I recently enjoyed another book by this author so thought I would try another one. It was an easy read but followed a very familiar pattern. I think for now I’m done with this particular genre. It only took a short time for me to realize where the title came from and I knew both of the surprises long before we got there.
Eva is a young Jewish woman living in occupied Paris during the Second World War. She and her mother narrowly escape a Nazi roundup but with the forged papers Eva manages to put together they escape with the hope of making it to Switzerland. Her skills are put to use forging documents for the many refugees who are desperate to flee France.
I’m enjoying my week at the studio. The sun has shone almost every day but it is still on the cool side. We got out and walked the nature trail one day and we went out for lunch on Valentine’s Day – there are no restaurants open in the evenings here.
I’ve managed to get quite a bit of work done. My Stash Buster blocks have been put together into a quilt top. I’ll add a border when I get home and then wait for a sunny and warm day to sandwich it on the back deck. I needed to work out some measurements for my Alias Grace blocks and I think I have a plan now. It works on paper anyway.
I’ve been working on the grad gift the last couple of days. Still lots to do but it is going well. I finished my huge book in time to get it onto the library bin at the post office here. I’ll finish the second book tonight. I have one more library book to start so I won’t need to dig into the bookshelf here on this trip.
We’ll be heading home on Sunday but that still leaves lots of relaxation time.
Cormoran Strike and Robin Ellacott are partners in a private detective agency. A wealthy client hires the agency to check on the welfare of his son, Will, who is a member of a very secret organization called the Universal Humanitarian Church. Some say the UHC is a cult and although many have tried to bring them down none have succeeded. In order to get information about Will, Robin goes undercover and joins the group.
One of the things I liked about the story is that the detective agency had other clients that they were working with simultaneously and they had other employees. It wasn’t a single story line with only two heroes. Although this book is #7 in a series it wasn’t necessary to have read any of the others to fully understand the story. I’ll look for other books in the series when I’m next at the library and needing a book.
When I was about three-quarters of the way through the book I looked at the note on the inside back cover. Richard Galbraith is a pseudonym for J.K. Rawling (of Harry Potter fame).
Mum started a very intricate tablecloth for me but she never had the opportunity to complete it. I inherited it and always intended to finish it; I had all the crochet cotton I needed, as well as her pattern and crochet hook. It sat in one of my bins for many years.
Eventually I dug it out and tried to pick up the pattern where Mum left off but I had no success. The crochet hook was so small and, although I understood the pattern, making it work was difficult. My tension was so far off Mum’s that I knew my blocks would never align with hers so, again, I set it aside.
About 18 months ago I decided to take Mum’s work apart and start over. Taking the project apart wasn’t easy but I was able to get a lot of cotton yarn from it. In some cases I was able to preserve some of the original blocks. I went with a simple granny square pattern with a large central square and smaller squares around the edges to get the size I wanted.
An edge
A corner
My intention was always to add those few preserved blocks of Mum’s to the piece. When I had the size I wanted to cover our table I added Mum’s blocks to the corners and the sides. I thought they would look good just dangling around the edges. I was wrong – so I added another round of my own blocks intermingled with Mum’s.
Although the tablecloth isn’t as square as it should be I’m happy with the outcome. From the pictures you will be able to tell which were Mum’s squares and which ones I added. The colour in the full photos is off; the colour is more accurate in the close-ups.
