Quilts and Books

Usually I'm a snob about pre-printed panels, but even I couldn't resist this one. I'm a sucker for anything nativity-related for my Christmas decorating. This panel is by Nancy Halvorsen (who doesn't seem to have her own web site, or else I'd link to it) and there's a whole group of fabrics that go with it. I just bought the panel and straight line quilted around the boxes. Sometime after Christmas when I take it down, I'll quilt around the motifs in the boxes to give it a more textured look, but now it's good enough to hang up for what's left of the holidays. This was a very quick little project and very fun. My panel is flannel and I forgot how much lint it leaves behind in my machine. I'll have to give it a good cleaning on Saturday.

I have to take an ornament to a Christmas party Saturday night. I found this free pattern tonight and I'll make it on Saturday. I'll make two. One for the party and one for me!

While I love historicals, I admit that I've tended to avoid American historicals and Westerns. I find I'm rather squeamish about the less savory aspects of our history here in the US. Our historical landscape is littered with broken promises and inhumane behavior. On all sides. We human beings are incredibly cruel to one another (one only has to read the daily paper) and there are days when I just don't want to think about it. But extreme circumstances create great tension for an author to use and it can be well worth it to invest in a book like Rising Wind.

RW takes place in 1774 when the American Revolution was brewing and colonists were in conflict with several native tribes as the colonists moved further and further west. Connor, a former bondsman sent over from Scotland, and Carrie, daughter of a British officer, meet in Williamsburg and are quickly attracted to one another. They are thrown together as they journey into the frontier to Fort Savannah to meet up with Ca…

Anna Campbell's first book,
Claiming the Courtesan was an unusual, dark, and controversial book. I read it and blogged about it last spring. I found that one to be a compelling, well-written book and I was anxious to read this one.

Untouched is a very different book, although dark in its own way. The hero, Matthew (a Marquess) has been held in captivity for 9 years while his uncle/guardian convinced the world that Matthew is insane. Thus the uncle has control over Matthew's considerable fortune and property. Matthew lives in a "cottage" that is on what must be a rather large piece of land, surrounded by an unscalable wall. He lives in relative comfort and is able to maintain a scientific correspondence with the outside world. For reasons that aren't entirely clear (or else I missed the reasons), the uncle decides to procure a prostitute for Matthew. Two stereotypically evil henchmen are sent to Bristol to bring back the prostitute. Instead, they accidentally bring…

Looking at the list to the right, I've read a lot of books this month, but I guess none had so much of an impact that I wanted to take the time to write about them. I have some interesting reads coming up; maybe those will prompt me to post another review. I have JR Ward's Lover Unbound that I got from the library and will have to read in the next week before it's due. Given some of the lukewarm to nasty reviews it received I can't say I'm anxious to get started. But I have liked the previous books in the series, so I hope my reaction isn't the same as others'. It's a thick sucker, too--just over 500 pages! If I'm going to devote that much time it had better be worth it. Anna Campbell's sophomore effort is due Tuesday. I pre-bought it from Fictionwise, so I assume I can download it at midnight tomorrow. Untouched sounds interesting and I'll probably interrupt LU to read that as soon as I've got it loaded into my PDA.

I've had that pic…

I finished a few things recently. This first one is about 55" x 55" and was the mystery quilt project from the 2006 guild quilt retreat. I didn't do anything fancy, just stippled it with a varigated thread. A friend of mine saw it and actually wanted to buy it. I let her borrow it for a couple of weeks, but in the end the bright teal just clashed with everything in her home, so she decided not to buy it. I was flattered that she wanted it (she's a talented watercolorist), but I'm happy to keep it. I remember when I bought the focus fabric. It was way back in the early 90's and it was the first time my sister and I went to PNQE together.

Next up are a couple of purses. I do like this purse pattern. It takes a little time to put together, but you can really highlight some beautiful fabrics with it. The Christmas one has a zipper. That fact is significant in that I do believe it's the very first zipper I've sewn since 9th grade Home Ec. 9th grade was sev…

I have quite a weakness for these little books and I wish I could tell you why. They’re like candy—super sweet and if you eat too many you’ll get sick. I find myself reading several of these all at once and then not going near them again for months at a time. They have the most awful titles and their plots are often based on communication failures. The “Big Misunderstanding” is frequently used as is the ever popular/most despised secret baby plot. There’s really a lot to hate here, yet lots of intelligent, rational romance readers go back for more time and again. I’m one of them. They’re so darn cheap on Fictionwise and if they’re awful, I can delete the electrons back into the ether. No trees have been harmed.

If I understand it right, Harlequin Presents are supposed to be strong emotional books involving ruthless, rich, gorgeous heroes who are brought to their knees by the plucky heroine who generally seems to be down on her luck, but is determined to make it on her own. The good one…

I don’t really have time to review as many books here as I’d like, but I think I’d be remiss if I’d let this one go by. Once again I’m in awe of an author’s ability to not just write a novel, but to carefully craft it so that each word is important and if you read it too quickly you might miss an important point. The Scottish Companion is Karen Ranney’s latest book. I have a couple of her recent books on my TBR pile, but decided to read this one out of order as I’m not aware that it’s connected to any of her previous books.

TSC is the story of Gillian and Grant—two people who’ve known tremendous loss. They are thrown together when Gillian, the paid companion of the title, accompanies her employer on a visit to Grant’s estate. Gillian’s employer, Arabella, is a very strange young woman who is obsessed with medicine to the point that she has absolutely no interest in anything that goes on around her unless it has to do with a medical ailment. Grant needs a wife and as he has no interest…