Reading list #5 2025

1. Chrysalis by Heather Terrell another book about art theft by the Nazis, story is told in 3 time periods present day lawyers in New York, WW2, and 1600’s Netherlands good story but names were not always capitalized and misspelled words.
2. The Search for God and Guinness by Stephan Mansfield on loan from my brother.  The House of Guinness on n…flic is not based on this book. This is a brief history of the Guinness family about the brewery and all the good the family did to improve living conditions of the time. Decent housing, educational opportunities, health care, pensions, orphanages etc.  The majority of the CEOs in America could take a lesson from the Guinness family. One of their advertising slogans was “Guinness is good for you”. 
3. The Wedding Dress Sewing Circle by Jennifer Ryan based on real sewing groups in England during WW2 interesting fictional characters the story is about starting over, friendship, community and what really is important in life. Good story.
4. Apostle’s Cove by William Kent Krueger another great mystery Cork reinvestigates his first murder with a different outcome.
5. The Round House by Louise Erdrich for book club takes place in 1988 on an Indian Reservation in North Dakota. 
6. Allied Flames by Jean Grainger book 6 of the Knocknashee series. 
7. Wednesday Club by Kristine Jensen the author was in my 4-H club! Delightful book takes place in South Dakota in the 1960’s about a teenage girl whose mother drops her off at he grandparents farm while she goes off to California to pursue her dreams. I’m going to read it again sometime.
8. A Fireproof Home for the Bride by Amy Scheibe for book club the story takes place in the Fargo / Moorhead North Dakota / Minnesota area in the 1950’s. A young woman has been promised to the neighbors son since she was 12 then things go sideways. The story has a little bit of everything family loyalty, secrets, immigrants, religion, abuse, a mystery from the past connected to recent crimes. The first couple chapters were really slow then the characters got more interesting.
9. The Blackest Time by Ken Tenarelli takes place mostly in Florence Italy in 1300’s about the rather ordinary life of a young man who works in an apothecary first there were two years of heavy rain ruined crops and starvation then the black plague creeps into Florence. 
10. Trouble’s Daughter by Katherine Kirkpatrick historical juvenile fiction the story of Susanna Hutchinson, Indian captive  in 1640’s. Very good story and quick to read the names of the characters were all real people. Interesting fact near the end of the story one of Susanna’s older sisters married a John Sanford, he could be my 6th or 7th great grandfather. 
11. The Keeper of Lost Art by Laura Morelli WW2 Italy paintings from the great museums of Florence are stored in villas in the country to keep them safe from the war.  A young girl is sent to live with an aunt and uncle they shelter the refugees, billet the Germans, support the resistance, then the New Zealanders come followed by Indians, Canadians and Americans and the art recovery crew.  Two of the paintings by Sandro Botticelli were Primavera and The Birth of Venus  were stored at the villa and touched the lives of those who studied them.  Good story. 
12. Starry Night by Debbie Macomber romantic fluff just for fun.
13. Something to Look Forward To by Fannie Flagg feel good short stories
14. Merry and Bright by Debbie Macomber more romantic fluff similar to You’ve Got Mail. 
15. Dark is the Grave by T. G. Reid murder mystery takes place in Scotland not great I kept falling asleep. 
16. Raising Hare by Chloe Dalton a woman leaves London during Covid to isolate on on her country home, she goes for a walk and finds a baby hare, she leaves it and comes back an hour later hoping the mother hare returned and took it. No such luck so she took the baby hare (called a leveret) home. It survived the night and thrived. 
17. Glad Tidings by Debbie Macomber two short books in one binding  There’s Something about Christmas a Christmas romance about fruitcake. And Here Comes Trouble two writers telling their daughters the story of their courtship. 
18. Black Hills Secret Santa by Deborah Salonen holiday romance short and sweet.
19. 25 Library Terrace by Natalie Fergie the story takes place in Edinburgh, Scotland from pre WWI through the Covid pandemic. It’s just ordinary life of the time, a family home eventually becomes a long term (2 year commitment) boarding house. There are generational connections to all of the characters in the end. Just a nice story. I thought about this later this story shares the importance of family stories and telling those stories to younger generations.

