My Brother did a great job!!

Last fall I was lucky enough to attend the Houston Quilt Show and Market with 3 of my best buddies, Pat, Becky and Kristie. Kristie, Becky and I were actually there to help Pat out in her booth.  As you can imagine market was wonderful!!! I had absolutely no trouble  finding fabric and other sewing type things that I wanted to bring home with me, however; I wanted to buy a special book or something to remind me of my trip.  The major thing stopping me was budget, I was really trying to be a good girl and not spend too much.  While Kristie and I were walking around one afternoon looking at the quilts  I noticed a book, Lone Stars III, A Legacy of Texas Quilts 1986-2011.  I really, really wanted to buy it.   I picked it up and looked at it, but decided that the price was just a little too much for me.  I kept thinking about it after returning home and decided to put it on my Christmas list for my brother and niece.  (I knew if anyone got it for me it would be my brother).  Much to my surprise, he did get it for me.  The book is absolutely wonderful.  The prologue contains a brief timeline of U.S. history from 1986-2011, and the quilts are arranged by year.  It is really interesting to see the style of quilts change over the years and to see how national events can influence our quilting.  If you are looking for a great book to add to your library, I would definitely recommend this one.

Great Reads!

Since I have been somewhat tied down the last few days, I have been doing lots and lots of reading. My friend, Becky, loaned me one of her books, A Thread so Thin. It is part of the Cobblestone series by Marie Bostwick. I really enjoy her books and this was no exception. It is one of those series where you can care about the characters and want to keep reading about them. This is a good one.

I also read State Fair, by Earlene Fowler, one of the Bennie Harper mystery series. I have to admit before reading I was confused by the title, all of her books have quilt block titles and I was not familiar with one called, "state fair". Several different ones were mentioned in the book, will have to go on like and look them up. One of the main characters in this book was Bennie's aunt from Arkansas, I don't want to give anything away, but I think we will be seeing a lot more of her in future books. I did enjoy this one, however not as much as some of the other titles.

I am currently reading the last of the Millennium trilogy. I absolutely love these books. I have had this one for a couple of weeks and was saving it for when I had surgery. It is great. I started it yesterday and read about a third of it. Too bad Mr. Larsson died after this series, I would love to read more books by him. Would definitely recommend this series.

Trying to get out more

Do you ever feel like you are stuck in a rut? Lately I have definitely felt that way. I think part of that comes from an even that will take place in a few months, a birthday - the big 50. My hubby and I try to get out and I try to get out with friends but sometimes I am just too tired after work or with the economy the way it is you don't want to go out and spend a ton of money. Well last night I had the best time and it was free, yes free. As you know I love to read, and I found out that one of my favorite authors, Kate Jacobs, was going to be in town promoting her new book, Knit the Season. I couldn't find anyone to go with me, so I went by myself. I had the best time. It was at one of our local libraries, sponsored by the Georgia Center for the Book. I really enjoyed listening to her. Her new book, Knit the Season came out on Tuesday and we were the third group on her promotion tour. She is a wonderfully warm and funny lady. I had taken my copy of her book, Comfort Food, and while there I purchased a copy of her new book to give my mom for Christmas. The Georgia Center for the Book has wonderful authors scheduled for the next few months, you can bet that I will go listen to some of them.

"Impossible is a word that is found only in the dictionary of fools." Napoleon

I can't believe that I am already thinking about heading back to school. Where has the summer gone? I actually have a couple of more weeks vacation, but I am spending this week taking two different staff development classes. The first one is two days, of which yesterday was the first day., and is on how to use our new editing equipment. (Our instructor started the day with the above quote, which I really, really liked.) I actually enjoyed the class and got a lot of useful and practical information. We learned how to download video, create a storyboard, do various transitions, and trim scenes. Today we will learn how to do titles, and add sound. This will be great for when school starts and I have to start working on our morning TV show. Tomorrow I have another staff development to work on our Reader Rally competition questions for next year. I love to read but I have to admit I was not excited about the books I was assigned to read. Since I work in an elementary school I couldn't read books for my level, I was assigned four high school books to read and write 20 questions on. Tomorrow I will work with a group organizing and refining the questions. I would have never picked these books on my own. They were: Deadline, Generation Dead, Unwind, and Little Brother. I did enjoy reading Deadline, it was about a boy entering his senior year in high school finding out that he has about a year to live. He decides to live life to the fullest and cram a lifetime into his remaining few months. It was funny and sad at the same time. I can't say the same about the other titles. I am just not into books about death, which was a predominant theme. I know this is what high school students read, but I am glad that I finished them, got my questions done, and don't have to think about them anymore.