It feels strange to type that date. We will never forget.
This morning was Novel Idea, our monthly book club and here were the books mentioned. I think we’ve all learned that unless we really have something good to say about the book, we simply don’t bring it up for discussion.
Eruption – Patterson and Creighton
Camino Ghosts – Patterson
Under Suspicion – Mary Higgins Clark
By Any Other Name – Jodi Picoult
Spirit Crossing – William Kent Kruger
West With Giraffes
Coming Home – Brittany Griner
Underground Library – Jennifer Ryan
Heaven and Earth Grocery Store – Layla Asad?
Counting the Cost – Dugger Family
Hillbilly Elegy – JD Vance
Kathy’s library puts this inside the book cover – I love this idea and I’m going to suggest it to ours.
Fall decor by readers – I think we’re all ready to decorate for fall so snap a picture and send it to me. Any and all fall photos will be accepted for several weeks so just do it!
Reader Quilts
Let’s enjoy some fall decor!! Send your photos to my email.
I understand that the note “a thing of beauty” refers to the spider web above,
but seriously. It should definitely apply to Miss Hazel too! She’s adorable 🙂
Good News! saw the kidney doc today. he said i was doing great! yeah!!! showed me the foreward progress made over the last four years. i was so glad to hear it. came home exhausted as i was up at 8:15 am which is probably late for lots of you. however, i am usually still awake at 2 or 2:30 am so that is way way early for me. imagine i will sleep well tonite.
sewed a bit. have 12 blocks made in the large size. will lay out tomorrow. not the best choice of fabric since i limited myself to those scraps i mentioned. i know that someone will love it. i will be lots more selective with the next one like this.
i think i’m going to bed. blessings to all, patti in florida
Patti – great news for you!!! I understand about being awake at 2
So good to hear the great news, Patti! It’s probably cooler in the night hours where you live 🙂
I enjoy reading “for fun” now because I had to read so much for my job. I jokingly tell my friends that I don’t read to educate myself!
Gloria – that’s exactly what I say – I don’t need to learn anything at my age.
The spider’s web is fantastic!
Mary, I just found out I need a hysterectomy (I’m 74) so I’m in the wait mode too. I really liked my surgeon so that’s half the battle. Have to use estrogen cream for 8 weeks before surgery so that’s why the wait. I’ve been looking at rice bags online and think I’ll give those a try, something small and fun to look forward to. Anything medical is always a wait. oh well. Blessings and continued prayers for you. hugs Linda in Colorado
Linda c – well, the waiting is the worst – easy for me to say now, huh? I had a hysterectomy 36 years ago – it’s the best!!
I have really enjoyed the Joe Leaphorn books by Tony Hillerman.
I didn’t think I would like him but he describes the American southwest so beautifully and the Navajo people just come alive. Highly recommend. Read in order if you can.
I like the book suggestions. And the flyer in the library books is a great idea. My favorite this year from our book discussion group was West with Giraffes by Lynda Rutledge.
Jeanine, congratulations on your beautiful quilts for charity. All of all the generosity of this group and many others doing the same thing. Wow!!
I love all the pictures. The spider web was amazing, another surprise in the garden. A thing of beauty.
I love the angel from Connie!! For all the gutsy ladies! I hope your friend Margaret has a happy birthday.
Thank you Carolyn. I love making quilts, and I am using what fabric I have in my stash. The two charity quilts are made from 5″ squares. My sister from MN was at my house this summer for 10 days, and I asked her to match up my 5″ squares into four patches. I had to cut a few more squares to match some that had no match. I have enough blocks made to make 8 more quilts for charity. This morning our little sewing group here in our town just donated 12 breast cancer quilts to a Women’s Health night sponsored by our local hospital. These are given to breast cancer survivors. In addition to that we donated another 31 quilts to the hospital for them to use where needed. We pray they will be a blessing to the recipients.
What a wonderful way to use up fabric, continue with your creativity, and provide support within the community! I had wondered what charity(ies) you gave to, and now I know.
May God bless you and the work your fellow quilters do
thanks to you and your groups of ladies for your donations. what a great way to engage your sister in your hobby and giving. every quilt you give away bestows a blessing on that person. think about it. some of the people in the hospital and recovering from cancer have no one to think of them. bless you for doing this. patti in florida
I was glad to see “West With Giraffes” made the list. It was such a great book. One of those that stays with you a long time. Thanks for the list, Mary.
Love all the charity quilts and Island Chain is beautiful.
Must get out some fall decor soon. It’s raining today so maybe this is the day to do that. I find that I procrastinate doing things like that more and more.
I really enjoyed West With Giraffes. Right now I am hooked on the Louise Penny novels tho there is often a several month waiting list at Libby. All the pictures of flowers,quilts, and animals make for wonderful eye candy!
Thanks for the book list. Jeanine all your quilts are just wonderful and will certainly be loved by all who receive them. Looking forward to seeing the fall decorations!!
