Quilts and Books

I won an ARC of this from Dear Author and Jane invited me to write a review to post as a guest review there. You can go here to read it. I feel all famous and stuff.

This is a picture of the 4 projects I worked on this weekend. The two hangings just need bindings now and they'll be done. It should be pretty quick to finish the tops that I got started that are just piles of blocks and strip sets so far.

Here are close ups of the quilting on the two hangings. I received some lovely compliments for the echo quilting on the larger piece. Good thing, because that puppy turned into a monster amount of work. But it was a good skill-builder, so it was worth it.


Machine Update. I talked to a machine repair expert in another state who is a friend of my sister. He gave me some excellent advice depending on the verdict from the local guy about my dead machine. He also has 3 used Pfaff 2048s for a very good price if I need to do the unthinkable.

I shot this picture while everyone was at breakfast. What a great time we all had. And some beautiful quilts were made. I finished quilting two wall hangings and started two lap quilts. One of my machines also seems to have bit the dust. I think its circuit board is fried, but a definitive diagnosis won't happen for a few days. Ouch. This is going to cost me. That's my now-dead machine in the foreground on the right. Good thing I have a back-up.

As a quilter, I LOVE fabric. I love to look at it. I love to touch it. I love to cut it into small pieces and sew it back together. I buy fabric as compulsively as some readers buy books. For fun, here are some random pieces from my fabric collection:


I love this sunflower batik. Someday I will use it. Really. I will.


I found this bear fabric in Montana last year while visiting Yellowstone. It seemed the perfect vacation souvenir.



Did you know that Jane Austen and her sisters made a quilt? I've downloaded the pattern. It's not an easy one. Anyhow, I've a small collection of floral fabrics that I want to use in my own version of the Jane Austen quilt. These two fabrics may end up in that quilt. Or not.


I love this fabric. I have no idea what to do with it. But I have 2 yards of it for the day I finally get an idea.



These two each remind me of water. I wouldn't use them together, but they would work in something where I want to suggest water. They're very different, but I…

Jace tagged me for my first meme. Here goes!

Here are the rules:

1. Link back to the person who tagged you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Share six unimportant things about you.
4. Tag six random people at the end of your blog entry.
5. Let the tagged people know by leaving a comment on their blog.

My 6 things:

1. I'm a good cook. But I really don't like to cook. I'd far rather go out to eat or eat someone else's cooking. But I end up making dinner around here anyhow and it tastes pretty darn good.

2. Since 1981 I've owned only 3 cars. All VWs with diesel engines. I get awesome gas mileage.

3. I regularly commit a fashion faux pas by wearing brown shoes with my black pants. I hate to buy shoes and cannot be bothered with getting a pair of black shoes to wear with my black pants.

4. I arrange my books by size. Not alphabetically by author or title, but by size. They look neater that way. I'm sure that says something weird about me, but I can't help myself.

5. I hav…

I am preparing to vote for my favorite 2007 books in the annual AAR poll. I'm looking right now at everything I read in 2007. Naturally there's quite a bit published prior to 2007 that isn't eligible for the poll. But I can include them in MY list. Here they are in alphabetical order by author's last name:

1. A Man in a Million / Jessica Bird. 2007
Stylistically you can recognize JR Ward, but it's a category and well done with that economy of words required in this type of book.

2. Claiming the Courtesan / Anna Campbell. 2007
Controversial. But it worked for me. It was not an easy book to read. But every word was significant and it was worth it.

3. Lord of Scoundrels / Loretta Chase. 1994
A re-read. And still as wonderful as it was the first time around.

4. If His Kiss is Wicked / Jo Goodman. 2007
Ms. Goodman is one of the most overlooked authors in romance today.

5. The Outlaw and the Lady / Lorraine Heath. 2001
Everyone is right--Ms. Heath needs to go back to writing …

Back in December, an article appeared in the UK's Guardian noting the 100th anniversary of Mills & Boon Publishers. Julie Bindel penned the now infamous words "mysogynistic hate speech" in her description of M&B books. She targeted in particular Louise Allen's Virgin Slave, Barbarian King. Reaction from romance readers around the blogosphere was swift and vocal. Much of the discussion is neatly summarized on the Teach Me Tonight blog and can be found in the December archive. One result of Bindel's attack on VSBK was the coordination of several reviews in early January and a nifty literary analysis, also at Teach Me Tonight.

So, like the sheep I am I read this book the first of January, intending to post my own review, but I didn't get around to it right away. Then SBTB broke the news about Cassie Edward's plagiarism, and VSBK fell by the wayside. I decided to go ahead and post my review as part of my attempt to catch up and get into a better rhyt…