Quilts and Books

Last summer I saw this logo: All I could see were those pretty colors and the modern, pixelated design. Color gone wild! I wrote to AALL and asked for permission to turn their logo into a quilt. They said Yes! So I dug into my stash (see photo of said stash in sidebar to right) and started cutting squares. I cut and I cut and I cut. Then I began sticking them up on my design wall. Only I did them in reverse (red on the left, blue on the right--hot to cold). And when I was happy I started sewing them together in pairs very carefully to keep them in the right order. The pairs would be sewn in to small sections and the small sections into large sections... well, you get the idea. It looked like this: 2-inch squares in a setting of 40 rows by 40 rows. That's 1600 squares. The seam allowances shrink the finished squares down to 1.5 inches. The final quilt will be 60" x 60". Here's the top all finished: And here's that logo again: My thanks to the American A...

This month's TBR theme is marriage of convenience--which is a pretty common theme in my first love, historicals. And with all those historicals sitting in my TBR pile, you'd think I would have one that matches the theme. But before I could get around to finding out, I noticed this book on my Kindle as I was looking for something else. I had downloaded it just this past February on the strength of this very positive review  by our own TBR Challenge coordinator, Super Wendy. So OK, it hasn't exactly been languishing in the TBR pile for very long, but it does meet the theme. Molly O'Keefe's His Wife for One Night is the story of Mia and Jack and how their marriage of convenience becomes a real marriage in every sense. It's a well-told MOC story in a contemporary setting and, somewhat surprisingly, it really works. Mia and Jack had known one another most of their lives. Jack's father was a rancher and Mia's parents were employed on the ranch. Mia grew u...

For the third year in a row, I'm pleased to contribute to Brenda Novak's annual online auction to find a cure for Type 1 Diabetes . This one is personal for me as my son has the disease. This year, I'm still auctioning off a quilt, but not one I've already made. T-shirt quilts have become popular and are great for keeping memories alive when the t-shirt has become too worn or you've collected more t-shirts than you can wear. So this year the winning bidder gets to send me a collection of their own used (or new!) t-shirts that I'll cut up and put into a custom-made quilt. I promise to finish it within 2 months of receiving the winner's t-shirts. Are you interested? Click HERE and place a bid! And I thank you for your support!