BOOKS AND CIRCLES......

Audrey over at Quilty Folk is hosting Quilty 365.  Once a month we check in with our progress on our circle progress.

April was a really unaccomplished month for me.  I have 3 quilts to tie, working on a book shelf quilt and my circles.  None of mentioned got done.  I was trying to finish my circles last night, but sleep drug me to bed.  I have 3 left to finish.  They are pinned, just have to sew them down.   I'm at day 121 on my circles.

On another note, this is the end of  the month for my books for the month.  Kathryn over The Book Date hosts Month in Review.

What I read for April.....
They are all linked to my reviews...

Explosive Eighteen - Janet Evanovich
An English Bride in Scotland - Lynsay Sands
Act of War - Brad Thor 
The Sundown Speech - Loren D. Estleman 
Around America - Walter Cronkite 
The End of Your Life Book Club - Will Schwalbe 
 The Collector - Luis A. Mendez
 The Black Box - Michael Connelly
 Mad, Bad, and Dangerous in Plaid - Suzanne Enoch
 Washington Through A Purple Veil - Lindy Boggs
 Encyclopedia Brown - Donald J. Sobol

Favorite Book for April.....

I got so in to this book that I read it in one day.  I neglected my house chores, the grandkids, and everyone else around me.  And of course it got  5 ***** rating.  Actually all my books this month were either 4 or 5 stars.  Most were 5 stars.   I also finished the Full House Reading Challenge.

BOOK REPORT/OMG APRIL.......

Encyclopedia Brown - Donald J. Sobol

Product Description(Amazon.com)
Leroy Brown, aka Encyclopedia Brown, is Idaville neighborhood’s ten-year-old star detective. With an uncanny knack for trivia, he solves mysteries for the neighborhood kids through his own detective agency. But his dad also happens to be the chief of the Idaville police department, and every night around the dinner table, Encyclopedia helps him solve his most baffling crimes. And with ten confounding mysteries in each book, not only does Encyclopedia have a chance to solve them, but the reader is given all the clues as well. Interactive and chock full of interesting bits of information—it’s classic Encyclopedia Brown! 
Series: Encyclopedia Brown (Book 1) 
Paperback: 96 pages 
Publisher: Puffin Books (September 6, 2007) 
Language: English 
ISBN-10: 0142408883 
ISBN-13: 978-0142408889

MY THOUGHTS:   This is a really cool book.  The stories give you the clues and you get to try to solve the crime yourself.  If you get stumped, the answers are in the back of the book.  I admit I had to look at the answers a couple of times to solve the mysteries.  I give this book 5....

This book is for 1 of my reading challenges....
Color Coded Challenge

I've been reading a lot this month and not getting my work done on my quilting projects.  My goal for April was to put together two of  the quilts on my Quilt Project List.
 4. Dots Quilt
5. Dresden Quilt(Gray Center)
6. 6" Crazy Quilt
7. Halloween Quilt
8. Thanksgiving Quilt
9. Christmas Quilt
10. Jar Quilt
11. Strip Quilt
12. Easter Quilt
13. Boo Quilt
14. Valentine Quilt
15. Dresden Quilt(Red Center)
16. Under The Sea Quilt
17. Spring Quil
18. 4th of July Quilt
19. ABC Quilt
  Well, I kind of got that done.  I actually got 3 quilts all sandwiched and one is on the hoop for tying, but haven't actually worked on any of them.  It seems April just flew by.  You may ask what OMG is all about.

  This is taking place over at Red Letter Quilts and OMG is One Monthly Goal Challenge.  To set one goal for yourself for the month.  You can see my goals I posted about last month here.   So I guess the next step will be to actually get them all tied and bound.  So that is my May goal. 

BOOK REPORT......