Blessings to all.
hi mary and everyone. thanks for the book list. some i’ve read, some are in my library and many are on my want to read list. mary, i think everyone should read ‘just for fun’. it is great for our souls. every book out there does not have to each us something. but…i learn something from almost every book i read. right now i’m reading an older clive cussler book. if i’m not sure how to pronounce a word, like a name or a foreign language, i just make up how to say it. i used to look them all up to be sure, but stopped that.
jeanine, your quilts are lovely. the kind i really like to make myself. i think they are always cheerful and full of life. i’m at a point in my life where i just want to sew what i want to sew. diane, your island chain quilt is beautiful. obviously the cat likes it. i like the idea of using a christmas ornament box to corral the pieces.
today i was stitching some potato chip blocks using the 4.5 x 8.5″ pieces. wow! they cover some space. make 16″ finished blocks. and i only did three rounds. discovered most of what i’ve cut are mediums. need more really darker and more lighter ones before i get too carried away. i also think i can color code them as in blue/yellow or red/green, black/white. i have a smaller purple/green one ready to stitch rows together but it got put aside. as happens when a new idea hits. ah well. i’m having fun and there is no deadline.
fall decorations will be fun. i no longer do that so really enjoy seeing everyone else’s decorations. love the deer and other decorations shown today.
must get up early tomorrow for doc appointment. geesh. patti in florida
Patti – I admire your attitude so much – continue doing what pleases you while you can.
thanks mary. patti in florida
Love the name of your book club! Thanks for the list of favorite books. I just caught up on your last 3 posts after being out of circulation for a few days. The photos in all of them were beautiful and interesting. All that lovely eyeball stimulation perked me right up. I chuckled at the mums in the jack o’lantern pot. Clever. And the inquisitive dogs. (smile) Thanks for your posts “about nothing.” They are something to me.
The book Camino Ghost is written by John Grisham not Pattetson. Other good books I love are written by Heather Gudenkauf, all of hers are great, an Iowa author. Suspenseful and great stories.
The reading list has a lot of variety. I love all the quilts that Jeanne shared with us today, colorful and finished, perfect. Sharing the fall decorations is going to be fun, I look forward to everyone’s creative ideas. I haven’t hung one picture as of yet much less decorated. I may splurge and get a mum plant for our front porch.
Heaven and Earth Grocery store came highly recommended by a good friend and now I see it is here too. My next read. Also want to get Ina Gartens biography. I am very much enjoying the Younger Wife by Sally Hepworth so thanks for introducing us to her.
Yes 9-11 we will never forget.
Kathy – The Younger Wife is just an entertaining read – but not educational. I told my friend that at my age I can read for fun – I know everything I need to know – haha! We both laughed!
Morning Mary- Having MD changed my perspective on what my eyes can do before reading becomes more difficult so YES I read exactly what I want. If I’m not enjoying a book, I don’t finish it. If I know one will depress me with violence or horrific life altering choices, I won’t read it as I see enough helping disadvantaged people. I have a nice memory of my mom relaxing in the afternoon with her books from Book of the Month club and many were mysteries and Harlequins romance paperbacks till MD stopped that for her. Books entertain me so I chose what brings me joy just as my fingers with arthritis also has me chose what brings me the most happiness sewing at this stage of my life.
kathy, wonderful attitude you have. i applaud you. my dad had MD and i have a fear of it. finally told definitively by the retina doc that i do not have it. i have a small hole in the macula of my left eye. do what you can and what you enjoy as long as you can. once you can no longer read, you can listen to books. i’m waiting to ‘listen’ til when i can no longer read it myself. good on you. patti in florida
Thanks Patti for your kind words. My eye doctor has said taking the multi vitamins is still stopping it from progressing fast which I’m thankful. Attitude is everything in our mental health and well being to living. I’m so glad your kidney doctor gave you a good report yesterday as reversing kidney disease can be work but we want them to work to filter the bad stuff so kudos to you. Happy Hands, Happy Heart to you.
Jeanine-Iowa, your quilts are wonderful; you have been busy.
The yellow zinnia is beautiful!
Mary, I love your ‘gutsy lady’ from Connie.
Thanks/Take Care, 🥰
Love all the pictures! Especially the long haired tabby laying on the awesome “linked” quilt! Penny and Lucy would try and take off with the deer display on the table, very pretty!
Hi Pamela. Thank you😀. That is Buddy our sweet Maine Coon cat. The quilt pattern is Island Chain. I used a jelly roll. It was fun. I found using a large 40 hole Christmas ornament box helped me keep it in order. I love all of the quilts. Hazel and Keeper are always a hit.
My favorite character in Heaven and Earth Grocery Store was Chona. Her husband described her in this way: Chona saw the world as a place where every act of living was a chance for tikkun olam, to improve the world. The tiny woman with the bad foot was all soul.
Lynn – but how do you say all those strange words? Or do you just skip over them?
They’re Hebrew. The book is about a Jewish man and his wife living in a black neighborhood in Pottstown, Pennsylvania in the 20’s and 30’s. They all put up with discrimination and poor treatment together. Loved it. Surprise ending!
I’m currently reading the Vera mystery series by Anne Cleeves—we’ve watched all the seasons on Britbox and a friend said I must read the books. Anne Cleeves also wrote the Shetland series—watched all those too and will read the books after Vera.
Mary, I usually look up unfamiliar words. Every book can teach us something. I come from a family that was always looking up words in the dictionary.
I can identify, Lynn, as a very old dictionary sits out in our house too. I used it so much when the grandkids would play scrabble and try making up words so as teens they knew better! I should buy an updated one as I’m sure there are new words that I’ve never heard of that are not in this old one.
Heaven and Earth Grocery Store is by James McBride.
Also highly recommended is his Deacon King Kong.