Wow I read a lot of books this year, my kindle app says I read 73 plus a few paper books makes 78. I think that’s the most books I have ever read in a year.  No record of all the kids books I read and occasionally no kids were present. I’ll never be too old for kids books. I think I was avoiding a lot of reality, so much bad news and bad behavior on tv.

Plans for 2026……. I have some travel ideas, there is yarn in the stash calling my needles, there is fabric calling remember me……..and there are lots of books on my kindle that I haven’t read. No goals, no resolutions just enjoy the moment.

Happy New Year   —Ann—

Waiting

Waiting for kids to come home…….waiting for the bread machine to finish mixing…….

Waiting for peace on earth and goodwill to all……

Merry Christmas—Ann—
 

Another finish

 

My second finished quilt of 2025. That is not like me at all. It’s a buggy barn pattern so was quick to sew and all fat quarters, nothing left for borders or binding ……….make do with what I have……..look in the box of binding bits for something that might work ah ha but not enough dig a little more……. that works and done!!—Ann—

Tadada done

 

A finish finally. This was fun to sew but took much longer than it should have— life happens with lots of distractions and interruptions.  My niece came over with a sewing project she wanted to make a boot bag for one of her roommates I got to work on this between helping her. She found a pattern on the internet but didn’t take the time to print but she did have the boots soooooooo I laid the boots on a large sheet of paper and drew around them we figured it out as we went. The boot bag has enough room for a six pack.  This quilt I think the little guy might like the back better than the front. I’m calling it Racoons in the Corn. —Ann—

Pausing

 I sat in my sunroom (however it is not a sunroom until afternoon and it’s overcast and snow is forecast) to drink my coffee I watched the squirrels in the trees. They have a nest in the spruce tree. They were not posing for my camera I wondered do they enjoy the Christmas lights or do they grumble that the lights keep them awake at night. I’m a night owl and always up until midnight so if the lights bother them they might have packed up and moved years ago. I think they enjoy the lights. Coffee finished I went downstairs to machine quilt and emptied my bobbin as it was winding I saw this rabbit in my shrubs and juncos and blue jays and the busy little squirrels in and under the trees. It’s always good to pause and take in nature. Back to machine quilting. —Ann—

First check off the list…..

 

The tree is decorated!! On to the Santas but first dust the shelves then remember where all the little display enhancements are……drink my coffee first……preparations……..—Ann—

Off the needles!!

 

Finished. This is the fastest I have ever knit an adult size sweater but when I’m using #10 needles it does go fast. I washed it twice because the first time it didn’t shrink in length the way my swatch did which was a scant half inch of a 4 inch swatch. So I threw it in the dryer for 5 minutes then 5 more minutes. The sleeves are still too long but I can fold up the cuffs. Maybe next time it’s washed it will shrink a little more. Always guessing with what the yarn will do. —Ann—

Temporarily off the needles

 I purchased this yarn in Ireland last summer, a worsted weight called Soft Donegal by Studio Donegal. Hubby was off hunting last weekend what should I do??  Cozy up and knit of course….the same pattern as the pink sweater https://straythreads-straythreads.blogspot.com/2025/03/ also a Donegal tweed that I purchased in the south of Ireland the summer before that I knit 3 times before I loved it. I knit this on #10 needles in a 14 gauge that means big stitches so it knit fast. Hubby left on Friday and came home Monday and I was well into my 3rd ball of yarn. Don’t think I’ll have it done for Thanksgiving but will definitely finish it while we are still eating leftovers. Happy Thanksgiving.  —Ann—

Blissful sewing

A morning of blissful sewing! An appointment was changed to the afternoon I was as giddy as a schoolgirl hearing the announcement that it was a snow day.  There was snow on the ground but as I sewed I listened to the rhythm of the dripping snow melt from the roof. I thought this would be quick to sew, I did start it back in September and it would have been if I had cut all the strips the same size but I found leftover strips to use and then life happens with lots of distractions.