Washington Through A Purple Veil - Lindy Boggs

Product Description(Amazon.com)
An influential legislator discusses her early childhood exposure to politics, her participation in her husband's career, her experiences as a mother to three prominent children, and her life since her husband's disappearance. 
Hardcover: 392 pages 
Publisher: Harcourt; 1st edition (November 1994) 
Language: English 
ISBN-10: 0151931062 
ISBN-13: 978-0151931064

MY THOUGHTS:  This was a very enlightening book for me.  I never realized all the intricate things a politician goes through once they are in office.  Not to mention all the planning and scheduling that the wives of these politicians go through.  This book is also full of political history.   Lindy Boggs was there to see it all.  She also raised 3 children while juggling a life as a politicians wife.  When she lost her husband, Hale, in a plane crash, she stepped right in to his shoes and ran for congress.  This is a very interesting book, if you want to know more about the history of Washington this is the book for you.  I give this book 5......

This book is also for 2 of my reading challenges.....
Color Coded Challenge
52 Books in 52 Weeks

BOOK REPORT.....

Mad, Bad, and Dangerous in Plaid - Suzanne Enoch

Product Description(Amazon.com)
She used to be mad about him.
In Mad, Bad, and Dangerous in Plaid by New York Times bestselling author Suzanne Enoch, high-spirited Rowena MacLawry has come to the Highlands after a spectacularly successful debut Season in London, and has made it painfully clear that she's outgrown her girlhood obsession with Lachlan MacTier. That's just fine with him, as he never had any intention of marrying the lass anyway! Yet how can he ignore the fact that the once rough and tumble Winnie has become a very fashionable-and incredibly desirable-young woman...
And now he's got it bad...
Brawny, rugged Lachlan is nothing like the aristocratic English gentlemen who pursued Winnie-with a passion-in London. Three months away was more than enough to show her a world infinitely more glamorous than the untamed Scottish Highlands-and her beloved childhood crush. But now that she's decided to find a prospective husband with a bit more polish, could Lachlan finally appreciate her charms? And is it remotely possible to ignore the wild attraction she feels for him? 
Series: Scandalous Highlanders (Book 3) 
Mass Market Paperback: 352 pages 
Publisher: St. Martin's Paperbacks (March 3, 2015) 
Language: English 
ISBN-10: 1250041627 
ISBN-13: 978-1250041623

MY THOUGHTS: This is the 3rd book of this series.  So far I've enjoyed everyone of them.  I really love reading Historical Romances.   What Rowena comes home to is her brother's wedding.  He's the Laird of the MacLawry Clan.  They are having a big party before the wedding.  So all the clans are there and they have to keep the peace.  So Rowena and Lachlan are together a lot.  They stumble onto each other all the time, could this be the beginning of a relationship?  It sure seems like it.  But her bother has other ideas concerning Rowena's marriage prospects.  In the long run who's going to keep these two lovers apart?  I give this book 5.....

This book is for 1 of my reading challenges....
Color Coded Challenge

CREATIVITY......

Shelly over at Prairie Moon Quilts is the host for the Creativity Challenge.  Hop over and check out all the Creativity going on.

Creativity # 15

For this challenge we are to.......

Divide a page into small sections and make daily drawings in the sections

Well, I'm not good a drawing but here's mine....

 If you want a closer look, just click on the picture. 

BOOKISH FRIDAY......

Gillon at Rose City Reader hosts Book Beginnings, Freda at Freda's Voice hots The Friday 56 and Billy at Ramblings of a Coffee Addict host Book Blogger Hop.  Jump over and check out all the books being talked about.  You could find your next book.

Mad, Bad, and dangerous in Plaid - Suzanne Enoch

MY BOOK BEGINNING
"What do ye think, Lachlan?"
All the way from Paris, this gown was.
"What do I think aboot what?" Lachlan MacTier,
Viscount Gray, returned from the corner of the room.
"My gown," she added, trying not to sound plaintive.
He looked up from the age of cards he was playing
against her older brother Munro.  "Oh. It's fancy.  Are
ye having a costume ball fer yer birthday, then?"

I'm about 1/2 way through this book.  It's pretty good.  It's kept me interested as to what will happen to Rowena and Lachlan. 

My Friday 56
Her nose crinkled as she smiled back at him.  "I think you may be a bit of rogue, sir."
"Aye.  All Highlanders are rogues.  Have ye nae leaned that?"
"I'd been wondering if the MacLawry were the rule or it's exception."
Lachlan laughed.  "Both, I ken."

BOOK BLOGGER HOP

How many books do you read in a month??

