Scents

Authors will frequently use scents and perfumes as descriptors to help shape their characters. Usually these are pretty recognizable, such as fruits or plants like lavendar. One that I saw recently was new to me, although in looking around I found out that it's really extremely common.

When I read Veiled Promises last month, we were frequently told that Matteo smelled of bergamot. I'd never heard of it before and discovered that it's a common ingredient in modern perfumes and deoderants. I was curious as to what it smells like.



Meanwhile, for Christmas I received a gift card to The Candle Lab, a small group of local stores that lets you make your own scented soy candles. On Saturday I went in to use my card and saw that bergamot was one of the available scents and decided to make a candle with that scent mixed with lavendar and english ivy. I like it. It's very strong though--tangy and sharp. I can only burn the candle for half an hour or so before it gets too strong. Anyhow, now I know what Matteo smelled like.

Oh, and here's a little work in progress that is NOT from my UFO pile. Lest I be accused of ADD and starting yet another project, in my defense let me say that this is for a friend who just had a baby 3 weeks ago. She and her husband picked out this monkey fabric. The pattern is from Maple Island Quilts, called BQ2. This picture shows the first 7 blocks I finished. I now have 12 done and 8 more to go. This will be simple. No borders. After I stitch the blocks together I'll quilt it with straight line cross hatching. Should be done by the end of the month.