I’m calling this quilt Racoons in the sweet corn. The racoons are circling the patch a few have eaten their fill or are going to share the news with their friends and relatives.  —Ann—

Off the needles

These sweaters are finally finished a couple false starts on the sleeves because I’m numerically challenged. Why is it so hard to knit 4 sleeves the same? I have no idea but sometimes it’s hard to knit two sleeves the same circumference and length.  They are finished in time for birthdays. It is hard to believe my two little 4 pound peanut sized granddaughters are 5 years old.  —Ann—

Bigger slippers

 

I knit some bigger slippers for the little girls……so far so good they actually fit me before felting and then I over felted them and they were too small so knit another pair actually knit two pairs.  I had to order more yarn oh darn!! The weather has changed felted wool slippers feel pretty good.  —Ann—

Extra yarn

I packed extra yarn for the week at the river, I might have packed too much. The yellow bag had my projects to work on while hubby drives. It is a 4 hour drive to the river. And the brown and blue bag…..well I don’t want to run out of things to do.  I may have packed too much just in case I finish the 3 sweaters……I have yarn for stocking caps, I’ll let the girls pick which yarn they want for the pink pom poms, I’m going to use the white with the kid haze for the ribbing then one of the pink yarns in a mosaic pattern, more on that when I get to it. I brought a ball of the green yarn from Ireland so I could start swatching.  I plan on reading lots of books to the little girls too and a couple for me. —Ann—

Reading list #4 2025

A week without a bunch of activities………a week at the river.  Summertime temperatures, reading on the deck, knitting and coffee maybe some wine later.

1. The Girls of Ennismore by Patricia Falvey an Irish version of Downton Abbey the story begins in the early 1900’s Ireland’s fight for independence is also part of the story.  Good story. 
2. Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir science fiction saving the earth from above normal temperatures from a star outside our solar system. I skipped over a lot of the technical stuff but the drama was good. 
3. Folded Corners by Jean Grainger #5 of the Knocknashee series 
4. Through Streets Broad and Narrow by Gemma Jackson Dublin Ireland 1925 about a young woman struggling after the death of her father her struggle to survive her poverty.
5. Lost Lake by Sarah Addison Allen about a young woman still reeling from the death of her husband finds a postcard from her great aunt and drives to Lost Lake hoping to find here aunt and remember her happy childhood there. Good story.
6. Bury Your Dead by Louise Penny three mysteries in one. The unfolding of the story of members of the investigating team being shot, unofficially reinvestigating the murder in the previous book ‘why would he move the body’ and the murder of a man obsessed with where was Samual Champlain was buried over a century ago.
7. Lula Dean’s Little Library of Banned Books by Kirsten Miller takes place in a small town in Georgia some residents ban books in the library. Lula Dean puts up a little library outside her house with the books she thinks people should be reading. Another resident puts the banned books inside the jackets of the acceptable books. The books change lives and the town. Very good and very funny at times.
8. Her Last Flight by Beatriz Williams takes place in 1920’s to 1940’s a woman pilot in the early years of aviation. For book club.
9. Camino Winds by John Grisham book 2 after Camino Island another thriller with a hurricane, a bookstore, some writers, a murder or two, nursing home fraud and lots more.
10. Heat Lightning by John Sandford —Virgil Flowers mystery takes place in Minnesota. Murder  and theft of heavy equipment going back to Vietnam 1975. He covered a lot of ground in Minnesota Mankato, Minneapolis, Bemidji, Red Lake, International Falls and back again. Those places are not close together.
11. no more tears the dark secrets of Johnson & Johnson by gardiner harris the good the bad and the ugly of drug manufacturing makes Camino Winds seem more fact than fiction but in that book it was the nursing home making fraudulent claims against medicare and medicaid. Not the drug manufacturers with fraudulent claims of what the drug will do and negligence with side effects. I’m going to walk and eat my veggies to avoid prescription meds. Two major law suits against J&J were won by the plaintiffs in South Dakota. 
12. Magic Hour by Kristin Hannah always a good story. About a little girl who has been living in the rain forest of the Pacific Northwest wonders into a town searching for food. A child psychologist is called in who is the sister of the local police chief to help the girl. Love and patience is the cure. Very good.
13. Camino Ghosts by John Grisham 3rd book of the series resort developer wants to build a resort on an abandoned island once occupied by escaped slaves, the last living descendant claims ownership of the island and will not accept any amount of cash.  Her ancestors are buried there. Very good story.
14. The Mysterious Edge of the Heroic World by E.L. Konigsburg just for fun kids chapter book. Two middle school age boys who have spent more time with adults than kids, they are helping the mother of one of the boys ready the contents of an estate house for sale, a retired opera singer, a small sketch by a famous artist, an art exhibit of “forbidden art”, nazi plunder and more intrigue everything gets sorted in the end. I may read all of  E.L. Konigsburg’s books
15. Night Road by Kristen Hannah for book club good discussion it’s about family, grief, and forgiveness. 
16. The Outcasts of 19 Schuyler Place by E.L. Konigsburg a 12 year old girl has a miserable experience at summer camp, her great uncle rescues her from camp she learns that the towers her uncles constructed years ago were going to be demolished she comes up with a plan to save the towers. Some of the same characters that were in The Mysterious Edge of the Heroic World only younger. Delightful story. 