Anywhere from 5 to 20.  Depends on my mood I suppose.  Sometimes I get in a book slump and don't want to read, and then later I get in a book rush and read everything in site.  I just went through 7 books in 2 weeks and now I'm in a slump, I'm having to make myself read.  Anyone else have this strange book problem??

BOOK REPORT.....

The Black Box - Michael Connelly

Product Description(Amazon.com)
In a case that spans 20 years, Harry Bosch links the bullet from a recent crime to a file from 1992, the killing of a young female photographer during the L.A. riots. Harry originally investigated the murder, but it was then handed off to the Riot Crimes Task Force and never solved.

Now Bosch's ballistics match indicates that her death was not random violence, but something more personal, and connected to a deeper intrigue. Like an investigator combing through the wreckage after a plane crash, Bosch searches for the "black box," the one piece of evidence that will pull the case together. 
Series: Harry Bosch (Book 18) 
Mass Market Paperback: 480 pages 
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing; Reprint edition (October 15, 2013) 
Language: English 
ISBN-10: 0446556726 
ISBN-13: 978-0446556729

MY THOUGHTS:  Even though I've read Michael Connelly's series with Harry Bosch, you can jump in and still enjoy the books.  This is number 18 of the series and I've read several of them.  This one is really very suspenseful and keeps you reading to find out what the heck is going on.  Can Harry connect a 20 year old murder to a new murder?  Harry has a lot of digging to do and lots of political stuff to weed through.  Not to mention he has a new Lt. and they do not get along.  I give this book 5......

This book is also for 2 of my reading challenges.....
52 Books in 52 Weeks
Color Coded Challenge

BOOK REPORT.....

The Collector - Luis A. Mendez

Product Description(Amazon.com)
Our generation is nothing but a distant memory half a century from now. The future is in a state of chaos in the midst of a post-apocalyptic aftermath of an Earth changing event. Countries and empires have been replaced by dispersed tribes. Mankind has gone backwards, not forward, in technology. Their only hope is to learn from their Ancestors through their relics of the past - Books, movies, gadgets, or whatever else they can study from their time. Groups referred to as "Collectors" find these items and trade them with groups sent by local tribes called "Traders". In one part of the world, a Collector is said to have in his possession a very ancient and powerful book, one which is said to hold the answers to the Universe. Traders from distant tribes have come looking to trade with him for relics, and one of them wants to know about that mysterious book. 
File Size: 346 KB 
Print Length: 25 pages 
Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited 
Publication Date: January 5, 2016 
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services LLC 
Language: English 
ASIN: B0196YHKIU

MY THOUGHTS:  I got this book from Amazon, couldn't find a book that fit a reading challenge I needed.  Although this is a very short book, it's full of visual aids so you can envision the setting and what's going on.  There are only 3 characters in the book and a dog.  The Collector has something someone wants to buy or trade.  One day someone comes looking for something.  It's a book, but the Collector doesn't want to give this book to just anyone. There is where the trouble starts.  I don't want to tell the name of the book as it would ruin the whole story.  Needless to say it is a very powerful book.  I give this book 5....

This book is also for 1 of my reading challenges.....
Full House Challenge.  

This is also my wrap up of this challenge.  Here are all the books I read for this challenge.

