BUTTONS AND STITCHING......

Don't know if you remember me mentioning a challenge I wanted to do.  It's called One year of Stitches and Buttons.  The gal who did this is Ashley.  You can see her finished piece here.  She did this last year, so I've decided to make one myself.  When I found her sight it was already January 21.  So that is my starting date.  Here is what I have now.....

I also joined a Cross Stitch SAL.  It's over at Heather's place, Stitching Lotus. 

Got a cross stitch kit and have started it.  Not very far along right now, so am showing the picture from the package....

This is what I have done so far....

I realized after I started doing the border that you have to start in the middle of fabric.  So I'm going to have to pull out the edging.  Thank goodness I didn't get the whole thing done!!  That's it for now...

BOOK REPORT....BOOK OF A THOUSAND DAYS

Book of a Thousand Days - Shannon Hale

Product Description(Amazon.com)
Based on a classic Grimm's fairy tale, this is the story told by Dashti, a maid from the steppes of a medieval land, who sacrifices her freedom to accompany her mistress into exile. Imprisoned in a remote tower after Lady Saren refuses to marry the man her father has chosen, the maid and the lady have almost nothing in common. But the loyalty that grows between the two, the man they love in different ways for different reasons, and the lies they tell because of and in spite of each other, combine to evoke the deepest bonds, transcend the loneliest landscapes, and erupt in a conclusion so romantic, so clever, and so right that no reader will be left dry-eyed. 
Hardcover: 320 pages 
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Childrens; 1 edition (September 1, 2007) 
Language: English 
ISBN-10: 1599900513 
ISBN-13: 978-1599900513

MY THOUGHTS:  New author for me.  I'll be looking into some of the authors other books.  This written in diary form.  Dashti is writing the story of her time with Lady Saren.  From the time they are locked in the tower, to their travels to a new land after theirs is destroyed.  It is full of heartache and romance.  With a very wonderful ending that makes you believe LOVE conquers all.  I give this book 5.....

 




This book is for 4 of my reading challenges.......
Epistolary Challenge
Library Love Challenge
Outdo Yourself Challenge 
Try Something New Challenge

BOOK REPORT....V IS FOR VENGEANCE

V is for Vengeance - Sue Grafton

Product Description(Amazon.com)
Private detective Kinsey Millhone feels a bit out of place in any department store's lingerie section, but she's entirely in her element when she puts a stop to a brazen shoplifting spree. For her trouble she nearly gets run over in the parking lot by one of the fleeing thieves—and later learns that the one who didn't get away has been found dead in an apparent suicide. But Audrey Vance's grieving fiance suspects murder and hires Kinsey to investigate a case that will reveal a big story behind a small crime and lead her into a web that connects a shadowy “private banker,” an angry trophy wife, a spoiled kid with a spiraling addiction, and a brutal killer without a conscience... 
Series: A Kinsey Millhone Novel (Book 22) 
Hardcover: 448 pages 
Publisher: Marian Wood Books/Putnam; First Edition edition (November 14, 2011) 
Language: English 
ISBN-10: 0399157867 
ISBN-13: 978-0399157868

MY THOUGHTS:  Very good book, filled with lots of characters.  There are really 5 stories in this book.  Kinsey's job is to connect them all together to find murderer.  Plus there is a dirty cop involved, and a thief.  At first Kinsey can't see the shoplifter being murdered.  She starts digging and still can't find anything.  But Kinsey is the kind of person who doesn't give up.  Kinsey finally gets a clue about a shoplifting ring and runs with it.  The five stories in the book are all inter-connected with this ring.  Does Kinsey catch the murderer and break up the shoplifting ring?  Read the book....it's really a good one.  I give this book 5.......

This book is for 4 of my reading challenges.......
Read The Rainbow Challenge
Alphabet Soup Challenge
Library Love Challenge
Outdo Yourself Challenge

Blog Hopping......again.....

I started at Susan's place, Yellow Flower Meadow, and ended up at Heather's Stitching Lotus, which sent me to Heather's Smalls SAL 2018.  I used to do Cross Stitch a lot.  Put quit for some reason...I've been wanting to start again, I figured this would be a good one to get started.  What is the Smalls SAL?

The Smalls SAL is a very low pressure SAL. All you need to do is stitch a small design every month and then head over to my blog on the last Friday of the month to share a link to your blog post where you share a picture of your finish. If you don’t manage to finish something one month, or two or three months, that’s no problem. Participate whenever you can.

So if you cross stitch, hop over and check it out.  I'll be picking up a kit this weekend.  

ONE MONTHLY GOAL......