On the needles

 

Little sweaters for the little girls I’m using Cobasi yarn which is cotton, bamboo and silk it is spun so it has some stretch to it and feels wonderful and machine wash for the busy mom. I have to take turns working on them so I will finish them at the same time or close. Can’t pick favorites you know. 

This is the exact same sweater and yarn I knit last spring. Why am I knitting the exact same sweater? Because I gave the first one to a cousin in Ireland, the one with the two little kids in the fused appliqué a few posts ago. She was so wonderful to us. And I needed to make some room in my bag for new Irish yarn. Why are all those markers hanging on the sleeve? I was spending too much time counting my decrease rows and I couldn’t remember from one day to the next how many I had completed. Im still counting but at least it’s quicker. —Ann—

It’s so quiet

All of us were busy painting and Olivia says “it’s so quiet” and it was, everyone was concentrating.  Fun weekend with the little girls—they will argue that they are big girls—I’m just not ready for big girls.  They brought over their bag of stuff—things to do at grandmas— they had paints and brushes…….I reached for some art paper from the closet and I found the prang paints that I bought special for them because the colors are so much brighter.  Is there anything more discouraging to a young artist than anemic looking paint on cheap paper?!!? Nice mixed media paper I cut the sheets in 4, bright pure paints eventually I will get them better brushes.  I showed them how to drip water into each color to moisten the paint. They were very serious about each drop of water. I was painting water on my paper for a sky, Madeline asked why I was doing that I told her and showed her how the colors would mix and spread on the wet paper.  She said that’s a good idea so she tried it. Later I was mixing a green on the lid she asked again what was I doing she thought mixing paint that way was a good idea too and tried it.  To see their little creative minds at work. Then they asked me to cut out more paper dolls to paint so I did. —Ann—
 

Lazy borders

 Quilt top together and I even sewed the backing! I did not have enough of any one fabric for borders that’s what happens with fat quarters so I kept it scrappy.—Ann—

New project

 

Hubby was off on a fishing trip…..I had uninterrupted time in my sewing room.  First I made the appliqué for a cousin sewing lots of stops and starts, going slow and turning lots of corners like driving around town.  Getting to the sewing on this buggy barn pattern was like hitting the open highway in South Dakota where the roads are straight and long with a full tank of gas or rather a freshly oiled machine the roar became a hum.  I also found a new use for my knitting blocking tiles…..put the buggy barn piles on the tiles and I can slide the tiles away as I sew the big segments together, everything stays in order.  Another little trick I learned long ago was to put a sticky note just below my markings on my big square up tool so I cut every block the exact same size—no oops.  Those white spots are the reflection of the ceiling lights. —Ann—

Finished

It’s ready to be mailed! I’m going to let my cousin finish this, she can either make a pillow which is what I was thinking when I started it or make a small wall hanging.  Easier to mail small.  Savoring the memories of Ireland. —Ann—
 

Progress

 I like this better……and then as I was clearing my table to clear my head I found some more greens that play better with the other greens than the little patches at the bottom corners. My first stitching in months, I started with the presser foot then switched to the free motion quilting foot so much easier and fewer puckers. I also layered a sheer yellow piece over the black and white buildings, toned them down. 