1.   An author I wish was better known - The Menagerie: Dragon on Trial - Tui T. Sutherland
2. Published in 2016 - The Collector - Luis A. Mendez
3.  Book from a series I like - Explosive Eighteen - Janet Evanovich
4. Debut Novel - The Girl Who Fell From the Sky - Heidi W. Durrow
5. Thought Provoking Book -The Guinea Pig Diaries - A. J. Jacobs
6. Laugh Out Loud - The Most Famous Illegal Goose Creek Parade - Virginia Smith
7. Book Club Worthy -The End of Your Life Book Club - Will Schwalbe
8.  Color in the Title - A Spool of Blue Thread - Anne Tyler
9. Author's same as mine - Virginia's Diary - Suzanne Peyton
10. Didn't Want to Put it Down-Pretty Girls - Karin Slaughter
11. Way Out of Comfort Zone - The Iron Wagon - Al Lacy
12. Family Relationship in Title - An English Bride in Scotland - Lynsay Sands
13. Book You Bought -The Darling Dahlias and The Cucumber Tree - Susan W. Albert
14. Setting begins with B - The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend - Katarina Bivald
15. Author outside my country - Anansi Boys - Neil Gaimen
16. Self Challenge -Around America - Walter Cronkite
17. Memoir - Under Magnolia - Frances Mayes
18. First in a series - The Menagerie - Tui T. Sutherland
19. I'd lake to Change the Cover - Act of War - Brad Thor
20. Dominant Cover Color(Yellow) - The Rosie Project _ Graeme Simsion
21. New Author to Me -Fire Flight - John J. Nance
22. Would make a good movie - A Handful of Stars - Cynthia Lord
23. Library Book - Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder - Joanne Fluke
24. Published 2015 - Stand Your Ground - Raeder Lomax
25. Been on TBR forever - Nancy Drew Series(#1 The Secret of the Old Clock - Carolyn Keene)

OLD AND NEW......

I've started a new quilt, why would I do that when I have so many that need to be put together.  Because I have all these ideas floating around my head that are screaming at me to do them.  I've wanted to make a book shelf quilt for the longest time.  But I don't do piece work, only applique.  I didn't know how to go about doing this in applique so just kept putting it off.  I went looking at all the book shelf quilts out there, they are beautiful.  A perfect example of one is at Quilt Magazine.  Want to see the quilt I'm talking about, just click on the link and it will take you right there.

Anyway, I finally figured out a way of doing my book shelf in applique. 

I've cut different lengths of strips and applique them down.  I'm also going to embroider some authors names on the strips.  So this is going to be a time consuming project or one of those that gets pushed to the back.  We'll see.  I'm also using this quilt for RCS16 Quilt along.  This is going to to be a column quilt and each month is a different color.  What is RCS....Rainbow Scrap Quilt.  The idea is to use your scraps up for this quilt.  The colors for the months.....
January....Blues and Purples
February.....Browns and Pinks
March.....Purples and Yellows
April.....Orange and Black/Browns
So I'm behind a little on this project, but I'll catch up sooner or later.  

I've also been working on my little circles.  I'm behind this month.  I've got to get caught up. April is half over already.  Audrey over at Quilty Folk is hosting this one.

So what have you been working on?  Hop over to Heather's place, Books and Quilts to find out what she's working on.  Heather is the host for Needlework Tuesday.

THE GOOD. THE RAMDOM. THE FUN.

Tamar over at Random-osity is the host for The Good. The Random. The Fun.  Hop over and check out everyone's photos.

Friday evening we spent time at the carnival, the carnival was at the school where the kids go.  It was lots of fun.  The kids had a ball.  They mostly wanted to go to the bouncy house.  Bella wanted to get her face painted and Luke just wanted to play.

The Good.

is picking out your prize for winning a game.

The Random.

is Bella with her Pig face painting.

The Fun.

is bouncing in the bounce house.  Bella is on the left and Luke is on the right.

SCAVENGER HUNT SUNDAY.......

Ashley over at Ramblings & Photos is the host for Scavenger Hunt Sunday.  Hop over and check out all the photos everyone is sharing.

Outside....

Squirrel in the tree....plus you can see the Maple trees are starting to bud.

Collection....

Just part of my chicken collection.

Tiny.....

Bella's little house, the people and furnishings are really tiny.

Hair.....

Luke getting a hair cut...he didn't like it.

Hungry.....

One of Bella's favorite foods, spaghetti.

CREATIVITY......

is a tricky thing.  Some people have it and some don't.  I'm one of the DON'TS.  Sure I create quilts and I crochet, but to me Creativity is taking a piece of paper and making this.....

Well, Shelly over at Prairie Moon Quilts is doing a Creativity Challenge this year.  I'm been doing the challenges every week.  But have been procrastinating about posting them.

Challenge #12 we were suppose to make a Mini Quilt.  That one threw me off big time.  I've never made one before and I wasn't quite sure how or if I wanted to make one.  So I went looking for info on Mini Quilts and boy is there lots of info out there about them.  And they all sound really TINY.....to tiny for me.  So I've put that one on hold for a while until I can figure it out.