I've been trying to get some of my Quilt UFO's under control.  So I've joined Patty over at Elm Street Quilts for OMG(One Monthly Goal). 

Select ONE of your creative goals for the month that uses fabric, thread and / or yarn.  This could be to make a few blocks. cutting fabric for a project, sewing on a binding, or finish a quilt top.  Any goal that involves a step in the process of making with thread, fabric or yarn is a valid goal.

 

My goal for January was to sandwich 3 quilts.  Well, that didn't happen.  There were several problems I ran into this month.  

!. I ran out of fabric for the backing and didn't make it to Joann's for more muslin. 

2. We had frozen water lines...had to run new ones.

3. The washer broke...had to buy a new washer.....and had a week's worth of laundry to do...

But, the good news is I actually got 2 of the 3 quilts sandwiched.  The Easter Quilt is in my hoop ready to be tied.

I also got the 4th of July quilt sandwiched.

Both quilts are small.  The 4th of July quilt is laying on a twin bed.  The Easter quilt is about half that size.  I'll be making a trip to Joann's for muslin this weekend, so am hoping I can get the 3rd quilt sandwiched this weekend.  It is my Spring Quilt and is about the same size of the 4th of July Quilt.
Hope you all have a.......

TAST....DETACHED CHAIN STITCH

The stitch for TAST this week is # 4....Detached Chain Stitch....or more commonly called Lazy Daisy Stitch.  This is my Detached Chain Stitch.....

Piggy 4....
My detached chain stitch has been turned into flowers.  The piggy looks like he's eating them.  Want to know more.... head over to Sharon's place....Pintangle.  She has lots of embroidery stitches to learn and lots of other stuff to see.  You can also go to the group, Take a Stitch Tuesday,  at Facebook and see all the things people are sharing.

EMBROIDERY AND QUILTING......

TAST - Take A Stitch Tuesday - Pintangle
TUSAL - Totally Useless Stitch A Long - It's Daffycat

Take A Stitch Tuesday is learning embroidery stitches.  Sharon is the host.  She gives an embroidery stitch every Tuesday for you work on.  This weeks stitch was the Fly Stitch.  This is my Fly Stitch.....

Piggy 3...the Fly Stitch is at the bottom of the pig.

Totally Useless Stitch A Long is saving all those clipping from threads and filling a jar, box bowl or how ever you want to save them.  Daffycat is the host.  I did quite a bit of embroidery this month, mostly on the pig and some on the pillowcase, which got one done.  This is my ORT's for January.....

I picked up a Ball Jar and started filling it.  So I really need to dump this out and wash the jar, it looks rather messy at the moment.

Slow Sunday Stitching - hosted by Kathy
I also got my Easter Quilt sandwiched and in the hoop.  I'll start tying it today.  This is my hoop on a stand.  I use it to tie my quilts.  My mom got this for me for Christmas one year.....a lot of years ago.

 This week Kathy is having a photo challenge for Slow Sunday Stitching.  It's all about hoops.  I have one 8" hoop I use the most, but at the moment the outside ring has come up missing...searched but haven't found it yet...but I will, if I have to tear the house apart. lol

This is the hoop I'm using now, I don't like the bigger hoops much, as I can't get my fingers behind the fabric to feel what I'm doing...does that make sense to anyone???

I was blog hoping and found this awesome project to work on.  While hoping off of Slow Sunday Stitching to Quilting by the sea, I came across a 365 Project.  You can check it out over at Ashley's place.  She put buttons and stitches in a 10" embroidery hoop.  You have to see the finished project to appreciate it.  I have been looking for something I can work on all year.  So I think I'm going to hop on this challenge.  Have to make a run to Hobby Lobby to get a hoop and some buttons.  So I'll be starting mine either tomorrow or Tuesday.  I'll update once a week to let everyone see how it's coming along.
Hope you all have......

BOOK REPROT....CIRCLING THE SUN

Circling The Sun - Paula Mclain

Product Description(Amazon.com)
Brought to Kenya from England as a child and then abandoned by her mother, Beryl is raised by both her father and the native Kipsigis tribe who share his estate. Her unconventional upbringing transforms Beryl into a bold young woman with a fierce love of all things wild and an inherent understanding of nature’s delicate balance. But even the wild child must grow up, and when everything Beryl knows and trusts dissolves, she is catapulted into a string of disastrous relationships.

