, how the heck did that happen? Where has March gone, or is going, and am I actually going to put thirty Lucy Boston blocks to use and close that quilty-EPP chapter of my life? Yes, I believe I am. Dang, that's a weird, unpredicted aspect of this year! Okay, just a little bit of backstory on my Lucy Boston experience. In 2018, when I started English paper piecing, I bought 1.5" Dritz hexagons from Joann, stiff and easy to baste but a bear to...

As I prep Lucy Boston blocks for a BIG Kawandi project, I'm wrapping up loose ends on Far Away from Home: The Enran Chronicles Book Three . Now that the novel is available in major online retailers, I've made a link for it on my books2read page . That I've released three novels since December, I'm remembering more easily how to update that site, lol. In addition to Smashwords , you can find it on Apple Books, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Everand, and Angus & Robertson. And if I ever feel motivated to put it in print, I'll be sure to let you dear readers know! In the meantime, I've made two Kawandi-inspired coasters, with another waiting patiently on the work table. They come together so quickly, and QUIETLY. No loud machine with a walking foot, no binding, just a bit of pressing the edges of the backing fabric inward, fitting in some batting, then adding fabric. The larger one below needs to be washed, and I'm curious how much it might shrink. The small one...

I am not a hard-core sci/fi author. I like to dabble in science fiction certainly, yet the notion of that sort of world-building has always felt beyond me. In Far Away from Home: The Enran Chronicles Book Three , set mostly within an outpost upon a distant planet, I developed a society that despite being written in 2023 feels much like America today, an alternate universe gone horribly awry. That somber premise aside, Far Away from Home is a rollicking adventure, as Noth, a human from present-day Earth, finds himself in the twenty-ninth century millions of miles from where he previously dwelled. Yet Humans reside on Mordan Station on the planet of Enran, and he gains the acquaintance of one in particular. Sooz is a physician; she's also surreptitiously engineering the regeneration of Chelak, a Tyrah citizen who Sooz hopes to keep hidden from the Tyrah authorities, eager to enslave those able of childbearing. Many of Noth's memories from home have been purged from his conscious...

I'm going to publish a novel tonight, I think. Book Three of The Enran Chronicles is formatted, cover made, blurbs written.... All I need to do is upload it all onto Smashwords , then by morning it will be featured on their home page, lol. Since merging with Draft2 Digital, I have found it takes HOURS for a novel to appear in the Smashwords store. Might as well make time work for me overnight, then find a pleasant surprise tomorrow when I wake. In the meantime, I have been moved to stitch Lucy Boston blocks, of which I have over twenty-five done. That project was one of my first EPP thrills, but the honeycombs are small (one inch per side), and the papers from Paper Pieces are somewhat stiff. I had tucked away all the finished blocks, but pulled them out today, trying to size up a Kawandi-version and I think it will work. This will definitely be a quilt of grace, because only by God's grace will I get it sorted, LOL! I have four blocks left to make for a total of thirty, and h...

I'm a Christian. I don't talk much about my faith directly, though I allude to it. Yet it's the core of my being, and maybe it might be perceived as weak faith from my discretion, but in following the edict of my soul, I don't blare it on this blog. Today, I'm going to share first what I finished last night, some EPP/Kawandi sewing that I'll use in the kitchen by the kettle. Granite countertops that we didn't install are a nightmare with nice teacups, so I keep the counter covered and my mugs protected with placemat-sized linens. The English paper piecing on this one is some of the first EPP I crafted going on seven years ago. For two years I've been meaning to turn it into something, and a couple of days ago I did just that, finding that once the backing for a Kawandi project is made, that's how big whatever is emerging is going to be. This will be fine for a few cups, keeping nice dishes chip-free and giving me something to hand-sew besides the EPP...

I took a shot in the sunshine, but the colours are blown out. Maybe I'll post it below... However this quilt is labeled, let's call it Made With Love. Yes, it's also Red Sky at Night . It's Kawandi-inspired comfort, and oh my goodness it's free of pins and COMPLETED! Free of pins, what? Yes, loads of straight pins kept rows (and chunks) mostly where I wanted them, which led to my fingers being pricked more often than I count. Minimal bleeding, lol, and none on the quilt so go me!?! I'm looking forward to making another, probably with Batting Creep Scraps (or whatever I called it in a past entry) affixed, but they will be a neutral shade so I won't feel compelled to include them in the design! Stitching the center block this morning. Anyway.... Stitching this has been a pleasure, straight pins notwithstanding. I loved the casual, improv nature. I adored starting with the back, no binding required. I enjoyed the haphazard process, and if I want to talk RSAN , ...

Between the row of low volume scraps and the center block will be more brightly hued prints. I am SO HAPPY with how this is progressing! The relative end of my Kawandi Red Sky at Night quilt is looming, epp! The further inward I go, the less stitching remains, which isn't quite akin to manuscript revisions, but the sense of completion is kind of similar. If nothing else, by the time I publish Far Away From Home: The Enran Chronicles Book Three , my version of RSAN will be DONE. While I'm not sure what story or Kawandi-inspired quilt will next be inaugurated, I am eager for both to commence. Probably the quilt will emerge first, but one never knows. Assuming anything at this point is a dubious undertaking. Not sure how I'll work around the bird, but I don't want it to get lost in the shuffle. Yet I can't help but ponder a different colour scheme, a new installment of a book series. I have more ideas for the fiction, but I've been pondering it longer than Kawan...