Quilts and Books

Things are usually pretty slow here at Phyl's Quilts and Books. They've been slower than usual of late because I badly pinched a nerve in my lower back in mid-August. Pain, drugs, and physical therapy have dominated my landscape since then. The good news is that I'm way better than I was a month ago. The bad news is that I'm still dealing with some pain, weird nerve activity, and weakness in my right leg. The goal is to avoid back surgery at all costs, so I've been faithful with my exercise routine. I'm glad to be resuming most of my normal activities, including sewing, but at the risk of being repetitive, it's slow. So very slow. Fortunately I actually wrote a couple of these (#5 and #3) right after I read those books, before the pinched nerve. I read #1 and #4 while I was stuck in bed. Frankly, I'm amazed I remember anything from the "Vicodin is my best friend" days. But here we go: 5.  The Chocolate Thief  by Laura Florand . I've bee...

Hello to you, my poor neglected blog readers. I keep thinking of lots of things I'd like to write about, only it seems I'm caught up doing other things instead. So much going on: It's been a hot, hot summer. We enjoyed a delightfully cool vacation in the Pacific Northwest  that included another trip to the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show . I've been sewing like a mad woman and so I'm almost finished with a t-shirt quilt. It will be a gift for my godson who heads off to college in little more than a week. I'm also working on what (I think) will be a very cool baby quilt. And Olympics! I love to watch Olympics. I'm reading. But not quite as much as usual. My last two monthly reading lists have been a bit shorter and here it is the 12th of August and I've finished just 3 books. That's a very low total for me. At any rate, here's what ended up being the top of the heap for June: 5. Overseas by Beatriz Williams . Based on comments I saw around the web...

5. Someone to Cherish / Kate Rothwell . Here's an entertaining historical set in 19th c. New York City. Callie Scott is an incredibly naive young woman who had been very restricted by her now-dead grandmother. Left on her own, Callie takes a job with her late father's friend only to find herself caught up in a scandal surrounding a murder, and the scandal in turn leaves her homeless. The detective on the case, Cutter, ends up hiring Callie to take care of his dying landlady. Cutter himself grew up on the streets and he feels entirely unworthy of a true lady like Callie. Callie's a funny, engaging character who is a great foil for the stubborn, taciturn Cutter. In enjoyed them both. Plus, it's always great to read a historical set outside of Europe. 4. A Place Called Home / Jo Goodman . This is a contemporary romance by one of my favorite authors. Goodman normally writes historicals and it was very enjoyable to read something so different from what I'm used to fr...

I'm trying to remember what the heck I was doing in September that kept me so busy. Because apparently I only read 8 books and a small collection of 4 very short stories. Weird. Because all it did was rain. It's not as if I went outside and did something active or useful. I didn't finish a quilt either. Oh well. But that leaves me with only 4 books that I want to talk about this month. And they are: 4.  The Unmentionables  by Karen Ranney . Here is the product description from Amazon:  The Unmentionables is a collection of short stories told by Victorian undergarments, from the under appreciated pair of drawers belonging to a countess, to the corset owned by a young miss, to a pair of enthusiastic stockings, and finally to a maid's shift.   This collection of very short stories barely took me 30 minutes to read--about 5-10 minutes per story. It's a fine piece of whimsy that was both romantic and interesting as I considered how different the Victorian clothing was ...