I had a productive day.  —Ann—

Small steps

Look at those little shoes!  Each little part was a small step. I worked on one person at a time, I think I found the perfect fabrics for each. The hair was found in a pheasant print. A light spot between the barns was perfect for the sunlight on the boys hair and the tall grass was perfect for blond pony tails.  The shoes were fussy because the parts were so small.  It fuses best if I remember to remove the paper from the back.  It’s been a long time since I used the fusible.

Still not ready to stitch but close, I see some things I might want to change I see little things in the photo that I don’t see as I’m working on it.  In the actual photo ( previous post) there is a little ridge in the grass on the left side, I can duplicate that ridge if I cut an “up” curve. I’m not sold on the lightest green in the foreground either. I’ll think on it before I stitch.  —Ann—

Another no sew summer

 

My no sew summer has come to an end. So far I am just choosing fabrics and enlarging the figures but soon I will be sewing. My monkey brain has been all over the place, work on the background then on the figures then I see I haven’t changed the calendar in my sewing room jump up and then stand there….what was I going to do?  Go back to the table look around ahha the calendar! Cutting these parts out isn’t so hard……oh time for coffee……maybe write a blogpost haven’t done that for awhile……maybe the caffeine will help me focus.

I’m making a pillow for my cousin in Ireland that’s her daughter and grandkids.  They took me to the beaches around Portrush.  Savoring summer memories—Ann—

Ireland

 

I call all of my relatives cousins in Ireland it’s to complicated to identify first cousins, second cousins and then the removing bit…….we all have the same great grandparents however to a couple they were grandparents. This is the house my grandfather grew up in, there were 11 children in a good Protestant family. The house is no longer in the family someone bought restored and modernized it the sky lights in the roof are new.  The moat was dug out on the lower level, some windows had been covered because property taxes were assessed by the number of windows in a house.  The house is probably 300 years old and was originally an abbey. We just walked around the outside, a young family lives there now we were invited in but I didn’t want to ruin my memories of when I was there in 1981. 

This is the only family photo of them all together probably the last time they were all together, my grandfather came to America a short time after the photo was taken, he is standing between my great-grandparents.  They were all dressed up for the occasion the dresses and shoes the girls are wearing are beautiful.  I met seven of the eleven siblings many years ago. Two of grandpas brothers, Harry and Robert, (second row left and right) came to America a few years later they also farmed. A sister, Jess, (sitting on left) came to America she worked in office jobs and was actually a roommate with my grandmother which is how she met my grandfather. That great aunt also worked as a nanny in South America it’s rumored that she sent cheerful letters home keeping the higher ups abreast of Americas preparations to enter WWII. We will never know for sure.  My great aunt Elsie ( standing on bottom step) is the one responsible for my love of wool. She came to America for a visit in the mid 1960’s and knit a sweater for me I’m sure I wore it to school every other day.  The youngest boy, my great uncle Sandy, came to America in 1968 and stayed for almost a year he visited all the American relatives he talked about the big snowstorms for decades. I met Sam ( boy sitting) in 1981.

Scenery along the coast

The monkey puzzle tree at a cousins farm.

A walk up the lane at another cousins farm, I walked all the way up that hill 44 years ago. The terrain looked a lot wilder this time, maybe the sheep had grazed it shorter years ago.  I saw a couple golden hares one struck a pose on a stone fence.

A cousin took me to the local yarn shop I found some treasures.

A trip to Ireland isn’t complete without a couple pints of Guinness.  —Ann—