Two great books

As you know I absolutely love books and the last two that I read are the best, in very different ways.  Marie Bostwick's new Cobbled Court series, Apart at the Seams is  the perfect take me away book.  Gayla finds that her husband had at one time wanted a divorce and she just can't imagine that he was unhappy and would tell her this in a memo!!  The cad!!!  She moves into their cottage in New Bern and becomes a part of the Cobbled Court Quilt Circle.  Once again quilting comes to the rescue and helps Gayla reconnect with herself and with her husband.  This is a really good book, one that I would definitely recommend.

Natchez Burning is at the opposite end of the reading spectrum.  This is not a book that you can just relax and read for enjoyment.  I have waited on this book to be published for the last three years.  I love anything written by Greg Iles and had read that he was working on this book, however he was involved in a horrific car accident that interrupted his writing, he is lucky to be alive.   This book involves the 1960's, the KKK and how events from that turbulent era still can affect us today.  This book has special significance for me since I was born in Mississippi and lived there until my early 20's.  I personally didn't have any contact with people like this but I have heard stories about people like this all of my life.  This is the best book I have read this year.    What good books have you read this year?

Blocks Two and Three

Here is block number 2 for POTC.  I think that I am getting the hang of this EPP.  I have realized that you shouldn't work on it after you have had a glass of wine, that really makes your stitches not look good!!!!

Block # 3 of POTC

Patchwork of the Crosses

 After a really bad winter here in Atlanta, we have skipped Spring and moved straight into Summer.  The temperature for the last few days has been almost 90.  The hot weather has really made the roses take off, I got these yesterday afternoon while DH was working at the garden.  I had been helping out and decided to take a break, there are some beautiful rose bushes and some iris's around where we have our garden.

With all of the gardening, working with wool, and the extra  time we are working at school to make up for the lost snow days has put a damper on my sewing.  I have managed to start a new project, Patchwork of the Crosses a blog along project from Little Quilts, several of my friends are doing this and I decided to try it.  This is the first English Paper Piecing that I have ever done, I would have been finished with this first block a week ago, but I took it apart and put it back together, I didn't like the way that it looked.  I think I will enjoy EPP after I do a little more.  It does take a little bit of getting used to.  I almost have a second block done, look for it in a couple of days.

Check it out.

There hasn't been much sewing at my house the last month or so I have been knee deep in wool, literally.  As most of you know I started dyeing wool a little over a year ago and decided that I am going to try to turn it into more of a business.  Welcome to Pig in a Blanket  my online store and blog for all things wool.  I am really excited about this.  I finally decided on packing for my charm squares, love my twill tape with Pig in a Blanket printed on it.  I finally got my labels and bags for my pre-cut circles and scrap bags.  After going to the Sue Spargo workshop several weeks ago, I decided they was  definitely a market for pre-cut circles.  I hope I am right!

I have already had success with the wool scrap bags, if you are into wool applique or hooking you can never have too many wool scraps.  Please take time to check out my store and see what you think.  I am sure that I will be making some changes to it and trying to make it better and definitely adding product to it.  I wanted to go ahead and take the plunge and get some things out there and see what the response was.  Wish me luck.

POTC

Finally I did some sewing this weekend.  It has been so long since I sat down at my sewing  machine and actually did some sewing.  This weekend I worked on my Christmas Reel a Lisa Bongene pattern, I am almost finished with it.  Just need to do the half square triangles on one side then the solid borders.  I have to admit that I am over this quilt and hope to finish it this week.  I started another project today, the Lucy Boston, Patchwork of the Crosses.  I have never done any English Paper piecing so I am anxious to see how this goes.  I have enough pieces cut out to do three  blocks.  Will post those when they are finished.

Happy Easter

Hope everyone has a wonderful and joyful Easter.

Busy, Busy

Yes, I think that I still remember how to sew.  I love to go to my sewing room, but the last few weeks have just not seen me going there.  First there was the mulch pile, as you can see it is  bigger that DH'S car in the background.  Some of our neighbors were having some trees cut down and DH decided that we needed all of the mulch delivered to our driveway.  This took a while to get spread in all of our beds.  It was so big that I couldn't get my car out of the garage until we spread some of it.  After the huge mulch spread came spring break, on the first day of spring break we went to the Booth Museum in Cartersville, GA.  I absolutely love this museum. It is the largest museum in the Southeastern US devoted to western art.  I love the passenger wagon.  Sometimes I think that I was born about 100 years too late.

 

After a day in Atlanta, I  headed to MISS to visit with my mom.  These daffodils are in her front yard.  I love my mom to death but by the time I left on Thursday, I was more than ready to come home.  I drove half way to Nashville and my niece picked her up.  She has been there since and will head home on Monday.  I think that she is more than ready to go home.

After coming home, DH and I headed to the Mother Earth Festival in Fletcher, NC.  I had no idea what to expect but it was so much fun.  If you are at all into doing things the "natural" way this was definitely the place to be.  I am all about doing the right thing for  the earth, but some of this was a little too much even for me.  We stayed at Deerwood, a camp in Brevard, NC.  I absolutely love this place.  It is the second time that we have stayed there and I would definitely go back.  This was our view out the front of our cabin.  I would love to have this view to wake up to every day.  Hope everyone is having a great spring.    I can definitely hear the sewing machine calling my name, I just need to heed the call and get to work!