Challenge #13 was to Color With Crayons.  I can do that, I don't like it, but I did it.  Not that I don't like to color, because I love to color, I just don't like coloring with crayons.  I prefer using colored pencils.  Anyway, here is my coloring....

Challenge #14 was to Organize our Creative Stuff.  Get all in one spot so it's easier to be more spontaneous when we get creative.  I don't have a special room for my creativity, so I went for getting all my pens, crayons, sketch book, pencils and other stuff into a box that I can readily get to.  This is my creative box....

Challenge #15 we are suppose to divide a page into sections and make daily drawings in the sections.  I think I can do this.  But, be warned.....I'm not a good drawer.  I can doodle, but actually draw a picture of something, nope can't draw.  Well, that's enough rambling for me today.  Got dishes to do and I have to make a run to the library.  Hope you all have a great day!

BOOK REPORT.....

The End of Your Life Book Club - Will Schwalbe

Product Description(Amazon.com)
During her treatment for cancer, Mary Anne Schwalbe and her son Will spent many hours sitting in waiting rooms together. To pass the time, they would talk about the books they were reading. Once, by chance, they read the same book at the same time—and an informal book club of two was born. Through their wide-ranging reading, Will and Mary Anne—and we, their fellow readers—are reminded how books can be comforting, astonishing, and illuminating, changing the way that we feel about and interact with the world around us. A profoundly moving memoir of caregiving, mourning, and love—The End of Your Life Book Club is also about the joy of reading, and the ways that joy is multiplied when we share it with others. 
Paperback: 352 pages 
Publisher: Vintage; Reprint edition (June 4, 2013) 
Language: English 
ISBN-10: 0307739783 
ISBN-13: 978-0307739780

MY THOUGHTS:  The fact the title has book club in it had a lot to do with me reading this book.  Any book that has a title of BOOK in it will grab me.  It also had to do with cancer.  My hubby is at this time at the end of his fight with Colon Cancer.  Reading about the lives of other people that have gone through this heart wrenching ordeal is something I am interested in right now.  So I grabbed up this book at the library and started reading.  It is very well written and takes you through all the stages of cancer, from first to last.  The feelings this book invokes is very real.  I am going through some of these feelings myself.  I give this book 5....

This book is also for 1 of my reading challenges.....
Full House Challenge

UPDATE.....

I finally finished the ABC Quilt last night.  Got the border on.  Now it can get acquitted with the quilts on my Quilt to do List.

 My Quilt to do List....
4. Dots Quilt(in the hoop)
5. Dresden Quilt(Gray Center)(sandwiched)
6. 6" Crazy Quilt
7. Halloween Quilt(sandwiched)
8. Thanksgiving Quilt
9. Christmas Quilt
10. Jar Quilt
11. Strip Quilt
12. Easter Quilt
13. Boo Quilt
14. Valentine Quilt
15. Dresden Quilt(Red Center)
16. Under The Sea Quilt
17. Spring Quil
18. 4th of July Quilt
19. ABC Quilt

NEELEWORK UPDATE.....

I've been working on my ABC quilt.  I've almost got it done.  Just have to finish up the border.
I got busy and put 3 quilts together last week.  The Dot Quilt is in the hoop waiting to be tied.

I also put the Christmas Quilt together.

and the Halloween Quilt....I used one bag of full size batting to put these 3 quilts together.  Plus I had a little left over for a small project, not sure what it will be.  Maybe a Mini Quilt.  I've also been working on my April Circles.  They are all cut, just have to applique them to the fabric. 

I'm linking to Heather over Books and Quilts for Needlework Tuesday.  Hop over and check out Heather's Turtle she made, it's really cute.

BOOK REPORT.....