Beryl forges her own path as a horse trainer, and her uncommon style attracts the eye of the Happy Valley set, a decadent, bohemian community of European expats who also live and love by their own set of rules. But it’s the ruggedly charismatic Denys Finch Hatton who ultimately helps Beryl navigate the uncharted territory of her own heart. The intensity of their love reveals Beryl’s truest self and her fate: to fly. 
Hardcover: 384 pages 
Publisher: Ballantine Books; 1 edition (July 28, 2015) 
Language: English 
ISBN-10: 0345534182 
ISBN-13: 978-0345534187

MY THOUGHTS:  I love reading about Africa at the turn of the century.  Everything is just starting to grow and people are starting to settle the land.  It isn't perfect, but the setting is awesome.  Beryl is a small girl who's mother has left her father and went back to England.  Beryl pretty much runs wild.  She spends most of her childhood with Kipsigis tribe.  Learning everything a boy from that tribe learns to become a warrior.  But as Beryl grows into a young adult her father wants to polish her up and put her out in society.  But Beryl doesn't want that, so she rebels.  Beryl marries a man she hardly knows.  The marriage is rocky right off.  Beryl is trying to find her way in life.  Where that takes her is her fate.....to fly.  Wonderful book with lots of characters.  I give this book 5.....

This book is for 3 of my reading challenges.......
Memoir Reading Challenge
Library Love Challenge
Outdo Yourself Challenge

BOOK REPORT....THE LIONESS IS THE HUNTER

The Lioness is the Hunter - Loren D. Estleman

Product Description(Amazon.com)
Detroit entrepreneur Carl Fannon hires Walker to trace Emil Haas, his partner, whose sudden disappearance has jeopardized their firm’s plans to purchase the historic Sentinel Building. Almost immediately, the missing man shows up and asks the detective to meet him in the empty Sentinel to discuss a top-secret concern. Walker complies, only to find not Haas, but Fannon’s suffocated corpse locked in a basement vault.
When Gwendolyn Haas, the partner’s adult daughter, enters the picture, the client number rises to three, including one missing and one murdered. But the worst is yet to come: Emil Haas’s “concern” is that Fannon’s been buying up depressed real estate on behalf of Charlotte Sing, the international fugitive Walker knows only too well as Madam Sing. Madam Sing is believed to have been executed in Asia for capital crimes without number, but instead may be engaged in rebuilding her fortune to relaunch her assault on civilization. 
Series: Amos Walker Novels (Book 26) 
Hardcover: 240 pages 
Publisher: Forge Books (February 28, 2017) 
Language: English  
ISBN-10: 0765388456 
ISBN-13: 978-0765388452

MY THOUGHTS:  When I first started reading this book I thought it was set during the 30's or 40's.  The writing reminds me of the old detective books from the 60's.  But then they started talking on cell phones and using computers.  Really good stand alone book.  But this is another series I'm going to have to put on my list of books to read.  I give this book 5.....

 This book is for  4 of my reading challenges......
Library Love Challenge
Outdo Yourself Challenge
Try Something New Challenge
What's in a Name Challenge

BOOK REPORT.....AN ECHO OF MURDER

An Echo of Murder - Anne Perry

Product Description(Amazon.com)
In the course of his tenure with the Thames River Police, Commander Monk has yet to see a more gruesome crime scene: a Hungarian warehouse owner lies in the middle of his blood-sodden office, pierced through the chest with a bayonet and eerily surrounded by seventeen candles, their wicks dipped in blood. Suspecting the murder may be rooted in ethnic prejudice, Monk turns to London’s Hungarian community in search of clues but finds his inquiries stymied by its wary citizens and a language he doesn’t speak. Only with the help of a local pharmacist acting as translator can Monk hope to penetrate this tightly knit enclave, even as more of its members fall victim to identical brutal murders. But whoever the killer, or killers, may be—a secret society practicing ritual sacrifice, a madman on a spree, a British native targeting foreigners—they are well hidden among the city’s ever-growing populace.

With the able assistance of his wife—former battlefield nurse Hester, who herself is dealing with a traumatized war veteran who may be tangled up in the murders—Monk must combat distrust, hostility, and threats from the very people he seeks to protect. But as the body count grows, stirring ever greater fear and anger among the Hungarian émigrés, resistance to the police also increases. Racing time and the rising tide of terror all around him, Monk must be even more relentless than the mysterious killer, or the echoes of malice and murder will resound through London’s streets like a clarion of doom. 
Series: William Monk (Book 23) 
Hardcover: 304 pages 
Publisher: Ballantine Books; First American Edition edition (September 19, 2017) 
Language: English 
ISBN-10: 0425285014 
ISBN-13: 978-0425285015

MY THOUGHTS:  I started another series at the end.  But it is a good stand alone book.  There is a gruesome, bloody murder that's taken place in the Hungarian community.  No one seems to know what happened, who done it, or why.  Monk and Hopper try their best but keep coming up empty on clues or answers.  I really can't give any more info as it will give away the story line.  I give this book.....5

 




This book is for 3 of my reading challenges......
Alphabet Soup Challenge
Library Love Challenge
Outdo Yourself Challenge
**********************************************************************
I've also found another reading challenge I want to join.  It is being hosted by Lark over at bookwyrm hoard.  The challenge is The Backlist Reader Challenge.

