It took me such a long time to finish this book. It is well written but the story isn’t gripping so I would only read a bit at night before bed. Overall though the story is a good one and at the end of the book I’m able to say I enjoyed it.
Most of the story takes place in the 1920’s and there are three main characters – Wes, Susan and Monty – and race relations play a big part in the story. Wes and Susan have lived on neighbouring properties in Montana but their parents were at odds with one another over their ranching practices. Monty is the son of two employees on Wes’ family ranch. Susan had some fame as a professional singer and now teaches voice to a variety of students. Wes and Susan have had an ongoing affair for many years. When Wes discovers that Monty has a spectacular singing voice he arranges lesson for him with Susan.
Why can’t it be morning all day long. I’m so motivated in the morning to get things done and I have more (not necessarily better) ideas than I do later in the day.
This morning started with a look at my task list. As I went down the list I saw something I wanted to make as a gift for Elizabeth’s birthday so I checked my fabric, dug out the pattern and set it on the ironing board. One of the fabrics for that project was also suitable for an art project we will be working on at Panorama so more fabrics for that were dug out of various bins.
Then I saw that Ray needed a birthday card and I’ve had a pattern I’ve been saving just for him. I found the pattern and the accessories I needed and that got stacked on the ironing board.
I decided on another project for my June trip but I had to see if I had background fabric that would work with the jelly roll. After measuring a couple of fabrics I found one I had enough of; the jelly roll went into my mailing box and, you guessed it, the fabric went onto my ironing board to await cutting. I also decided I needed to clear out a drawer (or bin) so my neutral fabrics were easier to access – another job on the declutter list.
But before I could start any cutting I needed to clear off my cutting table so I sorted through a few of my scraps and got them cut down to size and put away. But while I was cutting scraps I got to thinking about a little gift I wanted to make for Stacia & Deloise while we stitch together. I found the pattern but before I printed it I needed to change the toner cartridge. I’m a little nervous about making something so small (10 pieces in a 1 3/4″ square) so I set it aside to think about.
And at the end of the day, here’s where I’m at.
Two projects cut and packed for Panorama
Elizabeth’s birthday gift cut out
One gift top almost done (and it worked out okay after a few false starts)
It was a lovely morning and I headed out the back to sandwich my quilts. It took me all friggin’ day but I have three done. It was an added bonus that just as I was taking down my tables it started to spit rain. I’m glad I didn’t give up after two because tomorrow might not be a good day.
This is a Community Quilt. I didn’t piece it but I’ll quilt it before handing it back. It is similar to my May quilt that I won’t have to think too hard about what to do with it.
This is my mystery quilt for this year. I won’t be at the year-end Guild party when we have the big reveal of everyone’s but I’ll pass this along to someone for them to show. As I load the photos I see that this one is very very similar to the Community Quilt so again, I shouldn’t have to think to hard about what I’m going to do.
This is another Guild mystery from three years ago. I never really liked it much and I still don’t. It is longer than that would fit well on my tables and I didn’t do a very good job of basting the layers so it may all have to be done over. But at least the fabric is cut down to size.
This block gave me a chance to try out a few new tricks.
I wanted to get the background to be more of one tone while using up different blue fabrics. For the most part I think I succeeded, although there are still a few that stand out too much. While being careful to get the blues right I should have had better contrast between some of those blues and the purples in the butterfly.
I used a new facing technique to finish the block. The technique is meant for a modern quilt or for a design that you want to float to the edges. Neither of those things are happening in this block but a smaller project seemed like a good chance to try out the method. I used a 2.5″ strip for the facing but another time I’ll try a 1.5″ strip.
The back doesn’t look much different from a regular binding but it is much easier to get the corners looking sharp.
