Quilts and Books

I think I've become overly fond of making bags. I now have quite a collection of them and I show no signs of stopping. They seem to multiply much like my book collection does. I especially like the patterns from Pink Sand Beach Designs . Not only are they attractive, but the pattern instructions, complete with color photos, are very easy to follow. The Hamptons Handbag is the 3rd PSBD pattern I've made. It's designed to use 5" charm squares, typically sold in packs of 40. I love the batiks used in the pattern's picture below. But I had a set of charm squares from the Sphere  collection by Zen Chic that I thought would work nicely and I wasn't disappointed with the results. Inside there are 6 pockets and it closes with a magnetic snap. I used Aurifil thread, Light Turquoise (#5006) 50 wt. to make it and it was the perfect color, especially for the topstitching. Beside the charm pack, I had some larger pieces of the collection for the lin...

October was a weird month. A rather distressing one at times, given some of the news and behaviors affecting the online community where I lurk. I hope November turns out better. I didn't read as much as usual. I think I spent more time sewing, which may account for some of it. I also spent more time doing online Jigsaw puzzles . That is one addictive website. There were several books that I enjoyed, but not to the point I couldn't put them down. Average and mildly entertaining is the best way to describe them. This includes Counterfeit Countess by Lynne Connolly and two more of Kristen Ashley's backlist,  Creed and Lady Luck . Lauren Willig's The Mark of the Midnight Manzanilla  was fun, but I think I'm worn out on this series. I hope it's true that the next book is the last one. Speaking of series, as I write this I realize that the only book this month that wasn't part of a series (as far as I know, anyhow) was Connolly's. So, there were three ne...