To count for the challenge, books have to be published before 2017 AND already be on your TBR list or pile. In other words, you don’t have to own it. If it was on your list to read before you signed up for the challenge, and it came out before 2017, it counts. Library books, books you picked up at a yard sale, books you borrowed from a friend, ebooks, print books, audiobooks—any book counts as long as it fits those two criteria.
I'm going to say 10 books for now, but that could change, as I've got a lot of books I've been wanting to read.  

SUNDAY STITCHING.....

I've lost part of my embroidery hoop, the outside piece.  I've searched everywhere for it, but nothing has turned up. 

This is an 8" hoop, my preferred size.  Now I've had to go to a bigger size, which I don't like.  I can't get my fingers behind the piece to feel the work I'm doing.  Does that make sense?

This is a doodle I'm working on.  I'm not the best drawer in the world, so it kind of looks like a child's drawing.  I've also got a piece with squares, rectangle and circles, but haven't decided what to do with this one yet.

I've also been doing a lot of reading.  I've read 3 books since the 1st and am almost done with the 4th one. 
U is for Undertow - Sue Grafton
Last Christmas in Paris - Hazel Gaynor
Break and Enter - Norah McClintock
Currently reading......An Echo of Murder - Anne Perry

I was over at Caffeinated Reviewer and she has a link to Rattled Dreams on how to start a blog.  Very interesting article.  When I started my blog, I had no idea what I was doing.  I just hopped in and started.  Over the years, I've fine tuned by blog to what I enjoy.  I don't blog for someone else, I do it for me.  If your just starting  to blog this is an article you should check out.

I'm linking up with Kathy for Slow Sunday Stitching.  Go check out what everyone is stitching on.

I'm also linking to Sunday Post, check out all the interesting items she has this week.

Hope you all......

BOOK REPORT...BREAK AND ENTER

Break and Enter - Norah McClintock

Product Description(Amazon.com)
Chloe can't believe a teacher would accuse her of cheating. And when she finds herself under suspicion for vandalism, too, she realizes she's being framed. As she tries to figure out why she's being set up, she uncovers a trail of blood... and a far more sinister plot. Winner of the Crime Writers of Canada's Arthur Ellis Award for Best Juvenile Crime Novel. 
Series: Chloe and Levesque Mysteries (Book 4) 
Paperback: 212 pages 
Publisher: Kane/Miller Book Publishers; First Edition edition (March 1, 2011) 
Language: English 
ISBN-10: 1610670051 
ISBN-13: 978-1610670050

MY THOUGHTS:  This is a new author for me.  But, it's a series and I've read the last book.  So now I have to go back and read the others.  Although this is a stand alone book, I really want to find out how Chloe got to her new school.  This book is mostly about high school kids.  Chloe gets into trouble she didn't do.  While tracing down clues as to who is setting her up, Chloe runs across a worse set of for Davis, and Chloe gets dragged into it.  Can't say anything else as it will give away the story.  I give this book 5....

 




This book is for  4 of my reading challenges.......
Alphabet Soup Challenge
Library Love Challenge
Outdo Yourself Challenge
11th Canadian Challenge

BOOK REPORT.....LAST CHRISTMAS IN PARIS

Last Christmas in Paris - Hazel Gaynor/Heather Webb

Product Description(Amazon.com)
August 1914. England is at war. As Evie Elliott watches her brother, Will, and his best friend, Thomas Harding, depart for the front, she believes—as everyone does—that it will be over by Christmas, when the trio plan to celebrate the holiday among the romantic cafes of Paris.
But as history tells us, it all happened so differently…
Evie and Thomas experience a very different war. Frustrated by life as a privileged young lady, Evie longs to play a greater part in the conflict—but how?—and as Thomas struggles with the unimaginable realities of war he also faces personal battles back home where War Office regulations on press reporting cause trouble at his father’s newspaper business. Through their letters, Evie and Thomas share their greatest hopes and fears—and grow ever fonder from afar. Can love flourish amid the horror of the First World War, or will fate intervene?
Christmas 1968. With failing health, Thomas returns to Paris—a cherished packet of letters in hand—determined to lay to rest the ghosts of his past. But one final letter is waiting for him… 
Paperback: 400 pages 
Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks (October 3, 2017) 
Language: English 
ISBN-10: 0062562681 
ISBN-13: 978-0062562685

MY THOUGHTS:  This is my book clubs choice for January.  I really enjoyed reading this book.  It was like seeing into the lives of Evie and Thomas through their letters.  If you like romance, war, mystery and letters, this is the book to read.  There is all that in this book.  The authors put you right in the middle of the war.  You get to read about Evie and Thomas as they fall in love.  Wonderful book!!  I give this book 5....