Around America - Walter Cronkite

Product Description(Amazon.com)
Here we Travel with Walter Cronkite, one of our most trusted and erudite guides, around the coastline of America, to which so much of our history belongs. Along the way, we encounter the places and people, past and present, that have shaped or are shaping our country.At nearly the easternmost tip of Maine we are told of the first British war ship captured during the Revolution, by the good folks of Machias, who used pitchforks because they had no muskets. We learn that the islands off the coast of Texas are among the nation's great sanctuaries for migrating birds. And we're introduced to Fort Ross, on California's Redwood Coast, a replica of the Russian settlement established in 1812 as a fur trading post, but with dreams of expanding the Russian empire.In this rich and compelling travelogue we can almost hear Cronkite's smooth cadences spinning stories and offering up little-known facts about the coastlines he travels. 
Hardcover: 192 pages 
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company; 1st edition (August 2001) 
Language: English 
ISBN-10: 0393040836 
ISBN-13: 978-0393040838

MY THOUGHTS:  I tried to read this book a few years ago.  I couldn't do it at the time.  I must have been not in the mood or it didn't catch my interest.  So I decided to try again.  I've read several of Cronkite's other books and enjoyed them.  I grew up listening to Cronkite on the nightly news with my family.  His voice is very soothing and his stories take you right where he's talking about.  The same can be said for his books.  I felt like I was in the boat with him on his travels around our coast line.  A few of the places he talked about, I have visited, but most I haven't, so this was a good book to read.  You like to read about the travels of other people this a good book to read.  I give this book...5

This book is also for 1 of my reading challenges....
Full House Challenge

BOOK REPORT.....

The Sundown Speech - Loren D. Estleman

Product Description(Amazon.com)
Amos Walker is hired by Helen and Dante Gunner, a bohemian Ann Arbor couple, to find Jerry Marcus, a film director who has disappeared with their investment money. It's one of Walker's easiest jobs to date. In just a few short hours, Walker locates Marcus in his bedroom...murdered, his body shoved into a cupboard, a bullet through his head.
This case is opened and shut quickly, but Walker can't quite let it go. When Dante is arrested for the murder Walker finds himself again in Helen's employ, this time trying to prove that Dante didn't do it.
When Walker interviews Holly Zacharias, a college student who was the last person to see Marcus alive, things get interesting. Because if Marcus is dead, and Dante is his killer, then who is driving by in the Crown Vic, shooting at Walker and Holly?
Jerry Marcus just might still be alive, and his plans may be worse than anything Walker can imagine. 
Series: Amos Walker Novels (Book 25) 
Hardcover: 240 pages 
Publisher: Forge Books; First Edition edition (November 10, 2015) 
Language: English 
ISBN-10: 0765337363 
ISBN-13: 978-0765337368

MY THOUGHTS: Even though this book 25 of a series, it is still a good stand alone book.  It's also a very short book, 238 pages, so it can be read in one day.  I started it yesterday morning and finished it by evening.  Amos Walker is a private investigator.  Helen and Dante hire Walker to find the guy who swindled them out of 15,000.  But when Walker finds him, he's already dead.  DNA proves it, but Walker sees this "dead" man walking around later.  And so the mystery starts.  How can "dead" guy be walking around town?  DNA doesn't lie.  This leads Walker on a mad dash all over town trying to find out what the heck is going on.  The clues and characters are far and in between for Walker, but he keeps up with the help of a police SGT. that is working the case also.  They bounce ideas off each other and they finally figure it out.  You will never believe the ending!  It surprised the heck out of me.  I give this book 5......

This book is also for 1 of my reading challenges.
52 Books in 52 Weeks

SCAVENGER HUNT SUNDAY.....

Ashley over at Ramblings & Photos is the host for Scavenger Hunt Sunday.  Hop over to Ashley's place and check out all the photos everyone is sharing today.

Sweet....

Take your pick, we have lots of sweets here.

Not Normal....

My toes are not normal.  The nails are so thick I have to go to a podiatrist to get them clipped.  Plus my big toe nail turns black sometimes.  Don't know why.

Ordinary Day....

Around here an ordinary day is dishes and laundry.

Smile.....

Bella getting braids after her hair cut.  She was so happy.

Different Angle....

Wasn't sure about this one, so just went with this.  The boards holding the whole thing up is about to fall down and is at wonky angle.  Why it hasn't fell down yet is a mystery to me.  This is a major clean up coming as soon as SPRING gets here.  This last week WINTER has been visiting again.  Day time temps in the low 30's and 40's.  Night time in the the low teens and a couple nights in the single digits.