What I've Been Up To

You may have noticed the complete lack of Farmer's Wife Sampler blocks in the last few weeks. Yes, I did burn out. I knew I would. It was partly the templates, partly the lack of squareness to the blocks, and I just plain got bored.

Today I read a post on genxquilters Annemarie's blog about how she has been reinspired by paper piecing the blocks. She signed up for the Yahoo group, and that is where she got the printable paper piecing sheets. She had heard about it from Michelle at http://cityhousestudio.blogspot.com/ . Now I know I was not the only one struggling to complete the sampler quilt! Now I can give this another shot and get better at paper piecing too. All the other blog posts I've read about paper piecing these blocks are rave reviews about perfect points and square blocks.

Just to be sure I am doing it correctly, I found this video tutorial on paper piecing.

In other news, I finished the back to the Island Chain quilt and dropped that off for quilting, sold the American Sweetheart quilt, made 4 more pairs of infant play pants for my friend's granddaughter, and appliqued a bit more on my Fall projects from last year.

Then I needed a total break from sewing so I hit the bookstore. I wanted to get "the Count of Monte Cristo" because I love the movie versions, but instead I chose others. And of course I bought books for Tyler while I was there! Duh! He was very excited to have a big book of Backyardigans tales, Mr. Seahorse, and a new copy of "Goodnight, Moon." How he loves his moon book. I got the hardcover version after our board book totally fell apart from use. If you need recommendations on childrens books, I am a childrens book fanatic. Ask me! For Tyler, bedtime always means story time. Whether we tell stories in the dark, or read books after his bath, there is no sleeping without stories.

For me, I bought "the Alchemist" by Paolo Coelho and read it in 24 hours. It is so interesting. It is sort of a combination of Hemingway and fable in its writing style. You could take some very deep lessons about life and perspective away from it. I will have to read it again to really take it all in. This is not a life-changing motivational book or a new form of spiritualism or anything (at least it is not for me) but it is definitely not one of those summer beach reads that are totally forgettable. It makes you think about things.

I also bought "My Antonia" by Willa Cather, because Nicole of Sister's Choice Quilts blogged about it a while back. I love literature, but, sadly, I fall far short of having read all the classics. I'm about half way through this one and like it very much.

When I get involved in reading, I am totally absorbed. I do not sew at all. But I will be back at the design wall again soon. I have tshirt quilt to finish and loads of ideas for my stash. I'll be back!