This book is for 4 of my reading challenges......
Epistolary Challenge
Alphabet Soup Challenge
What's in a Name Challenge
Outdo Yourself Challenge

BOOK REPORT....U IS FOR UNDERTOW

U is for Undertow - Sue Grafton

Product Description(Amazon.com)
It’s April, 1988, a month before Kinsey Millhone’s thirty-eighth birthday, and she’s alone in her office doing paperwork when a young man arrives unannounced. He has a preppy air about him and looks as if he’d be carded if he tried to buy booze, but Michael Sutton is twenty-seven, an unemployed college dropout. Twenty-one years earlier, a four-year-old girl disappeared. A recent reference to her kidnapping has triggered a flood of memories. Sutton now believes he stumbled on her lonely burial when he was six years old. He wants Kinsey’s help in locating the child’s remains and finding the men who killed her. It’s a long shot but he’s willing to pay cash up front, and Kinsey agrees to give him one day. As her investigation unfolds, she discovers Michael Sutton has an uneasy relationship with the truth. In essence, he’s the boy who cried wolf. Is his current story true or simply one more in a long line of fabrications? 
Series: A Kinsey Millhone Novel (Book 21) 
Hardcover: 416 pages 
Publisher: Marian Wood Books/Putnam; 1st edition (December 1, 2009) 
Language: English 
ISBN-10: 039915597X 
ISBN-13: 978-0399155970

MY THOUGHTS: This book is set between years.  The book moves from the 60's to the 80's.  The crime is a kidnapping of a little girl.  The crime is 21 years old and no new clues have come up.  Until Michael Sutton drops a clue for Kinsey to follow.  But the clue doesn't pan out like you would think.  So Kinsey is at the end of trail.  But she can't give up.  She keeps working the case.  She finally links them all up.  I give this book 5....

This book is for 3 of my reading challenges.....
Alphabet Soup Challenge
Library Love Challenge
Outdo Yourself Challenge

TAST.....

I'm going to do the TAST(Take A Stitch Tuesday) again this year.  Hope I make it through all the stitches this time.  TAST is hosted by Sharon over at Pintangle.  Hop over and check it out if you embroidery.  This weeks stitch....RUNNING STITCH.

The Running Stitch is the red border around the Piggy.

ONE MONTHLY GOAL......

My Goal for January is to sandwich, tie and bind 3 quilts.   I've got to make a trip to Joann Fabrics to get my batting, backing and some fabric to make my binding.  These are small quilts, so once I get all my stuff bought, it shouldn't take too long to finish them.  That's what I'm doing today, making the trip to Joann Fabrics, which I'm not fond of making.  I have to go to the big city to do it.  Well, not really big, but bigger than the one I live in. The traffic is awful, but I can find a slower way of getting there without all the traffic.  Well, that's it for now, if you have a goal hop over to Elm Street Quilts to see what everyone is working on.

4th of July Quilt

Easter Quilt

Spring Quilt

Have a great......

BOOK REPORT......THE BACKYARD PARABLES

The Backyard Parables - Margaret Roach

Product Description(Amazon.com)
Margaret Roach has been harvesting thirty years of backyard parables-deceptively simple, instructive stories from a life spent digging ever deeper-and has distilled them in this memoir along with her best tips for garden making, discouraging all manner of animal and insect opponents, at-home pickling, and more. 
Hardcover: 288 pages 
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing (January 15, 2013) 
Language: English 
ISBN-10: 1455501980 
ISBN-13: 978-1455501984

MY THOUGHTS: This was a really good book, if your into gardening.  The author shares some of her life while working on her garden.  She gives lots of tips along the way and some really funny stories of garden life.  Weeds, animals and insects is another story she shares.  Her remedies on how to combat these.  I give this book 5....

This is for 4 of my reading challenges.....
Strolling Through Non-Fiction Challenge
Library Love Challenge
Outdo Yourself Challenge 
 Creativity Reading Challenge